Chapter 15

I am Shari

Once Leonardo had managed to calm Kate down from hearing that they would meet Michelangelo's girlfriend, which was not an easy task, he decided to start her 'treatment' immediately, and started instruction her in the same kind of meditation that the Ancient One had taught him to heal his soul.

It took some effort for her before she began to understand how to do it, and she wasn't in her most stable state at the time, but that was when she needed it the most. Leonardo had to constantly support her during the session, especially when her anger towards Shari started to flare up again. As much as she hated her, she would have to accept what had happened and move on, a task that was all but easy. Leonardo remembered his own torment, since he had been unable to truly do so and it cost him dearly, but knowing what she would face allowed him to be there and help her.

Seeing what Leonardo and Kate were doing, the others quickly understood what was going on, and felt very sorry for Kate, but they felt better knowing that she was in good hands with the eldest turtle, yet they all worried if she would be fit to meet Shari the next night.

A part of Raphael was angry with how Michelangelo had broken Kate's heart, but he knew that he never would do something like that on purpose, and Raphael himself had been just like Shari, stealing the person someone else loved, while Monalisa had been like Michelangelo, unknowingly choosing one over the other. Now he was seeing what Leonardo had gone trough from a different perspective and it really made him think about what that had happened that time. In the end, he just couldn't be angry with Michelangelo because of that.

When the goofy turtle came back, and asked what they were doing, the rest of the mutants told him that it was part of Kate's ninja training, as they didn't want to make him feel guilty over what had happened. It was best so.

The next night, Ren was preparing herself for the upcoming meeting with the mutants, putting on some of the special pheromone perfume that doctor Arden had concocted, hoping that it would allow her to more easily gain the trust of the other turtles if they felt a certain allure with her. The lizards were another story, since they were both female and different species, making pheromones that affected them the same would have been difficult, and the less things that could possibly link 'Shari' to the Foot, the greater her odds of success.

But there was still one big obstacle, the dragon. Just thinking of him made her very uneasy, while she had never even seen him with her own eyes, she had seen the trail of death and destruction he left through their headquarters, and every ninja feared him even more that the wrath of their master. Having been told that he was in town, she thought long on how she would deal with him, and still had no answer. Her uncle had told her about the mighty powers he wielded, and it was like a story made to scare children, only this one was true.

'Keep it together, girl, you got this.' she thought to herself, trying to stay focused on the goal ahead. 'That monster won't hurt you as long as you play this 'Shari'-role, his foolish honour won't allow him.'

Looking at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was almost time to go to the alley below, the mutants should be there shortly as well.

"Moment of truth then." she said, going to grab her jacket and head out to the alley. As Shari, she was supposed to be nervous, and that wasn't hard considering what awaited her, she truly was nervous.

Walking down into the alley, her trained ninja senses were on high alert, searching for any signs of the mutants, not that she was expecting them to attack her, they had no reason to, at least not yet, but she needed to be vary all the same. She also had to force herself not to react to quickly to whatever might happen, as that could give her away.

As she moved deeper into the alley, she heard a sound from the shadows. Waiting for a few split seconds, she then turned towards the sound.

"Hello? Someone there?" she asked, sounding a little anxious and fearful, but there was no response. She wasn't as worried as she appeared, she could easily handle any thugs that might creep around in the alleys at night. Then the sound was heard again, metal softly scraping against the pavement.

"Relax, Shari. It's just me." she heard a cheerful voice say, and shortly after, Michelangelo came into view, having climbed up from a manhole.

"Oh, Mikey, I'm so glad that it was you. I was worried that it might have been more like those that attacked me when we first met."

"Sorry about that, we had to make sure that it was clear to come up. Don't want anyone else to see us, right?"

"Of course not, I understand. So, are the others with you?"

"Yep! You're gonna love them, well, most of them at least. Some takes a while to get used to."

With that, Michelangelo went back to the manhole and signaled the others at the bottom that it was clear, and one by one the rest of the mutants made their way up on the surface. The three remaining turtles were first, followed by the girls, of which Kate was last, finally, Tyroth climbed out of the sewers, with some difficulties.

Ren stared in mixed amazment and fear at the dragon mutant, almost not noticng the additional reptile in the group, or the rest of the group for that matter.

"It's okay, Shari. Big T may look scary, but the dude is totally cool." said Michelangelo.

"He is? Okay... I trust your word, Mikey." she said, all the while she was going over how to best deal with the mutants if they discovered the truth. Her special pepper-spray could disable them all long enough for her to make her escape or even slit the throats of at least a few of them, but again, the dragon was a large problem. From what she had read, he had grown very resistant against many of Arden's serums, and while not the Head-on-a-stick, the gas variant was still suffering from limited duration compared to the original serum, so it would most likely not be very effective at all.

