"Kara? What's going on? W-Who are these..people?" Her mother, Rachel, asks in a low, nervous voice while looking around the room seeing four turtle humanoids, a girl, a man, and her daughter.
Kara rubbed the back of her head and gave a nervous chuckle. "Hehe...surprise...eh." She took a deep breath and looked to her family. "Mom..dad..Sara..these are my friends. They're...mutants..except those two..who are obviously human.." She groaned beginning to feel very awkward and looked over to Mr. O'Neil who walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder before smiling. "Hello, my name is Kirby O'Neil. That is my daughter, April." He said while gesturing her over who followed his lead and smiled. "Hello." They all shook hands, introducing themselves and Kara sighed feeling the atmosphere become less heavy than it was; but it still felt awkward.
"My daughter befriended yours after she saved our lives with the help of her other friends." He said moving his hand to show the boys standing in a line, Donnie waving nervously towards them, Mikey smiling, Raph just standing awkward, and Leo standing straight with a small smile.
"These guys saved my life." Kara started moving towards her family and smiled brightly. Her mother blinked in surprise as she grabbed her hand and went to pull her towards them to meet them. She hesitated at first but seeing her daughter full of joy that she went along with it and stood in front of them. "H-hello.." She said nervously, her husband standing right beside her protectively.
"H-hello. My name is Donatello." Donnie said first, wanting to make a good impression and bowed his head while rubbing the back of it. He gave them a weak smile, showing off his gap before stepping back as the others introduced themselves.
"My name is Leonardo and these are my brothers, Raphael, and Michelangelo." He said wih a smile.
"Why do you have weapons?" Her father asked with his arms crossed staring at them.
"Oh um-"
"-They've been trained in ninjitsu and you'll never guess by who dad!" Just as she was about to tell them Master Splinter comes into view.
"Why has everyone stopped celebrating?" He stops seeing Kara's family but his eyes stop on her father, Kevin.
Seeing the walking, talking rat it was the last straw of her mother. She froze up before fainting. "Ah! Mom!" Kara caught her before she fell but her father took her and gently laid her down on the ground. He sighed softly running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Kara...after everything that happened today..it's going to take a while to get use to your new..friends."
"Dad, listen..I found Hamato Yoshi.." Kevin looks at her in surprise just as Master Splinter walks up to him. "It has been a while, my friend.." Kevin stared at him for a bit, recognizing his voice and slowly stood up. Kara stood up as well and moved to Master Splinter's side and smiled. "Dad, it's him..It's Master Yoshi." Master Splinter looked at his old friend and smiled some, motioning to the dojo. "Would you like some tea?" Kara nudged her father towards him and gave him a pleading look. "Please.." He sighed but nodded as they walked away to talk. Kara smiled thinking this would be a good thing and looked over seeing her sister still at the entrance. She looked worried wondering if Sara would accept them.
She looked down but blinked in surprise when she felt a hand on her head and looked up seeing Sara and smiled some as she walked over to them.
Sara smiled and held her hand out to the turtles. "Hi, I'm Sara, Kara's sister." Michelangelo stared at her with wide starry eyes. "No way...its Sara! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" He runs into his room, rummaging through his already messy room. Kara smiles as the others introduce themselves. Mikey came back with a CD asking for her autograph. Sara laughs at his childish behavior and goes to sign. "Nice to meet a fan."
Kara opens her eyes and smiles once her memory had finished before glancing down to her balcony able to hear her mother and father talking about the turtles and Master Splinter; having a feeling Master Splinter talked to him and changed his opinion on them but her mother was still hesitant. Sara seemed to like them so there was some good news. She sat up wanting to go see them but wasn't sure if they would allow it or not when Sara walked onto the balcony, lighting a cigarette. She climbed down beside her, smiling. "Hey, Sara. I want to go see the guys and was wondering if you could tell mom and dad.."
"I got it. Go have fun." Sara said with a smile, the end of her cigarette lighting up. Kara hugged Sara tightly before climbing the rooftop again and jumping from building to building surprising Sara. "Wow, that's cool." She muttered under her breath, her cigarette almost falling out.
