Chapter 3: Mona Adapts

Because being turned into a giant humanoid lizard-thing would probably have quite the impact on most girls' self-esteem.

After she burned her leg at the warehouse, time warped for Mona Lisa. Everything seemed to speed up, as though someone pressed the fast forward button for her life. Anything around her moved too fast for her to even react. First, there were ninjas and then a turtle, and then smoke and fire and pain.

"I'm dreaming…" she whispered to herself for the umpteenth time, "I… I…"

"Quite the extensive vocabulary she has, Mikey." One of the creatures remarked.

"Leave her be, Raphael." Another replied, "She's hurt and traumatized. All things considering, she's not actually freaking out as much as she could."

"Yeah, and at least she didn't scream in your face! I thought a pack of dogs was gonna swarm the warehouse after all the noise she made."

She was in the back of a van, unbeknownst to her, for the second time that night. Two turtles loomed over her, one that had saved her at the warehouse, and a different one wearing a purple mask. He was tending to her burned leg, making sure to take extra care and caution with the wound. Mona looked up at the other turtle and blurted out a "thank you." She looked to her rescuer and thanked him, as well. Though shocked and confused beyond all reasoning, Mona Lisa at least made a point to remember her manners.

"Don't worry," the purple-clad one reassured her, "We're going to take you somewhere safe."

Something about his words calmed Mona Lisa, if only a little bit. This one was trustworthy and gentle, someone she could talk to.

"What… what happened?"

"We, uh, we were hoping maybe you had more answers than we did. Heh, guess not." He replied.

"Why were the Foot there?!" One in the front seat suddenly (and aggressively) questioned her.

"The what? I don't know what you're talking abou—"

"I told you, Raph, she had nothing to do with the Foot Clan being there." Michelangelo interrupted. "It was that majorly creepy Dr. Filch guy."

"Wait, wait, the Dr. Filch?" Purple mask piped up.

"Dr. Phineas Filch? He was there?" Mona suddenly sat up for the first time since she'd gone comatose in the warehouse. "I work with Dr. Filch! Well… actually, I work for him. I was pulling a late shift with him before…before…"

Everything came flooding back. Mona Lisa was not here, in the back of an armored van surrounded by mutant turtles. She remembered immediately accepting to work heaps of extra hours, despite a pile of homework waiting for her back in her apartment. She remembered staggering back into Dr. Filch's laboratory, waiting for her nightly excessive caffeine fix to kick in. She remembered her boss complimenting her talent in the art of genetics research, and requesting that she help with the new experiment.

Mona held up her hands. She was missing her pinky finger, and her hands were now green and webbed. For a few moments, she calmed herself in order to study her new body. Though she could still feel she had mostly humanistic features, including hair on her head, breasts, and mammalian genitalia, something had warped her DNA. Her underbelly was a bright yellow, her feet now had two stubby toes instead of five, and she felt something extending out from her spine…

As she sat up, she looked between her legs. Through the back of her best black slacks, a long tail had ripped through, now a part of her body. Tentatively, Mona picked it up and examined her additional limb. She ran her fingers down the sleek skin.

Michelangelo opened his mouth to say something, but Donatello uncharacteristically glared at his brother to shut him up. Being mutated from turtles, the four brothers always knew they were different, but did not have the self-awareness to observe first-hand how much their bodies had changed. Donatello knew that if this girl had any chance of adapting, she would need to thoroughly explore her new form without any snide remarks from Mikey or Raph.

Suddenly, the girl cried out, "This is what I've been working on? This is why Dr. Filch needed someone to perfect his formula? Why… why in the world would someone even need to do this?" Mona buried her face in her hands, muffling the sobs that now escaped from her mouth. All four brothers grimaced, unsure of how they could go about comforting her. Michelangelo attempted first.

"Hey, now," he told her, "Being a mutant isn't all that terrible."

Mona stiffened and let out another, even louder sob. Donatello shook his head at Mikey's words, and tried his hand at it, instead. "Obviously, something's going on here that none of us fully understand. Something's happened, something that's bigger than all of us. There are people involved that we all know, and we need to figure out why they're involved in this—including you."

Finally, she looked up from her hands. Though she sniffled and still had tears in her eyes, Mona nodded in agreement with him. As upset as she was, the girl was not one to sit back and wallow in self-pity for very long. She was too stubborn, too proactive. Even under such strange and enormously life-changing circumstances, Mona Lisa knew she needed to buckle down and get to the bottom of things.

