Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles, or their minor characters. I do, however, own a Michelangelo sprinkler, because my roommates decided to indulge my geekiness and bought it as an early birthday present. It makes me so happy. (sniggers) Michelangelo makes me wet! ..ok, sorry. That was a bad joke.

Author's Note: Muahahaha. All you people thought that you'd see more of Adair! WRONG! (laughs maniacally) Instead of moving forward, every chapter in this story is going to go back further and further in time! So Mona Lisa's fate will remain unknown until sometime during the Misadventures Sequel. …Aren't I an evil evil person? Yes, this was planned. I'm not purposely holding back on you all, it's just how the story was supposed to go.

As for the time jumps, 'One year ago', is obviously… one year ago from the first chapter. The next chapter will be 'Eighteen years ago' which means eighteen years from the first chapter, not the second. And so on.
Mona Lisa Smile

Chapter 2

One year ago

The flashing red light was simply that; a flashing red light. There was nothing particularly special about the light, other than that it was red… and flashing. Mounted on the wall just to the left of the entrance to a private lab, it blinked on and off in a merry fashion as if it wanted everyone to take notice and say, "Wow… look at that flashing red light!" It did its job well. In fact, the flashing red light was doing its job so well, that the only man currently in the lab had been staring at it for the better part of two minutes.

It wasn't the first time the red light had started flashing in the last two years. False alarms weren't unheard of in the lab; there was never a shortage of fumbling interns that accidentally tripped over a security beam. Yet there was something different… something insistent about it this time. Or perhaps it was the fact that it was nearly two in the morning and, other than the security guard, no one was authorized to be in the building.

Professor Jordan Perry finally tore his gaze from the red light and looked over to a set of four monitors mounted on the wall near his desk. He couldn't see any movement as the screens flickered to different views of the multiple levels of the TGRI building, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Whoever 'they' were. Most likely they were some sort of hired guns or assassins. They'd want information from him, of course. But after he gave them what they wanted, he'd be useless. Professor Perry had no intention of giving them anything.

A beep drew his attention to the computer screens glaring brightly in the dim lab. Seventeen years of research had been wiped out of his databases while he was staring at the red light. Seventeen years of blood, sweat, and tears… gone. Just like that. The instant the light had started flashing and he'd felt that uneasy feeling, Perry had hit ten keys in a certain sequence and sent a virus racing through the system that cleared out all memory of the files and folders. He'd been planning for this day while at the same time praying to God that it would never come.

The lab itself was pretty secure. Professor Perry was sure that he had at least twenty minutes before anyone even found their way through the intricate maze of hallways and rooms that made up the 8th floor of the Research department. Even with the proper keycards and passcodes, it took nearly ten minutes to get to his lab from the elevators. Assuming they were using the elevators.

A black speakerphone sat on the desk next to the computer, and Professor Perry cautiously picked it up and listened for the tone, his gaze turning back once more to the security monitors. He heard the dial tone of the private line at the same moment a flash of grey moved passed a camera on the 3rd floor. Yes, they were definitely here.

He quickly dialed a number and pressed the receiver to his ear. While it was ringing, Perry reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He played nervously with the key while waiting for his daughter to pick up the phone.

"Daddy…?" A sleepy, but slightly panicked voice finally answered.

"Its happening, Mona. They're here." They'd been preparing for this for two years, in the hopes that it would never happen. He'd managed to keep his daughter safe for fifteen years, and then two years ago one of his colleagues had to go and get drunk with the wrong person and let slip that there was a mutant lizard running around, and Professor Jordan Perry knew where she was.

The house she was living in wasn't listed under his name, so no one had found her yet. In order to find Mona, anyone interested would have to find him first… so he'd stayed away from her. In the last two years, he'd only seen his daughter three times, and now… now he was sure he'd never see her again.

"D-daddy?" Her voice grew shaky, and Perry could already feel his heart breaking at the thought of losing his daughter. Or the thought of her losing him.

"Don't worry about me, baby… we knew this would happen, right? We knew…"

"No!" She said suddenly, her voice gaining strength. "No, dad… You're wrong. You've got to be wrong. It's… It's just a false alarm right? They didn't find you! Please… please tell me they didn't find you!" He wanted to tell her that she was right. God, he wanted to tell her that with all his heart, but he couldn't lie to her like that. He couldn't give her false hope.

They'd both known this day would come. He'd tried to hide his tracks; change his name. But he was too easily traced within the scientific community. Mona had begged him to give up his research, but he couldn't have done that either. He wanted to find a cure for her… his first experiment had failed; it had been too rushed, too hasty… too unpredictable. But he'd never given up hope that someday his daughter might be human again. Now though… god, now it would never happen. Now that he knew exactly how very little time he had left to live, Professor Perry realized how much he regretted not doing what Mona had asked. He should have given up the research and disappeared from sight. Protecting her should have been the most important thing to him, not curing her.