Kara could hear the guys whooping and hollering excitedly. She grinned and saw them up ahead before landing on the ground safely. "Phew, I'm getting good at this." She said before walking up to them hearing Mikey go on about a cheese demon.
"If we didn't stuff him in that microwave the earth would of be drowned in living cheese!"
"For the twenty second time Mikey." Rah started getting annoyed about it, "There was no cottage cheese demon. Ever!"
"Did you see him?" Mikey asked with his arms crossed, looking away from Raph.
"No!"
"Then how do you know? Huh!"
Kara giggled seeing Raph at a loss for words and smiled as he decided to go along with Mikey. "Aw, you guys having fun without me?" Kara said while walking up to them. "Kara!" They shouted with wide smiles as she hugged everyone and kissed Donnie.
"How did everything go with your parents?" Leo asked all of them running the rooftops.
"My dad seems to have a better understanding about the situation, good thing Master Splinter talked to him or I doubt I would of never been able to get him to trust you guys. It's also a good thing they know each other. My sister seems to like you guys though, hopefully we can all hang out." She smiled thinking it would be cool to have her sister around more and was acting giddy just thinking about it.
"Your sister likes us?!" Mikey exclaimed getting stars in his eyes.
"Yeah, she thinks you're cute." She laughs as Mikey starts bragging about it. She laughs more and jumps onto the abandoned movie theater sign and pushes off of it, doing a wide flip towards the other building and grabs the edge, lifting herself up and over with ease.
"Hey, you guys wanna go see April?" She heard the guys skid to a halt at Donnie's question and looked at them curiously. "We are one point three blocks and six..no, seven meters from her apartment."
"How do you know this?"
"Yeah, that's not weird or anything, Donnie." Kara looks at Donnie with crossed arms, squinting her eyes suspiciously as Donnie rubs the back of his head and starts stammering his excuse but smiles and shrugs. "Guess it's just your dorkiness coming out, huh?" He moves next to her, she kissing his cheek before they head over to April's "So you guys haven't seen her yet? She comes to visit all the time now though mainly during the day..don't see her as often at night anymore." She looks down in thought as they land on her apartment fire escape staring down at the people going on with their lives and wondered if they're worried about being seen. Hearing Donnie knock on the window she turned back just as April opened the window, immediately hopping on to his back, "Party gram for April O'Neil." She grinned with a wink making Donnie smile wide.
"Guys! Um..great to see you! Yeah um..do you mind staying on the fire escape?"
"It seems like you've been avoiding us, April." Kara blinks in surprise at the news and looks to her friend wondering if it was true.
April sighs and sits against the windowsill. "It's not my fault...dad's alien abduction nightmares are getting worse. He's so freaked out he won't let me out at night." Kara hops off Donnie's back and sits down next to her before looking up seeing Mr. O'Neil enter the room. "I'm sorry, April..it's just..what if the Kraang are still out there? Waiting...lurking..I'l do anything to protect you." Kara could see the determination in his eyes and smiled softly at the fatherly love.
"Dad, I can take care of myself now and I'll be with the guys. I couldn't be more safe."
"Trust in us, Mr. O'Neil. The guys and I will protect your daughter with our lives." She looks at him with her serious face and when he smiles, showing he trusts in them, she smiles back.
"Yeah, Shredder and those squishy little brain freaks are looong gone." Mikey added in.
"Totally." She said, fist bumping Mikey before leaving with April.
"You guys go ahead, April and I are gonna get some pizza. We'll meet you back at the lair!" She said while dragging April away.
"Woo! Pizza!" Mikey shouted as they headed back home.
After they ordered Kara sat with April while they waited for their food and sighed. "Ok, you know Donnie and I are going out, right?" Kara asked looking over at April who smiled excitedly and nodded. "It's pretty obvious, yeah. I'm happy for you two. You guys make a cute couple." Kara blushed deeply and tugged on her cap some. "Aw, shucks...how should I tell my family? I mean, you saw how they reacted when they first saw them..I'm scared they're not going to let me see them anymore."