"But why me?" She asked, "What did I have to do with any of this?"

"That's what we need to find out." Purple mask replied, "But first things first, let's get formalities out of the way, shall we? My name is Donatello, but you can call me 'Don.' And you are?" He stuck out a green, three-fingered hand. Cautiously, but not hesitantly, Mona Lisa accepted the handshake.

"My name is Mona Lisa. I usually just go by 'Mona,' though."

"That's funny that you share a name with a Renaissance painting," Donatello noted, "My brothers and myself were named after Renaissance artists. The one driving is Leonardo," a blue-masked turtle looked back from the driver's seat and acknowledged Mona. "The other in the front is Raphael, and the one who rescued you is Michelangelo."

The orange clad turtle smiled cheerily and waved at her. "Hey. It's nice to meetcha, heh, even if we did kinda start off on a weird foot. I forgive you for screaming in my face, though."

"Right," Mona Lisa wiped the last of her tears away, "sorry about that. I wasn't quite ready to handle such an… odd experience." English was never Mona's strongest subject, and she couldn't quite think of another adjective to describe everything that had happened tonight. "If I may ask… what happened to you four?"

"Well…" Donatello rubbed the back of his head as he began explaining their backstory, "my brothers and I didn't start out as humans. We were baby turtles that got dropped in the sewer along with some crazy experimental ooze. It mutated us into who we are today."

Mona Lisa leaned forward, getting right up in Don's face and invading his personal bubble. She'd caught him off guard, and startled the turtle just a bit, but Donatello could see she meant no harm, for she was only studying him, too. She was a fellow scientist, someone who also appreciated investigations and close observations of things in this universe. Mona had seen her fair share of amazing sights in the world, especially since working for Dr. Filch, but none so genetically fascinating as the four mutant turtles in this van.

She looked Donatello up and down for a few moments, finally taking in what was truly in front of her. What intrigued her most was the amount of muscle mass on his body. Never in her life had she seen someone his size, save for serious Olympic body-builders on television, possess that much muscle mass. These turtles weren't just mutants; they were seriously fit mutants, at that. In short, everyone riding in that turtle van was basically nothing short of a genetic phenomenon.

Raphael turned in the passenger seat and threw in his two cents. "So are you gonna tell us your story, or are ya gonna sit there all night checking out our brother?"

Embarrassed, Mona Lisa turned away and slouched a bit. "I'm sorry, it's just… I've never seen creatures quite like you. I was studying to be a geneticist, so this sort of thing just kind of… captivates me."

As a student, Mona Lisa had a reputation for being easily caught up in her work. The thing was, however, she loved being caught up in her work. Being in a laboratory full of beakers and vials and fellow scientists hard at work was right where she belonged. She never even minded paperwork; it was all just another part of her research. A naturally active curiosity had helped Mona thrive in school, since she never had much of a home life. Science had especially captured her interest, and over many years she acquired quite the impressive archive of knowledge, especially in the subjects of physics and genetics. She was also known to dabble in her fair share of astronomy.

"Don't mind Raphael." Donatello informed her. "But, to be fair, we only know one other mutant, and we've never met a female or someone who was originally human when they mutated. We honestly didn't think the ooze was capable of that and, yet here you are sitting in front of us."

"We're here." Leonardo parked in an alleyway by April's antique shop and looked back at them. "Let's talk more upstairs. Maybe by morning, we'll be able to piece together what exactly is going on."

"Morning?!" A sudden burst of panic hit Mona Lisa like a tidal wave. "I can't stay here until morning! I have a class at 9 am! I haven't even started on my Physics 304 homework! Oooh, Dr. Kim is gonna kill me! There's no way I'll be able to get it all done before class today! Not to mention I still haven't turned in my report on heat capacity, and doyouknowhowharditistogetane xtensiononreportsfromDoctorK im? Do you?!" Now, she practically screamed at Donatello, and began hyperventilating after her fit.

"Call me the crazy one, but somethin' tells me you're not gonna make it out to your classes today, girlie." Raphael interrupted her.

Now, instead of hyperventilating, Mona Lisa stopped breathing altogether. She stared at Raphael with a wide-eyed expression none of the boys could quite peg. She looked as if she were contemplating strangling him for even suggesting such a possibility. Her left eye twitched just a little. Every brother instinctually prepared to defend themselves.

"Not…" she finally took a deep breath. "Not make it…out…to class?"

