Author's Notes: Okay, I know you shouldn't upload seperate chaps, but what about seperate stories in a series? ;) This can be considered a stand-along fic, or the beginning of... "THE FIC THAT WOULDN'T END!" *insert scary dun-dun-dun music here* You must realize, this was my first fic. Written in 1996, re-vamped in 2000, and it still is something that I am NOT proud of it. However, after some prodding from a friend (mandyraej did it! Lych mob HER!) I decided to post my shame... my horror, and my evil onto ff.net. If you wanna see more about Micansana (Whhhhyyyy? NO, WHY!!?) you can go to I hope that you can stand the torture. If bad writing, plot holes, and old ideas annoy you, TURN BACK NOW! However, if you REALLY wanna read my TERRIBLE origan story, go ahead. JUST DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!
Finally, without further adue...
Story 1 of "The Mica Series"
"Enter:Micansana"
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...Oh...A wise guy. Huh?...
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...and if you buy now we'll inclu...
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....after these messages....
Michaelangelo sighed and turned off the TV. "There's nothing to do." he complained to me, his brother. My name is Leonardo. I was reading a book. A very good book in fact, and I didn't like being interrupted by Mike.
"Then find something to do." I replied, looking up at my brother's frowning face.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, go for a walk, read a book, clean your room, go get a pizza." I said, tossing out suggestions in hopes of getting him to stop whining and leave me be.
"Pizza!", Michaelangelo exclaimed, his face lighting up, "Kewl idea, later dude!!" and he grabbed his trench coat and left.
I smiled and shook my head, then sank back into my book, thankful for a peaceful evening at last.
***
Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the bad side of town, a meeting was occurring that could spell disaster for our four green friends...
All was quiet and dark inside the warehouse. The small shaft of light from the opened door provided me with little reassurance. My name is Micansana. I am a unique abnormality... a genetic hybrd. I am a humanoid turtle. I am also a part time ninja, but right now I was feeling more like a frightened little girl than a skilled, fearless ninja warrior.
I turned on a small lamp then shut the door. The lamp did little to penetrate into the dark shadows, but it's dull light did much to increase my fear.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as well as I could then turned and pushed a few buttons on a small keypad. A large screen lit up. It displayed the command <PLEASE ENTER ID#>. I typed in a series of numbers. The machine lit up and said <WELCOME NEW RECRUIT MICANSANA DINI5031 ESTABLISHING COM LINK WITH MANON>. The machine hummed and a man came onto the screen, he was handsome but had an evil glint in his eyes.
"Good evening Micansana, I assume you had a good trip." he said to me.
"Spare me the small talk Manon, and tell me what the hell I have to do to get this thing off and go home!!" I snapped back at him angrily, gesturing towards what looked like a small choker necklace.
"Fine, your mission, now that you are in New York, is to find, befriend, and help destroy these four treacherous criminals, then you will be free to go." The computer flashed and showed a picture of the criminals fighting some men dressed in black.
I gasped. 'They're... They're like me!!' I realized with a shock. Giving the picture a second, more thoughtful, studying glance, I thought to myself 'They're kinda cute, too bad they're criminals' I almost smiled. "They live in the sewers and are very illusive." Manon droned on, oblivious to my amazement.
"Wait wait wait." I interrupted him "The sewers? That's disgusting! Where the heck do you get your info? I think someone's feeding you a line of bull!"
"I assure you, Mica, our sources are very reliable. They do live in the sewers of this city, we are just not sure where. They have one downfall though, they love to venture into the upper world. Our spies believe they have the location of one at this very moment."
"Good." I replied, "But, if I'm going to mingle among humans, I'd better morph."
"That would be an advisable course of action." the jerk said "I must leave you now, good luck Micansana."
I studied the picture more carefully, noting the details. By the looks of their muscular, well toned bodies, I guessed they were into martial arts. Spotting what I thought was a katana sword strapped to one of the turtle's shells confirmed that fact. But what kind of martial arts? 'With looks like that, Ninjitzu sure would be helpful.'
I zoomed in on one of them. He had a nasty snarl on his face and was driving a pair of sai into a man dressed in a black gi's gut. I shuttered and moved onto the next one.
The one with the katana on his back had another in his hand I realized. He was neatly slicing off a man's head. Many bodies laid strewn around him, several of them were neatly decapitated.
I moved onto the ones near the edges of the battle. The first one I came to had a purple eyemask on. He wasn't doing as good of a job as the others, seeing as he was only using a wooden bo. But he seemed to be holding his own okay, with the help of the other turtle.
The other turtle was wearing an orange eyemask and had a pair of nunchacku stashed in his belt. He had a smirk on his face and was bashing two guys heads into each other and generally looking like he was having a party.
I nervously fingered my armbow, making sure the arrow cases were all filled.
'I'll definitely need luck... and maybe a lot more against these four.' I thought to myself as I morphed from my turtle body to a human one, 'These guys look real tough.'
***
"I'll have four large pizzas with the works." the turtle paid for the pizzas and then sat down to wait for them, unaware that he was being watched.
The door jingled as I walked in, I watched the turtle as I ordered a pizza. I noticed him watching me as well. I wasn't surprised. My human morph was rather attractive. In retrospect, I think it was more attractive than my normal form, comparison wise.
I finished ordering my pizza, then walked over to where the turtle was sitting and asked brightly "Do you mind if I sit with you while I wait for my pizza?"
"Uh...um...s-sure. Okay." he answered uncertainly.
"I'm new here in the city" I chattered on happily, playing the perfect bubbly valley girl, "I'm just a small town girl. My name is Mica. What's yours?"
"M-Mike." he answered, he was probably still uncertain whether or not to give me any information.
We talked for a few more minutes with my cheerful babble dominating the conversation.
When we both got our pizzas I asked 'Mike' to walk me home so I didn't get hurt or mugged. 'Mike' reluctantly agreed, still wary of me.
When he dropped me off, I went into the apartment building, morphed back to my true form, and then took after him, staying in the shadows. For in the time I had been with this 'Mike' I had caught enough glimpses at him under the brim of his hat to confirm that this was one of the 'criminal' turtles I was after.
The funny thing was that when I looked at him a strange feeling surfaced, almost........
"No!" I reprimanded myself vocally and then more quietly "No, you have to kill him. You will not get emotionally attached!"
Then I saw him go down a manhole 'Aha!' I thought 'So this is where we go. Boys, the jig is up!' I waited until he had gone in and closed the manhole before following him at a safe distance. But as I rounded a corner in the dark sewers I lost him. I took what I thought was the most likely tunnel that he would have gone down. I knew only too late that I was wrong. I felt something brush against my foot, saw a mist of gas, and everything went black.
***
As I returned to the lair with the pizzas I walked into the middle of chaos! One of the alarms was blaring loudly, and both Donatello and Raphael had rushed in.
"Whoa! What's going on?!?" I asked, surprised by all the commotion.
"My alarm went off." Donatello replied "Someone's in the sewers! They fell into one of the traps!"
"Probably a rat." Leonardo commented nonchalantly.
"I seriously doubt it, Leo. I've been refining my traps and...." Donatello began.
"Instead of staying here arguing about what it is, let's go and see what it is!" Raphael interjected.
"Sounds like a plan." Leonardo said, standing up and sheathing his katanas, "Let's get going." And I followed my brothers out to find the intruder.
***
"Whoa!! What is that?!" Raphael said as he saw the body, face down in the grime of the sewers.
"It appears to be..." Donatello said as he turned her over onto her carapace, "a turtle... a girl turtle!"
"Is she still alive?" I asked.
Donnie checked her pulse. "Surprisingly, yes she is. That gas was supposed to be lethal."
"What should we do with her?" Raphael asked.
"I think we should take her back to the lair. What do you think, Mikey?" I said, noticing for the first time my brother's silence and the way he stared at this turtle with a puzzled, yet somewhat entranced look on his face.
"Huh?....Oh.., yea, we should take her back to the lair, Leo." Michaelangelo said, snapping out of his 'trance'.
"Good idea." Raphael said as he leaned over and heaved her limp body over his shoulder, "Let's go."
***
When I awoke, I immediately felt for the small choker necklace and, finding it gone, I sighed with relief. Then I noticed where I was, 'What the...' I wondered. I was in what looked like an old subway car that had been modified into a hospital of sorts. I was hooked up to some machines and I still felt very groggy and I ached all over. Suddenly the door opened and a turtle with a purple eyemask walked in. I immediately went into defensive mode. I felt for my armbow, but it was gone! I quickly felt for my shuriken, but found them gone as well!! In fact, my gear had all been removed, including my dark olive eyemask. Now I was freaked!!! I decided to play the innocent and pretend that I had just woke up.
"Oh, good you're awake." the purple masked turtle said to me. I remembered him. The one with the bo, the not so good fighter "My name is Donatello. Would you mind telling me yours?"
"Micansana. Where am I?" I replied, thinking 'No use lying to them'
"In our lair." he replied.
"How did I get here?" I asked.
"We brought you here. You were knocked out by a gas that I put in one of my traps. You must have a pretty strong immune system. It was meant to kill. You've been unconscious for about two days now." he told me as I shakily got up off the bed.
"Two days!!" I exclaimed, alarmed, "Quick, where's that necklace?!?" I was in trouble with a capital T. I was supposed to check in with Manon! Who knew what he had done when I hadn't shown up!!
"Do you mean this?" asked a red masked turtle who had just came in with the necklace "Donnie took it off because it was cuttin' off your airway." I noted his sai, this was the one who had seemed so vengeful in his fighting.
"It was very hard to remove. What's it for anyway?" the purple masked turtle asked.
"I'll explain later, just give it here!" I said, lunging for the necklace and missing.
"No." the red masked turtle said, holding it out of my reach, "First, you tell us what it is and what you're gonna do with it."
"Fine." I said with a sigh of resignation. I didn't wanna get that red masked one mad at me. Plus, how would they know who Manon was. It was a good stall tactic. "I'll tell you." I sat back on the bed. "It's a communication device with Manon."
"And who is Manon?" a blue masked turtle asked, and I noticed, for the first time that he, as well as 'Mike', who was now wearing an orange mask, had come in. Also, what I could only describe as a mutant sewer rat in a kimono was now standing in the doorway. The rat surprised me. I was expecting the four turtles but no one told me about a rat.
