Destiny's train of thought needs to stop derailing and set itself straight on the train track of life.

Every day, she's trying to stop thinking about numerous scenarios and memories amongst other things, yet that's all she's able to set her mind to. She thinks about the torture, she thinks about the numerous scars marking her body, and she keeps thinking about how the Shredder and Diaval appeared in front of her.

She obviously imagined them, but why? She never did before. She hasn't even met Shredder; Donatello told her that the brain isn't supposed to be able to create faces that haven't been seen before. It physically can't, so why did Destiny get such vivid daymare of Oroku Saki? The questions never end.

The only conclusion she can possibly come to is that, somehow, someone is putting the image of Shredder into her head. That person can easily be Diaval. His specialty is creating images in the minds of others.

She tenses, thinking of just what happened before she slipped off the exam table and into Leonardo's arms. The memory is hazy due to how exhausted and drained of energy she was at the time. All she can remember is a dark-skinned man with a fluffy afro and thick-framed glasses, Stockman, standing over her a glistening object in his hand and speaking in a frantic, wavering tone wrought with fearful determination. Destiny had wondered at the time what it was that made him so scared.

She stopped thinking when the pain hit, blinding pain that surged through her veins and made her mind feel as if it was turning to jelly. It was the kind of agony that made her scream so loudly that she's sure that anyone outside the base could've heard it. Sticking her hand in boiling water would've hurt less.

Destiny exhales. She hasn't told anyone inside the lair about her warped memories. They're all so vague that she doubts that they'll be useful to anyone. If anything, it'll make them worry more.

She doesn't want them to worry about her. She just wants to forget that it ever happened. She wants to forget that she was ever captured, but that's the problem. Things like that can't be forgotten.

Destiny opens her eyes, taking in the silent dojo as her body returns to a more awake state of mind. She lets out a heavy sigh and runs her claws through her hair as she rocks in place. Her crossed legs are starting to feel numb.

Her attempts at meditation are mediocre at best. She finds herself thinking too much and therefore doesn't find any sense of peace. So much for helping with the headaches and nightmares.

She gets up, hooking her thumbs around the waistline of her jeans and wiggling them back up to her hips before locating her uchigatana and heading out into the living room, where the turtles are preparing for a patrol. They all have their weapons ready, talking over the last minute plan that has to do with retrieving canisters of mutagen.

"This won't take very long tonight. We'll do our usual patrol, maybe pick up some canisters, and then get back home," Leonardo reiterates, his arms crossed and his posture straight. "Remember, keep an eye out for anything suspicious. This will be Destiny's first patrol with her weapon, but hopefully, we won't have to get into any fights."

"Aw, what if I wanted to use it?" Destiny asks, alerting the turtles to her presence with the half-hearted joke. She smiles weakly as she sheathes her sword against her hip. "Kidding. Just so long as I get some fresh air."

"Destiny, there you are!" Michelangelo greets. "First patrol with the weapon! I'm so pumped!"

"Why would you be pumped?" Raphael asks. "It's just another patrol for you."

Michelangelo grins and hooks his hands behind his head. "I'm allowed to be excited for her, dude," he says, his cheerful voice vaguely teasing in nature.

"How's the head?" Donatello asks, glancing up from his mutagen scanner and directing the attention back to the wolf mutant. If he's annoyed by the bickering of his brothers, he doesn't let on.

Destiny shrugs, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her human ear. "It's fine. Some meditation got rid of it real quick," she says. A throbbing pain grows near her temple, then fades before she's taken another breath. She hides a flinch to the best of her ability.

Leonardo nods a few times as he gives her a look that's bordering on smug. "Told you it'd work."

She rolls her eyes, reaching out her fist and nudging his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, you're the wisest turtle ever," she teases, making him wink at her.

"If you two are done, we should get going," Raphael says. "I'm about to lose my shell with all this waiting."

"Alright, Raph, we're going," Leonardo says, lifting his hands up in a defensive position. He jogs to the turnstiles and hops over them with incredible ease. "Come on, guys!"

Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael don't have to be told twice to follow. Destiny takes a few steps towards the gates after them, but stops short and rests a hand against the handle of her uchigatana. Her eyes fall to the floor.

"Destiny, are you alright?"

She tilts her head towards the noise, where Splinter stands at the base of the steps leading up to the dojo. She looks away and shrugs her shoulders, her tail lashing back and forth once.