"Relax, Kara. How they reacted was perfectly normal they just need to get some time to know them and I'm sure they'll approve. I mean, come on, when I first saw them I screamed in Donnie's face." They looked at each other and laughed. "How did you react when you first saw them?" April asked curiously.
Kara looked down in thought, remembering the day as if it was yesterday and smiled some. "I was surprised..but also intrigued..I don't get to do much outside my job because I'm scared people will discover me and yet when I saw them..it was something completely new and different..it was exciting." She said with a big smile on her face. "I don't regret meeting them..I haven't had this much fun in ages." April smiled softly at Kara before looking up as their number was called. "Oh, don't worry. I got this." Kara grinned sheepishly as she took out her wallet and paid for four pizzas and left.
"You sure you don't need any help, April?" Kara asked making their way underground to the lair, April carrying all four pizzas. "Nah, it's ok. You paid for them so I can at least carry them." Kara shrugged but smiled as they saw the lights to the lair up ahead. She could hear some commotion inside and wondered what the guys were up to.
Before they could take a step inside they were almost hit by a large, flying ball. Luckily, Kara moved April out of the way in time before it hit her. "Hey!" They shouted together. "She's carrying precious cargo here, be careful!" She made sure April was ok before taking the pizzas to the kitchen and decided to grab a slice before walking out hearing Raph and Leo arguing about whose out.
She looked up watching Donnie enter the room looking ticked. "What're you guys doing?!" He asked just as the large ball bounces around him.
"Playing dodgeball, fool." Mikey said just as the ball hit him in the gut making him fall over. "Ouch.." Kara muttered with a full mouth while watching Donnie catch it with ease without looking. "With the Kraang communication orb?! This is a rare and fragile piece of alien tech you guys can't just-"
"Eh, don't get your shell undies in a tangle, Donnie. The Kraang are toast."
"Yeah, lighten up dude. This is a paaartay! Woo!" Kara chuckled at Mikey, eating another pizza slice and looked over just as Master Splinter entered the room. She bowed her head and smiled at him.
"My sons, I know you are still joyously reveling in the defeat of our enemies, but a great question remains."
"What if cupcakes could talk?" Kara looked at Mikey and sighed, smacking her forehead with her hand.
"Are our enemies truly defeated? The Shredder is a crafty and patient foe who bids his time."
"But Sensei, you said Shredder lost whatever sense of honor he had left. We'd never see him again." Leo said looking at him.
"Yeah, and if he shows up we got it all taken care of." Raph said while whipping out his sais, twirling them with ease.
Kara looks towards Master Splinter then the guys. "This doesn't seem like it'll end well.." She jumped when Master Splinter shouted something in Japanese. "Oh snap, things got real.."
"You four have become lazy, overconfident. You shun your training. This party ends, now!" He slams the end of his jade stick to the ground making the brothers stand at attention and bow.
"Can we still eat the pizza?" She asks as Master Splinter leaves but when he doesn't reply she continues on. "I'm still going to eat the pizza." She said stuffing her mouth happily.
"Well, that was kinda harsh." Mikey muttered joining Kara's side to chow down.
"Maybe Master Splinter's right. Maybe we are getting too cocky" Leo wondered aloud.
"Ha! It's not cockiness when you've got the skills to-woah!" Raph didn't get to finish his sentence cause the communicator started beeping and flashing.
Kara got up and walked over to them, April beside her and looked at the orb. "That things working again?"
"It's been quiet for weeks. Must of reached an incoming signal which can mean..only one thing." Donnie said in a low voice.
"Cupcakes can talk!" Kara looked at Mikey and sighed, shaking her head before looking over at Leo. "The Kraang are back."
"Guess the party really is over." Mikey said in disappointment. Kara patted his head and smiled some. "Hey, at least you can show off your new skills." She smiled more seeing him grin before entering Donnie's lab.