"Wait." I said, "Before we go into this, do you mind telling me what your names are?" ... Another stall tactic. Plus, I was interested in learning about them, now that I knew they weren't as blood thirsty as Manon had made them out to be.
"Well, you already know that's Donatello, that's Raphael", the blue masked one told me, gesturing toward the turtle who was leaning against the wall fiddling with my necklace. It was then that I noticed the swords strapped to the blue masked turtle's back. So, he was the meticulous one. He was also, by the looks of it, the leader.
"and that's Michaelangelo", he continued, pointing towards the orange masked turtle who was sitting cross legged on the floor, staring at me quizzically. 'So,' I thought, 'he was telling me the partial truth about his name.', "and I'm Leonardo.", the blue masked turtle continued on, "and he", Leonardo said, gesturing towards the rat in the doorway, "is our sensei, Splinter."
"And my name is Micansana.", I said, and Michaelangelo sat straight up and glanced around nervously. "I believe," I continued, "that Michaelangelo and I have met already."
The others stared at Michaelangelo, who put up his hands and said "No way! That's a face I wouldn't forget!!!"
"Maybe I can jog your memory." I said with a mysterious smile. I closed my eyes and concentrated on morphing to my human form. I was almost done when I vaguely heard Raphael saying "Hey, she's trying to escape!!" and he barreled into me. Since I had already morphed my plastron, he knocked the wind out of me majorly. I scrunched up on the floor with pain, trying to breathe again. When I finally caught my breath, I stood up and eliminated the last elements of my turtle body. I shot a dirty look at Raphael and then looked to Michaelangelo, who was looking very surprised.
"M-M-Mica?!" he managed to stutter out.
"Yup." I said warmly, smiling at him.
"Oh, wow!" I heard Donatello mutter.
"I guess I should tell you my story." I said, and then I saw Splinter sit down and look straight at me. I realized when he looked at me like that it was almost impossible to lie, so I told the truth. I figured, why lie, no explanation of my origen would be less or more believable than the truth. "A few years before I was born, my mother was diagnosed with a rare, yet deadly, disease. They tried everything they could, they even moved from Hong Kong to America trying to find the cure. My father worked day and night in his lab, testing cures. Then, late one night, he found something that worked! He infused a small strand of box turtle DNA with her human DNA and the disease completely disappeared from her system! At first, her body seemed totally unaffected by the turtle DNA, but, later that year she became pregnant. From the very first ultrasound they could tell something was wrong with the fetus. It seems that it was developing both human and turtle characteristics. The doctors encouraged my mother to abort the baby, but she refused, saying that all life is precious. I was born later, only six and a half months into the pregnancy. I was warmly accepted into the world by my parents and I grew up on our farm in South Dakota. My mother taught me how to cook and she has always said that I am special and that I should never try to be anything I'm not. Meanwhile, I had started ninjitzu training at a very early age from my father. He insisted that it was part of my linnage. Also, unknown to me at the time, my father was working on a way that I could 'morph' into a human form, even if it was only for a short time. When I was four, he finally found something that worked. With a small computer chip, which he embedded in my shell, and immense concentration, I am able to erect a weak field which changes my body image to one with more human like features. I started school when I was five and I have gone ever since. That's my story. What's yours?" I finished and looked around at their faces. Leonardo had a look on his face that I couldn't read at all, Raphael looked skeptical, Donatello looked puzzled, and Michaelangelo... our eyes locked for a moment... I looked away, embarrassed. 'That look again.' I thought to myself, 'Stop that Mica!' "So," I said again, "What's your story?"
"Well..." Splinter began, and he told me the story of how he and the four turtles became mutants and how he raised and trained them in the sewers of New York City. As he finished I was startled by a loud buzz and Michaelangelo jumped up.
"Yes!" Michaelangelo said "Come on, guys! The pizza's ready!" I followed the others out of the subway car into their living quarters.
When I saw their 'masterpiece' I said "Uh... No offense guys, but I don't think my stomach can handle marshmallow and chocolate syrup pizza right now."
"None taken, just help yourself to anything in the fridge." Leonardo replied.
"Thanks" I said, and I went to the fridge and found something to eat. Then I morphed back to turtle form and went to sit with the others.
"So," Leonardo said to me "Just who is this Manon?" I noticed that Raphael had my communicator and was still picking at it.
"Well, I guess it was gonna have to come down to this anyway." I paused nervously and then continued, "I was sent here, by him, to try to kill you. But, as you can see, I am in no condition to even try, what with no weapons and being injured. But, even if I was physically able right now, I still don't think I could after all the kindness you have shown me. I don't know but you guys don't seem much like criminals to me."
"Criminals?" Leonardo asked, he and Splinter seemed to be the only ones who didn't seem completely shocked by my confession "Who told you we were criminals?"
"Manon." I muttered.
"Again with this Manon!!" Raphael said to me, and I could tell he was very annoyed, "Tell me who the hell this guy is!!!"
"Well," I began, "A couple of weeks after graduation, I was driving back to my farm and I turned on my radio. I guess some sort of knock out gas must have been rigged into my car, because, the next thing I knew, I was strapped to a table in a back room somewhere. My morph had been reversed, and I was back in my turtle form. A tall man, whom I later found out was Manon, was standing by me. He told me he had a job for me but I refused to listen to him or help him because I did not trust him. But then he threatened to hurt my parents and so I reluctantly agreed to help him. I couldn't take the chance that he could hurt them."
"But why you?" Leonardo interrupted.
"Because," I told him, "Manon's plan was that I would infiltrate your group and then lead you into a trap and, because of my appearance, I would be the best candidate for that kind of mission. But, after your kindness, I can see that Manon has lied to me. So, I come to you, not in secrecy, but in friendship. And I come to ask your help in destroying Manon and protecting my parents." I looked down as tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of my parents. 'Great Mica, cry,' I thought, disgusted with myself, 'like that's gonna help!'
Michaelangelo moved over and put his arm around my shoulders to comfort me. I looked slightly at him, surprised and nervous. I was hardly ever this close with human males, much less with turtle ones. Michealangelo said "I don't know about the others. But I'm willing to help in any way I can."
"I'd be willing to help too." Donatello said.
"I'll help you." Leonardo said quietly.
"I guess I'm in too." Raphael said, but he seemed skeptical.
"All of this will have to wait until morning." Splinter told us, "It is late and we all need our rest. Micansana, you may sleep in the subway car you woke up in this evening until we find a more appropriate place for you."
"Thank you Splinter, thank you turtles." I said good night and then went into the subway car and fell fast asleep.
***
True to my early bird nature, I awoke early the next morning. I went out into the living quarters and, to my surprise, found Splinter was already up and meditating. I didn't want to bother him so I went to the kitchen and started to make breakfast. I made pancakes and I was appalled when I found that they had no fresh fruit! When I turned to set the table I was startled to see that Splinter was sitting there watching me. He had come in so quietly that I had not even heard him.
"Good morning." I said to him, hiding my surprise at his presence, lest I do all of my training disgrace. I really needed to work on being more observant. "Do you like pancakes?" I asked.
"A bit." Splinter said, smiling, "I haven't had any in quite a long while."
"Well then," I said, setting a stack of pancakes in front of him with flourish, "you should have some."
After a few bites he said "These are delicious, Micansana."
I blushed and smiled happily "Thanks, it's my mom's recipe."
Just then Donatello and Leonardo walked in. Leonardo was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning. Both of their eyes lit up when they saw the pancakes on the table. "Micansana, did you do this?" Donatello asked.
"Guilty as charged." I said, smiling.
They sat down with Splinter and I as Michaelangelo came in, bright eyed and bushy tailed even this early in the A.M. Raphael came in after him and I could tell by his growly attitude and grouchy disposition that he was definitely not a morning person. They both sat down and ate pancakes.
"So" Leonardo said as he finished his breakfast, "Have you given any thought as to what we should do about this Manon?"
"Well," I said as I started to clear the table, "here's what I know about him. Number one, he's not doing this for himself, at least not totally. I saw him talking to some guy on a view screen, some nut in a metal mask."
"WHAT!?" Raphael practically screamed.
'Oh god, what did I do now?' I thought to myself.
"No, it couldn't be Shredder, could it?" Donatello said. I wondered what the ruckus was about.
Leonardo went into one of the subway cars and came out with a newspaper clipping and said "Is this who you saw, Micansana?"
"Yes! That's the guy who was on the view screen!" I said, while starting to do the dishes.
"Well," Donatello said, "If Shredder's involved it's sure to be something bad. What else do we know about this Manon?"
"He knows a lot about me, almost everything. He also knows lots about you guys, but not all. Also, he doesn't have enough forces to beat you four in a fight." I concluded.
"Hold up." Michaelangelo said, "How do you figure that?"
"Because" I told him, "If he could take you guys down with brute force, then he wouldn't have made me come here and try to deceive you."
"Makes sense." Leonardo said, "But we still don't know where to start."
"Start at the very root of a problem to overturn it." Splinter said with a quiet wisdom.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of it before!" I said, wiping my hands on a towel, "Manon's Headquarters!"
"But how will we find it?" Michaelangelo asked me.
"Easy." I told him "But I'll need a signal tracer, do you guys have any idea where I could find one?"
Donatello laughed and said to me "Come with me, Mica." and I followed him into another subway car, which he called his 'Lab'. I was amazed! That little room had a ton of stuff crammed into it!! It was messy, yet somehow organized. I recognized some of the gadgets but others were completely foreign to me. A lot of these foreign objects, as I would learn later from Donatello, were his own inventions. But right now, Donatello was busy rummaging through some things in the corner.
"Here it is." he said, holding up a device which I automatically recognized as a signal tracer.
"Thanks." I said, taking it from him, "Where's that necklace?" I looked at Raphael. He looked at Splinter, who nodded. He snarled then produced the necklace. I could tell he didn't trust me.
"Thanks, now let's get to work." I said and I sat down with Donatello and started the modifications.
***
"I think that should do it." Mica told me, "Let's turn it on and try it out."
"Okay." I said as I wiped beads of perspiration off my forehead and walked over to a table, "Tell me when you're ready." I told her.
"Okay, turn it on... now."
I flipped a switch and Mica's hands flew like lighting, turning switches and dials. I ran over to help her. Then we got it! A series of numbers flashed across my computer screen. I quickly shut down the rest of the equipment as Mica sat down and typed in codes.
