Rating: T for occasional language and body horror.
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Summary: "Has anyone seen April?" The Kraang are defeated, New York is safe and all is finally well or so everyone thought but when Kirby bursts into the lair looking for April, the Turtles quickly discover otherwise and the nightmare begins anew. Set after S3E13. 2k12 Canon divergence.
A/N: Okay, I have to say right off the bat, I am completely ignoring certain parts of the Season 2 episode 'Plan 10' because they don't make sense.
When Raphael was in the body of a Kraang, based on the evidence of none of the Kraang being able to speak English unless they were in their droid bodies, I don't believe he should have been able to talk in English either. (Honestly, I also took exception to characters maintaining their own voices when in another's body. Cartoon logic that just doesn't make sense. Great and fun episode otherwise, though!)
My theory is that being alien, Kraang vocal cords are not compatible with human languages. We only ever hear them squeak and squeal. Kraang Prime and Subprime are exceptions to this rule as they have been enhanced and even mutated. Anyway, due to my feelings on this matter, this is why April is unable to speak in any human language anymore in this story. Therefore: [text = translated verbal Kraang] {text = telepathy}
If you feel differently about this, that is perfectly fine! I welcome your thoughts because it could be interesting to talk about but I will stick to what I have established for this story :-)
Vexeria17: So close and yet so far! XD
Trojan April
or
How Kraang is my April
Ch 3
The trek back to Antonio's was uneventful and Michelangelo saw no sign of life other than the odd scurrying rat or cockroach dashing for the shadows and he reached his destination within half an hour.
Biting his lip a moment as he wondered about the wisdom of coming back here this close to dawn, he nonetheless climbed the ladder and lifted the cover by inches, senses peeled for any movement around. The faintest of faint glows in the sky to the east worried him but sensing no one around, he pushed the cover fully aside and climbed out, heading directly for the dumpster.
It had been filled almost to the brim when while they lived here but now it was overflowing with the lid only closing halfway and the smell! Eight-month-old garbage left to rot through summer was somehow worse than the sewers. Then again, with almost no one still alive in the city for the better part of a year, the sewers had had the chance to wash away the worst of the effluents with melted snow and spring rains. The smells were still down there, of course, but nowhere near as strong as they could've or should've been. Even accounting for the fact they'd been away for so long and therefore wasn't as used to the smell anymore.
Michelangelo stared dubiously at the dumpster before reminding himself he had to do this. For April.
He glanced at his T-phone again, checking where the signal originated from, before pushing the lid fully up and climbing in.
For several minutes, he tossed bags aside and rifled through the garbage, breathing shallowly and trying, futilely, not to taste the stench. Then, he found it! April's clothes and T-phone. For a moment, elation filled him before being replaced with sorrow.
"What the hell are you doing here, idiot?"
Mikey jumped and stumbled, looking up to see a furious Raphael glaring daggers at him. "Raph!" he squeaked in a self-conscious laugh. "Wh-what are you doing here, bro?" he asked, brightening his grin and trying not to look too nervous at being caught out.
Raphael growled darkly. "Dragging your ugly, useless shell home before you get caught!" he snapped. "Seriously, Mikey? What the hell were you thinking? It's dawn, for fuck's sake!"
Mikey glanced up at the sky in surprise to see it far lighter than he'd realised. He jumped lightly down from the dumpster, clutching April's belongings protectively. Then he held them out to show his brother. "I found April's stuff," he offered hopefully.
Raph groaned loudly. "And what the hell good does that do us?" he asked, rolling his eyes. He stomped forward and started pushing Mikey towards the nearby sewer entrance. "What? Did you think you'd find April's body in there? You seriously think that human would dump her body so close to his store where he could be caught?"
"No! April's not dead!" Mikey protested, allowing Raph to direct him without even putting up the smallest struggle.
"So what good does getting her stuff back do when it won't fucking help us find her?" Raph retorted through clenched teeth. "I told you to fucking leave it alone hours ago! Her clothes weren't worth retrieving!"
Mikey frowned and looked down at the precious bundle in his arms. "How do you know if it was worth it or not?" he countered quietly. "You aren't a forensic expert."
"Neither are you!" Raph sneered as he lifted aside the manhole cover. "And how the hell do you even know what one is?"
A fresh flash of hurt ripped through him. Why did his brothers think he was that stupid? Sure, he played up to it sometimes because it was fun getting reactions out of them but come on...
"Now get down there!"
