Zilla peeks in through the window of her parents' apartment. Everything looks like how she remembered it—rock memorabilia, pictures everywhere. There's a single slice of chocolate cake kept safe under a glass dome; her favourite.

"Mew?"

Her heart aches as Shadow Princess of Darkness hops up onto the window sill and stares directly at her. She lets out another squeaky mew as a purr rumbles within her chest. Zilla can't cry, but she wishes she could in this moment. She wishes she could reach out and hug her cat close and tell her how much she missed her.

"Hi, Shady," she whispers instead.

The cat's head tilts, pupils dilating as her fluffy tail swings from side to side, and Zilla almost laughs at the absurdity of it all. Even like this, her pet recognizes her?

She hears footsteps and hides in the tiny shadows around the window as the door opens. Eustace enters, wiping oil from his hands on an old rag as he moves to the fridge. Zilla watches in silence.

"Grab me one, too!" Harry calls from downstairs.

"Sure, but you've gotta promise to restock the mini fridge!" Eustace retorts as he pulls two glass bottles of cola from the fridge, holding them in one hand. He smiles as he starts for the door again. "I'm getting too old to—"

He pauses, all too suddenly. Zilla waits. Eustace looks back at the apartment, his brow furrowing a little.

"Mew?" Shadow Princess asks.

Eustace blinks, shaking his head. "Sorry, mamas," he says. He walks to the window and reaches out to scritch Shadow's chin. "I just—"

Harry calls again from down below. "Eust? You okay?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry!" Eustace says. He looks out the window, a wistful look smoothing his brow. "I just...thought I felt something," he mumbles, half to himself.

All too soon, he's gone again, his footsteps retreating back down the stairs, and Zilla blinks hard as she rematerializes by the window. Shadow Princess hops down and starts to roll in the ray of light hitting the floor and Zilla manages a tiny smile.

But then she imagines reaching out and trying to pet her and Zilla knows that the cat would yowl and run from her, no matter how content she seems at a safe distance from Zilla's icy aura.

It's the sobering reminder she needs.

----------

It becomes clearer the long they wait, the more uncomfortable the hospital staff get. The nurse mentioned that only one visitor is typically welcome at a patient's bedside in the emergency department and, with Casey in the tentative state he's in, they're even less sure of letting anyone in to see him.

The Hamatos, armed with at least three decently stubborn mutants, immediately made a plan to make sure one of them would always be with Casey. In the meantime, the others will linger around the hospital and try to be as unobtrusive as possible, staying out of the professionals' way and keeping to themselves.

That doesn't stop Destiny from pacing, far too agitated and jittery to sit still for longer than a few minutes. Leonardo sits quietly, eyes closed. Michelangelo plays a game on his t-phone. Donatello and Sarina watch Destiny pace.

"Why did we even bring him here?" she asks with a bite that no one blames her for. They know it's not directed at any of them. "We know exactly what's killing him. Why couldn't we have just...just kept him at the lair?"

"Because we don't have life-sustaining equipment at the lair," Donatello reminds her gently. "The hospital has a better chance of keeping Casey alive until Zilla can get here."

"Right, right," Destiny says, rolling her eyes. "Because the hospital that suggested that he has rabies—"

"Destiny, be kind," Sarina says. "Do not blame them for not understanding something that has never occured before. Even Donatello and I struggled with the shade's nature."

Destiny mutters something under her breath even as she concedes, starting up her pacing again. Leonardo rises from his seat and stops her on her way back, gripping her shoulders.

"You've got to stop beating yourself up about this," he says.

Her shoulders sag. "I smelled shadow beast. I smelled it and I ignored it because I thought...I don't know. I could smell it on all of us after the fight, but it was so faint that—" Her voice catches. "I didn't trust my instincts and now Casey's—"

"Going to be okay," Leonardo insists. "It's bad now, but we have to have faith that Zilla will be able to help. She brought Raph back from the brink."

"It isn't on any one of us," Donatello adds. "We were tired. None of us checked on him because he seemed fine. We had no reason to think there was anything wrong. There were...a lot of missteps, but pointing fingers isn't going to make things better."

