Chapter 2: Reunited
Tonyhedgehog: Like the idea it has potential looking forward to next chapter also I got a couple questions: Is Arty going to be Leo second in command cause I see it happening and are you going to give her alternate mutation forms? And hopefully Joshua can help Donnie create retro mutagen since Donnie mostly works on techs and tools. Can't wait for the first confrontation of the Shredder. Also, I like her suit to be like Scorpion makes me think that she is a Mortal Kombat fan.
ThermalsniperN7: Glad you're interested. As for your first question, I hadn't planned on Arty being Leo's second in command, but I can see it working. Her alternate mutation forms won't come in for a good while, though.
Dragon Emperor0: That being because we haven't decided how we're going to have them appear just yet since Arty never really got to eat many of the nutrient caches before the Kraang scooped her up, or managed to fight the Apex Predators, for that matter. But I may have an idea for how we can handle both. It's just gonna take some narrative finagling to make it work.
ThermalsniperN7: And I dunno about Joshua helping Donnie make retro mutagen, but it could happen. His main area of expertise is medical science, mind you, so this concept is up in the air. And yeah, you ain't wrong about Arty being a Mortal Kombat fan.
-Streets of New York-
The five mutants looked at the ooze canister with shocked expressions on their faces. They came to get answers about where their two human targets had been taken, and they got this instead.
"Is that… Mutagen?" Donnie questioned.
"What in the world is going on here?!" The Bull Shark girl wondered.
"That must mean that the people behind this probably know about what happened to us fifteen years ago." Leo stated.
"Forget that! Let's drink some!" Mikey exclaimed.
"What? Why would you do that?" Raph questioned incredulously.
"Think about it, if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant!" The orange masked turtle stated.
"Or a pile of goo on the sidewalk." Donnie added dryly.
"Either way it's an improvement." The team muscle shrugged.
"… I can see that happening, becoming a super mutant, I mean." Artemisia mused idly, but only Leo heard her while Donnie and Raph spoke.
"Let's agree to not test that." The sword using terrapin told his sister.
"Leo, that's how I got my bio sonar. I ate a bunch of nutrient caches in the bayou I was in before I ended up here." The shark girl deadpanned, arms folded. "My guess is that there was mutagen in those things." She added, gesturing to the canister.
"Oh yeah." The blue masked turtle blinked as he remembered that detail. Then he looked at the probable impostor who was groaning on the ground. "And I think it's time we got some answers." He added, gesturing for Mikey and Donnie to restrain him.
"Alright, dirtbag, start talking." Arty stated as she held her chained kunai to his throat. "Who are you, who do you work for and what did they do with the family you kidnapped?" She questioned.
"Name's Snake, and I ain't tellin' nothin' to you freaks." The man retorted defiantly, which only made Raph grin.
"Well that's because you don't know us yet—So, in that case, we can play a little game I call 'mutation roulette.'" He said as he removed one of the canister's caps. "This stuff made the five of us into who we are. Doesn't mean you'll get a handsome face like mine, though." He added.
"Or a pretty one like mine." The shark girl chipped in as her sai using brother tilted the canister.
"Because you could end up disgusting and deformed. Like Mikey here." Raph added, letting the ooze pour toward Snake at a frighteningly slow pace.
"Hey!" Mikey whined.
As the ooze got closer, Snake grew more and more panicked, and it showed on his face. He must've known what would happen, because it didn't take long for him to crack before it could touch him.
"Okay, okay!" He exclaimed, prompting the red masked turtle to halt the ooze… which went back into the canister with no spilled drops. "They call themselves the Kraang, those people were taken to a landing pad at the edge of the city! They're taking all the scientists out of the city!" He continued.
"Can you guys believe this?" Donnie gasped in an excited tone. "I'm a scientist, that girl's a scientist! She's gonna like me!" He exclaimed in glee.
"I don't think you're her type." Snake remarked flatly.
"Yeah, I gotta second that." The shark kunoichi admitted.
"That certainly worked well." Leo noted.
"Of course it did, would you wanna look like Mikey?" Raph scoffed.
"I'm right here!" The nunchuck using turtle exclaimed indignantly.
"He knows. Why do you think he said it?" Arty asked rhetorically with a smirk under her mask, which didn't help Mikey's mood.
(Later)
The group was now looking over the helipad that Snake had mentioned, and decided to bring him along to make sure he didn't try anything devious.
"So that's the place, huh?" Arty hummed as she twirled her chain kunai.
"Yeah. And from what I'm seeing, there's at least fifteen or twenty of them." Leo nodded.
"And that's just the ones we can see." Donnie mused.
"Aw yeah, an all you can beat buffet." Raph smirked, twirling his sais.