"Here we are" I heard her mutter as she scribbled down some coordinates from the screen. Suddenly the screen went blank and all the lights went out.
"Oh man!" I said, "Another power failure!"
"We must have used too much energy. But don't worry, I got the coordinates before the computer shut down." Mica told me.
"I'll go change the fuse." I told her and I made my way over to the fuse box and did just that.
As soon as the lights came back on Mikey walked in and asked "Whoa! What happened?"
"We used too much power and blew a fuse. But I got the coordinates before the computer went down." Mica told him, then she motioned him over to a map on the wall and said "Com'n over here and help me map out these coordinates."
"Um...I don't really know how." Mikey said sheepishly.
"What!" Mica seemed shocked, "Then come over here so me and Donatello can show you how!"
"Um.. okay." Mikey said and Mica jumped up and pulled him over to the wall by his arm. I laughed silently to myself, remembering Mikey's comments to me just last week, when I had asked him if he wanted to learn how to map.
"Come on, Donatello! Let's get a going!" Mica told me impatiently. I walked over to the wall to help her map and show Mikey what we were doing.
***
I was in the practice room, exercising with master Splinter, when suddenly Michaelangelo and Micansana burst in.
"We got it! We got the location!" Michaelangelo told me. He had a huge grin plastered across his face and Micansana had one to match it. They both looked very excited. I was too, but I didn't show it as much.
"I thought you said you wouldn't have an answer until tomorrow." I said.
"I thought we wouldn't! But, thanks to Mikey's help, we got an answer way sooner than I thought we would" Micansana told me. Then she turned to Michaelangelo and said "Thanks for helpin' me."
"Aw.. it was nothing." Michaelangelo blushed as Micansana gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
I smiled at them, then asked "Well, where are the headquarters?"
"Well, when I found out myself, I was stunned." Micansana told me as she took out and unfolded a road map "See this?", she said pointing to a place she had marked out on the map, "This is a place right outside Tyndall, South Dakota. It's only a short drive from my farm! So, this is what I see we do. We fly into Sioux Falls and I can get a van from some friends I know there. We'll drive out to my farm because I want my mom and dad to know I'm all right. Then, we stay at the farm and plan what we're gonna do to Manon's headquarters from there."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Master Splinter said to her.
***
We drove into the dirt driveway at my farm. It was dark because it was already 11 P.M. When I got out of the van, I was immediately knocked down by one of our five large farm mutts. "Guys, quit that!" I laughed as they licked my face and knocked the others down too.
Suddenly a familiar voice called out "Sam! Misty! John! Tom! Red! You dogs come 'ere now!" The dogs backed off and as I stood up, I saw my dad. I ran to him and hugged him.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" he said with tears in his eyes.
"Where's mom?" I asked as I broke away from his embrace, misty-eyed as well.
"She's inside." Then, as if he was seeing them for the first time, he asked "Who is this with you?"
I started to answer, but was interrupted by my mom's joyful call "Micansana!"
I ran to her and embraced her "Mom!" I said tearfully, "I missed you so very much!"
"Me too." she said to me and then she broke away and looked at the others "Are these your friends?" she asked me.
"Yes, this is..."I said, starting to introduce them again.
"Oh, shush. We'll get to that later let's all go inside first." my mom interrupted, smiling and motioning for us to come inside. I smiled and went inside with the everyone else.
"Cookie?" my mom asked the turtles and Splinter as they entered. Both Mike and Don took her up on the offer and fished some cookies out of the bowl. 'Jeesh' I thought to myself, smiling 'Only my mom would think to offer cookies to mutant turtles!'
We sat down in the living room and I started to introduce them again "This is Michaelangelo." I said, pointing to Mikey, who was sitting beside me "That is Leonardo. That is Donatello. That's Raphael and that's their sensei, Splinter."
"But how could this happen?" my dad asked. Splinter again recounted the story of his and the turtles' mutations.
When he finished my dad glanced at his watch, "Whoa, it's past midnight. We need to get some sleep. We'll continue this in the morning."
"Okay." I said, getting up and stretching "Can they use the guest rooms, mom?"
"Sure." my mom said, yawning, "Goodnight." and she headed off to her and dad's bedroom. I showed the guys to our three guest bedrooms. Raph and Mikey took one, Donnie and Leo took another, and Splinter took the third. I ducked into Splinter's room and told him where the bathroom was and where the practice room was. He thanked me and I went into Donnie and Leo's room and told them the same info. Then, I went into Raph's and Mikey's room and told them. Before I left, Mikey gave me a big hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. I smiled and blushed a bright red, then I told them goodnight and left.
***
When I awoke in the morning I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 6:30 already. I knew Splinter would have already been up. I groaned a little as I sat up and put on my dark blue eyemask. I heard a creak and a groan across from me as Donatello woke up and did the same. I stood up and stretched then I headed for the practice room.
I glanced in on Splinter and found that he was indeed awake and in meditation. I closed the door quietly, so as not to disturb him and walked over to Michaelangelo and Raphael's room.
I opened the door to their room wide and found that they both were still snoring. After trying, unsuccessfully, to shake them awake, I decided they weren't gonna wake up and headed to the practice room with Donatello.
As I started to warm up I marveled at the size of the place. It had to be at least four times the size of our practice room at home and two or three times taller!
As I finished my warm-up exercises, Micansana walked in "Hi!" she said, looking around "Where's Mike?"
"Raphael and him are still asleep." I told her. Micansana looked shocked then she smiled mischievously and left the room. Donatello and I followed her, wondering what she was up to.
"What are you doing?" Donatello asked her as she went into her room.
"You'll see." she said as she came out of her room with this huge cat. This thing was the fattest little animal I had ever seen! "We're just gonna give Mike a little wake up call. Aren't we Darby?" she cooed to the cat, scratching it under the chin while it purred. She walked down the stairs to the room where Michaelangelo and Raphael were sleeping. She entered the room quietly. Very neatly she set the huge cat on Michaelangelo's sleeping face. Then she stood back to watch the action. And there was some! Michaelangelo let out a short yelp, waking up and throwing the cat off him (as anyone would do in that situation) unfortunately, the cat landed in Raphael's bed. He woke up with a start and threw the cat violently at Micansana, who caught it with a big grin on her face. He shot a glare at her and then stomped out of the room, muttering obscenities under his breath. I looked sternly at Micansana, trying to suppress a smile, but when I saw the look on her face, I burst out laughing, unable to stop myself.
"That..." I sputtered while laughing "That wasn't very nice."
When she finally stopped laughing she said "I better go apologize to Raph."
"What about me!?" Michaelangelo asked her, giving her a dirty look.
"You deserved it! After you threw a nerf ball at me when I was trying to drive!!"
"Well, let's call a truce, okay? Otherwise, Raph might kill us both!"
"Okay, okay, truce." Micansana said and they shook hands. I smiled at them. They had been doing this prank-pulling and mock fighting for the last two days and if I know my brother, which I think I do, that means he really likes Micansana.
***
I sat down at the breakfast table, starving after our grueling morning workout, in which Leo had apparently wanted to make full use of Mica's large exercise room. I sat next to Mica and said "Hey countrygal, this food looks good!"
"Don't look at me, cityslicker. My mom made it!" Mica told me.
I turned to Mrs. Dini and said "Mrs. Dini, this food looks delicouoso! Now I see where Mica gets her talent."
She smiled and said "Why thank you, Michaelangelo."
"Most guys would compliment a girl on her looks." Raph said with a snide smile "Take it from Mikey to compliment her cooking skills!"
I rolled my eyes at Raph then I heard Mica's little giggle and relaxed a bit. I finished my breakfast and then I looked over at Mica who was chatting with the others. 'She truly is beautiful.' I thought to myself. She had these black, almond-shaped eyes that seemed like puddles of darkness behind her dark green eyemask. She had this wonderful smile, this welcoming, warm smile with a hint of mischief in it. When I looked at her I realized that what I was feeling for her was love.
Then Leo said something that jolted me back to the conversation, "If we're gonna attack, it has to happen tonight!"
"Why can't we wait?" I asked him.
"Because the longer we stay here the more likely it is that Shredder will find out we're here." Leo told me.
"Well, yea. But what are we gonna do?" Raph demanded, "We can't exactly just walk in there and ask them nicely to surrender!"
"No you cannot." Mr. Dini said, "But you are ninjas and what does a ninja do best?"
"Of course!" Mica said, snapping her fingers, "We can sneak in and eavesdrop to find out what they're up to!"
"But how?" I asked, "We don't even know what this place looks like!"
"Well...." her face fell and she looked frustrated.
"I got it!" Donnie said suddenly, "You know that every building and structure has to have a copy of it's layout in the government files to get a building permit. So, that means there must be a copy of the layout of his headquarters in the government files!"
"And," Mica said, "I read in the paper that Tyndall just got their new site for files setup on-line."
"Perfect!" I said "Mica, where's a computer in this place?" The others looked at me, very surprised, especially Donnie, but Mica just smiled.
"Com'n, I'll show ya." and I got up from the table and followed her out of the room.
***
I was sitting on the floor in the back of Mica's van. I touched my sai for reassurance. Then I went over the plan once more in my mind. This afternoon, Mikey and Mica, with a considerable amount of giggling and horsing around, had found the layout of the whole compound online. We planned to sneak in through the ventilation system. But, we did not know how or even if the place was guarded. Mica had said she had seen some foot soldiers walking around but who knows what Shredder had up his metal sleeves to throw at us. As I went over the plan and saw the flaws in it, I was very glad we had the element of surprise on our side.
"Well, this is where we get out. Come on." Mica said, pulling the van onto the shoulder of the road and shutting off the engine "We can't go any farther in the van without chancing being seen." We snuck and crawled for a little while before we saw the first foot guards. We steered clear of them, not wanting to alert Shredder to our presence. Then, about a half of a mile after we saw the first guards, we breasted a hill and came upon what looked like a small army compound. The main entrance was well-lit and heavily guarded. Even the entrance we were going to take, a ventilation grate, had a foot guard pacing back in fourth in front of it. We snuck up by him, staying in the shadows.
"Better let me take this guy." Mica whispered. I agreed, if we wanted to keep this quiet, Mica's armbow was the best weapon, it was meant to be used as a long-range weapon. None of ours were meant for that.
