#my boy got done dirty so I might as well draw my AU versions again to cheer myself up

[mwolf0epsilon]

I forgot how to draw these losers...

— ☕️ Ko-fi | 🧡Commissions

[hoodie-lover]

My Multiverse Ask Event! #3

“UT sans why do you refuse to fight the human until they are level 19 in genocide route?”

“Because it is the only time it matters. Any other time I don’t have to worry about the world ending. If you were trapped in a world where nothing, almost nothing, you do matters, why do something that doesn’t matter? And I must say, the look on their face when I launched my first attack, and their faces afterwards, were worth it.” Sans said, smiling at the memory of their shocked face.

“Flowey if the human genocides you are aware they won't hesitate to kill you right? ps why not just pop up from the ground in the room with the human souls and take them?”

“I know. But I like watching everyone die, it’s funny as they try to stop an unstoppable threat, how they sacrifice themselves and whatnot. And if the human can beat Sans, Undyne, and slaughter almost every monster of all, why would the souls be able to do anything? Sure I could flee, but I am the Prince of the Underground, I’m going down with my ship.” Flowey said, his face appearing to be a mix of Asriel and his own before morphing back as he chuckled a sinister giggle.

“Frisk so your saying that your next reset will be a genocide if so is it because your possesses by chara or because your a bad person. ps if your possesed by chara during genocide why kill flowey knowing he is asriel? pps do you even make it to the surface after genocide?” “Chara is only there to make me remember my crimes, kill Asgore, and Flowey. And I’m not really a bad person per say, I’m just a kid having fun! And why would I return to the surface? The Underground is more fun. Asriel is dead, Flowey is someone new, and Flowey is pathetic.” Frisk said, smiling. “To all skeletons when you eat food where does it go? do you even have a stomach?” “We only eat magic-based foods so it is instantly absorbed. It just disperses and helps heal and stuff.” Papyrus said, making hand gestures to help explain it. “Error, when are you guys going to start looking for who Error once was? We can help! We know multiple versions of Error and many versions of his backstory to draw reference from. I'd start with G̵͈͇̙͖̰͇̠̥̱͍̅̿͌̀̋̄͛̇̽̒̄̿̄̑̈́̾͊̔̉̄͒̕ȩ̸̛̠̗͓̗̃̈́̏́͆̓̃̅̎͊̾̃̐͐̍̍͘͜n̸̢̢̛̲̬͎̱̘͍͎̗̯̘̭͉̦̓͗̓̓͂̀̈́̀͜͠͝͝ơ̵̢̗̼̳̥̞̱̺̭̠̅̐̐̾̽͋̋͐́̍͊̈́̈́͘͠. Trust me.” “What? We didn’t hear what you said.” Error stated, sipping some hot chocolate. Mini marshmallows danced on the surface. “Well, since you apparently can’t say who to start with, I guess we have no where to start from.” “How about we look at the timelines? Talk to the voices and see how long Error was there and what timelines had separated before and after then.” Horror said and Nightmare shrugged. “Sure.” In the Creator Realm, Maxie, Zack, Beatrice, Jana, and Jack were listening. “We all know it’s Geno right?” Maxie said and they nodded. “How about we drag this out? Make them suffer!” Jack said, and for once, Zack agreed. “It would be funny, just as long as they learn the truth eventually.” Zack said, earning a sadistic grin from Maxie. “Yay! I wonder if we can get some help in leading them astray?” Maxie said, calling over to the group asking the questions. “Wanna help us drag this out?” She asked. “UT sans when are you going to tell papyrus about resets?” “I already know. Though I have asked Sans the same question many many times.” Papyrus said, giving Sans a dirty look. Sans had come back from his sentry station for lunch. “You’d forget! Just because you know doesn’t mean you’ll remember. I’d figured out it was possible while looking through scans and other old work I look through every day. Plus knowledge of the multiverse helps.” Sans said, “I actually did tell you once, but it crushed your spirit. I didn’t want you to lose what made you, you. and I had a support group so I wasn’t handling it alone like I used to.” Sans said, Papyrus sighed in response. “UT sans how do you manage to put 29 hot dogs on a person's head and why not 30 hot dogs?” “Why not 28?” Sans said, and Papyrus groaned. “Ok ok I think we have embarrassed the boys enough, for now.... Dream any stories from your brothers past he would rather his boys not know about?” “YES!” Dream cried out and Nightmare tried to silence his brother, but he was tackled, bound, and gagged on the ground before he could make a sound. Everyone listened to Dream intently. “Nightmare, in the early days of our village’s founding, had a girlfriend.” Dream said, Nightmare thrashed on the ground as everyone gasped “Who?” Cross asked, eyes wide as he heard Chara snicker and make faces at Nightmare. “I don’t remember her, we didn’t really talk all that much, but what I do know is that,” Dream donned the smuggest and most evil smirk as he gave his brother a wicked glance, a twisted smile on his face. “Nightmare, lost his virginity to her.” Dream said and everyone went nuts. “Did he top?” Horror asked, and Killer laughed. “Was she a virgin too?” Dust cried out, looking at his struggling father. “She wasn’t, and I think he bottomed based on what he told me.” Dream said, genuinely puzzled. “So, how old were you?” Error asked, Dream thought about it. “We didn’t know at the time, as far as we’re aware, right now, we’re about 1200 years old, and the village was around for about 1,000 years, but she was about a young adult, maybe 20 or so.” Dream said, looking at his brother for confirmation. Tears were streaming down Nightmare’s face and Dream took pity on his sibling. “There, there, I only have one more to tell.” Dream said, picking up Nightmare and placing him on his lap as he cuddled him. “What’s the story?” Fresh asked, he was mostly silent but he was curious. “Nightmare’s first time drunk.” Dream said, and Nightmare froze as he tried to run away. “Nope.” Dream said, keeping Nightmare in place easily. “One day, I was given a present by someone, I don’t remember who they were. Nightmare girlfriend, Lily was her name, had long passed away by this point. They broke up but remained friends. It was a bottle of whisky, hardcore whisky.” Dream said, “Like Blue’s signature drink spiker.” Dream said and Blue gasped. “I do not spike drinks!” Blue said, huffing. “Sure.” Dream said, rolling his eyes as he continued. “Anyway, I wanted to share the gift with Nightmare, as I always did. I even broke apart, remade and regifted presents I recieved to Nightmare to make him feel better. So we drank the entire thing, Nightmare having most of it.” Dream said, clearly embarrassed. “If we had known, that night would have ended differently.” Dream told them. “Nightmare ended up singing a random song at the top of his lungs at the top of the tree. I was about to pass out most of the time. We never got drunk again, the hangover was bad.” “Ok back to embarrassing the boys, on a scale of 1 to 10 how cute is Error? this is for anyone that wants to weigh in on the Error cuteness scale. Also does he have glasses in this multi-verse and do they up his cuteness? Sorry Error you are my favorite!” “10.” Everyone said they had by this point released Nightmare. “I do have glasses, Nightmare gave them to me soon after they learned how bad my eyesight was, but I began to wear contacts when I started fighting with them.” Error said. “They were bigger and red versions of Harry Potter’s glasses, and they increase his cuteness to a solid twenty-six out of ten.” Cross said, smiling as Error blushed. “Oh I saw someone else mention how we know of many different Errors. I gotta say most of the Errors I have seen have been tortured horribly and are left in a pretty bad state. Are you sure you want to know where you came from? You can't ever go back to what you were before, and I don't want you to get hurt Error.” “I know. But, I want to know my story, I know I can’t go back, I know I have a Papyrus, Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, and all. But I never thought about it, and with the revelation that I’m an alternate timeline, I can dive a bit deeper. I know these people, and Killer, Horror, and Dust can help me. They know what it’s like.” Error said, “And I’m not asking to know about what you have put other me’s through, I can infer what you’ve done to them.” Error said, glaring. “Frisk, what do you think about the humans from other AU?s” “AUs? Do you mean, alternate universes? I was involved with many fandoms, so I know the term. Papyrus broke script last time, and Sans was acting odd a few years ago. Interesting. I must thank you, if I’m right, then I might be able to see my own handiwork again.” Frisk said. “Frisk, have you encountered Gaster yet? ps do you even know who Gaster is?” “I know who he is. Though he always disappears before I can say a word to him.” “Stretch, my tall orange jerk. How did you take the news that not only did Ink lie when he said the dark sanses took blue, but Ink was actually the one to take him and do some pretty bad things to our sweet little blueberry? What about when Ink had Dream hurt blue to keep him crashing? And how are taking Blue being more like Error now?” “I was mad, I wanted to kill him with my own hands. I let myself be fooled, and I can’t even blame myself half the time! I was just so powerless. I’m glad he’s dead.” Stretch said, grumbling as he blew out a puff of smoke. “I was ready to dust Dream right then and there, but Blue held me back. And the yellow squirt’s apology was overwhelming. I could barely go a day without a text or in-person apology, and when he finally earned my lack of distrust, we haven’t talked since aside from the occasional ‘hello’. And Blue had it worse.” “It took awhile for me to get used to Blue’s glitching. Sometimes he crashed and rebooted, those were scary and they still are. Error helped Blue and I adjust, helping us figure out Blue’s glitching triggers. Stress being a big one. I’m grateful for his help, though I may not like him.” Stretch said, lighting another cigarette. “And now the most important question ever asked... Who wants to join the Error protection squad? I'll make badges!” “ME!” Blue cried out, eyes glowing big and blue as he smiled. “Don’t forget about us!” Cross said and Error sighed as he buried himself in his outfit as everyone announced how they would join. “It’s ok Error. I’d defend you, but I don’t need a badge.” Dream said and Error smiled, he was glad his family would defend him. He felt safe, and he felt loved. “What is the worst timeline or version of this universe any of you have ever experienced? I mean, this is a multiverse. What are the darkest reaches of it?” “Aside from our own personal trauma, I think it was one of those torture AUs.” Nightmare said, and Cross snapped his fingers, realizing what Nightmare meant. “Yeah, where the people exist only to be beaten and broken, no hope, no dreams, no reason and will to live. There’s also HorrorLustFell.” Cross said and everyone shuddered. “‘Nough said.” Dust announced and everyone nodded. “Frisk you know a genocide is technically impossible because you never kill annoying dog ps what do you think of annoying dog?” “The annoying dog doesn’t count, and I never get to Alphys or the people she evacuated either. And the dog is cute, I want to cuddle them.” Frisk said, their face looking like an innocent child’s instead of a mass murderer.

Formatting is off because of glitching in my word processor. I have it fixed.

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[bedlamsbard]

Devil’s Backbone cut scene

I’m rereading A New Dawn at the moment, and since I just passed the cantina scene in the novel (which covers chapters 19-22) I thought I’d share the version of (part of) that scene that I wrote for Devil’s Backbone last year.  (As I recall, it was originally supposed to be in Chapter 22.)

Originally the flashbacks in the back third of Backbone were meant to cover more of Hera and Kanan’s time together pre- and post- Crucible.  This is a conceit that eventually got dropped in order to stick with the “origin story” theme of the flashbacks (currently the back third flashbacks including Cham in 24, Alecto in 25, and Hera in 26).  I also decided against including any Backbone’verse AND scenes in any of the flashback, since I was worried about the lack of context for readers who otherwise might not be familiar with the novel.  While I know how the Backbone’verse version of AND plays out, it was a little much to elide in the flashbacks, since the novel is so tightly plotted and a number of small things change because of the AU.  (None of the big things -- but that’s something else that’s hard to elide in one or even several flashbacks.)

About 2.2K below the break.

