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"I need you to be brave, Little Lion." Her uncle's rough hands tried to smooth her hair again. Their coats smelled like smoke. The house fire had only been... a day ago? Or two days ago? The clothes they stood in were what was available for now.
"I have to get you out of here, you know that right? Before they hurt you again?" The deepest apology wove itself unspoken through his desperate hug. "Bad enough with the fire, we walked away from that, but the chemical spill... I have to get you to America. You'll be safe there. There's good doctors there. We'll undo this."
Neither of them acknowledged the hard mass that had slowly formed across her back. Under her clothes, distorting her spine. Weeks of it starting to stretch her skin. She could still hide it under a bulky coat or a loose backpack, but not for much longer.
She couldn't hide her darkening skin or her smoothing nose. Good thing those still passed for human. Good thing her hair still hung in an obscuring curtain. But if the changes kept going, people would start to stare. Her uncle promised that an American doctor or scientist would take her case. Would help her. Kitty wasn't so sure, but she wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him.
The airport terminal bustled around them without sparing them a glance. It shouldn't be this way. Her uncle should go with her. Be safe from those people with her. Kitty wasn't ready to be separated from her only family. Wasn't ready to navigate a new country. She wasn't brave. But looking up into her uncle's watering eyes, she couldn't tell him so.
"You've got your boarding pass?" Her throat was too tight to speak, so she just nodded. "You've got the hotel address?" Another nod. "It's all pre-paid. I'm flying out as soon as things are settled here. I promise."
She couldn't nod to that. Those people were dangerous. "Come with me now!," Kitty blurted. "Don't try to fix it. Just buy a ticket! There's still time!"
Her uncle squeezed her shoulder and then pulled her in for another hug. He whispered, "Just be brave Little Lion. Be brave."
+++++
Tears leaked out and ran down her face. Months later and she was still having... what were they? Panic attacks? Flashbacks? Crying jags for no reason?
Not no reason. She wiped at her eyes aggressively. Master Splinter asked her to be more compassionate with herself. She was mourning. This was grief. She'd lost her home, her uncle, and her humanity. She was entitled to cry for no reason--not no reason, she corrected herself. She had to be nicer to herself because Splinter was counting on her. To be nice. About all the crying.
It just felt really childish and rude to the family that had taken her in. They were trying so hard to make her happy. They'd literally saved her life. The least she could do was not make a soggy mess all over their Christmas.
+++++
There were worse things to smell of than smoke. Kitty had found all of them in the week after the hotel kicked her out.
Her uncle never arrived. She'd stayed at the hotel even after the pre-paid portion of her stay had ended. He had to be able to find her. The hotel burned through her petty cash, but it would be worth it when he arrived. In her month in New York City, she had never felt smaller or more lost. She had to stay put or he'd never locate her. Too bad her money and time ran out.
Which is how the Turtles found her, scavenging out of the hotel dumpsters. Still trying to stay close to where her uncle expected her to be. Dressed in all the clothes she owned to ward off the November cold. She'd probably looked like a pile of trash herself. Gray-green sickly scales smeared with unsavory substances from her time in the dumpster. Her greasy ponytail of frazzled hair was coming loose, half static and half clumps. She had her coat on backwards because it didn't fit over her midnight black shell. It kept trying to slide forward off her arms and distorted her shape.
The ninja turtles had dropped down into the alley like silent shadows descending. She would never have known they were there if they hadn't been whisper-fighting.
"Mario Kart is clearly the superior multi-player game!"
"You're out of your shell, dude. Smash Brothers all the way!"
"Will you two shut up?!"
"I've always liked Bomberman."
"Nobody asked you, Leo."
"That's 2 player."
"Not with the multi-tap."
"Mikey broke the multi-tap."
"Don't blame it on me!"
Kitty barely had time to duck behind the dumpster as they passed.
A glint of light, just a reflection off a window from a passing car. And she was looking at four walking shelled backs. Like her. These people had shells like her!
"Wait!" Kitty stumbled out from behind the dumpster.