Before she could strangle the red clad turtle, though, Mona's eyes rolled to the back of her skull and she fainted. As her body went slack to the floor, Donatello caught her so as to avoid having to treat a concussion on top of dealing with a newly-mutated and traumatized girl complete with a leg injury.

"That girl," Raphael noted after she had passed out, "is weird."

-o-

Mona stirred slightly. She was resting on something soft and cushy, and had a warm blanket covering her body. As she opened her eyes, Mona could tell that this time she didn't wake up in a run-down warehouse or an armored van driven around by turtles. She was in a well-lit apartment on the living room couch.

Wait a minute…could this possibly be her apartment?

Sitting up, she groaned a little and stretched her limbs to wake up. With a yawn she said, "Maybe it was all a dream. Thank God I'm waking up in my own—"

When she opened her eyes, Mona Lisa saw four turtles sitting in lotus position on the carpet, staring back at her. In addition to them, there was also a humanoid rat and at least one normal human girl holding a tray of tea and coffee. Mona's face fell. "Oh. Guess not."

"Geez, sleeping beauty, don't look so pleased to see us." Raphael snapped.

Mona cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well, it's not exactly like I've been waking up in the most comfortable of places." She retorted.

The humanoid rat spoke to her this time. "Well, I hope this is more comfortable than where you have been. My sons have told me a little about your circumstances. I am sorry to see that this has happened to you and that you have had a run-in with our enemy."

At this point, she could only shrug off a giant talking rat. By now, Mona Lisa knew that if she began freaking out over every little thing, she'd die of a heart attack before lunchtime. She nodded at him to accept the apology, and sat up on the couch. The redhead walked over to her and offered her a cup from the tray.

"What's your poison?" She asked. "Tea or coffee?"

Mona Lisa tilted her head. The girl's face was oddly familiar, not the kind you really knew, but one you know you've seen fleeting images of; the kind you've noticed on TV or perhaps passing by you on the street every day. "Do I… know you from somewhere?"

"I don't think we've met personally, but my name's April. April O'Neil." She flashed a smile.

That was it! "I have seen you somewhere!" Mona remembered April briefly making an appearance on television, being interviewed about some newfangled, groundbreaking machine. "You used to work for Dr. Baxter Stockman before—"

"Before he went all crazy homicidal cuckoo psycho? Yeah that was me." April laughed. Now that some time had passed, she actually had an impressive sense of humor about her former boss. "Looks like we have something in common." She winked. "Now, you're a college student, so I know you must be craving a hot cup of coffee right now.

The offering of coffee sent a surge of relief through Mona Lisa. She had no idea what time it was, or when she'd last choked down an energy drink. Thanking the girl, she accepted the offer and picked a white mug filled with a dark beige-colored liquid, rather than the clear green drinks. Tea, though soothing, never had quite enough caffeine to satisfy Mona Lisa's fix. She sipped it, grateful that it didn't taste like bitter bean-water like the coffee she ordered daily in the student center.

The student center…the college… her classes! Once again, panic replaced relief. "What time is it?!" she cried out.

Donatello answered first. "Mona Lisa, think about everything that's just happened. You've been mutated and kidnapped by your boss. Our brother said that he was planning on handing you over to the Foot clan in exchange for something. I understand your classes are important to you, but don't you think it would be wiser to figure out what's going on? I think it would be more beneficial for you to stay in hiding for a bit… you know, for your safety. You can't exactly finish your education when you've got a plethora of crazy dangerous people who want to abduct you and possibly kill you."

Mona didn't want to swallow the idea of missing multiple classes, of basically putting her entire life on hold for this, but he was right. There was no way she could be out and about on the streets, now… not like this. She bit her lip, or whatever anatomy had formed in place of her lips and thought for a moment.

Her professors would find it more than strange that she was not in class today, especially considering Mona was semi-famous within the science department for once going to all her classes with a bucket and a violent case of the stomach flu. A few of them might even joke that since this would shatter her perfect attendance record, someone might as well go down to the police station and mark her as missing. Little did they know how right they would be…

Surprisingly, her home life was not as much of a worry. She had rent to pay, but who could penalize her for not paying rent when she could no longer live in her own apartment? Family and friends were of little to no concern. Both of her parents had died when she was a toddler, and she lived with an absentminded aunt on her mother's side that just barely met the standard of being not-crazy enough to take her in. Mona spent most of her life thriving in school and studying because she never really knew what else to do for fun. Shortly after she graduated high school, her aunt passed away, leaving a shockingly hefty inheritance to the young girl that she had not yet touched. She had family, sure, but distant relatives who might as well have lived on the opposite side of the globe.

