Chapter Text
"Okay, now that one..."
Raphael rolled his eyes but patiently put the box of metal junk onto the shelf.
"Why did you need Raph to move your stuff anyway?" The snapper asked. "Don't you have a machine or somethin' that could move it?"
Donatello shook his head. "Pitying chuckle. Oh Raphala, as astonishing as my technology is, a robot's brute strength lacks the delicate touch to move some of these cardboard boxes without tearing them. Hence, my reason for requesting your assistance."
"Then couldn't you ask Mikey to move it with a spell?"
Donnie's expression turned sinister. "There will be no magic in my workspace."
Raph realized there was no point in arguing, and picked up the last box. Donatello had come to Raph's room that morning and practically demanded his help without giving much of a reason. Nor had he taken 'no' for an answer.
"I dunno why you wanted me to do this today," he thought out loud, "I mean, you know what today is, right?"
The softshell raised a drawn-on eyebrow and looked at his wrist device.
"It is Tuesday, eleven-thirty in the morning..."
"No," Raph corrected. "I mean it's..."
"DONNIE!" Mikey cut off his older brother by running into the lab screaming.
"Oh, Angelo," Donnie gave the most forced surprised look in existence, and spoke in a monotone. "You are panicking. Has some terrible thing happened?"
"Uh, yeah!" Somehow Mikey was a worse actor than his brother. "Leo, uh... Was skateboarding in the living room! And now, um... Now the couch is on fire! Come on, you both need to help put it out!"
Raph wasn't the brightest, but he wasn't stupid. He gave his younger brothers a look, crossing his arms.
"Okay, what's goin' on?"
"Just... PLEASE COME IN THE LIVING ROOM RIGHT NOW NO TIME FOR STUPID QUESTIONS!"
With that, Mikey's spots started glowing and he used his nunchucks to start dragging Raph to the door.
Donnie rolled his eyes and walked out of the lab, leaving them both behind.
Mikey's surprising strength got Raphael out of the lab (though he wasn't really resisting). Once his spots stopped glowing, Raph realized that the rest of the lair was surprisingly dark.
The nunchuku chains around him quickly unwrapped and disappeared, leaving him no clue of where Mikey was.
"Uh, what's goin' on?" The snapping turtle thought aloud, trying to keep his panic at bay.
His family wouldn't leave him alone, right?
That question was answered when a bunch of colorful lanterns lit up at once (whether it was Mikey's magic or Donnie's tech was anyone's guess). They illuminated the room, showing off a colorful banner ("IT'S YO BIRTHDAY!") and numerous red balloons. Leo, April, Donnie, Elsa, Mikey, Splinter, and (surprisingly) Draxum all stood under the banner.
"Surprise!" The teenagers all yelled.
Relieved that he wasn't alone (and a little more surprised at the party than he should have been), Raph got a big grin.
"Happy sixteenth!" April grinned. "We're finally the same age again!"
"Well, technically you're still older than him by nine months, one week, two days and six hours," Donnie cut in, looking at his wrist computer.
The softshell's comment was ignored as the birthday party went underway. As always, their birthdays were pretty small: they couldn't really invite anyone but April over. But they always made the best of it: Mikey always went all out baking the coolest cakes he could, Donnie always tried to create some sort of high-tech gift, and Leo always ran a betting pool with the rest of the family to see which of the two would start a fire first (out of the last ten birthdays, Mikey had started six fires, Donnie had started three).
That year, Mikey's cake was probably his coolest yet. It was Raph's favorite flavor (double chocolate with Pop Rocks), three tiers, covered with bright red frosting and decorated with rubies. The gems had surprised everyone before Mikey explained that they were actually rock candy he'd bought in the Hidden City: the candy-maker had put a spell on it to make it look like any gem the buyer wanted. As her gift, Elsa had brought along another big case of red bean ice cream (with her powers keeping it cold without the need for a refrigerator).
And, as always, April'd brought enough pizza to feed an army (though this year Elsa had been happy to foot the bill).
Once they'd eaten, they handed out gifts. Along with Elsa's ice cream, Raph got some great stuff: new wrist wraps from Splinter, a video game from Leo, a new plushie from April, a freshly repaired (and customized) punching bag from Mikey...
Raphael had been a little hesitant to receive whatever Donnie gave him (especially after what happened the last time Donnie'd given his brothers "special gifts"). But to his relief, Donnie had just made an app for his phone that could better track his workouts, including monitors for when he needed a water break, when he needed to eat, when he'd trained to much, etc. Based on the looks on their faces, Raphael could see that Leo and Mikey had been fearing something worse, too. When he'd heard about Donnie's previous "gifts", even Draxum had admitted that the softshell had gone too far by putting Leo in a shock collar...
Speaking of Draxum, the yokai had seemed a little... uncomfortable during the party. Raph still didn't know their sort-of-second-father that well, but he thought he knew why. This was the first time they'd tried to include him in a family event (per Mikey's request). He'd mostly just stayed on the side and observed (though he'd been right behind Raph when they were cutting the cake). Honestly, Raphael hadn't known what to expect from the yokai... So it was a bit of a surprise when he handed him a present.
It was a small box, no wrapping. When he opened it, he found a bracelet inside.
