Chapter Text
It had been nearly a month since the defeat of the Kraang and Foot simultaneously. For the most part, things had returned back to normal for the Hamato and O’Neils. April went back to school and spent as much time as she could studying and catching up on what she had missed over the past few weeks. Cindy returned to work, working long hours to make up for all the time off she took. The only one who wasn’t recovering was Kirby. Every day that passed with no sighting of the Kraang fueled his paranoia like gasoline to a fire.
It had been incredibly boring with nothing to do on patrols. The Hamato waited around Murakami’s for a sign of the Purple Dragons, but they seemed to be lying low after the attempted alien invasion.
“Man, I wish we had something to do.” Raph groaned.
“I got my hopes up for beating some Dragons, but I guess not.” Miwa answered.
“Think we should call it a night?” Leo asked.
She sighed and sat up from where she was lying on the rooftop’s edge. “Might as well.”
“Maybe we should stop by April’s?”
The siblings turned to look at Donnie, surprised by his suggestion.
“What?” He asked. “It’s her birthday tomorrow. And it’s friday, so it’s not like she has school in the morning.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m pretty sure Dr. O’Neil’s not gonna let her out for the night.” Miwa frowned.
“But there’s no harm in trying, right?” Donnie asked.
Mikey frowned at Donnie getting flustered. “Yeah! Let’s try it!” He said, jumping up. “We haven’t seen her in forever!”
“Twenty days isn’t forever.” Donnie shrugged. “But it still is a while.”
Miwa and Raph shared a look as they started towards the apartment. They had both had the feeling Donnie had a crush on April for a while now, but over the past twenty one days, they were convinced he did. Maybe he didn’t noticed or even know, but he talked about her constantly, and was always texting her back and forth.
Raph tried to talk to Miwa about it, but she told him to stay out of it. “Look, I don’t know if you have a thing for her or you actually think you have a shot at the witchy bitch, but you're the closest to April.”
Miwa was blushing at his words, “I know April would also want you to butt out. Let her and Donnie hash it out. However it ends, it’s their business, not yours.”
They went over to April’s actual apartment, the one that had been vacant since Kirby’s kidnapping, and knocked on the outside window.
It took a couple minutes, but April finally answered by opening the window. “Guys! Great to see you!” Her smile dropped and she held out her hands to stop them from coming inside, “Yeah, uh, you mind staying on the fire escape?” She asked.
"What's wrong?" Miwa frowned.
"I'm sorry," She sighed, leaning her head on the windowsill. "Dad's alien abduction nightmares are getting worse. He's been so freaked out, he won't let me do anything. I had to beg him to let me go back to school, and now I can only go to school and back."
Kirby seemed to have been listening around the corner, because he came into the room with a big frown. "I'm sorry, April. It's just... What if the Kraang are still out there... Waiting? Working? They already took you once." He grabbed her hand and ran his thumb over her pink finger tips. "I'll do anything to protect you."
"I know, dad." April turned her hand so she could hold his. "But, Splinter's been showing me how to take care of myself, but I won't get any better cooped in here twenty-four-seven." She smiled and gestured to the Hamato outside the window, "And I'll be with them, I couldn't be more safe."
Kirby let out a shaky breath, tapping his foot up and down as he thought over what she said. He looked up at his young friends and knew she was right.
"Trust us, Dr. O'Neil." Mikey smiled. "We've been looking out for Shredder and those freaky brain things for weeks! Haven't seen a trace of 'em!"
Kirby sighed again and rubbed at the dark circles under his eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but... Don't forget your sword?"
April laughed and hugged him, "It's actually a dagger."
Inside the newly refurbished cathedral Shredder bought as a hideout, said Master took a seat on his throne. Fujiwara entered from the new doors and took a knee at the steps. She looked up at the Kraang robot head on a spike by his throne with amusement. He waved for her to come closer, so she stood and pressed a button on the top of the robot's head. Through a purple projection from the robot's eyes, a holographic video call from Kraang was began.
"Greetings, one who is called Shredder." Said the Kraang.
"Do you have my shipment?" Shredder asked, uninterested in small talk.
"The shipment that is secret will soon be transported to the one called Shredder."
"And how will you deal with any... Complications?" He asked, standing from his throne.
"Kraang complicates the complications with greater complications." To give him a taste of what Kraang meant, the Kraang showed him just half of their new robot design.
Shredder was less than impressed with the design, but the size and weapons would do.
“Time for Ninja Dodgeball!” Mikey cheered once they got back to the lair.
April looked around at the setup they put together near the main entrance to the lair. “This looks like a regular dodgeball set up,” She pointed out, “What makes it Ninja Dodgeball?”
“You’re playing against ninjas.” Raph told her with a smirk.
