Disclaimer: I don't own Mona Lisa, or Professor Perry. Or the other two characters that are obviously not mine. Lee Tamako is my creation though.

Author's Note: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Not much is happening at this point in time, but what is happening is extremely important. …At least to me. If y'all don't think so, then pooey on you.

Two more familiar characters will pop up in this chapter (hint hint). But I don't know if I'll use them in Misadventures or not. But watch as I completely twist around yet ANOTHER two backgrounds to fit my needs. …I seriously think my universe makes way much more sense than the real one though. …But I'm also insane.

Mona Lisa Smile

Chapter 3

Approximately eighteen years ago

"Jordan?"

Professor Jordan Perry fingered the pen idly in his hand as he stared off into the nothingness that looked an awful lot like a printed spreadsheet tacked onto the lab wall. There were numbers and equations typed on the paper that very few people in the world could actually decipher; and despite having been staring at it for the last half hour, Perry had yet to read a single line of the sheet. It's not that he couldn't understand it... on the contrary, he understood it much too well. He'd written it, as a matter of fact. The notes scribbled all over it in his own handwriting were almost as unintelligible to other people as the equations themselves.

The past three years of his life had been dedicated to the results that now hung on the lab wall and that were also sitting in five large canisters on the far side of the laboratory. There were twenty more canisters sitting down in a locked and secured vault, two floors below.

"Jordan?"

Oblivious to the voice speaking to him, Professor Perry started tapping the black Bic pen on the surface of his desk as he thought of his daughter. The girl was seven years old now, and every day she grew more intelligent; more curious. With that curiosity though, came a desire for companionship and more than just a father could provide. Mona needed friends. She needed to go to school. She needed her life back. For three years now, she'd been sheltered away from society; a mutated child that had done nothing wrong to earn the horrible fate that had been forced on her. Jordan Perry loved his daughter; that would never change. But he longed for the day when she would be human again, and didn't have to live in fear every day of her life.

Not that she lived in fear now. She was happily oblivious to how the world would view if her they knew. Mona remembered being human… but she didn't understand what had been done to her. After finding his daughter again and stealing her away from the lab she'd been a prisoner in, Perry had tried to make her life as normal as possible, while at the same time searching for a way to reverse what had been done. Reverse the treatment and make her human again.

And that answer might lie within the codes and equations of the paper in front of him.

"JORDAN!"

He dropped the pen to the desk in surprise and shook his head to clear the fuzziness of his thoughts away. Turning toward the voice that had been calling for him, he stole a quick glance at the glowing canisters lining the wall.

"Yes, Lee?" The calm tone of his voice seemed to almost reprimand the harsh volume of his colleague's.

"You've been staring at that paper for almost an hour! We need to make a decision."

"I just need more time, Lee."

Professor Lee Tamako sighed heavily and shook his head. "You've had two months. We've been through this before, Jordan. It's either going to work, or it isn't. But we've both agreed if you're not going to use it, it needs to be destroyed."

"I need to be sure… if it's going to hurt her then I just can't…"

"There's no way of knowing what it will do to her, Jordan. You've run every damn test you can think of a hundred times, and the results are just too random. You want my opinion? Get rid of it. It's too dangerous of a substance; too unstable. We need to start fresh; we need to proceed from a different angle."

"And what do we do with them?" Jordan gestured to a small playpen that had been erected in the corner of the lab. There was no movement from inside, but they could both make out the sleeping forms of the two infants that lay inside. "We can't just… kill them."

Standing slowly, Jordan moved the black pen away from the edge of the desk where it wouldn't roll off. His cloth covered shoes made very little sound on the hard laminated sound as he moved closer to the little play area. It had been hastily erected by himself and Lee when they'd realized what was happening with the test subjects, and so far they were the only two who even knew of the creature's existence. Although Professor Perry could hardly think of them as 'creatures' anymore. They were infants. Children. And thanks to the glowing green ooze in the canisters on the far wall, these two children were destined to be mutants, just as his daughter was. The only difference being that it was because of his daughter that these two existed.

The green formula that he had hoped would restore Mona's humanity had indeed given human attributes to the two test animals in what resembled an amazing evolutionary leap. But what would it do to Mona? He just didn't know and was afraid to test it on her. After all she'd already been put through, how could he justify doing anything more to Mona when he wasn't sure if it would even work?