Six years ago Gorse

The name of the cantina was The Asteroid Belt, and from outside, it looked like every scumbucket drinking hole that Hera Syndulla had spent the past four years avoiding.

She eyed it doubtfully from beneath her dark hood, resisting the urge to turn around and go back to the Ghost, and from there fly to somewhere considerably more civilized.  Except that would mean admitting that she wasn’t suited for fieldwork; this was her first assignment and any failure would be met harshly.  Hera had been recruited for the ISB because she could walk into places like this without raising any eyebrows.  Nobody looked at a pretty Twi’lek girl – or any Twi’lek, for that matter – and considered that she could be an agent of the Empire.  Hera would stand out far less here than any of her classmates back on Naboo would, at least in theory.

Of course, her classmates had actually frequented scumbucket drinking holes like this one, or at least as close as any of the cantinas on Naboo got.  Hera had been more comfortable in the fight over in Shaketown. That had been simple: money and fists. Two things the ISB was very familiar with.

And that pretty human boy…

She shoved the thought away. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen handsome human men before; there had been plenty of them at the Academy and on Naboo.  Some of them had even treated her like she was a person.  It just usually took them a while to get around to that, unlike the man in Shaketown.

The doors of The Asteroid Belt slid open, spilling out light and sound and a pair of drunken Weequay, who had their arms around each other’s shoulders and a bottle in each dangling hand. They staggered out and into the muddy street, Hera instinctively drawing back into the shadows of the building behind her despite the fact they weren’t anywhere near her.

All right, she told herself.  All right, Syndulla, you can do this.  Go in, find her contact, and pretend to be a rebel sympathizer; hopefully this Hetto could lead the ISB to others who held his political beliefs.  It was called phishing – fairly harmless, as far as ISB assignments went, but critical to the security of the Empire.  Idle chatter on HoloNet message boards could easily translate into something more dangerous; it was best to put a stop to that kind of thing before it reached that point.

Hera took a deep breath, smoothed her gloved hands down her thighs, and crossed the street to the cantina. The doors slid open as she approached, making her flinch at the burst of sound – beings shouting in various languages, some kind of sports game on a vidscreen, someone singing.  Or maybe that was a jukebox; Hera couldn’t tell.

She hesitated on the threshold, then forced herself to step inside.  Her first reaction was to flinch – sound and people on all sides of her, making her lekku twitch and her hands clench, every instinct she had screaming for her to turn around and run away to the safe, quiet confines of the Ghost.  A table nearby boasted a sabacc game; one of the players was sprawled unconscious with his head on top of a small pile of credits, probably drunk, while his companions went on with their game.  Across from them, another group of beings was yelling at the pod race on the vidscreen mounted on one wall; others were engaged in other card games, shouted conversations, or what looked to be drinking games.  Hera looked frantically from side to side, uncertain how she was expected to identify her contact, let alone have a conversation with him. There were dozens of beings packed into the cantina’s space.

“Move it, lady!”

The speaker, a heavyset Devaronian, didn’t wait for Hera to respond, just shouldered her aside on his beeline to the bar.  Hera stumbled but didn’t fall, her fisted hands digging crescents into her palms. For lack of any better idea, she followed the Devaronian; maybe the bartender would know who she was looking for.

The Devaronian veered aside before he got there, and when Hera approached tentatively she saw that the bartender had his back to her, talking to a Sullustan woman behind the bar with him.  Hera resisted the urge to pull her hood closer around her face and found an empty spot at the bar to sit at while she waited for them to finish their conversation.

“– don’t know what they look like,” the Sullustan said.

“You don’t know what everyone looks like?” the human said, his voice dry, and Hera went still.  She had heard that voice before.

It was the human from the fight in Shaketown, the one she had seen getting between Count Vidian and the old man on Cynda.  The handsome one.

A burst of yelling from a nearby table made her miss what the Sullustan said in reply, but the human slapped his hands down on top of the bar and said sharply, “Zaluna, I don’t know who you are or who you think I am, but you do not know me.  I do not go around randomly helping people!”

“That’s not what I’ve heard about you,” Hera blurted out, and saw his shoulders stiffen.

A moment later he turned around, flashing a dazzling grin at her. “Hey, Hera,” he said. “What can I get you?”

Hera swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. “Information, if you’ve got it,” she said, pushing her hood back.

His smile widened, either in response to her words or her face. “Information I can do,” he said. “You want a drink to go with that?  On the house.”  He started to reach for one of the glasses racked on the shelves behind him.

“I’d better wait until I find my – my…the person I’m here to meet,” Hera said, stumbling over the words. “And I’m not much of a drinker anyway.”

“Well, when you find your guy,�� he said, and winked at her. “I’m Kanan, by the way.  Kanan Jarrus.  You never asked before.”

Hera felt her mouth twitch. “Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting it to come up again.”

“That’s me,” he grinned. “Always surprising.  Who are you looking for, Hera?”

“Hera?” said the Sullustan woman, looking back and forth between them. “Are you Hera?”

Hera peered down at her. “I am.  And you’re…Hetto?”  She had been under the impression that Hetto was male, but you just never knew on the HoloNet.

“I’m a friend of Hetto’s,” the woman corrected. “He asked me to come here in his place and meet you.”

Hera frowned.  Had he realized that she was ISB?  Or was this another one of Agent Beneke’s tests?  She had thought that this was a real assignment.

Kanan was leaning on the bar, his sharp gaze belying his casual attitude.  As though he had sensed Hera’s distress, he said easily, “What happened to your friend, Zaluna?  He catch that flu that’s been going around?”

The Sullustan – Zaluna, apparently – twisted her hands together. “Oh, no.  He was – he was arrested.”

“Arrested?” Hera said, startled. “By who?  Local law enforcement?”

“I wish,” Zaluna said regretfully. “That would be easy to take care of.  No, he was arrested by the Empire.  There were stormtroopers all over Tr – where we work – today!”

“Stormtroopers?” Kanan whistled. “He must have done something pretty bad to get their attention. Or just been in the wrong place at the wrong time; they’re not exactly the most discriminating bunch.”

Zaluna looked between the two of them again, apparently trying to judge whether or not they were trustworthy.  Whatever she saw must have seemed promising to her, because she said, “Gorse and Cynda have been raised to Security Condition One – Count Vidian’s orders. One of the other surveillance teams must have caught Hetto saying something unfortunate.  He was never very good at…well.  Sometimes even if you do the work we do you get complacent.”

Hera shut her eyes. There went her whole mission. Maybe she should go and try and find Skelly again, just in case there was something to scavenge from that.  She already knew she was probably going to get rebuked for setting him free in the first place, but she had thought that if he had had real information – but he had just turned out to be a crackpot. That wasn’t even the ISB’s business; the locals could deal with that.  Count Vidian could deal with that, since the fixer the Empire had brought in to sort out the mining guilds seemed to like getting his hands dirty with even the most inconsequential of matters.

She wondered if Agent Beneke would accept that as the reason she hadn’t completed her mission.  She would have to contact him as soon as she got back to the Ghost…

She started to push herself away from the bar. “Well, thank you for letting me know about Hetto, Zaluna. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t meet him – we had a lot to talk about.”

“Hey, just because your friend’s not here isn’t a reason to leave,” Kanan said, straightening up, at the same time that Zaluna burst out, “Hetto wanted me to give you something.”

Hera turned back to them. “Give me something?”

Zaluna stood back on one heel, her expression uncertain again. “Maybe – maybe we could talk somewhere more –”

The sabacc table at the other end of the cantina suddenly erupted into shouting, beings leaping to their feet and waving cards, glasses, and – somewhat alarmingly – blasters. Kanan tensed, putting one hand down flat on top of the bar as if preparing to vault over it to deal with the mess, before a gray-haired human man bustled over to the table.  Kanan relaxed and looked back at Hera and Zaluna, who seemed just as stunned by the commotion as Hera felt.

“Somewhere more private? I’ve got just the table for you.”

The table in question turned out to be tucked away in a corner of the cantina, barely within line of sight of the main room.  It was marginally quieter, at least.  Zaluna took the chair with the best view, leaving Hera with her back to the door and her shoulders and lekku itching.  She had expected Kanan to lose interest and go back to the bar, but instead he seemed determined to insert himself into the conversation, which wasn’t very helpful for Hera’s purposes even if he was easy on the eyes.

She was preparing to tell him to leave when Zaluna leaned over the table and touched the back of her hand.  “I think you can trust him.  I’ve watched him longer than you have.  He helps people –”

Kanan shut his eyes, apparently in frustration.  Presumably “helpful” wasn’t an appellation he was particularly fond of.

“– though he makes a show of doing otherwise,” Zaluna finished firmly. “He stood up to Count Vidian just today.”

“I saw,” Hera said, remembering the confrontation on Cynda.

“You did?” Kanan blinked.

“You know, getting the attention of someone like that isn’t a very good idea,” Hera found herself saying. “Especially if Vidian’s arresting potential agitators.  I don’t think you’d enjoy spending time in an Imperial prison.”

Zaluna’s already large eyes widened. “Is that – is that where Hetto is?”

“Um –”  That was where he would have gone eventually, if Hera’s mission had gone as planned.  Eventually being the key word.  Now that was out of the question; it wasn’t as though Hera could march up to Count Vidian and demand that he be set free, since there was little chance that Vidian would believe that she was an Imperial agent even if she showed him her badge. From the little she had seen of him, she didn’t think that he would take very kindly to the ISB’s plan to use Hetto to bait other potential agitators on the HoloNet.

Apparently taking Hera’s hesitation as his cue, Kanan leaned over the table and patted Zaluna’s hand. “Maybe your friend’s just in a labor camp.”

Zaluna didn’t look reassured by this news.  Having seen a few Imperial labor camps when she had been in the Academy, Hera couldn’t blame her.

Dragging herself back to the present, Hera took a breath and squared her shoulders. “Hetto was arrested for speaking against the Empire.  How do you feel about the Empire, Zaluna?”

The other woman shifted uneasily, thinking this over.  Finally, she said, “I remember too much.  I remember how it was – and how it got worse, even before the Empire.  I remember when people didn’t kill guildmasters on a whim and walk away without a thought.  And I remember when my people were safe.”  She looked back and forth between Hera and Kanan, her huge dark eyes glistening with tears, then made a small sound that might have been a laugh. “It’s a good thing I disconnected the cams, isn’t it?  That’s the sort of thing I’d flag back at Transcept.  The sort of thing that gets a visit from stormtroopers if the wrong people overhear it.”  She cast a nervous glance around the cantina.

“There are no Imperial agents here, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Kanan said, following her gaze. “These are all one hundred percent pure shovel-carrying drunkards.  I’ve tussled with too many of them to think they’re plants for the Empire.”

Hera bit her lip at his words, though she supposed that did say wonders for her cover. “And you?” she had to ask. “What do you think of the Empire?”

He grinned at her. “As little as possible,” he said. “I could take it or leave it.”

[spectrumscribe]

Serpent, Dragon, and Witch.

Girl Gang AU I promised everyone, late for International Women’s Day, but here nonetheless!

AO3 version if preferred.

Summary:

After master Splinter's death, April feels aimless. There's no war, no arch enemies, no grand plots to thwart. There's no one left to fight, and her still growing skills have no use any longer.

That changes though, when Karai approaches April with a proposition to join the Foot clan, and April accepts.

Temporarily, of course. It's only temporary.

But... what if she doesn't want it to be?

----------------------------------------------

April isn’t sure what to do, the moment Karai asks her a particular question out of the blue.

“You want me to what?” April asks, extending her powers to check if Karai is being truthful or not.

