"It all started nine-and-half-years ago...The Krang were conducting research on the effect of mutagen on human DNA. They were attempting to create a mutagen that would turn humans into super mutants, they tried it on many different test subjects, but there was one major setback. All the attempts failed. After additional research the Krang found the problem. What they needed was a human that was still growing. That's where I came in. The Krang stole me away from family when I was six and used me as a test subject. They turned me into...this. It wasn't until four years later that I was finally able to escape. I immediately went searching for my family—but it was too late. The Krang had already tied up all the loose ends of my disappearance and I had nowhere to start." Her eyebrows knitted together, her face darkening with anger. "I'd lost everything." The lizard turned her back to her cell mate, not wanting him to see the tears running down her face. To her tears were a weakness, a weakness she couldn't afford. Mona wiped her face with her hand and turned back to Raphael. Was that...anger?

The turtle strode over and pounded the wall with his fist, jarring his already injured arm. No, that wasn't anger, Mona Lisa decided, it was fury. She opened her mouth to console him, but was abruptly cut off.

"I don't know if I'll ever get out of this place put if I do—I swear I will make them pay." He growled dangerously.

She looked at the turtle in awe, his bright green eyes were on fire and his muscles were tense, but he held one arm close to his body awkwardly. She raised an eyebrow.

"After making no progress at finding my parents, I wandered the streets until one day I met an old woman. She took pity on me, despite my appearance and welcomed me into her home. Her only family was her daughter, who had been killed several years before in a car accident. She took me in and treated me as her own, despite my mutant physique. And for the first time in a very long while, I was happy. But then she fell ill and the next thing I knew, I was alone on the streets once more." She finished her tale and looked up to the turtle standing across form her. For the first time that night Mona Lisa really looked at him, taking note of his injuries.

"Let me see your arm."  She commanded. The turtle looked up at her warily, before stretching out his left arm slowly. The lizard girl reached out and held it lightly, checking the joint movement. She could feel the powerful muscles tensing under her fingers. "Relax: the more tense you are the more it's going to hurt. You're lucky it isn't broken."

"Well I think we define that word differently." He said with a frown.

"Any battle you fight with Krang and still come out alive is a great accomplishment." Mona whispered softly.

Raph blinked and shook his head. "Funny, my sensei once said the same thing, but about someone else."

"He sounds like a very wise man."

"Well, he's not a man. Not anymore anyway. He was mutated into a giant rat during a fight with the Krang. He had just bought us at a pet store and on his way home he was confronted by the Krang. He dropped our bowl and it shattered on the pavement along with a canister of mutagen. You can probably guess what happened next." Raphael didn't really know why he felt compelled to tell her all of this, but for some strange reason the words just came pouring out of his mouth with little to no restraint.

Mona Lisa nodded; she had witnessed the effect of mutagen firsthand, after all. "Wait—us?" Raph looked up at her, his bottom lip pushed out with a confused expression on his face.  That look is so adorable. Huh? Why did I just think that? Mona refused to dub the expression as adorable, though something in the back of her mind was whispering, Oh but it is. The brunette lizard shook her head to wipe away her thoughts. "You said us. 'He'd bought us from a pet store.'"

Raph nodded in realization. "Oh, I have three brothers." He added as a kind of afterthought.

"And they're also turtles?"

"Yeah." Raph rubbed the back of his neck nervously. The last thing he wanted was make her uncomfortable by talking about his family.

"I know that you probably don't trust me, but please believe me when I say that what's said between us will stay between us."

"You're right I normally don't trust so easily, but Master Splinter always tells me to trust my senses, and right now, they're telling me that I can trust you."

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"Their names are Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo." She looked up at him in surprise. "My brothers, Leo's the oldest and by extension the most annoying, he's always getting on my case about something or other. I know he only does it because he cares, but it really wears me out sometimes. Then there's Donnie, he's my younger brother. Donnie is an honest-to-goodness hard-core genius. He's also the smartest guy I know. And last, there's Mikey, my baby brother. He may be the loudest, most annoying, idiotic talking turtle in the universe, but if it weren't for Mikey, I probably wouldn't be able to put up with them."

Mona smiled at his descriptions, "They sound like great guys."

Raph grinned half-heartedly. "Best brothers a turtle could ask for. Wish I'd told 'em that when I had the chance." He sighed and slid down with his carapace against the wall in a sitting position. His knees pulled up towards his chest, arms folded on top. His head was slightly pulled inward towards his shell as he rested it on his arms.

The lizard girl kneeled down in front of him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Trust me Raph, it they love you as much as you love them, they already know."

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At the turtle lair, the night Raph was taken by the Krang...

Hamato Yoshi sat on the tatami mats in the dojo, in a deep trance. The giant rat was having trouble achieving balance tonight. His brow furrowed as he struggled to maintain inner peace. A familiar feeling entered his realm of consciousness. My sons are in danger. He thought, his white whiskers bent downward in a frown. The man turned rat opened his eyes and stood, giving up on his meditation for the time being. It was too difficult when his sons were in danger. The soft padding of footsteps drew his attention. My sons are home. He concluded, but then he paused in thought. But normally they are much louder when they return...Something's wrong. Splinter padded swiftly and silently to the main room of the lair, where April had already begun asking questions.

April had been sitting on the couch for quite some time now, awaiting the turtles' return. She would have been watching television, but there was nothing to watch besides Super Robo Mecha Force and the news. Suddenly, she was alerted to the soft sound of footsteps behind her. She jumped up and turned around, weapon at the ready, to see Leo standing behind her. The red-head let out a sigh of relief. "Leo don't scare me like that. Did you guys get the intel."

The blue masked turtle only nodded, stiffly, she sent a confused look to Mikey and Don who were now standing behind him. Then she realized something. "Where's Raph?" Leo shifted his gaze to floor, no longer able to look her in the eyes, and the other brothers frowned. Okay something is seriously wrong here. Donnie frowning was bad enough, but Mikey? Never in a million years. Her big blue eyes widened with fear and shock as all sorts of scenarios began filling her head. She looked back to the oldest turtle in desperation. "Leo, where is he?"

Leo's gaze remained lowered and his fist clenched with barely contained anger. His family getting hurt was one of the few things that made Leonardo Hamato absolutely livid. And right now he was furious, not only at the Krang for taking Raph, but at himself for not acting sooner. He should have known that Raph's call meant the situation was dire. He should have been there to help his little brother. "They took him." He growled out, his fists shaking with barely controlled rage.

The quiet tap of a stick on the floor drew their attention to their sensei, who had just arrived. Splinter stood and stroked his beard with his eyes closed as he acknowledged what had occurred. "And do we know where your brother is now?" The old rat looked expectantly at the oldest of his sons, but instead he received his answer from Donatello.

"Hai, sensei. He's being held in a Krang prison in Dimension X. The only problem is we have no way to get there, much less know where in Dimension X the prison is located."

"Hm. Then I'm afraid we have no choice but to wait. A solution will present itself, with time."

"But we don't have time sensei! Who knows what the Krang could be doing to him! We have to save him!" They stared at the blue-banded turtle in shock. Leo had never yelled at Sensei, not once.

Splinter put a hand on his sons shoulder. "I know that you are worried about him Leonardo. But rushing into the Krang dimension without knowing where you are headed will only make matters worse. I may have already lost one child tonight, Leonardo. I am not prepared to lose another. Put your anger aside for now my student, your role as leader is to protect your brothers, just because one of them is missing, doesn't mean you may put the other at risk to retrieve him. If you will excuse me, my sons, I must return to my meditation."