She slowly brought up, aimed, and then fired her armbow. Her arrow flew straight at the guard. Then it silently exploded inches from the back of his head, releasing a gooey substance that encased his body before he had a chance to call out for help. The glue quickly hardened.
Mica walked up to him and poked to holes on the upper part. "There." she said with satisfaction "Now he can breathe. No need to kill him."
We crawled into the ventilation shaft and closed it behind us. Everything was going according to plan, we were almost to the room where we had assumed Shredder and Manon would be operating things from when we stopped.
"Why are we stopping?" I whispered. Then, I saw why. The vent in front of us was blocked by some kind of sheet metal. "What now?" I asked.
"Well, we can backtrack out of the building or we can get out here and risk going through a few rooms before the main one." Leo told me.
"We can't go back." I heard Donnie say behind me in a frightened tone.
Then I turned my head around and saw why. A wall had dropped behind us, trapping us! Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under us! We plummeted to the gymnasium floor below us. I fought for conciousness as I hit the floor, but the impact was too hard. I saw a flash of light, then lost conciousness.
***
"Why you..." I snapped back to reality in time to hear Mica shoot a long strand of curses at Shredder. All five of us were chained to the wall. Leo, Donnie, and Raph were still unconscious. But Mica was swearing and kicking and pulling against her chains to no avail. Foot members were swarming us like buzzards.
"Sir, that one has awakened." one of the foot reported to Shredder, pointing to me.
Shredder looked evilly at me. Mica quieted down and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Ahh, Michaelangelo, I am glad you are able to come see me." he said and then he walked over to me and delivered me a slap across the face with the back of his spiked gauntlet. He had cut me deep and I could feel the blood trickling out of the gashes on my cheek. My eyes narrowed and I growled a little but I managed to keep my cool. Mica did not! She swore and screamed and yelled and threatened Shredder. "Poor little Micansana," Shredder said in mock sympathy, "What are we to do with her?" As he moved within her reach, she bit him. His eyes flashed with anger and he left, slamming the door behind him.
***
A while later, Donnie, Raph and Leo had, one by one, won their battles with conciseness. A tall man walked in and I heard Mica gasp. "Manon!" she said then her eyes narrowed "Manon, you two-faced, weasel, jerk-face, liar! Traitor! Blackmailer! Asshole!" she fought against her chains fiercely, trying to get at him.
"Oh, Micansana." Manon said calmly, staying out of her reach, "Am I really the traitor? I am not the one who abandoned her mission and went with the enemy."
"They are not the enemy and you knew it!" Mica yelled at him, "You're a stinkin' liar and a cheat!"
He gave Mica a demeaning look then turned to talk to the foot guards. All but two of the guards left. Manon turned off the lights, "Now, you settle down, Micansana and take a nap." he said to her as he left.
In the dark I heard Mica swearing under her breath and I decided I did need some sleep. But, as I was closing my eyes I saw a small movement out of the corner of my eye. I drew in my breath and my eyes widened as both of the foot guards slumped to the ground, unconscious. I let out my breath in a long sigh as I recognized Splinter's and Dr. Dini's forms behind the unconscious guards. They worked quickly and quietly, freeing each one of us from our chains.
"What now?" I asked.
"We gotta attack!" Mica said urgently "Otherwise, Manon and Shredder are gonna release them super-mutants on the world! Shredder was showing me them before any of you guys woke up. That's why I was so mad at him, Mikey."
"This is a mission you must complete on your own, my sons." Splinter said to us.
"But dad, I want you to come with us!" Mica protested to her father.
"I'm sorry Mica, but Splinter is correct. We will be unable to accompany you physically, but we will be with you in spirit." Dr. Dini said to Mica, giving her a hug.
"Go now, my sons, the challenge awaits." Splinter told us.
"Return safely, my child." Dr. Dini said to Mica, and they both vanished into the shadows.
"Well, let's go." Raphael said, gripping his sai, he was obviously very happy to have them back. We snuck out and started down the hallway to the main room. We disabled the foot guards outside the doorway and entered the room. Unfortunately, Shredder must have heard our scuffle outside the doorway, because when we entered, he was ready for us. We were immediately attacked by the super-mutants. They were gross-lookin'! One of them looked like a mix between an alligator and a gorilla, eww. The other one looked worse, it looked like some kind of mix between a lion and a shark. They were both huge! Each of them was at least twice as big as one of us. As for how tough they were, let me put it this way, I broke a 'chuck on one of them, a metal 'chuck!
Needless to say, we were getting our butts whipped. Leo tried to reason with them, but every word was answered by an unintelligent grunt or growl and a fling of a fist that would send one of us sailing across the room. We could attack, but even our strongest attacks didn't scratch them! Leo's blades bounced right off them, and even Raphael couldn't touch them!
After being flung against the wall by one of the super-mutants, I was surprised to hear a loud bellow from one of them as Donnie, with a tremendous leap, broke his bo on the back of it's head. I looked over to Mica, who had been thrown against the wall on the opposite side of the room, she pointed up and I remembered a move that she had taught me in the practice room. I signaled the okay to her and got out my grappling hook and climbed up the wall. I threw my grappler toward the middle of the room and caught it on a pipe. Mica shot a mini-grappler out of her armbow and did the same. I gave her the signal and we both swung across the room. When we met in the middle I grabbed her hand and we spun around as fast as we could. This got the super-mutants reasonably confused and we took advantage of the opportunity and I jumped on the back of the lion-shark one while Mica took the other one. I quickly searched through it's mane and found what looked like a computer chip embedded in it's skin. I yanked out the chip and was thrown off the guy when he let out a mighty roar of pain. He started to shrink down.
"Pull out the computer chip!" I yelled to Mica, who was still hanging on for dear life on the thrashing gorilla-alligator.
She quickly found it and pulled it out. She flipped off him as he roared with pain and started to de-mutate. Soon, all that was left of the super-mutants were a lion and a gorilla. They either had enough sense not to attack us or they were too tired. The lion went to lay down in front of a heating vent while the gorilla cautiously made it's way over to a potted plant in the corner and started to eat it.
We turned our attention to Shredder and Manon. Manon threw a smoke bomb at us and the foot soldiers attacked. I didn't mind the smoke. In fact, it confused the foot soldiers and that made them easier to defeat.
In a window in the smoke, I saw Manon sneak up on Mica and hit her in the side with his katana. I saw some sparks and blood fly out of the wound and then Mica's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell over, unconscious. I was enraged!! I attacked Manon and knocked him out with a few nasty cracks to his head with my chucks. I probably would have killed him if Raph hadn't seen me and held me back.
Raph was yelling at me to shut up and I was kicking and screaming. But, inevitably, I knew Raph was bigger and stronger than me, so I quit struggling. But I was pissed!! I don't think I had ever been that mad in my entire life!
Shredder knew he was getting his butt beat because of Manon's foolish mistake of throwing that smoke bomb, and he fled. I looked at Mica and my anger dissolved into dread and grief. Leo and Donnie drug Manon off to another room and Raph finally let me go. The minute he did, I ran to Mica and fell down on her, silently sobbing. I felt terrible.
I felt a light tap on my shoulder and Donnie saying to me "Com'n Mikey, it's time to go. The cops will be here soon." I got as much control of my emotions as possible and stood up, with Mica in my arms. I followed my brothers out of the compound and we headed for Mica's van.
***
I sat on the other side of the bed, opposite Mikey, checking on her vitals. Dr. Dini and I had taken turns sitting up with Mica and Mikey. For the last day and a half, Mikey had not left her side, except to use the bathroom. He stayed there day and night, only sleeping in short catnaps and only eating the food Mrs. Dini brought him. I knew that he blamed himself for not getting to her in time to stop Manon. As for Mica herself, she was still unconscious, and she had a few cuts and bruises. But Dr. Dini told me that Manon's katana had cut into the circuitry of the computer chip that enabled Mica to morph to human form, and that because of this, she would probably never be able to morph again.
"Look, Donnie, I think she's waking up." Mikey said to me. I looked to Mica just as her eyes flickered open. I called for the others to come in as Mikey helped her to sit up against the pillow.
"Well well well, look who finally woke up!" Raph teased as he entered the room.
"Hi Raph." Mica said to him with a weak smile and a groan.
"Hey smiley. You've been unconscious for quite a while now!" Leo said as he came in.
"Don't you do nothing but be unconscious, girl!" Mikey said to her, smiling broadly "I've only known you about a week and you've been out of it half the time!"
"Oh, sorry, Mikey!" Mica replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him and smiling "I'll try to remember that next time I'm feining consciousness"
"Mica, I'm afraid..." I began, figuring the sooner I broke the news to her about the morphing chip, the better.
"Mica!" Mica's mom came in and interrupted me "I was so worried!"
"Where's dad?" Mica asked her mom as she gave her a hug.
"Right here." Dr. Dini said as he walked in. I started to try and tell Mica about the morphing chip again but Dr. Dini gave me a look that clearly said 'not now'. So, I just sat back and relaxed. I figured that Dr. Dini knew how to break the news best. After all, he was her dad!
***
As I packed my bags, I reviewed the events of the last few days. The night I came out of my coma, my dad told me about the damage done to my morphing chip. We had decided the best plan for me was to go and live in New York. My parents would tell our nieghbors and my classmates that I had gone off to college. Because, in a small town like Tyndall, if a secret like this ever got out, we would never hear the end of it. It could be what put Tyndall "on the map". On the other hand, if someone saw a, or even a few, talking turtles in New York City and told people about it, most people would put it off to drunkenness or craziness. So, it would be better for me to live in New York even if it was "in a filthy, dirty sewer" as my mom had said in disgust before.
My dad was going to fly us all up to New York City so we wouldn't be too conspicuous using a commercial airline. Now I was packing up some things I thought I would need. Of course, I was bringing Darby. She was my cat (plus, if I left her here my dad had threatened to feed her to the dogs) Even though Mikey already had a cat, a male named Klunk, that prowled the streets and came to the lair for food. I thought they would get along just fine.
"You almost done, Mica?" Mikey asked, waking me up from my daydreaming by putting his arm around me.
"Yea," I said, looking around "Ya know, I'm really gonna miss this place."
"Hey, we can always come back to visit. It's not like you'll never see this place again."
