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Of Hearts and Shells: 50 Shades of Green	By : prplraven Category: +S through Z > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Views: 2973 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: TMNT and all associated characters are property of their original creators. This fic is for entertainment only, and I receive no monies from this publication.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Casey ambled through the turnstiles with his usual swagger. “Hold your applause, I know I’m awesome,” he announced, quieting an imaginary crowd and flinging himself onto the tire swing. “So, did you get it?”
April looked up at him from tapping away on Donnie’s laptop and sighed. “We did… then Baxter stole it from us.”
“Aw, you’re kidding me! Fly-face is goin’ down for that.” He drew his goalkeeping stick from his back. “Whaddya think, should I stencil his name on this one so he knows what’s coming?” April gave him a wry giggle. He put the hockey stick away and drew his baseball bat instead. “Or this one… see if I can hit a pop-fly.”
April rolled her eyes and gave him an exasperated sigh at the pun.
“So? When do I get my chance?”
“We’re going in tonight,” Leo informed him, walking over from training, followed by the rest of his brothers. “Should be a stealth mission… just retrieve the mutagen and get out.”
“Count me in,” Casey grinned.
Don glared. “YOU’RE not going!”
“Oh yeah?? Try and stop me!”
“Are you kidding me?! You’re about as stealthy as Mikey on a sugar rush!” Donnie yelled, to which Michelangelo, behind him, responded indignantly with his hands on his hips.
“I’m right here, you know…”
Casey and Donatello stared each other down, Don gritting his teeth, and Casey gritting what teeth he still had. Leo pushed them apart when they got too close. “Enough! We’re probably going to need all the help we can get on this mission… If things go wrong, we might be facing Foot-bots, Shredder and his whole gang of mutants. Casey can hold his own in a fight. Even so, Casey, we want to try to avoid as many enemies as we can, got it? Don’t go picking fights. And however good you think you are, stay the hell away from Shredder. You’re no match for him… All four of us together couldn’t beat him.”
“Hah!” Casey returned Donnie’s earlier smug grin. Donnie bristled. April rolled her eyes at them both. “Calling dibs on Tiger Claw,” Casey said. “I’ve got a special little surprise for that cat, in case he wants a grudge match…”
April turned the laptop around to face the group. “I found some blueprints of the old Orpheum. There’s a dozen dressing rooms in the underground levels on either side… I figure Baxter is probably holed up in one of those, but we’d have to check them all to know.”
“The rest of the place looks like a ninja’s playground,” Leo observed, pointing to various aspects of the layout. “Balcony boxes, catwalks, trapdoors on the stage, and otherwise, lots of open space…”
“Well, one thing’s for sure,” Mikey stood and declared. “We’re going into battle, and we need proper nourishment beforehand!” He leapt up onto the bench and struck a dramatic pointing pose. “To Murokami’s!!”
“YEAH!” shouted Donnie and Raph. April and Casey joined them in jumping up and heading for the exit.
“Hold it!” Leo yelled, stopping them in their tracks. “We’re not done here! We need to work out the details...”
“Come on, Leo… we talk details while we eat!” Raph said convincingly.
“We could put it to a vote,” Casey determined. “Everyone for going out?” Five hands immediately shot in the air. “Majority rules, let’s go.”
“Guys! Can’t you be serious about this for one—“ Leo started, but was interrupted by his own growling stomach. He sighed and strode after the group. “Screw it…”
Casey leaned against the corner of the building until the couple at the restaurant finally vacated. He peered inside to double check, then waved an all-clear to the turtles on the rooftop of the facing building.
The five of them swung across the road on grappling hooks and entered the noodle shop. “Hey, Murokami-san!” Mikey called in greeting as they came in and seated themselves.
The blind shop owner turned toward the sound. “Ah, my turtle friends! Welcome! And a young man as well. But do my ears betray me, or do I hear another turtle with you, with a lighter tread?”
April sighed. “It’s me, Murokami-san. Hopefully only temporarily.”
The blind man gasped. “April-chan! I did not recognize you! You must have done something new with your hair.”