"Man I could really go for some more of that Pizza." Mikey cheered, completely forgetting that he's supposed to watch Snake so he doesn't run off. "What? I can't be the only one who's hungry." He said as the others looked at him.
"Uh, where's Snake?" Leo questioned.
Sure enough, when Mikey snapped back around, he saw that the man had run off.
"Get his ass!" Arty exclaimed as she gave chase, her brothers following suit.
They were quick to follow Snake down the fire escape, but they lost him when they got to the ground. This prompted the gang to split up. Arty deciding to go with Donnie and Mikey.
(Elsewhere)
Donnie and Mikey were quick to come to a wall.
"Think he went over this wall?" Donnie questioned as Arty came up to them.
"Gimme a sec…" The bull shark girl said as she focused and used her bio sonar, a pulse rippling out of her forehead and pinged everything at the other side of the wall. "He could be. I'm getting a few larger objects back there." She nodded.
"Gimme a boost D!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Alioop!" Donnie nodded as he launched his brother over the wall…
Only for a really painful commotion to follow.
"Ooooh, I don't think he went this way!" Mikey groaned.
(Elsewhere)
As the trio stopped at an alleyway to look around, there was a slight disturbance that caught Leo's attention. Raph looked in its direction and the sword using terrapin confirmed that Snake was hiding in the alley. Then…
"Oh no, we let him get away." The oldest turtle sibling said loudly, knowing the man could hear him.
"Whoa Whoa, You're the leader, so that means you let him get away." Raph told him, catching on.
"You're not helping." Leo deadpanned.
"I'm not trying to help." Raph shrugged.
"Okay, okay, what we'll do is we'll take Snake's van to the building, drive up to the gate and they'll think we're him so we can cruise right in." The elder of the two stated.
"And then we bust some heads?" The lancer questioned.
"And then we bust some heads." Leo nodded as they walked away.
"I love a happy ending." Raph smiled.
(Later)
No back at the lair, the gang was gearing up for their little rescue mission. Arty was actually debriefing Joshua on what had been discovered as she got her own gear prepped.
"These Kraang guys are actually taking scientists from all over the city? What for?" The runaway teen wondered as he sat next to the shark girl.
"We haven't the foggiest idea, but if you're as much of a prodigy in science as you say you are, then you might wanna stay down here a bit longer than planned until a chance shows itself." The shark girl told him as she looked over her blade.
"Yeah, I'd rather not get abducted on the streets." Joshua agreed, not wanting to get abducted by aliens.
"Do you have a place you can stay once things blow over?" Arty asked.
"I think so, yeah." He nodded. "There's my uncle Johan and aunt Harley, they can probably help me." He continued. "Problem is I haven't talked to them in years. My parents never got along with them." He added.
"Sounds like a problem for them, not you." The ninja shark shrugged, and that wasn't exactly wrong. It wasn't Joshua's fault his "parents" couldn't get along with his aunt and uncle. "Speaking of which, where do your parents live?" She inquired, an idea forming in her head.
"What are you planning?" The only human in the lair questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"I wanna get dirt on your parents so you can give that to your aunt and uncle to help your case." Arty replied. "Seriously, your parents are a pair of right disgusting jackasses." She added seriously.
"In that case…" Joshua trailed off before he grabbed one of the mutant shark girl's pieces of scrap paper and a pen before writing down the address of his ex-parents. "Here. Might wanna wait until after this kidnapping mess is over, though." He told her, giving her the paper.
"Right." The kunai chain user nodded.
(Later)
The turtles were now at a side wall away from the area where the Kraang were watching the front with Snake, said human arguing with them about something, right as his old van started speeding towards them—the windows tinted black, allowing Arty to drive it and jump out halfway through.
As she rushed to join her brothers, she watched as the van crashed into the front gate while the Kraang and Snake scrambled to get out of the way. The explosion that resulted was pretty good, in her opinion.
"Man, I'm sure glad we weren't in there." Mikey sighed.
"Mikey, just zip it and keep climbing." Arty told him as they kept climbing.
As they dropped into the building, they quickly took down the guards and looked around, and Donnie noticed how everything looked very… Alien in origin.
"Wow. Definitely didn't expect anything like this." The Bull Shark girl blinked as she looked at the alien build of the structure.
"Neither did I." Donnie nodded. "They're using a metal alloy I don't even recognize." He added.
"Wow, a metal alloy that even you don't recognize. It boggles the mind." Raph said, rolling his eyes.
"Dude, you wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it." The brains of the bunch dared.
"I don't." The muscle retorted.
After a bit, they decided to look over the guards to see if they could find anything useful. Though as they did, they came up on the Kraang's true forms, that being in the form of alien robots.
"Whoa, alien robots. Just like Master Splinter told us about. I can't believe it!" Donnie exclaimed in surprise.
