Chapter 4

'Splinter.'

We both whispered his name at the same time, and the boys started to wonder how we knew his name. "Come closer," he requested in a calm, clear voice. April and I took hesitant steps towards Splinter and stopped in front of him. "It's been a long time." He bent forward a little to look into April's eyes. "You always did have your father's eyes." Splinter then looked to me. "You have grown quite a bit Rosa. I remember that you always liked being called that."

My eyes widened. I had always hated being called by my full name, Rosalba which means white rose for my hair. It had been one of the many things that I would talk to Splinter about when I was a little girl. How did he remember that?

"I don't understand," April whispered.

"Don't be afraid," Splinter reassured her. "All will be made clear."

"This is crazy," April whispered again.

We all sat down in front of Splinter as he began to tell the story about how they got to where they were. "Listen closely, April, Rosa. I don't remember a time before living in that laboratory. That fateful night started like any other. Sacks gave us our injections. Your father made sure that our vital signs were strong. And you two, as always, provided us with a special treat. After the brothers went to sleep, I heard loud voices. There was the smell of smoke, alarms sounded.

"Your father had discovered the truth behind the man he was working for. He set fire to the lab. His last breath was taken trying to destroy Shedder's plan. I was terrified, but then you appeared and ushered us to safety. I never had a voice then, but I thank you now, April."

Splinter paused in his story and I looked at April. "I didn't know that you were there," I said to her. April just looked at me and nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

April looked down at her lap. "I never really wanted to think about that night," she replied in a small voice. I reached out and took her hand in mine. Looking up at me, we shared a smile; me forgiving her for not telling me and her understanding where I was coming from.

It was then that Splinter continued his story. "We wandered the sewers until I found this place. It was then that the mutagen that was injected into our blood began to change us in miraculous ways. I saw how your father loved you and I knew that I had to show that same love to the turtles. I became their father and they became my sons.

"Like all children, they were drawn to the distractions of popular culture, and I knew one day they would want to explore the world above. They would be ridiculed. They would need to learn to protect themselves, both mentally and physically. And then I found a way. First, I would teach myself the ancient art of Ninjutsu. The brothers followed my lead, accelerating at a wonderous rate!

"Their gift was also their passion. They lived, breathed, and dreamed all things martial arts. Then, they were ready. Everything they are, and everything they've become was made possible by the bravery that you displayed on that fateful night."

"I was just a little girl," April protested.

"And you gave us freedom," Splinter pointed. "Where others would have kept us in cages."

"Wait a minute Dad," Leo interrupted. "All these years you told us we were rescued from the fire by a great guardian spirit, the Hogo-sha."

"That's right," Splinter confirmed. "And this is the Hogo-sha."

April just looked all around confused. I didn't blame her. Learning that the animals that you had saved would be the vigilantes that you had been chasing, would be a lot for anyone to take in. Leo stood up and bowed low to April, Mikey and Donnie followed suite. Raph only folded his arms and stayed standing.

"My girlfriend is totally the Hogo-sha," Mikey whispered, and Leonardo hit his arm.

"Why did you bring us here?" I decided to jump in and ask.

"To find out who you two told of our existence," Splinter clarified.

I shook my head. "I haven't told anyone at all. No one would believe me."

"No one that believed me," April told him truthfully. "Except for Eric Sacks." She then visibly flinched away from me which everyone noticed.

I was practically vibrating with anger and let go of April's hand. "You did WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry Rosy," April pleaded. "I had to find out if I was crazy or not."

I stood up and over her. "And the fact that I saw the same thing that you did! Of course, you're not crazy! But going to him was doing something crazy!"

"Why do you not like him or something?" Raph asked, cutting into our fight.

I looked at him with a glare. "Or something. He's my father and we don't have the best relationship."

"Sacks, just as I feared," Splinter said in dread as he stood up, breaking the conversation. "Sacks is not a friend. His soul has been poisoned by the influence of a dark master. The Shredder." April started to tear up as he spoke, realizing the gravity of her mistake. "Shredder practical raised Sacks in Japan. He's like a father to him. Sacks will do anything for his master."

"Wait, wait," Raph spoke up. "Sacks and Shredder? So, why aren't we out there hunting them down?"

"Because, Raphael, the Shredder is a skilled warrior whose cruelty is ever-reaching!" Splinter advised. "And you are just teenagers. The mutagen in your blood is of great value to them. Now that Sacks has confirmation that you are alive, I fear that they will bring the fight to us."

"Oh no," April whispered. I looked down to see her looking at a Sacks Industries business card.

"Oh April."

Suddenly, alarms sounded out and echoed off the walls. "Perimeter infringe," Donnie called out. "Breached! We have incoming!"

They all ran over to a corner with a wall of computer screens. I pulled April up from her spot and followed them. "No! No!" Donnie said in a panic. "We got two breaches. Fan room, weapons wall!" Leo then preceded to give out orders about where everyone should go.

I drew my sword. "Suddenly, I'm really glad that I brought this with me."

There was a blast from the weapons wall that sent us all backwards. Dust was everywhere and I could barely see. But I could see the light beams from the flashlights. I started to fight against several of the Foot with shock staffs with punches and kicks, flipping over several of them. I used my sword to deflect the shock staffs that were directed at me.

"We got a breach in the fan room!" Donnie called out.

"Raph! Get to the fan room!" Leo ordered.

"Why are you always telling me what to do?" Raph demanded while punching a Foot soldier over Leo's shoulder.

"Just go!" he responded as Raph left to the fan room. "Mikey! You gotta get April and Rosa out of here now!" Mikey then went to get April, who had a few of the Foot surrounding her.