"I guess I'm nervous," she says. "I've never fought with my sword and if we do run into trouble, the last thing I want to be is a burden." Her eyes swivel slightly, just enough to see that Splinter has moved closer.

He hums tunelessly, stroking his goatee as he ponders. "It is fine to feel like this," he states, "and you will not be a burden. You can never learn if you do not experience."

"Learn from your mistakes?" she whispers.

"Learn from your mistakes," he affirms.

Her lips twitch upwards and she pivots her body to him. "I'll do my best, Sensei."

"I have no doubt that you will," he says with a gentle smile. "Be safe, Destiny, and..." His smile falters and he gives her a more parental glare. "Try to listen to my sons."

She bows to him before turning and dashing off down the tunnels to catch up with the turtles.

----------

Outside, Destiny manages to lose herself in the freedom of the night. She runs, jumps, and flips whenever she can, stretching her muscles and reminding herself of the routines that now vacate her mind. Her uchigatana bumps against her hip with every movement.

"Guys, I've got one!" Donatello calls as the whisk-sensors of his mutagen scanner start to spin. "Just a few feet ahead!"

"Aw yeah, mutagen hunters go!" Michelangelo hoots.

The turtles race ahead, yet Destiny slows down. Her lungs burn with adrenaline as she looks around, her ears swivelling to and fro in careful motions. A mildly familiar scent hits her nose and she stops dead in her tracks.

The wolf girl's green eyes snap back to the turtles just as their shells disappear from view into a nearby alleyway. Destiny pads to the edge of the building and peers down to see Raphael scooping a canister of mutagen from a dumpster. The scent is still there, but it doesn't belong to anyone she recalls as friendly.

"Guys," she calls, keeping her voice in a harsh whisper. "Guys!"

Leonardo's eyes fasten on her, one eye-ridge arching. "Des, what are you doing?" he calls upwards.

"I smell someone," she states. Something scuffles near her and she jumps, spinning around to see a pigeon take flight from the roof. She scowls and returns her attention to the boys. "Just get up here," she says before disappearing from their view.

Raphael glances sideways at Donatello. The purple-masked turtle shrugs and slips his mutagen scanner into his belt before starting towards the fire escape. The others are quick to follow. Once they're back on the roof, Destiny inches closer to the northern edge and peers out into the street, where there's still little sign of activity.

"Look, I think the Foot are around," she says, lowering her body a little more to maximize how much of her is hidden from view. "I can smell them."

"I don't see anyone," Michelangelo comments, moving to her side and promptly crouching to be at the same level as her. "You sure, dudette?"

"I smell them," she repeats, glaring sideways at him and making him take a wary step back. "They could easily be hiding."

The turtles stir in place. Destiny doesn't remove the glaring expression from her face, her muscles starting to tremble.

"Leo?" Donatello asks. "What do you think?"

Leonardo exhales, resting a hand on his belt as he taps one foot rhythmically. Raphael adjusts the canister in his grip as his eyes shift to Destiny, the glowing substance illuminating his skin in an eerie sort of way. She bites her lip as her hands tighten against her thighs.

"Everyone split up," Leonardo orders. "Raph, Donnie, Mikey, keep going forward and look for more mutagen, but keep an eye out. Act like nothing is wrong. I'll stay back and scout this area with Des to see if we can uncover anything."

Michelangelo salutes, flashing his normal, bright smile. Raphael and Donatello do similar nods and turn away, the trio hurrying off in the direction they were going before. Destiny stares after them, her face slack and her eyes becoming more vacant and spaced out with every second. She can only hope that they aren't being baited into a trap.

Leonardo steps in front of her, causing her to blink rapidly before refocusing. The turtle stares back at her in complete seriousness, not a hint of teasing or weakness of any kind in his eyes.

"Where'd you smell them?" he asks.

She tilts her nose to the sky and takes a deep breath in. The scent is fainter, but she still catches it. She points north, directly ahead of them, causing Leonardo's gaze to shift. He exhales and gestures outwards as he unsheathes a single katana.

"Lead the way."

----------

Even as they follow the minimal trail, nothing comes up that reveals anything of use. Leonardo stops running, his chest heaving slightly as he puts his weapon away. Destiny slows down but doesn't relax, eyes switching to look in every direction and her fluffy tail waving slowly back and forth.

"Des..." Leonardo says with a tired breath. She stills, her fingers curling into her palms. "Let's go. There's nothing here."

