"Ok guys, we're gonna head home," April announced as she slung a backpack over her shoulder and began to walk toward the row of subway turnstiles at the entrance of the turtle's lair. Casey strode next to her and stretched his back as he yawned. It had been a long day and he was glad to be going home. Hanging out with his mutant friends was fun, but he couldn't wait to get out of the sewer and crawl into his nice, comfy bed in his urban NYC apartment.
"You, umm, got any plans for tomorrow?" Donatello asked the freckled girl with nervous anticipation.
She jumped the turnstiles and looked back at him. "I have a test to be cramming for so I probably won't be able to hang out tomorrow."
"Oh," the purple masked boy tried to hide his disappointment.
"But, hey," April smiled, trying to cheer him up, "We can stop by on Friday!" She elbowed Casey in the arm, but he just scowled at her.
"No can do, Red," he rubbed his arm and shook his scruffy, black hair in protest. "My dad is taking me and my little sister on a fishing trip this weekend. Looks like it's just gonna be you and the guys."
Donatello's face lit up, "Sounds great!"
"Riiight," she swiftly turned the corner and began the walk home.
Donatello stood in the entranceway and waited until he could no longer hear their footsteps before he made his way to the lab. How he longed to be able to go with them. If he were a human, he'd get to hang out with April so much more. He sat down at his desk and stared at his large hands on his lap, in thought.
He behaved like a human, felt emotions like a human, and was more intelligent than most humans. "If only I weren't trapped in this revolting body," he whispered, clenching his hands into fists.
He sighed hopelessly and turned his focus to his desk, looking for a distraction from reality. The long, cylindrical canister of glowing mutagen caught his eye and he stared at it. This was the substance that transformed himself and his brothers from ordinary turtles into the humanoid mutants they were today. It also took their father from a human and turned him into a rat.
"Hmmm." The wheels in his mind began to turn as he picked up the canister and held it in his hands. "When a specimen is crossed with the DNA of another, this mutagen merges their molecular structure into a new species. The reto-mutagen that I created focuses on removing the DNA of the second source, which reverses the effect of the mutation and returns the specimen to it's original state."
He paused for a moment. "But I wonder ..." Removing the lid, he slowly poured a small amount into a Petri dish. "Could it be possible to remove the DNA that was present in the original host without causing any damage to it's genetic structure?"
Donatello slid the dish aside, grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and furiously began scratching out algorithms and equations as fast as he could. If this type of reverse mutation were possible, then in theory someone like Baxter Stockman could be changed into a mere housefly ... or he could transform himself totally into a human and finally be able to live the life he'd always wanted!
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
"Hey, Donnie," April poked her head into the large doorway of her friend's lab, "I tried calling you but you never answered! Is your T-phone working?"
"Hmm?" he didn't look up, but continued to write at his desk.
Michelangelo walked up to the girl and draped his arm across her shoulders. "You're wasting your breath. He won't talk to any of us. He hasn't even come out of there in three days!"
April's blue eyes widened, "Really? Not even to eat or use the restroom?"
He shook his head emphatically, "Nope! I tried staying up the other night to see if I could catch him leaving but he never did!"
"That's not entirely accurate, Mikey," Donatello retorted, still writing. "You didn't see me because you were unconscious on the couch."
"Really?" he scratched his head and shrugged as he walked away.
April approached Donatello and looked over his shoulder. "So what are you working on that's so important?"
"Only the greatest scientific breakthrough in recorded history!" he beamed, motioning to the plethora of papers strewn across his desk.
April raised an eyebrow at the mess and picked up one of them. "Looks like a bunch of math homework to me."
Donatello scoffed at her lack of understanding, "Well to the uneducated eye, perhaps." She narrowed her eyes and looked down her nose at him.
"Not saying you're uneducated!" he chuckled nervously. "Just, umm, well ..." he struggled with a redemptive statement.
"Just tell me what this is for," she sighed, returning the paper to the stack.
Donatello eagerly explained, "If I can get the formula just right, I should be able to manipulate the mutagen so that it removes the genetic composition of an original specimen, leaving only the secondary DNA that was introduced during mutation."
