Draxum didn't waste a second to get to the Lair after Rita called him.

"I think I know what's wrong. I'll be over in a second." he had said.

Rita hung up and now sat impatiently on the living room chair. Teresa tried to get her to at least have a snack, but Rita wasn't planning on going anywhere until Draxum had told her what was really going on.

"Rita..." Splinter whispered from the doorway. "Draxum said he needed you."

Rita perked he ears up and beelined past him for the med bay. Draxum was leaning over Leo and had a root holding something up for Donnie.

"Do you know what's wrong?" Rita asked nervously.

"Well, you said Leo has only woken up once, correct? And Donnie can barely fall asleep himself? And Mikey healed from his sickness and got it again?" Draxum didn't turn around.

"Y-yes." Rita gulped.

"Then I do know what's wrong. I think the three might be having side effects of my ooze...strangely many years later..." he trailed off.

"Are they ever going to...get better?" Rita wondered.

"I don't know. If this has been going on for weeks, then the effects might cause them to...change." Draxum still didn't turn around.

"Change? What do you mean change? How?" Rita demanded.

"They might never be the same again." Draxum whispered.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Rita slowly advanced on him.

Draxum turned around to face her. "They won't be able to fight or do much else anymore if it's lasted this long."

Rita widened her eyes and stumbled away as if she had just been hit by one of Uncle Leo's swords. She fell on her knees at the foot of Donnie's bed and cried.

"There's still things I can do to get them back on their feet, but after that it's up to the rest of you to take care of them." Draxum held out a hand to her.

Rita didn't take it. "I-I can't do this, Draxum. If this is really happening...if they really won't be able to fight, what are going to do? The only ones who are able to take over are..." she trailed off.

"You train. This is your call, child. And Teresa's, Anna's, and Marg's too. You four are in it together. You're the tech girl, Teresa is the art girl, Anna is the rush in without thinking girl, and Marg is the support girl. Just like your fathers before you." Draxum whispered.

Rita looked up at him. "But Raph hasn't gotten-"

"He will. There's nothing to prevent these effects from happening. It's your turn to protect this city. All four of you." Draxum held his hand down again.

Rita smiled and wiped her tears away. She took his hand and he pulled her up. Donnie sat up and smiled proudly. She looked toward him and realized.

"You knew...you knew that's what it was...why didn't you tell me?" Rita blinked away more tears.

Donnie slowly nodded and ignored her question. "It's your time. I'm proud of you and I know you can do this."

Rita choked back a broken sob and rushed to grip her dad in a tight hug. "I won't let you down."

Donnie gently wrapped his arms around her back. "I know you won't."

-----

_Swipe, sweep, pin_. Rita repeated in her head while also doing the motions. She took a deep breath and did them again. She stumbled doing the sweep motion and fell.

"Ow..." she made no attempt to get back up.

Rita lay on her back and stretched her hands out to her sides, releasing Donnie's bo and letting it sit on her palm. She took slow deep breaths. Training was not going how she planned.

"Hey, uh, Anna and Teresa and I are gonna go out for pizza. Wanna come?" Marg questioned.

Rita sat up. "No thanks. I'm not that hungry at the moment. Maybe I'll go next time."

Marg glanced behind her and left. Rita slowly reached down and grabbed the bo again to use to it to pull herself up.

"Training takes time, especially if you're alone." a quiet voice said.

Rita turned toward the source. Uncle Casey stood beside a training dummy.

He stared at her with a smile across his face. "Wanna train together?"

Rita smiled back and gripped the bo defensively. "Oh, do I?"

(insert super dope/cool/sick/fantabulous two week training montage here)

-----

Rita wiped sweat off her face and dodged Uncle Casey again. She swung the bo in her hand around and swept him off his feet.

"Haha, and I prevail again! This training stuff wasn't so hard after all." Rita exclaimed.

"Don't celebrate so quickly." Uncle Casey swiped his leg under Rita's and caused her to stumble. "Enemies will always take advantage of any distractions or weaknesses." He lifted his mask on top of his head and got up. "I...kinda learned the hard way." he held his hand down to her.

Rita smiled and took it. "And the heroes..." she pulled herself up and kicked him down. "Never show weakness."

Uncle Casey smiled proudly. "You'll do Donatello proud."

She pulled him up. "Thanks. Now, I should go check on him."

Uncle Casey watched her go. "They're almost ready. Am I right, Cara?"

A girl stepped out of the shadows behind him in complete black. She stared after Rita too. "You just brought me here, but yes. I do agree they are almost ready for the storm that is to come."

Rita poked her head into Donnie's lab. She spotted him standing with his back against a wall and phone out, tapping away.

"Glad to see you woke up." She whispered.