"I know." I said wistfully "But I'm still gonna miss it."
"Let's go" Mikey said quietly and we walked out of the house hand in hand. As I walked out of the only life I had ever known and into my new life with my newfound friends, I had the feeling this was only the first of many changes that my new friends and I would confront. As I held Mikey's hand tightly, I braced myself emotionally and said a little prayer, knowing that this was only the beginning.....
THE END
A Cracked Shell Production.
Finally, without further adue...
"Enter:Micansana"
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...Oh...A wise guy. Huh?...
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...and if you buy now we'll inclu...
[CLICK]
....after these messages....
Michaelangelo sighed and turned off the TV. "There's nothing to do." he complained to me, his brother. My name is Leonardo. I was reading a book. A very good book in fact, and I didn't like being interrupted by Mike.
"Then find something to do." I replied, looking up at my brother's frowning face.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, go for a walk, read a book, clean your room, go get a pizza." I said, tossing out suggestions in hopes of getting him to stop whining and leave me be.
"Pizza!", Michaelangelo exclaimed, his face lighting up, "Kewl idea, later dude!!" and he grabbed his trench coat and left.
I smiled and shook my head, then sank back into my book, thankful for a peaceful evening at last.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the bad side of town, a meeting was occurring that could spell disaster for our four green friends...
All was quiet and dark inside the warehouse. The small shaft of light from the opened door provided me with little reassurance. My name is Micansana. I am a unique abnormality... a genetic hybrd. I am a humanoid turtle. I am also a part time ninja, but right now I was feeling more like a frightened little girl than a skilled, fearless ninja warrior.
I turned on a small lamp then shut the door. The lamp did little to penetrate into the dark shadows, but it's dull light did much to increase my fear.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as well as I could then turned and pushed a few buttons on a small keypad. A large screen lit up. It displayed the command <PLEASE ENTER ID#>. I typed in a series of numbers. The machine lit up and said <WELCOME NEW RECRUIT MICANSANA DINI5031 ESTABLISHING COM LINK WITH MANON>. The machine hummed and a man came onto the screen, he was handsome but had an evil glint in his eyes.
"Good evening Micansana, I assume you had a good trip." he said to me.
"Spare me the small talk Manon, and tell me what the hell I have to do to get this thing off and go home!!" I snapped back at him angrily, gesturing towards what looked like a small choker necklace.
"Fine, your mission, now that you are in New York, is to find, befriend, and help destroy these four treacherous criminals, then you will be free to go." The computer flashed and showed a picture of the criminals fighting some men dressed in black.
I gasped. 'They're... They're like me!!' I realized with a shock. Giving the picture a second, more thoughtful, studying glance, I thought to myself 'They're kinda cute, too bad they're criminals' I almost smiled. "They live in the sewers and are very illusive." Manon droned on, oblivious to my amazement.
"Wait wait wait." I interrupted him "The sewers? That's disgusting! Where the heck do you get your info? I think someone's feeding you a line of bull!"
"I assure you, Mica, our sources are very reliable. They do live in the sewers of this city, we are just not sure where. They have one downfall though, they love to venture into the upper world. Our spies believe they have the location of one at this very moment."
"Good." I replied, "But, if I'm going to mingle among humans, I'd better morph."
"That would be an advisable course of action." the jerk said "I must leave you now, good luck Micansana."
I studied the picture more carefully, noting the details. By the looks of their muscular, well toned bodies, I guessed they were into martial arts. Spotting what I thought was a katana sword strapped to one of the turtle's shells confirmed that fact. But what kind of martial arts? 'With looks like that, Ninjitzu sure would be helpful.'
I zoomed in on one of them. He had a nasty snarl on his face and was driving a pair of sai into a man dressed in a black gi's gut. I shuttered and moved onto the next one.
The one with the katana on his back had another in his hand I realized. He was neatly slicing off a man's head. Many bodies laid strewn around him, several of them were neatly decapitated.
I moved onto the ones near the edges of the battle. The first one I came to had a purple eyemask on. He wasn't doing as good of a job as the others, seeing as he was only using a wooden bo. But he seemed to be holding his own okay, with the help of the other turtle.
The other turtle was wearing an orange eyemask and had a pair of nunchacku stashed in his belt. He had a smirk on his face and was bashing two guys heads into each other and generally looking like he was having a party.
I nervously fingered my armbow, making sure the arrow cases were all filled.
'I'll definitely need luck... and maybe a lot more against these four.' I thought to myself as I morphed from my turtle body to a human one, 'These guys look real tough.'
"I'll have four large pizzas with the works." the turtle paid for the pizzas and then sat down to wait for them, unaware that he was being watched.
The door jingled as I walked in, I watched the turtle as I ordered a pizza. I noticed him watching me as well. I wasn't surprised. My human morph was rather attractive. In retrospect, I think it was more attractive than my normal form, comparison wise.
I finished ordering my pizza, then walked over to where the turtle was sitting and asked brightly "Do you mind if I sit with you while I wait for my pizza?"
"Uh...um...s-sure. Okay." he answered uncertainly.
"I'm new here in the city" I chattered on happily, playing the perfect bubbly valley girl, "I'm just a small town girl. My name is Mica. What's yours?"
"M-Mike." he answered, he was probably still uncertain whether or not to give me any information.
We talked for a few more minutes with my cheerful babble dominating the conversation.
When we both got our pizzas I asked 'Mike' to walk me home so I didn't get hurt or mugged. 'Mike' reluctantly agreed, still wary of me.
When he dropped me off, I went into the apartment building, morphed back to my true form, and then took after him, staying in the shadows. For in the time I had been with this 'Mike' I had caught enough glimpses at him under the brim of his hat to confirm that this was one of the 'criminal' turtles I was after.
The funny thing was that when I looked at him a strange feeling surfaced, almost........
"No!" I reprimanded myself vocally and then more quietly "No, you have to kill him. You will not get emotionally attached!"
Then I saw him go down a manhole 'Aha!' I thought 'So this is where we go. Boys, the jig is up!' I waited until he had gone in and closed the manhole before following him at a safe distance. But as I rounded a corner in the dark sewers I lost him. I took what I thought was the most likely tunnel that he would have gone down. I knew only too late that I was wrong. I felt something brush against my foot, saw a mist of gas, and everything went black.
As I returned to the lair with the pizzas I walked into the middle of chaos! One of the alarms was blaring loudly, and both Donatello and Raphael had rushed in.
"Whoa! What's going on?!?" I asked, surprised by all the commotion.
"My alarm went off." Donatello replied "Someone's in the sewers! They fell into one of the traps!"
"Probably a rat." Leonardo commented nonchalantly.
"I seriously doubt it, Leo. I've been refining my traps and...." Donatello began.
"Instead of staying here arguing about what it is, let's go and see what it is!" Raphael interjected.
"Sounds like a plan." Leonardo said, standing up and sheathing his katanas, "Let's get going." And I followed my brothers out to find the intruder.
"Whoa!! What is that?!" Raphael said as he saw the body, face down in the grime of the sewers.
"It appears to be..." Donatello said as he turned her over onto her carapace, "a turtle... a girl turtle!"
"Is she still alive?" I asked.
Donnie checked her pulse. "Surprisingly, yes she is. That gas was supposed to be lethal."
"What should we do with her?" Raphael asked.
"I think we should take her back to the lair. What do you think, Mikey?" I said, noticing for the first time my brother's silence and the way he stared at this turtle with a puzzled, yet somewhat entranced look on his face.
"Huh?....Oh.., yea, we should take her back to the lair, Leo." Michaelangelo said, snapping out of his 'trance'.
"Good idea." Raphael said as he leaned over and heaved her limp body over his shoulder, "Let's go."
When I awoke, I immediately felt for the small choker necklace and, finding it gone, I sighed with relief. Then I noticed where I was, 'What the...' I wondered. I was in what looked like an old subway car that had been modified into a hospital of sorts. I was hooked up to some machines and I still felt very groggy and I ached all over. Suddenly the door opened and a turtle with a purple eyemask walked in. I immediately went into defensive mode. I felt for my armbow, but it was gone! I quickly felt for my shuriken, but found them gone as well!! In fact, my gear had all been removed, including my dark olive eyemask. Now I was freaked!!! I decided to play the innocent and pretend that I had just woke up.
"Oh, good you're awake." the purple masked turtle said to me. I remembered him. The one with the bo, the not so good fighter "My name is Donatello. Would you mind telling me yours?"
"Micansana. Where am I?" I replied, thinking 'No use lying to them'
"In our lair." he replied.
"How did I get here?" I asked.
"We brought you here. You were knocked out by a gas that I put in one of my traps. You must have a pretty strong immune system. It was meant to kill. You've been unconscious for about two days now." he told me as I shakily got up off the bed.
"Two days!!" I exclaimed, alarmed, "Quick, where's that necklace?!?" I was in trouble with a capital T. I was supposed to check in with Manon! Who knew what he had done when I hadn't shown up!!
"Do you mean this?" asked a red masked turtle who had just came in with the necklace "Donnie took it off because it was cuttin' off your airway." I noted his sai, this was the one who had seemed so vengeful in his fighting.
"It was very hard to remove. What's it for anyway?" the purple masked turtle asked.
"I'll explain later, just give it here!" I said, lunging for the necklace and missing.
"No." the red masked turtle said, holding it out of my reach, "First, you tell us what it is and what you're gonna do with it."
"Fine." I said with a sigh of resignation. I didn't wanna get that red masked one mad at me. Plus, how would they know who Manon was. It was a good stall tactic. "I'll tell you." I sat back on the bed. "It's a communication device with Manon."
"And who is Manon?" a blue masked turtle asked, and I noticed, for the first time that he, as well as 'Mike', who was now wearing an orange mask, had come in. Also, what I could only describe as a mutant sewer rat in a kimono was now standing in the doorway. The rat surprised me. I was expecting the four turtles but no one told me about a rat.
"Wait." I said, "Before we go into this, do you mind telling me what your names are?" ... Another stall tactic. Plus, I was interested in learning about them, now that I knew they weren't as blood thirsty as Manon had made them out to be.
"Well, you already know that's Donatello, that's Raphael", the blue masked one told me, gesturing toward the turtle who was leaning against the wall fiddling with my necklace. It was then that I noticed the swords strapped to the blue masked turtle's back. So, he was the meticulous one. He was also, by the looks of it, the leader.
