The Missing Piece

Not Over Yet

Aria's POV:

When we reach the lab on the thirty-sixth floor, we duck behind a table as Sacks opens fire at us.

Sacks: "Seriously? You guys, you're adorable, really. I could just pinch your cheeks."

Sacks fires more bullets as he begins another monologue. Vern nods his head over to the wall that contains a button labeled 'Halon abort'.

Sacks: "I understand a girl with dead daddy issues. I do, but you're not gonna stop me. This is history repeating itself. Your father walked in on me, April, just like you did. Took a few less bullets to take him down, though."

April: "You killed my father."

Sacks: "Oh, don't give me that. You've got your secrets, too. Or rather, one big secret you've kept from Ria for a long time, haven't you?"

I turn to April with a confused look until Eric continues.

Eric: "You know, it's amazing what you find in people's desk drawers. DNA results proving your sister's relation to yours truly, for example."

My eyes widen in surprise as I turn to April in shock before looking away with a sigh, making a mental note to put a pin in that conversation until after we save the city.

Me: "DNA is DNA, but it doesn't make you family."

Eric: "Please. If I needed family, I wouldn't have sent you away."

Me: "Then why even bother with me or my mother in the first place?"

Eric: "Your mother was a fling, one and done, nothing more. Then, when I found out about you, Shredder gave me a choice: You or the antidote. Well, I'd be damned if I was gonna let my unplanned accident of a child bring shame to my master, ruin my actual plan, and stand in the way of all the progress we've made. And yet, here you are, all because we didn't pay enough for the guy who brought you to the O'Neils to check a damn mailbox."

Me: "You need serious help, Sacks."

{A/N: And I need to get better at writing villain monologues, but I digress}

Eric: "Oh, I'll be sure to dial my therapist when I'm being congratulated on saving the city from a deadly toxin, yet it was a moment too soon since I lost my 'beloved' daughter just after reuniting with her at long last."

Meanwhile, Vern rushes over to a cart containing a microscope while Sacks stalks towards April and me with the gun pointed at us.

Vern: "O'Neil!"

Sacks opens fire at Vern while April presses the button on the wall. Sacks takes another shot at Vern, who knocks him out with the microscope. Vern leans against the table with a groan, one of the bullets hitting him in the arm.

Me: "April, stay with Vern, get help, and tell them what Sacks has done. I'll take the mutagen to the others and deal with Shredder."

April nods as I rush off to find an elevator to the roof.

{Time skip}

I reach the roof to find the brothers holding the spire up so it doesn't come into contact with the people in the street.

Me: "Shredder!"

Shredder turns to face me as I hold up a canister of the mutagen.