He turns and begins retracing their previous steps. Destiny stares down at the empty streets ahead of her, taking in the faint scents of trash and gasoline. She bounces in place a few times, snagging her bottom lip between her teeth.

A hand touches her shoulder and she nearly jumps out of her skin, hand flying to the hilt of her sword. Leonardo instantly leaps back, his hands held defensively out at her. She squeezes her eyes shut and forces her grip away from the weapon, shoulders starting to tremble.

His gaze allows for the smallest bit of gentleness to return. "Des, are you okay?" he asks.

She doesn't open her eyes. "I thought...I was so sure..." she whispers, a fragility in her voice. A few tears appear at the edges of her eyes and she hastily wipes them away. "Sorry."

"That's all you're upset about?" he clarifies.

Her jaw clenches. "What else would there be?"

The look on his face is enough to show that he both knows that she's downright lying and that he's fully done with her being stubborn all in one. "I want to help you, but I need to understand what's going on in your head," he says, stepping closer to her. "That means you've got to talk to me."

Destiny sighs again and forces herself to look at him. "You know what it's like to feel watched?" she asks. He nods. "That's how I feel all the time. Every scent that crosses my nose, every movement from the corner of my eyes...I keep thinking that it's them and they've come back."

Leonardo doesn't respond. He shifts, lifting his hand to his face and dragging his fingers along his forehead, nose, and lips. The wolf mutant absentmindedly grips one of her curls, tugging and twirling the strands around her fingertip.

"Leo, what if something bad happens again?" she asks, swallowing the slimy, sticky feeling building in her throat.

"No," he says instantly. He moves right to her side, taking her hand in his and squeezing it as he makes an almost fierce amount of eye contact. "I won't let that happen."

"You talk like you can control what happens."

"I can try."

That does manage to make her smile, but it's stolen away from her features far too quickly. He can tell that she doesn't believe him; it's written on her face more clearly than the printing in a novel. Leonardo exhales and lowers his head, one finger drawing lazy circles against Destiny's slightly bruised knuckles.

"I have to at least believe that I can control something in this life, because otherwise..." He trails off, his lips pressing together as a distant look invades his gaze. "Otherwise, I don't know how I'd continue doing what I do every day."

She leans against his arm, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. "Would you believe that everything happens for a reason?"

He smiles just slightly but shakes his head. "Nah, I don't like imagining that I—"

"Don't have control?" she guesses.

His arm surrounds her shoulders and tugs her closer to him as he presses a kiss to the side of her head. "Look how well you know me," he murmurs, his breath just rustling the fine hairs that pepper her hairline.

She shuts her eyes and tries to focus every part of her mind on the feeling of his lips on her skin, warming her from the tips of her ears to her toes. "Just some things," she whispers.

He laughs softly and leans closer, but the rhythmic beeping of their t-phones interrupts. They pull apart and check their phones, where a group text from Donatello lights up the screen.

D: No Foot. Found another canister but that's it. Head back?

Leonardo's reply is quick.

L: Yeah, everyone back to the lair. Stay on guard just in case.

He slips the phone back into his belt, casting a quick look to Destiny as she does the same. There's a brief moment of silence. She looks up, meets his eyes, and exhales through her nose as her tail lashes. Taking that as a signal that she's okay with giving up, he turns and heads back the way they came, the wolf mutant taking a few tentative steps across the roof as he starts to get smaller and smaller in the distance.

She stops abruptly as that same scent passes her nose. There's a furry musk to it, mingling with the scent of gasoline from the road. She inhales deeper, her body moving as if she's being pulled along by the aroma itself. She shuts her eyes and tries to pinpoint the spot without being distracted by the buildings towering around her, her feet moving on their own across the roof.

Her eyelids fly open as a motorcycle goes whipping down the street beneath her, the roaring sound of its engine making Destiny's ears flatten against her head. Destiny starts to run, keeping up with the bike as best she can, eyes darting to and fro between the bike and the path before her.

It's the driver that's tipping her off; they're the one that smells like the Foot. To make her even more suspicious, this person is dressed from head to toe in a black uniform and, from what Destiny can make out, is gripping the handlebars of the bike with hands that look more like paws.

Destiny swears that she feels the side of her face tingle as her teeth grit. The driver has to be Emery: the scent and the appearance fit.

The bike roars around a corner, headed for a three-story cathedral with a stained glass window at the peak of the slanted, triangular rooftop. Destiny doesn't slow down for a second.