April shrugged, yeah, that made sense. They settled into teams of two, Miwa, Donnie, and April, versus Leo, Raph, and Mikey. Just as they were about to start the match, Splinter came into the back tunnels to find them.
“I know you’re still joyously reveling in the defeat of our enemies, but that does not mean you can skip out on your training.”
“We are training,” Miwa rolled her eyes. “Just in a fun way.”
He frowned at her, “And there is a great question still unanswered.”
“What if cupcakes could talk?” Mikey suggested. When they looked at him like he was being an idiot on purpose, he shrugged. “I had a dream about it, dude! It was wild, yo!”
“No.” Splinter answered him. “Are our enemies truly defeated?” His ears flattened against his head, “The Shredder is a crafty and patient foe who bides his time.”
Miwa scoffed at his worrying. “Come on, sensei, you said it yourself. He lost whatever sense of honor he had left.” She quoted honor with her fingers.
“That does not mean he is gone for good.”
“Maybe we should’ve finished the job then.” She muttered. “Instead of running just because of a little fire.” She knew her father was touchy around fire, especially since it lead to her mother’s dead. But that didn’t excuse them leaving before Shredder paid for what he did to her.
"Yeah, but when he does show up, we'll take care of it." Raph waved off the concern.
"もういい!" Splinter stomped his staff on the ground. "You five are growing lazy and overconfident! You are through shirking your training!" He left to go stew in the dojo.
"Well, that was kind of harsh." Mikey muttered. "We are training."
"And it's kinda hard to get some field work in when there's no goons on the field." Raph crossed his arms in a huff.
"Maybe Master Splinter's right." Leo said. "Maybe we are getting too cocky."
Miwa scoffed at him.
"Ha!" Raph laughed, putting his arm on his sister's shoulder to show he was backing her. "It's not cockiness when you got the skills to kick massive-"
"Wait!" April shouted, silencing the siblings. Her eyes were wide, "Donnie, do you still have the Kraang's Communication Orb?" She asked him.
"Yeah?" Donnie answered. "Why?" He asked, dreading the answer.
She didn't reply, but walked into the lab to confirm her suspicions. The orb was flashing purple like it had when the Kraang were sending messages about the invasion.
"Damn it." Raph cursed, seeing it.
"It must have received an incoming signal. How did you know?" Donnie asked, taking the orb to hook it up to his translator. "It's been quiet for weeks."
"I heard it."
"But I muted it while I translated it last time."
April frowned, "Well, I heard it." She stated again, angrily. Then her face softened and she went back to subconsciously scratching at the pink stains on her fingers, "It sounds different this time though. It's... Clearer."
"Can you understand it?" Miwa asked.
She shook her head in the negative. "No, but it feels... Familiar... Maybe I heard something similar when that had me hooked up to that mind control-hypnosis-whatever helmet." She shivered at the memory of the fiery pain she felt.
"Well, however we found out, the important thing is that we did." Leo said.
"And this can only mean one thing." Donnie frowned.
"Cupcakes can talk?" Mikey joked, trying to lighten the uneasy atmosphere.
"No, dum-dum!" Donnie rolled his eyes. "The Kraang are back."
Timothy blew some bubbles in his container, so April walked over to talk to him. Back when they first brought him in, Cindy came up with the idea that they should all take turns talking to him everyday, so that he could still feel human. April had been away thanks to her dad's paranoia, and she doubted that anyone but Donnie had kept up their end of the deal. "Sunita is really worried about you." She told him. "But don't worry, Donnie is working on helping you."
"The encryption's tougher to crack this time." Donnie said, "But I think I got it. It seems that the Kraang are transporting some kind of cargo tomorrow night." He opened a file on his computer that pulled up a diagram of a ship similar to the one Miwa blew up at the docks. "And they're using a stealth ship for it!"
"We gotta find out what that cargo is." Miwa drummed her fingers on the desk.
"And, how do you suppose we track a ship that turns completely invisible, genius?" Raph quipped at her.
"We cover it in honey so it attracts bees." Mikey suggested, trying to play chess with Timothy, even though he had no clue how to play. "Then, we follow the bees."
"I'm loosing brain cells by the minute." Raph glared at him.
"We can track it with this," Donnie pulled out his radar device he used to track down the last one. "It's still aligned to the radar dishes we placed throughout the city. It'll create a triangulating pulse-"
"English, Professor Brainyoff!" Raph snapped.
"Dude, what crawled up your shell tonight?" Mikey asked. Raph went to slap him, but Mikey caught his wrist.
"It'll detect the Kraangs' spaceship, Raph." April explained, exasperated on Donnie's behalf.
"Like I explained last time." Donnie added, giving April a high-three. "April, can you stake out a rooftop and feed us the ship's coordinates?" He asked, since she understood what he was trying to do more than his siblings did.
