With Donnie's guidance, Monica pulled into the hidden garage, shutting out the rest of the city as the hatch lowered and sealed itself. About halfway through the drive, Monica and Donnie ended up switching spots because the more populated the roads got, the more likely it would have been for someone to notice a mutant turtle driving the van. And Monica was the only other human besides Casey with a license.

Shelby laid across Mikey's lap, her eyes staring off at the opposite side of the van, where Raph was sitting with Casey. Shelby was completely paralyzed from the scorpion mutant's venom, which she was kind of grateful for, since she couldn't feel the stab wound in her shoulder. But she also hated the feeling of helplessness and being a burden on others. She was really struggling to breath as well- it felt like she had a vise around her ribcage that was restricting her lungs. But there was no way of telling anyone how she was feeling; her mouth was sealed shut.

Monica had done all she could for Shelby's shoulder, having cleaned it out and packed it with gauze, but stitching up the wound inside a van driving across bumpy roads was less than optimal. As for the paralysis, they would have to wait until they got back to the lab to help flush the venom out of her system.

Shelby considered herself lucky compared to Casey, who was in and out of consciousness the entire ride home. His mask was severely scuffed and damaged, but it had protected his face from a serious case of road rash. His body didn't fair as well. His black clothes were shredded and torn in many spots. His shirt had been removed to clean the wounds on his chest, revealing bad bruising on his ribcage.

As soon as Monica parked the car, she turned to April. "We have to get Casey to a hospital. Does he have any family?"

It took April a second to comprehend the answer. "Er- yes! Yes, yes, I'll call his father right now. I'll tell him- oh gosh, what do I say?"

"Oh! I know! Tell him that Casey got hit by a train!" Mikey advised. If Shelby could have facepalmed, she would have.

April grimaced. "That's probably a little too intense."

"Say that you guys were leaving the skating rink when a couple guys from a rival hockey team showed up and ganged up on Casey." Raph stated.

"Okay, yeah, that's good." April stated, and dialed up the contact as Monica and Raph got out, Raph carrying Casey in his arms.

"Try not to move his chest too much- I think he has some broken ribs." Monica stated.

"Got it." Raph grumbled at her suggestion, though he seemed to take what she said into account as he and April went off to get to the surface.

Mikey wrapped his arms underneath Shelby and stood up, lifting her up with him. The jostling movement caused her entire back spasmed. Mikey whimpered slightly while it stopped. "Sorry." He whispered. Shelby wished she could tell him that wasn't his fault.

Leo and Donnie helped them exit just as Master Splinter arrived. "What has happened? Where are the others?" He asked with wide eyes as he rushed forward.

"Raph is taking April and Casey to the surface. Casey needed to go to the hospital." Donnie explained. "I need to hook Shelby up an IV ASAP and start making an antivenom."

Donnie rushed Mikey and Shelby to the lab as Leo and Splinter tagged along behind them. "Shelby was stung by a scorpion mutant. Now she can't move." Leo explained to their father.

"All scorpions are venomous, but very few are deadly." Donnie rattled off as he cleared a table for Mikey to lay Shelby on. "However, they all release neurotoxins that paralyze their prey- and Shelby was significantly smaller than the mutant that stung her."

"There was enough neurotoxin to paralyze her because that mutant was so big." Leo concluded as Donnie dragged an IV pole over with his good arm.

"Precisely." Donnie wriggled his injured arm out of his sling. "Leo, I should have saline bags in the medical cabinet. Could you grab that, as well as my blood drawing kit?"

"Erm, I could try." Leo stated hesitantly.

"Where's the medical cabinet?" Everyone jumped in surprise and turned to see Monica standing awkwardly in the doorway. "I've done IVs before, I could set it up for you."

"Yes, please." Donnie breathed in relief. "Medical cabinet is that tall wooden cabinet over there." He pointed to the cabinet.

"Who is this?" Master Splinter questioned as Monica jogged over to the cabinet. It took her only a few moments to find a saline bag, the necessary tubes and needles for the IV, and the blood drawing kit.

"Sorry, sensei, I forgot. This is Monica Mireles. She was the girl who lost her family in the mutant attack." Leo stated as Monica jogged back over, setting the blood drawing kit down for Donnie as she hooked the bag on the pole. Within minutes, Shelby was on a saline IV and Donnie had collected a sample of blood containing the venom.

"Will she be okay?" Mikey asked from next to Shelby, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"She'll be fine- as long as I get an antivenom done quickly. Monica, would you mind stitching up her shoulder? My arm-"

"It's fine, Donatello. I don't mind. Just tell me where the sutures are." Monica stated.

Shelby watched Donnie lead Monica back towards the medical cabinet. She wished she could tell them she was having a lot of trouble breathing too. Could they even do anything about it? Probably not outside a hospital setting. She tried to take a slow, deep breath, but her chest muscles spasmed.

"Shelby?" Mikey asked urgently, moving and bending down so that he was directly in her line of sight. "Are you okay?"

