Everyone has secrets. Some are kept to protect the people we care for and others are kept to protect ourselves. The cruelest secrets are hidden within our own hearts. A tale of self-discovery as a changed woman struggles to find her place in this world of mutants and beyond.

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT in any form or incarnation. But this story exists in the 2012 Nick world so you know. Enjoy… hopefully

I couldn't see but I could hear.

"AHHHHHHHHH! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

I think that I am standing, stumbling forward vainly in an attempt to reach that voice, trying to remain vertical until I feel something in my spine stretch and I collapse to the ground. I can no longer feel my legs.

"No! HELP!" I hear the voice coming towards me till muted thumps fill the space in front of me.

"Crap"

"Stop. Don't get any closer or the mutagen will get on you too."

"Uh oh"

"Mikey, keep the girl back, be ready for anything guys."

Four, there were four voices now in between me and the first one, I know that it is important to reach it but I feel so confused. I try to wipe the burning substance from my eyes in an attempt to restore my vision to asses the situation, but it is of no use, I can't make my body follow the simplest of commands. Every sinew is on fire. The sound of a scream fills my ears before it too is ripped away from me. Now all I had was a cocoon of pain.

Pain as senses were taken away only to be restored with such intensity that my mind was overwhelmed with them. My skin was a mass of pins and needles, I could feel the muscles underneath twitching as nerve endings misfired, trying to cope with the sensory overload. Some connection in my back is restored and I could once again feel my lower extremities, though there seemed to be more appendages there than before. Breathing is an exercise that I would rather put off but know I can't, my ribcage is sore and tender and feels like every exhale pinches my stomach. I don't know how long I exist in this state of floating torment but eventually I feel as if I may be gaining some control. My brain was beginning to reestablish what synapsis controlled what body parts and I gather my arms underneath me to push up, not trying to stand but only wishing to put some space between myself and the pavement. I shake my head and everything just feels wrong. There is too much weight in the front and I feel unbalanced, then there is no more time for an internal inventory because the outside world comes crashing back in.

"… can't predict what's going to happen with any mutation. They diversify based on the DNA introduced to the host organism. One would think that a mammalian cross-strain would be the most compatible towards continued intelligence but …"

"Donnie, can we reason with it or not?"

"Not an "it", have some heart, dude. That's her mom."

Mom, the word does something to me and the fog over my mind is starting to lift. Underneath the dialogue is the constant sound of sobbing and the occasional hitched breath. I know that sound, it awakens an instinct in me so deep that the awareness of pain is burned away by its' mere presence. Opening my eyes I see a girl is the source of the wailing, but I don't just see her as she is now. My mind flashes with images from our shared past, a baby cradled to my breast, so very tiny and helpless, a toddler covered in spaghetti and beaming up at me, a small child proudly reading me a book all on her own, an older child with the sun glinting off her hair as joyous laughter fills the air. Finally a youth with those same wracking sobs as I hold her, trying to soothe her trembling frame even as my as my own heart is filled with a longing aching sorrow for something we have both lost.

I know my place now and it is with this girl, she is of my flesh, I'm her Mother. I don't understand why it took me so long to remember this but now that I do, I know that I can face whatever comes next, I have an anchor point of sanity again. I also know that I have to reach her, if she's crying then she will want me. I can't let her cry like that, not again. Testing my newfound control I continue to gather my limbs underneath me, it's a shaky first attempt but I can feel hope filling me as muscles respond to my will.

"Well, looks like ma' over here is wakin' up."

The voice draws my attention and I try to make sense of what I see. Between my daughter and I are four green beings. If stop and think for a moment I'm sure that my brain would provide me with an image that they resemble, but I don't care. One glance tells me that they have no connection to me except that they are barring the path to my daughter. The creature nearest her moves to grab my child and as she flinches away from it in fear my blood boils. My focus narrows as I seek to distinguish it from the rest, to identify my target. It has a narrow strip of cloth around it's face and a quick glance tells me that the others do as well, all in different colors. Orange, as I now identify it, is undeterred by my daughter's fear and wraps its green arms around her.

"Shhhh, it'll be ok." The words were whispered low enough that they were meant for the girl's ear alone, nonetheless I heard them clearly. As clearly as I heard my daughter's terrified whimper in response. Snarling, I shift my hips and spring forward, determined to remove my child from this creature she was obviously afraid of. I didn't get very far.

"No ya don't, lady." Somehow I ended up on my back, pinned underneath another one of the creatures, Red. I feel something cold and hard pressed against my neck and I freeze. Though the red one held me down my eyes didn't rest on it for long, they shifted and rolled, my only goal being to locate my daughter. I was frantic, there was too much information to process and she was the only thing that made sense in my scattered brain. Slowly, too slowly, small pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together. I registered the creature holding me down as male, there was no denying the power and masculinity that exuded from him, and by default the others shifted from "it" to "him" in my own mental dialogue. That was all I had time for before my roaming gaze found my daughter, she was struggling weakly to free herself from the one in orange as he firmly embraced her.

"We don't mean you any harm." The one in blue filled my vision, the fact that he cut off the eyeline to my daughter was enough to elicit a snarl as a response to his placating words. I felt the pressure at my throat increase.

"I know that this must be confusing but if you can manage to calm yourself we'll an…" His words were cut off as the squeal of tires filled the alleyway and everything was illuminated by harsh headlights. Though I squinted to protect my vision the backlight caused their forms to silhouette and another piece fell into place. They had large rounded backs and the descriptor I had been searching for finally came to me. Turtles.

My mind stumbled over this for a moment. Walking talking fighting humanoid turtles. Nope, still didn't make any sense. Deciding that figuring out these creatures could wait I turned my attention back to the alley where the sound of doors opening and closing could be heard along with metallic stomping coming their direction.

"Krangg the signal that was followed to this place known as here has those which are known as the turtles in this place.

"Yes Krangg will be taking that which is the result of the thing known as an accident back to Krangg for that which is known as study. The creatures known as the turtles will be leaving this place or become that which is know as dust."

The speech was hard to tease the meaning from but obviously ended in a threat. The one in blue, he seemed to be their leader was quick to respond. "You're not turning anyone into dust." He stood as he addressed the strange speakers who I could not see, brandishing a long sword in their general direction.

"The ones known as Turtles will be disintegrated and Krangg will take that which is the specimen that is new back to Krangg."

"What should Krangg do with the female that is human of the size being known as small?"

"No witnesses would be optimal, Krangg."

The air was suddenly filled with an electric buzz and I could smell the distinct odor of burnt ozone. The weight was gone from my chest and chaos erupted around me. I could now sense that I was no longer the focus of these turtle-creatures attention even as I instinctively dodged the energy bolts that now filled the alley. A scream cut through the cacophony of the battle and I saw my daughter collapse to the ground before she was quickly scooped up by the turtle in orange.

"Donnie!" The tallest one, his mask was purple, ran to his companion's side and put a finger on my daughter's throat. My own heart stopped beating as I recognized the gesture, he was checking for a pulse.

"Let's get her to the lab." The words did nothing to quell the panic that threatened to overwhelm me. I surged forward to reach my daughter, the only thing that bound me to this world, when I felt something wrap around my ankles.

As I began to fall, knowing that I would not reach her, I felt my desperation swell and it burst through the dam of my silence.

"GGGGWWWWYYYYYYYYNNNNNNNN!"

A/N: I promise nothing! Lots of this is written in staggered and fragmented segments that needs to be pieced together. While the story itself is in flux where it ends up is firmly rooted. I would love to discuss the idea of a Beta reader or co-author for this story. I have been sitting on this for a while and finally decided to take the plunge.