“I’m asking you to join my clan,” Karai says, repeating her original query. “Shini won’t be well enough to fight for another few weeks, and there’s few I can trust to not literally stab me in the back. I need people I can depend on, and ones who are strong enough for that.”

Karai sounds serious, and as far as April’s senses can tell, she is serious.

“Why me?” April asks. “Why not one of the boys? I would’ve thought you’d go straight to Leo.”

April knows she’s skilled, knows that she’s gotten closer to catching up with her boys, but she also knows that she’s still not their level. Not even close. She doesn’t know why Karai wouldn’t go for any of the four highly skilled ninjutsu users that live underground, not when April is still struggling to compare, even after all this time.

Karai smiles wryly, and shakes her head. “Leo is a skilled ninja, yes, but he’s not exactly what I’m looking for. He’s a leader, same as me. A clan can’t have two heads, only one. He’d try to influence the choices I’d make, and a leader can’t waver on her decisions. And… mutants aren’t exactly well received, not as figures of command. Until I’ve cemented the Foot Clan’s power again, I can’t risk looking bad in front of potential allies.”

“But aren’t you also a mutant?” April points out, giving Karai a dubious look.

“Maybe, but not many know about that,” Karai says, hisses, as her eyes flicker green for a split second. She then smiles again, and folds her hands together on the table they’re sitting at. In a café, in broad daylight. Its more surreal than most of what April’s encountered the past year. “So? Will you at least consider filling in for Shinigami until she’s back on her feet?”

“I’ll…. I’ll think about it,” April replies carefully, even though she’s not sure why she’s even considering it.

Karai’s eyes are sharp and watchful, and she smiles with a hint of teeth. “I need an answer by the end of the week; otherwise I’ll have to start looking for other potential candidates.”

April nods, and watches as Karai leaves. Coffee in hand and purse in the other, she seems normal enough in the light of day. Or, she would, if it weren’t for the razor edges to the heels she’s wearing, and the knowledge that Karai probably has at least five knives in her bag.

April keenly feels her own weapon’s weight, her tessen, underneath her light jacket. She doesn’t remember what it’s like to not have a weapon on her person at all times.

She sips her tea, and starts to think.

    There’s a very long list of dangerous things April has done in just the last few years of her life. A very, very long list of things.

She’s stronger for it, having faced and survived each one. The most recent though, still hurts the most.

There’s a gravesite, somewhere far from New York, and an empty room, somewhere beneath the city. They both stand out in her mind, even as time ticks on and Splinter’s burial gets further from her present time. But even as they stand timelessly in her mind, the reality of the situation remains. April doesn’t have a master anymore, and their war is over. The Shredder is gone.

April, for the first time in years, has no specific goal. Just a sword, a bladed fan, and an offer.

She thinks, and considers, and decides.

To add to her growing list of dangerous experiences, April walks into what was once the lair of their greatest enemy a week later, carrying both her favored weapons. Head held high, and a set to her shoulders that dares any of the soldiers watching to try and stop her.

Karai is where April knew she’d be, lounging on the vacated throne of a defeated evil. She looks at April evenly as she approaches, and doesn’t even twitch as April draws her blade.

“I don’t know if I can actually trust you or not,” April says, leveling her blade at Karai. “You’ve hurt my family badly in the past, and I know you could again if it meant achieving your goals.” She hears soldiers filing into the room, their own weapons being drawn in response to April’s threats. April smiles dangerously anyways. “And, you’ve made a fool out of me a number of times. Not exactly something I appreciate.”

Karai leans on her elbow, still quiet. She looks like she’s examining April, and April isn’t entirely sure what she’s looking for.

April lowers her blade slowly, and sheathes it again. “But. You also helped us out an equal number of times, and eventually decided to be less of a bitch in general. Good of you for that.”

The ‘bitch’ comment makes Karai smirk, and April finds herself returning the expression.

“And?” Karai asks, a tone of amusement in her voice. “Do you have a point, or did you just come here to rehash our history?”

“My point is that I’ll take your offer,” April says, squaring her shoulders under the eyes of the other ninjas in the room. “I’ve got some free time right now, and if you’re that desperate for my help…”

She’s playing with fire, insulting the leader of an entire criminal empire. April’s gotten good at that though, dancing over hot coals without being burned at all.

“I see,” Karai says, sitting up from her casual lounging. She stands, and strides down the steps of the throne to April. Karai’s sword on her hips is a mirror to April’s, and April meets the taller girl’s eyes without hesitation.

Karai’s gold eyes examine her for a moment longer, and then she smiles. There’s a length to her eye-teeth that’s not quite human, and April isn’t afraid in the least. “That’s excellent news, so glad you could grace us with your presence. How benevolent of you.”

The dry tone to Karai’s teasing words sends a ripple of confusion through the room, which April feels quite easily. Her soldiers are trying and failing to figure out why Karai isn’t reprimanding April for her rudeness, and that fact brings a smile to April’s lips.

“Aren’t I just?” April says, snarks, holding out a hand. “So, boss, when do I start?”

Karai laughs, and takes April’s hand. Karai’s shake is firm, and for once, April’s hand doesn’t feel dwarfed by the person she’s shaking with. It’s an interesting change.

“Soon as you can,” Karai says, and April hears and feels the genuine meaning to that statement.

    “Again.”

April’s lungs heave as she throws herself at her opponent.

Another missed strike.

“Again.”

Her wooden sword is knocked aside, and Karai continues to dance outside her striking range.

“Again!”

April growls, and tries for the hundredth time to land a blow on Karai. She misses. Again.

Karai’s eyes follow every step April takes, and she yells “Again!” as April struggles to keep up.

April’s frustration is boiling, and she manages to almost catch Karai’s shoulder with a desperate jab. Karai’s unimpressed eyes say everything of what she thinks. “Again, April. I know you can do better than this.”

“I signed up to be a bodyguard, not for extra training!” April snaps, uncaring about her furious tone. “I’m not here to be your personal punching bag.”

Karai rewards her attitude with a sharp slap on the flat side of her sword. April yelps, and backs off. “I’m not training you just for shits and giggles, princess. I’m training you because I don’t want you getting yourself killed on the first day.”

“I wouldn’t, I’m not that stupid,” April says testily.

Karai gives her a look. “Past examples say otherwise. Your friends won’t admit it to you, but you’re just a beginner still. You might act like you’re competent, but you make rash decisions, are a hot-head, have to depend on your  mutant friends to bail you out every time you get into trouble, and let’s not even get started on just how far you are out of your league, just standing here in this dojo-”

April shrieks, and attacks Karai with a flurry of slashes. Karai blocks them all calmly, but April is pushing her back, pushing her towards the wall so she can pin her, and as April hits Karai’s sword hard enough it flies away, she takes one final stab at Karai’s head.

The sword hits the plaster beside Karai, and buries its tip into it. Karai looks at April, unflinching despite the fact that April could have injured her badly.

“Now see? That’s what I’m talking about,” Karai says, tilting her head away from April’s faux killing strike. “You let your temper get the best of you, and that’s how you lose.”

“Worked well enough with you,” April growls, pushing her sword a bit deeper into the dojo wall. “I pinned you, didn’t I?”

“Did you?” Karai asks.

And that’s when April realizes there’s a wooden blade being pushed against her ribs, right in line to skewer her heart.

She scowls at Karai. “Dirty trick.”

“Not so,” Karai replies. She pushes her blade a bit harder against April’s ribs. “I’m teaching you the lesson you need. Your skills are fine, April. That’s why I brought you on. But your self-control and finesse leave a lot to be desired. You’re fighting with brute force you don’t have, and you’re letting mere words push you over the edge. That’ll get you killed pretty quickly.”

April yanks her sword out of the wall, and stalks away from Karai, face burning. “Shut up. This is how master Splinter trained me. Same as the boys.”

“He trained you how he trained them, which isn’t how he should have,” Karai says, following April’s steps. “You’re not them, April. You never will be. A kunoichi fights with her skills and wits, not with a man or mutant’s strength. You need to think when you fight, not blindly charge in.”

April feels a tap on the back of her head, and turns to Karai. The taller girl again taps April’s forehead, giving her a serious look. “You have mental powers, not physical ones. I’m not saying that women can’t be as strong as men that way, but you in particular can’t. You’re small and fast, not big and strong. Use that.”

“How?” April asks, still feeling wound up from her embarrassing defeat. “I use my powers plenty already.”

“Use them more precisely,” Karai says, starting to circle April. April watches her, waiting for further explanation. Karai continues, trailing her sword’s tip close to the ground as she does. “Stop trying for big shows of force, and focus on the smaller ones. Blow the top off a tree, the trunk still stands. Pull up its roots one by one, and it will fall.”

“That… makes a fair amount of sense,” April admits. She wonders why master Splinter never told her something like that, it sounds useful. “I’m guessing you know from experience?”

Karai smiles in way that tells of past deeds, and how those deeds may not have ended well for others. “I’ve been at this for nearly my whole life now. I’ve learned a thing or two.”

Then, her blade snaps out, and this time April is ready for it. Calm and level again, and able to read Karai’s intentions before she makes a move. Karai can obviously tell, and seems pleased.

“Ready for round ten, then?” Karai asks. Taunts. She pushes harder against April’s blade. “Maybe you’ll fair better this time.”

April smiles, and slips a bit of psychic power around her blade to give it extra force. “I think I just might.”

    “You haven’t been around much, April,” Donnie says, splitting his focus between the computer in front of him, and with April, who sits across from him on her own with her night’s homework.

They’re in his lab, enjoying the quiet for once. Mikey is gone off to play, somewhere with the Mutanimals, and Casey and Raph have disappeared with a bag of spray paint and wicked grins. Leo’s locked himself in the dojo, but that’s not something unusual these days.

“I’ve been busy,” April replies, purposefully vague. She hasn’t told any of the boys about her deal with Karai, and she’s not sure if she’s ready to. Or wants to.

“Busy gallivanting over roof tops with my half-sister?”

April’s typing pauses, and she knows she’s been caught.

A video pops up on her screen without her say so, and it plays a short compilation of April and Karai training. It had been a test to see how quick April could evade or capture an opponent, and she’d passed.

“Are you mad?” April asks carefully, looking over her laptop’s screen. “Also, get out of my computer, Donnie. We talked about this.”

The video disappears, and Donnie raises his hands in surrender. “Look, it’s gone. Sorry for invading your privacy, but I’m worried, okay?”

“I know what I’m doing,” April says, narrowing her eyes. “It’s my decision to work with Karai.”

“I know. I know. It’s just- Karai hasn’t always been the most reliable? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m fine. I can handle myself. In fact,” April sits up straighter. “Karai’s been helping me refine my training. I’m not helpless to keep myself safe, Donnie.”

Donnie smiles, a hint of wry humor. “I know that too. You’re very capable, April. I won’t doubt that for a second. But, that doesn’t stop me from being a bit concerned how you’re putting yourself in dangerous situations on purpose.”

“And what’ve we been doing for the past three years then?”

Donnie sighs, and rolls his eyes. “Okay, bad point to make. But my first one stands. Be careful, okay April? Just so I can sleep easier during that day.”

“I’m being careful,” April says. “I won’t get involved with anything too, too dangerous. I promise.”

Donnie considers her for a moment, then nods and smiles. “Then I’ll stay out of things. Say hi to my sister next time you see her.”

April can sense his concern, still running high and strong, but she brushes it off. She knows what she’s doing, and the more she trains with Karai, the better she can back that statement up. “I will. Thanks, Donnie.”