They were gone. Had she hallucinated them? She was hungry and so very thirsty. She never counted on clean water being so scarce. But was her mind going now too?
"Wait...?" Kitty spun around in the alley. Irrational levels of panic spiked her heart rate and made her hysterical. "Super Mario Party is the best!" She was shouting about video games in a dark alley in late November in New York City. She was going to get abducted or murdered or something. But caution was out the window now. "I get a vote. I'm a turtle too!" She laughed while tears beaded in her eyes. "I'm--" That was the first time she'd said it out loud. She was a turtle. "I'm a turtle." Those horrible people poisoned her body and she changed into a turtle. She laughed again, a sob in her voice. "I'll take any of you at Mario Kart, though. Please. Come back!"
They'd come back. And there'd been confusion and tears and a rescue blanket. They'd bundled her into their van and pressed hand warmers over her freezing toes and monstrous hands. And all she could do was stare and cry because they were so kind.
+++++
"Heeeere Kitty Kitty Kitty!" Michelangelo's voice called out from the kitchen. "I made gingerbread cookies!!"
Kitty giggled in spite of herself. Gingerbread. Ginger like her red hair. Michelangelo was endlessly fascinated by it. Her long hair had survived what the guys called her mutation. Which was no small miracle. She'd lost her eyebrows and lashes and all her human peach fuzz as skin became green scales. Donatello said it was due to... some scientific reason she blindly accepted, because it meant that there was something still kind of human about her body. Her hair was a relief and totally worth the constant ginger-jokes.
Mikey's voice came from much closer. "For real! We're gonna decorate them and--aww, Kitty! Were you crying? What's wrong?"
Kitty jumped a little and wiped at her eyes again. "No, it's okay. It's okay. I'm just... It was just... you know."
Michelangelo sat down gently on the sofa beside her. "Your uncle?"
Kitty could only nod. With Raph and Casey arguing happily about the Christmas tree and Leo and Donnie stringing lights everywhere, there was just this feeling of home and family that--oh man, there she went again.
"I'm sorry! I don't mean to be such a wet blanket. Your Christmas celebration is really shaping up." She sniffled and gestured at all the new decorations hung around the lair.
Mikey watched her with gentle eyes. "You don't have to apologize. It's okay to miss him." His comforting words were spoken low, just for her.
"All I do is miss him, though!" Kitty croaked around the next wave of tears. "And." She swallowed hard to clear her throat. "And if he didn't--didn't come for me, then, then, then he's in danger!" She gave up and covered her face. There was no hiding her crying now.
Michelangelo pulled her gently into his lap. She curled into his shoulder, too upset to be ashamed.
"That's it. Let it out." A tissue box appeared in her lap. He rubbed her shell in soothing circles.
Kitty was dimly aware of the lair around them. Dominating her mind though: the house fire, the burning chemicals, the looming threat hanging over her tiny family’s heads. Her uncle had looked so scared back at the airport. And he'd never shown up at the hotel! Something had happened to him, Kitty was sure of it. And here she was halfway around the world, a homeless, penniless, mutant moocher living off the charity of folks who'd had a much harder life than her. Everything wrong seemed to spiral and snowball together. She cried as if a great dam of grief had burst inside her.
Someone pressed a tissue into her hand. She mopped at her face on instinct and drenched it. Another silently appeared. Strong hands continued to rub at her shell. Quiet murmurs of, "There, there," and "It's okay," punctuated her outburst.
Kitty's tears slowly ground to an exhausted, stuffy end. Tissues kept popping up whenever she needed the next one. Then even when she didn't need them anymore. Tissues in her hands. Tissues out her sleeves. Tissues from over Mikey's shoulder. Tissues from out of Mikey's armpit?! That one had her laughing even as her eyes kept watering.
"Mikey!" She winced at her ragged-sounding voice. "Stop with the tissues."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Michelangelo crossed his eyes at her, tissues poking up from the ring of his bandana like a paper crown.
Kitty snorted and needed a tissue.
"See? Still useful." He handed her another one. She still had a fresh dozen others in her hands.