I punched one that got too close to me. I saw one come up behind Leo, and I quickly moved to kick him away. Leo turned around to find me standing there glaring at him. "I can take care of myself," I told him forcefully.

Feeling someone coming up behind me, I threw my leg back, spinning around and giving them a roundhouse kick. Turning back to Leo, I saw him gulp before he nodded at me. I kept fighting off more of the Foot, but they just kept coming. I noticed that they didn't use the tranq darts on me; I guess my father wanted me alive as well. It was then that I heard they boys calling out for their sensei.

I looked to the middle of the lair and found Splinter fighting against the Shredder. He had closed off the middle area and I rushed over to where the guys were trying to open it. They lifted the heavy metal grated gate and I looked on in awe of their strength. Donnie put his custom bo staff under it and used that to pop it open. Once it was open, they stood at the ready and I drew my sword again, ready to fight; standing in between Donnie and Leo.

Shredder held up Splinter by his collar. "Children, put down your weapons or your father will die."

Leo hesitated only a moment before throwing down his swords. Donnie and Mikey followed suite. I looked at Leo as he looked at me, his cobalt blue eyes pleaded with me to comply with the demand. I knew from personal experience that Shredder wouldn't keep his word, but the look in Leo's eyes had my resolve crumbling. I sighed and threw my sword down with the other weapons.

It was then that Shredder punched Splinter in the stomach, instead of letting him go. They boys cried out and moved to get to their father, but the Foot had shock staffs that had us all on our knees in a second. The shocks from the staffs made black spots enter my vision before darkness overcame me.

*TMNT and the White Rose*

When I came to, I was laying down in a container with Leo, Donnie, and Mikey. My hands were shackled behind my back and I groaned as my whole body ached. The boys gave a collective sigh of relief as I tried to sit up. Once I was finally up right, I looked around at the boys. They all had various burn marks from where the shock staffs touched their skins, but they were otherwise unharmed.

"Are you alright?" Leo questioned in concern as I readjusted and groaned again.

I gave him a weak smile. "Tired and sore but I'll be fine. Thank you for the concern though."

He gave me a small smile in return. "Anytime."

We rode for what felt like forever. In that time, I made sure to ask them different questions about their conditions. "How do you know all this stuff?" Mikey asked me. "Donnie's been the only one that knows a little medical stuff."

I smiled at him and laughed a little. "I'm a nurse going through residency to become a doctor. I'm just glad that I got three weeks off before all this happened." At the last bit, the three of them chuckled.

When we arrived, I saw that we were at the Sacks Estate. The shocked the guys into containment units, which they had four of. I guess they expected to have four turtles and not three. I was put against one of the concrete pillars with my arms around the back. The boys were struggling against their restraints as my father, Eric Sacks made his appearance. When he saw the turtles, he just stopped and starred.

"Oh my," he said in awe. "Unbelievable. Let me look at you." He just starred at them before laughing a little bit. "I'm a hard guy to impress, but…"

"There's the understatement of the friggin' year," I muttered sarcastically. Although, everyone heard me, and my father turned his eyes to me. He looked at me with a smirk planted on his lips.

"Well, well," he said mockingly as he walked over to me. "It's good to have you back my white rose." White rose was a nickname that he and my mother used to call me when I was little. My mother disappeared when I was four years old and a year later Project Renaissance was born.

I only bared my teeth at him and gave a snarl. "Don't call me that."

"Do you know what is funny about me getting the turtles and you is?" he questioned with a smug smile on his face. "The fact that all four of you were injected with the mutagen."

My eyes widened. I was injected with the mutagen. I then realized the nightmares that I would have as a child were real. I used to have nightmares of being strapped to a table and injected with something, but I never knew what it was. I looked to the boys and saw that they were looking at me with wide eyes as well.

"When your mother left us, you got unbearably sick," my father clarified. "You wouldn't talk, eat, or sleep. There was no getting through to you, but I had a theory. A theory that the mutagen could help your body regenerate and it worked. You got better. But the difference between you four is that I'm not going to drain you, my precious daughter. I mean what kind of father drains his daughter of her blood."

"The same kind that injects her in the first place," I growled back at him.

"All we were trying to do is create an antidote," he defended.

"For what?" Leo interjected with anger in his voice.

My father spun around to look at him. "Say that again. I wanna hear your voice."

"For what!?" Leo shouted at him.

"Well, we had this plan," my father said slowly. "A plan that we are ready to put back online today. I'll show you." He then turned to Kurai. "Kurai… show them."

Kurai turned to the three Foot soldiers and said an order in Japanese. I had to strain to look at what they were doing, and I saw two of the soldiers grab the guy in the middle. All the while, my father continued to talk. "You know my building, Sacks Tower? Got that great big spire on top? That spire is filled with tons of chemical toxins. Bad stuff."

Kurai brought over a tank with a mask connected to it and forced it onto the guys face. He started to get choked and started to fall and they followed him down. I felt myself go pale as I watched the physical damage it did to the poor soldier. I could still hear my father explaining in the background.

"In a few hours, Shredder is going to unleash all that stuff over the whole city," he was saying. "The initial death toll with shake world governments to their core. In thirty days, the city of New York will be a quarantine zone. And that is were my company comes in. I'm gonna save everyone with the antidote that is made from the mutagen that is oozing through your blood.

"The government will then send Sacks Industry a blank check and I'm gonna be rich. Like, stupid rich. Shredder will force this city to live under our rule. We will be gods."

I shared a look with Leo. This wasn't going to be good.

AN: Here's the next chapter already! I wanted to make a big shout out to grapejuice101 and R. for reviewing. It really helps me write. I would love to hear what you like about the chapter or what I need to improve on. But remember NO flames. Until next time!