"Alien robots, huh?" Mikey said. "Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah—." He continued a bit, his tone getting angrier. "I'VE BEEN SAYING IT FOR HOURS!" He added in a yell.
This had the effect of getting the attention of the Kraang, who immediately started shooting at them.
"You couldn't have been more quiet about that?!" Arty snapped as she took cover from the gunfire.
"Just take these guys down!" Leo snapped as they jumped over cover and rushed the robots, taking them down rather efficiently in comparison to their first outing—with Artemisia even getting one of them in the head with her chain dart.
"Get over here!" She growled as she pulled the robot towards her and sliced it apart with her Wakazashi.
Raph was able to get close and stab two in the heads with his sais while Donnie and Mikey bashed a couple of others to the ground and incapacitated them.
After the fight, the shark girl yanked one of the brain-like creatures out of its suit, causing it to snarl and attempt to lunge at her. Sadly for the alien organism, the ninja shark's grip was too firm.
"Hm…" The chain kunai user hummed as she looked at the creature. "I wonder how good Joshua is at biology. He might be able to gleam quite a good bit from a dissection of one of these things." She mused, which actually made the little alien feel scared.
"What are you gonna carry it in?" Donnie asked.
"Not sure." The girl hummed.
"How about this?" Raph offered, holding up a cylinder he found.
"That'll work." His sister nodded as she shoved the creature inside.
(Elsewhere)
As all of this was going on, the Kraang were now standing with a pair of humans who had a phone in their hands, handing it to one of them. The two humans were a man and woman, and both seemed to have rings on their hands, meaning they were likely married.
The woman had brown hair, brown eyes and a fair figure—which was hourglass shaped with her assets being voluptuously well proportioned—that suited her age, which was around forty five. She was wearing a blue corset and a pair of navy blue jeans.
The man, meanwhile, looked like your average sleazy American salesman or possibly politician. A full head of black slicked back hair, brown eyes, and strong facial features matched his stout body and glasses. Adding his suit, he honestly looked like what Senator Armstrong would look like if he was twenty years younger.
These two were Joshua's former parents.
"I trust that we have a deal?" The woman questioned, looking at the identical aliens in disguise.
"Yeah. That little brat has to be worth the amount you offered." The man added.
"Indeed." The Kraang with the phone nodded as he gave the phone back to the woman… before all of them pointed their guns at them.
"H-Huh?! What are you doing?!" The man gasped, his wife looking scared.
"You were fools for expecting money in exchange for your son whom you expected money in exchange for." One of the lookalikes stated in a blank tone. "Eliminate them." He added, which prompted the others to gun the two greedy parents.
There was only the sound of screaming and blasters firing as the Kraang gunned down the husband and wife duo with the prejudice and deadliness of a firing squad.
"Take these to the mutation chamber. These bodies may be what is known as useful for experimentation." The leader of the group of Kraang ordered his subordinates.
"Yes, Kraang." One of the other subordinates nodded before they took the bodies.
(Meanwhile)
Back with the Turtles and their sister, they had finally reached the family that was captured first. Their names were Kirby and April O'Neil, and safe to say, things were going moderately smoothly.
"Well, while Donnie's busy picking that lock, it's nice to finally meet another girl." Arty stated casually as she kept looking for more Kraang. "My name's Artemisia." She added.
"Sounds like you're the only girl among a bunch of dudes." April noted.
"Oh, you don't even know." The shark girl quipped.
"I bet." The gingerette nodded before looking at Donnie. "Uh, could you hurry up by chance? They could be back any minute." She told him.
"Hey, do you have any idea how hard it is to work with wiring with these hands?" The brainiac retorted, holding up his three digit hands for emphasis.
"Right, sorry." The girl nodded, realizing what he meant.
Arty, meanwhile, rolled her eyes before she drew her chain dart and pushed Donnie aside and stabbed the fuse box, causing it to short out and the doors to open right as the Kraang arrived.
"Incoming!" Mikey yelped as the aliens started shooting. Meanwhile, the 'wall' at the back of the cell opened and another Kraang squad took the father daughter duo while the mutants were distracted.
"Okay! Now these things are really pissing me off!" Arty growled as she slapped two robots against the wall with her tail—causing them to collapse in a heap and their brainy contents to come crawling out, squealing all the way.
"You're not alone!" Raph growled as he stabbed one in the head.
"Guys, they got taken again! Let's deal with these guys and go after them!" Donnie called as he whacked another bot with his staff.
"You handle that situation, I'm going this way." The Bull Shark girl said as she ran off.
"Where are you going?!" Leo questioned.
"I just smelled something that shouldn't be here! I need to figure out what it is!" She told them as she ran off.
(Later)
As the shark girl stalked through the halls, hiding from Kraang patrols as she went, she found herself in what seemed to be a biology room. She could see several marine creatures ranging from common fish to Great Whites, but none of that interested her at the moment.