Spotting Metalhead Kara runs over and hugs him, smiling. "Oh, I've missed you buddy! Look extra cute today!" She rubs her cheek against the side of his face and blinks, hearing someone clear their throat and looks over at Donnie who was just staring at her along with Leo and April. "We'll continue this later." She whispers to Metalhead and goes over to them not before giving Metalhead a kiss on top of his head.
"Anyways, the encryption is tough to crack but it seems like the Kraang are transporting some kind of cargo." Donnie started typing in his computer and a picture of the stealth drone popped up and she sighed, knowing it wasn't good news. "Ah, using the stealth ship!"
"We gotta find out what that cargo is." Leo said.
"So, how do we track a ship that turns completely invisible?" Raph asked curiously.
"We can cover it in honey so that it attracts bees? Then we follow the bees." Mikey smiled proudly at himself making Kara smack herself on the forehead again.
"Riiight, we'll just need to buy thousands of honey jars and then go looking for the ship to pour it on, if it doesn't keep moving on us." Kara said her voice full of sarcasm.
"Well, then what're we waiting for?!" Mikey shouted glad to see someone on his side making her smack her forehead once more. "I was joking, Mikey. We can't do that plan. "
Donnie shakes his head and holds out a remote device. "We track it with this. It's a line to the radar dishes we placed throughout the city. It'll create a triangulating pulse that'll-"
"-English, professor brainoff." Kara grins at Raph before looking back at Donnie who gives him a look before continuing. "It will detect the Kraang spaceship. April, can you stake out the rooftops and feed us the ships coordinates?"
"Me? I don't know anything about radar!"
"What about your dad?"
"My dad? He barely lets me out of the house anymore. He's never going to go for this."
"Please, April. Your dad's a scientist. We really need his help." Kara felt sorry for Donnie having to beg.
"...I'll...I'll see what I can do." Kara pouted at April and placed her hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could help..but I already made plans with my sister tonight. Afterwards I'd be more than happy to help you with the stake out." Kara followed April out the lair and went their separate ways.
"You know, mom and dad were reluctant on us going out but I gotta say...this isn't a bad town." Sara said walking beside Kara each carrying a bag of items they bought at various stores; Sara having her hair up and was wearing a hat to cover her head, leaving her bangs down to cover her left eye.
"Yeah, just wait till we go to this place April showed me. It's Called Murakami's Noodle Shop."
"Noodles? I thought you didn't like Chinese food cause you couldn't eat with chopsticks." Sara chuckled remembering her first attempted at them and ended up breaking them. "Well! A friend showed me how!" Kara blushed, puffing her cheeks angrily. Sara laughed and looked down at her sister seeing the angry look fade to a thoughtful one."You know..you're pretty close to those turtles, one in particular, the one with the purple mask..what's his name?"
"D-Donatello.." Kara blushed softly, smiling as well.
Sara knew that look and smiled, putting her arm around her sister. "Don't worry, I won't tell mom. I'm happy to see you happy. In fact...I'm happy that you found something worth living for." She whispered the last part under her breath and when Kara gave her a look she smiled more and placed a cigarette in her mouth. "So where is this place? I'm starving!"
"It's just up ahead!" Kara shouted excitedly, dragging her sister into the noodle shop.
After a feast on noodles and Pizza Gyoza, Sara and Kara walk out of the shop full and satisfied. "That was an interesting dish. Combining Italian food with Chinese? That was incredible!" Sara said in amazement.
"Ha! And you were too scared to try it. Another one bites the Gyoza!" Kara grinned triumphantly but stopped seeing the stealth drone ship in view and wondered if they were doing ok, watching it fly like it was out of control.
"What was that?" Sara asked seeing it as well.
"I'll tell you soon, I promise. Let's just head home for now. I'm getting pretty tired." She gave her sister a weak smile.
Sara nodded and followed her sister not before glancing back where she last saw it.
