🥷

Seth was the epitome of a father desperately looking for his child when Talia and April returned to the apartment. He wasted no time cradling his daughter's face while scolding her in Hebrew. April gave them their space.

"What is that the youth say these days?" Seth hugged his daughter one last time. "What is the point of having a phone if you are not going to answer it?"

"I am sorry, Abba," Talia breathed. And she really did mean it. "I did not mean to scare you like that."

Seth clawed a hand through his dark wavy locks. Talia even caught him muttering swear words in Hebrew. "Do you know what I was thinking when I went up to the apartment and saw that it was a mess? And that you were not there? Talia, I even tried calling and texting you! I was seconds away from calling Captain 'O' Neil! Where were you?"

Talia's brows wrinkled. She looked over at her best friend. April paid attention to the pavement. "I was out."

Another exclamation in Hebrew. "Out? Where? How did the apartment become trashed?"

Those were all very good questions, but Talia did not know how to answer any of them.

"Um-" Talia bit her lip. She begged April with her eyes to help her out here.

"The neighbor's dog broke in." April used her last brain cells to come up with that lie. Talia stared at her in utter dismay. "And. . . it was chasing a cat! You know how they get— creating a mess here and there. . ."

Judging from the look on Seth's face, he was not buying a single word.

"I don't even know why I said that." April gave up. "The apartment complex doesn't allow pets."

Talia shook her head. She pulled her father's hand and took him aside.

"For the record, please tell your friend to never pursue a career in acting," Seth frowned.

On that, I agree. "Look, Abba." Talia crossed her arms. "I really am sorry for almost giving you a heart attack, but there is a reason for everything."

Seth stuck his hands in his pockets. "Alright. I am listening."

Talia exhaled. Where should she start? "Do you remember when the news covered Imma's murder? That they said she had connections to a criminal organization?"

Seth appeared to be confused, not understanding why his daughter was bringing this up. "Yes? But I do not see what that has to do with this."

"Actually, it has everything to do with this," Talia corrected. "The organization Imma was working with, well, they sent a few people to eliminate me. April and I were in the apartment when they attacked."

Talia lifted her chin up so she could see her father at eye-level. "We are no longer safe, Abba. We can't stay here."

Seth was speechless. What could he possibly say after hearing his daughter and her friend were almost killed? It was unbelievable. Genesis, what have you gotten yourself into?

"I know a place where we can stay in the meantime. We'll be safe there."

"Talia, I don't-"

"Abba. I'll tell you what I know, but for now, I am asking you to trust me."

Seth had never heard his daughter sound so stern before. He was not sure how to wrap his head around this. In just a short amount of time, his wife was murdered, he and Talia were evicted from their home by the police, and now the organization his wife was apart of was putting out a hit on his daughter. Just what was going on? How much did his daughter know?

It seemed that Genesis's death had unleashed chaos. This was serious.

"Where is the place?" Seth questioned.

Talia beckoned April to come over.

"I need you to call Mr. Hamato," Talia requested.

***

In the living room of the Hamato household, the siblings (minus Donnie, who was in the comforts of his own lab), sat or paced around, pondering over the information handed to them by their father. Miwa and Leo were lost in thought; Raph walked back and forth across the room; and Mikey being Mikey, entertained himself by doing all kinds of noises using his hands, feet, and mouth.

"Does anyone else wonder who came up with the idea to name their clan after a body part?" Mikey wondered.

"Ninety-nine percent chance it was the founding father, Mikey," Miwa yawned.

"Why is it always the founder who comes up with such the craziest names? If I were the dude, I would've chosen a much cooler name."

"Oh, yeah? What would it be, then?"

"Obviously, something intense. Scary. Like Raph, for instance."

Raph picked up a book from the coffee table. "Don't make me throw this at you," he threatened.

Mikey snapped his fingers. "There's the anger we know and love!"

Raph glared daggers at his younger brother. He dropped the book and suddenly said, "I don't get it. Why would Dad keep this from us? Was he even ever going to tell us?"

Leo tore away from his thinking bubble to answer Raph. "You heard him, Raph. This Foot Clan is dangerous. He probably thought that by not telling us, he would be keeping us safe."

This wasn't something to be particularly bothered by, but for Raph, he couldn't help it. "Except he knew who we were going up against tonight, and he didn't bother telling us? Don't you think a nice little heads-up would've been nice?"

"Perhaps he thought it was too risky," Leo suggested.

"I'm just saying if we knew beforehand who was going after Talia and April, it would've made things so much easier."