A moment’s pause, and then April asks, “So how did you get that video of me and Karai exactly?”

Donnie grins over their laptops, and seems more than a little pleased with himself. “As of very recently, I am now hooked into majority of the surveillance cameras in New York, excluding a select few private servers I haven’t figured out how to link up quite yet.”

April blinks. “Wow. That’s quite a feat. And illegal.”

“Which one of us is working for a notorious crime ring right now?”

“Touché.”

“And it’s mostly just to keep my brothers from getting themselves killed. Someone has to keep an eye on them. And Casey. Since, you know, Leo’s not exactly up to the task right now.”

“How’s he doing?”

“I caught him talking to the tree again. It’s like the holo-deck, but worse.”

“Yikes.”

“I’m planning an intervention some time on the weekend.”

“I wish you luck. He’s not exactly… open to others’ views on things.”

Donnie’s sigh is long and hard. “Don’t I know it.”

April smiles sympathetically, and sends him a video about cooking shrimp in three seconds, via explosive science. “I’m sure things will get better.”

“Let’s hope so. And please don’t show this to Mikey, he’ll pester me until we try it out.”

“Too late,” April sends the video as she says that, and sees Mikey’s score of emojis pop up seconds later.

“And I thought you were my friend, April.”

“What can I say,” April says breezily. “I’m going through some changes.”

    Shinigami has been moved back into the base for a few weeks, prior to April’s appearance, her stitches and pulled muscles healing steadily. April’s seen her in the best defended corridors of the base a few times already, in casual clothes and with a knowing smile, but until now-?

April hasn’t spent more than two seconds with the woman, and she wasn’t expecting their first real interaction to go anything like this.

“-no to that, and that, and- good god how has no one punctured your lungs yet? Honestly. Where is your armor? Any sort of armor?”

“You don’t wear armor,” April points out, only a little sulkily, as Shini continues to circle her and criticize her jumpsuit.

“Oh honey,” Shinigami stops her circling, somehow moving gracefully despite the healing injuries on her leg and back. She gives April a look, and tosses her long black hair. “People don’t get close enough to hurt me like that. They can only dream.”

“Shredder did,” April says, remembering how the monster of a man had thrashed all of them.

Shinigami scowls. “Yes, but he is one of few. And besides, I am unaccustomed to head on fighting. It’s not my strong point. Usually I am given space to use my hypnosis, which is much more reliable for me.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say,” Shinigami sniffs haughtily.  “And, to add to why I don’t wear chest armor, usually men are too busy looking at these-” Shini unashamedly gestures to her breasts, covered by her comfortable if fitting cotton shirt. “-to notice that I’m about to stab them. Works on women as well sometimes.”

That statement startles a laugh out of April, and she can’t cover it before Shinigami hears. The witch’s catlike grin widens, and she sidles closer to April, poking at April’s ribs so she shrieks. “See? Punctured lung, right there. How you’ve lasted this long is a mystery.”

“St-stop- I’m ticklish there, oh my god-”

“Tsk, another punctured lung. What ever can we do- oh I know, get you some actual gear that isn’t hideous.”

“Hey! I designed this myself!”

“Oh, I can certainly tell.”

“If you two are done…” Karai interrupts. She holds up an article of chest armor, and wrist guards to go with it. “I believe Miss O’Neil needs to try on her new uniform.”

They fit like they were made for her. April runs a hand down the front of her body, learning the texture of her armor. It’s not metal like Karai’s, but Kevlar instead. April has only paced a little in the spare room she’d been told to change in, but she can already tell it will bend and flex in all the right places when she moves.

It’s black, and she can barely tell where it end and the fabric of her jumpsuit begins. Her wrist guards are silver, and April feels that they will stand up against any attack she blocks with them. They make her feel stronger, less likely that she might get herself killed in a fight.

April slides her sword and tessen into place, across her lower back and on her thigh respectively, and takes a slow breath.

She opens the door, steps back out into the armory where Karai and Shinigami were talking, and presents herself for inspection. The other two women stop talking, and look at her. April gestures to her new ‘accessories’, as Shinigami had called them. “Well? Thoughts?”

The two ninjas grin at April, and she gets a resounding approval.

And the best part is that April can tell every compliment is real.

    Black is a good color on you, Donnie texts April out of the blue, in the middle of a midnight warm up jog over the rooftops of New York. Right before she reports in for the evening at Karai’s meeting spot, so they can go in and intimidate a gang into giving up turf that belonged to the Foot Clan.

April stares at the text, and only takes a moment to locate the camera on the adjacent building to her.

 Hello Big Brother, nice of you to drop in and stalk me.

 I’m not stalking, I was already on this server anyways. You just happened to pass through it.

 I’m sensing lies.

 Your range doesn’t extend this far, ergo, You are the one lying.

 Donnie.

 Fine. I’m just checking in on you though.

 How many cameras did it take to find me?

 One. I’m tapped into your phone’s GPS, remember?

 Donnie.

 For your own good! Forgive for feeling a bit paranoid about losing anyone else in this great, big, stupid city!!!

It’s difficult enough keeping an eye on my brothers and Casey, I want to know for sure that you’re okay at least!!

 April grimaces, hearing the unsaid stress driving Donnie to this.

  Donnie, stages of grief, remember?

 Shut up.

I know.

I’m handling it fine.

 Donnie, you’re obsessively checking up on us every two hours right now. I’m not surprised your brothers have run off from that.

 …I’m just worried about all of you, okay? I don’t mean any harm.

 I know. But dial it back a notch, we’re all safe.

Shredder’s dead now.

 Forgive me for not trusting peace, after going through nothing but bouts of war and peace and war and peace and then more war for the past few years.

I just feel like it’s not real.

 Deeeeeeep breaths, Donnie.

 Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

 New topic for distraction: how’d the thing with Leo go?

Was the intervention a success?

 He told me ‘personal space, Donnie’ and ‘I can talk to thin air if I want to, Donnie’ and ‘you don’t understand what I’m going through, Donnie. I need time to myself’.

Prick.

Like splinter wasn’t MY DAD TOO.

 That didn’t work how I wanted it to.

Breaths, Donnie.

Deep ones.

 Uuuuuuugh

I’m tired. And stressed. And kind of sick of everything.

At least you’re doing something interesting with your life, April.

Even if it’s dangerous. And illegal.

 Donnie, you’re currently hacked into the whole camera network of greater New York, and have done much, much worse in just the last year.

Who is the one doing dangerous and illegal things here?

 Point, but nonetheless, I am worried.

 You’re always worried.

 Such is the job as the only sensible member of my family.

Speaking of, I have to go. I’m 90% sure Mikey just brought the Mutanimals back for a party in the lair and it sounds like Leo’s throwing a hissy fit at him for it.

 Good luck. I’m going to go maybe punch a few thugs in the face telekinetically.

TTL.

 Ooh. Send pics.

And seeya!

     April tries to control her heart-rate, as she stands next to Karai. Her new armor feels constricting suddenly, and she takes a quiet breath in.

She realizes she’s put her hand on her sword hilt, and she hastily removes it. This isn’t the time to get nervous, not when she has to put on a strong front for those watching.

Karai’s presence is drawing all the eyes in the room though, and April reminds herself that she isn’t the center of attention here. It’s the negotiating leader of her temporary clan, and the surly gang boss they’re dealing with.

“You can’t expect me to just-” He waves his thick fingers in the air, at Karai and April both. “-hand over my territories to some girly and her friend.”

Karai tilts her head, and April reads a dangerous edge to the movement. “This ‘girly’, as you so kindly put it, is the sole heir to the Foot Clan. The original owner, might I add, of those territories you laid claim to.”

Don Vizioso scoffs, and picks up another sausage to stuff into his mouth. When he speaks again, his mouth is full, and April’s temper rises at the insult. “That doesn’t matter, seein’ as I don’t give a crap if you’re the next heir or not. They’re my territories now, not yours.”

“Now see, that’s why I’m here,” Karai says slowly, in a low tone. She moves- slithers- closer to the table loaded with food the fat man sits at, and stares him down. “To reclaim what is rightfully mine.”

The Don doesn’t seem cowed by Karai’s words, but April can feel a hint of unease run through him. Karai might be a ‘step down’ in his mind from the Shredder, but he knows her. Knows what she can do.

“I’m afraid I won’t be helping you with that,” Vizioso replies evenly. “Those territories are mine, and I’m not giving them up. Business is too good to not keep ‘em.”

Karai’s shoulders tense, and April gets ready.

“That’s a shame,” Karai says, even more evenly than the Don. Then- “Hey, it’s been a while since I saw your bodyguards. Wonder where they got off to?”

The Don’s eyes go wide, and he whirls fast as he can to see that yes, his guards have all vanished; leaving him alone with two highly skilled kunoichi, and no visible backup.

Karai’s chosen soldiers weren’t for show. They never had been. April hadn’t underestimated them the first time she saw them in action, and she’s grateful she didn’t. Watching them slink in, silent as shadows, and drag the Don’s men away just as silently, had been a sight to see.

Karai’s foot slams against the table, shoving it backwards and into Vizioso’s large gut. He wheezes, and Karai maintains her position mercilessly. “Seems they’ve decided to resign for the evening. Bad news for you, Vizioso. So let’s try this again. I want my territories back, and if you don’t comply-” April hears and feels the shift in Karai, her tone becoming low and hissing, and the ripple of power growing in her body. “-I’ll have my men execute all of your immediate subordinates, and then take back those territories by force.”

Karai steps back from the table, and lets the Don try to catch his breath. April sees his hands inch towards something hidden under the table, and she narrows her eyes.

The large man’s eyes go wide, as he finds that he’s unable to move his arms at all. He gives Karai an increasingly panicky look, and Karai’s smile is all sharp threat.

“Unless you want war, Don Vizioso,” Karai says dangerously. “I suggest that you reconsider my kind offers for peaceful reconciliation.”

Vizioso gulps, and April tightens her psychic grip on his arms. She feels his fear, and his wavering will, and she represses a grin.

After they’ve left, taking care to remind Don Vizioso not to try anything stupid, Karai makes a throw away comment to April that she isn’t sure what to make of.

“I want my empire to be different from the Shredder’s,” Karai says to April as they slip away into the night. It’s too quiet for her soldiers to hear, so it must only be meant for April. “But sometimes you have to play their game, whether you like it or not.”

Who’s game she’s speaking of, April doesn’t know. She feels though, the short wince of regret in Karai for something, and wonders what it would be for.

    “April?”

“Yeah dad?” April replies, glancing away from the television she’s doing stretches in front of.

Her father holds up a piece of paper, and he seems pale. “Why did I just get a check for two thousand dollars in the mail? With your name on it?”

“Oh, that’s my first paycheck,” April says casually, bending over her right leg to touch her nose to her thigh.

“Your… your first paycheck? April.”

“I got a job, dad. Didn’t you say you wanted me to start saving up for post-secondary?”

“April, who on earth would pay a teenage girl two thousand dollars?”

“…another teenage girl?”

The soft, choked sound her dad makes brings a sigh to April’s lips, and she releases her stretch to sit back up. Her father is very pale now, and visibly anxious. April gives her best comforting smile, and reaches out psychically to better soothe her father’s anxiety. “I’m fine, dad. I’m working for Karai right now, that’s all.”

“Isn’t she the one who kidnapped me that one time? I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with you doing this.”

April shrugs. Sometimes, she forgets that her father still has authority over her. Sort of. “I’m just filling in for her friend until she’s better, then I’ll be done.”