"How can you like that stuff? It smells disgusting." Kara said, scrunching her nose waving away the cigarette smoke her sister was breathing out like a dark cloud.
"It relaxes me." Sara said with a shrug and grinned as her sister ran ahead of her the hotel coming into view. She looked up seeing a glowing jar falling towards Kara. She dropped what she was carrying and ran at her, "Kara look out!" She pushed her out of the way in time for the canister to hit her instead; spilling glowing goo all over her and making her spit her cigarette out. "Ugh, what the?..Kara?"
Kara stared in horror at her sister "No..." She watched her sister's body begin to change, her eyes glowing as her clothes began to slide off or more so; her body fading through the fabric, her skin turning black and soon a smoky grey. "Sara...Sara!"
Standing where her sister once was now a smokey figure that was looking at itself. "Sara?.." She took a step towards Sara whose head snapped in her direction, her eyes glowing brightly, frowned, and furrowed her brows before screaming and going for a punch, her arm separating from her body and flying towards Kara, hitting her square in the stomach. She gasps, feeling the air get knocked out of her, falling to her knees and gripping her stomach in pain. "Sara..it's me..your sister.." She coughed, uttering what words she could through the pain and looked up at Sara's smoky form that stood above her reaching her hand up and moving her hair to uncover her eye and saw Sara's figure stop and look at her, "K-Kara?" Her voice sounded different as if it was fading away. Once she regained her senses she looked down at her hands then to her sister, "Kara..I'm so sorry.." She bent down and went to help her up but when their hands made contact Kara's went through her own. "What the...what's going on? What happened to me!?"
"Sara! I'll explain everything but first we need to get you to the guys, come on!"
Reaching the lair, she saw everyone there and sighed in relief but noticed Donnie pacing so she ran in out of breath. "Guys..you have to help me." She rushed to Donnie and hugged him tightly. "It's Sara! Some mutagen fell on her and now...look.." Sara floated into view and the guys looked at her in surprise. "Woah.." was all they could say. "Can you do something about this?" She asked Donnie, almost pleading for him to know something.
"Sadly, Kara, you're not the only one whose loved one has been affected...Mr. O'Neil has turned into a bat creature and..I seriously don't know what to do..heheh..I'm close to freaking out right now." Donnie said in a panicky voice. Kara looked at Donnie in shock and lowered her head. "Poor April..how is she doing?"
"She was kidnapped." Mikey said.
"Wait..what?! We gotta go save her!"
"Kara...please tell me what's going on." Sara was hugging herself head lowered. "I'm usually calm about things but..I don't know what's going on..why I'm like this..please..I need answers..I'm..scared." She lifted her head eyes filled with fear making the brothers feel guilty.
Kara's breath caught in her throat at her sister's pain and threw her arms around her for a hug but instead fell through her body and onto the ground. Leo went over and helped her up, hugging him instead, squeezing him. "I'm sorry, sis, I'm so sorry.." She said through tears. "I'll tell you everything..." Leo looked down at Kara, gently rubbing her back wishing this hadn't happened to either her or April.
When she stood up Master Splinter came into the room, she walking to him. "Master Splinter..I need to use your Dojo.." She explained the situation with Sara and he nodded, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry for all of this, my dear, but we will get through it." She nodded and smiled, leaving into the dojo with her sister while Leo asked Master Splinter about lost pets or something.
Kara sat down in front of Sara and breathed in deeply. "It all started one night after my job..." She began to explain everything from the Kraang, Shredder, admitting her feelings to Donnie, even her work. It felt like hours till she was finally done and all Sara did was stare at her, not speaking a single word. "Sara..?" She lowered her head, looking down at her lap.
"So, all of this time..you've been keeping a secret,a huge secret, from your family? I know we don't see each other a lot but...I thought we were close..thought we could tell each other everything.."
Kara looked down, tears running down her face and sighed. "I didn't know how to tell you..I didn't like keeping this from you but I was scared you wouldn't believe me or keep me away from them. I love them, they are like a family to me..and fighting..it's my passion. It's something I'm good at that I did by myself, something that is my own and not dad's..or yours. I love this life..it's the most fun I've had in so long..I don't have to hide who I really am..and I don't want to lose it."