She then rounded a corner where she soon came to a sort of laboratory, where a large orb shaped tank of mutagen hung above a grate, and two cranes lifted two corpses above the tank.
The corpses in question were a human woman (unknown to her, it was Joshua's mother Sarah) and a female bull shark, who she did recognize.
"M-Mom?!" She gasped, eyes wide as her legs trembled.
Meanwhile a Kraang droid pushed a button, causing the two bodies to fall into the mutagen tank—where they started coming together and stretching apart before coming back together again, and merging together in a gruesome twist on limbs and body horror—which was graciously obscured by the opaqueness of the Ooze.
Seconds later, a vaguely humanoid floated in the ooze before electricity coursed through it and shocked it to life, causing the figure to scream itself to life. When the process finished, the ooze was drained and the result remained.
The shark girl had a decent view, so she was able to safely confirm that what she was looking at was a shark woman with the same blue hair Artemisia herself had and the same voluptuous hourglass figure as the woman who got dropped in with her. The length of her hair was also the same as the human's, too.
The most obvious features from her own mother was the puncture scar that was on the back of her left shoulder and a slash scar going down her stomach. A nasty one at that.
There was also the shark skin that was dark on the back, and white on the underbelly along with the shark tail. Lets not forget the gills on her neck. Her face was also similar in structure to Arty's but much older.
And the procedure had somehow destroyed the clothes Sarah had worn when she was dumped in, leaving the newly reanimated mutant naked.
After a moment, the mutant gasped as her eyes snapped open.
"What happened?! Where am I?!" She yelled, shooting up and looking around before she instinctively held her stomach. "Where's my baby?! WHAT DID THAT DAMNED HUMAN DO TO HER?!" She screamed desperately, paying no heed to the fact she was talking or the fact she wasn't suffocating on land.
The Kraang looked at each other in confusion before shrugging as they advanced on the woman to try and subdue her—only for the membrane that covered a shark's eyes covered the woman's eyes—and she proceeded to tear through them like the bounty hunters she killed before in Crawfish Bay.
Artemisia's eyes watered as she watched her newly reanimated mother rip and tear the Kraang to pieces, feeling joy in her heart that she finally got to see her again. She never thought she'd get this chance to see her again.
When the new mutant was done with her rampage, she looked at herself as her new hands shook, her mind processing her new body features.
"Wh… What happened to me…? She gasped as she started examining herself. She knew for a fact she was never always like this, but she decided to pin the blame on the creatures that did… whatever this was to her.
"M-Mommy?" Artemisia choked out as she slowly approached the woman in question, her body shaking from sheer nerves.
"H-Huh?" The mutant woman gasped as she turned to the teenage shark girl. Instinct took over as she approached the younger girl. "D-Did you just call m-me…?" She trailed off.
"Yes. It's me… I'm your daughter." Artemisia nodded shakily as she stood before her mother, within arm's reach.
The woman sniffed her, taking in her scent, and when she did, she knew. She knew that the girl before her was her daughter, and her scent confirmed it. This knowledge brought her to tears before she did the one thing she knew she needed to do.
"MY BABY!" She cried as she pulled Artemisia into a hug, tears escaping her eyes. The younger shark girl couldn't hold herself together anymore as she broke down, crying into her mother's shoulder as she relished in the feeling of being in her mother's presence again for the first time in over a decade.
After a couple of minutes of embracing one another, the two shark gals separated and looked into each other's eyes.
"I thought I'd never see you again." The woman said as she hugged her child into the valley of her bosom—the teenager nuzzling into her chest with purrs of delight.
"I thought you would stay dead after what that damned human did to you." The younger shark told her mother, pulling her head back to look at her but not leaving her embrace.
"How… How long have I been dead?" The shark mom asked hesitantly, which made her daughter's ears droop as she looked down.
"Over ten years. I got taken from Port Clovis and ended up with a new family in that time." Arty replied, causing the older shark woman's heart to drop.
She had been dead that long?
"I'm so sorry, sweetie." The woman choked out, kissing her daughter's forehead.
"It wasn't your fault." Artemisia told her. Then she perked up and looked at where she came in. "Okay, as much as I'd like to give you the full story about what I've been up to, we need to move. Let's get you some clothes and meet up with my surrogate family." She told her, taking her mother's hand and pulling her along.
"Wha! Hey, slow down! I'm not used to this new body yet!" The still unnamed shark woman protested as she struggled to keep up with her daughter while getting used to her new legs.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back with the boys, they were currently in the process of trying to rescue April and her father, when they suddenly encountered a snag in the form of a mutated Snake in the form of a giant weed—which Mikey aptly dubbed Snake Weed.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to me!" The mutant exclaimed.
"Man, I really hope Arty gets back soon!" Mikey gulped as the four got ready to fight their large opponent.
