Six of New York's most infamous crime lords were murdered last night by an unknown assailant. Locals claim that it was the work of the nocturnal vigilante known as the "Serpent".
While investigating the murder of Don Vizioso, police found a bite mark on his right hand. An autopsy revealed that it was the venom of a snake that killed the mobster. Over the last five years, more than two hundred criminals were found with the same bite marks and were injected with the same snake venom.
One of the murdered crime lords, Bebop, formerly known as Anton Zeck before he mutated, was decapitated and his head was found on a platter in Vizioso's dining room. It is unknown if Vizioso was the one who murdered Bebop or if it was the Serpent. Either way, it is a very disturbing image.
The other four crime lords, Bartholomew "Bart" Zandall, Eric T. Raceman, Abraham O'Rein, and Alfred Bloodworth were all killed when their limousine exploded.
And seven other unidentified men were found on the street near the burnt vehicle. Four of them had been decapitated. Now that's what I call a massacre, folks.
April Jones is now at the sight of the explosion, interviewing with the police and locals about the incident last night. April?
Forty-six year old April Jones, now with short red hair and wearing a yellow dress, stood in front of the camera with a Channel 6 microphone in her hand.
"Hi, Derek. I've been asking the residents of the apartments what they knew about last night's massacre. Most of them weren't even home at the time, but those who were in their bedrooms woke up at the sound of the explosion and looked out their windows. Anna Cloverfield here actually witnessed the murder of the crime lord Bebop. Anna, could share with us what you saw last night?"
She held out the mic to an older woman wearing a blue robe and curls in her hair. "I'll tell you something, April, it was a horrible," she shuddered. "The pig guy was forced on his knees and then the Serpent cut his head off with a sword! I saw it with my own eyes!"
"So you're thinking that the killer was the Serpent vigilante?" April asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, he fitted the description of the Serpent: he had a large hump on his back and two samurai swords in his hands. That was really all I could make out, 'cause it was really dark out. "
"I'm curious, Anna, what do you think of the Serpent? Do you think that he's a hero? I mean, I'll admit that his tactics are a bit extreme, but crime in New York has gone down tremendously over the last thirty years because of him."
"Hero? The guy's a psychopath! I mean, he cuts people's heads off! You know who else cuts people's heads off? Terrorists! Yeah, that's right! The guy's probably a terrorist who targets criminals! He thinks he gets to be Judge, Jury and Executioner! I got a message for the Serpent: leave the crime fighting to the police and get out of this city!" She tried to grab the mic out of April's hand and screamed into it. "I hope that the police find you, lock you up, and throw away the key, murderer!"
April pulled the mic away from Anna with a frown. "Um, thank you, Anna. Well, there you have it, Derek. According to our witnesses, this could indeed be the work of the Serpent. Police are also saying that the evidence points to him, and they, too, are eager to capture him and put him behind bars."
Thank you, April. Coming up next, the Green Man spotted once again in the woods of Northampton. Is he even a man? Or is he a mutant?
April sighed and headed to the station van. The cameraman followed her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, April," he said softly. "You okay? You seemed stressed."
She turned and gave him a small smile. "I'm okay, Vernon. It's just been a long week."
"I hear ya," Vernon put away his camera and stretched himself. "My landlord's like a vampire but even worse: instead of blood he's sucking me dry of money."
April giggled at the younger man's joke, then she heard her phone ring in her pocket. She took it out and answered it. "Hello? Yes, this is she. Oh, Principal Hoffman! How are you?" As she listened, her smile slowly turned into a frown. "I'm…I'm sorry, she did what? I see. All right, I'll head over there right now. No, no, it's fine. I'm done for the day, anyway. Yes, and I'm so sorry about this, sir." She hung up and rubbed her temples.
"Uh-oh," Vernon mumbled. "What did Shadow do this time?"
"You don't want to know," she climbed into the passenger seat of the van and slammed her door shut.
"And after she kicked him in the groin, she actually spat in his face," Hoffman sat at his desk and pointed at the sulking fifteen year old girl who sat next to April. Her long blonde hair hid her face from her mother, who glanced at her disapprovingly. "Mrs. Jones, this is the fourth time this year that Shadow has picked a fight with a fellow student. Surely you agree that this can't go on?"
April looked back at the principal and nodded. "I do agree with you, Mr. Hoffman. And I can assure you that it won't happen again."
"Yes, well, that's what you said the last three times you've visited my office," Hoffman murmured as he looked down at the folder full of Shadow's files. He held it out for April to see. "And I have yet to see progress. If I were you, I'd have her participate in the Scared Straight program before she grows up to be an unruly and dangerous criminal."
"This is stupid," Shadow mumbled. April elbowed her daughter and shook her head.
"I'll discuss this matter with her father," April told the principal as she got out of her chair and shook his hand. "Again, I'm so sorry about this, sir. Come on, Shadow." Her daughter grabbed her backpack and followed her to the door.
As they drove away from the school, April scolded Shadow for her misbehavior. "Shadow, you can't keep beating up kids at school. I understand that you have anger management issues, but that doesn't mean…"
"You don't understand how I feel," Shadow grumbled as she crossed her arms and put her feet on the dashboard. "You never did."
"Well, maybe if you'd give me the chance, I could understand," April retorted. "See, this is why we need more family discussions. Your father and I want to help you before you do grow up to be a hoodlum, honey."
"Oh, thanks for having so much faith in me, Mom," Shadow sassed her mother. "I guess I really am destined to become a criminal like Principal Hoffman said."
"I don't appreciate the sassiness," April narrowed her eyes at her. "And get your feet off the dashboard now."