He jumped and almost dropped his phone. Donnie stumbled toward her. "S-sorry. I-" he broke off tripped.

Rita rushed forward and caught him before he hit the ground. "Dad?! Are you okay?"

"M' fine." He tried to stand back straight. "Still just getting used to...everything."

Rita moved down to her knees and forced him to sit with her. "I can understand that. So am I."

Uncle Mikey, Uncle Leo, and Uncle Raph all stepped into the lab. Uncle Mikey and Uncle Leo barely stumbled.

"Dee, you alright?" Uncle Leo asked.

Uncle Mikey took a few steps forward and fell in front of Donnie with a flinch. Uncle Leo and Uncle Raph took positions behind and to the opposite side of Donnie.

"Can't be worse then you are, Nardo." Donnie replied with a laugh and cough.

"It does seem like you are actually, right guys?" Uncle Leo glanced around.

Nobody met his gaze. Rita moved to behind Donnie to let Uncle Raph take her place. She gently removed his goggles and put her chin on his head.

"You do seem worse though. Are you sure you're okay?" Uncle Leo questioned.

Raph and Mikey glared at him. Donnie lifted his hands and stared down at them.

"He's right..." Donnie whispered. "I _have_ been taking this change worse then any of you."

His brothers turned to him with worried expressions he couldn't meet.

"I hate being useless." Donnie clenched his fists and looked around. "But that's all this change is making me."

Raph gently took his purple brother's hands in his. "You're not useless, Don. Far from it. But if you really feel that way, then the change might as well be making the rest of us useless too."

Rita slowly wrapped her arms over Donnie's shoulders. "You taught me everything I know. That's not useless."

"But that was years ago..." Donnie sighed. "That wasn't _now_."

"Sure, you're right. But think about it. I'm here because of you. I got us out of the Purple Dragon's trap because of you. Nothing I've done hasn't been because of you, dad. Uncle Leo, Uncle Raph, Uncle Mikey, I think we should give Donnie more time to adjust and rest. What'da say?" Rita whispered.

The trio got up. "We say it's for the best. Come on, Dee. We'll get you to your room and be out of your shell for a few days."

-----

"Hey, hey, Rita!" Teresa shouted. She ran up behind her cousin and took large deep breaths."Do you wanna come with me to the surface?"

Rita turned around. "Oh, sure, Teresa. But...why?"

"I just wanted to visit Auntie April. Since we haven't seen her in a while you know?" Teresa replied.

"Right right. I'll meet you by the exit in a sec after I see if the other two want to come." Rita started towards the kitchen.

"Of course. Meet you there." Teresa slipped away and headed to the ladder.

Rita poked her head into the kitchen. She looked around, but no one was there. She checked the living room, but there wasn't anyone there either. Rita narrowed her eyes and pulled her phone out to text everyone instead. Then she left and followed Teresa out of the sewer.

"You said you wanted to see April, right?" Rita asked.

"Yep!" Teresa skipped ahead.

"Are you feeling okay, Res? You're acting...I don't know, really weird." Rita wondered.

Teresa didn't stop. "You're just being superstitious, Rita. I'm fine!"

_And you almost never use big words like that either_. Rita added in her head. She continued after her cousin anyway.

"Just a bit more walking and we'll be at the facility." Teresa told her.

Rita froze. The facility? She looked around. How did she not notice they were going the wrong way. Rita quickly lifted her arm and started tapping her wrist tech in a panic. Just as she was about to send a message to Donnie about what was happening, Teresa grabbed her arm and the tech cracked.

"No! What are you doing?!" Rita screamed.

An unfamiliar, deep laugh left Teresa's throat. Magic swirled around her body and when it cleared, she wasn't there anymore. Instead, it was a dog-like thing. It had black reaching up its arms, black legs, and a black mask around it's eyes. Everything else was orange.

"Unfortunately for you, you just fell into a trap!" the dog laughed.

He tossed Rita against a wall. She grunted when she hit it and landed on the ground.

"What do you want?" Rita growled.

The dog walked up to her. She flinched when he grabbed her chin. "I'm just here to get my friends a new little toy."

Rita tried to back away from him. "I don't know who you are."

The dog growled. "I know, but you're coming with me." he pulled her back and up to face him and hit her over the head.

-----

Rita woke up in a cage. Cuts and bruises spread over her body. She glanced around and tried twisting at the cuffs biting her wrists. "Hey! I don't know who you are are, but this isn't okay!"

The dog slammed against the bars. "Shut up. You'll stay in here until you satisfy my friends."

Rita growled. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

The dog looked her over in consideration. "Fine. It's Isamu."

"And are you some kind of dog or...?" she trailed off.