"Mikey, stoppit, please!" She waved her double handfuls at him.
He grinned and tissued her face. She squawked and threw tissues back at him. He puffed air and sent them right back. She buffeted him with the ones in her fists. He ninja-tucked more into her hair. She tried to stuff some into his elbow pad. He easily made more bloom in the itchy-tickly-space between her shell and her neck. She squealed with outrage and giggles. Tissues went flying everywhere.
Leonardo cleared his throat. Tissues drifted down out of the air. They settled in drifts around Kitty and Mikey.
Kitty froze with a handful of tissues wedged into Michelangelo's belt. His hands stopped somewhere around the back of her head. What was he doing back there?
"When you two are done, Master Splinter would like us all at the Christmas tree." Leonardo's voice was carefully neutral. At least he wasn't obviously mad with them having wasted a whole box of tissues. He did turn on his heel and head across the lair like maybe they were running late, though. Late for what was unclear.
"Oh, gosh. Mikey! Help me get--what did you put in my hair?" She gripped bits of tissue and blinked when it tugged portions of her hair.
"Heh. I, uh, braided some into your hair." He dusted the others clinging to her shell away as best he could. They crackled with static. "Oh yeah. When the air gets dry, shells get staticky. Eff why eye." He leaned in conspiratorially. "It sucks when sensei sheds on the sofa cause then the fur balls stick and--"
"Michelangelo? Kitty? Are you coming over?" Master Splinter's voice cut into Mikey's talk at just the right time to spare his dignity.
"Hai, Sensei!"
Mikey popped Kitty up on her feet and dusted her off. "Don't sweat the ones in your hair. They look pretty." Gentle grip on her hand, he towed her over to the other side of the lair where the Christmas tree sparkled and twinkled.
The entire family that took her in was there: all four brothers and their mutant father, as well as their human friends, April and Casey.
Master Splinter gestured to the pile of beanbags and pillows. They formed a ring in front of the tree along with a collection of mismatched stools and chairs. Most of the spots were taken except a few beanbags.
Kitty settled into one of them with the uneasy suspicion that everyone was watching her.
Mikey dropped into the one beside her and jostled Donnie in the process.
"Watch it." Donatello barely looked up from the wireless controller he was tinkering with.
"Hey. Kitty. You got a little..." Leo gestured vaguely over his shoulder.
She reached back to the same spot on herself and pulled out a tissue. "Ah. Uh. Thanks." She fought the urge to tuck her head into her shell in embarrassment. At least with her green scales, no one could see she was blushing.
Raph and Casey were talking quietly. Raph elbowed Casey. Casey slapped Raph's shell. The two got louder...
"Raphael!" Master Splinter shook his head.
"C'mon Casey. Shhh." April shook her head.
Both of the guys looked sheepish for a moment before Raph whispered something under his breath. Casey's eyebrows shot up, but before they could get into it again... whatever it was... Master Splinter cleared his throat.
"Kitty, this Christmas our clan is resolved to bring you the gifts of peace and family. To that end, we have worked diligently on your present."
Kitty raised her hands to ward off Splinter's talk of giving her things. "No, no! You've given me food and shelter for weeks now! Please don't feel like you need to do more for me!"
Master Splinter coughed in amusement. "Food and shelter are the least we could do. Christmas is for more."
"There are a few weeks left before the holiday. Our gift is not complete. However, we can see it does more harm to wait." He beckoned Leonardo who stood and faced her formally.
"While you have been recuperating and healing, we’ve dedicated the resources of the clan to locating your uncle." He nodded to Raphael.
"I know some folks at the hotel you were staying at. I got them set to text me if your uncle or anybody who looks like your uncle checks in." He shrugged. "They're good folks. I trust'em to get in contact with me on the double if he's spotted."
Kitty gaped at Leonardo and Raphael, but Leonardo wasn't done. "Donnie?"
