"That's impossible." Aiden grumbled. "She was a wolf. I have the scars to prove it." He snapped. Bri and Tyler's eyes flinted awkwardly to the five deep claw marks surrounded by lifted ice burns covering Aiden's lower face. They then dropped their eyes almost as quickly as they had lifted them.

"Bro, I don't know what to tell you. That was our sister- human, walking on two legs, no tail, no fur." Tyler explained.

"Okay, let's sit and think for a minute." Bri stated. "Shelby was mutated, we know that for sure. I have the list of ingredients right here." Bri pulled out her phone, which had notes about Shelby's mutagen. "The main component was mutagen, obviously. Wolf DNA, which shouldn't have caused an issue- we know from the most recent mutations that the form the subject takes is determined by the DNA in the mutagen.

"My dad also added the mind control serum, which is mainly made up of a chemical my father labeled "Chemical X". This is the unknown in the equation." Bri explained.

"Okay... maybe we should try mutating someone with that combination? Mutagen, wolf DNA, mind serum. See if it turns out the same as Shelby, or any different." Aiden suggested.

"That's probably the only way to go about this, only it's extremely unethical." Bri muttered.

"I mean, we're choosing between your dad and ethics here." Aiden reminded her.

"Right." Bri sighed. "I'll... make the mixture. You guys track someone down."

"Sounds like a plan. Come on, Ty." Aiden stood, and his brother followed him outside of the lab.

"So, who's the unlucky guy?" Tyler inquired. "Just to be clear, I do NOT volunteer as tribute."

"Obviously, doofus." Aiden laughed slightly. "Brandon's been getting on my nerves lately. Think he's up for a round of shots?"

"I mean, it's him or someone else apparently." Tyler shrugged begrudgingly.

Aiden glared slightly. "Listen dude, I know this is nasty business. But we're only trying to bring Shelby back."

"Yeah, by making her a mindless zombie." Tyler muttered.

"Hey." Aiden stopped, grabbing his brother and stopping him as well. "May I remind you that she's the one who left us. We did nothing wrong."

"We did everything wrong!" Tyler snapped back, taking Aiden by surprise. "Are you blind, Aiden? We're the bad guys. All this mutagen mixing, army making, domination plans- that's what the bad guys do!"

Aiden looked straight ahead, his eyes cold. "... Even if that's true... we have a job to do. We're in this now, whether we like it or not."

Tyler rolled his eyes, before something caught his eye and he nodded in that direction. "There's Brandon."

Aiden cracked his neck. "I'll do the honors."

Brandon, a scrawny, shorter man with black hair and scruff on his face, waved in greeting as Aiden approached him. "Sup, boss? Great training session today, I thought you were about to knock out-" In one shift motion, Aiden connected his fist with Brandon's nose.

Brandon stumbled back, completely disoriented, when Aiden swept an elbow into his temple, knocking him out. Tyler joined his brother in begrudgingly picking up Brandon's now limp body, and carrying him back to the lab.

Bri was just finishing the mixture as they returned. "Okay, perfect. Strap him down on the subject table, please." The boys obeyed, laying Brandon down gently, as to not wake him, and cuffed his wrists and ankles to the table, as well as his midsection.

Bri approaches solemnly, flicking a syringe containing the glowing green liquid. "Mutagen, wolf DNA, and the mind serum. Just like my dad made it." She grabbed a disinfecting wipe, cleaned the inside of his arm, and wiped the moisture away with a dry cotton ball. Carefully, she inserted the needle, before pushing down on the syringe. The boys watched with fascination the green liquid glowed underneath the skin within the muscle, before being picked up by the veins. As the mutagen dispersed, it was no longer visible, but Bri didn't looked worried. She nodded in slight satisfaction. "It will only take seconds for the mutagen to spread completely." She whispered to the boys.

True to her words, the transformation began occurring within moments of the injection. Brandon began to regain consciousness as his cells all caught fire, changing from human cells to a mutant's. An animalistic screech left his throat as his back arched, and his hands clenched. His clothes puffed up as thick, ashy brown fur bloomed out of his skin. His face enlongated into a wolf's snout, and his screech turned into a pained howl. Moments later, the transformation was complete- sort of. Brandon laid panting on the table, appearing to be a wolf for the most part. However, his newly grown fur did not cover him completely; it was patchy and thinner, and his hands and feet remained completely human, with only the nails blackened.

"Hm. Well, he kind of ended up like Shelby." Tyler muttered. "Except, you know, Shelby had those crazy ice powers, she was white, and you know, she's no longer walking around on all fours."

Aiden looked at Bri in confusion. "So, what now?"

Brianna took a deep breath. "One of us must take the mind serum shot." When both Aiden and Tyler's eyes widened in fear, and Bri shook her head. "No mutagen or DNA involved. There's two different versions of the mind control serum. Alpha and beta. They work... Kind of like ant pheromones, with slight differences. The beta serum- what Shelby and Brandon received- is completely receptive to the signals activated by the the neural activity of the alpha. However, the beta serum isn't molecularly structured to allow the beta to respond- only react."

"So... It's not like a telephone. It's like a one way street. Alpha speaks, but the beta can't speak back." Aiden clarified.

"Why would you compare that to ant pheromones when it just sounds like a wolf pack to me." Tyler stated, still confused.

Bri looked at Tyler, unimpressed. "Because wolves don't communicate entirely through chemicals- just, that really has nothing to do with anything I'm saying."

"Well, then don't say it's something it's not..." Tyler muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, whichever one of you takes it, you'll be taking the alpha version. The Shredder took this the day of Shelby's mutation and the connection failed. We need to see if Brandon's mind serum failed to work as well. If it did, then there's a mistake in the formula that my father somehow missed."