There was nothing like a good healthy dose of reality to make a man realize he'd wasted his life on something that wasn't nearly as important as he'd believed.

"Mona… baby… you know what you need to do."

"No! No, daddy! You can make it out, please! Get out of there! Come home, and we'll leave together!"

"Mona…" The panic in her voice broke his heart. "Mona, you need to be strong."

"I don't want to be strong; I want you to be with me! Don't leave me, Daddy, please!"

"The files, Mona… you hav-"

"NO!" She screamed. "No, I wo-"

"Mona Lisa Perry!" He shouted into the phone, much louder and much harsher than he'd meant to. There was a choked gasp from the other end of the line, then silence. He softened his voice, and then continued. "Listen to me, Mona. You know what you need to do. Destroy the files; get rid of all my research. Burn them, and then take my bank cards. It's not safe to stay in that house now, you know that. We don't know how much information they have."

"Daddy, please…"

"I love you, Mona. I always have, you know that, right? You've always been my baby girl…"

"I know…"

"Promise me you'll do everything you can to stay safe. Promise me, Mona."

"I… I promise…"

"You know what we've discussed… there might…" He sighed heavily and glanced at the clock on the wall. Not much time left. "There might be others like you. I can't be sure, but… there might be. Find them, if you can, Mona. If she did this to you, then she might have done it to others."

"Where do I look?" There was a pleading acceptance in her tone, and Professor Perry wanted to tell her everything would be fine… but he knew it wouldn't.

"Anywhere you can. I've given you enough information… You're a brilliant thinker and you're incredible with computers. If anyone can find them, you can. Just be careful, above everything else."

"I will, Dad… I'll be careful."

"Mona… I'm sorry I wasn't there…"

"Don't… don't say that. You've always been here when I need you… Will it… I mean… are you going to be ok?" The quiver in her words said everything that she didn't.

"I'll be fine… I'll be long gone before those bastards find me." A quiet sob met his words and he hushed his daughter softly. "Don't worry about me, Mona. I'll always be watching over you."

She sniffled softly and was silent for a moment. Finally, she whispered into the phone, "I'm going to find her someday, Daddy. I'll find her, and I'll make her suffer for what she did to you and me."

Perry smiled ruefully and looked at the key that he still held in his hand. "I have no doubt you will. Give that bitch hell for me." There was venom in his words at the thought of her, and as much as he hated to curse, the woman deserved it. Even in his death, he wouldn't forgive her for what was done to Mona. "I need to go now, Mona… are you going to be okay?"

She didn't answer right away, but when she did her voice was stronger and the stubborn streak she'd inherited from him shone through. "Yah… yah, I'm going to be okay. I love you, daddy."

"Love you too, sweetie."

He didn't want to hang up the phone. A small part of him was convinced that as long as he could hear his daughter's voice, then everything would be ok. But the blur on the monitor that had just stepped out of the elevator onto the 8th floor told him otherwise. When the phone was finally settled back into its cradle, he took the key he'd been toying with and unlocked the bottom drawer of his desk.

From inside that drawer, he pulled out a small grey box and set it on the desktop with a smell metallic thump. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the lid and stared down at the light blue liquid that glistened in the light of the computer screen. The syringe was resting on a soft foam square, and there couldn't have been more than five drops of liquid inside. It was almost triple the amount needed. But Professor Perry didn't want to leave any room for error.

Delicately lifting the syringe from what almost looked like a small metal coffin, he saw the irony there. Once the needle was under his skin, there was no turning back. No antidote… not that it would matter. Even if there was an antidote, there would be no time to administer it. The poison was fast acting, and there was enough of it in the syringe to drop a horse.

There was a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye, and he jerked his head up. They were here already; faster than he'd expected and standing outside the bulletproof glass that served as a door to his lab. He could see two men, but there were most assuredly more than that roaming around the building. The weapons they carried looked like something out of a futuristic sci-fi movie, and he didn't doubt how effective they'd be at breaking down the door.

His lips spread into a slow smile and he held up the syringe. One man started shouting to the other, and though he couldn't hear the words, Perry was sure he understood the gist of them. Before they had time to blast through the door and stop him, he brought the needle to his arm and shoved it in. It slid in smoother than he would have expected, and he pressed the plunger down and injected the poison into his body. Within an instant, he could feel a tightening in his arm, and it rapidly spread to the rest of his body. There was a warm, almost pleasant burning sensation in his veins, and he leaned back into his chair, letting the now empty syringe drop to the floor.

A sudden blast of light surrounded him, and he wasn't sure if it was caused by the explosive effects of the men's weapons, or if he was finally seeing proof of the clichéd 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

Either way, it lasted for only a moment, and then Professor Perry's world slowly faded to black.

