A/N: Shout out to my beta, Ravenshell!

Chapter 59

My arms and legs feel like cement when I try to move them. When I shiver, water dashes against my plastron. I open my eyes to investigate and find myself in a tub of cold water. An erratic snore startles me out of my thoughts. Turning to my left, Leo is wedged between me and the commode. Leo doesn't snore unless he is drop dead tired. I guess I have myself to thank for my brother's current exhaustion. Flashes of feverish memories rush to my mind as I remember being grabbed and held by several hands before being forced into ice-cold water. And the pain in my shell was excruciating.

Shifting in the tub, I notice for the first time the water is murky and marred with a reddish tint. Was I hurt? I wince. The pain in my shell is still there but has simmered down to a dull ache now. Stretching out my cramped legs as much as I can in the short tub, my toes brush against something. Reaching my hand in the tub, I grasp around something thick and rough. I squeeze it and gasp shortly after with dread when I realize I can feel the pressure from my touch.

My heart races and my breaths become short as I lift my hand out of the water, pulling the discovery with it. It's a tail. I pinch it to confirm it is attached to my body. To my regret and discomfort, it is.

"L-Leo," I whisper his name, barely finding the strength to deal with my current predicament. Shaking his shoulder with urgency, I call him again. "Leo!"

"Wh-what?" Leo jerks awake, the back of his head hitting the wall before he looks at me in shock. "Oh, no...no, no, no. I didn't mean to leave you in there! You're probably freezing!" Leo goes into mother hen mode as he scrambles to his feet, grabbing a towel.

"Leo!" I yell as loud as my tired voice will allow. He snaps his attention back to me. "I have a tail."

He frowns at me. "We all have a tail..." He trails off slowly, obviously nervous about my mental state.

"No. I have a tail." My agitation and fear are seeping through despite my best efforts to stay calm.

Leo's eyes widen when I gingerly hold up the tail in my hands from between my legs. "Oh...okay, okay. He motions his hands in a way that's intended to keep me calm, but it's not working. He pulls the drain plug and we both watch as the bloody water swirl down the drain. I let the extra appendage drop lifelessly to the bottom of the tub.

"Leo, I can't feel my legs." How did I not notice before?

Panic flashes in his eyes for only a second before he switches into leader mode. "Okay. On the count of three, I'm going to pull you out," he gives me a heads-up as he tucks his hands under my arms for a firm grip. "Ready?" I nod dumbly still taking everything in. "One, two..." On three, Leo heaves me out of the tub and I promptly land on top of him as we both tumble to the floor. My newly acquired tail is still partially lapped over the edge of the tub.

The lower part of my carapace is sore where the tail sprouted from. Leo wiggles from beneath me and we both get a good eyeful of my tail. The base of it is thick before it tapers off to a slender end. I'm thankful when pins and needles erupt from my legs as I wiggle the feeling back into my toes. Leo noticed too and sighs with relief as he starts patting me dry with the towel. He holds my face between his hands as he says something I assume is comforting because I can't hear his voice over the static in my ears. I mutated again, this time growing something from my body that was never there before. Yes, I've always had a tail, but not like this. This…this tail belongs on something much larger. So do these feet, these talons, this feral behavior…

"Donnie, breathe." But I can't. My stomach flips twice before bile rushes up my esophagus. Leo lifts the lid just in time for me to lean over and throw up in the porcelain bowl.

"What the shell is going on in—aw, sewer apples." I can hear Raph vocalize his shock as I start dry heaving.

I return home to find a shift in the atmosphere. Something has happened. No one is in the den but I hear muted voices near the bathroom. Turning a bricked corner, I see Raphael taking up most of the bathroom doorway with Mr. O'Neil and April trying to peer around him. Michelangelo has found a gap between his brother's arm and the doorway to squeeze half of his body through. This leaves Leonardo and Donatello who I assume are currently in the bathroom. I quicken my pace as a thousand fears run through my mind.

Mr. O`Neil's look of awe and April's countenance of pity greet me first before Raphael sees me and steps away from the door.

"Sensei, you might wanna take a look at this." At Raphael's mysterious statement I step into the bathroom where Leonardo is hovering over Donatello. Leonardo looks at me before quickly lowering his eyes in guilt that I do not understand.

Donatello being sick is something we have all sadly become accustomed to. However, upon further observation, I see what everyone is out of sorts about.

"Whoa. Donnie has a dinosaur tail." Michelangelo approaches the obvious with his usual candid innocence.

