So I haven't updated in a year. Wow. I could give you guys a million and one excuses as to why, but honestly I just had really bad writers block and then totally forgot I was writing a fan fic til a few months ago. But none of that matters now because we have another chapter. Yay? Yay. Insert usual disclaimer here, and let's get going.
…
Raph shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. The thing in front of him, it wasn't Mona Lisa. It couldn't be. He stood there, staring. Her voice rang in his ears. "I'm a mutant". No, it wasn't possible. You can't just make someone a mutant, right? Even if you could, who would be twisted enough to do something that inhumane?
Mona's sobs pulled him out of his train of thought. He began to realise that staring at her probably wasn't helping.
"Raph, what's going on?" April voice asked through the transmitter.
"Nothing." Raphael said hastily. "Nothing, I just – I found Mona Lisa. We're coming down now."
"You better hurry up; your brothers are already down here."
"I told you, we're on our way." Raph snapped, ending the transmission. He turned and reached out to Mona. "C'mon Mona we gotta go."
Mona shook her head and pulled away.
"Mona" He said softly "I don't know what they did to you but I promise you we will do everything we can to try to fix it."
"And what if you can't?" She whispered.
"Then we'll be there for you anyway." He told her. "But right now we have to go."
Mona nodded slowly and placed her hand in his. Her new skin felt cold and strange but Raphael had no time to dwell it. He pulled Mona out of her cell and quickly led her out the door and down the hall.
…
Professor Perry sat anxiously at the back of his cell waiting for the masked turtle to return. The wailing of alarms was accompanied by the sound of clattering footsteps and yelled orders. He could hear the commotion going on outside but was too afraid to go and look. Surprisingly, no one had come to check on him yet, which only meant that they must be busy with something else. Like taking down a five foot turtle. Perry thought to himself. The turtle promised he would come back after he rescued Mona Lisa, but that was quite a while ago. At least, it seemed like it was. Time seemed to be moving at a glacial pace while he was in his cell.
His train of thought was interrupted by a large amount of shouting coming from the end of the hall, slowly getting closer. The noises soon became clearer and the professor was able to recognise the distinctive sound of a Brooklyn accent telling someone to get back, followed by several large bangs and clangs. An unusual silence fell over the hall and the cell door flew open.
"Professor." The masked turtle nodded with a small smirk on his face. "Told you I'd be back, didn't I?"
It was then Perry noticed the girl standing behind Raphael, the girl he unfortunately knew was Mona Lisa. He didn't even notice her at first; she looked so small standing behind the red turtle. The look on her face broke his heart. She wasn't as scared as the professor was, but she was the most dejected person Perry had ever seen. The spark in her that Perry had witnessed on her first few days here had long since gone and had been replaced with an unfixable sense of melancholy. Instinctively, he reached out to her. She impulsively flinched back before he had a chance to get near her.
"Mona Lisa…" He wanted to say so much more, that he was sorry and he was going to do everything he could to fix it, but all he could seem to manage was her name.
"We gotta go, Prof." Raphael informed him.
Perry nodded and followed the turtle out of his cell and down the hall, silently ducking and weaving to avoid as many guards as they could. Raphael would take down any of the foot ninja that caught sight of them, but Professor Perry could see he was getting tired. Perry wished he could help, but he had no clue how to fight and Mona Lisa was in no condition to, the sudden exertion of energy took a toll on her and her health seemed to be deteriorating by the minute. It all relied on Raphael.
"You all right back there Professor?" Raph called over his shoulder, trying to fight off five foot ninja at once.
"Oh yes, I'm fine." He replied nervously.
"And Mona?"
Perry looked down at the young lizard woman who was leaning on him, trying as best she could to support her own weight. The professor wrapped his arm around her in an attempt to keep her steady. "Not as well, I'm afraid."
"Just hang in there, Mona. We're almost there." He said as he took down the last foot ninja and they started moving again.
"I'm fine." Mona said barely loud enough for Raph to here.
"We'll let Donnie be the judge of that." He told her as he helped the professor lead her down a dark flight of stairs. Without letting go of Mona, he kicked the door open and led her into an alleyway. They were finally out.