April furrowed her brow as she processed what he'd said. "So if my dad was mutated into, say, a giant bat, you'd be able to take away his humanity and change him into just a regular bat?"
"Exactly!"
Her jaw dropped in disbelief, "Why would you do that?!"
"Well, I wouldn't do that. Not to your dad, anyway. But there is someone else who could benefit from a reverse mutation like that."
She continued to stare at him in shock, "Who?!"
He sighed and looked up into her eyes with sadnesses, "Me. With that kind of mutation, I could become fully human."
"But why would you want to do that?" she asked in concern.
He stood up quickly as a wave of anger took over him. "Why?! Because I'm a hideous mutant, that's why. Just look at me!" he gestured to his body and then began to pace, trying to calm down. "There's so much I want to do; places I'd like to visit ... people I want to hang out with," he paused and glanced at her. "But I live here, underground, because I can't even walk the streets of my own city. I just want to live a normal life, you know?"
April could feel the disparity in his voice. "Yeah, but hey, if it counts, I don't think you're a hideous mutant."
"Psh," he huffed, "One of those attributes is indisputable and the other one is up for debate."
She smiled and shrugged, "I'm entitled to my own opinion." Tapping the papers on his desk, she added, "And I think you should trash this crazy idea. You're perfect just the way you are. You don't need to change."
"Thanks for trying to make me feel better, April, but you're not the one who has to live in this body."
She reached out and touched his arm, "Just promise me you won't do something major without telling me first?"
He smiled at her, "Yeah, ok."
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
*buzzzzzz* *buzzzzzz* *buzzzzzz*
April swatted in the dark in the general direction of her phone. When her hand finally found it she squinted into the blinding light and answered. "Donnie?" her raspy voice questioned the caller.
"APRIL! I think I've done it!!!"
She pulled the phone several inches from her ear and groaned. He was way too loud. "Done what? Do you know what time it is?!"
"To answer your second question first, yes it's 3:42AM. And more importantly, I've created a serum from the mutagen that I believe will give the results I'm looking for!!!" He could hardly contain his excitement!
Now fully awake, April asked cautiously, "You believe? As in, you haven't tried it yet?"
"Not yet. You made me promise not to until I told you, remember? That's why I'm calling. I'm about to give myself the injection."
The girl's eyes shot wide open. "Wait! Who's with you?"
"Nobody. Everyone's asleep and ..."
"Let me throw some clothes on," she interrupted him. "Don't do anything until I get there, got it?!"
"Umm, ok ..."
April hung up the phone and got dressed fast. "I can't believe he was going to do something so stupid!" she grumbled to herself as she jogged down the sidewalk. It only took her a few moments before she reached the familiar abandoned subway terminal that her friends used for a home.
Nearly out of breath she busted into Donatello's lab. He stood with his back against his desk staring at the doorway, a pistol syringe in his hand. "Wow, that was quick!" he smiled as she staggered toward him, trying to catch her breath.
He wiggled the small device in his hand at her. "The moment of truth!"
She grabbed ahold of his biceps, "Donnie please don't do this! What if it doesn't work? What if you get mutated back into just a turtle ... or worse!" She shook her head, "I don't want to lose you. You're my best friend."
"Maybe being your best friend isn't good enough for me anymore," he looked away and tightened his grip on the syringe. He turned his back to her, pulling away from her grasp and took a deep breath.
"Please, Donnie ..." was all she got out before he popped the cap from the needle and thrust it into his arm. The serum shot into him quickly and he dropped the metal gun onto the floor. He turned to face her, eyes terrified at the realization of what he had just done. She covered her mouth with her hands.
Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around his plastron and fell to his knees. "AHHHH!!!"
April took several steps back and watched in horror as his body began the bulge and twist. He lunged forward, placing both hands on the ground before him and heaved.
"I'm getting Master Splinter!" she turned and ran for the door.
"No ..." Donatello's voice sounded strangled and he gasped as sweat dripped from his morphing face onto the floor. April covered her eyes with her hands and tried not to cry.