April gave and odd laugh at the deja-vu of the comment. “Is this a standard Japanese joke or something?”
Mr. Murokami gave her a smile, but didn’t answer her. “Your usual pizza gyoza, my friends?”
“Better make it a triple order,” Raph decided for them. “Heading into battle...”
“Like I told Casey, Raph, we want to use stealth as much as we can. If all goes well, we can retrieve the mutagen without fighting anyone,” Leo lectured.
“Yeah, but, Leo, when are we ever that lucky?”
As the group was leaving Murokami’s, Leo paused, perceiving someone watching them… or himself in specific. He looked over his shoulder at the roof of a nearby apartment building. April picked up on it as well, and pointed with her eyes to a patch of deep shadow on the side of the building.
“Something up, Leo?” Raph asked.
Leonardo looked back to him. “Uh… No, it’s nothing. You guys go on ahead… I’ll be along in a minute.”
“Oh, that kind of nothing,” Donnie smirked. He turned back around, draping an arm over April’s shell as they made off in the direction of the Orpheum. “Give ‘nothing’ our regards.”
Once the others had disappeared, Leo climbed the fire escape of the building. “Karai?” he called cautiously.
“Leeeoooo…” her voice returned, oddly drawing his name out. She slipped out of the shadows April had pointed out. Even her human movements had acquired a serpentine aspect to them, betraying her mutation. Leo gave her a smile, which quickly turned to a grimace as she stabbed a long sword at him. He blocked with his own katanas, backflipping to evade her strikes as she came at him full-force. He bent backward on her next forward stab, sheathing his swords and catching hers between his palms.
“You know, most people just say hello as a greeting,” he said in a casual tone.
“Mossst people are boring aszz hell,” she replied with an amused smile, letting him up. “I havvven’t ssseeen you in a while. I ssstarted to thhhink maybe you fffound another sssnake-girl to hang around withhh. And I’vvve been dying to shhhow you my new toy…” She turned her falchion around so it glinted in the dusk light.
“Yeah, sorry… things have been a little… hectic. So who’s you steal this off of?” he enquired with a note of disapproval.
“It’sss Bradford’sss,” she said. “I raided hiszz dojo. Nothing he’ll misssss in hiszz sstate, but the pawn keepsss me fffed… thhhough thhey do mock me at thhe pawn shhhop ffor thisss sssssstupid ssspeech impediment,” she spat.
“That doesn’t sound like something you’d put up with,” he pointed out.
“We’vvve come to an agreement,” she said, sheathing the falchion. “Thhey buy my ssstuff, and I don’t ssslicsse thhem to ribbonsss withh it.” With a groan, she dropped her human guise. She hissed in annoyance. “I can only hold it fffor ssso long…”
Leo sighed, neither fazed nor distracted by the change of her form. “You know how I feel about you stealing to get along.”
Karai snorted. “Like you don’t… you can’t convvinssse me enough money ffallsss down the gratesss to buy all the pizzssa you guyszz eat.”
“We have… resources,” he said guardedly. “We have enough to get by. You could still come back to live with us, with your real father… I know Splinter would be glad to have you back. Granted, it might be a little crowded, with April living in with us too…”
“I sssaw, sshhe’s a turtle. Ssssome girlsss havvve all thhe luck,” she snorted, turning her head away from Leo and looking off over the rooftops. “I can’t go back withhh you… not ssso long aszzz I’m sssstill a mutant. I won’t risssk killing my real fffather like Shhredder wanted.” She stared out at the New York skyline. “I wonder what it would havve been like, growing up withhh lovvvve…“ Her expression hardened as she stared at the burnt clock of Shredder’s former headquarters. Tipped inwards, it threatened to fall into the burnt-out shell of the ruined tower. “Now, all I havvve iss vvvengeansse.”
“Vengeance is all Shredder has as well…” he told her. “He’s let it fester inside him for years, to the point where there is no room inside him for anything else, not even love for a daughter.” He took her by the shoulders. “Please… please don’t follow him down that path.”
