***
Sitting on stage are two not so happy looking people. Shredder is sitting on the plastic chair, being his usual evil self. His armor has been returned.
Kali is sitting on her throne, looking less than cheerful.
"Three votes. Three votes? And I'm forced to break another tie. I even gave you people extra days!" She sighs. "Anyway, our guest for this week is Shredder."
"Finally," Shredder says. "I've never been so glad to leave a place in my entire life."
"What about your budding relationship with Venus?" Kali asks.
"She's too clingy. That week apart really opened my eyes. Besides, I only flirted with her because I knew it would upset my enemies."
Kali smirked. "Why am I not surprised? So, let's see how Venus is holding up."
***
Day Sixteen
"Yeah, all right, he's gone!" Leo does flips and cartwheels across the living room. The others eye him suspiciously.
"Damn, Leo," Raph says. "I hated the guy, too, but I ain't going crazy."
"Leo, quit it," Don says.
"You're upsetting Venus," Mike adds.
Venus crosses her arms. "I feel the same as Leonardo. I'm glad that snake is gone."
Leo stops suddenly and looks around. "Snake? Where?"
Dragon Lord chuckles. "Is he really that afraid of snakes?"
"Yeah," Don says. "It's traumatic, we don't really talk about it."
Raphael smirks. "Well, he can go read about it in Ophidiophobia."
Venus spins on her heel to face him. "Don't plug the author's work. Especially now, I'm trying to be mad at Shredder."
"Don't get upset, V, we all know what happened last time."
"Huh?"
Raph grins. "You're humiliating defeat in…"
"No plugging!" Leo bops him on the head. "You're just trying to suck up to the author."
Venus stomps her foot. "Doesn't anyone care about my problems?"
"No more that they care about you in general," Dragon Lord snaps.
"That hurt."
"Good."
Mike looks around. "Hey, where's Casey?"
Don looks around, too. "I don't know. But I thought he would have been voted out by now."
Raph points to the kitchen. "He's holed up there with the paprika."
***
Day Seventeen
Leo walks into the kitchen sometime around noon. He sees Mike cooking and Venus is sitting at the table nursing a glass of soda. Casey is under the table holding the jar of paprika.
Leo bends down. "Kali's not going to let him kill you, Casey."
"She can barely control you, and that's done with manipulation. No, no, I'm staying right here."
Leo sighs and sits next to Venus. "So, how are you doing?"
"I can't believe he was just using me," Venus says.
Leo shrugs. "He is a villain. If you had listened to us…"
Venus covers his mouth with her hand. "If you say 'I told you so' Kali will need to remove you with a stretcher. Understood?"
Leo nods and Venus removes her hand. "I'm sorry, all the same," he tells her.
"Me, too."
***
Day Eighteen
"Damn it Mikey!"
Mike, who is practicing with his brothers, stumbles in mid-punch. "What did I do now?"
Casey storms into the room carrying a shampoo bottle. Raph and Don stare a moment before they burst out laughing. Leo smiles. "That's a good look for you."
Casey points at Mike. "You put orange dye in my shampoo!"
"No, I didn't!" Mike yells back.
Raphael catches his breath. "I gotta admit, Mike, that's a good one."
"But I didn't do it!"
"Sure you didn't," Leo says.
Everyone jumps at the sound of a loud sneeze. Don turns to Mike. "You didn't."
"Didn't what? I haven't done anything!"
Dragon Lord heads straight for Mike. "You put that vile powder in my crown!"
Mike positions himself across the table from the enraged dragon. "I swear, dude, I didn't do it."
Casey narrows his eyes. "Right. He's probably got something planned for everyone."
Dragon Lord sneezes again, a mild blue spreading down from his forehead. "At least we're off the list."
"It's not me!"
***
Day Nineteen
Raphael slips into the kitchen carefully. Leo is sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea.
"He got you yet?" Raphael asks.
Leo shakes his head. "And he isn't going to."
They hear a high-pitched squeal and bolt from the room. They meet Casey outside Venus' room and Leo goes in first. "Venus, what's wrong?"
She holds up a pale blue braid. "He cut my bandanna."
Mike and Don finally arrive. "What happened?"
Leo shoves the braid in Mike's face. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Mike's eyes widen and he holds up his hands in protest. "I'm telling you Leo, it's not me."
"Who then?" Raphael snaps.
"I don't know. It's you for all we know."
Don gets between them. "Guys, guys, hold it. This is getting us nowhere."
Venus takes her braid from Leo. "My beautiful bandanna."
Leo rolls his eyes at the ceiling. "This is insane." He returns to the kitchen while Don and Raph try to console Venus and Mike tries to defend his innocence.
In the kitchen, he sits back down at the table. He takes a drink of tea and immediately spits it back out. "Michaelangelo!"
Leo goes back into the living room but Mike is gone.
Raph smirks. "He ain't gonna get you, eh?"
"Vinegar in my tea. He must have done it after Venus screamed."
"But he was here with us," Don tells him.
"But he came late," Casey argues.
Raph's eyes widen as if he just realized something. "We're next, Donnie."
***
Day Twenty
Don walks into the living room, followed by Raph. Just as Raphael passes under the doorway, a bucket that is sitting over the doorway tips over and covers him head to toe in pink fluorescent paint.
Don turns around and is splashed with some of the paint. Raph gags and wipes it away from his eyes.
"I'm gonna kill him."
Don blocks his path. "Does this feel like déjà vu to you?"
Raph pauses. "Now that you mention it, it does."
Don sighs. "Let's go get cleaned up."
***
Mike is sitting on his bed in the dojo. Don walks in and sits next to him
"Looks like everyone got got." Don comments casually.
"It wasn't me!" Mike screams.
"I know."
Mike turns to him. "And what makes you so sure? Everyone else thinks it was me. The only way you could know for a fact that it wasn't me is if…" His eyes widen. "You!"
Don smirks. "That's what you get for taking my copy of Frederick's of Hollywood."
***
Kali grins. "It's time to vote again. I'm sorry for my rant earlier, and I apologize. I realize that this is a busy time of year for most of you, and most of you have lives outside this fandom."
"Even though you don't!" Shredder calls from off stage. Kali hisses to her left and exits. Several hits are heard, then a large metallic thud.
***