And we're jumping back in! This chapter takes place the following night after the turtles first encountered Mona. Enjoy! :)

The turtles were all hanging out in the main room of the lair.

Michelangelo and Raphael were both hanging out by the pinball machine, Donatello was tinkering around with a part that was going to be added on the Shellraiser (even though he was mostly using it as an excuse to distract him from the current 'April Situation'), and Leonardo was watching TV on his own.

They all kept going about their business until Donatello looked up when he realized Leonardo was not watching his usual Space Heroes reruns like he usually does when he has full custody of the TV and was instead hyper-fixated on Channel 6 news.

Donatello tilted his head until he heard the Channel 6 news reporter start:

"In continuing news, mysterious disappearances in the Bronx continue as 2 more residents go missing, bringing the total count of missing persons in the neighborhood up to a staggering 48 people in the past 7 months with none of the missing persons ever turning up. The ages and backgrounds of the missing persons come in a wide range but seem to range in age from 16 to 55. Please go to the website below for listings and contact local authorities if you have information on any of the missing residents. Back to you, Carlos."

Leonardo then proceeded to let out an audible, "Hmph."

This prompted Donatello to ask out of intrigue, "What's going on, Leo?"

Leonardo turned the TV off and turned around as he explained, "I don't know. Yesterday, I heard this same story, and then when we were out in the Bronx last night, I saw a bunch of missing resident posters up on a community center board. And, again… I don't know. I just can't help but have this feeling that the Kraang are somehow behind it. I think we should go back out there again tonight. Who knows? We might find out more clues after we saw the Kraang there the other night when we ran into that Mona girl."

Immediately he heard Raphael scoff indignantly as he waited to have his turn on the pinball machine with his arms crossed, visibly catching all of their attention, with the exception of Michelangelo focusing on his pinball score.

Donatello and Leonardo exchanged a look between them before Leonardo asked, even though he definitely had a hunch on the 'why' after mentioning their meeting with Mona the other night, "What, Raph?"

Raphael was just scowling in annoyance as he crossed his arms and said, "You seriously wanna go back out that way again? Seriously, has watching that stupid Space Heroes show finally 'spaced you' out of your gourd or something? I thought Princess Pain in the Butt made it clear the other night that she wants us to 'butt out' and that she 'doesn't need our stupid help'. Yeah, hard pass. Besides, we're trying to find mutagen right now so we don't have more mutants running around New York. That should be what we're looking for to get to the Kraang."

Leonardo, apart from being annoyed with Raphael making fun of him for watching Space Heroes for the umpteenth time, just stood up and crossed his arms back at Raphael before replying, "Raph, that's not the point. The mutagen is one thing, but these are people going missing. Odds are if we find where the missing people are, who knows? It could lead us to finding more mutagen before it gets into the wrong hands. Donnie, any way you could check into the police database to find the locations of all the Bronx residents who went missing?"

Donatello shrugged and looked up from what he was doing as he said, "Sure, easy. I can digitally map out the locations and maybe find the epicenter of all of them occurring."

Leonardo smirked and replied, "Now we're talking! Let's go, guys!"

Michelangelo finally broke away from the pinball machine as he started, "SWEET! Antonio's out that way! Who wants pizza to go?!"

As Donatello and Leonardo responded in agreement about being up for getting a pizza, Raphael just stood there in annoyed and tense frustration about his interaction with Mona a few nights ago again and really didn't want to go back out to the Bronx for that same reason.

Also, the fact that they still hadn't made a dent in their mutagen retrieval was still irking him to no end on top of all that.

"Raph! C'mon!" Leonardo called out as Raphael rolled his eyes before responding, "Yeah, whatever! I'm comin'! Just keep your shell on!"

With that Raphael went out and followed along to join his brothers in the Shellraiser, much to his increasing frustration.

15 minutes later

The turtles parked the Shellraiser out of sight and walked out as Donatello looked intently at his T-Phone.

"So, this is the place, Donnie?" Leonardo asked, looking around in confusion at not seeing anything significant beyond the local train yard and a long-since abandoned construction site at the end of the block.

Donatello, still looking at his phone, responded offhandedly, "Well, whether this is 'the' place or not, it's at the very least the calculated epicenter of all the disappearances. So, anyone's guess as to where it is?"

"Okay guys, you gotta hear me out. What if the Kraang took all those people and…" "Mikey, for the last time, I highly doubt that all the missing people are being kept prisoner underneath Antonio's and forced to make pizzas." Donatello responded in slight matter-of-fact annoyance since they had just gone through that with Michelangelo back when they got their pizza.

Finally, Leonardo cut in, trying to bring order to the situation, "Look, there's plenty of places around here that the Kraang could use as a front. Let's go through each place around here and figure out where to start. What do you got, Donnie?"