"And what happens if it doesn't fail?" Aiden pressed, his brows furrowed.

"Well, then Shelby's mutation had some sort of anomaly that I'm missing. Nothing happens without an explanation." Brianna stated.

Aiden took a deep breath as Bri left to another table, picking up a syringe that could only contain the alpha serum. "Fair enough, I suppose. I'll... take the serum."

The room filled with silent tension as Brianna approached Aiden, looking up at him in an apologetic and nervous manner. Aiden held out his arm and Brianna held it firmly. His steady blue eyes watched as Bri quickly cleaned the area, before plunging the needle into his arm.

There was no glowing effect, as there had been with Brandon's mutation. Just a searing feeling where the serum entered his arm, and nothing else.

"Give it a moment." Bri whispered as she removed the needle and applied pressure with her thumb on the injection site. "The serum will reached your brain in a few seconds."

After a moment of silence, Bri nodded. "Your minds should be linked now. Try to command him."

Aiden cleared his throat, looking to the monster on the cot. "Wake up."

The mutant's eyes snapped open, bloodshot and red.

Bri nodded, walking over to unlock all of Brandon's restraints. "You shouldn't have to speak out loud. Just think about what you want him to do."

Aiden locked eyes with Brandon. Stand up and... Aiden glanced at his brother. Growl at Tyler.

Brandon rolled himself off the cot, crouching on all fours as he let out a vicious growl, staring straight at Tyler.

Tyler ducked behind Aiden- he had already looked uncomfortable to begin with, but now he was terrified. "Aiden, tell him to cut it out!"

Aiden laughed. At attention. Brandon instantly lost all emotion in his face and stood on two feet, staring at Aiden, ready for more orders.

Aiden and Bri locked eyes. He was smiling, but she was frowning. "What? It worked!"

"Exactly, which means my father's mutagen should have worked on Shelby, but it didn't." She explained with a frustrated tone. "Master Shredder is going to kill my father for a factor out of his control."

"Ssss-o, you overheard that conver-ssss-ation." The teens all jumped in surprise and turned to face Baxter Stockman. How he entered the room unnoticed, they had no clue- the buzzing of his wings usually made his presence in the room well-known.

"Dad." Bri settled down once she realized who it was. Once she collected herself, she began to explain. "Yes, I was about to enter the lab when I heard Master Shredder yelling at you. I... didn't want you to think that I thought you were incapable of figuring out what went wrong on your own, and the boys insisted on helping, so we threw together our own little investigation."

"The serum works perfectly, Dr. Stockman." Aiden stated. "Actually, both the mutagen and the serum are working just fine."

Baxter made a skeptical buzzing noise, before investigating Brandon. He examined the mutant closely as he spoke. "Hi-ssss mutation i-ssss-n't a-ssss complete a-ssss Shelby'ssss, though thi-sss outcome i-ss similar to what I had expected." He glanced at Aiden. "He follow-sss order-ssss?"

"Without hesitation." Aiden nodded.

Baxter cocked his head. "Exactly how I intended. What i-sss the difference?" He demanded, more to himself than the others in the room.

"Run us through Shelby's mutation, step-by-step." Bri suggested. "Maybe we're missing something small and seemingly insignificant."

"I created the mutagen sss-erum, which you replicated. I had no knowledge of when the fir-sssss-t te-ssss-ting would take place, ss-o I sss-tored in it in the laboratory refrigerator. I remember being concerned that the ss-erum would be too coagulated to be injected." Baxter recounted. "But it did. She mutated into a full wolf, not an incomplete ss-pecimen like your project here, but Ma-ssss-ter Shredder had no control over her."

Aiden glanced at Bri, hearing nothing significant in her father's walkthrough. However, Brianna's eyes lit up. She rushed over to her table, where she had set aside leftover mutagen. "Dad, do you have liquid nitrogen handy?"

"Of cour-sss-e." Baxter buzzed, flying off to retrieve it.

"Okay, because everyone causally has liquid nitrogen laying around." Tyler muttered, earning an elbow from Aiden.

Baxter returned with the nitrogen tank as Bri finished prepping a mutagen slide for the microscope. Her father helped her dip the vial into the liquid nitrogen, before they prepared a second slide and hurried to the microscope. Aiden and Tyler glanced at each other in confusion, before following them.

"Are you seeing this?" Bri asked excitedly, switching the slides in and out. Her father took over, and did the same thing several times.

"The mind sss-erum- the cooling proce-sssssss mu-ssss-t have rendered it inactive." Baxter exclaimed. "Sss-ee how it'sss sss-eparated and ss-ome molecule-sss have bonded with the mutagen?"

"The larger molecule that remained separated- that's not DNA, right?"

"No no, the DNA i-sss the thin ss-trand-ssss."

"Right. Could it be chemical X?"

"That would be the most potent ingredient. Sss-eparating it from the re-sss-t of the mind sss-erum mu-sss-t render it inactive!" Baxter exclaimed.

"So, that explains mutant-wolf-Shelby not obeying Shredder's commands." Aiden stated. "But that doesn't explain how she's not a mutant anymore."

"I can do more research on that." Bri offered, before turning to her father, smiling. "We have to tell Master Shredder right now!"

Baxter bobbed up in the air excitedly. "I don't know how I ended up with sss-uch an amazing daughter." He stated, wrapping his "arms" around Bri. Aiden wasn't quite sure how she could stand to be touched by a mutant fly, father or not, but she embraced it happily. "Now, let'sss go ss-ave my neck."