Chapter 2
Shredder loomed darkly in the doorway of Baxter Stockman's laboratory, eyeing the large humanoid fly with disgust and annoyance. He couldn't deny that the man… or fly… had brains that were of great value to him, but what he had in intelligence, he lacked in grace. Shredder had plans - great, new plans - that he knew, with Stockman's intelligence, could be executed; however Shredder was certain that during the course of bringing his new ideas to fruition, Stockman would find plenty of ways to fuck the whole thing up.
"Yeeezzzz, mazzzzter?" Stockman buzzed upon noticing Shredder's silent entrance.
"I hesitate to ask of your services," Shredder began in a low voice, undertoned with annoyance, "beings that you always manage to destroy things before you manage to create anything useful." The mutant fly buzzed with shame mixed with fear. What on earth was being requested of him now? Would this hell that was his life ever come to an end? "However,"" Shredder continued, "I cannot help but feel this new… project… will prove to be quite useful to me in finally getting my revenge, as well as gaining the power I desire. If you're competent enough to follow through with it," he added in a mutter.
"Commmmptetent, sirrrr," Stockman buzzed in return, his wings fluttering briefly behind him.
Shredder sighed. Why was he cursed with such pathetic minions? Nevermind, he must work with what the Universe handed him. His persistence in working with these useless dolts would only make him that much stronger when he finally reached the level of power he had been seeking for far too long. And then he could extinguish them and build himself an army of real henchmen, who served their master with the perfect combination of intelligence, strength, stealth, speed, and grace.
But for now, he would bide his time with the useless dolts.
"Do you still have the Kraang's mutagen on hand?"
"Yezzzzzz mazzzzzter," Stockman replied in an affirmative buzz, bowing his bulbous head in response.
"I would like to develop the mind-control technology we had discussed once before, but work it into a form of mutagen, instead. I would like you to manipulate the effects the mutagen has upon coming in contact with it. I believe this… upgrade… could prove very useful to my mission." The corners of Shredder's mouth curled into a malicious smirk as he turned his ideas over in his head, then stepped forward toward the mutant genius fly to begin explaining what exactly he had in mind.
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Penelope Ludwig smiled as the crowd began growing slowly around her, curious eyes locked on her every move. She drank in the attention, loving the feeling of stunning, shocking, and downright blowing people away. She was at the corner of an intersection, on a street lined with small mom & pop shops that made one feel as though they weren't in the heart of a major city, but rather in a quaint town in a more rural part of the state. That is, if one chose to ignore the massive skyscrapers looming in the not-so-far distance. She pinched the edges of her worn deck of cards and flipped them into her awaiting opposite hand in a fluttering stream. She locked eyes on a man in the back of the crowd and smiled mischievously. "You, sir, pick a card," she directed as she fanned the deck in front of him. He hesitantly pulled one from the selection. "Now memorize it, don't tell me, and stick it in your back pocket." He did as he was told, slipping the paper playing piece into the back pocket of his jeans after getting a clear picture of it in his memory. She smiled again, shuffling the cards from one hand to the next, then handed the deck to a woman in the front of the crowd. "Ma'am, you mind giving these a shuffle for me?" The woman obliged as she took the deck and shuffled them. "Great, thanks, now go get me one of those rosemary orange scones," Penny thumbed over her shoulder toward the small bakery she happened to be standing in front of.
"Um…" the woman hesitated, her expression stating that she didn't exactly just want to buy something for a complete stranger, while at the same time conflicted with feeling maybe she owed her something for the show she was putting on.
Before she could struggle with her inner conflict any further, Penny smiled and chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll pay for it!" She gestured toward the deck of cards in the woman's hand, and as she fanned the deck out in her hands, to her shock she also fanned out seven dollars - a five and two ones - folded in half and tucked in with the cards, which she stared at in disbelief before looking up to meet Penny's sparkling eyes.
"H-how did that get there?" the woman questioned, her mouth agape.
Penny laughed again. "Tell her to keep the change!" she said, avoiding the woman's question, and she slowly walked toward the entrance in a dazed state of shock. Smiling, Penny returned to the crowd, and she proceeded to move forward with a few crowd pleasers before the woman returned with the requested scone, wrapped in wax paper. "Thanks!" Penny exclaimed, presenting her palm upright to brush away the scone, causing the woman to arch an eyebrow in confusion. "You like these too, don't you?" she asked another woman standing in the middle of the crowd.