As if his words were the key, Artemisia dropkicked Snakeweed on the head, and jumped down to join them, causing him to grunt before her mother took a chunk out of his flank with a mighty tailwhip and landed next to her daughter, and she was now clad in a black bikini.
Surprisingly, the mutant plant regenerated from the damage dealt to him.
"Nice of you to come back to the party, sis." Raph commented before looking at the older mutant. "Who's the new face?" He asked.
"My mom." Arty answered, surprising her brothers..
"WHAT?!" The turtles exclaimed in shock.
"Look, I'll explain later. What are we dealing with?" She asked.
"We're trying to rescue that family, but this guy– Snakeweed– is in the way." Donnie reported.
"Then I suggest you get moving and leave this overgrown garden weed to the others." The shark girl said, pulling out her kunai chain. "I'll help you stop that helicopter." She added.
"Thanks." The purple masked turtle nodded.
"Be careful, sweetie." The older woman told her daughter, concern in her voice.
"Don't worry, mom. I will." Arty nodded back before she and Donnie rushed to stop the helicopter, Leo giving them a boost.
"Hey, do you have a name, or what?" Mikey asked, looking at his sister's mother.
"No, but I imagine I will soon." The older shark woman replied with a shake of her head.
Back with Donnie and Arty, the purple masked turtle launched himself into the air with his staff—while Arty hurled her chain at the helicopter, and proceeded to dig her heels in to try and pull it down.
A herculean task, given that she was trying to pull down an aircraft utilizing a much stronger engine than she was used to. Still, she was actually able to make some progress, and the Kraang pilots were struggling to get away while Donnie was trying to get to Kirby and April.
However, the helicopter was starting to try and force their way away from those pursuing them, but it wasn't working as well as they'd hoped—and Arty was having a hell of a time trying to keep it from flying off.
"Damn it, Donnie, if you don't hurry up, my chain kunai and my hand are gonna break!" She growled to herself, gritting her teeth as she exerted a larger amount of strength just to keep a grip on her main weapon while hoping her hand didn't break, since the chain was wrapped around it.
After a reasonable amount of struggle, Donnie was able to get the door open and grab April, but she accidentally slipped and was forced to grab the landing struts with a fearful look on her face. Before anything else could be done, one of the Kraang brought out a pistol and shot the shark kunoichi's chain.
Not one of the brightest ideas the aliens have had, given that the struggling aircraft was sent spiraling out of control, which made Donnie and April fall off while Arty fell on her ass with a yelp. Then her head snapped up to the falling human and turtle.
"GUYS!" She yelled, fearing for their lives.
However, Donnie was apparently in control of the situation as he grabbed April mid fall. Then he did some well executed rolls and jumps before landing safely on the ground. Sadly, the helicopter was able to get away with Kirby.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group were still dealing with Snakeweed and the Kraang when Leo got an idea.
"Hey guys, see that generator over there?" He asked, pointing to the unit in question that he hoped was a generator. It was hard to tell with alien designs.
"I can tell what you're thinking, and it's insane." Arty's mother told him, connecting the dots rather quickly.
"Yeah, but it's our best shot." Raph sighed.
Leo then proceeded to get Snakeweed's attention by attacking him, dodging him a few times to hopefully keep his focus on him. It worked, and when the blue masked terrapin was grabbed, he made a gesture for his brothers to head for the generator. They nodded, and made their way to get into position while the shark mom sliced the plant mutant's vine with her claws to get Leo free.
While the giant mutant was holding the sword using turtle, however, he had wandered near the generator. That was Mikey and Raph's signal.
"Hey, scrap heaps!" The nunchuck using turtle taunted as he and his brother made faces to get the Kraang's attention. It worked since they opened fire on them, only for the two turtles to dodge.
"Hey, watch where you're–" Snakeweed started to yell before he noticed the damaged and malfunctioning generator. "... Oh no." He groaned before screaming in pain as he was electrocuted before the generator exploded.
In the midst of the chaos, the turtles, two sharks and April escaped before they could be assailed further.
(Later)
The gang decided to split up. The turtle brothers went to take April to her aunt's house while Arty brought her mom back to the lair. When she arrived with her mother in tow, Splinter and Joshua were very surprised.
"Artemisia, who is this?" The rat questioned upon seeing her.
"Better question, why does she look like an older version of you?" Joshua wondered.
"You know how my mother was killed?" The teenage bull shark began. "Somehow, the Kraang got their hands on her corpse, and I saw them dump her in a huge tub of mutagen with some human woman I didn't recognize. This… Is the end result." She continued, gesturing to her mother.
"This is a… lot to take in." The old rat blinked, surprised.
"It's probably irrelevant at this point, but can you describe the woman that was dumped in with her?" The only human in the room requested.