“April…” Her dad sighs, and comes to sit on the floor with her. The television’s light flickers over his pale skin, and it shows all the stress lines her father has gained over the years. “Running around after dark with a bunch of your… friends, is one thing, but this? This is a whole other.”

April looks away, a bit ashamed that she hadn’t even considered consulting her dad what he thought of this. “I’m sorry, dad. I’m just… trying to figure things out, I guess. It’s only been a little bit since master Splinter passed away, and… I guess Karai gave me something to think about other than that.”

Her father’s eyes sadden, and he pulls her into a gentle hug. April wraps her arms around her dad’s waist, and leans into the warmth of his embrace. Her dad’s voice travels through his chest as he speaks. “I just want you to be safe. I know things have been hard on you the last few months, but please don’t let it drive you into anything too dangerous.”

“You sound like Donnie,” April mumbles.

“The tall one? He’s sensible then.”

April huffs a short laugh, and shakes her head. “So are you going to tell me to stop? Because I already signed on for at least another few weeks and I don’t think Karai would be impressed if I bailed on parental command.”

Her father’s hold around her tightens, and he makes a frustrated sound. “April O’Neil, you give me grey hairs every single time you open your mouth lately.”

“So is that a no, or…?”

“…that was a lot of money for a single week of work. You could go to school for at least a year in general studies with that.”

“So…?”

“Only if you promise me you won’t start anymore blood feuds, okay? No more wars. I just want to see you finish high school and make it to university. At least that far. Please?”

“You’re the best, dad.”

“I’m highly stressed, that’s what I am.”

April turns her head, and pecks her dad on the cheek. “The best stressed dad. Ever.”

He smoothed her hair gently, shaking his head. “How I ended up with a ninja daughter, I’ll never know. Please be careful, if only for the sake of my heart’s health.”

“I will. I promise.”

“I love you April, don’t forget that.”

“I love you too dad, thanks for letting me do this.”

“I trust you. You’re almost a full grown woman now. You can make your own decisions about what to do with your life. Even if that’s… being a modern day ninja.”

“The best dad,” April says again, hugging her dad tightly.

He sighs, but it’s a fond sigh. “I try.”

    “You’re holding back.”

April blinks, and lowers her sword. Karai looks at her, and huffs. “You can do better than this, quit repressing yourself.”

“Um. I’ve been going all out, thank you?” April says incredulously. Her blade- her real one, not her practice one, because they’ve moved beyond that- swishes through the air as she speaks. “This is a match, not a spar. I’m not holding back at all.”

“Yes you are,” Shini says from the sidelines, perched on a chair with her cat in her lap. Her careful eyes are pinned on April, and her cat’s are as well. April isn't sure when she stopped using Shini's full name, and shifted to her nickname. It just... happened. The woman is still staring at April, calculative. She tsk's again.  “You don’t even realize it, but you are.”

April looks at them both, and sheathes her sword to cross her arms. “Okay. Both of you need to stop being all vague-like and actually tell me what you think I’m doing.”

“Your method of fighting… it’s so…” Karai seems to be struggling to put a name to it. “Nice? Not good nice, but bad nice. You’re not giving it your real feelings.”

“Wow. That actually makes even less sense than before.”

“What my lovely Senpai means-” Shini interjects. “-is that you aren’t putting real intent to your swings. It’s so nicey-nice I feel like I’m watching the kappa.”

“What’s wrong with how the boys fight?” April asks, seriously confused by the ‘nicey-nice’ comment.

“Nothing, if you feel like having zero respect given to you or your clan,” Karai says, stepping into April’s space. The taller girl is suddenly very serious, and pins April with her eyes. “Your swings are all non-lethal. Gentle even. April, I’ve seen what you can do when you’re pushed. Holding back your real feelings in a fight- it gets you killed, and if not that, then you bring dishonor on your clan.”

“You told me to conceal my emotions and control them though,” April points out, stepping back from Karai’s advances. “That kind of contradicts everything I’ve been taught up till now.”

“Conceal and control, yes, but don’t hold back your intent,” Karai stresses. She steps closer to April again, and circles around her, touching a hand on April’s sword hilt before she swats it away. Karai coolly continues, “April, you have intent in you. Intent to wound, and… intent to kill. You hold that back, and it weakens you.”

April’s fists clench, and something inside her twinges. She bites out, “It’s not weakness to spare others. Master Splinter taught me that. Unnecessary death and fighting isn’t the way of ninja-”

“No, but necessary death and fighting is,” Karai says, cutting April off. Maybe she sees how uncomfortable April feels, maybe she can tell that April is forcefully holding back pieces of memories about things she’s done and seen, and Karai puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. A hint of an encouraging and sympathetic smile gracing her lips. “April, I never said that sparing a person’s life is weakness. It takes strength and knowledge to know when you let someone live. However, in a real fight, against real people who will kill you, holding back yourself won’t help anything. April, look me in the eye, and tell me you don’t enjoy making others fear you.”

April doesn’t want to look Karai in the eye, but she can’t look away either.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Karai says, and April’s hands shake just for a second. “My father- my real one- would not have approved, but he didn’t raise me. I’m his daughter, but I am not his pupil. You were, and while it gave you this,” Karai gestures to April’s sword and fan. “It didn’t give you what I have. I can be true with my intents, true with who I am, while you still hold yourself back. Why do you do that, when you know what you’re capable of?”

“Because…” April’s mind floods with memories, of what she’d done with her powers and with her skills. What she’d done to Donnie. “Because I can’t do that. I can’t let myself get out of control again, because if I do… someone will get hurt.”

Karai’s grip moves from April’s shoulder, slipping instead around April’s hand, and its only then that April realizes it’d been shaking. Karai’s voice is soft as she speaks, a stark change from the usual persona she portrays. “April, I only heard parts of what happened with the crystal, but best I can tell- that wasn’t you anymore than the mind-worm was me. Words and actions came from us, but it wasn’t what we really wanted.

“April… you’re powerful. You’re skilled and clever and strong. And you shouldn’t be afraid of that. This? This is who you are. And just because your Sensei told you not to embrace that… doesn’t mean you have to listen. I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me who you want to be. Not who others have wanted you to be.”

April looks Karai in the eye, seeing the reflection of herself in the gold irises pinned on her.

April knows what she can do. Knows the destruction she can and has wrought. And, she knows… a part of her enjoys it. The part that smiles at the rush of fear that runs through the people she intimidates, and the part that still sometimes misses the crystal’s power.

Blurry as her memories from that night are- she remembers enough. Enough to know what it felt like to have no limits or fears, what it felt like to be a god.

The part of April that drank that in, hungry for more, is a part she’s ashamed of. Because it hurt her family, and yet, still wants the crystal back.

April is far, far from the girl she used to be, but she’s not even sure if she misses the old her anymore.

She’s kept that part of herself, the part that’s grown for months under the steady experience of having weapons and powers, close to her heart and concealed. Because she wasn’t sure if it would be okay to let that part of her out, let it flourish and show to the people around her.

But, things have changed. She’s here now, with Karai and Shinigami, and not her dear friends and their father. She’s looking into the eyes of someone who’s seen the scarier parts of April, and has asked her to show more.

“I want… to be someone who isn’t weak,” April says, carefully choosing her words. “I want to be powerful enough that no one will ever see me as an easy target ever again. I’m tired of getting hurt and not being able to fight back. I want to be… like you.”

And Karai smiles, wide and proud, and gives April’s hand a tight squeeze. “There you go. I knew you had it in you.”

“Well this is just sappy now,” Shini says, voice filled with amusement and breaking whatever moment they’d all been having. “Less feelings, more stabbing. If I can’t do it myself, then I’d at least like to watch you two do it.”

That gets a laugh out of both April and Karai, because it’s true. Feelings are complicated, but stabbing is much less so.

“So, princess,” Karai says, stepping back from April and drawing her sword again. The nickname had once been an insult, but now it sounds friendly, endearing. “You ready to try this again?”

“Once more, but with feeling!” Shini exclaims excitedly, and April feels the woman is making a reference she doesn’t catch.

April draws her sword, and her fan, and takes a quick breath in. Her power responds easily, flowing from her core into her body and mind, and she feels alive. Like she’s stretching a muscle that’s been cramped for so long, she stopped noticing it long, long ago.

It feels good, just like how it feels good to utterly crush opponents in a fight.

April licks her lips, and flashes her two bladed weapons at Karai. “I’m ready if you are.”

Karai’s smile is toothy and decidedly fanged- in literal and metaphorical sense- and her own blade shines in the lights of the dojo.

April flies at Karai, releasing her limits and just going for it, and the sound of metal ringing on metal fills the room.

    “You seem different,” Donnie says the next time April sees him. He’s looking at her closely, eyes darting around quick as his mind likely is.

“Do I?” April asks, a bit confused by the statement.

“Yeah. Not a bad different, but… different.”

April thinks about how she’s acting, and wonders if she’s really all that different, now that she’s letting go. “Do you not like it?”

“Ah- no? I think it’s interesting,” Donnie says, and he seems genuine in that. “It’s like… you’re standing straighter, I think. More pep in your step too. Is training with Karai really that invigorating?”

April mulls that over, and decides that yes, yes it is. Donnie gives her a weird look as she says so, but it’s a look tinged with fondness.

Before she leaves, finished sharpening her sword with the tools she still has stored in the lair, she tells Donnie something Karai had asked her to.

“Karai says that they’re looking for a weapons designer,” April explains, packing up her sword into a bag that won’t raise alarm as she buses home. “Also for a head of research and development. Everyone needs a mad scientist on their team- Karai’s words not mine- and she figured that once things were better settled with the Foot clan, she’d ask you over for those positions.”

Donnie seems both confused and intrigued by the offer, tilting his head and crossing his arms. “Really? She actually asked you to tell me that?”

“Yep. She knows how good you are at your job, Donnie, and she wants that for her empire. Again, her words not mine.”

“Well. That’s a pretty unique offer,” Donnie says carefully. “I’ll need time to think about it. Do you know what utilities and resources I’d get if I accepted?”

“Everything in Stockman’s old lab, and everything else you’d need. They’ve got deep pockets Donnie, and Karai’s not the type to do things halfway. Whatever you needed, you’d have.”

April can see the temptation in Donnie’s eyes, at the idea of having all the materials and resources he could want, and even having them be new materials and resources.

April’s own interest in the Foot clan has grown, and she can see Donnie’s growing as well.

“I’ll need time to think about it,” Donnie says eventually, repeating himself.

April pats him on the shoulder, and leaves him to his thoughts.

    Eventually, after days that feel like weeks, April walks into the headquarters of the Foot and finds Shini back in her cat suit.

The woman is back to full health, having taken her time healing on the account of being completely human, unlike Karai and April. Her scythes are once again swinging in her hands, and her makeup in a literal sense implies that she is dressed to kill.

April takes this all in, and realizes that her time is up, then. No more late nights intimidating gangs into surrender, no more relearning and unlearning things that she’s been taught, and no more striding behind Karai with a blade in hand and with a purpose in mind. Her time is up.

That fact kills her spirits, and April’s mood drops considerably low. If she’s honest with herself, as she’s steadily coming to be more and more, she’d enjoyed this venture. More so than half the ventures she’s experienced. She doesn’t want it to end, and yet, it has.

She wonders if she has to give back the armor that’s come to feel like a part of her, and if she has to swear off the oath she took on the first night.

“April!” Shini says, catching notice of April lingering in the doorway. She gives April a sly smile, makeup immaculate as always, even while she’d been recovering. “I’ve got my scythes back, would you be interested in that rematch you’ve been owing me?”

