Together As Mutants (Book Six)

CVI. The Possibility

Donatello sits at his laboratory table, one eye open as he stares into his microscope. A Petri dish with a blood sample lays beneath it, allowing him to examine the mutagenic cells. Sarina sits nearby, going over the simple wedding plans for Leonardo and Destiny.

"Sarina, can I get a second opinion?" the purple-masked turtle calls.

"Of course," she responds, looking up at him. "What is it?"

He pushes away from the table, turning his chair towards her. "You know how we've been studying...reproduction? Ever since we talked about having children, we've been-"

"Conducting experiments using the reproductive properties of turtles, human females, and mutant females," the cyborg finishes with a light smile. "Of course, only with human ova, mutagenic ova, and a turtle's seme-"

"Yeah, that," Donnie interrupts, his cheeks pink. "I...I think we might have some progress."

Sarina gasps and launches to her feet, her eyes flashing rapidly. "Why didn't you tell me before?!"

He lets out a dorky chuckle. "Uh...I was getting to it."

"What? What is it?!" she demands, her eyes remaining wide and an excited smile on her face.

Donnie pulls her closer, turning back towards the microscope. "Well...I was examining one of the mutagen-enhanced ovum that we obtained through that artificial insemination laboratory you made a few connections with." He peers in again, his face brimming with hope. "When it was mixed with...ahem...mutagenic turtle semen-"

"It was impregnated?" Sarina guesses, the same look of hope growing in her eyes.

He nods. "It was! And that means..."

They both look at each other, both faces becoming even more ecstatic.

"It's possible for Des and Leo...for us to..." Her face goes red and she places her hand over her mouth. "Children..."

"Not only that, but Taylor too," he says. "Remember? Taylor was slightly mutated when Mutacorp tested their rough draft of ultimate-serum on her."

"The one that makes her paper cuts seal shut in seconds and that's pretty much it?" the cyborg clarifies.

"Yeah, that one! Sure, she isn't a complete mutant and that could make it less likely, but it's still there!" He laughs and throws his hands up in the air. "YES! There is a God and he is good!"

Sarina chuckles lightly at his proclamation, but then her smile falls. "Wait, Donnie...what about Mikey and Annalise?"

Donnie freezes, lowering his hands. "Oh no...Mikey wants kids more than anything..." He places his face in his hands. "Sewer apples."

"We can just-"

"Tell him?" he interrupts incredulously. He puts on a dopey look and place his front teeth over his bottom lip. "Oh heya Mikey! We just discovered that it may be possible for us to have kids! Except not you, because your fiancée is human! Dur!"

Sarina blinks a few times. "I have never seen you act stupid. That was weird."

His face seems to switch with remembrance for a second as he laughs sheepishly. "Uh...yeah, it's not fun." He sighs. "Either way, I don't want to tell Mikey that Annalise won't be able to have kids. He likes adoption and all and just the idea of using some other man's DNA makes him go all protective..." He shakes his head as Sarina rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. "He keeps talking about it, saying how pretty his little girl would be with her mom's eyes or a little boy he could show everything he knows...it'd crush him, Sari."

"I'm...aware," she whispers.

Unbeknownst to them, Annalise had been standing at the entrance of the lab. She had only arrived to ask the intelligent mutants about wedding prep, but she stopped short when she heard their conversation.

She looks back out at the lair, seeing Michelangelo happily playing on the ground with Pepper-oni and Ice Cream Kitty. He looks so happy, something Annalise doesn't want to change.

"So what can I do?" she asks, causing both Sarina and Donnie to turn towards her voice. She moves closer, her face pained. "How can I change this?"

Donnie shakes his head. "There's nothing you can do. Even this strange little miracle of sorts won't work if you don't have mutant DNA."

Sarina nods, agreeing with her fiancée silently. Annalise purses her lips and takes a deep breath.

"So...mutate me into a turtle or something," she offers.

Instantly, Donnie gets to his feet, moving towards the younger girl with his eyes narrowed. "No...way, no how. There is no way that we're going to screw up your future with game-developing or just being human in general."

"But-"

"And human patches are off the table! They're hard enough to make as is with the limited mutagen we can scrounge up from the abandoned Kraang labs-" Donnie continues.

"Donnie, please, I-" she tries again.

"It's a no! You are human, you are staying human, and that's..." He trails off, noticing her gaze. Her blue-grey eyes are misty and pleading, her lip pouted out and her jaw trembling a little.

"Please?" she whispers. "We have to do something...for Mikey."

The purple-masked turtle crosses his arms over his chest, his inner turmoil feeling like a bad pizza and his stomach fighting it out inside him. Sarina places a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving a quick smile to Annalise before pulling Donnie to the side.

"Donnie, think about this..." she whispers.

"There's nothing to think about. We aren't turning her into a turtle just because she wants a kid or two," he utters, his voice low yet fierce. "Our mutagen supply is limited to what we scrounge up in different places around the city. We need everything we can for making more human patches-"

"Taylor has mutagenic DNA without looking like a mutant. April too," the cyborg interrupts. "Perhaps we could conduct another experiment now that this one has come to a close. How about we study ways to...half-mutate Annalise with turtle DNA the way Mutacorp once used their serum with Taylor?"

Donnie opens his mouth to argue, but then closes it again. As per usual, she has a solid point. With some more testing, they could possibly figure out a way to help them. They'd ever have to tell Mikey until it was already too late. Still, there's always the risk.

Sarina turns away from her fiancé and smiles at Annalise. "We'll see what we can do."

The blonde smiles. "Thank you. Really, I appreciate it."

She turns and disappears from the laboratory. Donnie heaves a sigh as Sarina looks back at him.

"Do you have any idea what we've just gotten ourselves into?" he asks.

Her eyes flash. "I always have some sort of idea of what I'm doing. Now, let's get back to work."