Sara looked at her sister and sighed softly. "I would never keep you from doing what you love..your friends are nice..I can see how much they love and care for you too. I would be a horrible sister if I did that..I know they need you right now so go to them..I'll be fine here by myself." Sara reached over and for a sec was able to wipe the tear from Kara's face but when she tried again, she faded past her.
Kara nodded and smiled at her sister before running out the dojo just as Master Splinter walked in. "You know, she talks about you a lot. She cares deeply for you."
Sara nodded to Master Splinter and smiled. "Same goes for you, sir."
"Please, call me Splinter."
Kara was running after the guys and Mr. O'Neil; able to see them in the sky and tried her best to keep up but they were flying too fast and it looked like they were fighting. She breathed in deeply while yelling in her head to run faster, her legs moving faster and was starting to catch up with them, letting out a noise of suprise seeing one of them fall on top of a building. Thinking everything was ok she followed after the guys until they landed in a building but was unable to pinpoint which for they were too far away. "Argh, come on!" She ran faster till the strap to her shoes broke, stumbling to the ground. She sat up, holding her head, shaking it before throwing her other shoe off and ran bare footed. After arriving in the area she noticed a broken skylight and smiled, thinking they were in there and eventually found an unlocked door and opened it hearing them talk.
"Oh, it's all my fault. If I hadn't lied to dad.."
"Listen," Mikey started. Kara blinked seeing him in a strange butterfly costume but continued listening. "Don't blame yourself, April, it's our fault. We spilled the mutagen. We'll fix it."
"What.." April said with wide eyes. "Y-you guys spilled..the mutagen?"
"Yeah, we accidentally unleashed all that mutagen all over the city but, don't worry, we'll get it back."
"Y-you.." April turned to the guys, full of anger, Mr. O'Neil snarling at them from behind her in a cage.
"I swear..by darwin's beard..we will cure him." Donnie said his eyes full of sadness.
"You mutated my father!" April shouted in anger while Mr. O'Neil roared behind her. As if fueled by her rage he broke free of the cage and flew around going for April but Donnie smacked him causing him to fly away.
Donnie went to reach for her but she snatched her hand away. "Don't! Don't touch me! You keep away from me! I never wanna see your faces again!" April yelled angrily before running off.
Kara stood frozen in place just staring at them. "It was you guys...you did this..?"
Donnie turned around, eyes wide, to see Kara staring at them in complete shock.
"Wait, please listen," Donnie started, taking a step towards her but she took a step back. "I...I need some time to think.." She reached her hand out behind her, grabbing onto the door handle and quickly turned around but before she could leave Donnie was behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "Please..please don't be mad at me." She squeezed her eyes shut, tears falling down her face with clenched fists. Leo and the others gathered around and hugged her close as she began to sob quietly. "I..I can never be m-mad at y-y-you guys.."
They arrived back at the lair, Donnie holding Kara close who was now sleeping in his arms.
"This is all very grave news..very grave news indeed." Master Splinter said aloud, stroking his beard.
"I can't believe this is happening...poor April...poor Kara." Donnie said, looking down at her, gently stroking her cheek.
"Do not dwell on the past. You must find every last canister of mutagen. You must search every street, every park and playground, every building and rooftop before we have even more mutants on our hands."
Sara looks through the crack of the dojo at her sister and could tell she had been crying some more but watched as Donatello stroked her face and took care of her. Even after hearing it was their fault she couldn't be mad at them...they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sara looked down at herself before standing up and floating out of the room. "I will help you..you can experiment on me to find a cure for your friend and I. Hearing your story..I forgive you..perhaps it was fate; perhaps it was a mistake. Regardless don't blame yourselves..there are things that we have no control over."
Leo and the others looked at Sara in surprise but smiled some at her willing to forgive them. "Now, where shall we begin?"