Donatello fired up something that whirred and a set of four tiny drones formed the corners of a floating LED display. It showed scrolling lists of names. Occasionally a name--her uncle's name!--would light up, open a passport photo of the person, and discard them when they didn't match pictures of her uncle from social media.
"I've tapped into the US Customs agencies that process passports at all airports, seaports, and land crossings into the US. As you can see, various people match your uncle's name, but we've not gotten any hits on name and photo match yet. I'm monitoring the incoming passports live, but I've also got my system running the historical data back until the day you arrived here. If he has or does cross into the States, we'll know where and when."
Kitty's jaw was practically on the floor. "Holy Sh--"
Leonardo cut her off. "April?"
The older redhead grinned and reached her hand for the controller. "Hand it over, Donnie. I'm really proud of this."
Donatello passed it to her with a nod and a grin. "You should be!"
She toggled the display and suddenly tiled videos filled the floating screen. She pushed a few buttons and the corner drones expanded the display so that Kitty could recognize some of the places in the videos.
"That's... That's my hometown!" She pointed at various screens. "That's the gas station by the house! That's our bank! And that's where my uncle works! That's... How do you have all this?" Kitty turned wide eyes on a proud April.
"Oh, I just hacked the surveillance cameras all over your town, in another country, from my PC rig at home." April grinned happily. "Kitty, I've got biometric-recognition software running on these feeds. Using the host of pictures of your uncle from his social media, we've got an 85% chance of striking a match on him if he's spotted in any of these locations." She smiled softly. "The good news is that there have been five or more hits since I started monitoring this data."
"You saw my uncle?!" Kitty tumbled out of her beanbag chair and clambered over to April. "You saw him?! He's alive?!"
April sighed and handed Donatello back the controller. "We had five sightings of five someones with the right height, weight, and hairstyle to be your uncle. We don't know if it's him or someone else. Not from here in the States."
Kitty wilted. Casey thumped her on the shell with a quick few knocks. "But that's why this last bit is really huge!"
Casey cleared his throat. "Me and April are going to your hometown! We leave the day after tomorrow. Gonna play detective. Find these five guys that look like your guy. Check'em out. If we can't find your uncle, we'll get the cops involved. Make it a nationwide search."
Kitty's lower lip trembled. "That's incredible," she whispered. "But." Her voice gained strength. "I can't let you do that--you can't go over there. Those people are dangerous. They burned down our house! They mutanted me!"
"Mutated," Donatello corrected automatically.
"That. They poisoned me into a turtle! They want to hurt my uncle and don't care who else is in the way! You two would be in terrible danger even if you don't find him. You'll probably find them first!"
Casey just leaned back in his chair. "Well, first off, and write this down: nothing is too dangerous for Casey Jones!"
"And," Raph chimed in, "April's no idiot."
"And," April scoffed at Raph's compliment. "We're already enemies of The Foot Clan, deadly ninja assassin international crime syndicate, and Ch'rell, psychopathic alien warlord bent on world domination and turtle obliteration. Heck, my old employer tried to feed me to his army of rat-killing robots. Frankly, your uncle's enemies are going to have to work very hard to impress us."
Leonardo chuckled a dry laugh. "We'll have Donatello running tech support for their mission, and all four of us on standby if we're needed. But we trust April and Casey to get to the bottom of this."
Mikey slowly drew Kitty back into her beanbag. "That was the plan, you know." He nodded at the display feed as Donatello powered it down. "We were gonna do all this and get you answers or uncle by Christmas."
Master Splinter nodded. "We had originally believed that knowing all this would cause you too much stress and uncertainty. However, we now believe that hope is too great of a benefit to ignore."
"You need to know you're not alone in this." Leonardo gave her one of his awkward half-smiles. "We want to help and we will."
"Not to brag, but we've got a pretty great track record of finding uncles. Uncle Augie was in a whole 'nother freakin' dimension and we brought him home!" Raphael smirked as if he'd carried uncle Augie home on his own back.
Mikey squeezed her hand. "Nothing stops us, Kitty.” He winked at her with a cheeky grin. “So Merry Christmas! We're gonna get you your uncle back!"