When Mona Lisa Smiles

Mona's Story

"It all started nine-and-half-years ago...The Krang were conducting research on the effect of mutagen on human DNA. They were attempting to create a mutagen that would turn humans into super mutants, they tried it on many different test subjects, but there was one major setback. All the attempts failed. After additional research the Krang found the problem. What they needed was a human that was still growing. That's where I came in. The Krang stole me away from family when I was six and used me as a test subject. They turned me into...this. It wasn't until four years later that I was finally able to escape. I immediately went searching for my family—but it was too late. The Krang had already tied up all the loose ends of my disappearance and I had nowhere to start." Her eyebrows knitted together, her face darkening with anger. "I'd lost everything." The lizard turned her back to her cell mate, not wanting him to see the tears running down her face. To her tears were a weakness, a weakness she couldn't afford. Mona wiped her face with her hand and turned back to Raphael. Was that...anger?

The turtle strode over and pounded the wall with his fist, jarring his already injured arm. No, that wasn't anger, Mona Lisa decided, it was fury. She opened her mouth to console him, but was abruptly cut off.

"I don't know if I'll ever get out of this place put if I do—I swear I will make them pay." He growled dangerously.

She looked at the turtle in awe, his bright green eyes were on fire and his muscles were tense, but he held one arm close to his body awkwardly. She raised an eyebrow.

"After making no progress at finding my parents, I wandered the streets until one day I met an old woman. She took pity on me, despite my appearance and welcomed me into her home. Her only family was her daughter, who had been killed several years before in a car accident. She took me in and treated me as her own, despite my mutant physique. And for the first time in a very long while, I was happy. But then she fell ill and the next thing I knew, I was alone on the streets once more." She finished her tale and looked up to the turtle standing across form her. For the first time that night Mona Lisa really looked at him, taking note of his injuries.

"Let me see your arm."  She commanded. The turtle looked up at her warily, before stretching out his left arm slowly. The lizard girl reached out and held it lightly, checking the joint movement. She could feel the powerful muscles tensing under her fingers. "Relax: the more tense you are the more it's going to hurt. You're lucky it isn't broken."

"Well I think we define that word differently." He said with a frown.

"Any battle you fight with Krang and still come out alive is a great accomplishment." Mona whispered softly.

Raph blinked and shook his head. "Funny, my sensei once said the same thing, but about someone else."

"He sounds like a very wise man."

"Well, he's not a man. Not anymore anyway. He was mutated into a giant rat during a fight with the Krang. He had just bought us at a pet store and on his way home he was confronted by the Krang. He dropped our bowl and it shattered on the pavement along with a canister of mutagen. You can probably guess what happened next." Raphael didn't really know why he felt compelled to tell her all of this, but for some strange reason the words just came pouring out of his mouth with little to no restraint.

Mona Lisa nodded; she had witnessed the effect of mutagen firsthand, after all. "Wait—us?" Raph looked up at her, his bottom lip pushed out with a confused expression on his face.  That look is so adorable. Huh? Why did I just think that? Mona refused to dub the expression as adorable, though something in the back of her mind was whispering, Oh but it is. The brunette lizard shook her head to wipe away her thoughts. "You said us. 'He'd bought us from a pet store.'"