"Since when do you like things being easy?" Miwa snorted.

Raph frowned. "I don't know about you, but I don't like being lied to. Especially if the lie has been going on for over a decade."

"Dad wasn't lying, Raph," Mikey said, now playing a game on his phone. "He was just not telling everything he knew. . ." Raph gave him a look. Mikey shrugged. "Okay, maybe he was lying."

Leo sighed. "Raph, father has his reasons. He always does."

"But are they really worth it?" Raph mumbled. He didn't feel like sharing, but something told him his father still knew more than he was letting on. He may not be a master at reading people like Leo, but he wasn't an idiot. He could tell when Yoshi spoke about Oroku Saki.

The room grew quiet. Seeing that no one else had anything new to add to the conversation, Mikey simply changed the topic.

"So, what do you guys think Genesis was doing for The Foot?" Mikey asked inquisitively.

"Nothing good, obviously," Raph rolled his eyes.

"You think she told Talia?"

"Why? So Talia could be disappointed in her? No, when you do something you don't want others to discover, you hide it. Even if it might cost you your life."

"But Talia was able to find out."

"Yeah, and look what almost happened to her and April in doing so."

"Maybe Genesis was creating some kind of mutant army? She would probably have to collect several different animal species for their DNA, though. Turtles, alligators, monkeys. . . just to name a few."

"And teach them what? Taekwondo?" Miwa scoffed. "What's next? A gecko that can skateboard?"

"Hey, doesn't sound too far-fetched. But my second guess? She was building an AI army and training them to be like The Terminator!"

Raph found Mikey's guesses so ridiculous, he wrinkled his nose. "Good luck trying not to have the army turn on her, then."

"Besides, Genesis isn't a roboticist," Miwa frowned. "What would she know about AI?"

Mikey shrugged. "She could've had help."

Leo, whose unfortunate soul had to hear all these wacky and ludicrous theories, coughed. "Look, we just have to wait for Donnie to get out of his lab and tell us if he found something on the drive."

Seconds after the leader spoke, Donnie came rushing down the stairs. Leo was worried he was going to miss a step and trip.

"Donnie?" Leo got up from the couch. When everyone looked at Donnie's face, they could tell he was ready to explode; his face was a blend of excitement, concern, and seriousness.

"I finally cracked it! Go get Dad. This could be important. Everyone needs to be in my lab STAT."

"Wow, um, okay." Leo nodded and snapped his fingers at Mikey. "Mikey, tell Dad."

Mikey saluted. "Aye-Aye, sir!" He said in his most military-like voice and back-flipped off the couch in the most dramatic way possible before heading off.

"Should we be worried?" Raph asked Leo. "What exactly did Donnie find?"

Leo shook his head. "I don't know. But we're about to find out."

In a matter of minutes, everyone was gathered around in Donnie's lab. The genius sat in his chair and pushed many keys, then swiveled his chair around to face his family.

"Trying to get through this drive was not easy," Donnie admitted, "but luckily for it, I like a challenge. There were encryptions upon encryptions. I mean, even for a techie, Genesis was pretty paranoid."

"Yeah, no brainer," Raph said. "She worked for The Foot."

"May I also add, this drive was designed to upload malware when it detects it is being plugged into any computer other than her own. I had to fight tooth and nail so my computer wouldn't get infected. Whoever designed this," Donnie held up the drive and smiled, "had their own backup plan installed."

Raph stared at him weirdly. "And you're happy? Even after the fact that the drive could have given your bride some sort of virus?"

"From one computer genius to another, you have to give credit where credit is due. Whether it was Genesis who created the drive or she hired another person to do it, you have to admit, they possess a brilliant mind."

"Even more than you?" Raph smirked.

"They're slightly intelligent than me. Slightly."

Donnie could talk about the beauty and complexity of the drive, but he knew time was of the essence, so he skipped the tech-talk and made what was on Genesis's flash drive appear on his screen.

Mikey squinted his eyes. "All I'm seeing is a list of names."

"Not just names," Leo said, frowning. "I think what are aliases as well. 'The Alchemist', 'The Count'. . ."

Raph stared dumbstruck at the screen. "Names are great and all, but how does that help us?"

"Well," Donnie started, "the people mentioned in this list are composed of the world's wealthiest people— CEO's from Hong Kong, France, Dubai. . . you name it."

"What about the weird names like 'The Stewmaker'?" Mikey asked, then laughing after. "Don't tell me— the person has a gift for making really good stew?"