Mikey nodded numbly and reluctantly dropped down into the sewers. He waited for Raph to climb down and close the lid after him before speaking up as the pair began to head back to the lair. "Donnie wouldn't want her T-phone to end up in the wrong hands," he pointed out meekly. Raph grunted in acknowledgement. "Besides, now we know that whatever happened to April happened there. At Antonio's."
Raph turned to stare at him disbelievingly and Mikey lifted the bundle of clothing again. Shirt, shorts, underwear all. He hadn't found April's shoes but her socks had been there too.
"So what? You found April's dirty laundry," he sneered. "I'm sure she'll be so grateful!"
Mikey shook his head adamantly. "No, this is what she was wearing, bro."
Raph stared at him for a moment again, then rolled his eyes. "Most of her clothing is the same, doofus! You know that!"
Mikey nodded. He did. Once upon a time he'd wondered about that and asked April why when most humans wore completely different outfits from one day to the next. April had paused, then shrugged and explained it was because it was what she was comfortable in and that she didn't feel the need to impress anyone anyway.
"Yeah, but she tore this shirt training back at the farm. I recognise the repair job," he said, pointing out the small but neat patch in nearly but not quite the same colour as the rest of the shirt. "This is definitely what she was wearing when we last saw her."
Raph groaned. "Okay, maybe," he reluctantly admitted, "but maybe she got dirty or wet and changed after we left. You don't know."
Mikey hummed and glanced down at the trash-stained clothing. That was a good point but something told him Raph was wrong.
Because April wasn't squeamish. She was tough.
And knowing she might have to fight for her life at any moment, wouldn't waste time changing over a little dirty water.
Taking Mikey's hum as agreement, Raph's bristles softened and he looked at Mikey seriously. "Us being out there just now? You tell no one! Because if Master Splinter or Leo find out, we'll both be in deep shit and if that happens, I don't need to tell you what I'll do to you, do I?" he threatened seriously.
Mikey shook his head rapidly and mimed zipping his mouth shut.
-:-
April's eyes fluttered slowly open. She felt lightheaded, weird and strangely empty – something akin to hunger but not quite as she remembered it. Warily, she looked around, barely suppressing her groan of dismay as she realised that her nightmare wasn't just a nightmare after all. Even without seeing her new nightmare body with its short wrinkled tentacles, the proof was in her vision with that strange, purplish hue that distorted her vision and made her feel vaguely nauseous.
Then again, maybe the nausea came from realising she'd somehow become the very thing she hated, the very thing that had terrorised her and her father for the last couple of years. The very thing that had terrorised, tortured and experimented on her mother and indeed her ancestors for generations. Kraang.
Somehow, this had never been her worst nightmare, becoming a Kraang, even after learning she was a part human, part Kraang mutant hybrid but that was only because she'd never, in her wildest imagination, ever thought things could get worse. Especially after discovering she was immune to the mutagen.
And yet... and yet, it had happened. Things had become worse. She had become one of… them... and she hated it...
April began to shake in fear and self-disgust, wondering how the hell things had become this bad. How she'd ended up here.
How was she supposed to get home and back to 'normal' when she was now one of them?
Dreading what she knew she'd see, she tentatively lifted a tentacle into view, daring it to prove she was somehow imagining this after all but she wasn't and she couldn't help the small noise of despair escaping her.
Suddenly, movement caught the edge of her vision as a long Kraang that she hadn't noticed in the room abruptly zipped towards her. It was all April could manage not to shriek in fright. As it was, her breathing quickened and she flinched back, bumping into a cold metal wall behind her.
The strange Kraang stopped before her, staring with what she could almost think was concern. That is if she didn't already know they were incapable of such feelings.
April swallowed her fear down and stared back.
{Kraang wants to know if Kraang feels better.}
April scowled and ignored the question. After all, the Kraang were a hivemind and didn't have enough individuality to care how another felt.
[What did you do to me?] she countered defiantly, channelling her inner Raph. [Where am I?]
An unusual hint of wary curiosity tinted the other's eyes. {Kraang speaks what is known as oddly for a Kraang} it accused. {Kraang speaks more like an Utrom.}
What the hell was an Utrom? April wondered, her eyes widening even as she shrank back from the monster before her.
{Or perhaps Kraang sub-prime. But Kraang is not Kraang Subprime,} it observed as terror filled April's soul at the mentioned name.