April took the device but frowned, "I don't know, Dee. Dad barely lets me out of the house anymore, if he found out I was helping you guys with the Kraang again..."
"Please, April?" Donnie asked. "I can't trust these dum-dums to give me the readings I need."
"Hey!" Leo frowned, offended.
"Why don't you ask your dad for help?" Miwa suggested. "He might agree to it if he's there to protect you." She had to stop her self from cracking a smile at the expense of Kirby. It wasn't his fault, but he was still so weak and frail that he wouldn't be able to do anything. Hell, April probably weighed more than he did at this point, and she doubted if April was over 115 pounds.
"And, he's a scientist." Leo added, "Maybe he needs something like this to help him recover."
April bit her lip and sighed. "I'll... I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, April!" Donnie beamed.
April returned the smile half-heartedly. "I better go. I got some homework to do and you guys should get some rest. I think Sensei's gonna start riding you guys about training again."
"Don't think he'll let you off the hook." Miwa chuckled. "Even on your birthday."
"I'll see if dad'll let me out for training." April shrugged.
"And a party!" Mikey reminded her.
After April left, the siblings went back to discussing the plan before going to bed. "The bigger question is how to stop that ship." Raph pointed out. "We'll need something fast to catch it."
"Maybe Miwa's girlfriend can get us another rocket launcher?" Mikey teased Miwa.
"Ha ha." Miwa glared at him.
"Actually, I got something for that." Donnie grinned. He lead them to the garage where he had built what he called the T-Rawket. It was built from a Coney Island amusement park rollercoaster-like ride car and was a fully functional rocket engine.
"You want us to fly in that?" Miwa got sick just looking at it.
"Yeah, where we going, Jupiter?" Raph jeered.
"Jupiter? But that place is infested with space yeast!" Mikey jested. He liked saying the most out-of-pocket nonsense he could, just to get a reaction out of his family.
"Just trust me," Donnie frowned. "It'll work."
The morning of April's seventeenth birthday played out the same as most days had since her father's return. He made her breakfast, and they ate mostly in silence with the curtains drawn shut. But then he surprised her by saying they could go to the Hamato's hideout, when the family would wake around four in the afternoon, as long as they went together. He jumped at every shadow on the street, but they made it there without an incident occurring. If she had told him about the Kraang's return, there was no way he would've allowed it, so she kept her mouth shut and shot her friends a text asking them to do the same.
Once they arrived, April had expected a party, but they greeted her the same as any other day. Splinter led them in a common sparring session while Kirby waited in the main station. April thought things would be a normal day, but that all changed when Splinter ended their session.
"Oh, and one more thing." Splinter said, rising from where he bowed to his students. He looked at April and smiled, "Happy birthday, April."
That's when the chaos started. Mikey threw down a smoke bomb that revealed a handmade birthday banner and confetti exploded all over the dojo. Kirby had called Cindy over while they were training, and she brought an ice-cream cake in a cooler for them to enjoy.
April hadn't expected to receive any presents, but she was happily surprised with what she received.
Kirby gave April her own credit card, something he was able to joke she could've used while he was imprisoned. Cindy got her a new cellphone after Donnie made her old one explode. Splinter gave her one of his favorite Japanese poetry books, complete with handwritten English translations in his own handwriting. Miwa had bought April a brown bomber jacket that April had talked about once while they were out shopping together. Leo gave her a limited edition copy of a Space Heroes comic that was in impressive condition. Raph gave her some old boxing gloves, joking that he'd show her how to throw a proper right hook. Donnie made April a belt with a back holder for her tanto's sheath, so she wouldn't have to carry it around in her backpack. And finally, Mikey gave her a decorated sketch book he put together himself, with an impressive portrait of April on the page that said This book belongs to.
But, after the party was over and Kirby was ready to go home, April knew she needed to talk to him about the Kraang stealth ship. But she couldn't bring herself to mention the Kraang to him, so she instead lied about needing his help with homework. He had once loved to study any animal he came across, but when they climbed the fire escape to reach the roof, he screamed seeing the bats hanging from the roof.
"April, you guys in position?" Miwa asked her over the tPhones.
"Roger, I think." April replied, watching her dad look over the radar. She hung up and walked back over to her dad.
"It's kind of late for a school project, don't you think?" He asked her.
"It's... Extra credit, Dad." She lied through her teeth, trying to think of something they would need radar for at school. "We're tracking pigeon migration. Yeah."
He hummed, and April couldn't tell if he bought the lie or not. He looked back down at the radar device that started beeping rapidly. He raised it up higher, confused on why there was a sudden gush of wind, like something was flying over them, even though he saw nothing. He frowned, and looked at April, completely terrified. "What is going on here?" He demanded.
In the distance, he watched a shape materialize and de-materalize right in front of his eyes. "Is that the Kraang?" Kirby gulped, his voice caught in his throat.