"I think it's more serious than that, Mikey. You see, when I tried to search up the aliases— even checking databases like Interpol, CIA, FBI— there were no hits. If there's no record of such an alias, and yet it's here big and bold in a secret file. . ."

Miwa frowned. "You saying Genesis was the only one who knew they existed? When no one else did?" she guessed.

Donnie nodded gravely. "And if I had to guess? The names and aliases on here aren't for sentimental reasons."

The family watched as Donnie combed through everything on the drive, hoping that something would pop up as to what exactly Genesis was doing for The Foot, but if there was anything, it wasn't showing up on the computer.

Leo sighed. "Genesis knew better than to store her secret side hustle on file. She probably wrote it down on paper."

"It would make sense if she didn't want to risk getting caught," Donnie agreed.

"Great. So we have nothing," Raph grumbled.

"Wait a second!" Donnie held up a finger as he scrolled downwards. That was good news. Near the bottom of the screen was a folder titled For Talia. Donnie clicked it and there appeared a video.

"Should we watch it?" Mikey said.

"I don't know." Leo hesitated. "Wouldn't that be wrong? Guys, the video is for Talia."

"But at the same time, what if there's something useful on there?" Raph implied. "It could help us."

"Raph is right." Donnie nodded and then stopped himself. "Woah, I can't believe I just said that."

"Dad," Mikey said to Yoshi, "what do you think we should do?"

Everyone turned to look at Yoshi. Leave it to the single standing parent in the room to decide when his children can never come to an agreement about something.

Yoshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if he were to start meditating, but he opened them a second later. "I believe you must do whatever is necessary to help Talia and to get an advantage over The Shredder."

"That doesn't really help at all, Dad," Mikey groaned.

"Video it is, then," Raph concluded. He went ahead and clicked on it.

On the screen, Genesis's face appeared. She adjusted the camera first and then sat down. She took off her glasses and released a heavy sigh from her lips. Then, she began speaking:

"Shabbat Shalom, Talia. I never knew the right time to do this, but as my death grows eminent, it seems appropriate to do it now. I am not the woman you thought I was. I am so far from it. Imma made a mistake—"

"Imma?" Mikey blurted.

"It means 'mom' in Hebrew," Donnie quickly said before going back to the video.

"—my sins are too great. Too great that I cannot even bear to tell you without the guilt slowly killing me inside. I know you must have lots of questions, but unfortunately, I will never have the chance to tell you. The less you know, the more I can keep you and your father out of harm's way."

"I thought I could dance with the Devil unscathed, but I was wrong. I met my match when I shook hands with a man who calls himself 'The Shredder'. All the names you see on the list are people who have fueled The Shredder's criminal empire— and unfortunately, I also fed the lion's mouth. Every night, to smooth my conscience, I told myself that I was doing this for my family. What an amazing lie that was. How could I possibly say it was for my family, if I was ruining innocent lives? I even tried to make things right, but I believe I am too little too late, am I not? All I can say, my daughter, is to not be me. Be better than me. Right my wrongs. You still have a chance to fix things. I love you."

And with that the video ended. Everyone was left without words, simply staring at the screen. They felt an eeriness when watching Genesis talk. That feeling was multiplied when they looked at the date the video was recorded: September 1st, 2016– two days before she died. It was sick. It was like seeing her write a letter to the Grim Reaper to collect her soul in a few days.

"Someone turn it off before her ghost haunts us." Mikey shivered.

Raph served one of his eye rolls.

"You watch too many horror movies, Mikey," Donnie sighed, but nonetheless exited out of the file. "I'm guessing that whatever Genesis did, she screwed up big time."

"If she's beating herself over it, then yeah, no kidding." Raph frowned. "We just have to find out what it is."

"There's not much to even go on. She didn't even bother giving a clue," Miwa pointed out.

"Hey, at least we've got the names of Shredhead's partners," Mikey tried to look on the bright side. "That counts for something, right?"

"Michelangelo is right. We should start with them," Yoshi said. "You must uncover what kind of work Genesis did for The Shredder. But you cannot tell Talia what you might find. It might put her in more danger than she already is."

The quintet shuffled their feet. They were not fond of that idea, especially since this was about Talia's mother, but they also saw it from their father's point of view. Sometimes, knowing too much was dangerous. There was a reason why sleeping dogs were left to lie. In their heads, what Talia didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

The five siblings bowed their heads and said in unison: "Hai, Sensei."