"More of a raccoon dog, yeah." Isamu said. "But I have things to do so bye!"

Rita watched him go. She pulled at the cuffs again, desperate to get them off, but they just left large scratches on her wrists instead. She leaned her back against the bars behind her and sighed.

"Trapped, alone, and injured. Great going, Rita." She grumbled.

Rita looked around the small cage space again. A rat skittered by and disappeared. A tiny bit of moldy bread sat in a corner. She made a disgusted face and looked away.

Suddenly, Isamu appeared again. "I got something for you to do while you're here, _cat_." he spat out the word.

Rita narrowed her eyes at him. "It's _Rita_, dog." she growled.

Isamu grunted and unlocked her cage. He grabbed her and dragged her into a different room, ripping her cuffs off too.

"I got some buddies who always love new toys to play with. Fortunately, you're here. Good luck, they bite!" Isamu slammed the door.

Rita ran back to the door in a panic. "Wait! You can't just-"

"Would you look at that? Isamu really did get us little kitty."

Rita gulped and slowly turned around. Two very large mutants towered over her.

"Who wants to give her a little pet first?" one asked.

Isamu's words flash through her head. _Good luck, they bite!_ He had said. Rita yelped and ducked when a hand flashed toward her head.

She rushed away when the other mutant barreled into the wall beside her. She let out a shout as a hand wrapped around her waist and tossed her across the room into a new wall.

"Please no more walls." she whispered to herself.

"Oo, kitty talks! Another thing we can beat out of her." a mutant laughed.

Rita barely jumped out of the way when one came running in her direction. She ran for the exit door and banged against it.

"Hey! Come on, they're going to kill me please!" Rita was cut off when one of the mutants punched her side and sent her tumbling over the ground.

She looked up slowly. Her side burned. Her whole body burned. She couldn't fight them anymore. Rita felt her eyelids flutter and forced them to stay open. She put her arms under her to lift herself up, but they wobbled and she fell back down. The mutants started approaching her.

"Okay, guys, that's enough for today. I promise I'll have something new for you tomorrow." Isamu's voice got louder.

The mutants stopped and growled. Isamu kneeled beside Rita and looked her over with a strange worried look before carefully rolling her over and picking her up. He carried her over to the door and shut it behind him.

"Maybe they...overdid it a little with you." He whispered.

Rita reached a hand up and held her side that had been kicked but said nothing.

"I deserve that. I should've known you were just fourteen." Isamu sighed.

"How do you know I'm fourteen?" Rita felt her heart flutter with hope.

Isamu opened a different door and went inside with her. "To be honest, I just guessed." he placed her on a bed in the center of the new room. "Now allow me to treat those wounds."

Rita pulled away from him. "I'd rather let them get infected then let you treat them." she growled.

Isamu's eyes betrayed the flash of hurt that passed through them before hardening. "Fine, then. Good luck tomorrow. You're gonna need it."

He attached her cuffs again and dragged her back to her cage. Rita grunted as she hit the cold stone floor.

"Geez." she whispered. "Coulda been a bit more careful."

-----

"Have you guys found her yet?!" Donnie demanded.

His brothers all shook their heads. "Sorry Dee."

Donnie stumbled toward the living room couch and fell into it with a growl. "She said she was going out with Teresa, right? Well, where's Teresa, then huh?"

"Are you saying this is Teresa's fault?" Mikey crossed his arms.

"That's the only thing I have to go off of!" Donnie shouted back. "There's nothing else it could be! I'm going back to my lab and figuring this out on my own."

He got up off of the couch and headed for the living room exit. Donnie stormed up to his lab and managed to not fall. He went over to the table in the center of the room and sat down.

"Think Donatello, think. Where could Rita have gone with Teresa?" Donnie asked himself.

He sat there for a while before an idea hit him. "Lightbulb! They could've gone to April's!"

He pulled his phone out immediately and texted April if she had seen Rita or Teresa. April replied back a second later saying that she had thought she had glimpsed them on her way home from work heading to a small abandoned building. Donnie quickly thanked her and rushed back out of his lab.

"April knows where they went!" He exclaimed. "We have to go get them!"

Raph, Leo, Mikey, and Splinter turned to look up at him. They glanced at each other.

"Where?" Raph asked.

"She said she saw them heading to an abandoned building on the east side of town." Donnie replied.

"Okay, Mikey, can you stay here with Donnie while we go bust them out of there?" Raph questioned.

"Funny how you're making the ones who's daughters are, oh i don't know, _missing_, stay here, Raph." Donnie grumbled.

"Dee, you're the one that's being hit the hardest with the change going on and I just picked Mikey because he's good at...family stuff. Let's go you two." Raph headed away.