“I’ll… I’ll try not to. Being like him iszz really thhe lasssst thhing I want. But I will take hiszz empire down and regain my honor…”
Leo turned away, debating whether or not to invite her on their mission, given what he’d just asked of her. He turned back, a question formed on his lips, but she was gone. That settled it for him, then. And that was a ninja for you… He bounded over the rooftops in the direction the others had gone.
The lock of the back door wasn’t hard to pick, particularly due to being the ancient kind that would be opened with an old-fashioned skeleton key. The tricky part was opening the door without it creaking on its likewise old, rusty hinges. Leo silently motioned Raph and Mikey after himself toward the far half of the hall of dressing rooms and Donnie, April and Casey toward the other half. The electricity was on, supplied by the generator outside the rear of the dilapidated theater house, though there seemed to be few working lights in the corridors; what there were barely shone through a thick blanket of dust on bulbs as aged and neglected as the building itself.
Light outlined one door in the corridor Don, April and Casey were checking; they would check that one last, as it was clearly occupied. Moving methodically, they checked first the door on one side, then the opposite. The first three doors revealed nothing. As they opened the fourth, they heard a labored breath, and saw a puddle of something yellow-brown, and a tennis shoe beyond the door. Donnie somersaulted into the room, drawing his bo and aiming it to strike the fly mutant, who lie on the floor amidst the scattered contents of a first aid kit. Gauze strips were unrolled everywhere on the floor.
He couldn’t tell if Baxter was looking at him or not with those multiple eyes, but a slight movement of his head indicated that the fly man acknowledged his presence. Baxter made no further attempts to move, except to emit a buzzing groan.
April and Casey entered the room after him and shut the door soundlessly.
“I zzsurrender…” he whispered. “…can’t fight...”
“Where’s the mutagen?” Don growled lowly, his eyes gleaming white in the low light. Then the light flicked on, making him wince.
“Casey!” April hissed at him. Casey shrugged at her, palms up, somewhat apologetically. She got a look at the wound on Baxter’s upturned side and she gasped. It was deep, and oozing more ichor to join the puddle on the floor. Judging by the clumsily wadded bandages sticking to the top of the gash, Baxter had tried to care for the wound himself, but failed at it, either due to weakness from the injury itself or the ineptitude of his fly-like pincer-hands.
“The mutagen! Where is it?!” Donnie demanded again. April, meanwhile, bent down, collecting the unwound gauze from the floor and rooting through the spilled contents of the medical kit. “What are you doing?!” Donnie whispered at her, unbelieving.
“He’s hurt, and he can’t do this himself.” She dropped to her knees beside the wounded mutant.
“So what?!” Casey interjected. “He’s a conniving little thief! He deserves exactly what he got!”
April pressed a wad of cotton batting to Baxter’s wound. “I did this to him. Now I’m gonna fix it,” she said back resolutely. “Help me sit him up.”
Donatello gaped. “April, really??”
“Look, this is a seriously bad wound. It’s not like he can just go to the mutant hospital, is it? And I am not going to have his death on my conscience because he bled out and there was something I could do and didn’t. GOT IT?!”
Donnie backed off at the white glint of her eyes, uttering a subdued “ ’kay..” Casey gave an irritated sigh, but helped pull Baxter to a sitting position so April could wrap gauze strips tightly around the fly’s chest. Baxter looked down, watching the turtle bandage him and tie the gauze off around his shoulder. He flinched once, buzzing from the pain, but didn’t fight her.
“There. Try not to move around a lot.” She looked around the room, spotting a chaise covered in a sheet. She removed the dustcover and motioned for the boys to carry Stockman over to it.
The fly’s mandibles moved as he was set down. “…rrr…retro-mutagen…”
“It’s not a retro-mutagen,” Donatello told him. “It’s useless to you.”
Baxter shook his head, buzzing again, irritated that he’d been interrupted. “…my lab.. In the lllobby. Take it.”
Donnie gave him a nod, and the three of them exited the room.
“Thhhank…” the fly-man started to say belatedly, but the door had already closed behind them.