April blinks, and remembers how their first meeting had gone. Wow. She’d actually been ready to kill Shini, and now she’s upset she won’t see the woman anymore. Times do change, it seems.

“Um… I guess?” April says, stepping slowly into the throne room. “If I don’t have to leave right away.”

Shini gives her a confused look. “Why would you need to leave? We have work this evening, and training for the two of us specifically.”

Its April’s turn to give Shini a confused look, and Shini returns the look.

“So we can mesh our styles?” Shini explains further. “You and I haven’t fought together, so much as against one another, thus far. It wouldn’t do for us to go into battle and bump into one another while we fight. It’s unseemly of a kunoichi.”

April keeps giving Shini a deeply confused look, and the women gives her a “are you kidding me?” look in return.

“I- I thought I was done?” April asks, her voice pitching upwards in her genuine confusion. “I mean- you’re all healed up now. Doesn’t that mean I don’t work for you guys anymore?”

“You’re quitting?” Shini says in an offended tone.

“I’m not fired?” April says in return.

“What are you two talking about?” Karai asks, slipping into the room behind April.

Shini points accusingly at April. “She’s quitting!”

“Am not!” April exclaims, for some reason, even though she sort of is. “I thought I was fired!”

“Who said anything about firing you?” Karai questions with a frown.

“You did, when you brought me into all this!” April says, gesturing around at the throne room. “You said that as soon as Shini was all better, I wouldn’t be needed anymore.”

Karai blinks, and opens her mouth in an “Oh” shape. She crosses her arms, and gives April a level look. “I suppose I did say that, but not quite. I wanted you to come work for me, April, but I never said you actually had to leave.”

That makes April’s self-pity stall, and she tries to get her head around that statement.

“What?” She asks.

“You’ve proved to be an excellent backup,” Karai says, lips twitching up into a smile. “And I’ve got to admit, having you on my side makes interrogation and intimidation so much easier.”

April remembers how they’d started a system, just last week, where April would sense if someone was being truthful or not, and signal Karai when to take action against those slights. Also, how April might have maybe been wrapping her invisible power around people, and slowly tightening when they proved uncooperative.

“If I let you go now, April, it would be a complete waste of your talents,” Karai continues, and there’s the scary smile she uses most. The one that definitely reads bloodlust. “I know that you aren’t completely sure about staying permanently… but I’d like to extend an offer for you to. The boys won’t know what to do with you, and I doubt you’ll be able to use your skills fully in ordinary life. So, if you’d like, you can stay with us. Be a real member of the Foot clan.”

April opens her mouth, and closes it. She’s genuinely shocked, and trying to wrap her mind around things fast as she can.

“I- maybe?” She manages to get out. Because that is… very tempting. But- “I’m not even done high school yet, though. And my dad wanted me to try getting a post-secondary diploma for something normal before I started making big decisions.”

Shini makes a “tsk” sound, and Karai rolls her eyes.

“Normal things are so boring,” Shini says with a tone of sheer disgust. “They get you nowhere in life. Nowhere fun at least.”

“I feel like we have different definitions of fun,” April remarks automatically, following the recent pattern of snarking that she and Shini have fallen into.

“Ha! You might think so, but I feel we’re much more similar than you admit,” Shini cackles, giving April a smirk.

“You can take your time deciding, April,” Karai says, nodding to April. “I don’t need an absolute answer yet. The position won’t close tomorrow. But, I’m not kicking you out until then either. You are more than welcome to stay with us for now, no obligations beyond cursory ones. We value your skills, April. I won’t see you waste them like you have been.”

April feels her cheeks warm, and her chest fill with sudden emotion.

Even with the whirling thoughts and emotions in her mind, one makes it forefront and stands out from all the others.

So this is what it feels like to really be appreciated.

“I’ll definitely think about it,” April says, grinning just as warm as her ear tips feel. “And I think I’ll take Shini up on that rematch. I owe her for that first one.”

Shini just laughs, and swings her scythes into action. Looping hypnotic circles in the air, following the way the woman’s hips sway. “I hope you aren’t as much of a disappointment this time, it would be no fun like that.”

April feels her grin change demeanour, and become something more like Shini’s. Sharper, challenging. “I thought you valued my skills, Shini. You’re giving some mixed signals here.”

“Oh, I never give those,” Shini cackles, and April can’t quite tell what she means by that. All she knows is that her sword is in her hand, and while the swell of glowing warmth still fills her chest, she’s very much focused on getting a second go at the witch.

“I see you two will be able to preoccupy yourselves,” Karai says dryly, stepping back from the range of the ‘splash-zone’. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I have… paperwork to do. Ugh. Running an empire requires way more paperwork than it should.”

April laughs the same time as Shini does, and Karai rolls her eyes as they start sparring, right in the middle of what’s supposed to be a room of respect and solemn appearances.

April feels it’s better like this, filled with snarky comments and good-natured insults.

    “Hey dad, how would you feel if I- theoretically speaking- joined a notorious crime empire on a maybe permanent basis…?”

“Grey hairs, April. Grey hairs.”

    Somehow, late after an evening of training, Karai and Shini convince April to stay for the night. It’s late already, and there’s plenty of room in the headquarters for an extra ninja. April doesn’t have any real reason to refuse, and at this point, she trusts the two ninjas to not kill her in her sleep.

She hasn’t been on a sleepover since she was a kid, or since she temporarily lived with the turtles on and off the last few years. It’s a surreal experience.

It gets even more surreal, when Shini produces an array of alcoholic drinks, and slides them towards Karai and April both. April takes her with only a split second hesitance, because this is the least of the laws she’s broken. Indulging in a drink with friends isn’t that big of a deal for a teenager.

They lounge in one of the rooms deepest in the complex, fitted like a living room would be. Soft couches and plush carpets. It’s nice, nicer than a few places April can name.

Its somewhere after the first few drinks, light in alcohol as they are, that April is out of it enough to ask Karai something that’s been floating around in her head for a while. A question she’s been asking herself, the further she delves into the world of ninjutsu and crime rings. Especially since Karai offered her a permanent spot on her team.

“Didn’t you ever want to be anything else?” April asks, looking at Karai. “You can’t have always wanted to be a ninja overlord.”

Shredder’s upraising of her has been an off-limits topic this whole while, but April is genuinely curious. So she’s asking, daring nature fueled by the soft amount of alcohol in her system.

Karai gives April a careful look, and April waits for the young leader to respond. Karai huffs, takes a sip of her drink, and does.

“My father briefly offered me a life other than a kunoichi,” Karai says, tone giving away no emotion, even as April senses a number of them flickering under Karai’s calm surface. “I didn’t take it. I considered it, but in the end… I wanted to make him proud, so I chose to be his heir. Also, the first time I defeated a rival clan’s heir in battle, I knew this was the career for me. I beat him so badly; his father had to offer us a bribe in exchange for keeping the whole disgrace a secret. That feeling, standing over him and watching the defeat grow in his eyes…” Karai smiles, and it’s not a kind smile. “There’s just no other feeling that can compare.”

Shini hums agreeably, and sips her drink. April swirls hers again, thinking over Karai’s words.

“What about you, April?” Karai asks suddenly, shifting the conversation. “When did you know this was right for you?”

“Oh, me? I haven’t- I don’t know if this is right for me?” April says, feeling childish for it. “I’m… I’m not sure yet. I’m just killing time, really.”

“Ha! To have that luxury!” Shini says, a hint of tipsiness in her voice.

“Shut up,” April says, lightly kicking the other woman’s legs. “I haven’t been at this as long as you two. Give me a break. So, your turn, Shini. Why did you get into this line of work?”

“Well… when I was a young girl…” Shini swirls her drink, watching the liquid as she does. Her words are smooth, low as the lights in the room and just as mysterious feeling. “I had a fear of spiders. I was told they felt no emotion. That their hearts never beat. But I know the truth now...” She grins at April, sly and suggestive. “At the moment of the kill, they are never more alive.”

 It sounds cool for all of one second, and then April blinks and frowns. “Wait. Isn’t that a line from a game advertisement?”

Shini keeps her composure against April’s accusation for only a moment, and then she’s starts giggling.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe I almost fell for that.”

“But it’s true! I was scared of spiders,” Shini laughs, setting her glass down on the coffee table as she does. “Of course, that was only until I learned how to trap people in visions of thousands and thousands of flesh eating spiders. Then, I wasn’t afraid at all anymore. That was when I knew, and truth be told, I also haven’t felt true fear in a long, long while.”

“You’re lying,” April says automatically, even as Shini gives her an unimpressed look. “You are! I can sense it.”

Shini raises an eyebrow. “Can you now?”

“Yes. It’s a part of my powers. Empath and telekinetic, that’s what I am. I can sense truthfulness in people, and their emotions. Sometimes I can even get hints of thought if I concentrate.”

“She really can,” Karai vouches for April. She lifts her glass at April appraisingly. “She’s my little lie detector, this one. It’s very useful for dealing with men who can’t give a lady a fair deal.”

April preens under the praise, since not many people have ever complimented that specific part of her powers.

“Hmmm… now that is interesting,” Shini grins, leaning over her knees and into April’s space. April leans away a bit; a bit unsettled by the focus Shini suddenly has on her. The witch smiles at her, and April gets vaguely nervous. “Have you ever tried to manipulate those emotions and thoughts?”

April blinks, and then shakes her head. “No? I’m not sure if I even can. My powers never indicated I would be able to.”

“So let’s see, try it,” Shini urges, eyes lit with curiosity. “Just once! On me. Make me feel real fear. Soul deep terror, even. I want to know if it’ll work or not!”

April hesitates. “Are you sure?”

“Very sure,” Shini purrs.

April is dubious, but she does as the other woman wants. It can’t be any harder than the soft nudges she gives her father when he’s having a panic attack. So she reaches out, feeling for the correct emotion hidden inside of Shini’s psyche, and when she finds Shini’s fear, she pulls.

Shini is suddenly gone, and April feels a whoosh of air following the witch’s departure. April looks, and finds that Shini has bolted across the room, a knife suddenly in her hand.

Shini’s eyes are wide, and a grin has found its way onto her face. “Oh- oh my. Amazing. That was amazing. Do it again.”

April glances at Karai, who’s watching the proceeding events with interest. Karai gestures for April to continue, and she does.

This time, Shini makes a sharp cackle as April sends a wave of sheer terror through her, and grins even wider. “That’s incredible! Why have you never done this before?”

“I didn’t think to,” April says honestly. She’s never used her empathic abilities like so. Never even thought about it.

Shini shakes her head, and wipes a hand across her forehead. Probably fear sweat. “What a fool your master was, wasting your talents like this! I haven’t encountered anyone who could do that before, it is an invaluable ability, my goodness. Do it again. This is fun.”

April disregards Shini’s comment about master Splinter, and tugs on Shini’s fear again. The resounding laughter from the woman resembles a cat’s shriek, and April isn’t sure if she should be smiling or not.

“Well, this is an interesting discovery,” Karai says, after Shini has collapsed over the couch with heaving sides, still grinning in a slightly unhinged manner. “How do you feel about trying it out in the field for real, April?”

April considers the idea, glancing down at her hands. They’ve got more calluses than they used to, and she feels the soft coils of power wrapped around them. Still buzzing from playing on Shini’s emotions like she had.

It’d felt pretty good, being able to invoke such a strong reaction in someone. All without even drawing her sword.

Karai’s words about being true with her intents, about letting her limits expand and dissolve, float back into April’s mind. Power is nothing to be ashamed of, and a love of it isn’t either. April knows that now.

April closes her hands into fists, and smiles to herself.

“I think I’m open to that idea.”

