Non-Mutation (Book Four)

Chapter 8: Vermillion Mercury

Mercury is the Roman God of financial gain, eloquence, thievery, and skill. He is said to have acted as a bridge between two worlds; the one above and the one below.

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Raphael slips into the lair like he's walking on lego blocks, holding a small vial of spilled mutagen. With it, he can not only prove his whereabouts to his brothers, but he has the perfect excuse to cover up the other events of the night.

The lair is quiet, prompting Raphael to believe that his brothers and sisters have gone to sleep. He breathes out and lets the tension slip from his shoulders as he looks down at the vial in his hand.

"There you are!"

Raphael lets out a short scream and the vial flies from his hand. He dives for it, snagging it before it hits the ground. Leonardo gets up from the couch, relief softening his features as Raphael gets back up.

"Oh, uh—"

"You were out there for a while. We were getting worried," Leonardo says. His eyes travel to his brother's hand and narrow. "Is that...?"

"Mutagen, yeah," Raphael mutters. "The Dragons broke into another warehouse. Looks like they left some mutagen behind."

"More mutagen...what could they want with it?"

He rolls his eyes. "Do I look like I know?"

Leonardo mirrors his action. "It was a rhetorical question. We'll have to talk to Donnie and Sarina in the morning." He crosses his arms over his chest as he looks his younger brother over. "So...that was all that happened tonight? A break in and some mutagen?"

Raphael nods as he shoves the pair of sunglasses deeper into his belt. "Yup. Just PDs. Nothing else. No sir, Fearless."

He holds his breath. Leonardo's eyes narrow a little and dart between Raphael's "deer in headlights" expression and the mutagen. He lingers, a frown stuck on his face, until he finally shuts his eyes and nods. Raphael feels himself deflate.

"Alright, if you say so," he says. He stretches, letting out a drawn-out hum as he turns towards the bedrooms. "There's lots to do tomorrow, so we should get some sleep." He glances over his shoulder and smiles. "Goodnight, Raph."

"Yeah, goodnight, Leo." As he starts to walk away, he gasps. "Wait! Leo!"

Leonardo turns back around, hovering at the edge of the hall. "Yeah?"

"What's an interrobang?"

The blue-masked turtle gives him a funny look. "Uh...I think it's that punctuation mark that ends with both an exclamation point and a question mark. Like, when you're shouting a question and it's like, 'What?!' Interrobang. 'No way, why didn't I know?!' Another interrobang." He shrugs. "I think. Why?"

Raphael holds back a growl of annoyance. "Just curious."

"Okay, goodnight."

Leonardo disappears down the hallway and Raphael finally takes a full breath in and out, tightening his grip on the mutagen vial. He makes a futile attempt to make sense of the situation that he's gotten himself into, but gives up after a grand total of five seconds.

He goes to his bedroom despite his alertness, but as he lays on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling, his mind remains awake. Hazel eyes stay at the back of his mind tonight. Instead, a flirtatious smirk and the feeling of her fingertips brushing the chip in his plastron takes precedence. The smirk pulled him in as much as it told him to run and her touch made his skin tingle.

Another shudder runs through him at the thought and he shuts his eyes, resting his hands on his face as he takes in a long, frustrated breath. What is it about her? Is it the fact that she's an attractive girl and that she's looking at him as if he isn't hideous? Or is it something less shallow?

He needs to see her again. It's indisputable at this point, surpassing simple curiosity. He can ask her about the Purple Dragons and after that, he can ask her other questions. Maybe he'll see what she looks like without those sunglasses too.

When he wakes up the next morning, the only thing he remembers is that the sound of her voice serenaded his dreams.

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Taylor stares out her bedroom window at the twinkling lights of downtown New York City. She sighs and traces the windowsill as if strumming her guitar, tapping a rhythm as she goes. Bindo sits on her shoulder, watching her movements.

"He showed up again," she murmurs. She closes her eyes, lips pursing. "How long do you think this'll take?"

Bindo gurgles and waddles closer to her neck, snapping a piece of hair in his beak and giving it a tug. She can't help but smile as she reaches over to bump his tiny head against her fingertips.

"It's funny, isn't it?" she muses, letting Bindo walk onto her palm before lifting him down to the window ledge. "I've got a pet turtle and now, my job involves a turtle mutant."

Bindo churrs and starts to wander around, his feet making the tiniest of noises as he walks. She rests her chin on her hand and observes his clunky gait, then glances back out at the flickering skyline.

"Mutacorp's giving us a lot of cash. It's muy impresionante, but..." She bites her lip and starts to twist her hair around her finger. "No lo sé," she mumbles, "Raphael was adorable, in a weird sort of way."

Bindo looks up at her and she can imagine him saying, "You use 'funny' and 'weird' to describe a lot of people, Tay."

"Not a lot of people," she mutters, pouting a little. "Only Raphael..."

She yawns, moisture blurring the view as she stretches her arms up as far as they can go. Wiping her eyes, she retrieves Bindo and sets him back in his tank, where he starts to paddle around in his pool. She flops onto her bed, propping her head on her arms as she stares up at the pipes running across the ceiling. His shocked expression, his green eyes bright against his dark face, stick in her head.

The turtles and anyone that they ally with are stupid, evil, and need to be destroyed—that's what Hun always told her. She had never seen them until a few weeks ago due to the fact that Hun insisted that she needed more training. Now, after seeing them in the flesh, Taylor would be lying if she said the turtles are what she expected.

The picture painted in her head by the words of her boss are grotesque and hideous. She imagined Bindo if he was ten times bigger and dressed in ninja gear, not creatures so oddly human. Even the girls that the turtles have on their team aren't like Hun said. When she heard "mutilated wolf and a cyborg", she imagined a werewolf and the Terminator.

From what she has seen, they also have a job to do, a boss or a teacher to report back to, and so does she. If they are more human than meets the eye, then they should understand at least a fraction of where she's coming from. Disappoint the boss and it won't be fun, so she follows her orders to a tee. She is the decoy, the unassuming underdog that slips between the ranks and takes out the big dogs whenever she gets the chance.

"The muscle or their leader. Knock them out and our chance of victory gets better," Hun had said when he briefed her on her mission.

Raphael makes that list and she is so glad that he does. His quick remarks, the hotheaded attitude, the defensive nature, it's all so easy to have fun with.

She smiles as she shuts her eyes. She can't wait to see him again.