As Donatello started reading off possible places to search, Raphael continued to stand off to the side in brooding annoyance as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes for what he felt like was the billionth time that night.

Eventually, he scoffed before glaring out at the street. Well, until his eyes went wide when he saw something. Raphael couldn't make it out, but he was sure he saw a figure dart off into the abandoned construction site across the street.

Not even looking back, Raphael quirked up his brow and took off without a sound to the construction site.

Once he reached the busted-up chain-link fence outside the construction site, he went into stealth as he vaulted himself over the fence before quietly weaving his way through the broken-down construction equipment and piles of rusting girders and stacks of cinderblocks.

Raphael kept going along until his eyes went wide and he froze when started hearing pretty intense and angry rock music playing out of nowhere. Not that Raphael was necessarily complaining since this was his kind of 'decompressing music' that he listens to before he goes to sleep while reading his comics in his room.

Eventually, Raphael crouched down again in stealth and peered around the corner and almost had to fight back an audible 'scoff' along with a reflexive 'you've gotta be kidding me?!', but bit his tongue to shut it down when he saw the absolute last person he wanted to see.

Mona.

She was sitting on the steel step with her hood up over her head outside this beat-up and rusty trailer that looked like it used to be a makeshift office for the construction site before the company bolted out of there for whatever reason.

But, she wasn't just sitting there listening to her music on an old radio, she was also looking at something on what Raphael assumed to be her phone in almost focused yet somber frustration.

Raphael tilted his head in curiosity and almost unconsciously took a step forward only to go wide-eyed in livid embarrassment as he accidentally kicked what looked like an empty old tin soup can that was lying on the ground.

Immediately Mona looked up and made direct eye contact with him before calling out in enraged recognition and hostility through her teeth, "YOU!"

She immediately got to her feet and started charging at him as he said to himself, "Ah… sewer apples."

But, he had to act quickly as he got out his sai and got in a defensive stance as Mona immediately rushed at him. But, even using his sai to counter her strike by throwing her over his shoulder, she actually impressively did a handspring off the ground and landed firmly on her feet before going back to an attack stance and staring absolute daggers into Raphael.

Again, while she irritated him to no end and he thought she was a total brat for not even saying 'thanks' to him for literally saving her neck when he was only trying to help the other night, he still had to admit and give Mona credit where it's due that she 'had some moves'.

At the very least, she didn't look like some wannabe vigilante like the Pulverizer and actually looked like she knew how to more than 'hold her own' in a fight. But, considering she looked like she was around the same age as him, Raphael had no idea where or how she learned to fight and defend herself.

Mona pulled him out of his thoughts though as she pointed accusingly at him and erupted in absolute accusatory rage, "What the heck are you doing here?! Are you stalking me now or something?! UGH! I thought I told you to get lost, creep!"

But, Raphael looked like he was still far from taking anything lying down from her as he very quickly matched her energy and retaliated, "ME?! Could ask you the same thing of why the heck you're here either, princess?!"

Mona immediately scoffed and rolled her eyes hard as she retorted, "HA! Wouldn't you like to know? Well, I'm not saying dizzily, frickin' squat! So, get out here before I kick your shelled butt clear across the Hudson!"

At that same moment, on the ground between them, Raphael saw the phone that Mona was looking at earlier, assuming it probably fell out of the pocket of her hoodie when she tried to charge at him. Quickly, he dove in and snatched her phone with Mona not catching it until it was too late.

Her eyes went wide and her expression dropped in sudden dread as she immediately commanded, "Hey! Hands off!"

But, Raphael was quick to put more distance between them, now really determined to play 'hardball' with her to figure out what her stupid problem was.

Mona stood there with clenched fists and teeth as she ground out, looking like she wanted bloodshed at this point, "Give… that… back…"

Unfortunately for Mona, Raphael was not looking like he was close to giving her an inch now that he finally had some upper hand over her as he countered, "Ya know what? How 'bout this? You tell me what the heck your problem is already and I'll give it back. You don't?... Then maybe I'll take just a look at what you were looking at just now."

Mona's eyes went wide before immediately narrowing at him and responding, sounding dead set on not complying with the stupid blackmail he was throwing at her, "Not a freaking chance on the coldest stupid day in..."

However, her eyes went wide again once she realized Raphael wasn't bluffing as he shrugged and said casually, "Eh, suit yourself then."

Right then he reactivated her phone screen and even though he didn't see much, he saw what looked like a family picture as the home screen of what looked like a mother, father, and a teenage girl dressed in a pink dress and tiara.

But, he didn't have much time to look at it as Mona spear-tackled him to the ground with force. So much force that her phone flew out of Raphael's hand, causing the two of them to start scrambling and pushing each other back to keep the other one from getting to the phone until it eventually got to the point where they were almost trying to strangle each other.