"Come on, guys." April cheered on her friends. "Bring it down!"
The siblings were worried about Donnie's plan to get them in the air, but after he explained the T-Rawket more in detail, they relaxed a bit. The thought of being shot into the air by a rocket engine was terrifying, but when he explained they would use the gliders once airborne, they knew his plan would work. Thanks to April and Kirby's coordinates, it didn't take long for them to find the invisible ship once in the air. They all smacked face-first into it.
"I think we found it." Leo groaned.
Once they got a feel for it, they were able to blindly find their way to the top of the ship and inside through a hatch. It dropped them into the middle of the ship were they were greeted by a trio of Kraang in the flying pods.
Miwa gave a small wave to them, "Squids," She greeted.
"It is the ones called the Turtles and Human Female, also known as Tsumiki Kazuko, also known as Hamato Miwa." Said one the Kraangs.
"Kraang, we must alert Kraang."
Raph laughed at the pitiful crew, "Three little floating blobs of brains? That's it?" He asked.
"We could take these guys in our sleep." Leo smirked.
"We could take these guys in our sleep and with our eyes closed." Mikey put his hands behind his head.
That's when they got the feeling something was behind them. More afraid of the unknown than the Kraang in front of them, they turned their backs and drew their weapons.
"Oh, sewer apples." Raph commented at the large shadow thudding towards them.
It was a large gorilla looking android that was cyan in color until the fur reached its forearms and shins, then the color deepened into a dark blue. It stumbled towards them and that's when they took note of the creepiest part of this robot's design.
"Where's it's head?" Raph asked.
It stomped through them, slapping each of them to the floor easily as it reached the Kraang at the front of the control room.
"Biodroid, engage." Spoke the Kraang in the middle. It floated up to the top of the robot, where the head was missing, and attached the pod. The biodroid raised its arms while Kraang activated one of the weapons.
The siblings had been wondering why the Kraang would give the robot nipples, but then they swung open and out popped chainsaws on tentacle tendrils. It looked ridiculously stupid, but they couldn't help but feel intimidated.
"Okay, maybe we were a little cocky." Donnie admitted.
The Biodroid wound its massive fists back over its head with its fingers interlocked. It smashed it down at the siblings, who dove to avoid the hit.
The chainsaws came after Leonardo, who dodged and ducked to avoid them while using his ninjatō to combat them. One wrapped around his upper arm, cutting a bit into his flesh, and threw him backwards. The other one went after Raphael at the same time, who blocked it with his sais. The tendril was able to force him backwards, slamming the turtle into the side of the ship with a groan. Now both chainsaws aimed for him, and he was barely able to hold them away from where they made his neck their target.
Michelangelo jumped up and tried to distract the robot by slamming the handles of his nunchucks into its massive shoulders. His attempt to get the biodroid's attention worked, and it ceased attacking Raph. The squid spun to face Mikey, and that's when the robot punched him across the room. One of the chainsaws came for Mikey, but he dove out of the way before it was embedded into his skull.
The blade hit a control panel by Mikey's head, causing it to short circuit. The wall opened and revealed the shipment the Kraang was carrying.
"The shipment!" Miwa said to her brothers, "It's mutage-" She was kicked by the attacking gorilla robot. She flew into the controls of the ship, landing on a squealing squid as she did. A large hole in the bottom of the ship opened because of her accidentally hitting one of the buttons as she tried to sit back up.
The gorilla robot threw Leo and Raph into the wall, causing the canisters of mutagen to become loose. Donatello tripped over one as it rolled towards the opening in the floor. He nearly tumbled out the bottom of the ship with the mutagen, but Mikey was able to catch him by the arm and help him back inside.
"No!" Donnie shouted, watching the mutagen fall to the street below.
"Damn it!"
"Fuck!"
"That's not good!"
"Aw, snap, dude!"
"All the mutagen is gone!" Raph looked at Mikey and Donnie, furious at them. "You two are the biggest fuck-ups ever!"
"I didn't see you do anything!" Mikey snapped.
"Yeah!" Donnie backed up him. "You could have grabbed one single canister!"
"Guys! Focus!" Leo yelled at them while he and Miwa were trying to hold back the Biodroid.
"Kraang, the console that is broken must be made unbroken." Said one of the Kraang by the console.
Donnie slammed his bō into the back of the robot, but all that did was make the back end of the Biodroid fall open. From there, two cannons activated and pointed at Donnie. "Butt cannons?" He yelled. "It has butt cannons?"
"Who designed this thing?" Miwa asked. "An edgy twelve-year old?"
"Biodroid engage." Ordered the Kraang driving the cyan colored robot.
The cannons started firing at the siblings, shooting holes through the ship and further blasting apart the control console.
"This thing's going down!" Miwa yelled. "We gotta go!"
