Fanart by discofriches <3

"Or at least...I didn't think of her until a few weeks ago," Annalise says as the video shuts off and the tunnel plunges back into near-darkness. Destiny and Casey stare at her with shocked eyes and she looks away, chewing her lip. "I...I truly thought that she wasn't real, that she was something I created as a child, and when this all started, I didn't know what to think." She sniffs hard and wipes at the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I just thought—"

"Hey, Blondie, it's okay," Casey says, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder. "We aren't mad. Right, wolfie?"

Destiny stares down the hall, arms crossed over her chest, and she takes a deep breath before she nods. "Right," she says. She looks to Annalise, not smiling. "It's hard to tell people about your past. I get it. You didn't want to dump that on us right when we were just getting to know you."

Annalise blinks rapidly, scrubbing at her cheeks again. "You...you aren't mad?"

She shakes her head. "Nope." She glances at the ceiling and smirks. "To think...she really did give us a villainous monologue of sorts."

Casey laughs and nudges Annalise with his elbow. "What'd she think would happen? We'd get mad and ditch you?" His loud, boisterous laughter echoes around them. "Seems like she's going to a lot of trouble just to get revenge."

Annalise nods a little. "Yeah, I guess, although..." She stops, gasping. "Oh...oh, wait."

"What?" Casey asks. Destiny's ears perk as she tilts her head.

"Didn't Sarina mention that she found out Circa's name when she went into her head?" Annalise asks, squinting hard as she rubs her temple. "I think she emailed me about it before Mikey picked me up? It was right before our date." She wags her hands about. "Gah, that's not the point! Circa was definitely inside Sarina's head. That's the point."

"Something like that," Destiny says. "Sarina said that Circa—" She stops as recognition flickers across her face. "Oh my god...Sarina's part robot."

"And the one thing Circa demanded of me when I was younger was a bigger, better body for her to use," Annalise says.

Casey looks up at the ceiling, eyebrows knitting together into an angry caterpillar. "Circa...Circa wants..." The girls look at him, expectant, and his eyes widen. "Wait, if Sarina is basically a robot, could Circa still control her like she did with the robot in Annalise's backstory?"

"Half her brain is completely electronic. It's how she stores all the stuff she knows and knows every human language, so I think it's possible." Destiny lets out a growl and lightly punches her thigh. "If we could contact her..."

"But if Circa has been inside Sarina's head, then why hasn't she taken over yet?" Casey asks.

"Maybe because Sarina isn't entirely robotic. She has free will, self-awareness," Destiny suggests. "What if she hasn't been able to make the jump or something?"

"I think she's biding her time," Annalise says, her tone a lot more serious than they've ever heard it. She keeps one hand on her chin, her words pouring out as she thinks them. "Circa is patient, but she likes efficiency. If she can help it, she likes being able to kill two birds with one stone. What do we know about her? One, she hates me, and two, she wants some kind of a body that can work on the Internet and in real life. Maybe she found some kind of connection between me and Sarina, maybe through Mikey watching my videos? Comments, cameras, all that tech Sarina and Donnie use could contribute. It's a bit of a stretch but it's the only thing I can think of that makes any sort of sense."

"Okay, but there's one more thing; why wouldn't she just take over Sarina's body before we caught on?" Casey asks. "She showed herself to us. That seems stupid. If she stayed hidden, we'd be in the dark."

"Unless," Destiny says, "she wanted us to chase her into the cyberverse."

"Why would she do that?"

"This is her turf. She's stronger here and if she tried to fight us in the real world with just Sarina's body, she'd lose, no question."

Annalise nods and shakes her hand at Destiny. "Exactly! And Circa hates to lose."

"If we chased her in here, even outnumbered seven to one, she'd have the opportunity to delete us. With all of us gone, Sarina would be left alone and therefore, more vulnerable to attack," Destiny continues.

"So, basically, she lured us in here and now she's going to kill us," Casey deadpans. He sighs out through his nose. "Damn it."

"I think the only reason that we're still alive is because she craves entertainment," Annalise says. "She could have killed us the second we got in here, but she didn't. She wants to toy with us first."

"And so long as we're in here, we have to play her game. It's our only chance at surviving," Destiny adds, grim.