Well, until Raphael somehow and barely got Mona pinned to the ground as he exasperated in annoyance, clearly straining to retain his upper hand since Mona was clearly very strong, "You know, you are really starting to become a pain in my shell! Seriously, what the heck is your deal?!"

"Well, you aren't exactly cracking my top ten either, shell brain! Now, will you just?!..." Mona snarled until Leonardo called out, "Raph?! Raph, where?!…"

Right then Leonardo went silent as Mona and Raphael both simultaneously looked over to see Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo just awkwardly staring at them wide-eyed in shock. At first, everyone was confused until Raphael and Mona realized the 'position' they were in since now it just looked like Raphael was hovering over Mona with Mona having her hands still on Raphael's shoulders from trying to push him off and/or strangle him previously before their 'scuffle' was interrupted.

Although, without the previous context of her and Raphael being at each other's throats, it definitely appeared to be 'not what it looked like'. Eventually, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo all exchanged amused grins as Mona and Raphael both stared back in shock before Michelangelo teased, "So… you guys need a moment or?..."

Right then, Mona kneed Raphael at just the right point on his plastron to knock the wind out of him and shoved him off before she sprung up on her feet.

She gave them all a hard glare before starting, "Seriously?! What part of 'butt out' do you dipsticks not understand?! This is my place here so get lost!"

It was quiet for a second as the turtles looked around them until Michelangelo tilted his head and asked, "Wait, dude. So, do you like… live here?"

Mona, who looked like she was progressively getting more and more irritated and annoyed by no one leaving her alone like she wanted, just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms and responded, "Yes, I 'live here' or whatever, okay? Not like I could go home to my mom looking like this; better that she just thinks I'm 'missing' anyway. But, whatever, I knew this place had been abandoned since forever ago and I've been crashing in the trailer over there for the past almost a month and a half now. Yeah, it's a pile of junk, but, whatever, it's all I got."

All of a sudden it looked like a realization seemed to hit all 4 of the turtles like a truck at the same time, even Michelangelo.

Mona was most likely a mutant who was a product of the night when the mutagen spilled.

But, considering how hostile and short-fused Mona seemed under normal circumstances and the fact that April still wasn't talking to them after the incident (even though Splinter had assured them multiple times that it was an accident and that spill could have happened whether they intervened or not), they decided to not mention how they 'maybe possibly had something to do with it' when it came to her mutation.

Although, Donatello couldn't help his scientific curiosity since Mona is not only a female mutant around their age, but he was intrigued by her mutation since she looked to be an amphibious-humanoid hybrid and that she actually looked pretty similar to them in terms of facial bone structure which intrigued him, even with the mottled gray and green striping patterns on her skin that reminded Donatello of a tiger salamander on his first educated guess.

So, Donatello gave her a curious look as he asked, deciding to take advantage of Mona's slight willingness to talk to them, "Uh, Mona, what exactly do you remember when you mutated? Or uh, you know, turned into 'what you are' now?"

Mona pursed her lips and slowly looked up at the sky and sighed until she finally started, crossing her arms in a guarded fashion as she looked at the ground, "I dunno? It was late. I was on my way home from the gym when I saw this crazy UFO-thing flying around the neighborhood. It almost ran into me and dropped this weird container full of this gross, glowing goo stuff. Then the stuff got on my hand and… now I'm… this. And then… Ugh, why the heck am I even talking to you annoying dillweeds anyway?! I don't have to tell you jack-freaking squat. So for the last freaking time already, butt… OUT!"

But, after looking at Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo giving her a confused look on one side and Raphael giving her a death glare on the other, Mona just released an exasperated grunt in agitated frustration before grabbing her phone off the ground and then took off and lept out of sight into the darkness.

Immediately Raphael withdrew his sai on reflex and pointed off into the darkness as he called out in frustrated rage, "HEY! Where the heck do you think you're going, princess?! This isn't over!"

Raphael probably would've kept throwing a frustrated tantrum about his interaction with Mona, if he didn't stop dead in his tracks when he saw all three of his brothers giving him 'looks' and teasing grins again, knowing exactly what they were thinking after catching the 'it's not what it looks like' moment from when he and Mona were at each other's throats.

And Raphael was not gonna have it lying down.

Immediately, Raphael's eyes went wide as he pursed his lips in embarrassed frustration before he stood tall, narrowed his eyes, and pointed at them with his sai before threatening, "Don't… say…"

"Aww, looks like someone's embarrassed." Michelangelo teased as Raphael looked like he was coiling in on himself in embarrassed rage (but definitely using the rage to cover the embarrassment he felt), knowing he would probably be blushing at this point if he physically could do it.