Donnie, Casey and April hurried down the remaining stretch of corridor. They would have to cross the expanse of the seating area to reach the lobby and they would be fully exposed when they did. “We’re probably best off heading along the side…” Donnie directed, and they started for it at a run while still in the corridor, when Xever came around the corner. He was carrying a tray of food, clearly not expecting enemies. He gasped and leapt back, dropping his tray as the three nearly piled into him.
With a mighty kick from his robotic legs, he sent Donnie flying backward, knocking Casey and April down like bowling pins. “Bradford! TigerClaw! Intruders!!” he yelled.
The door of the occupied room they had passed was flung open as they regained their footing. The tiger mutant leapt out, guns blazing. They had a tough time dodging the shots in the close quarters of the hallway. Casey opened a dressing room door and sidestepped the laser-fire, pulling April inside with him.
FishFace was not pleased about being caught in friendly fire either. “Watch where you are shooting, idiota!” he hollered at the big cat. He dodged back around the corner he had just turned, with Donatello leaping off the hallway’s wall and launching himself in the same direction to evade TigerClaw’s shots.
One of Casey’s M-80-loaded pucks clacked into the hallway, rebounding off the walls at blinding speed, then exploding into shards around the tiger’s feet. He hissed in pain, then gave an enraged roar. “Wormrider! Face me!”
Casey chanced a mocking look around the doorframe. “Hello, Kitty!” he announced. “I’ve been waiting to see you again too!” He ducked back around the door and slammed it.
The tiger mutant didn’t so much as open the door as tear it, frame and all, out of the wall. As soon as he threw it clear, there was a thwack, and something very light hit him between the eyes, showering little green bits across his face. TigerClaw looked stunned at such a weak attack. He laughed heartily. “You expect to defeat me with a single eggshell, cub?” He laughed again, a bit longer and crazier than he possibly should have. He sniffed around himself curiously. That was an odd smell…
“Nope. I figured one wouldn’t be enough.” He handled another egg on the blade of his stick, then shot it across the room at their foe. “Which is why I brought a crap-ton of ‘em! Keep ‘em coming, April!” She nodded, rolling another egg across the all-but-nonexistent carpet for him to shoot across the room at TigerClaw. Green bits of herb floated in the air after each impact.
The tiger-man sneezed, looking a bit disoriented, and trying to pull himself to his senses. “What is—“
“He can’t be shaking it off…” Casey said in amazement.
April took out her tessen and fanned it at the floor, stirring the contents of the eggshells back up into the air again. TigerClaw finally seemed to succumb to the herb’s effects, eyes dilating. He reached out for something in front of him that only he could see, then made a lunge for it, knocking over a chair. He started arching his back, twisting this way and that, and clawing the frayed carpet.
Casey and April stepped around the stoned tiger and slipped back through where the door had been.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Chemical warfare,” he replied simply and smugly. “Something I picked up from those smoke bombs the guys use. Joneskitty is gonna be pissed that I used up all her catnip, though.”
Rahzar burst into the hallway at Xever’s call, in the midst of three turtles, who scattered and turned to face him, weapons at the ready. He threw a set of his razor-sharp claws at Michelangelo, in front of him, and floored Raph behind him with a powerful back-kick. Leonardo leapt at the necrotic wolf to land on his back, though there was little back left to land on, and slashing at what flesh he had was like hacking at dry beef jerky. Rahzar managed to get a grip on him and throw him off. Mikey wrapped one of the wolf’s legs with his kusarigama, but Rahzar grabbed the chain, yanking the turtle off his feet and throwing him behind him down the corridor. While Leo blocked the wolf’s claws with his katanas, Raph smirked, an idea coming to mind.
“Mikey! Low-hanging fruit!” Mikey nodded and retracted into his shell. Raphel grabbed him by the shell and threw him low, like a frisbee. Once between Rahzar’s legs, Mikey stuck his feet up into the wolf’s tender bits. He continued on his trajectory as Rahzar let out a high-pitched canine yelp and a series of whimpers as he fell to his knees. Leo winced in sympathy.