She still couldn't speak, but just being able to look at Michelangelo allowed her body to relax, and the breaths became slightly easier to obtain. She mentally urged him to stay, hoping he'd somehow get the message.

He sighed when she didn't answer, then grabbed a seat as he held on tight to her hand. She was able to take one deep breath.

~~~~~

"That's..."

"Not good?"

"That might be an understatement."

Shelby squeezed her eyes tight as Leo and Donnie's voices brought her out of sleep. Her memory of the last 24 hours flooded back to her mind, and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that her eyes were closed. She wriggled her toes, confirming that she was no longer paralyzed. She opened her eyes, taking a deep breath as she took in her surroundings. Mikey was still sitting next to Shelby, his head laid on the table next to her, his hand still holding on to her's as he slept. Shelby sat up slowly, careful to not disturb him. Next to the table Shelby was on, Leo and Donnie were hunched over Donnie's computer.

Shelby sitting up instantly caught their attention. "You're awake!" Donnie smiled.

"How do you feel?" Leo asked.

"Like a million bucks." Shelby muttered with light-hearted sarcasm. "How's Casey?"

"Two fractured ribs and a moderate concussion." Donnie sighed. "He's lucky, it could have been a lot worse."

Shelby nodded in agreement, glancing over to her hand, which was still connected to the IV. "Mind unhooking me from this?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Donnie chuckled awkwardly as he stood up and came over to remove the IV. Shelby noticed Donnie's arm was no longer strapped to his plastron.

"How long was I out?"

"Uh, like 10 hours I think." Donnie answered, freeing Shelby from the IV.

She gasped. "What?"

The loudness of her voice caused Mikey to jolt up in alarm. "I'M UP I'M UP!" He yelled, karate chopping the air in front him, before he paused, realizing where he was.

He looked over at Shelby, who was watching him with an entertained smile. "Sorry, Mikey. I didn't mean to wake you." She apologized.

"You're okay!" Mikey exclaimed, engulfing Shelby in a gentle hug.

"Was there ever a doubt?" Shelby asked.

"I mean, a small one." Leo stated from by the computer.

That brought Shelby's mind back around to the conversation Donnie and Leo were having when she first woke up. She kept her eyes trained on Leo as Mikey let her go. "What were you guys looking at?" She inquired.

Leo's face dropped. "Well, Donnie traced the tracker he put on that Foot van. They weren't from New York- they're based in Philadelphia."

"In a Bradford Dojo." Donnie finished.

"There's another one?" Mikey asked in exasperation.

"There's ten more, to be exact." Donnie said gravely. "The dojos recently opened in Manchester, Burlington, Baltimore, Boston, Providence, Bridgeport, Philadelphia, Newark, Virginia Beach, and... Washington DC. It's apparently a tribute to honor Chris Bradford's "passing"."

Shelby visibly grimaced at that name, causing Mikey to look at her with concern. "So the Foot Clan has expanded."

"Yeah, and it looks like they took the mutagen with them. Every reported mutant sighting coincides with these ten cities." Donnie stated.

"What do we do?" Mikey asked, and Shelby found herself looking to Leo.

Leonardo was frowning, his eyes trained on the floor, flinting side-to-side as the wheels seemed to turn in his head. "We can't afford to spread out over the country. We'll never win. We need to take the Foot Clan out at it's heart."

"The Shredder." Donnie and Shelby muttered simultaneously.

Leo nodded, looking up at them with determination churning in his grey-blue irises. "Let's just pray he's still in New York."

"You think he'd move?" Shelby inquired. "When Splinter is still here?"

"It's a possibility." Leo stated.

"There's one more thing." Donnie interjected, going over to another counter that housed a couple vials, petri dishes, and a microscope. "When Monica stitched up Shelby's shoulder, I asked her to scrape up a sample of tissue so I could analyze the scorpion mutant's DNA." He grabbed a slide off the table and held it up. "I found something... familiar." He gestured the others to come over as he inserted the slide into the microscope.

Leo went first as Donnie continued. "The slide you're looking at is the scorpion mutant's tissue. You'll notice the cells are misshapen and the interstitial fluid contains fine circular particles." Leo moved for Shelby to see. Shelby saw everything Donnie described- large, angry looking cells arranged in a loose structure with fine particles frozen in time between them. Shelby moved and allowed Mikey to look, before Donnie switched out the slide. "This... is Shelby's tissue."

This time Shelby reached for the microscope first. She had seen a similar slide before, shortly after she had been mutated and Donnie wanted to discover how she shifted back. The cells in the tissue looked completely normal and healthy, the only indication that they weren't human being the presence of extra chromosomes visible in a couple cells that had entered metaphase. Then, Shelby noticed that the same fine particles that were present in the scorpion mutant's interstitial fluid was present in her tissue as well, though in her tissue, the particles were attached to the cells.

Shelby took her eye away, looking at Donnie in alarm. "Those particles... we both have them." Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What could that mean?"

"Well, there's a lot of possibilities," Donnie started, "but I can say for certain that whatever chemicals Stockman mixed into your mutagen was used for this mutant as well."