Then his coil of rage looked like it released like wound up spring as he froze up as Michelangelo put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Raph. Just let it out and show how you're feeling, dude."

Right then Raph immediately retorted in flustered and embarrassed rage, as he twisted Michelangelo's arm behind his back, "OH! I'll show ya how I'm 'feeling' alright!"

Michelangelo cried out overdramatically as Raphael continued to twist his brother's arm behind his back in typical sibling fashion until Leonardo interrupted and intervened on the situation, "Guys, c'mon, knock it off. We don't have time for… Donnie?"

Leonardo looked over to see Donatello no longer paying attention and going back to scanning his eyes over his T-Phone as he started to himeslf, "Ugh, why didn't I think of this sooner? It was so obvious!"

Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo all looked at each other in confusion from their respective spots, Raphael still keeping Michelangelo in a hold. Eventually, Leonardo quirked up a brow and asked, "Okay, I can't believe I'm asking this, but can you be more specific here, Donnie?"

Donatello finally looked up from his phone as he said, "Think about it. Mona said she was there during that night the mutagen spilled and told us she was outside a gym when she mutated and hasn't gone home since. So, if she's one of the people who went missing, then that means we can track the possible location of where she was last seen before her mutation from the police database and see if there's any clues left. Who knows? We might even find traces of the leftover mutagen from her mutation to lead us to some answers."

It looked like Donatello's logic finally clicked with his brothers (even though Raphael didn't look too cracked up about the idea of being involved with anything that had to do with Mona, he even had to silently agree that it was a good idea).

Finally, Leonardo grinned and said, patting Donatello on the shoulder, "Good idea, Donnie. Do you see anything on your map that looks like it matches up?"

Donatello looked like he was scanning his map for a moment as he started, "Well, the only one that seems to match is about 5 blocks away near this place called 'Axel's Gym'. Otherwise, I'm not seeing anything else remotely close to what Mona was talking about."

"Then we'll start there," Leonardo concluded.

5 minutes later

The turtles finally got themselves and the Shellraiser over and hidden by their location of interest as Leonardo looked at the Gym's sign and read out loud, "Axel's Gym: Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts."

"Uh, dudes?... I think I found something." They looked over at Michelangelo and saw him holding up what looked like a missing person poster that was plastered like paper mache all over the neighborhood.

At first, Leonardo was about to roll his eyes a little with a sigh as he started, "Mikey, why are you…" But, then Leonardo stopped and went wide-eyed once he saw why Michelangelo was showing it to them.

This missing person poster did not look like one distributed by the police department.

This poster looked like something made by someone on their own time from a color home or office laser printer (most likely from the gym).

In big letters at the top (along with the gym's name) read:

HAVE YOU SEEN OUR CHAMPION?

Beneath the picture was a girl about the age of 16 in a pink and black athletic top and athletic shorts, her hands taped up, and a championship belt around her waist (definitely looking like something the gym made custom… and on a bit of a budget).

A proud smirk was spread across her face with her arms crossed in front of her, showing exactly how clearly 'proud' she felt of herself.

Her curly dark brown almost black hair was held back in a ponytail with a pink and black bandana pulling the rest of her hair back off her forehead.

As Raphael in particular was looking at the picture, he had a clear look of intrigue until his eyes went wide-eyed in recognition after looking at the picture from Mona's cellphone background earlier.

Same hair, same intense-looking brown eyes, and even though her hair was no longer present on her now… Raphael and none of the other turtles seemed to need anything else to know exactly who the 'missing champion' was.

Then her name in smaller print at the bottom of the poster was what clinched her identity even more next to a phone number for 'any information' on her disappearance.

Mona Lira.

"No… way…" Raphael said to himself wide-eyed in both irritation and disbelief.

And now the REAL plotline can begin! Again, to me, this was a HUGE missed opportunity. Especially since the whole second season focused on introducing a bunch of new mutants in addition to the turtles trying to figure out what the Kraang were up to after their first failed invasion the previous season, THIS was the perfect opportunity to introduce more mutant friends/allies for the turtles to add more dynamics. And again, a good opportunity to introduce Mona Lisa as a character, or 'Mona Lira Ramos' in this fanfic's case. Which as you can see, we learned quite a bit more about in this chapter. For a little clarification though, even though it was stated in the ending for the most part, Mona used to be the junior women's mixed martial arts champion at her gym before her mutation (explaining why she seems to be a pretty solid fighter even without her heightened strength and extra abilities she gained after her mutation). Although, apart from all this, it looks like Mona has WAY more going on underneath the surface in addition to her also having 'something' going on with the Kraang that has not yet been explained. But, in time we shall learn as we keep going on this adventure is this AU TMNT 2012 timeline! As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read and constructive feedback is always VERY much appreciated if you can spare it.

Have a great weekend all and stay classy!

Dexter1995