"We can't, it'll crash into the city!" Donnie argued. He looked over at the Kraang desperately trying to fix the steering. "Mikey, drop those Kraang!"
"Done and done!" Mikey traded out his nunchucks for some shuriken. "Throwing star time!" He announced, and threw two into each of the flying pods.
The pods instantly started to spark and fizzle, which gave Donnie the opportunity to smack them out the bottom of the ship. He hit a button on his titanium bō, which released a blade that turned the staff into a makeshift naginata. He jumped up and landed on the console. He stabbed it into the orb that steered the ship so he could better manage it. The ship was getting closer and closer to the ground, but he was doing his best to maneuver the ship around the unsuspecting buildings. He knew that his piloting was functional at best, from the screaming and crashing coming from behind him as he made sharp turns, but they were almost clear of the city.
"New course, the ocean!" He yelled at his siblings.
"Out! Now!" Miwa ordered her brothers.
Using their grappling hooks, they made it out of the ship.
As they landed, Miwa noticed her phone had blown up with messages from April. "April's in trouble!"
An intense, shivering wave of numbness rolled over April's body as she watched the glowing, greenish-cyan liquid rain down from the sky. She wanted to move, to fall to her knees and scream in anguish, but she was frozen in nothingness. Her gut told her to look skywards, and she listened almost robotically. She saw a canister heading right for her head. In a matter of seconds, she'd be covered in it. She should've been afraid, but her emotions had seemed to shut down. She waited for it, almost accepting that she was soon going to be turned into something. Something horrible, no doubt. But she didn't care. Maybe if it was her, than someone else would be spared from ending up contained in another jar in Donnie's lab.
But in April's silent acceptance of her fate, she had made one disastrous miscalculation. She wasn't alone on the roof.
"April!"
In the blink of an eye, April felt a pair of arms wrap around her and she was spun. It took a moment for her to even process what that could've meant. The shattering glass, the droplets of blood, neither made sense. And then she heard her father screaming.
April was shoved backwards against the cold, granite tiles of the roof, but she was able to clearly see what had happened.
Her father was covered in mutagen. Her father stumbled backwards, screaming and covering his face, and then he fell off the rooftop.
Finally able to think clearly, April ran over to the roof's edge, "Dad!" Just as she was about to jump down, the swarm of bats they past on the way up flew past her face. The squeaked in distressed shock, and attacked whatever was in their path to freedom. Tiny claws scratched into April's face, making her fall backwards onto her back again, her hands protecting her face from the attack. She tried to swat at the bats swarming her head, desperate to follow after her father.
When the squeaking and fluttering of the bats stopped, April thought she was safe for a second. She uncovered her head just to see a large figure cast a shadow over her. She turned her head and broke down in sobs when she saw what her father had become.
He had turned into a mutant bat. His head was now large, and misshapen with a large green vein running down it. His greying red beard was still present. His ears looked like bat wings. He had green eyes, a flattened bat nose and razor sharp teeth. He was covered with orange fur on his lower body down to his legs. His right arm was small while his left was normal size. He had a long purple and green vein running down his body. He had long purple wings with an arm attached to the top of each, and each hand had claws. He also had a short tail.
"Dad! Oh, no! No!" April sobbed.
The mutagen Kirby let out a feral scream and flew at April.
April started running, jumping across the rooftops to get away from him, but he pursued after her like a man on a mission. Or a beast hunting its prey. Instinctively, April grabbed for her tanto attached to her belt, but she couldn't bring herself to remove the blade from the sheath. "Stop!" She yelled at him. "It's me, Dad! April!" He dove down for her, but April stopped short of tumbling off a rooftop's edge.
He flew past her, but quickly turned around and started after her again.
"Please don't ground me," April muttered and pulled the tanto free from its holder. He almost got her, and that's when she brought the sheath of the tanto hard against his snout.
Kirby whimpered and howled in pain and flew backwards, landing back on their apartment's rooftop, holding his nose. He looked back at her, almost like he was shocked and saddened that she had attacked him.
"I'm sorry, Dad!" April called after him. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Each time April tried to inch closer to him, he'd inch backwards in fear. They reached a stalemate when she made it back to the apartment roof.
"Get away from her!"
April barely had the chance to look over her shoulder before the Hamato teens were throwing themselves at her dad. Weapons drawn. "No! Don't hurt him!"
They turned to look at her in midair, almost comically.
Kirby took that opportunity to take flight again. He smacked the five ninjas down with his wings and flew back at April. He grabbed her by the shoulders with his clawed feet and took off with her.
"April!" Donnie tried to grab her ankle, but she was already gone.
"Can this night get any worse?" Raph asked, sarcastically.
"Oh no."
They turned to look at Leo, who was examining a broken canister of mutagen. "I think that mutant was Dr. O'Neil." He said with a frown.
