Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning and headed for the bathroom to wash my face. I stumbled down the hall in a clumsy manner as though my legs weren't working properly. I turned on the light and squinted in its brightness as I made my way to the sink. I splashed my face with water and blindly reached for a towel. As I dried my face I looked up at my reflection in the mirror.

"AAAAAHHH!" I screamed.

My face was no longer that of a young woman, but rather a very large fox. I heard footsteps hurrying down the hallway. Apparently I had woken the whole household up. Buffy shouted as she whammed on the door.

"Faith! Faith, are you okay?"

I leaned against the door as she turned the knob and began to come in. "No! Don't come in!"

"What's wrong?" she asked.

I sighed. I knew there was no point in trying to hide it. They were going to find out sooner or later. "Okay, you can come in. But, it's bad. Very bad." I opened the door slowly.

"Faith I've seen you when you first wake up. It's not so... HOLY SHIT!" she shouted when she saw what had happened to me.

"Oh my God..." April said in shock. "How did this happen to you?" I told how I had followed the thieves, and of how they were using the animals for some sort of experiment. "Faith, did you come in contact with any green slime?" I told her the rest of the story and how I became an involuntary test subject. "Wait, did you say Professor Perry? As in Professor Jordan Perry?" I nodded. "Dammit! I knew there was more to it than he led me to believe!"

"You know the guy that did this!" I demanded.

"I did a report years ago involving his company burying toxic waste. I had a feeling he wasn't telling me everything then," she sighed in frustration. "I need to make a call." She went over to the phone and dialed a number. "Raph? It's April, is Donnie there? Don! Listen, I have a big problem. A friend of my niece's came into contact with some of our favorite green glowing ooze, and well... you should probably have a look at her. Okay, we'll be right there." She hung up and came over to me. "Come on Faith, I'm taking you to meet some friends of mine, they'll know what to do."

"And just how the hell am I supposed to go out looking like this?"

I was fitted with a disguise that consisted of a trench coat, loose jogging pants, and a scarf to conceal my snout and ears. I tucked my long bushy tail down my pants leg as best I could and headed out the door with April. She stopped at the sidewalk and took a look around before opening a manhole. I asked her if she was out of her mind when she told me to get in. She explained that this was the best way for me to travel in order to avoid drawing attention to myself. I climbed down the ladder and found myself right below the street in a corridor used to service water pipes and electric wiring. April walked ahead of me like she knew exactly where she was going. We stopped after a few minutes and she said that I would have to be blindfolded the rest of the way. I of course argued, but complied. She led me by the hand until we reached our destination. I was helped down a ladder by someone.

"There you go," they said. "Is this her April?"

"Yes. Can you help her Don?"

"I'll need to run some tests and see if I can come up with an antidote to get her back to normal, but it will take some time."

"Okay hold on. Who the hell are you, and where the hell am I?" I demanded, still blindfolded.

"I'm going to take this off Faith, but don't be alarmed, these are my friends and they'll help you." she removed the blindfold.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision and adjust my eyes to the dim light of my surroundings. I jumped back into my fighting stance when I saw a giant turtle standing before me.

"Whoa! Take a chill pill lady!"

"Faith, this is Donatello, one of my friends," April said.

"How many friends like this do you have?"

"Well there's me, my three brothers and our sensei," Donatello said. "Come on out guys and say hello!"

Three more turtles appeared and joined Donatello. "Whoa, what a fox!" a turtle with an orange mask said.

"Easy Mike, she may bite," the one wearing a red mask said.

"Will you guys knock it off!" the turtle in blue ordered. He stepped forward and extended his hand. "I'm Leonardo. These nut jobs are my brothers Michelangelo and Raphael."

I looked him over before taking his hand and shaking it. "I'm Faith."

"Give the lady room to speak my sons," an elderly voice called. The turtles parted and in walked a rat on a cane. "There is much we need to discuss."