"Hm… She had fair skin and brown hair. I could tell she was wearing a blue corset and blue jeans from where I observed the whole thing." The shark girl hummed. When she finished, she blinked when she noticed Joshua's shocked gaping expression.
"Um… Are you okay?" The older shark woman asked, wondering what warranted such a reaction.
"Arty… You literally just described my own mother in her favorite clothes." The human teen uttered, shocking the other three as well. Hell, Splinter even dropped his cane!
"Oh dear…" The old rat uttered as he picked up his cane.
"W-wait, does that… Does that make us…?!" The Bull Shark Kunoichi trailed off in shock.
"I hope not, because that's gonna make things uncomfortable and awkward." Joshua groaned as he held his head. "I'm definitely asking Donnie to get a blood test done when he gets back if he has the equipment." He added.
"Yeah, I second that." Arty nodded, wanting to dodge any potential drama landmines.
"Um… can I get a name, though? I still don't have one." The shark mom spoke up, reminding them she was still nameless.
"Ah, yes, that would be good." Splinter nodded, glad for the change in topic.
"Hm…" Joshua hummed as he started thinking. "Everyone here aside from me and Splinter is named after an artist from the Renaissance, so how about… Lavinia?" He offered.
"Lavinia…" The reanimated shark woman hummed, testing the name before nodding with a smile. "I like it." The now named Lavinia confirmed.
"That aside. I know that April was able to find a place to stay with her aunt." Leo said, as he and the others arrived back at the lair at the tail end of the conversation. "But what about you?" He questioned, looking at Josh.
"I'll head to my aunt and uncle and move in with them." The boy replied. "Also, so you guys are caught up, the Kraang apparently killed my parents and they used my mom's body to bring Arty's mom here back." He added, gesturing to the shark mom next to him.
This caused the four turtles to have four varying reactions: Leo with shock to the point of stone, jaw dropped science. Raph with momentary confusion that was soon replaced with undefined anger due to him not knowing what to be mad about more. Donnie who looked like he was on the verge of puking, but also over analyzing the Frankenstein science of the situation. And finally Mikey, who had no idea what Joshua was talking about, processed the information until a record scratched in his head and his eyes went wide.
"They did what?!" The youngest of the quartet exclaimed before fainting outright.
"That is so not cool!" The brawn of the group growled, angrily, clenching his fists to the point his knuckles lightened up a shade.
"The mutation process can reanimate the dead by having one body genetically override another?" Donnie questioned as he pondered what he heard. "That is so cool—! And disturbing. Really, really disturbing." He added.
"...I need to go lay down." Leo uttered as he went to his room to lay down before he joined Mikey in the faining league.
"Trust me, I feel extremely uncomfortable about this." Joshua groaned, palming his face. "Which brings me to my next point of business here; Donnie, do you have any blood testing equipment?" He asked, looking at the brainiac.
"Yeah, what kind of self respecting scientist would I be if I didn't?" The brains of the bunch questioned with a grin. "Plus, I wanted to see if Master Splinter had any human genes left in him once back when I was little, so I can do genealogy tests. Why?" Donnie asked in response.
"I need you to see if there's any lingering genes from my mother in Lavinia." Joshua explained.
"Oh, that should be pretty simple." The purple masked turtle stated, gesturing for them to follow. "Come into my lab, we'll get started there." He told the two.
"Right." The human teen nodded as he led the shark mom to the lab.
(Later)
After Joshua and Lavinia donated some of their blood to the test, Donnie had gotten to work. The reason the human had to donate some blood was so Donnie knew what genetic sequences from his mom to look for in Lavinia's blood, if there was any to be found.
"Hmmm, okay so based on my analysis of these samples from you, Arty and Lavinia." The scientist said as he looked up from his microscope after examining Lavinia's blood last. "I'm only seeing one or two pairs of chromosomes that are similar to the ones that indicated your mother's genome." He continued. "They're mainly ones that deal with physical appearance and some genetic traits regarding that, but the rest is all Lavinia's original genome." He added.
"No actual genetic ties that would label me as her son?" Joshua inquired.
"Not nearly enough to make it really stick." Donnie responded. "The mutagen basically irreparably warped your mom's genes by merging her with Lavinia's. And since both were dead, that meant that the one with more dominant traits took over." He continued. "In layman's terms. That stuff is all but gone." He added.
"That's a relief." The human teen sighed in relief. "Then again, I wouldn't have to start calling Arty my sister regardless, since both of us were born well before this whole fiasco happened." He mused.
"Well there are people who would have, so it's probably a good thing we cleared that up." The turtle nodded before blushing slightly as he looked at Lavinia again, who was still in her bikini.
"That aside, we should probably be getting you some actual clothes." Joshua said, realizing that the Shark MILF was likely to turn a few too many heads in her current state.