"She totally punked us," Casey groans.

They stand in the blackness, surrounded by the deafening roar of silence and crushed by the weight of their realization. Destiny shakes out her wings and turns on her heel, starting down the long tunnel.

"Let's move," she utters.

Annalise sputters a few times and scrambles after her, Casey at her side. "Move where? It's just a tunnel!"

"The only way out is that way and now that we know what we know, we need to be able to contact the others," she replies. She casts skeptical looks to the walls. "The turtles need to know that Circa doesn't intend for us to get out alive and we need to warn Sarina. She has to be ready for anything."

"So...if we keep going, we might find an exit? Or a way to get a signal and reach them?" Annalise asks. She looks behind them and chills roll up her spine. "Uh...anyone else feel watched?"

"Circa's watching," Casey mutters. "I'm sure of it. Wonder if she'll kill us now that we know what's going on."

"Doubt it," Destiny says. "Us knowing stuff won't stop her. The best way to screw her over is to stay alive. So, let's not die."

"Easier said than done, Destiny," Annalise says.

The wolf-raven ruffles her wings again and smirks grimly at nothing. "If you want to live, you'll find a way. Even if you've got to punch Death in the face."

Casey laughs at that. "Nice," he croons.

Annalise has to jog a little to catch up with their long strides. "Is that from something?"

"My therapist, Melanie, told me that in one of our sessions a while ago," Destiny says. "I added the punching part." She rubs her arm and her ears swivel a bit. "I said...that I felt like I shouldn't have survived some of the stuff that I did. We talked about the will to live, how strong it can be, and...maybe it was a little grim, but it was a good talk. I said I imagined Death standing over me sometimes and I was like, 'Not today', and punched him in the face. That made Melanie laugh." She smiles a little. "I like making people laugh."

Annalise looks at her feet. "Me too."

"I think I'm only accidentally funny," Casey says with a shrug. "Most of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just kinda go with the flow." Annalise laughs and he points at her. "See? Accidental humour!"

Ahead of them, the tunnel floods with light and all three of the teenagers have to shield their eyes. When the light fades, Circa floats before them. Destiny and Casey reach for their weapons.

"I'm shocked that you still want to associate with that child," she says, aiming a finger at Annalise. The blonde shuffles over to hide behind Casey. The virus sighs. "I'm not surprised. Those turtles of yours are just as understanding about it all. It's sickening."

Annalise's heart lifts and the only thing on her mind for a brief second is Michelangelo and his understanding. Casey and Destiny say nothing, although Casey's entire body is shaking with pent-up rage.

"Raphael was probably the worst, talking about forgiveness and junk. Seeing that horrid ex of his really softened him back up," Circa says with a grimace. "A shame, he was so much funnier when he was angry and brooding."

Destiny's mouth falls open. "He got Taylor back?" Her tail lashes and she adds, under her breath, "And I didn't know about it?"

Casey aims his hockey stick at Circa, who eyes it like it's no more dangerous than a pencil. "Those are my friends you're talking about. Shut your mouth before Casey Jones shuts it for you."

"You have the gall to threaten me? I would've thought you'd learn after the beating I gave you," she retorts. Casey takes a step forward, teeth gritted, and Annalise grips his arm. Circa grins. "Good boy."

"Shut up," Destiny snaps. She reaches for the sword at her hip. "We know your game and we'll play it, but we will beat you. Mark my words."

Circa throws her head back and howls with laughter, the whirring, fan-like noise giving them the chills. "Oh...now that..." She wipes at her eyes, still churring. "You sounded exactly like Leonardo just there. He said something so similar to that before I beat him into the ground."

Destiny bristles, her wings fluff up, and Casey steps closer to reach a warning hand out to her. Annalise stays rooted in place, her wide-eyed gaze switching between the growling wolf mutant and the virus.

In the blink of an eye, Destiny's neck prickles and Circa's voice appears right behind her. "He's a fighter, that one, but he could be so much better if he just stopped caring about the wellbeing of others. It makes him weak."