The woman glanced around nervously, looking a bit surprised and taken aback. "Y-yes, actually, they're my favorite…" she replied.
"Great!" Penny exclaimed, pressing forward. She turned back to the woman with the scone. "Go ahead and let her have it." As the exchange was made, Penny continued with her instructions, "Now, ma'am, you mind splitting that with the gentleman next to you?"
"Oh," the man began nervously, waving his hands to decline the offer. "I'm fine."
Penny cocked her head, smiling beneath narrowed eyes and smirking. "Sir, I know you've never had them before, and it sounds like a bizarre flavor combo, but I assure you it'll become your new favorite as well." She returned her focus to the woman next to him and gestured for her to continue. "Now, go ahead and split it with him!"
Carefully, the woman began slowly tearing through the large, fluffy, triangular confection, and her eyes widened as a playing card emerged from within the baked dough. "What the…" she began.
Penny feigned surprise. "That's odd!" she said, leaning forward slightly, placing her hands on her hips. "You mind telling us what you found in there?"
Confused, the woman slid the card from the scone, releasing several crumbs in the process. "Three of hearts?" she replied, stating it more like a question.
"Holy shit!" the man from the beginning of the trick exclaimed from behind her, immediately bringing his hand to his back pocket. "Where the hell did it go?"
Penny raised her eyebrows, smiling. "That is some hole you have in your pocket, sir! I'd get that fixed right away! Imagine where your wallet could end up if you weren't careful?"
He immediately brought his hand to his opposite pocket, and the color drained from his face. "Where the hell is it?"
Penny sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe you should just get rid of those jeans, seems like there's some sort of wormhole in them or something. Guess we'll have to search the cosmos!" The man didn't look amused in the slightest, but before he could protest, a food truck pulled up along the side of the road a few feet from where they were standing. "I guess we'll start by checking there!" She gestured toward another man's ballcap on his sandy blonde head. "I think you have enough money to get us a chicken strip basket, sir," she said, and he gave her a curious glance before slowly lifting his hat from his head. A symphony of surprised gasps brushed across the crowd as a folded ten dollar bill tumbled from beneath his cap.
"How in the hell…?" the man began, his eyebrows raised as he stared at the bill resting at his feet on the sidewalk.
"Well don't just stand there, go get us some food!" Penny urged, and the man nervously nodded before stooping to retrieve the money and moving toward the food truck. Again, Penny whipped out some short crowd pleasers (which pleased the entire crowd except the man sans-wallet) before the man with the cap returned with Penny's order, tucked neatly in a box. "Did you see them assemble this?" she asked him.
"No, sorry, they just handed it to me," he responded hesitantly.
"Hmm, okay," Penny replied, shrugging. "Go ahead and let him check," she finished, gesturing toward the angry man in the back.
His expression quickly changed from anger to hesitant curiosity as he took the box from the man in the cap. Everyone's eyes were locked on him as he carefully unfolded the sides that were neatly tucked in at the edges, releasing the lid along with a tuft of steam that wafted up from the contents. His jaw dropped as he stared in shock, then slowly lifted his wallet from inside. "How… what… I…" he stammered, handing the box to the woman next to him as he opened his wallet and inspected the contents, confirming that nothing had been touched. He stared back up at Penny, who simply smiled at him. "How did you do that?"
Penny shrugged. "Wasn't me! It was the wormhole in your pocket! You could probably sell those pants to NASA and make some money off of them!" She laughed. "Thanks everyone, hope you all have a great day!" She flashed a quick wave at her spectators, who stared at her in shock before finally collecting themselves enough to erupt into applause as she wandered down the street, smiling proudly to herself. Yes, she thoroughly enjoyed those moments.
A/N Sorry this was so short, and for not delving into what the turtles are up to, but I'm just laying some groundwork here. I'll try to update the next chapter soon so I don't leave you hanging too long! And I've never been to NYC nor do I know anything about how to execute street magic tricks so I totally made all that up. I kinda figure anything is possible - I've seen some pretty jaw-dropping tricks that really make me wonder if they're just performing real magic and not slight-of-hand kind of stuff. That's what I envision for my new character. I hope you like her! I'll build up on her a bit more as we roll along. Reviews are appreciated! Thanks for the follows and faves so far!