"and that's Michaelangelo", he continued, pointing towards the orange masked turtle who was sitting cross legged on the floor, staring at me quizzically. 'So,' I thought, 'he was telling me the partial truth about his name.', "and I'm Leonardo.", the blue masked turtle continued on, "and he", Leonardo said, gesturing towards the rat in the doorway, "is our sensei, Splinter."
"And my name is Micansana.", I said, and Michaelangelo sat straight up and glanced around nervously. "I believe," I continued, "that Michaelangelo and I have met already."
The others stared at Michaelangelo, who put up his hands and said "No way! That's a face I wouldn't forget!!!"
"Maybe I can jog your memory." I said with a mysterious smile. I closed my eyes and concentrated on morphing to my human form. I was almost done when I vaguely heard Raphael saying "Hey, she's trying to escape!!" and he barreled into me. Since I had already morphed my plastron, he knocked the wind out of me majorly. I scrunched up on the floor with pain, trying to breathe again. When I finally caught my breath, I stood up and eliminated the last elements of my turtle body. I shot a dirty look at Raphael and then looked to Michaelangelo, who was looking very surprised.
"M-M-Mica?!" he managed to stutter out.
"Yup." I said warmly, smiling at him.
"Oh, wow!" I heard Donatello mutter.
"I guess I should tell you my story." I said, and then I saw Splinter sit down and look straight at me. I realized when he looked at me like that it was almost impossible to lie, so I told the truth. I figured, why lie, no explanation of my origen would be less or more believable than the truth. "A few years before I was born, my mother was diagnosed with a rare, yet deadly, disease. They tried everything they could, they even moved from Hong Kong to America trying to find the cure. My father worked day and night in his lab, testing cures. Then, late one night, he found something that worked! He infused a small strand of box turtle DNA with her human DNA and the disease completely disappeared from her system! At first, her body seemed totally unaffected by the turtle DNA, but, later that year she became pregnant. From the very first ultrasound they could tell something was wrong with the fetus. It seems that it was developing both human and turtle characteristics. The doctors encouraged my mother to abort the baby, but she refused, saying that all life is precious. I was born later, only six and a half months into the pregnancy. I was warmly accepted into the world by my parents and I grew up on our farm in South Dakota. My mother taught me how to cook and she has always said that I am special and that I should never try to be anything I'm not. Meanwhile, I had started ninjitzu training at a very early age from my father. He insisted that it was part of my linnage. Also, unknown to me at the time, my father was working on a way that I could 'morph' into a human form, even if it was only for a short time. When I was four, he finally found something that worked. With a small computer chip, which he embedded in my shell, and immense concentration, I am able to erect a weak field which changes my body image to one with more human like features. I started school when I was five and I have gone ever since. That's my story. What's yours?" I finished and looked around at their faces. Leonardo had a look on his face that I couldn't read at all, Raphael looked skeptical, Donatello looked puzzled, and Michaelangelo... our eyes locked for a moment... I looked away, embarrassed. 'That look again.' I thought to myself, 'Stop that Mica!' "So," I said again, "What's your story?"
"Well..." Splinter began, and he told me the story of how he and the four turtles became mutants and how he raised and trained them in the sewers of New York City. As he finished I was startled by a loud buzz and Michaelangelo jumped up.
"Yes!" Michaelangelo said "Come on, guys! The pizza's ready!" I followed the others out of the subway car into their living quarters.
When I saw their 'masterpiece' I said "Uh... No offense guys, but I don't think my stomach can handle marshmallow and chocolate syrup pizza right now."
"None taken, just help yourself to anything in the fridge." Leonardo replied.
"Thanks" I said, and I went to the fridge and found something to eat. Then I morphed back to turtle form and went to sit with the others.
"So," Leonardo said to me "Just who is this Manon?" I noticed that Raphael had my communicator and was still picking at it.
"Well, I guess it was gonna have to come down to this anyway." I paused nervously and then continued, "I was sent here, by him, to try to kill you. But, as you can see, I am in no condition to even try, what with no weapons and being injured. But, even if I was physically able right now, I still don't think I could after all the kindness you have shown me. I don't know but you guys don't seem much like criminals to me."
"Criminals?" Leonardo asked, he and Splinter seemed to be the only ones who didn't seem completely shocked by my confession "Who told you we were criminals?"
"Manon." I muttered.
"Again with this Manon!!" Raphael said to me, and I could tell he was very annoyed, "Tell me who the hell this guy is!!!"
"Well," I began, "A couple of weeks after graduation, I was driving back to my farm and I turned on my radio. I guess some sort of knock out gas must have been rigged into my car, because, the next thing I knew, I was strapped to a table in a back room somewhere. My morph had been reversed, and I was back in my turtle form. A tall man, whom I later found out was Manon, was standing by me. He told me he had a job for me but I refused to listen to him or help him because I did not trust him. But then he threatened to hurt my parents and so I reluctantly agreed to help him. I couldn't take the chance that he could hurt them."
"But why you?" Leonardo interrupted.
"Because," I told him, "Manon's plan was that I would infiltrate your group and then lead you into a trap and, because of my appearance, I would be the best candidate for that kind of mission. But, after your kindness, I can see that Manon has lied to me. So, I come to you, not in secrecy, but in friendship. And I come to ask your help in destroying Manon and protecting my parents." I looked down as tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of my parents. 'Great Mica, cry,' I thought, disgusted with myself, 'like that's gonna help!'
Michaelangelo moved over and put his arm around my shoulders to comfort me. I looked slightly at him, surprised and nervous. I was hardly ever this close with human males, much less with turtle ones. Michealangelo said "I don't know about the others. But I'm willing to help in any way I can."
"I'd be willing to help too." Donatello said.
"I'll help you." Leonardo said quietly.
"I guess I'm in too." Raphael said, but he seemed skeptical.
"All of this will have to wait until morning." Splinter told us, "It is late and we all need our rest. Micansana, you may sleep in the subway car you woke up in this evening until we find a more appropriate place for you."
"Thank you Splinter, thank you turtles." I said good night and then went into the subway car and fell fast asleep.
True to my early bird nature, I awoke early the next morning. I went out into the living quarters and, to my surprise, found Splinter was already up and meditating. I didn't want to bother him so I went to the kitchen and started to make breakfast. I made pancakes and I was appalled when I found that they had no fresh fruit! When I turned to set the table I was startled to see that Splinter was sitting there watching me. He had come in so quietly that I had not even heard him.
"Good morning." I said to him, hiding my surprise at his presence, lest I do all of my training disgrace. I really needed to work on being more observant. "Do you like pancakes?" I asked.
"A bit." Splinter said, smiling, "I haven't had any in quite a long while."
"Well then," I said, setting a stack of pancakes in front of him with flourish, "you should have some."
After a few bites he said "These are delicious, Micansana."
I blushed and smiled happily "Thanks, it's my mom's recipe."
Just then Donatello and Leonardo walked in. Leonardo was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning. Both of their eyes lit up when they saw the pancakes on the table. "Micansana, did you do this?" Donatello asked.
"Guilty as charged." I said, smiling.
They sat down with Splinter and I as Michaelangelo came in, bright eyed and bushy tailed even this early in the A.M. Raphael came in after him and I could tell by his growly attitude and grouchy disposition that he was definitely not a morning person. They both sat down and ate pancakes.
"So" Leonardo said as he finished his breakfast, "Have you given any thought as to what we should do about this Manon?"
"Well," I said as I started to clear the table, "here's what I know about him. Number one, he's not doing this for himself, at least not totally. I saw him talking to some guy on a view screen, some nut in a metal mask."
"WHAT!?" Raphael practically screamed.
'Oh god, what did I do now?' I thought to myself.
"No, it couldn't be Shredder, could it?" Donatello said. I wondered what the ruckus was about.
Leonardo went into one of the subway cars and came out with a newspaper clipping and said "Is this who you saw, Micansana?"
"Yes! That's the guy who was on the view screen!" I said, while starting to do the dishes.
"Well," Donatello said, "If Shredder's involved it's sure to be something bad. What else do we know about this Manon?"
"He knows a lot about me, almost everything. He also knows lots about you guys, but not all. Also, he doesn't have enough forces to beat you four in a fight." I concluded.
"Hold up." Michaelangelo said, "How do you figure that?"
"Because" I told him, "If he could take you guys down with brute force, then he wouldn't have made me come here and try to deceive you."
"Makes sense." Leonardo said, "But we still don't know where to start."
"Start at the very root of a problem to overturn it." Splinter said with a quiet wisdom.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of it before!" I said, wiping my hands on a towel, "Manon's Headquarters!"
"But how will we find it?" Michaelangelo asked me.
"Easy." I told him "But I'll need a signal tracer, do you guys have any idea where I could find one?"
Donatello laughed and said to me "Come with me, Mica." and I followed him into another subway car, which he called his 'Lab'. I was amazed! That little room had a ton of stuff crammed into it!! It was messy, yet somehow organized. I recognized some of the gadgets but others were completely foreign to me. A lot of these foreign objects, as I would learn later from Donatello, were his own inventions. But right now, Donatello was busy rummaging through some things in the corner.
"Here it is." he said, holding up a device which I automatically recognized as a signal tracer.
"Thanks." I said, taking it from him, "Where's that necklace?" I looked at Raphael. He looked at Splinter, who nodded. He snarled then produced the necklace. I could tell he didn't trust me.
"Thanks, now let's get to work." I said and I sat down with Donatello and started the modifications.
"I think that should do it." Mica told me, "Let's turn it on and try it out."
"Okay." I said as I wiped beads of perspiration off my forehead and walked over to a table, "Tell me when you're ready." I told her.
"Okay, turn it on... now."
I flipped a switch and Mica's hands flew like lighting, turning switches and dials. I ran over to help her. Then we got it! A series of numbers flashed across my computer screen. I quickly shut down the rest of the equipment as Mica sat down and typed in codes.
"Here we are" I heard her mutter as she scribbled down some coordinates from the screen. Suddenly the screen went blank and all the lights went out.
"Oh man!" I said, "Another power failure!"
"We must have used too much energy. But don't worry, I got the coordinates before the computer shut down." Mica told me.
"I'll go change the fuse." I told her and I made my way over to the fuse box and did just that.
