Love Never Lost

Of Rats & Men: Part 1

Brooke's POV:

{A/N: I'm skipping to 'Of Rats & Men' since I don't see Brooke's presence having any significant changes in the other episodes}

It's taken a lot of time to process and get used to the fact that I have two 'birth mothers', no 'birth' father; I'm April's half-sister and a half-alien mutant. Luckily, it's a lot easier to deal with when you have a family like mine and a boyfriend like Raph. Speaking of said family, Splinter's having Leo attempt to attack him while he's blindfolded, the rest of us sitting on the sidelines for observation. I'm sitting this one out since my powers would interfere with Splinter's lesson.

Leo: "I don't know, Master Splinter. This doesn't seem fair."

Splinter: "I assure you, it isn't."

Leo lunges forward with his katanas, but Splinter dodges his attack. The guys laugh as Splinter circles Leo before resuming the battle.

Splinter: "Blind fighting is more than honing your other senses. It is about perception, and giving the allusion of control. You may think you have the upper hand in this situation, but-"

Splinter grabs Leo's hand as he swings to attack.

Splinter: "You do not."

Then, Splinter kicks Leo over to the ground, causing the guys to laugh.

Mikey: "Looks like someone needs a shower."

Raph: "How's that floor tasting, Lame-onardo?"

I roll out of the way as Splinter hits them across the back of their heads with the handle of Leo's katana.

Splinter: "It is not hard to sense loudmouths."

Suddenly, I notice Splinter groan in pain as his blindfold falls off and his eyes glow red.

Splinter: "You, Turtles. You will all-"

Splinter's eyes shift back to normal as he drops the katana and turns to kneel over in shock at his actions.

Me: "Master Splinter, are you all right?"

Splinter: "I am sorry, my children. This is-Something is wrong. I must meditate. We will continue this training another time."

Donnie asks me to help him in the lab as we leave the dojo. I nod with a small smile, but I can't help but fear that Splinter is at risk of falling under the Rat King's control again. He's only ever acted like this when he's under Falco's mind control. Hopefully, Splinter can fight him off as he did last time.

{Time skip}

Mikey comes in with a giant ice cream cone a few minutes later.

Mikey: "So, I wonder what got into Master-Aah! Brain freeze!"

Donnie: "Mikey, you're making a mess! Keep your ice cream away from my experiment. I'm trying to make retro-mutagen."

I turn to see April walk into the lab.

April: "Hey, guys, what's up?"

Donnie: "April!"

Then, Casey steps up behind her.

Donnie: "And Casey."

Casey: "Donatello."

Me: "Hey, sis. 'Sup, Casey? Raph's probably in our room if you need-"

Casey: "Nah, it's cool. I'm just here because April needs a favor."

I turn to Donnie with a look to say that I tried, and he nods in understanding.

April: "I came to see if you guys could look after this."

April holds out a stray cat, and Mikey is immediately smitten.

Mikey: "Aww, look at you. Can we keep her?"

Donnie: "You know, Master Splinter is a rat."

Casey: "Yeah, what if that cat goes nuts and attacks him? She could feed off his body for months."

Me: "IIgnoring that, let's just put up flyers for now, and if no one calls, we'll figure something out. Meantime, I'm going to get Splinter a cheese-sickle since he's been feeling out of it today."

April nods as I walk to the kitchen to find Mikey standing before the freezer. I tilt my head to see a mutant cat made out of ice cream. Oh, for the love of pepperoni!

Me: "Mikey, is that what I think it is?"

Mikey: "Uh-"

Me: "Ok, let's make a deal. I won't tell anyone if you promise not to eat food in Donnie's lab. And hand me a cheese-sickle to give to Splinter."

Mikey nods with a smile and reaches into the freezer to give me what I need. I walk up to the dojo doors and knock.

Me: "Sensei? I brought you something."

I hear a groan of pain and rush in to find Splinter gasping in fear as he staggers back from his family portrait. I carefully place a hand on his shoulder.

Me: "You can fight him, Sensei. He wasn't strong enough before, nor will he ever be. If you need help, I'm here. We all are."

Splinter takes the cheese-sickle in his other hand with a sigh.

Splinter: "Thank you, my daughter."

I turn to see the others walking in.

Leo: "Is everything ok?"

I turn to Splinter, who nods in confirmation.

Me: "The Rat King is back."

TO BE CONTINUED