    The next morning is decidedly less serious, seeing as Shini drags April’s deeply over-tired self from her guest bed with an excited flurry of whispering, and straight into Karai’s room.

April immediately forgives Shini for the offense though, when she sees how Karai has shifted into full snake form overnight, and is sprawled quite adorably across her sheets. The extra snake heads where her hands should be are asleep as well, and Karai’s long, long body flows over the edge of the bed, and onto the floor.

Shini shushes April’s giggles, and says “Watch this!” in a soft whisper.

Shini creeps over the floor, steps muffled by the black slippers on her feet, and she reaches out to poke the very tip of Karai’s mouth.

Immediately, Karai’s tongue flicks out to slither over the spot Shini touched, and April has to muffle her laughter. Shini does it again, and the tongue responds as before. Out, in, out, in. It’s horribly adorable and utterly hilarious.

April can’t help herself, and decides to try poking Karai as well. This time, the tongue doesn’t go all the way back in, and its tip hangs over Karai’s lip.

April and Shini collectively lose their shit in the quietest way they can.

Shini produces a phone from her housecoat’s pocket, and snaps pictures, whispering, “Blaaaaaackmail.” in a gleeful tone.

Karai wakes as Shini snaps the fiftieth picture from yet another angle with yet another filter- this time with a flower crown and an anime blush- and the enormous snake woman blinks sleepily for a moment at them both.

Then, waking fully, Karai opens her mouth to hiss balefully at them both, and April and Shini make their hasty retreat from Karai’s slithering wrath.

    Since she’s decided to spend majority of her time for the foreseeable future at the Foot hideout, April figures she should move her weapon care products there as well. Karai has already offered to replace them all anew, but April wants to use her tools until they give out completely. They were one of the last gifts master Splinter gave her.

Of course, excluding Donnie, she hasn’t actually told any of her boys what she’s been up to. Maybe they’d thought she’d been in mourning, quietly despondent. April feels she’s done the exact opposite of that, once Karai had come to her with an offer, and feels proud of that fact. That she took her life and did something with it of her own choice, for once.

Point being, as April packs up the portion of weapon care products and tools that are hers, she encounters someone who doesn’t seem particularly pleased that she’s taking a sizable chunk of their stock.

“Where are you going with that?” Leo asks- demands- as April is standing up to exit the dojo. She’d been kneeling at Splinter’s altar, giving her respects and a soft prayer for his soul’s rest. April turns to Leo, who she sees still hasn’t been sleeping enough. Even with his mask in place, April can read sleep-deprivation in his face. The young leader, if she can really call him that, seems out of sorts. Exhausted in a different manner from how Donnie is lately.

All the boys are exhausted seeming lately; working through grief in steady efforts. Except Leo it seems, because he seems no better than the first night.

“I’m going to Karai’s,” April says nonchalantly, shrugging the bag onto her shoulder better. “It’s a hassle to come all the way down here for it every time my sword needs care.”

“So that’s where you’ve been?” Leo says, frowning deeply. “You didn’t tell me you’ve been hanging around Karai. You haven’t shown up for a single training session in weeks, April. You’re slacking.”

“Excuse you, I have not,” April says, putting a hand on her hip. “I’ve been working for the Foot clan this entire time, and I’ll have you know that requires training nearly every night. I haven’t been slacking in the least.”

Leo sputters. “You’ve been what?”

“Working for the Foot clan,” April says again. She starts walking towards and past Leo, not giving much mind to how he’s staring at her. “Karai offered me a job, and I took it. It was temporary at first, but now she’s offering for me to stay permanently. And, I’m actually considering it.”

“I- what? Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” Leo asks, following April. “April- what do you mean she offered you a position?”

“She said she noticed how well I can fight, and wanted me to work for her,” April says truthfully. Her chest still feels like it’s filled with warmth, glowing from the sincere comments her friends have given her for her skills. It’s a good feeling. “Karai and Shini value my abilities, and saw potential for me in their clan.”

“What?? Why didn’t she ask me though? I’ve got three times the experience you do!”

April stops, just in the door of the dojo’s exit, and turns to look at Leo. As much as she sympathizes for his loss, as much as she cares for him and their friendship- that comment pisses her off. Really pisses her off, actually. Because this isn’t the first time he’s talked down at her for her shorter experience as a ninja.

“Leo.” April says shortly, giving him a serious look. “Please tell me you didn’t just whine, and then insult me.”

Leo bristles, and snaps, “I’m right though, you don’t have nearly as much experience as the rest of us. It doesn’t make any sense that she’d choose you over me.”

“Not everything is about you, Leo,” April says in a low tone. A warning one.

“You’re a part of my team, April,” Leo says in turn, visibly frustrated by April’s words. “You didn’t tell me anything about working for my sister, and then you come in here, taking our supplies, and say you’re quitting? You didn’t consult me on this at all!”

“I’m not quitting, and it’s my supplies,” April snaps, temper rising and glowing. It feels good, it feels empowering. “Your father gave it to me for my weapons, to use how I wanted. And I’m not quitting, Leo. I’m still going to be around; I’ve just got other responsibilities now.”

“April, I am your leader and Sensei now, but I guess you weren’t around to here that, were you?” Leo says, and his voice is filled with anger and what April thinks is jealousy. She extends her powers to check, and as she sweeps Leo’s mind, she finds just that. And sadness, so much sadness.

“You can’t leave the team unless I give the okay,” Leo says, squaring his shoulders and giving her a stern glare. “And I don’t. We haven’t talked about this, let alone how you’ve been going behind my back to run off with Karai and Shinigami-”

“Going behind your back- Leo are you listening to yourself?” April says, frustrated with her friend. Deeply frustrated. “You don’t have final decision on what I do with my life, that’s my choice. And who the hell said you were my Sensei? I don’t remember ever agreeing to something like that.”

“My father, right before he died, told me to take his mantle,” Leo says, and April feels both utter conviction in that statement, and wavering fear. Interesting. “This team, this family, is my clan now. I am our family’s clan head, and I do not give you permission to suddenly leave it.”

“Wow,” April says. “You really believe that.”

She can’t help Leo out of the hole he’s fallen into, much as she is the daughter of a psychologist and his friend. She loves Leo, she really does, but she won’t let him control her life just because he’s having a breakdown.

And because there isn’t much else to say to that, April turns to leave before her temper gets the better of her. She reminds herself that her friend isn’t really like this, and that he’s simply trying his best to cope with suddenly being the leader of a clan that has long since ceased to exist.

A hand, grabbing her just as she gets halfway towards the steps from the dojo, creates an issue with that plan.

“I didn’t say you could leave,” Leo says, holding onto April’s arm stubbornly. “We’re not done with this conversation.”

April feels the rise in interested viewers around them, as the other occupants of the lair take notice that there’s a fight going on among them. Casey and Raph stop playing with the punching dummy, and Mikey looks up from his video gaming. Donnie, freshly out of his lab, comes to stand at the base of the pool below the dojo. All of them are watching the stare down April and Leo are having.

April tugs her arm free of Leo’s grip, and tries to swallow her frustration. She largely fails. “Look, Leo. We’re done this conversation, because there is no conversation. This isn’t up for debate, and you have no say in what I do with my life.”

Leo bristles again, drawing himself up in a way that shows how badly he’s struggling. “I. am this clan’s master, and you are a part of this clan. That means that you have to-”

“I don’t have to do anything,” April says, coldly furious. “I might be an honorary member of the Hamato clan, but you. are not. my master, Leo.”

“My father-”

“Is dead,” April says, and internally winces how those words hurt Leo underneath his anger. “I’m sorry, Leo, but he is. We have to move on, and my path leads me to the Foot clan. He doesn’t have say over my life anymore, and him passing his mantle to you doesn’t give you that say either. My life is my own, and I am the only one who chooses how I live it. Not you, not anyone.”

April feels the ripple of shock going through the room, and raises her head higher, even as Leo gets angrier.

“I love you all like family, but this doesn’t mean I owe you any ownership of my life choices,” April says, the words coming from some part of her that’s sick of this. Sick of people taking her life and telling her which way to steer it. “I’m through with letting others decide what I do. And maybe it would’ve made you feel better if I rolled over and said “yes, Sensei”, it wouldn’t have made me feel better. So Leo, do me a solid, and back the hell up, and re-examine things.”

Leo looks shocked by her words, and April feels just how deeply she’s unbalanced him by snapping back. Tough for him, because she doesn’t regret a single word.

April is done keeping her words nice, keeping her demeanour quiet, and trying to be anyone other than who she really is. Which, as it happens, involves running off to join a notorious crime ring, and telling her unstable friend to piss off.

She’ll apologize later, but right now, April lets the indignant fury run through her and feels stronger for it.

April turns to leave again, feeling satisfied and ready to face the evening, when a hand on her arm again stops her. April’s fury rises true and strong, and she snaps.

Hell. Fucking. No.

April hasn’t spent the last few weeks training for nothing, and she lets her new training move her body without prior thought.

She drops her bag of tools, and snaps out an arm to grab Leo’s. In a single swift movement, using her powers to aid her, she throws Leo over her shoulder, off the stone ledge they stand on, and straight into the pool below. The splash flings water into the air, and sloshes it over the sides of the pool.

Leo comes up spluttering, raw shock and confusion radiating from his mind. April stares down at him, and only allows a momentary pause of pity for her old friend. Then she puts it aside for later, when time comes for apologies, and instead lets the full of her emotions flow out.

“If you ever-” April speaks, letting her fury and power radiate from her voice. “-try to physically force me into anything I don’t want to do, ever again, I will show exactly how little I’ve been slacking. I am not your pupil to control, Leo, and I never will be.”

Leo can’t seem to form words right, but April senses hurt underneath the anger in him, and again, her heart softens for him.

She shows none of the softness, and instead picks up her bag to leave. As she does, that’s when the shock in the rest of the room’s occupants lifts, and a chorus of reactions comes from everyone else.

A resounding wolf-whistle from Casey and Raph’s laughter are the first ones, loud and rancorous. Then Mikey’s appreciative “You go, girl!”, accompanied by his laughter. The final reaction comes from Donnie, who slowly claps as he shakes his head despairingly.

April gives Raph, Casey, and Mikey a quick salute each, and receives another round of applause and whistling. While the other three go to retrieve a sopping Leo from the pool, she walks with her head held high down the steps of the dojo, and stops for a moment in front of Donnie.

Donnie is still tired seeming, but there’s a dance of amusement in his eyes. He throws a glance over his shoulder at his brothers and Casey, and sighs. “I’ll be hearing about that one for the rest of the week, if not month. But, it was certainly entertaining to watch.”

“Tell him I’m sorry,” April says, feeling bad that she’d lost her temper. Even if she also feels it was justified. “I know you’re all just trying to cope your best right now.”

“I will, but it was needed to be said,” Donnie says, a deep sigh following. “He’s been putting so much on himself that he doesn’t need to; it’s driving him crazy and us crazy. Someone was going to snap at him eventually. You were just more justified in it than me or my brothers would have been.”

April puts a hand on Donnie’s arm, and squeezes sympathetically. “I’m sure you guys will figure it out, sooner or later. Good luck.”

“I hope so,” Donnie says in a deeply tired voice. Then he perks up, and grins at her. “And good luck to you too, with my sister and her criminal empire. By the way… tell Karai… I can’t quite leave my family just yet, as aggravating as they can be.”

“That’s too bad,” April says, glancing behind Donnie to see Mikey and Raph comforting Leo- to an extent, at least- and Casey still laughing at the whole thing. “But I can understand. They need you here.”