"Guys!"

April rushes up to them, her red helmet dangling from her arm, hurriedly fluffing the helmet hair away as she approaches. Donatello and Sarina get to their feet and Michelangelo pockets his phone.

April looks around at all of them. "How is he?"

"It's not great, dudette," Michelangelo says.

"They're running tests, but unsurprisingly, they have no idea how to treat him since the infection isn't reacting to typical antibiotics," Sarina adds. "He's on oxygen and Raphael's currently with him."

"As of right now, they think he has rabies," Leonardo sighs. "It's probably not helped by the fact that we said he got attacked by a wild animal on a hike."

"Is Zilla not here yet?"

"We haven't seen her. Did she say anything to you?" Donatello asks.

"She said she had a few things to take care of."

"More important than Casey?" Destiny asks.

April chews her bottom lip, shrugging. Destiny frowns deeply and April clears her throat. "I'm...I'm gonna go see him," she says.

"They're only letting in one person at a time," Leonardo says. "Just send Raph back out to us."

"Will do."

----------

Zilla isn't sure how she feels, watching Casey in his hospital bed. All she knows is that she feels a lot. She had hoped that it wasn't too late, but she took one look at the wound and she knew that her options had dwindled.

Casey lies there like a corpse, eyes closed, an oxygen mask secured around his nose and mouth and an I.V hooked to his arm. The nurses cleaned and covered the injury as best they could. He's so pale that his skin nearly blends with the bandages they wrapped him in.

Raphael gets up as April enters and the two share a wordless glance as he disappears into the hall. April slowly approaches the bed, clutching the strap of her schoolbag. Casey's monitor shows a slow, shaky heartbeat and a weak pulse.

April sits down in the chair next to Casey's bed, taking his hand in hers. She squeezes it and takes a deep, shaking breath. "Hi," she whispers. "I'm here. Don't worry."

Her grip shakes against his and she makes a tiny, choked sound. She hunches forward, clutching Casey's hand in both of hers as a few tears escape. Her shoulders tremble.

She wipes her face and goes right back to holding him, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "You better survive this, or I'll never forgive you," she whispers.

Zilla stares at their hands, his limp but held tightly in her freckled ones, and then she looks at her own. She presses her palms together, intertwining her fingers. She imagines Casey's hand, dark and shadowed against hers.

She looks back at Casey and April. She thinks of the group of disguised mutants waiting in the hall and the three other people on their way to the hospital at this very moment. He has so many people who love him. He's lucky that way. Some people spend their whole lives wishing they were loved.

There is a bit of white mutagen left in Wallace's lab, hidden away somewhere. Beast Mode mentioned it before she died. If Zilla could purify it, there's a chance it could work.

The question is now, is she ready for forever?

----------

The final piece of the Hamato puzzle falls into place as Taylor rushes into the ER. Driving for five straight hours is never ideal, but Taylor is pretty sure she blacked out for most of it. It's a wonder she wasn't pulled over.

She zeroes in on the rest of the Hamatos, April, and Annalise, but specifically Raphael. She can't sprint with the people still lingering around, but she moves as fast as she humanly can, throwing her arms around Raphael's neck and hugging him close. He secures her to him with a fierce embrace. It's the only "hello" they need right now.

"Holy shell, how fast did you drive?" he asks.

She pulls away a little. "As fast as I could without catching the eye of the police," she says. She looks at the others. "He's still alive, right?"

April purses her lips tightly as the others nod. Her eyes are red-rimmed from crying. Taylor steps away from Raphael, offering her arms to April, and she accepts the hug.

"God, this sucks," April mumbles to her.

"Seriously," Taylor agrees. She looks at the others, frowning. "Where's Andy?"

"Taking her turn sitting with Casey," Donatello says. He eyes the bustling reception desk and the various medical personnel working to organize and look after the endless stream of patients coming through their doors. "He's only allowed one visitor. We've been cycling through, but I'm pretty sure the nurses would rather we not be here taking up space."

"Too bad," Taylor says. "At least we aren't taking up space on their waiting list."

"Good point."

"At this point, we might have to leave because of our patches," Leonardo says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Wearing two in one day should probably be avoided."