End Chapter 2

After the fic notes: Ok, and the other character is (now obviously) Professor Jordan Perry from the second movie. And before anyone asks, yes, Mona Lisa is his biological daughter. (See, this is where the whole twisted background thing comes into play). And to re-state, he has never met the turtles, and has no idea they even exist. The 'others' he talks about are other people that were mutated, who may, or may not come into play during the Misadventures sequel. I haven't decided yet. And the mysterious 'she' in this chapter? Muahahahaaha. You'll find that out soon.

Notes to my Reviewers:

These are going to be kind of short this time, because I'm rather tired, and want to get the chapter posted before bed. (EDIT: Apparently when I say 'short', I mean 'the same size response as normal'. So much for getting to bed early)

misterfooch: Hehe. I wasn't sure how many people would remember her! But I always thought she was adorable and desperately wanted her to end up with Raphael! And I just loved that little pink scarf she wore. So I thought she'd be a good addition to my story arch. :)

Dierdre: Mona Lisa rules! I can't state often enough how cute I thought she was. And she will definitely play a part in Misadventures! And considering how she's now a captive of Adair in the current timeline… and Adair is possibly after Austin as well… Hmm…. I just wonder how the two of them are going to meet up… (evil grin)

Reluctant Dragon: I'm actually trying to decide if I want to buy the old cartoons on DVD. They're releasing them slowly (I think the first two seasons are out), but the Mona Lisa episode isn't available yet. As far as I know, that is. And I've been unable to find any good screen caps from the show. There's a little bit of fan art scattered here and there, but not very much. sigh More people need to learn of the cuteness that was Mona Lisa.

Buslady Of SoCal: Oh, I totally agree. She and Raph should have made out and become the cute little couple we all wanted them to be. She was such a little flirt! (ponders how the reaction between Raph and Mona Lisa will be in the Misadventures universe). Oh, this could get interesting. Because we all know that Austin is going to be very jealous if someone tries to make a move on her man.

Reinbeauchaser: Muahahah! You'll notice that I sidestepped THAT little issue by conveniently going backwards in time, rather than forwards. (evil little grin) Adair shall not make a physical appearance in this story either. Although, by the end of Mona Lisa Smile, there will be another character that you'll hate just as much. I know I do, and I haven't even written her yet.

Pretender Fanatic: Haha! Actually, you DON'T get to meet Adair yet! Because I'm evil and wanted to tease you all. (grins) And as for the Mona from the cartoon, she was pretty much just like I described her in the first chapter. Green lizard girl (with a yellow front/belly), and brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. And she always wore this little pink scarf around her neck. She actually reminded me of a 50's poodleskirt girl… without the poodleskirt… or the blouse… or the saddle shoes. ...so.. uh… yah. Hope that made sense. My Mona Lisa does wear clothes though, because she still has certain (ahem) human parts.

sporksareweird: Ahh, the timeline question. The first chapter takes place right about at the same point in time that Misadventures ended. And you'll soon discover that Adair actually didn't have his hand in this twisted little project. Someone else equally evil and disturbing was responsible for Mona Lisa's mutation. …I really need to stop making these evil twisted characters that people hate. Soon they're going to outnumber the amount of good characters I have. In fact, one of my bad characters is currently a 'good' character… y'all just don't know it yet. …Oops! I said too much! My bad!

The REAL Cheese Monkey: Hehe. As soon as Mona Lisa Smile ends, then I'll start posting the sequel. I think I've finally just decided to call it "Further Misadventures (of the Mentally Unstable)", for lack of a better title. :)

Chibi Rose Angel: (points to the above responses for more descriptions of Mona Lisa and information on the Misadventures sequel) Hehe, sometimes you just tired of typing the same thing over and over. So I'll be mean and make you wade through all my comments. Oddly enough, one of the characters I miss most of all from the original series was Irma. I loved Irma… she was so spiffy. All geeky and clumsy and unlucky in love… reminds me a lot of myself. Hehe.

Trillian4210: I didn't know about the double-header thing, and I don't think I ever saw the "Lost Episode" one you talked about. …I very much want to go back and see it now. Cause I'm such a geeky fangirl. Part of me cringes at how corny the old cartoons were compared to the new ones… and the other part of me is just like "Turtles! Any shape or form, it DOESN'T MATTER!"

And yes… you bring the thing I wondered if anyone else would catch. (grin) Raph, Mona Lisa, and Austin… gonna be a bad combination, isn't it? Heheh

Isis-Lament: I thought over a lot of characters, and almost went with Venus. I've never actually watched the Next Mutation series, but I did like the idea of a girl turtle. Then I remembered Mona Lisa! And figured she was an even better choice! I like the idea that she used to be human, instead of lizard. And she was just so dang cute.