“Mm, yes, but-” Donnie grins in a sly way. “-I’m open to doing commission work for her, so long as she supplies me with payment and all the materials needed.”

“I’ll talk to her about it,” April says, her own sly grin finding its way onto her face. “I’m sure that’s an acceptable arrangement.”

Donnie nods, and then steps back from April. He gives her a bow, gesturing towards the exit of his home, and the proud look he gives her speaks just as much as the emotions she feels in him.

April gives her own bow to him, and bids him goodbye. She starts for the exit, only to be swarmed by a blur of green with orange streaks, and wrapped in a tight hug by Mikey.

“I’m never making it to work tonight, am I?” April says dryly, accepting the death squeeze Mikey is giving her.

“Just one for the road!” Mikey exclaims, then dropping her and dancing away. April rolls her eyes, and heads out for the said road.

In the tunnels though, she realizes there’s a presence following her still. And, it’s only because said presence wanted her to know he was there, that she notices at all.

“Mikey…” April says, turning around and looking into the semi-darkness of the tunnel. “You said it was just ‘one’ for the road.”

“Well, yeah,” Mikey says, emerging from the shadows like it’s easy to do so. “But you forgot this.”

He has her tessen in his hands all of a sudden, and April realizes that there’s a missing weight to her holster.

“You sneaky little minx,” April says. “You didn’t mean that hug at all. You just wanted to get me alone, and have an excuse to.”

“Slander!” Mikey exclaims, feigning hurt even as his mood bubbles with glee. “I always mean my hugs!”

April holds out her hands, giving him a fond and annoyed look. “Give, Mikey.”

Mikey sticks tongue out, but hands over the weaponized fan without fuss.

“So, you going to tell me why all this?” April asks, giving her weapon a quick examination before storing it away again. “You could have just asked to talk to me in private.”

“Pssh, where’s the fun in that?” Mikey says, putting his hands behind his head and kicking the ground. He’s grinning like the little shit he is, and he gives April a look that’s deeper than he probably would admit. “Just wanted to know how things are with Karai, since apparently, you’ve been chillin’ with her an’ didn’t tell no one. I wanna know what it’s like! Do you go on secret spy missions all the time? Or is it, like, boring like things here?”

April shakes her head. “Mike, its confidential, and probably not at all like how you’re imagining it.”

“So maybe you guys don’t all have matching outfits like all cool villains have, but hey, a guy can dream!”

“We’re not villains, Mikey,” April says, rolling her eyes at the label. “We’re just… less than legal entrepreneurs.”

“Whoa, that was such a villain line,” Mikey says, though it’s in an appreciative tone. “I’m super jealous, yo. What you’re doing sounds way more fun than… the nothing I’ve been doing. Blah.”

April sees for a split second, the greif cracking through Mikey’s indomitable cheer, and feels a swell of loss and frustration. Then it’s gone, as Mikey drowns it in other emotions.

Truly, with the way he slips in and out of her perception, and has such finesse with his real emotions, Mikey is something else.

Maybe…

“I’ll ask Karai is she feels like letting you in on some missions,” April says, because extra muscle that’s loyal and skilled is always welcome. Even when it comes in a chaotic Mikey shaped package. “We’re still working on settling things down and solidifying the Foot’s hold on its territory, but eventually… there’s probably some room for an extra ninja, should we need one.”

Mikey’s eyes go wide, and his smile takes on a new edge. “Whaaaaaat, seriously? That’d be fucking awesome, Apes. You’re not joking with me?”

“I’m not, I swear,” April confirms.

Mikey’s smile is toothy and wide, excited for a fight and all the ‘fun’ that will come of it. And for a split second, April sees Karai in it.

Seems that her siblings aren’t so different from her after all, seeing as Mikey’s own hidden potential peeks through sometimes, same as his carefully concealed bloodlust.

“You remind me a bit of Karai,” April says, offering no explanation beyond that.

Mikey’s smile takes on a confused look to it, and April just laughs.

    April watches Don Vizioso from her place on the left side of Karai’s throne, Shini on the right, and their leader in the middle.

The large man had come into their lair just a few moments ago, with a collection of bodyguards armed to the teeth- how rude- and came with a message to give Karai.

April sighs softly under her breath as the large man prattles on, a long rolling speech about how Karai isn’t actually entitled to a spot in New York, and how she isn’t even an American, and blah blah blah, he’s challenging her to a one on one match between his fighter and one of hers to settle the matter once and for all.

A man, large, strong, obviously a practicing martial artist, steps out of Vizioso’s group. He’s the fighter Vizioso hired, it seems. Tattoo snakes climb up the man’s neck and arms, and April hears the name “Python” thrown out and nearly laughs.

Whatever this man has done to earn that name, April feels that he doesn’t deserve a snake name more than Karai does. She’s heard the soldiers in the Foot clan whisper it, that Karai has recently begun to pick up the nickname “Serpent” on the streets. Like scum-bag, deceased, adoptive father like stolen, bloodthirsty daughter, April supposes. A notorious leader needs a notorious name.

April hears a soft titter from Shini, and feels the woman’s amusement at the last stand the men below are making in the face of the Foot clan’s power. April shares the sentiment, but keeps her laughter inside.

April waits for Karai to signal Shini to finish the fight- probably with choking by chains, which is always interesting to see- but Karai’s short hand wave isn’t aimed at Shini. It’s aimed at April.

April wants to say “Who, me?” but can’t, because they have to portray a united front.

Apparently April, despite being years behind in experience compared to Shini, is going to represent their clan in a fight that’ll decide a fair amount of their street cred, if not most of it. No pressure or anything.

April takes a silent breath in, and steps down from her position by the throne to face the challenger.

She hears scoffs from Don Vizioso’s subordinates, aimed likely at her stature and height. April is small, she knows that. She’s short, only a bit curvy, and not terribly intimidating. Why wouldn’t these men, who are heads taller than her and thrice as wide, laugh at her challenging their fighter? At least Shinigami has a name for herself, April is still an unknown.

Perhaps that’s why Karai has commanded her to do this. Maybe it’s time April become known.

April’s adrenaline rises as she and the man she’s facing square up. Her sword slides from it sheathe without issue, and her fan flicks open with a snap. Another round of scoffs at her weapon choices, and April’s temper coils readily.

The man she’s facing- Pyhton- pulls out his own weapons. Tonfa, not a bad choice. Solid, dexterous in their use.

April remembers how to fight someone with these. She’s sparred with Mikey before, multiple times. And, this time is different from then, when she’d eventually lose to her friend.

April has grown from that version of herself. Stronger, more skilled. Powerful.

April licks her lips, and slowly slides her psychic powers around Python’s mind.

The jolt of fear he has, her ministrations suddenly calling up feelings of old terrors, makes something dark in April purr. He’s cocksure that he’ll win, and walk away with both a huge sum of money and the street cred to say he’d beaten the Foot clan in a match.

April can’t let that happen, so she coils slicing power around her blades, and charges the man at her leader’s call.

The match is swift for two reasons. One, because Python’s swings are quick despite his large size; and two, because April is just that much quicker.

After spending weeks with only Karai and Shini to spar against, it seems as though Python is moving in slow motion. In the back of her mind, April knows that this is a highly skilled fighter, but really, couldn’t they have found someone better than this?

April sends another rush of uncontrolled adrenaline and fear through Python, and nearly laughs in his face as his swipes become more desperate. He’s scared of her, terrified as she basically dances around him, and he doesn’t know why.

It’s the funniest thing April’s seen/felt all week, and a laugh does escape her as she closes in for the metaphorical kill.

She slices- obliterates- one of Python’s tonfas as he attempts to land a strike on her. Wrapped in psychic power, April’s sword can cut through most anything these days. Python retreats, fear that isn’t April’s doing rushing to the front of his mind.

His next strike to catch her temple- sloppy in his desperation- misses so completely it’s just sad. April does him a favor, and gives his outstretched arm a chance to at least get close to her before she snaps out her fan.

Blood hasn’t bothered her in a long while, and the way it arcs into the air from her swift slice isn’t something April pays much attention to. She focuses on ignoring the pained yell from Python, and spinning a leg out to kick the last tonfa from his hand. It skids on the floor, away from the fight’s reach, and April finishes her pivoted rotation with easy grace.

Python retreats further, breathing heavy and fast as he clutches his wound arm. April didn’t slice deep enough to do permanent damage, but it’s enough to put the arm out of use.

“Should have taken the first deal,” She says, tsking as she does.

She feels the rippling fear in the air, coming from all the men in the room, but not the women. April feels Karai and Shini’s vindictive pleasure, and grins wide and true at the man who’s cowering before her.

“Finish the match,” Karai’s calm, commanding voice says, echoing through the throne room.

April does as such.

And as she does, she sends one final blinding flash of terror through Python, feeling gleeful as she does, and spins into action to take him down.

Python can only raise his arms to block himself- either that or run, and running is dishonorable- and April pays the pitiful block no mind.

Her tessen is slipped away as she flies towards him, and she grasps his raised arms too quick for him to react. Swinging herself with her momentum and levitation powers, April flips over his head to drag him backwards into a bend.

Her sword’s blade presses against his neck, and Python can’t move unless he’d like to slit his own throat. And, he can’t move his feet either to kick out, unless he wants to lose the tenuous balance he’s holding, and fall to the floor. Where, they both know, April can pin him with her sword’s blade once again, and that leaves Python with no other moves besides admittance of defeat.

Don Vizioso is yelling at Python to get up, to win the fight still- but April can see in the dark brown eyes of her opponent, he knows she’s won.

He swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing as he does. Dangerously so, seeing as a sword is pressed so close to it. April is highly tempted to cut him, just a little bit, just to put a mark on his obnoxious snake tattoos. He doesn’t deserve the name Python, not really.

“I… concede,” He whispers, strong and fearful respect in his eyes as he stares at April. He knows that she could kill him easily, so very easily, and there’s nothing he can do about it. His very life is in her hands, and April grins at him.

It’s not a nice one, and maybe it’s a sort of not-nice smile that she’s picked up from Karai.

April feels powerful. She feels untouchable. She feels alive.

She releases her hold on Python’s arm, and takes her blade from his neck. And as she steps away, revelling in the sheer fear he still radiates, April knows.

She knows now. She can feel it in her, from her toes to her head, that this is right for her.

Python rubs his neck, and goes to stand behind Don Vizioso’s bulk. The Don stares at them all, confused and oh so deeply afraid of what’s about to happen.

April climbs the steps of Karai’s throne, and as she ascends, she whispers, “I think that was the moment.”

Shini smiles immediately, and cackles high and amused. The sound send another rush of fear through their guests’ minds, and April’s own huff of laughter echoes Shini’s.

Karai scoffs at both of them, and looks down at Don Vizioso with deep, deep disgust and apathy.

“So, Vizioso,” Karai says, voice low and scary. She leans on one hand, all lithe grace and power. “What was that about me giving ‘your’ territories back?”

The utter terror the men feel, looking up at the three of them, is the most satisfying feeling April has ever felt, and she loves it.

    “Hey dad… I think I’ve got a career path lined up now. It’ll pay well, I swear. You probably won’t have to work for the rest of your life, and can finally take that vacation you’ve been talking about…”

“Please, please tell me you’re going to finish school first.”

“I promise. But… how do you feel about me spending the summer there for a working internship?”

“Grey hairs, April. I have too many.”

“I know, dad. And I love you for that.”

“April, I love you too, but goodness you’re bad for my heart.”

“But a vacation to Hawaii won’t be…”

“…exactly how well does this internship pay?”

“You’re the best, dad. The best.”