…
"What's taking them so long?" Leo asked anxiously. The entire van had been silent up until then. They were all waiting for Raphael to return, fearing for the worst.
"Don't worry, Leo. I'm sure they're fine." Donnie said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"But they should have been back by now, and he's not responding to April. What's Taking Raph so long?"
"Look dude, if I know Raph, He's probably taking extra time to beat up as many Foot ninja as possible." Mikey threw his hands behind his head and rested his feet on the back of Casey's chair, kicking him in the back of the head in the process.
"April, do you know where he is?" Donnie asked, leaning over the front seat.
Before she had time to respond the van doors flew open. Raph stood there panting, there were two figures behind him but in the dark of the alleyway no one could make out who they were.
Mikey let out a cheer. "See? What did I tell you guys?" He exclaimed, climbing over Leo and Don to get closer to Raph. "Raph! Way to go, buddy. You kicked some Foot clan butt!" Mikey paused when he saw the look on his brother's face and realised that things may not have gone as well as he thought. "Wh… Where's Mona, dude?"
The mention of her name seemed to make something click in Raphael's head, his expression softened as he beckoned the figures behind him forward. He murmured something as he helped an unknown man guide someone - something - to the van. The man wore a lab coat and glasses, his hair was prematurely greying. Mikey had no clue who he was. The other figure Michelangelo recognised immediately, although he wished he hadn't.
"No…" He whispered. "…Mona Lisa?"
The green creature lifted her head. Mikey heard April gasp from behind him, other than that the van was eerily silent. No one moved, No one spoke. They all just sat there staring at the girl who used to be Mona Lisa.
"Any of you gonna help me?" Raph grunted as he lifted Mona into the van.
Donatello was the first to respond. He pushed Michelangelo out of the way and help Raph sit Mona down. "Careful. If she's already injured we don't want to make anything worse." The shock had gone from Don's face and been replaced with genuine concern.
Everyone had been so consumed with Mona Lisa, no one noticed that the other man had climbed into the van as well, and was now timidly sitting next to Leonardo. "Um… hello, my name is Professor Jordan Perry." He said rather awkwardly as Leo stared at him.
"It's ok." Raph said over his shoulder. "He's good."
Leo looked uneasy but shook the professor's hand anyway. He had bigger things to worry about right now. Raph closed the van doors as Donatello did the best he could to dress Mona's wounds.
"Casey, hit the gas. We gotta get outta here before any Foot ninja show up." Raph grunted as he sat down next to Mona.
Casey drove as fast as he possibly could without arousing suspicion. He didn't ask questions. No one did. They just sat there in silence and waited to arrive at the lair.
...
"How could someone do that to a person?" April said in a whisper.
When they had reached the lair, Donatello took Mona Lisa striaght to his lab, he was accompanied by Master Splinter, who handled the shock much better than the rest of the group. Once he saw Mona he took control immediately, telling Donatello to take Mona and sending the other to wait in the lounge room. Other than the occassional call to April for help, no one was allowed in. That left them with nothing to do but hear the story from Professor Perry.
"It's the Foot, April. They're sick." Raph snapped as he paced accross the room. "I tell ya, I'm gonna make 'em pay for what they did. What kinda messed up-"
"Raph!" Leo hissed. "We're all mad at the foot, but none of that is going to help Mona Lisa right now. calm down."
Raph grumbled under his breath, but sat down on the couch next to his brother anyway.
"Raphael." Professor Perry said, leaning over. "You must know that I never meant for any of this to happen."
"Hey, this wasn't your fault prof." Mieky said, patting his back. "And Raph doesn't blame you. Do you, Raph?"
Raph slowly shook his head, not looking up from the piece of floor he was staring at.
"Thank you." The Professor said softly. "I just... I hope Mona Lisa doesn't blame me either."
…
So what did we all think? Any good? I admit it was totally not worth the wait and it's a little short but still. Tell me what you guys think, or, if you just want to yell at me for updating so slowly you can do that too. I will love you either way.
Xx