Mikey frowned. Leo and Splinter looked back quickly before following the oldest out of the sewer.

-----

The next few days were Rita's most painful. Isamu would take her from her cage at who knows when and put her back into the mutant's room where she was thrashed around her something started bleeding. She had also learned the mutant's names were Bebop and Rocksteady.

"Still aren't gonna let me treat your wounds?" Isamu asked.

Rita pointedly turned her head away from him even though her body hurt all over.

He sighed and returned her to her cage for the second time today. "One day you'll say yes."

Rita rested her head against the bars. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. _I'll be out of here before I say yes to you_. She growled in her head.

"Oh really? Too bad you believe so. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I won't be here as long as you'd like me to." Rita grunted.

"To bad _you_ believe _that_. Getting out of here won't be as easy as you seem to believe." Isamu disappeared into a different room.

An explosion created a large hole in a wall nearby. Rita looked toward it. Uncle Raph stood there with two mystical redder versions of himself. Uncle Leo flipped through the hole and got closer to Rita's cage.

"Surprise! We're here for the cat." Uncle Leo shouted.

Isamu rushed out of the room he was in and narrowed his eyes. "Boss...we got some turtles trying to steal our prize."

Rita widened her eyes. A pair of familiar pants appeared from behind Isamu and the door. _Oh no_. A tiger stood there now. Rita quickly looked away. Her real father would recognize her for sure.

"Hello, turtles. So nice of you to come. Names Tigerclaw." Tigerclaw glanced at Rita. "You're here for her?"

"Uncle Leo, don't say my name..." Rita whispered in his direction.

"Why not?" He got much closer.

"Halt!" Tigerclaw leaped in between Uncle Leo and the cage. "You three aren't getting her without a fight."

Uncle Leo laughed. "What do you have in mind?"

"Defeat my goons in a fight, and you can have your precious cat back. But don't defeat them, and you'll be forced to watch her die." Tigerclaw answered.

Rita sucked in a breath and Tigerclaw spun around. She turned her head around when he kneeled. He reached through the bars and twisted her head around to face him. She winced and grunted.

"Well, well. I could barely recognize you like that, my dear daughter. I-"

Rita pulled fiercely away from him. "I'm not your daughter anymore. You left when I was four. You don't deserve to call me your daughter."

Tigerclaw stood up and cast his shadow over her. "Sure. We can play like that. Isamu? Get these three in with the goons then tie her somewhere to watch."

Isamu guided Uncle Leo, Uncle Raph, and Splinter to the room with Bebop and Rocksteady. Once they were in, he went back and opened Rita's cage.

"Told you it wouldn't be so easy." He whispered, pulling her out and dragging her to the room too.

She looked back at Tigerclaw and growled before disappearing into the room completely and being seated in a dark corner with tight ropes binding her arms to her body and legs together.

"Good luck not being spotted. I would keep quiet to avoid that. The guys have kinda started taking a liking to you, anyways." Isamu left after that.

Rita turned her body away from the fight and sighed. How had Tigerclaw recognized her after all those years? And even after she turned into a cat too?

Uncle Leo flew into the wall close by and fell in a heap. Bebop approached him and Uncle Leo managed to roll away before Bebop tossed him again.

He bumped into Rita's leg and gasped. Rita widened her eyes in panic.

"Raph! Splinter! She's over-"

"No!" Rita shouted. "Uncle Leo, Isamu said that the mutants were..." she trailed off and looked up fearfully.

Bebop towered over them. He reached down and grabbed Rita's ropes. "So they hid you over here, huh? Yo, Rock!" he called.

Rocksteady looked over his shoulder at his friend. "What is it?"

"Little Isamu tried hiding our favorite toy over here. Wanna toss her around more before these other guys?" Bebop wondered.

Rocksteady turned around completely. "You didn't even have to ask! Kittys always fun to play with."

Rita felt the ropes fall off. She stared desperately into Uncle Leo's eyes. Bebop turned his body toward his friend and threw Rita in his direction. She skidded on the floor and stopped in front of Rocksteady with her back up. He grabbed her and tossed her back.

Rita groaned and tried to move out of the way. She caught a glimpse of the door and saw Tigerclaw's eyes glint through it before he stepped into the room.

"Isamu, get the red and blue turtle out of here and take them to the door. Oh and the rat man too." Tigerclaw commanded.

Rita felt hands wrap around her again before a wall hit her back instead of the floor. She fell from the wall and landed on her stomach.

"Bebop, Rocksteady, that's enough. While Rita might not want to be my daughter anymore, she still is whether she likes it or not and I want her _alive_." Tigerclaw said.

The warthog and rhino grunted. Rita lifted her head up painfully at Tigerclaw. Her whole body ached more then she ever thought it would.