Shadow huffed and obeyed her mother. "And just so you know, the Scared Straight program has been proven to be ineffective and actually does more harm than good for kids like me."
"Shadow, I am not putting you in that program," April said as she came to a stoplight. "But your father and I are going to talk about how we're going to deal with this problem of yours." She looked at her daughter sympathetically and put a hand on her shoulder. "Honey, we really do want to help you and understand what you're going through. And we will, but you need to let us, first of all. Will you give us that chance?"
Shadow stared at her mother for a moment before clearing her throat and gesturing to the traffic light. "Um, Mom, it's green."
"Huh? OH!" April put her foot on the pedal and continued driving. For a few minutes, there was an awkward silence before Shadow spoke in a soft voice.
"He called me a 'b**ch'."
April looked at her daughter in shock. "Who? Principal Hoffman?"
"No, the kid I beat up," Shadow looked out her window and pulled her knees closer to her chest. "But that was nowhere as bad as what the last kid called me."
"What did that kid call you?"
Shadow buried her head in her knees. "I'd rather not repeat it."
"Hey, I'm home!"
Casey walked into the kitchen wearing his hockey jacket, the name "Coach Jones" labeled on the right side of his chest. He found April sitting at the table, holding a cup of coffee and staring at the T.V. in the living room. Her face looked grim and her eyes appeared to glimmer with tears.
"Honey?" he walked to the table and knelt down at her level. "What's wrong?" He followed her gaze to the screen of the T.V. The footage of the crime scene was being shown again on Channel 6. The news ticker at the bottom read, "THE SERPENT STRIKES AGAIN? 13 MURDERED."
Casey immediately understood and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Red," he whispered gently to her, "it might not even be him. I mean, he wouldn't do something this awful. Right?"
April hugged the warm arms that surrounded her and sighed deeply. "I want to believe that it's someone else. But, really, Casey, who else in this town has twin samurai swords and a large hump on his back? Besides, on the night Mikey…" She shut her eyes and bit her lower lip. "Leo wasn't himself after that. You saw it, too, Casey. How cold and…I don't know…lost he had become."
"Yeah, but I doubt that someone like Leo would stoop that low," he said. "After all, that's not what Mikey would've wanted."
"Mikey also wanted the family to stay together no matter what," April looked directly into his brown eyes. "And yet they all went their separate ways after the funeral. We haven't heard from any of them in thirty years. So we can't rule out the possibility that the Serpent is, in fact, Leo."
Casey stared into her sad blue eyes before caressing her cheek. "That's not the only thing that's bothering you, is it?"
April looked down at the table. "Shadow got sent to the principal's office today. She got into another fight."
Casey stood back up and rubbed his face. "Oh, god," he mumbled. "Another fight?"
"She said the kid called her a 'b**ch."
Casey's eyes widened and a scowl appeared on his face. "Oh, really?" he growled. "Well, that punk got what he deserved. In fact, if Shadow hadn't beaten him up first, I would've given him…"
"Casey," April scolded her husband. "We need to focus on Shadow's anger problems."
"Oh, right. Well…what about that Scared Straight program?"
April rolled her eyes at this. "No, honey. We are not resorting to that."
"All right, all right, it was just a suggestion. Let's see…we could sign her up for a teenage anger management class."
"I never had much faith in those kinds of classes."
"Well, what else do you suggest? Take her to a shrink and have her pour out her soul on the couch?"
April rested her cheek on her hand and sighed. What other options were there?
The phone in their bedroom rang as April was drying her hair. Casey was downstairs watching a hockey game while Shadow was in her room doing her homework. She turned off the blow dryer and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
Hello. Is this April O'Neil?
"Well, actually, it's April Jones now. Who is this?"
April, it's me, Karai.
She almost dropped the phone in shock.
"Karai…? Oh, my gosh. I…I can't believe it's you…!"
I know it's been a while. Thirty years to be exact.
"How have you been? How's Master Splinter?"
She heard Karai sigh on the other line.
I'm doing well, but Father isn't.
April felt her heart drop at those words.
"What…what do you mean by that?"
He's getting worse every day. His health is failing him and I'm not sure how long he is going to last. One of these days he'll go to sleep and…and never wake up again.
She put a mouth to her hand and sat down at the bed, her hand gripping the phone even tighter.
"So you…want us to come see him before he…?"
Yeah. But listen, April, it can't be just you and Casey. The whole family has to be here. Or what's left of it anyway. We need to find the other Turtles and have them come see Father one last time.
"But, Karai, I-I have no idea where Leo, Raph, or Donnie are. I've lost touch with them since Mikey's funeral."
We have to try anyway. For Father's sake. Please, April. I can't do this without you.
April glanced at the picture sitting on the drawer next to the bed. It was a photo of her and the rest of the gang. Donnie was smiling and still full of life, before he became like an emotionless and cold machine. April winked at the camera while Casey did the bunny ears behind Leo's head. Raph wore his trademark scowl and had his arms crossed. Leo was the one holding the camera, but he was glancing down at Mikey with an annoyed expression on his face. The youngest Turtle wore a silly grin and his tongue was sticking out.
She knew that things would never be the same without Mikey, but just as she had pointed out to Casey earlier, he would've wanted his family to stay together. That was what he died for, after all.
And the least she could do for her old Sensei was to let him see his sons once more before passing into the next life. She couldn't imagine the guilt and loneliness that he had been feeling for the last thirty years. She was actually surprised that he lasted this long.
"Okay, Karai, I'll help you find the others."
As you can see, I am using characters from the Mirage comics, the Image comics, and even the 1987 cartoon. Though Vernon in this story is actually a nice and well-mannered young man in his late twenties.