The unexpected, yet amazing results of the first test were something to be proud of; something that would earn him worldwide fame and fortune if ever made public. Going public, however, was the last thing on Professor Perry's mind. Tamako was right… the evidence needed to be destroyed. The files erased; the ooze destroyed; and the children… the children would need to be hidden away somewhere where they could live their lives in peace and safety. But where? That was the question that had been burning in both Professor Perry's and Professor Tamako's minds. Where could they hide two human-like animals where they'd be protected, and not feared or hated?

"I never said we needed to kill them." Lee stood from where he'd been sitting at his own computer and walked over to join Perry as he looked down at the infants. "I've been thinking… I have a cousin in Japan."

There was a soft whimper and a shifting of blankets. A small green hand appeared from where it had been buried beneath the coverlet and Jordan reached down and softly hushed the little girl. Fatherly instincts had taken over the instant he realized that in a way… these were his children. The last two months had been filled with many sleepless nights as he and Lee tried to care for the babies as best they could. They were smart, and growing exceptionally fast; too fast. The mutations had occurred almost overnight, and had continued for a few weeks. Now though, their small bodies had seemed to finish changing, and they resembled small humans with animal characteristics, much like Mona.

The little girl was a turtle. Small, green, bald, and unbearably cute. A love of art had prompted him to give Mona Lisa the name that he had… and it had inspired the name of his newest 'daughter' as well. Little Venus de Milo hardly resembled the Grecian goddess that shared her name, but the name had just seemed to fit her somehow.

"He follows old ways… living out in the country on a small farm." Lee continued when Perry didn't speak. "The only other human contact he has is a supply cart that travels to his land once a year. Other than that… his home is completely isolated. He's surrounded by forests and mountains."

"Can you trust him?" Perry knew exactly what was being offered without Lee having to spell it out for him. And there was no where else he could think of that would be safe for his two children.

"Yes."

Jordan nodded softly and smoothed the blanket over the hard carapace of the sleeping Venus. He reached across the pen and retrieved a small stuffed panda from where it had fallen away from its owner and replaced it in the small furry arms of Venus' companion. If Venus was his daughter, then the small white rabbit boy was his son. Having mocked Jordan's choice of name for the turtle, Lee had insisted he should be allowed to christen the boy rabbit. Usagi had been named for an ancestor of Lee's, and Jordan realized at that point he and Tamako would never agree on proper children's names.

"I think I've been away from home too long…" Lee said softly. "I'll hire out a private boat, and get them to Japan and stay with them for as long as I can, until my cousin fully understands what's going on. He'd never turn them out… he's a good man."

Watching the two infants sleep, Jordan sighed and shook his head softly. "Promise me you'll keep them safe, Lee. Promise me that, and we'll destroy the rest of the experiment. I'll find another way to help Mona."

"I swear it, Jordan. They'll be safe."

Almost as one they turned and looked at the green mutagen on the far side of the lab. Professor Perry closed his eyes and composed himself silently for a moment, then nodded to his colleague. "Call the trucks and have them come out immediately. Have them take all twenty-five canisters to the disposal facility. Make sure they get every single one. I'll take care of the computer records. Let's bury this little secret."

"Shit!"

"What?"

"We lost one. One of the canisters must not have been secured properly! We must have lost it when the back door flew open! Dammit, Fred, I told you to check that lock!

The two drivers glared at each other for a second before realizing the severity of the situation. A hazardous waste canister from the TGRI labs had been lost somewhere on the somewhat wild ride through New York City… and they had no idea where it was.

"Shit." Repeated the first man. "Shit. Shit. Shit. They'll have our jobs over this! We don't even know what was in that thing."

"Gimmie the paperwork." The second man said, thinking fast. "How many canisters do you see back there?"

"Twenty-four."

"Me too. How many did we pick up?"

"Twenty-five, o'course. What, you think I'm dumb?"

"Yes. Because I only remember picking up twenty-four." The man holding the delivery sign-off sheet smiled slyly and made a few marks with a pen. "And now this says we only picked up twenty-four. They might have someone's job, but it won't be ours."