As for friends… it wasn't that Mona wasn't good at socializing. In fact, she was more than capable of being friendly, charming, and eloquent. She'd just never spent much time building connections with people due to grossly absorbing herself in any and all sorts of work.

How long would it be before someone even noticed she was missing? Mona came to the conclusion that people would only realize she was gone once her professors realized she had missed a few days of classes.

But there was at least one person she saw on a daily basis…

"Dr. Filch!" she yelled out, a realization finally hitting her. Mona quickly turned to the orange-masked turtle. "You said he brought me there, to those… those Feet people or whatever."

"The Foot clan." Leonardo corrected her.

"Yeah!" Michelangelo piped up. "They put you on a stretcher and took you inside to this table with all this science junk on it! I think they mighta been planning to dissect ya or somethi—"

Raphael practically tackled him to the ground and clamped a hand over his brother's big mouth. "Quiet, bonehead! Don't go sayin' stuff like that! You'll scare her again!"

"Di…dissect me?"

Why would her boss, who had always been so friendly toward her, want to put her in the hands of people who would knowingly mutilate her? The mere thought of being that close to being cut open on a table, of being treated like a dead animal on a laboratory table, almost sent her into another sobbing fit.

"Ahem." A slight cough and a glare from the rat caused the brothers to stop fighting immediately, and they both scrambled to sit back up and resume lotus position. "My sons, please act with more grace when we have a guest, and when we are in someone else's home."

"Sorry sensei," they both mumbled, now keeping their heads down like scolded puppies. Mona had never seen a stranger sight, even counting the events of last night. Despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but stifle a giggle.

"Um, anyway… going back to something you said earlier," Donatello piped up next. "You mentioned something about perfecting a formula. What exactly were you and Dr. Filch working on before he…you know…" He preferred not to mention the kidnapping aloud, for fear of being insensitive.

Mona remembered when she first began working for Dr. Filch. Based on grades and accomplishments, he had hand-picked four college students, specifically genetics majors, and allowed interns to work in his lab for the first time. Immediately, he informed them that they would all be working on a special project, but Mona's boss had an infinite amount of secrets that he never even disclosed to her. None of the interns ever quite figured out what they were working on, and though it was frustrating, they didn't particularly care. Working under Dr. Filch was too important to scribble on their resumes for them to question anything.

And maybe the lack of questioning was exactly what had put her in danger.

"To be honest…I don't really know. Dr. Filch just kind of put us to work without telling us anything. I…I'm not even sure what the point of all this is now. I had no earthly idea there were substances that were even capable of doing things like this." She held up her hands for emphasis. None of the turtles looked the slightest bit shocked.

"Trust me, we've been dealing with this stuff our entire lives. Not even we really know its true capabilities." Donatello informed her. "However, we've also been dealing with the Foot clan for a while now, especially their leader, the Shredder. That's what we're interested in. Obviously, you have no idea who the Foot clan is, but the point is that they want you, now and that's the scary part."

"My brothers and I are taking it upon ourselves to make sure that you don't end up in the hands of the Foot or the Shredder." Leonardo chimed in. "And we also need to figure out why they're involved in this, and what your boss is up to. If it's anything involving the Foot clan, it can't be good."

Yesterday, if someone had walked up and told Mona Lisa that she would be spending her Wednesday morning conversing with mutant turtles about why she was now a humanoid lizard-salamander-thing, she would have considered checking them into a mental hospital.

Hell, if someone had informed her she'd be missing classes, she would have considered checking them into a mental hospital.

She sighed. Her optimistic nature would have to really shine for her to pull through. But there was a chance, even if only the slimmest, most near-impossible one, but as long as it remained a possibility, Mona was willing to work with these turtles and get to the bottom of things.

"I don't want to put my life on hold." She declared, "But… I also want to make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else. If that means having to stop my boss and this… this Feet clan or whatever, then I will help you as much as I can."

Leonardo nodded at her and stood up. "Then it's settled. Welcome to the group, Mona Lisa." He put out his hand, the corners of his mouth turning up just a bit.

Mona Lisa took his handshake. "It...It feels good to be a part of it." She responded, smiling up at her new friend.