"It's not ideal, but that's pure speculation since we don't have any way of testing the upper limits without bringing danger to ourselves," Sarina confirms.

Taylor puts her hands on her hips. "Raph said we're waiting for someone?"

"Oh, yeah, about that..." Raphael says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you remember a girl named Zilla?"

Taylor's eyes widen. "Santa mierda, did you guys find her?!" she gawks. "Casey called me a few days ago, asked if I went to school with a girl named Zilla, and hung up without an explanation. Is she part of this?"

"Yeah, sort of. It turns out she's a shadow mutant. That's why she disappeared. She got mutated."

She stares at him, blinks slowly, then blows out a breath as she pushes her red dip-dyed bangs from her eyes. "Ay, caramba...does Andy know?" Everyone shakes their heads. "Yikes, guys."

"We didn't know how to tell her without revealing the whole...mutant thing," Leonardo admits.

Taylor puts her hands up. "Okay, shelving that...what does any of this have to do with Casey?"

"The short version? You know how Raph's injury was...abnormal?" Donatello asks. Taylor nods. "Casey's injury is the same thing, but worse, and Zilla has healing abilities that might be able to save him," Donatello says. "We're here because the hospital is keeping him alive until then."

Taylor takes in the information, nodding slowly. "She's the one who saved Raph?" More nods all around. She blows out a breath. "Has anyone seen her yet?" There's a defeated chorus of "no's" from the group. Taylor curses, hands on her hips. "Dios mio, you move away for school and suddenly this city gets interesting again, huh?"

"It never stopped, honestly," Annalise says.

Andy approaches, brow furrowed as she stomps up to the group, and they fall silent. She crosses her arms over her chest, scrutinizing each of them.

"Alright, what's really going on here?" she asks. A few nervous glances bounce around the group and her jaw clenches. "You're seriously telling me that he got attacked on a hike? He looks like a fucking corpse!"

"Language," Donatello pleads, eyeing the humans in the room.

"There's something you're not telling me," she insists. Still, they stay quiet, and her bottom lip trembles before she purses them tightly. "Look, I know Casey and I aren't close. He barely knows my friends. I've never even met most of you." She looks pointedly at the disguised mutants, unaware of their true nature. "But, I also know that whatever is hurting my brother is not normal, and I need to know what you know."

"Are you sure?" Annalise asks. "It's gonna change everything about how you see the world."

"There have been two alien invasions in this city," Andy says. "I don't think anything can surprise me now."

"Ooh, are you betting on that?" Taylor asks. Andy frowns at her.

April sighs. "Come on. Let's step over here. We'll try to explain."

The three human women take Andy over to a more secluded spot. It's close enough that the turtles, Destiny, and Sarina can still watch Andy's reaction, but they can't hear a thing. Andy's expression fades from anger to shock, then confusion. She looks over April's shoulder at the disguised turtles, then back to the girls. She says something. They nod.

"WHAT?!"

They hush her, hands flapping, but Andy's mouth stays hanging open as her attention darts clearly between the mutants and the women.

"Man, I really wish I could lip-read," Destiny mutters. She adjusts her hearing aid. "I miss my working ears."

Andy pushes her hair off her forehead, blue eyes wide, clearly rethinking everything she knows about New York and Casey. When she looks at them again, Michelangelo waves.

Leonardo heaves a sigh as he looks at his brothers. "Every day, we become less of a secret."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Donatello admits. "There's safety in secrecy."

"Dude, making friends with humans? That was, like, my dream as a kid," Michelangelo says. "So long as Andy's cool about it, I don't see the issue."

"If it isn't another Chris Bradford situation, I'm good," Raphael says.

"Ew, don't remind me," Michelangelo says, sticking his tongue out and making a "blech" sound. "I was so young..."

"You guys really have gained quite the collection of humans," Sarina muses. For a second, she smiles, and then it disappears as her shoulders slump. "I...I really do hope that the number only grows."

The reminder sets everybody back solidly in the present. Raphael pulls out his t-phone to check the time, grumbling as he pockets it. "Where the shell is she?"