After a moment he stopped making noise and she waited, too scared to look at what he'd become. Finally she peeked through her fingers. "Donnie?"
On the floor in front of the desk knelt a boy. Her hands fell to her sides and she gaped at him. "Oh my god."
He looked up at her with his familiar brownish-red eyes and flexed ten fingers. "April ... are you seeing this? Do you SEE me??"
She blushed and quickly turned around, "Yes, I see you. You're, umm, very naked."
He looked down at himself. The large belt that draped his shoulder hung like it was several sizes too big for him; the belt which was usually strapped across his waist had, thankfully, fallen and covered his lap. His elbow pads and bandages loosely dangled from his arms and his purple bandana draped his neck.
"I guess I always was naked," he chucked. "Give me a second." April heard him scramble to his feet and rummage around in his equipment for a minute before he finally announced that she could look.
Cautiously, the girl turned around. Donatello stood with a long, oversized lab coat pulled around him and the goofiest grin on his face.
"Well? What do you think?" his smile exposed the gap in his teeth causing April to smile affectionately back.
"I can't believe you actually did it," she confessed, walking toward him.
"You doubted me?" he teased.
"Just this once." As soon as she was within reach she socked him in the arm.
"Ooouch!" he stepped back and rubbed his arm. "What was that for?!"
"For scaring me half to death!" She crossed her arms, "Don't ever do that again."
"You won't have to worry about that," he winked. "I'm going to have to run a few tests on my blood, but I should be completely mutagen free. My serum was designed to attack all of it in my blood so, essentially, I'm cured of mutation."
She stared at him without saying anything. He glanced from side to side, "What?"
"You just look so weird."
"No, I looked weird before. I look normal now."
"Normal by who's standards?"
"The world's," he laughed and sat down at his desk. Picking up one of the papers, he absentmindedly scratched his head as he pondered the formula written down. "Woah!" he exclaimed. "This feels ... different!" Donatello began to pet his new head of hair in wonderment.
"The guys are going to flip when they see me! I need to get to work on some more batches of the serum!" he again focused on his work.
April yawned, "I'm gonna head back home. Let me know if anything else happens, ok?" She waited for him to respond, but he didn't. So she placed her hand on his shoulder, "Ok?"
He dropped the paper in his hand and slowly looked up at her. "I have NO idea what any of this means."
"What are you talking about? You wrote it."
He nodded and began going through all of the papers, looking for something that seemed familiar. "I know I did! But I don't know how to explain it ... it's like I've completely forgotten all of this!"
He stood up and stared pleadingly into her eyes, "Ask me a question. Something smart that I would know."
"Umm, when is Albert Einstein's birthday?"
"March 14th, 1879. That was too easy. Ask me a mathematical question."
"I left my advanced calculus book here the other day. It's in the den if you wanna look at that."
Donatello ran out of the room and soon came back with the thick, hardcover school book. Laying it on the desk, he flipped through the pages. "Nothing," he mumbled, "I understand nothing. How is this possible?!"
"Maybe the mutagen not only accelerated your growth from a turtle, but also gave you your knack for quick learning and enhanced intellect," April tried to reason.
He stood in silence before acknowledging what she said. "If that's true, then am I no smarter than an average human teenager?"
She bit her bottom lip, "Maybe?"
Silence once again filled the room. The weight of this sudden, unexpected side effect made his knees buckle underneath of him. "You can go home now, April," he sank back into his chair and turned so that his back was to her. "Thanks for being there for me."
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Yeah, I just ... have a lot of thinking that I need to do right now."
"Ok," she walked toward the large, sliding metal door. "Call me later." He nodded without looking at her and she left him with his thoughts.
------------------------------
THE MORAL OF THE STORY:
Donatello didn't realize that the thing that made him different was also the thing that made him special. His eagerness to be "normal" had striped him of the amazing things that made him unique.
Sacrificing who you are so that others will accept you will only make you lose yourself ... possibly forever. In the end, you may find that you lose more than you ever imagined.
You are unique. You are amazing. And the world needs you to be YOU in it!!! <3
"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" - Dr. Seuss