"How could you tell?" Mikey asked.
"You see many giant, red-bearded, middle-aged bats lately?" Leo answered with a glare.
"We're going after her." Miwa told them.
"But what about all that mutagen?" Raph asked, spinning her around to face him rather aggressively. "We got canisters spread all over the city!"
Miwa smacked his hand off her shoulder, "It's gonna have to wait, Raph. April and her dad come first."
They retreated back to the sewers to regroup and come up with a plan to deal with this new problem.
"Do you think he's a vampire?" Mikey asked. When all he got was stares in return, he kept going. "What if he bites her and turns her into a vampire?"
"That's not how it works." Donnie muttered. "Vampire bats aren't actually vampires, and if they bite someone, it won't turn them into a vampire."
"How do you know?"
"Vampires aren't real, dumbass." Donnie pouted, chewing on his mask tails.
"But he's a mutant bat!"
"Mikey, stop." Leo frowned. "You're not helping."
Mikey gave him a mischievous grin, "I wasn't trying to help."
"Sensei," Miwa caught Splinter's attention as he exited the kitchen. "Say we're, uh, trying to catch a stray pet. Like a cat."
"A cat?" He asked, squeaking a bit at the end.
Miwa cringed at his overreaction at the mention of a fictional cat. "Or a... parrot? Um, what's the best strategy?"
Splinter let out a small sigh and smoothed down the hackled fur around his neck. "Food, of course." He answered while stroking his little beard. "Any animal can be lured by food." He raised his eyebrow at his children, "So what is this truly about?"
"We're trying-" Leo went to answer, but Raph practically pounced on him to cover his mouth.
"Nothing, Sensei." He answered, locking his emerald eyes with Leo's sapphire ones. "Just... talking about parrots like we usually do."
"Hmm." Splinter hummed, not buying the obvious lie. He turned and walked back into the dojo with his tea cup in hand.
Leo slapped Raph's hand away from his mouth.
"Food!" Miwa cried in exasperation. She was shocked she hadn't thought of something so obvious. "What do bats eat?" She asked Donnie.
"Rodents and other small invertebrates." Donnie answered. "Also bugs, if they're large enough to be spotted."
"Oh! We can use Sensei as a lure!" Mikey said.
"Absolutely not." Splinter's muffled voice came from behind the dojo's white shoji blinds.
"So, where are we going to find a large bug?" Mikey asked, trying to ignore the fact that Splinter clearly heard him. "Dress up some sorry sucker in a giant fly costume?" He jokingly suggested with a laugh.
The four elder siblings looked to each other before turning back to him with smirks.
Ten minutes later, they dressed Mikey in a rushed fly costume. Donnie quickly threw together some spray painted stop signs to make the wings, while Miwa and Leo used some old tubes to make four extra arms for Mikey. With a headband holding antennae made with plastic straws, and goggles that somewhat resembled fly eyes, their disguise was complete.
"I kinda feel like bait." Mikey pouted.
"Oh, don't think of yourself as bait, Mikey." Miwa put her arm around his shoulder, knowing exactly what to say to him. "This is your new superhero costume."
"Yeah, you can call yourself-" Raph started to tease Mikey, but was interrupted.
"Turflytle!" Mikey decided. "Tur-fly-tle!" He sounded out with his fingers. "Oh, yeah! I love it! Too awesome! What are my powers?"
Miwa and Raph shared a small snicker.
"Umm," Leo tried to think of something. "You can... Hang from a rope and make noise?"
"Sweet." Mikey grinned.
She wasn't sure when she had passed out, or what caused it, but April found herself coming too on the top of a very tall apartment building that she did not recognize. She shakily got to her feet, realizing she was trapped on a window sill, and would fall to her death if she slipped. It took her a moment to remember how she could've possibly gotten here, but when a shadow flew over her, she remembered all too well.
Her father perched over her on the rooftop, looking down at her with a confused expression. One of the hands on his wings dropped something at her feet.
April looked down and squealed when she realized it was a dead rat. She looked back up at him, and he smiled like he was proud of himself. "Gross!" She snapped at him. "You don't expect me to eat that, do you?"
He frowned at her anger.
"Go get me some real food." She told him. She felt terrible for ordering him around like a dog, but she needed to find a way down, and she knew he wouldn't let her down willingly. "You go, Dad! Go!"
He whimpered and flew away.
April looked down at the rat by her foot and frowned. Gently, she nudged it off the side of the window ledge and timed how long it would take for it to hit the ground. Fifteen seconds. Doing some quick math, she figured she was about ten stories off the ground. She stuck her foot around to the right side of the ledge and found there was some footing there. Slowly, she started inching her way around to hopefully find a way to climb down.
Using the gliders, the Hamato flew towards the direction April's tPhone was pinging. Raph held Mikey suspended by rope, carefully surveying the skies for the orange mutant bat.