As soon as the lights came back on Mikey walked in and asked "Whoa! What happened?"
"We used too much power and blew a fuse. But I got the coordinates before the computer went down." Mica told him, then she motioned him over to a map on the wall and said "Com'n over here and help me map out these coordinates."
"Um...I don't really know how." Mikey said sheepishly.
"What!" Mica seemed shocked, "Then come over here so me and Donatello can show you how!"
"Um.. okay." Mikey said and Mica jumped up and pulled him over to the wall by his arm. I laughed silently to myself, remembering Mikey's comments to me just last week, when I had asked him if he wanted to learn how to map.
"Come on, Donatello! Let's get a going!" Mica told me impatiently. I walked over to the wall to help her map and show Mikey what we were doing.
I was in the practice room, exercising with master Splinter, when suddenly Michaelangelo and Micansana burst in.
"We got it! We got the location!" Michaelangelo told me. He had a huge grin plastered across his face and Micansana had one to match it. They both looked very excited. I was too, but I didn't show it as much.
"I thought you said you wouldn't have an answer until tomorrow." I said.
"I thought we wouldn't! But, thanks to Mikey's help, we got an answer way sooner than I thought we would" Micansana told me. Then she turned to Michaelangelo and said "Thanks for helpin' me."
"Aw.. it was nothing." Michaelangelo blushed as Micansana gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
I smiled at them, then asked "Well, where are the headquarters?"
"Well, when I found out myself, I was stunned." Micansana told me as she took out and unfolded a road map "See this?", she said pointing to a place she had marked out on the map, "This is a place right outside Tyndall, South Dakota. It's only a short drive from my farm! So, this is what I see we do. We fly into Sioux Falls and I can get a van from some friends I know there. We'll drive out to my farm because I want my mom and dad to know I'm all right. Then, we stay at the farm and plan what we're gonna do to Manon's headquarters from there."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Master Splinter said to her.
We drove into the dirt driveway at my farm. It was dark because it was already 11 P.M. When I got out of the van, I was immediately knocked down by one of our five large farm mutts. "Guys, quit that!" I laughed as they licked my face and knocked the others down too.
Suddenly a familiar voice called out "Sam! Misty! John! Tom! Red! You dogs come 'ere now!" The dogs backed off and as I stood up, I saw my dad. I ran to him and hugged him.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" he said with tears in his eyes.
"Where's mom?" I asked as I broke away from his embrace, misty-eyed as well.
"She's inside." Then, as if he was seeing them for the first time, he asked "Who is this with you?"
I started to answer, but was interrupted by my mom's joyful call "Micansana!"
I ran to her and embraced her "Mom!" I said tearfully, "I missed you so very much!"
"Me too." she said to me and then she broke away and looked at the others "Are these your friends?" she asked me.
"Yes, this is..."I said, starting to introduce them again.
"Oh, shush. We'll get to that later let's all go inside first." my mom interrupted, smiling and motioning for us to come inside. I smiled and went inside with the everyone else.
"Cookie?" my mom asked the turtles and Splinter as they entered. Both Mike and Don took her up on the offer and fished some cookies out of the bowl. 'Jeesh' I thought to myself, smiling 'Only my mom would think to offer cookies to mutant turtles!'
We sat down in the living room and I started to introduce them again "This is Michaelangelo." I said, pointing to Mikey, who was sitting beside me "That is Leonardo. That is Donatello. That's Raphael and that's their sensei, Splinter."
"But how could this happen?" my dad asked. Splinter again recounted the story of his and the turtles' mutations.
When he finished my dad glanced at his watch, "Whoa, it's past midnight. We need to get some sleep. We'll continue this in the morning."
"Okay." I said, getting up and stretching "Can they use the guest rooms, mom?"
"Sure." my mom said, yawning, "Goodnight." and she headed off to her and dad's bedroom. I showed the guys to our three guest bedrooms. Raph and Mikey took one, Donnie and Leo took another, and Splinter took the third. I ducked into Splinter's room and told him where the bathroom was and where the practice room was. He thanked me and I went into Donnie and Leo's room and told them the same info. Then, I went into Raph's and Mikey's room and told them. Before I left, Mikey gave me a big hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. I smiled and blushed a bright red, then I told them goodnight and left.
When I awoke in the morning I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 6:30 already. I knew Splinter would have already been up. I groaned a little as I sat up and put on my dark blue eyemask. I heard a creak and a groan across from me as Donatello woke up and did the same. I stood up and stretched then I headed for the practice room.
I glanced in on Splinter and found that he was indeed awake and in meditation. I closed the door quietly, so as not to disturb him and walked over to Michaelangelo and Raphael's room.
I opened the door to their room wide and found that they both were still snoring. After trying, unsuccessfully, to shake them awake, I decided they weren't gonna wake up and headed to the practice room with Donatello.
As I started to warm up I marveled at the size of the place. It had to be at least four times the size of our practice room at home and two or three times taller!
As I finished my warm-up exercises, Micansana walked in "Hi!" she said, looking around "Where's Mike?"
"Raphael and him are still asleep." I told her. Micansana looked shocked then she smiled mischievously and left the room. Donatello and I followed her, wondering what she was up to.
"What are you doing?" Donatello asked her as she went into her room.
"You'll see." she said as she came out of her room with this huge cat. This thing was the fattest little animal I had ever seen! "We're just gonna give Mike a little wake up call. Aren't we Darby?" she cooed to the cat, scratching it under the chin while it purred. She walked down the stairs to the room where Michaelangelo and Raphael were sleeping. She entered the room quietly. Very neatly she set the huge cat on Michaelangelo's sleeping face. Then she stood back to watch the action. And there was some! Michaelangelo let out a short yelp, waking up and throwing the cat off him (as anyone would do in that situation) unfortunately, the cat landed in Raphael's bed. He woke up with a start and threw the cat violently at Micansana, who caught it with a big grin on her face. He shot a glare at her and then stomped out of the room, muttering obscenities under his breath. I looked sternly at Micansana, trying to suppress a smile, but when I saw the look on her face, I burst out laughing, unable to stop myself.
"That..." I sputtered while laughing "That wasn't very nice."
When she finally stopped laughing she said "I better go apologize to Raph."
"What about me!?" Michaelangelo asked her, giving her a dirty look.
"You deserved it! After you threw a nerf ball at me when I was trying to drive!!"
"Well, let's call a truce, okay? Otherwise, Raph might kill us both!"
"Okay, okay, truce." Micansana said and they shook hands. I smiled at them. They had been doing this prank-pulling and mock fighting for the last two days and if I know my brother, which I think I do, that means he really likes Micansana.
I sat down at the breakfast table, starving after our grueling morning workout, in which Leo had apparently wanted to make full use of Mica's large exercise room. I sat next to Mica and said "Hey countrygal, this food looks good!"
"Don't look at me, cityslicker. My mom made it!" Mica told me.
I turned to Mrs. Dini and said "Mrs. Dini, this food looks delicouoso! Now I see where Mica gets her talent."
She smiled and said "Why thank you, Michaelangelo."
"Most guys would compliment a girl on her looks." Raph said with a snide smile "Take it from Mikey to compliment her cooking skills!"
I rolled my eyes at Raph then I heard Mica's little giggle and relaxed a bit. I finished my breakfast and then I looked over at Mica who was chatting with the others. 'She truly is beautiful.' I thought to myself. She had these black, almond-shaped eyes that seemed like puddles of darkness behind her dark green eyemask. She had this wonderful smile, this welcoming, warm smile with a hint of mischief in it. When I looked at her I realized that what I was feeling for her was love.
Then Leo said something that jolted me back to the conversation, "If we're gonna attack, it has to happen tonight!"
"Why can't we wait?" I asked him.
"Because the longer we stay here the more likely it is that Shredder will find out we're here." Leo told me.
"Well, yea. But what are we gonna do?" Raph demanded, "We can't exactly just walk in there and ask them nicely to surrender!"
"No you cannot." Mr. Dini said, "But you are ninjas and what does a ninja do best?"
"Of course!" Mica said, snapping her fingers, "We can sneak in and eavesdrop to find out what they're up to!"
"But how?" I asked, "We don't even know what this place looks like!"
"Well...." her face fell and she looked frustrated.
"I got it!" Donnie said suddenly, "You know that every building and structure has to have a copy of it's layout in the government files to get a building permit. So, that means there must be a copy of the layout of his headquarters in the government files!"
"And," Mica said, "I read in the paper that Tyndall just got their new site for files setup on-line."
"Perfect!" I said "Mica, where's a computer in this place?" The others looked at me, very surprised, especially Donnie, but Mica just smiled.
"Com'n, I'll show ya." and I got up from the table and followed her out of the room.
I was sitting on the floor in the back of Mica's van. I touched my sai for reassurance. Then I went over the plan once more in my mind. This afternoon, Mikey and Mica, with a considerable amount of giggling and horsing around, had found the layout of the whole compound online. We planned to sneak in through the ventilation system. But, we did not know how or even if the place was guarded. Mica had said she had seen some foot soldiers walking around but who knows what Shredder had up his metal sleeves to throw at us. As I went over the plan and saw the flaws in it, I was very glad we had the element of surprise on our side.
"Well, this is where we get out. Come on." Mica said, pulling the van onto the shoulder of the road and shutting off the engine "We can't go any farther in the van without chancing being seen." We snuck and crawled for a little while before we saw the first foot guards. We steered clear of them, not wanting to alert Shredder to our presence. Then, about a half of a mile after we saw the first guards, we breasted a hill and came upon what looked like a small army compound. The main entrance was well-lit and heavily guarded. Even the entrance we were going to take, a ventilation grate, had a foot guard pacing back in fourth in front of it. We snuck up by him, staying in the shadows.
"Better let me take this guy." Mica whispered. I agreed, if we wanted to keep this quiet, Mica's armbow was the best weapon, it was meant to be used as a long-range weapon. None of ours were meant for that.
She slowly brought up, aimed, and then fired her armbow. Her arrow flew straight at the guard. Then it silently exploded inches from the back of his head, releasing a gooey substance that encased his body before he had a chance to call out for help. The glue quickly hardened.
Mica walked up to him and poked to holes on the upper part. "There." she said with satisfaction "Now he can breathe. No need to kill him."