She might not have known who or what an Utrom was but she sure as hell knew the sadistic Kraang who had impersonated her best friend for so long. For a moment, fresh fear over Irma's fate filled her mind. Even now, she had no idea if Irma had ever been real or if it had been Subprime all along. Surely, if there had been a switch, she should have noticed it with her powers and yet... if Irma had always been a fake, then why would the Kraang have had to work to hunt her down when Kraang Subprime was keeping such close tabs on her? 'Irma' had known where she lived for god's sake! Even when she'd been living with her Aunt after her dad was kidnapped!
Just then, the Kraang in front of her darted closer and she jumped, realising she still needed to answer.
[I uh... Kraang... uh... How did Kraang get where Kraang is?] she floundered, petrified. The way it was questioning her, it didn't realise that she wasn't one of them. Didn't realise that she was really April O'Neil and she had to keep it that way to protect both herself and her family and friends.
{Kraang was badly injured in what is known as the 'Final Battle'. The Mutanimal known as Dr. Rockwell turned the teleporter on all Kraang, removing all Kraang from what is known as Earth and sending all Kraang back to Dimension X.}
April's heart caught in her throat. Dr. Rockwell had sent all Kraang back.
All Kraang.
So did the teleporter pick up on the part of her D.N.A. that was Kraang or...
{Kraang had been without proper air for far too long on what is known as Earth by the time Kraang returned.}
April's attention snapped back to the alien in front of her, her attention fully fixed on it again. Sickened, she blinked and lifted her front tentacles to stare at them again, remembering how hard it had been to breathe back in the Pizzeria. She'd attributed that to Casey's attack on her but...
{Kraang arrived with broken bones, internal bleeding and what is known as a concussion. If Kraang had been sent back a few minutes later, Kraang would be what is known as no more. Dead.}
Her breath hitched at the thought of how Casey would feel if he ever found out he'd almost killed her. Then again... it sounded like she'd been dying from Earth's atmosphere anyway but... that didn't make sense. She'd seen the Kraang last for ages without their suits before so...
{There were no reports of any attacks on Kraang since the ones known as the Turtles and the ones known as the Mighty Mutanimals attacked Kraang at the start of what is known as 'The Final Battle' so how did Kraang get into Kraang's state?} the Kraang suddenly asked, its gaze boring deeply into April. {And why is there no record of Kraang's D.N.A. or identity in Kraang's database?}
[I... Kraang does not know what Kraang is talking about,] April panicked, her eyes darting about, looking for escape. [Kraang cannot remember anything before Kraang woke up here.]
The other Kraang zipped closer, stopping mere millimetres from her and staring directly into her eyes. April couldn't help but baulk from the proximity.
{Kraang lies,} it declared. {Memory loss is not a Kraang concept. Kraang cannot hide Kraang's thoughts from Kraang. Kraang makes a terrible spy.}
The faint tickling on the edge of her mind that had allowed her to understand the other Kraang's speech abruptly shifted, forcing its way past her flimsy barriers like a human feeling apart the segments of an orange and April freaked.
She couldn't let them find out how to find her family!
{I don't understand why the Utrom would pick someone as untrained as you to infiltrate the Kraang hive but...}
April shoved!
With every ounce of her power and pushed the vile intruder from her mind. To her shock, the Kraang went flying across the room, splatting hard against the wall.
April stared a moment before realising she couldn't stay here. She had to get out and find some way to escape.
So she tried to run but nothing happened and that's when she remembered she no longer had legs. Neither did she know how to move in this awful, alien body. In fact, the only thing she did know how to move was her tentacles so that's what she did. She reached out in front of her painstakingly with two tentacles and pressed down, taking advantage of her new natural tackiness to stick to the surface and pull.
It was hard, painful work, flexing muscles she'd never had before and never used and if she'd still been human... or mostly human... she'd have no doubt that she'd be sweating profusely from the effort, however, she couldn't give up. Not with so much at stake.
It felt like forever before she finally found herself at the edge of the platform... table? bench?... she was on and there was only one way off. Down...
She swallowed nervously as she eyed the floor before her. It wasn't that far, not even a metre, and she'd seen Kraang survive far more so she pushed herself off and tumbled, wincing as she landed face first but far more softly than she'd expected as if the gravity was weird.
Shaking it off, she righted herself before looking up and across the room, her gaze landing on her unconscious interrogator and its discarded anti-gravity sled. She'd never make it out like this, she'd be caught before she even made it out of the room but luckily, there was another option before her.
A brief, sharp-toothed smile lit her new, alien face and she began pulling herself towards it.
-:-
After a terrifying few minutes spent learning how to operate the hover sled and praying desperately that the Kraang she'd sent flying wouldn't wake up, April left the room, eyes scrunching at the text by the door that she could not read, before picking a direction at random and taking off down it.