Ushering Leonardo out of the way, I kneel in front of my son as he settles from his rebellious stomach. "Let me see," I instruct Donatello. Leonardo has steered the small audience at the door back into the den to offer us some small means of privacy. Turning his back to me, my eyes trail the end of his tail all the way to its base. His tail is much thicker than mine. "Does this hurt?" I ask as I press firmly along its length. He shakes his head 'no' until my fingers press at the base. He hisses and his tail defensively thumps the floor. His tail is red with irritation at the base where it runs against the bottom cuff of his shell.

"How...how bad is it?" he asks tentatively.

I pause. The growth of his tail has ruptured the bottom of his shell. I fear his shell will not tolerate much more abuse of this nature. "Your carapace is cracked at the base. It is rubbing against your tail." I try to keep my response as neutral as possible.

"Oh." I can hear the resignation in his voice despite my efforts not to alarm him.

Retrieving ointment from the medicine cabinet, I gently massage it over the raw area. Seeing Donatello's cracked shell reminds me of the moth cocoon from the sewers. "Donatello."

"Yes, Sensei?"

"I think perhaps in our diligence to cure you, I have mistakenly made your suffering far worse than it should be."

"What do you mean?...If it weren't for you and everyone else, I would have given in to this mutation."

"And that, I believe, is where my error lies."

"I don't understand...you want me to give up?"

Stroking my beard I try to express this new revelation. "Perhaps the key is not in stunting your mutation but in allowing it to develop." For the briefest of moments, there is a light of understanding shining brightly in his dark brown eyes, but in that same instance it also vanishes, leaving worry and confusion in its wake. My worry begins to weigh in when Donatello continues to stare blankly at me. He frowns as he mentally tries to grasp for something that is just out of his reach.

"Donatello, are you alright my son?"

Shaking his head roughly out of his fleeting thoughts, his focus returns. "I was just trying to remember something….something about my mutation. I...I think it was important."

"I am sure when the time is right, it will return to your memory. In the meantime, consider my words: just as a caterpillar must complete its metamorphosis, you too must complete yours." He is quiet, a solemn expression on his face as he gives thought to my advisement. I only hope I am not erroneous in my advice again. I must trust my intuition and this—no matter how absurd it sounds—feels right.

Since Donatello has grown too large for his bed, my sons and I gather all the blankets and pillows in the middle of the pit. This latest mutation has tired Donatello and he has fallen asleep while we prepared his bed pile. With a bit of effort, I carry Donatello to the pit of pillows and blankets refusing assistance from my other sons. The boys settle around their sick brother cushioning him on every side, something they have not practiced since they were young.

"How much are their shell anatomies like an actual turtle?" Mr. O'Neil asks me as April says goodbye to the boys. Much to April's dissent, her father and I agree it is best for them to return home, instead of creating suspicion with their absence above ground.

"Nearly identical. Why do you ask?"

"A turtle can't live without its shell. If Donatello's shell continues to crack it could be fatal."

He brings up a point I have spent many nights pondering about. I am well aware the completion of his mutation could heal him of his current anguish or kill him in the process. "Without a cure, the best we can to do is treat his symptoms, keep him comfortable, and have faith he will survive the transformation."

There is a respectful silence between us, one father to another before he and April leave the lair.

After a bit of finagling with the landlord, I was able to strike a four night deal to stay in the apartment complex right across the block from the O'Neil's apartment. Sitting on a floor near the window, I surround myself with crime scene and suspect photos as well as the latest forensics reports. The lights in the O'Neil home flicker on at 11pm.

"Where have you been, Kirby?" I mutter to no one in particular. I'll be sure to drop by tomorrow and question his whereabouts. Agent Bishop feels like this case is huge and ties into some serious events over the past year. The giant mutant rat infestation, predatory squirrels, and mind-controlling fungi—all supposedly are connected to the O'Neils, but how?

The forensics team was pretty freaked out after performing additional testing on the altered reptile blood samples, and freaking out those nerds isn't an easy task. They were able to determine that this unknown reptile's DNA is unstable. It carries similar DNA structures as komodo dragons, alligator snapping turtles, and some kind of extinct reptile I can't pronounce. I've never been up close and personal with any of these animals, but after a little research of my own I know these are some of the most dangerous reptiles in the world. When you add in traces of mutagen and the human DNA that was found in it, you've got an intelligent creature with a killer instinct—literally. Kirby O'Neil, whatever you're planning, I'm bring you down.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading and for leaving reviews. I am so grateful to you all for being such faithful readers. Things are going to start coming to a head soon in more ways than one, so stay tuned for upcoming chapters!

Poetique