Comprehension dawned on the first man's face and he smiled as well. "Yep… Twenty-four. That's how many we picked up."

"Right you are, Gary. Twenty-four."

Elsewhere in New York, four baby turtles had just started to crawl around in the shattered remains of the TGRI canister, and Professor Perry's little secret was about to grow a lot bigger.
End Chapter 3

Reviews are much appreciated! Please take a moment to leave a comment: good, bad, ugly, whatever. Any flames will be laughed at and then I'll roast marshmallows over them.

After the fic Author's Notes: Holy crap. I had to force this chapter out. I got stuck halfway through and just couldn't put down what I needed to. I seem to be having writer's block lately, and I'm trying to snap myself out of it.

(giggles insanely) Yes. Venus de Milo and Usagi Yojimbo are now part of the Misadventures Universe. Because I felt like it, and it's my story and I can do it if I want to. So there. And now you know how the mutagen came into existence. So really, if it weren't for Mona, the turtles wouldn't have been mutated. Interesting, huh? I thought so. I wonder if they'll ever meet up and figure it all out…?

BTW, for those who follow Misadventures, I finally posted the Soundtrack to the LJ.

Notes to my Reviewers:

Reluctant Dragon: Yes, I do tend to leave lots of questions unanswered don't I? (reads over the chapter) Not so many here though… except for 'whatever happened to Venus and Usagi?' The world may never know!

misterfooch: As you can see, I've decided to rewrite Venus' origin as well. I'm hoping I can play with her more in the future and bring her into my world more fully. We'll have to see though. :) Since I never saw Last Mutation, I'm going to have to fudge her characterization a bit though. I want to keep everyone as true to form as possible, despite changing backgrounds.

Reinbeauchaser: First off, I was glad to get your e-mail! I'd been keeping your son in my thoughts and sending well wishes out to him. I'll continue to do so, as long as it's needed. :)

As for your review: (snickers) 'smell metallic thump'. I almost like that better, just cause it's kinda funny. But yes, indeed, it was supposed to be 'small'. My bad. :)

I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long! I felt so bad that I just couldn't get this chapter out. Hopefully the next one will be easier. (I posted a notice to the LJ about my work schedule changing. I'm not sure how it's going to affect my writing, but hopefully I'll be able to work something out, and still get chapters posted on time, so y'all don't have to wait as long.)

Trillian4210: (grins) Oh, I've got lots of little plots floating around in my head for the interesting relationships that will form between Austin, Mona, Raph, and Don. …And that's all I'll say about that right now. Don't want to give too much away. ;)

Isis-Lament: Yes, I'm a bad, bad person. Because you won't learn Mona Lisa's fate until Further Misadventures gets published! Muahahah! Don't worry though. I've only got 2 or 3 more chapters to go on Mona Lisa Smile, and then the sequel will be posting! Alas, that was not what I was referring to when I said y'all would hate me. There's something much more… um… interesting in store for my characters. Sooner or later. I'm so vague, it must be frustrating. :)

And as for the 'her' mentioned… you'll find that out next chapter!

Chibi Rose Angel: As far as I know, Professor Perry was created just for the second movie. At least, I'm not aware of him existing in the comics or cartoon. I don't know if either of them had family, so I decided just to make them father and daughter in my universe. So don't worry, you weren't mistaken! I just like confusing people is all!

kaya lizzie: Yah, I see a lot of people don't remember Mona Lisa very much. But she was only in one episode, which made me kinda sad. It was like, "Hey! Another mutant!" and then… you never hear about her again. (sighs) Oh well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! And I'm glad you're still reading my stuff! (beams)

Dierdre: Ack, don't feel bad about reviewing. I still haven't done like.. what, 5 chapters of yours? On the positive side though, I haven't read them yet either. If you can count that a positive… I didn't want to read them until I was sure I'd have time to review, and well… I haven't had time yet! I haven't read any fic in like… two weeks! And it's kind of depressing! I miss my turtle fix! I'll need to get on that soon. I've missed some good stuff from the looks of things…

Anyway, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! Like I said before (somewhere), life has been getting in the way lately, so I've been slacking. (new boyfriends will do that to you) Hopefully I'll get on the ball though, and get things rolling soon. I'm itching to start Further Misadventures, hopefully soon!

Thanks everyone!