Her heart fluttered fearfully every time she came close to another Kraang but though they talked among themselves, none paid her any attention. She couldn't understand their verbal speech and though their thoughts tickled the edge of her mind, they didn't intrude, leading her to realise that they had to be focused on her to talk with her (or read her mind) and vice versa. April sighed a small sigh of relief at that, even as she realised she'd need to make sure not to give them a reason to do so. Which meant she'd have to look like she fit in until she found a way to escape and get back home.
And therein lay the problem...
Well, one of them, anyway...
She didn't fit in and didn't know how to act like a 'normal' Kraang.
Oh, she could emulate their speech patterns if she had to but she didn't know how to walk or scuttle or whatever it was they did to get about.
How could she disguise herself and pretend to be one of them if she didn't even know that much?
Luckily, most Kraang used the hover sleds or emotionless android bodies but what if something happened to her stolen sled or it ran out of power? What if her interrogator woke up and had a way to track her stolen antigrav sled? She'd be screwed!
Then, there was another problem. Well, there were many more problems than that, she realised, groaning internally, but there was one really pressing problem.
Where was home for her now?
Home may be where the heart was but what about when her physiology no longer agreed?
The Kraang were the enemy and she couldn't stay here, it was far too dangerous.
But if she found a way to leave, how would she survive? Where would she go? She wasn't even in her home dimension anymore and she knew nothing.
That other Kraang, the one that had been there when she woke up (and how did the Kraang tell the difference between themselves anyway? She didn't want to be racist but seriously, they all looked the same! Perhaps it was a psychic thing but how was she supposed to learn that if she couldn't dare touch their minds for fear they'd discover who she was?) had said she'd been without 'proper air' for too long.
She obviously couldn't breathe on Earth anymore. That she'd almost died was proof of that, yet she'd seen Kraang run around without their protective suits for ages, hours even, so why couldn't she?
Because, she realised with a dreadful chill, she'd never taken a breath of Dimension X air in her life. She'd been born seemingly human.
Ugh... she couldn't think about this right now. It wasn't the time or place. April frowned and looked about. She'd been searching this... ship? Compound? Whatever it was for ages now. She had to find shelter, preferably large enough to hole up and hide in while she thought her situation through and learnt how to move in her new... body. Suppressing her instinct to cry out in distress, she shuddered at the thought of being stuck like this for the rest of her life, then shook her head... or body... she didn't know anymore... She no longer had a separate head. For the Kraang, head and body were all one piece and that's what she had now. That and nightmare tentacles...
If she was still human, tears would have filled her eyes by now but she didn't even know if the Kraang were capable of crying.
Intense desperation filled her. Frustration, humiliation. Shame... This was so much worse than when she had Casey had once switched bodies and she'd had to watch him fondle her body. She felt so violated. Both then and now. Having this done to her without her consent. She'd never felt so hopeless or helpless in her life. Not even when her dad had been taken...
(Would her father even still love her if she was stuck like this for the rest of her life?)
If she'd been mutated into anything else, she'd have no trouble believing he would; he wasn't that shallow and he accepted her turtle family and their father.
But a Kraang? One of the aliens that had put him through so much? Had tortured him? Twisted his mind and controlled him? … Mutated him?
A sob escaped her and a couple of nearby Kraang turned their confused attention to her so before they could approach and question her, she accelerated the speed of her sled and took off, pushing her self-destructive thoughts from her mind.
She really couldn't afford to think such things so close to the enemy when they were telepathic.
For a time, April managed to hold her thoughts and feelings at bay as she searched, then finally, she came across a little used storeroom deep in the bowels of the Kraang base and in relief, she darted inside. There, the questions and thoughts and feelings started to swirl and roil once more, despite her best efforts to control them.
She was so tired... Mentally and physically.
Logic. She needed to be logical about this. Like Donnie.
Donnie would help her if only he knew but for that, she needed to find a way home. After all, he had saved her father more than once and had said over and over that he'd do anything for her.
But would he still be so willing to help if she looked like this?
Another broken sob escaped her.
Like her father, Donnie wasn't so shallow, she worked to remind herself. She... she knew he was attracted to her and it had been at first sight, which meant it had something to do with her looks... her old looks... but as they'd grown to know one another, she knew it was more than just that, even if she didn't want to acknowledge the feelings. There'd never been time for that with so much other going on and she'd never even thought about how she truly felt. All she knew was that he was her best friend (not counting when she thought Irma was) and that was enough.