While she planned ahead, the mutants introduced themselves, and Ren took particular note of the previously unidentified mutant known as Kate. Ren wasn't sure what kind of reptile she was, but she was obviously quite different from the other two, however, she did notice Kate seemed more susspicious towards her than the others.

And she was right, but not in the way she was thinking. Kate was still very angry and upset over loosing Michelangelo to Shari, and while Leonardo had helped her to start acceping it and moving on, but she was far from finding peace. She was, however, able to hold it inside of her for the time being, even though a part of her mind screamed out that she should kill Shari, and she was tempted to.

"So you're the one who sunk her claws into my little brother, huh?" Raphael said in an amused tone.

"Uhm... I suppose...?" Ren replied, actually a little uncertain on how to respond to such a statement.

"Raphael! That's no way to greet Mikey's new friend." Leonardo half snapped.

"Relax, Fearless, I mean no harm, just checking how she'd react."

"I don't mind, I was just surprised, that's all." Ren said. "But, yeah, I suppose you could say that I 'sunk my claws into him'. I hope that that's no problem for you."

"No, of course not." said Raphael. "I actually like you, there is something about you that's, I don't know, aluring maybe? Not sure what it is, but I do know that I like you."

"I agree with Raph, you have a certain charm to you." said Donatello, and Leonardo nodded in agreement, making Michelangelo happy that they accepted her.

Ren smiled happily as well, though it was not for the same reason, but rather that the pheromones seemed to work just fine on the brothers too. Earning their trust would make it easier to earn that of the others, and learn the location of the lair.

But all was not perfect, for Monalisa was a little suspicious to her mate and adopive brothers' nearly instant acceptance of Shari. Leonardo, and definitively Raphael, would have been more suspicious towards a new aquaintance, if only to protect their family, yet not so in this case. Monalisa couldn't put her finger on why it was that way, but they were all happy for Michelangelo's sake, maybe the brothers were more happy than they had initially let on.

They all continued to talk for a short time, asking her some questions, and she asked them a few as well, which they answered as best they could without revealing too much. During the whole time, Kate stayed out of the conversation, keeping a small distance away from Shari. Looking at the human, she felt the anger within grow, but when she looked at the happy face of the turtle she loved, she felt sad, and even a little guilty for wishing that he and Shari never had met. As much as she hated to admit it, she had no right to ruin their happines, not even so she could have him for herself.

"Hey, you okay, Kate?" Sephie asked softly so the others wouldn't notice, placing her hand on Kate's shoulder and snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I... I don't... no, I'm not... My emotions are in such a turmoil right now, that I'm surprised that I can keep them contained."

"You don't have to do this, we can leave if you want to. I can tell them that you're not feeling well and that I'll escort you back to the lair."

"Thanks, Sephie, but no thanks. I have to endure this, deal with it, if I am to heal according to Leo."

"Just don't push yourself too hard, okay? If it gets too much for you, just tell me and I'll handle the rest."

"I will, I promise."

A short while later, Leonardo decided that it was time for them to head back, since it was getting late from Shari's point of view, and they didn't want to keep her up all night.

"It's been really nice meeting you, Shari, but we have to leave now." he said as they one by one started climbing down the manhole.

"Already? I was hoping you could stay a while longer." she said a bit disappointed. "Can I go with you? I'd love to see where you guys live."

"Sorry, but not tonight. You're not nocturnal like us, and from what we've been told so far, you are quite busy with studies as well as your work. Don't want to have you all sleepy at work. Maybe another day."

"Oh, I understand. Another day then, sure."

"I'll personally escort you there, Shari." said Michelangelo proudly.

"Thanks, Mikey." Shari said with a smile. "See you again tomorrow?"

"Sorry, but we got a lot of training tomorrow, so I can't make it in time. But the day after tomorrow?"

"That's fine too. You have been checking upon me every night for a while now, I should be fine."

Once the mutants were back in the sewers, and the cover was closed, Ren smiled almost triumphantly.

'So close, it won't be long until I know where they are hiding. And the pheromones worked wonders on the turtles, and through them, the others trust me as well, even the dragon. But I mustn't be careless. If I'm very careful, I might be able to contact Uncle Arashi without the freaks discovering anything, and have the ninja hide weapons in the area for me to use, should I need them.'

There is a snake among our heroes, and it ain't Kate. Ren seems to have been successful in gaining their trust, and now she's getting a bit bold. How will the team handle this, will they even learn the truth before it's too late? You'll have to read on to learn that.

Sorry that it took a while, but with it being Christmas time, things have been busy for me. So let this chapter be my gift to you all. Merry Christmas! :)