Lavinia pouted at them slightly, crossing her arms and making her G-cup bust bounce with the action.
"I rest my case." The teen deadpanned, looking away with a blush. 'If that's what Arty's gonna turn into when she's older, then her future looks good.' He thought.
"Oh, I just remembered!" The brainiac turtle exclaimed as he perked up before showing Joshua the tube with the Kraang trapped inside, the brain-like alien snarling at the human teen from within. "Arty posed the question of how much you could gleam from dissecting this. Think you're up to the challenge?" He inquired.
Joshua took the tube and peered at the creature inside. "I'll run some experiments on it while I'm at my uncle's place." He nodded as he shoved the Kraang in his backpack despite its squealing of protest. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked Lavinia.
"I believe so. Splinter was gracious enough to give me a map of the sewers so I can find suitable lodging." She nodded as she looked where Arty had been before she left five minutes prior. "Preferably close to here so Artemisia and I can make up for lost time." She continued before hugging Donnie close to her. "And so I can get to know her step-family." She added.
"Fair enough." Joshua chuckled as he turned to leave. Before he could walk out the door however, the shark MILF hugged him from behind, causing him to blush a tad more than he was earlier since he could feel her buxom chest pressing against him.
"And if you happen to become Artemisia's mate, know that you have my blessing." She whispered into his ear, her tone locked and loaded with teasing before she let him go.
Her words had the effect of making him speed walk out of the lair for the nearest ladder to the surface. All the while, he could only think one thing…
'Damn it, now I can see where Arty's aggressive flirting and teasing comes from!' He thought with a massive blush on his face.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, Arty was sitting down inside one of the clean water pools that was further into the sewers away from the lair. She was huddled up in the round water filled opening, legs pulled into her chest and tail wrapped around herself, obscuring her to the point where it was unclear if she was in her regular bikini or nude.
The shark girl had just talked to Splinter about her mother and had spent the whole time apologizing to him profusely, realizing that she probably made it seem like she didn't want to be a part of the Hamato family anymore.
But to her surprise, he just smiled and told her that no matter what happened or what new families come along, she would always be his daughter. And that would never change. If anything, it would just make their family all the larger.
This was a fair comfort to Arty, but safe to say she still needed time alone to process it all, which Splinter and her mother thankfully allowed her.
Something else was bugging her though…
'If both Joshua's parents were killed, then where's his dad's corpse?' She wondered. After she had time to process things, she realized that she had only seen the human teen's mother at the Kraang facility, but there was no sign of his father anywhere that she could see. That meant he was likely still out there—or rather his remains were.
Before she could steep in this corner of contemplation any longer, someone came up on her. Turning she soon saw that it was Joshua, who likely just left the lair.
Arty, in an uncharacteristic show of vulnerability and shyness, huddled herself closer in to cover herself, revealing that she had indeed been doing this contemplative soak in the nude.
This wasn't uncommon for her, even her brothers and father knew that she felt much more natural while naked and often felt the most relaxed without clothes on, especially in water—effectively making her a preferred nudist. It didn't mean that she couldn't feel shy at times, more so around technically new faces like Joshua's.
Joshua, for his part, was able to just ever so slightly tell that the girl he'd become friends with was naked in front of him, but that detail wasn't the thing that kept his attention.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked her as he approached the pool, kneeling beside it,
"... Kinda." The shark girl sighed, her ears drooping a bit. "This whole thing with my mom coming back has left my mind in a messy state." She continued.
"Do you… Wanna talk about it?" The boy asked, causing her to look at him with her big, blue, almond shaped eyes, making her look almost like a puppy rather than a shark.
"… Please?" She asked in a tone that caused something that Joshua couldn't explain to shoot him in the heart.
"Alright." He nodded, trying to ignore the pang of Cupid's arrow as he began to get comfortable before Arty moved over in the pool. "You want me to join you?" He asked in surprise.
Artemisia nodded nervously as she unhuddled herself, allowing him to see her body as she began to become more comfortable. "I could really use someone spooning and holding me right now, that'd definitely make me feel better." She told him, seeing that his face was turning red. "But… I'd feel even more comfortable if I wasn't the only one without clothes." She added.
"... Okay." The teen sighed before he took off all his clothes. He reminded himself that there was nothing sexual about what was happening, and that he was merely comforting a friend, which helped him not become aroused and make things awkward. He also thought to himself that this felt like a sort of trust exercise.
When he sat in the pool, Arty slowly moved into his lap, resting her head against his shoulder. While his muscles (a swimmer's build) felt nice, she wasn't focused on that. She just needed comfort right now.
"So… What's on your mind?" Josh asked as he rubbed her back, which made her relax a bit more.