He'd help but for Donnie to be able to help her, she needed to learn as much as she could first, beginning with how this had happened.
Lifting her frontmost tentacles back into view, she studied them, shuddering in self-disgust once more at the sight – she was going to have to learn to accept her new body at least enough that her disgust didn't give her away – as she cast her memory back.
About three-quarters of a year ago, they'd discovered that she was immune to the mutagen after she fell into a vat of the stuff and nothing happened so how was this possible? She couldn't have mutated and if she had... well, sure, she had the Kraang D.N.A. already in her but surely she would've been affected somewhat by the turtle and/or rat D.N.A. of her adopted family? People she was in contact with every day and had lived with for more than half a year, ever since the invasion kicked off and they'd had to flee to her family farm to rest, heal and plan to retake the city from.
After the relief of discovering her immunity wore off (and spending time with her thankfully human-again father), Donnie had performed test after test to try and discover why she was immune but nothing had been conclusive.
Her D.N.A., they found, affected the mutagen and stabilised it, but somehow, didn't affect her no matter what Donnie tried and in the end, they'd simply accepted it and been grateful.
But if that was the case, then how and why?
April sighed miserably and leant back, gazing up at the metal ceiling of the room as she mentally changed tack, instead thinking of her last hours as a human.
"Have you lost your shell?"
April jumped as Donnie's voice bellowed through the pizzeria, loud enough to be heard in Jersey.
"I've been brewing that retro mutagen for months! If you've ruined it, I swear I'll..."
Donnie's voice abruptly cut off and April knew that couldn't be good. Reluctantly, she rose to her feet, trepidation filling her as sudden gurgled cries of terror from Donnie and Mikey came from the makeshift lab before Donnie screamed in terror.
"It's gonna explode!"
A terrible chill rushed down April's spine as deadly quiet filled the base and she raced to see what was going on, entering the lab just behind Splinter.
"What is going on here?" he demanded, Donnie and Mikey helplessly held in his grip.
Before she could comment, however, something caught her eye and she turned to look. "Since when did retro-mutagen start doing that?" she asked in confusion, bringing everyone's attention to it. The beaker of retro-mutagen had turned golden and it glowed, sparkling and popping with a gentle fizzing sound.
When Donnie had explained things after, she'd learnt what happened. How Mikey had been messing around and inadvertently created the retro-mutagen miracle they'd been looking for. The initial reaction had been violent, leading Donnie to conclude it was about to explode but then it suddenly settled, completed and stable. However, not before it had bubbled over, spilling around the beaker and over the bench. Donatello had made everyone stand back, particularly his brothers and father, while he cleaned up the dangerous (to them) substance. Still, he must have missed a drop that landed on the floor and a drop was all this stuff took, as she later discovered when she touched it after slipping while trying to regain control of her emotions after being abandoned again.
April groaned in disbelief, her voice coming out as a faint, keening squeal.
She had been a human-Kraang mutant hybrid as discovered so long ago with the information Jack Kurtzman gave them when they first met.
And the retro-mutagen had done this to her.
They'd tested the mutagen on her D.N.A. so many times over and her D.N.A. had stabilised it. Donnie had been able to make his first-ever batch of retro-mutagen which had saved her dad with the help of her D.N.A. but they'd never considered seeing what the retro-mutagen would do to her since she'd looked human and could pass for one.
They'd thought her safe...
So then why had she retro-mutated into a Kraang and not a human?
Suddenly, her empty stomach churned painfully as the only logical explanation hit her.
She hadn't been human to begin with. She'd been Kraang.
Her mum... Oh god! The Kraang had experimented on her mother. They must have... they must have taken the real April O'Neil embryo from her womb, used it to mutate a Kraang embryo with and then... and then implanted the mutation back into her mother to grow as a normal human baby...
She was so much worse than just a Kraang.
She was a monster...
-:-
Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.
* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.
A/N: Dialogue from the flashback is taken from S3E13, The Battle for New York.
Honestly, from early on, I wanted to call this story 'How Kraang is my April' but I figured that would give away the story far too quickly, which is why, unable to think of anything better, I went with 'What it Means (to be Human)'. But I've been very unhappy with the title and was toying with just changing it at ch 3 to what I originally wanted. I mean, it's not like anyone is really reading it anyway so what does it matter?
But then what if someone decides to give it a chance. If I did, I'd be spoiling it for them from the get go. Then, as I was about to post ch 3, I thought of 'Trojan April'. So I guess I'm going to change it to that because the original title still sucks and this one is at least more interesting.