"Michelangelo told me that you'd been having some trouble keeping track of your mystic clones," Draxum had explained. "I thought this would be useful. When worn, the gem on it--" He pointed to the garnet-like stone embedded in the metal. "--will display a number showing you how many clones you have at a single moment. If you generate too many clones and start to overwhelm yourself, the gem will begin flashing a warning."
Blinking, Raphael put the bracelet on and took a few steps back. Focusing on his magic (ninpo felt a little weirder than just relying on magic tonfa), he created two clones of himself. The clones glowed with bright red light, and stared at the bracelet with the same curiosity as Raph. The bracelet showed two lines. Raph created another clone, and a third line appeared in the garnet.
"I may have to teach you about Roman numerals," Donnie muttered.
Grinning, the clones disappeared.
"This'll help Raph out a lot," he remarked. "Thanks, Barry."
Leo gave the yokai a distrustful look, but he did look impressed at the bracelet.
"When do you think you'll get a chance to test it in the field?" Elsa innocently asked.
As if on cue, a monitor in Donnie's lab started beeping. Checking his phone, Donnie grimaced.
"Aggravated sigh. Warren Stone and Hypnopotamus were just sighted stealing vending machines from a local strip mall."
"I'm sorry, who or what is a Hypnopotamus?" Elsa asked.
"He's a hippo mutant who likes to hypnotize people and he's dating a worm," Leo drawled as he took his swords from their scabbards.
The twelve-year-old blinked. "Should I be concerned that I'm not shocked to hear that?"
April shrugged. "You get used to it."
Raphael grinned as he cracked his knuckles. Not only had he gotten treats and gifts, but now he got to fight, too?
"Ready, Birthday boy?" Mikey asked his oldest brother. In front of them, Leo's sword made a portal.
He smirked at the box turtle.
"Like a boss."
The four turtles and two girls charged through, ready to stop the mutants.
- - - -
Once the kids were gone, Splinter resigned himself to picking up after the party. While most of the food had been taken care of (mutant or human, teenagers tended to eat a lot), there were still pizza boxes, paper plates, and soda cans that needed picked up.
He'd expected Draxum to leave right after the kids left. When he started helping him pick up, Splinter was momentarily surprised. He remembered that Orange had gotten their former enemy that job at a restaurant or something... Apparently those skills carried over even when he wasn't on the job.
There was a rather awkward silence between the two as they cleaned; they didn't often talk. True, they were in a much better place now than they'd been before (again, courtesy of Orange), but...
Well, when someone kidnapped you, took away your humanity, then tried to kidnap and/or kill your sons, it was pretty hard to simply turn around and be friends.
But they were trying. For the Turtles' sake, at least.
Draxum broke the silence first. "I didn't know what to get Raphael. He doesn't often talk about his interests with me... I had to guess about the bracelet."
"He liked it," Splinter replied, not looking at him. "Red enjoys fighting; anything that helps him improve his skills is well-received. It's Purple you never want to give a mystic gift to."
"I can see that," he responded.
There was another pause before the sheep mutant broke the silence again.
"The younger two don't get their acting skills from you, right?"
"What makes you say that?" The rat looked up, confused by the question.
"I heard Donatello and Michelangelo trying to get Raphael into the living room," Draxum admitted, smirking as he shoved a pizza box into the trash. "If they learned their acting skills from you..."
"My acting is fine," Splinter retorted, a smirk of his own on his face. "The poor acting probably came from you."
"As if any of my creations could have a flaw," the sheep pompously replied.
Splinter pointed at the used plates still sitting on the table.
"Then why can't they clean up after themselves?"
They both ended up laughing at that one.
It was as he was gathering the plates that Splinter thought of something.
"I've always meant to ask... Why four?"
"What?" Draxum didn't turn around, but was clearly listening.
"Why did you start making an army with a specific number? Was it random, or--?"
"Numbers can be very important in the mystic arts," he replied. "Even if the empyrean I used was the only part of the experiment that involved magic, it's a known fact among alchemists that utilizing an even number of test subjects can better the experiment's results... Since we're asking questions...?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you only take the boys that night?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"I had two control groups for the experiment, four male turtles and two female turtles. Why did you leave the girls behind?"
Splinter dropped the plates in his hands, not caring that they shattered.
He slowly turned around, his shock plain on his face.
"I didn't know there were any others..."
Draxum's eyes widened. "No... No of course you wouldn't. How could I have forgotten... After the initial experiment that mutated the boys--"
Splinter winced at the memory of that night. He still had nightmares about being in that tube, wires poking into his skin as he screamed in agony...
"--once you were back in your cell and the males secured in a terrarium, I took the DNA collected from you and repeated the experiment on the two females."
"...I have daughters?" The rat muttered, still shocked.
"They'd be close to the Turtles' age by now..." Draxum seemed to be rambling, pacing the floor. "The musk turtle would be around Leonardo and Donatello's age... the painted turtle would be slightly older than Michelangelo..."
"Hold on!" Splinter finally snapped out of his shock. "If I didn't take the girls, and you didn't take them..."
The two stared at each other in silent horror, sharing one question.
What had happened to the other turtles?
And, more importantly, how were they going to break the news to the boys?