Destiny whirls around and slices her claws downward, catching Circa across the collarbone. Circa lurches backwards with a gasp, hand flying to the wound, and she stares in shock at the sight of it. As it starts to knit itself back together, Circa slowly looks up at Destiny with murder in her eyes. Her pupils turn red and Destiny steps back, fluffy ears tucking against her hair as she raises her claws in defence.

"So," Circa utters, her voice low, lost of all the bounce and verve it usually has, "that's how you want to play. Fine."

She snaps her fingers and disappears, leaving the trio in darkness again. Without Circa in the way, Destiny finds herself staring at Casey and Annalise, both of whom return her blank, stunned look.

She blinks, retracting her claws as she clears her throat. "Good riddance," she mutters.

Annalise finally lets go of Casey's arm. "Mikey's with Leo," she says. "They...they have to be okay, right? Circa wouldn't kill them." She stops, then shakes her head as she grips her hair. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course, she would!"

"Calm down, Lise," Casey says. "She just said she beat Leo and I bet she only said that to get under wolfie's skin." He looks to his friend, her face sour. "Right?"

Destiny clenches her fingers and turns away, her lip curling. "I don't know what to believe," she says. She stares down the hallway, brow furrowed.

"I don't think Circa's done with us," Annalise says as she shifts from foot to foot, chewing her bottom lip. "She sounded way too angry. I—"

A howl echoes down the hall, sending chills up their spines and silencing Annalise mid-sentence. Destiny goes stiff, eyes narrowing, and she slowly turns herself around. Casey grips his hockey stick even tighter.

The sound of soft footfalls pads towards them—thump, thump, thump—accompanied by the clicking of nails. The first figure comes into vision first, a looming, gargantuan furry beast. Her fangs are stained with blood and drool and her green eyes are as cold and empty as jade. Muscles ripple beneath the matted fur, scars marring the stomach, shoulder, and eye.

Annalise reaches for her weapon, fingers hovering over the handles, but she feels faint at the very idea of using it against the wolf. She looks to Destiny and Casey, hoping for some kind of comfort or reassurance, but both of them are stuck in place, bodies in the present but minds in the past.

A second figure appears, dwarfed in height compared to the wolf at her side. An exact replica of Destiny stands before them—a bloody, tattered mirror image of their friend. This Destiny's eyes are crazed and feral, blood staining her jaw and cheeks. Her hands are just as stained, claws caked with dried bits of flesh, her hair in knots, clothing tattered, and every scar marking her skin is raw. Some still bleed. She has no wings and no life in her eyes.

Annalise gags and covers her mouth when the smell hits her, a rotting stench mixed with salt and iron, something she immediately thinks is the smell of death. Punch Death in the face, she reminds herself. Punch it. Right in the kisser. Just...

She stumbles forward. "I'll—"

Another wave of the stench hits her and she dissolves into a coughing fit. A scarred arm drifts to block her path as Casey reaches to help steady herself, his expression skewed with the effort of ignoring the scent, face pale.

Destiny's face is a mask of stone and she doesn't spare a glance at the humans behind her. "No, you won't do anything," she whispers. She sucks in a deep breath through her mouth. "I'll handle it."

Casey grabs her arm and turns her toward him, reaching to grip her shoulders. "No. No way," he snaps. "You can't do that, wolfie. I'll fight with you. I'll—"

She takes his wrists and lifts his hands from her. "You did it before. I won't make you do that again," she utters, a bite in her voice as she shakes her head.

"Des—"

"You and Annalise need to keep going. As far as we know, we're the only ones who know Circa's true intentions," she continues. "You two need to get out. You have people to get home to and I can hold them off."

His expression is pained. "You have people too."

"And I'll fight to get back to them. You know I will." She turns around and starts towards the doppelgängers, shaking out her arms and rolling her shoulders. "When they attack me, you two run past and keep going. Got it?"

Annalise gapes. "She isn't seriously doing this...is, is she?"

Casey bows his head, stamping his foot against the ground. "Damn it," he hisses.

Destiny bursts into wolf form and clashes with her copies, getting lost in a sea of snapping teeth and snarls. Casey takes Annalise's hand and they run, heads down, and they duck past the battle undetected.

His grip on her hand is tight, desperate, and maybe a little scared. Annalise squeezes a little, her heart pounding, and he can barely make himself smile at her in return.