A Better Word Than Humanity
is an ongoing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanfiction set in the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continuity post-movie, created by silentsnowdrop (tumblr here and twitter here) and editted/illustrated by whatisthisnonsense/leakanebaby (tumblr here and twitter here). With almost every chapter so far having illustrations, and at a whopping 33,729 words at the time of writing and still going strong, this particular installment stands out for being Donatello and Casey Jones Junior centric, as compared to its contemporaries, as well as it's Alternate Universe Fic nature only qualifying from the extensive amount of world-building, and the very slight issue of Donnie having been infected with a Kraang parasite when interfacing with the Technodrome.
Picking up a few months after we last saw our heroes, Donnie's health takes a slow but noticeable dive as he frets over the parasite attached to his nervous system and the implications, never mind how he's meant to break the news to his brothers after they just finished recovering from the most traumatic experience of their lives. This hasn't gone unnoticed by his brothers, however, and an attempt is made to reach out to him, an attempt that is actually accepted in a subversion of how this sort of thing usually goes. Unfortunately, trying to actually do healthy communication doesn't get them very far; Donatello and Leonardo are kidnapped on what was meant to be a heartfelt walk in the city by the mysterious T.C.R.I.— a familiar company to older TMNT fans, turned horrifying under the unyielding grasp of one Dr. Victoria Feral. Now it's a race against time as the Hamatos scramble to find and rescue the Disaster Twins from the dissection table, and to convince Casey Jones that Donnie's infection is not itself a death sentence. As the clock runs down, there's a single question hanging over every word of the fic; what does Dr. Feral want with the remnants of the Kraang?
Fair warning; this fic contains depictions of body and medical horror. Reader discretion is advised.
Subject, I think it's time we break you down to your base components:
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Occasionally it's mentioned, either in text or by comments by the author, that the Hamatos' biology is rather odd. The most commonly brought up bit of mutant turtle biology is the fact they have a fully functional "third ear" of sorts in their snouts where their nasal passages ought to be, giving them super-sensitive hearing at the cost of being weak to especially loud noises, being easier to suffocate and at more risk during respiratory disease, and unable to fully block out sounds no matter how much they want to.
- Body Horror: Oh boy. Donnie has a Kraang parasite fused to his nervous system, and that's just where it starts.
- Darker and Edgier: While keeping the characterization and occasional gags from its source material, this fic's tone ranges more from that of the movie to that of prior incarnations of the turtles, depending on the scene. Which is to say, it is absolutely rife with various flavors of horror, a villain with no comedic elements at all, and extreme amounts of trauma no teenager should ever have to shoulder.
- Dehumanization: Used with distressing frequency by the T.C.R.I. staff when talking about or to the Disaster Twins.
- Determinator: The Hamatos will stop at nothing to get their brothers back. Beyond the obvious there, it's implied the Disaster Twins don't actually need to be rescued to be able to escape— after all, Leo wouldn't suggest leaving if he didn't already have some idea of how to do that— meaning Donatello, while not happy, is allowing the experiments to continue to figure out Dr. Feral's game. You have to admire the guts the kid has to grit his teeth through what's effectively torture for intel. Also, as mentioned, vile as she is, Dr. Feral does at least get points for not letting Donnie literally biting her hand off do so much as stop the experiment going on at the time.
- The Dog Bites Back: After spending the whole show kicked around by Kendra, it's nice to see Jace stand up for himself and render her speechless by telling her to shut up before he complies with Casey's demands.
- Even Evil Has Standards: It's implied Tomlinson's desire to cure neurodivergence is why his rank is comparatively low compared to other, unnamed scientists, not the fact he's ostensibly a psychologist.
- Everyone Has Standards: Dr. Tomlinson, while unpleasant, does at least provide noise-cancelling headphones for Leo when his brothers set off a particularly shrill alarm that causes him oversensory issues.
- Despite usually being spineless and the butt of the joke in the show, Jace from the Purple Dragons decides he'd rather deal with Kendra's wrath than Casey's.
- Fantastic Racism: The T.C.R.I. adamantly refuse to acknowledge Donnie and Leo as sapient creatures, treating all obvious evidence of such as mere curiosities to be documented alongside their tortuous medical experiments while repeatedly referring to them in dehumanizing terms.
- Faux Affably Evil: Dr. Feral, Dr. Feral, Dr. Feral. While cordial to other humans, it takes practically no time at all to reveal how twisted she really is when Donnie has the audacity to insist on being called by his name.
- Gender-Blender Name: Casey's full name is mentioned a few times to be Cassandra Yoshi Jones.
- Gender Flip: Dr. Victoria Feral is based off Dr. Victor Feral, from the obscure and oft-forgotten tabletop adventure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness. Unlike in the tabletop, however, it's made very clear in the fic that her behavior isn't even remotely justifiable.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Used repeatedly by Dr. Feral in regards to Donatello.
- Medical Horror: Pretty much the name of the game in this fic, ranging from an unnerving depiction of what a parasite attached to your nervous system would be even feeding on and what that would do to you to the anterograde amnesia some drugs can cause if you happen to have body chemistry that doesn't jive with them.
The author, for the record, has experience with medics in the military and they themselves has that kind of reaction to anesthesia. - "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: While it's extremely funny Cassandra Jones apparently literally named her son after herself, the fact his middle name is after Splinter is incredibly touching, if a bit sad considering the old rat was implied to be long dead before Casey was even born.
- Not Even Human: It's implied the only reason Leo was able to annoy the scientists keeping watch over the Disaster Twins at T.C.R.I. into giving him and his brother scrubs to wear was that they were fascinated by his "surprisngly human" behavior rather than actually irritated. Particularly since they had no trouble stripping Donnie of said scrubs again after he bit Dr. Feral.
- Shown Their Work: The author not only does heavy research into various medical procedures and their effects, but historical facts and lore from other iterations of the TMNT franchises. Be honest now; did you know that the word for the Japanese equivalent of a heraldic coat of arms was called a mon before this fic? The title of Chapter 13 is the actual chemical formula for Midazolam, for crying out loud!
- Spell My Name With An S: Kraang is spelled in the same way as the 2012 series version, rather than with a single "a", mostly to make it look more alien.
- Technopathy: One upshot of Donatello's infection has manifested in the ability to use it to interface with technology. However, there are a few...side-effects.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Donnie has been getting quite a few in recent chapters, for understandable reasons. Casey Jones has also been getting them, on account of a severe bout of p.t.s.d. triggered by the memory of Master Donatello being infected and having his soul be slowly consumed by the Kraang.
- Trauma Button: Donatello being infected by the Kraang parasite is one for everybody, but especially Casey.