"Turflytle is on the patrol, buzz-buzz." Mikey said. "His bug eyes spy every crime, buzz-buzz."
"Will you stop saying "buzz-buzz" after every sentence?" Raph groaned.
"Could do that, buzz-buzz." Mikey giggled. "But I probably won't, buzz-buzz."
"Just sayin," Raph went on shaking the mechanical wench that was holding Mikey, "I'd hate to drop 'ya!"
"Not funny, buzz-buzz!" Mikey grabbed the rope tightly.
"Stop tormenting each other." Miwa flew in the middle of Raph and Mikey. "We're trying to find Dr. O'Neil, and it's hard with you two yelling!"
"Donnie, any sign of him?" Leo asked.
"Nothing yet." Donnie tapped the side of his telescope goggles. "Raph, shake Mikey around a bit more."
"What did I just say?" Miwa glared at him.
"He's not flying like an insect." Donnie argued with her. "He needs to mimic a fly's flight pattern."
"No problem." Raph smiled sadistically at the all clear. "Hold on, buzz-buzz." Raph began to fly erratically, shaking the wench as he spun and did loop-de-loops in the air.
Mikey screamed in terror and delight, "This is better than rollercoasters, buzz-buzz! Probably, buzz-buzz!"
After about twenty seconds of this, Donnie screamed for everyone to brace themselves, "Dr. O'Neil at four o'clock!"
"He's heading straight for Mikey!" Leo warned, trying to fly between them and the mutant bat. "Pull it up!"
Raph began to work at the wench, trying to reel Mikey up to him as the bat smacked past Leo. He pulled up on the rope with his hands when he realized he wouldn't make it in time, and barely avoided Mikey getting caught in his jaws.
The mutant scientist looped around, preparing to strike again.
"He's coming around!" Miwa yelled. "Get him down in the streets!"
Raph dove down, still trying to work on the wench's lever to pull his brother in for safety, but his jerk on the rope had burnt the shit out of one of his hands. He weaved through the buildings, doing his best to make sure Mikey didn't smack into the side of one.
"Time for Turflytle to take out his arch-nemesis, Wingnut!" Mikey declared, trying to look over his shoulder at the bat. He smacked Kirby in the face with his nunchuck after the bat got too close for comfort.
"What, from that stupid comic series?" Miwa asked, trying to figure out where that name came from.
"You are not giving Dr. O'Neil a mutant name!" Donnie yelled at him.
"Miwa, take the hit!" Leo cleared her from above.
With a deep breath, Miwa undid her straps on her glider and dropped down onto the bat. She latched herself onto him by wrapping her arms and legs around his neck. He tried to wrestle her off by diving into a corkscrew. "Dr. O'Neil!" She pleaded with him. "Kirby! We don't want to hurt you! We want to help you!"
Donnie pulled out his phone when he got a call from April, "Guys! I see you! I'm on your left!" He flew up a bit to try and spot her, using his goggles again. He found her on the rooftop of an apartment building. He flew towards her while the others dealt with the bat problem.
"Miwa!" Mikey called out for his sister.
"I'm fine!" Miwa called, grabbing a hold of Kirby's long ears, using them to steer him. "Stick to the plan!"
"There's a plan?" Raph and Mikey asked in unison.
She yelped as Kirby tried to bite at her legs. She thrusted her wakizashi into his mouth, careful to keep the blunt side upright so he didn't cut his mouth open.
"The warehouse!" Leo reminded them. "We trap him in the warehouse!" He threw down his grappling hook to wrap around Kirby's right wing to help his sister steer him in the right direction. Mikey quickly did the same on his left.
"We're gonna have to crash!" Miwa warned them as they were coming up to it. Thankfully, the rooftop was made of glass. They flew right through the glass ceiling, and Miwa steered him into the big cage Donnie made shortly after their first run-in with Leatherhead. Luckily, the crash seemed to stun him long enough for her to jump through the opening. She and Leo locked him in and jumped backwards just short of being split open by his large claws.
He thrashed around, trying to take off flying, but found he couldn't spread his wings enough.
"Sorry, Dr. O'Neil." Miwa frowned at him. "It's only temporary."
April and Donnie ran into the warehouse not long after they got there. April pushed past Leo as he was tending to the bleeding burn on Raph's palm.
"Yo, we did it, Don!" Mikey held up his hand to high-three Donnie. "We caught the Kirby Bat!" He stuck his tongue out playfully.
Donnie elbowed him in the chest, "Mikey! What did I say about the mutant names?"
"Dad!" April knelt by the cage, trying to look him in the eye, but he was frightened and backed away from her. She put her hand through the bars and rested it on his forehead, and he relaxed a bit. She looked back at her friends, trying not to cry. "What are we gonna do with him?" She asked. "I mean, keep him caged forever? Feed him a steady diet of mice and flies?"