We crawled into the ventilation shaft and closed it behind us. Everything was going according to plan, we were almost to the room where we had assumed Shredder and Manon would be operating things from when we stopped.
"Why are we stopping?" I whispered. Then, I saw why. The vent in front of us was blocked by some kind of sheet metal. "What now?" I asked.
"Well, we can backtrack out of the building or we can get out here and risk going through a few rooms before the main one." Leo told me.
"We can't go back." I heard Donnie say behind me in a frightened tone.
Then I turned my head around and saw why. A wall had dropped behind us, trapping us! Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under us! We plummeted to the gymnasium floor below us. I fought for conciousness as I hit the floor, but the impact was too hard. I saw a flash of light, then lost conciousness.
"Why you..." I snapped back to reality in time to hear Mica shoot a long strand of curses at Shredder. All five of us were chained to the wall. Leo, Donnie, and Raph were still unconscious. But Mica was swearing and kicking and pulling against her chains to no avail. Foot members were swarming us like buzzards.
"Sir, that one has awakened." one of the foot reported to Shredder, pointing to me.
Shredder looked evilly at me. Mica quieted down and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Ahh, Michaelangelo, I am glad you are able to come see me." he said and then he walked over to me and delivered me a slap across the face with the back of his spiked gauntlet. He had cut me deep and I could feel the blood trickling out of the gashes on my cheek. My eyes narrowed and I growled a little but I managed to keep my cool. Mica did not! She swore and screamed and yelled and threatened Shredder. "Poor little Micansana," Shredder said in mock sympathy, "What are we to do with her?" As he moved within her reach, she bit him. His eyes flashed with anger and he left, slamming the door behind him.
A while later, Donnie, Raph and Leo had, one by one, won their battles with conciseness. A tall man walked in and I heard Mica gasp. "Manon!" she said then her eyes narrowed "Manon, you two-faced, weasel, jerk-face, liar! Traitor! Blackmailer! Asshole!" she fought against her chains fiercely, trying to get at him.
"Oh, Micansana." Manon said calmly, staying out of her reach, "Am I really the traitor? I am not the one who abandoned her mission and went with the enemy."
"They are not the enemy and you knew it!" Mica yelled at him, "You're a stinkin' liar and a cheat!"
He gave Mica a demeaning look then turned to talk to the foot guards. All but two of the guards left. Manon turned off the lights, "Now, you settle down, Micansana and take a nap." he said to her as he left.
In the dark I heard Mica swearing under her breath and I decided I did need some sleep. But, as I was closing my eyes I saw a small movement out of the corner of my eye. I drew in my breath and my eyes widened as both of the foot guards slumped to the ground, unconscious. I let out my breath in a long sigh as I recognized Splinter's and Dr. Dini's forms behind the unconscious guards. They worked quickly and quietly, freeing each one of us from our chains.
"What now?" I asked.
"We gotta attack!" Mica said urgently "Otherwise, Manon and Shredder are gonna release them super-mutants on the world! Shredder was showing me them before any of you guys woke up. That's why I was so mad at him, Mikey."
"This is a mission you must complete on your own, my sons." Splinter said to us.
"But dad, I want you to come with us!" Mica protested to her father.
"I'm sorry Mica, but Splinter is correct. We will be unable to accompany you physically, but we will be with you in spirit." Dr. Dini said to Mica, giving her a hug.
"Go now, my sons, the challenge awaits." Splinter told us.
"Return safely, my child." Dr. Dini said to Mica, and they both vanished into the shadows.
"Well, let's go." Raphael said, gripping his sai, he was obviously very happy to have them back. We snuck out and started down the hallway to the main room. We disabled the foot guards outside the doorway and entered the room. Unfortunately, Shredder must have heard our scuffle outside the doorway, because when we entered, he was ready for us. We were immediately attacked by the super-mutants. They were gross-lookin'! One of them looked like a mix between an alligator and a gorilla, eww. The other one looked worse, it looked like some kind of mix between a lion and a shark. They were both huge! Each of them was at least twice as big as one of us. As for how tough they were, let me put it this way, I broke a 'chuck on one of them, a metal 'chuck!
Needless to say, we were getting our butts whipped. Leo tried to reason with them, but every word was answered by an unintelligent grunt or growl and a fling of a fist that would send one of us sailing across the room. We could attack, but even our strongest attacks didn't scratch them! Leo's blades bounced right off them, and even Raphael couldn't touch them!
After being flung against the wall by one of the super-mutants, I was surprised to hear a loud bellow from one of them as Donnie, with a tremendous leap, broke his bo on the back of it's head. I looked over to Mica, who had been thrown against the wall on the opposite side of the room, she pointed up and I remembered a move that she had taught me in the practice room. I signaled the okay to her and got out my grappling hook and climbed up the wall. I threw my grappler toward the middle of the room and caught it on a pipe. Mica shot a mini-grappler out of her armbow and did the same. I gave her the signal and we both swung across the room. When we met in the middle I grabbed her hand and we spun around as fast as we could. This got the super-mutants reasonably confused and we took advantage of the opportunity and I jumped on the back of the lion-shark one while Mica took the other one. I quickly searched through it's mane and found what looked like a computer chip embedded in it's skin. I yanked out the chip and was thrown off the guy when he let out a mighty roar of pain. He started to shrink down.
"Pull out the computer chip!" I yelled to Mica, who was still hanging on for dear life on the thrashing gorilla-alligator.
She quickly found it and pulled it out. She flipped off him as he roared with pain and started to de-mutate. Soon, all that was left of the super-mutants were a lion and a gorilla. They either had enough sense not to attack us or they were too tired. The lion went to lay down in front of a heating vent while the gorilla cautiously made it's way over to a potted plant in the corner and started to eat it.
We turned our attention to Shredder and Manon. Manon threw a smoke bomb at us and the foot soldiers attacked. I didn't mind the smoke. In fact, it confused the foot soldiers and that made them easier to defeat.
In a window in the smoke, I saw Manon sneak up on Mica and hit her in the side with his katana. I saw some sparks and blood fly out of the wound and then Mica's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell over, unconscious. I was enraged!! I attacked Manon and knocked him out with a few nasty cracks to his head with my chucks. I probably would have killed him if Raph hadn't seen me and held me back.
Raph was yelling at me to shut up and I was kicking and screaming. But, inevitably, I knew Raph was bigger and stronger than me, so I quit struggling. But I was pissed!! I don't think I had ever been that mad in my entire life!
Shredder knew he was getting his butt beat because of Manon's foolish mistake of throwing that smoke bomb, and he fled. I looked at Mica and my anger dissolved into dread and grief. Leo and Donnie drug Manon off to another room and Raph finally let me go. The minute he did, I ran to Mica and fell down on her, silently sobbing. I felt terrible.
I felt a light tap on my shoulder and Donnie saying to me "Com'n Mikey, it's time to go. The cops will be here soon." I got as much control of my emotions as possible and stood up, with Mica in my arms. I followed my brothers out of the compound and we headed for Mica's van.
I sat on the other side of the bed, opposite Mikey, checking on her vitals. Dr. Dini and I had taken turns sitting up with Mica and Mikey. For the last day and a half, Mikey had not left her side, except to use the bathroom. He stayed there day and night, only sleeping in short catnaps and only eating the food Mrs. Dini brought him. I knew that he blamed himself for not getting to her in time to stop Manon. As for Mica herself, she was still unconscious, and she had a few cuts and bruises. But Dr. Dini told me that Manon's katana had cut into the circuitry of the computer chip that enabled Mica to morph to human form, and that because of this, she would probably never be able to morph again.
"Look, Donnie, I think she's waking up." Mikey said to me. I looked to Mica just as her eyes flickered open. I called for the others to come in as Mikey helped her to sit up against the pillow.
"Well well well, look who finally woke up!" Raph teased as he entered the room.
"Hi Raph." Mica said to him with a weak smile and a groan.
"Hey smiley. You've been unconscious for quite a while now!" Leo said as he came in.
"Don't you do nothing but be unconscious, girl!" Mikey said to her, smiling broadly "I've only known you about a week and you've been out of it half the time!"
"Oh, sorry, Mikey!" Mica replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him and smiling "I'll try to remember that next time I'm feining consciousness"
"Mica, I'm afraid..." I began, figuring the sooner I broke the news to her about the morphing chip, the better.
"Mica!" Mica's mom came in and interrupted me "I was so worried!"
"Where's dad?" Mica asked her mom as she gave her a hug.
"Right here." Dr. Dini said as he walked in. I started to try and tell Mica about the morphing chip again but Dr. Dini gave me a look that clearly said 'not now'. So, I just sat back and relaxed. I figured that Dr. Dini knew how to break the news best. After all, he was her dad!
As I packed my bags, I reviewed the events of the last few days. The night I came out of my coma, my dad told me about the damage done to my morphing chip. We had decided the best plan for me was to go and live in New York. My parents would tell our nieghbors and my classmates that I had gone off to college. Because, in a small town like Tyndall, if a secret like this ever got out, we would never hear the end of it. It could be what put Tyndall "on the map". On the other hand, if someone saw a, or even a few, talking turtles in New York City and told people about it, most people would put it off to drunkenness or craziness. So, it would be better for me to live in New York even if it was "in a filthy, dirty sewer" as my mom had said in disgust before.
My dad was going to fly us all up to New York City so we wouldn't be too conspicuous using a commercial airline. Now I was packing up some things I thought I would need. Of course, I was bringing Darby. She was my cat (plus, if I left her here my dad had threatened to feed her to the dogs) Even though Mikey already had a cat, a male named Klunk, that prowled the streets and came to the lair for food. I thought they would get along just fine.
"You almost done, Mica?" Mikey asked, waking me up from my daydreaming by putting his arm around me.
"Yea," I said, looking around "Ya know, I'm really gonna miss this place."
"Hey, we can always come back to visit. It's not like you'll never see this place again."
"I know." I said wistfully "But I'm still gonna miss it."
"Let's go" Mikey said quietly and we walked out of the house hand in hand. As I walked out of the only life I had ever known and into my new life with my newfound friends, I had the feeling this was only the first of many changes that my new friends and I would confront. As I held Mikey's hand tightly, I braced myself emotionally and said a little prayer, knowing that this was only the beginning.....
THE END
The next fic in the series is called "The Fire-Hunter Saga".
A Cracked Shell Production.