“Don’t worry… those grow back!” Mikey said, flipping up to his feet. Leo stared at him. “Don’t they?” His brother shook his head slowly, solemnly. “Ooh. Sorry, Rad Brad…” he apologized genuinely.
Raph jumped on Rahzar’s head as a parting insult as he caught up with his brothers, just in time to see the red fish mutant land at their feet. Donnie appeared behind Fish Face, breathing heavily and wielding an allen-wrench in one hand. “Not so hot without your feet, are ya?!”
April and Casey showed up behind him shortly afterward. “And what have you two been up to?” Raph asked.
“Putting the cat out,” Casey smirked.
“You. You knocked Tiger Claw out?”
“Well, not exactly… but he’s bombed out of his mind on catnip. You should see it, it’s hilarious…”
Leo interrupted, asking Donnie, “Did you find the mutagen?”
“Dexter’s lab—“
“Baxter!” April corrected.
“Fine, Baxter’s lab is in the lobby,” Donnie amended. “The mutagen should be there.”
“Well, what’re we standing around here for? Let’s go get it before—“ Movement in the center box caught Raph’s eye. “Shit. Phantom of the Opera’s here…”
Metal glinted, even in the low light on the balcony; the spiked bracers, shoulder guards, the long punching daggers, and the shining kabuto.
“You would defile this place with your presence as well, insolent vermin?!” the low, sinister voice rumbled.
Leo gave the Shredder a flat glare. “Believe me, we have places we’d rather be.”
Raph cut in. “But, unfortunately, your wing-man stole something of ours, and we’re here to get it back.”
“You could just let us get it, and we’ll go,” Michelangelo suggested. The Shredder gave a brief snort of laughter at how likely that was. Mikey turned back to his brothers. “I didn’t think he’d go for that…”
“Besides,” Casey added, “There’s six ‘a us and one ‘a you!” Donnie and Leo made shushing gestures at him, but gave up as he completed the sentence anyway. Shredder snapped his fingers. Foot-bots appeared out of the shadows on the balconies, on the catwalks, and emerged from the wings of the stage.
“Good job, Jones, you jinxed it!” Raph grumbled, elbowing him.
Donnie shrugged. “Still, less than we’re usually up against... Supplier running low, Shred-head?”
Shredder narrowed his eyes at them. “You die this night, sons of Hamato! Attack!”
The Foot-bots flew into motion, some quite literally flying down from the balconies and catwalks, maces and buzz-saws at the ready. The turtles and Casey crashed into them, taking several down with their initial blows. Casey swatted the head off one with his goalie stick, turned and shorted out another with his taser. Mikey beheaded one with the hook of his kusarigama, then lassoed another robot and dragged it in front of Raph for him to perforate with his sai. Leo was cutting a swath through them; stabbing one, throwing his second katana into the head of the following, beheading a third and retrieving his thrown weapon.
But April was having trouble. Her aim with her tessen was true, but the slashes did little damage to the metal bots, and several of them were closing on her. Donnie pierced one with his spear and threw it into another one behind him when he saw her get swarmed. He heard her shriek as she kept fighting a losing battle. He skewered another of the Foot bots in the ring surrounding her, and caught sight of the purple blood still staining the blade of his naginata. A light bulb in his head clicked on. “April! They run on Kraang technology!”
Her expression went from panicked to smiling. “Oh, that just made my day!” She concentrated for a moment and let off a mind-blast that flattened all the robots around her, as well as a couple dozen more in the vast auditorium. “Thanks, Donnie!” she called happily, concentrating for another blast if it was needed.
“You’re welcome, Sweetheart!” he hollered back, impaling another oncoming bot.
They mopped the last dozen up within moments. “Well. That was fun,” Raph declared as April knocked out three more with a minor, effortless blast and Casey tased the last.
The cloaked figure dropped down from the balcony and strode toward them. Leo called out to the group. “Guys, form up. April, Casey, go find the mutagen and get out. Don’t wait for us!” April nodded and yanked Casey by the wrist toward the lobby. The four turtle ninjas formed a half circle around the oncoming Shredder. They charged.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Of Hearts and Shells: 50 Shades of Green