"Actually, bats loves moths and spiders too." Donnie tried to look on the bright side. "So, we could vary his diet a-" April let out a choked sob and he stopped. "Sorry."He muttered.
"This is all my fault." April sobbed into her hands. "If I hadn't lied to Dad-"
Mikey put his hands on April's shoulders, "Listen, don't blame yourself, April. It was technically our fault."
"What?" She asked.
"Well, we're the ones who pressured you to get his help." Mikey started to list off the process of events, while his siblings watched in horror. "And we're the ones who accidentally spilled the mutagen. But we can fix it. Donnie's working on that anti-mutagen thingy for Timothy, so we can just add your dad to the list."
"It... It was you guys?" April shot to her feet, her eyes burning. "You guys spilled the mutagen?"
The four siblings behind her gasped in shock, Miwa even covered her mouth. "April, your-" She tried.
April ignored the hot, thick tears flowing down her cheeks, "This is your fault!" She screamed. Behind her, Kirby started screeching as her anger rose.
"April, your eyes are-"
"Shut up!" April screamed.
"I swear, by Darwin's beard, I'll cure him." Donnie looked down at the floor, unable to look her in the eyes.
"You mutated my father!" She screamed.
Kirby let out a screeching howl and his wing-hands broke open the top of his cage. He flew out of the top and lunged at the closest person April was yelling at. He grabbed Miwa by the shoulders and lifted her into the air, trying to fly off with her.
"What, no!" April yelled after him. "Dad!"
Miwa used the flat end of her tessen to beat on his foot until he dropped her. Her head hit the railing of the second floor and she fell limp against the floor.
"Miwa!" Screamed the brothers, running to her.
Kirby hissed at them and flew off into the open night.
"Why isn't she waking up, Leo?" Asked Mikey, through tears.
"I gotta get her back to the lair." He said, trying to stay strong. "I got smelling salts there."
"Her head's bleeding." Mikey whimpered.
"I know, we gotta go." Leo stood up as Raph carefully picked up their sister. He looked over at April with a frown, "April, you gotta let me-"
"Don't touch me!" She screamed, recoiling back as he tried to put a hand on her shoulder. "You stay away from me and what's left of my family! I never wanna see any of you ever again!"
"April!" Donnie called after her.
"Let her go, Dee." Raph said. "Miwa needs us."
“Where is my mutagen, creature?” Demanded Shredder, slamming his fist down on his throne’s armrest so hard it cracked the marble.
“The complications became overly complicated.” Said the Kraang on the hologram, looking away in shame. “The ones known as the Turtles and Hamato Miwa stopped the shipment.” Kraang will make amends.” The Kraang ended the call.
“These creatures are useless.” He cursed under his breath. “It is time to expand my army. On my own.”
“This is all very grave news.” Splinter frowned, stroking his beard as Leo applied a warm, damp cloth to the back of Miwa’s throbbing head. “Very grave indeed.”
”I mean, I get why,” Miwa groaned, her eyes squeezed tightly shut from the pain of her head. “But it doesn’t feel fair that she’s blaming us for this. We didn’t mean to…” She trailed off. “I still get why she’s mad.”
“Do not dwell on the past, my children.” Splinter said, stroking Mikey’s head as he hugged his father. “Right now, the most important thing you can do is track down every last canister of mutagen. Search every street if you must.”
“What about April, Sensei?” Asked Donnie.
“You cannot force her to forgive you before she is ready. She will come around, I’m sure.” He answered.
“What if she’s never ready?” Asked Raph. “What if she just runs off with our tanto and we never see her again?”
Splinter frowned at the thought. He didn’t want to think that he’d never see his young student again, but if that was what she truly wanted… “That is up to her. And that tanto with a gift, Raphael. She can do with it as she pleases.”
April wanted nothing more than to throw herself into bed and sob until she couldn’t anymore, but she spotted blood on her shirt as she ran up the stairs to the apartment. She threw down her tanto and belt, and stomped to the bathroom to clean up. She wasn’t even sure when or where she had gotten hurt, but part of her knew the blood was her’s. Maybe her dad’s claws had broken her skin.
Turning on the bathroom light, April looked in the mirror and screamed. She screamed until a neighbor pounded on the wall and yelled at her to shut up.
April hadn’t just had tears running from her eyes, but blood as well. She had been crying blood. But that was only the start. The whites of her eyes were green, a pale green, but noticeably not white. And her eyes, where a brilliant blue color used to look back at her, was now an almost illuminating green. They were practically neon green now.
Her trembling fingers reached up to touch the sides of her eyes, and that’s when she saw the pink stains on her fingers was spreading again. Now the very tips of her pinky fingers were pink.
“What the fuck is happening to me?” She sobbed, falling to the ground.