The Deadly Venom

**"The Deadly Venom"** is the 18th episode of season 3 and 70th overall.

***"What kills you, only makes her stronger."***

## Official Description

When Karai is brainwashed, she begins hunting the Turtles.

## Plot

In Stockman's lab, Karai (as a mutant in her human form) is strapped to a table as Stockman sticks a Mind Worm in her ear, putting her back under Shredder's control. After she is released, the Shredder orders her to attack Rocksteady, which she does and successfully defeats him. The Shredder then gives her a new order to find and destroy Splinter, the Turtles, April, and Casey. Karai complies without question, even calling him father.

Meanwhile, in the dojo, Splinter and Leonardo duel with wooden swords while Raph, Mikey, and Donnie watch from the sidelines. After an intense duel, Leo manages to overcome his master though proclaims that he succeeded only because Splinter is still recovering from the harm that Slash inflicted on him (in Clash of the Mutanimals). The sensei agrees before speaking an ancient incantation accompanied by hand motions, known as the Healing Hands technique, to expedite his recovery. Leonardo, immediately fascinated by this, joins in.

Later, April and Casey walk out of the Argosy Cinema after watching a horror movie (The Six Deadly Poisons). April voices her desire for a little more normalcy in her life, but Casey seemingly doesn't listen and spooks her. To see if Casey is paying attention to her, April says that she lost her head yesterday. At that moment, Casey is preoccupied with pretending to fight someone and doesn't reply, confirming April's suspicions. When Casey says goodbye to April at her house, he reveals that he did in fact listen by wishing her luck with finding her "missing head".

Asleep in her bed at night, April has a nightmare in which she is chased by a giant serpent. Unfortunately, she awakens, looks under the covers in her bed, and notices several snakes. Hearing April scream, Kirby runs up to her room, finds her unconscious with a snake bite on her arm, and takes her to the Turtles to be treated.

Meanwhile, Foot Bots ambush Casey, who is cycling back to his house in the city. Casey sends an SOS to Raph's T-Phone by pressing a button on his bike but manages to defeat the robots with the bike's gear. Just when he thinks he may be out of danger, the brainwashed Karai appears and knocks him off of his bike. Casey mentions that he and Karai have not before spoken to each other and that he likes what he sees in her. Karai wastes no time attacking Casey and kissing him on the lips, which turns out to simply be a way to poison him. Casey is confused, wondering why his lips are numb, upon which Karai explains that the numbness is one of the effects of her venom. Casey then begins to feel the worse effects, such as weakness and paralysis. Karai leaves, promising to poison the Turtles one by one.

The Turtles soon get a lock on Casey's distress signal. Raph and Mikey are sent out of the lair in the Party Wagon to find him and once they do, they correctly conclude that he's been bitten by something. Unfortunately for Raph and Mikey, they too are both bitten and poisoned by snakes while driving in the Party Wagon with Casey and lose control of the vehicle, falling unconscious. Meanwhile, in the lair, none of Donnie's antivenoms have been successful in curing April. Splinter then stirs from his rest to the distaste of Leo, who wants him to continue recovering. Master Splinter says that he can assist April with a scroll of ancient poison-draining mantras. Leo soon gets a call from Karai (on Raph's T-Phone), who tells him that Casey, Mikey, and Raph are with her and in danger of losing their lives. Karai demands Leo to come to a specific abandoned subway station with Donatello and says that she will be waiting for them there. Kirby has now grown upset with the failure of Donnie's antidotes, and when Leo tells him that they have another problem, Kirby proclaims that there is no other problem and that April's safety is important above all else. Splinter then silences him, saying that if he can focus with the mantras, he may be able to get the poison out of her system. Leo tells Kirby to help Master Splinter with whatever he needs as he and Donnie go to the subway station to meet Karai.

Approaching the station through the sewers, Leo and Donnie begin feeling dizzy and drowsy. They soon realize that they have been poisoned as well and are running out of time to reach their destination. When they do, Karai explains that through the water in the sewers, her venom seeped into their skin. The two turtle brothers quickly lose their equilibrium. Meanwhile, Splinter speaks and applies the poison-draining incantation to April, causing her heart rate to rise considerably and then return to a steady pace according to a nearby monitor. When Kirby asks if the poison is still in her system, Splinter responds that he's stopped it from wreaking more havoc, but April is not entirely out of danger yet. Kirby now wants to admit April to a hospital, but Splinter says that doing so would be pointless; the mantras are the one thing that can surely save her now. Karai fights a reinvigorated Leo after restraining his unconscious allies, using her snake hands to puncture his skin and inject him with more doses of venom. However, Leo recites and applies the poison-draining incantation to himself while Splinter does it in tandem with him to April. Both April and Leo are successfully cured. Karai attacks Leo, but he fights back, finding the strength to defeat her. Leo turns around to free his brothers and Casey, after which he looks back and notices that Karai has escaped once again.

Back at the lair, Leo and Splinter cure and awaken the other turtles and Casey with the same poison-draining technique. Donnie acknowledges that Karai has been brainwashed and cannot be held responsible for their suffering. Leo can't shake the feeling that he could have gotten Karai out of the Shredder's control and that he failed. Splinter notes that they have saved her before and can do it again but more importantly says that Leo has demonstrated great ability as a healer. Hearing that Splinter is proud of him and that his brothers praise his actions of defeating Foot-Bots, beating the poison, and freeing them all by himself, Leo concurs with Splinter that tonight was a win.

## Trivia

* The movie April and Casey saw, "The Six Deadly Poisons", is a reference to the martial arts movie "The Five Deadly Venoms".
* Some of the hand gestures in the Healing Hands are similar to the hand gestures of Bradford's meditation in New Friend, Old Enemy.

## Quotes

* "Dude, why do you have a pineapple for a head?" - Leo
* "But I want to hurt you slowly, painfully…" Karai
* "You better robo-check yourselves before you wreck yourselves!" - Casey