"I felt worried that me finding my mom tainted or even ruined my relationship with Master Splinter and my brothers." The girl began as she leaned into his affectionate ministrations, purring in delight as she felt him massage her hair and scratch her ears. "But when I talked to Sensei, he told me that it didn't matter who entered my life, because no matter what, we'd always be family." She continued.
Joshua was silent as he listened to her voice and she in turn listened to his heartbeat, both of them starting to relax in each other's warm embrace, before the medical prodigy wrapped his arms around the sea wolf in an almost protective or even possessive hold on her–something Artemisia was quick and keen to notice right off.
"Is someone crushing on me?" She teased.
"N-No!" The boy stuttered in denial, a fresh blush growing on his face.
"Calm down, Josh. I'm not mad." The sea wolf chuckled. "If anything, I don't blame you." She added, which basically told him she knew how she looked and more or less knew what to expect. "Especially since I may feel the same, what with muscles like these on your body." She continued with a grin, running a hand along his abs, which was a nice four-pack.
"Pervert…" Joshua grumbled, causing the shark girl to giggle a bit in response before she frowned.
"There's something else that's on my mind." She admitted. "When I saw your mom being dumped into that tank, I didn't see any sign of your father." She told him.
"The Kraang definitely killed them both, but their remains must've been taken to different facilities." Joshua deduced as his blush faded. "It's gonna be a while before we figure out where my dad's remains got taken to." He added.
"Odds are those brainy little shits are doing something similar with my own dad." Arty added her two cents on the matter.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they were trying to weaponize your parents." The medical prodigy nodded, scratching her ears a bit.
"I don't doubt it." Arty sighed as she leaned into his hand… before she looked up at him as he looked at her, and they continued to lean towards each other, eyes closing, before their lips met together.
There was definitely a spark when their lips met and that kept them from pulling away from each other. Arty instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck while Joshua's arms wrapped around her waist.
After a minute, they separated for air while they looked into each other's eyes.
"Heh, you kissed a shark girl." Arty quipped with a chuckle.
"And I regret nothing about it." Joshua chuckled in response. "But… We haven't known each other long, so let's wait a while before deciding if we actually wanna get together." He told her, wanting to avoid rushing things.
"Yeah, that's fair." The shark girl nodded, obviously of the same opinion. "Still, I'm not opposed to us being in situations like this." She added, resting her head in the crook of his neck, her ears flicking a bit and tickling his chin.
"Yeah… This is actually comfortable." Joshua sighed, holding his friend/possible girlfriend close.
The two then entered a comfortable silence for the next twenty minutes, and when those twenty minutes had passed, the two got out of the pool and dried off. Though before they went their separate ways, Joshua gave Arty the address to his aunt and uncle's place in case she wanted to drop by for a visit.
Then the two went to their respective destinations: Arty to the lair, and Joshua to his aunt and uncle's home.
The shark girl idly reminded herself to go raid Joshua's old home to see if she could find his ex-parent's journals.
And Joshua's mind was set on one thing: He was sure that he and Artemisia liked each other. Their moment alone proves that. But he decided to wait until she made a move to further their relationship with him. Because right now, she had enough stuff on her plate to deal with.
Good things come to those who wait, after all.
ThermalsniperN7: … Well, a lot certainly happened. I knew Joshua's parents were scum, but selling him to the Kraang? Disgusting. But hey, they got their comeuppance for making deals with creatures that think like Stormtroopers. Also, let me remind you that Joshua doesn't know that his ex-parents sold him… Yet.
Dragon Emperor0: And as you can see we're repurposing these two scumbags to give Artemisia and the turtles more people to call family. Plus, this all helped Josh and Arty get closer together—literally—so I see this as an absolute win.
ThermalsniperN7: Sorry if it seems like these two are rushing, but given Arty's preferences and personality, we thought it would be fitting given the circumstances. Plus, nothing sexual was happening, and it was stated to be just a trust exercise and bonding experience. No need to assume anything.
Dragon Emperor0: But given that they obviously have feelings for each other, I'd say that it's only a matter of time before they beat Leo, Karai, Raph, Mona Lisa, Mikey and Rinette to the punch long before these guys even meet. E-fficiency.
ThermalsniperN7: Indeed. And we decided to maintain the Renaissance naming system, so Arty's mother has been named Lavinia by Joshua himself. That's one way to earn brownie points… And the poor boy discovered where Arty's teasing and aggressive flirting came from pretty quickly. Also, why does Joshua calling Arty a pervert feel like a breath of fresh air?
Dragon Emperor0: Probably due to the usual stuff about women calling men perverts and such. Also, for the Maneater fans, don't worry. We're having the Apex Predators and Bounty Hunters be a thing in this story. But we'll be reworking them to fit the TMNT universe, so get ready for that.
ThermalsniperN7: I have only one thing to say about who goes first: He is basic. Anyway, see you next time.