The sewer was dark and foul smelling. It smelled like home, unfortunately. He could probably find his way home asleep. He'd done it blindfolded before, so why not while sleeping? Leonardo thought he was about to fall asleep on his feet as it was.
He had been out after patrols looking for where the ooze had been stored. They needed to find it. He needed to find it. He needed it for Master Splinter. Leonardo had resigned himself to the life of an outcast. He had never minded living on the outside, being a turtle or facing a life alone.
But sensei...
Sensei had been a human. He had a wife, a daughter. Leo could see it in his father's eyes whenever he talked about his past that he longed to have his humanity back. To look at his daughter through human eyes. To experience walking in the light among his own kind.
Leonardo needed to get his hands on the ooze. Donny could reverse engineer a cure and Splinter could be Hamato Yoshi again.
He would find the ooze, even if it meant sneaking out of the house after patrols and sneaking in after everyone was asleep.
…...
"Why're you so tired, Leo? Up too late watching yer Spaceman Spiff or whatever the hell it's called?"
"Naw, dude. It's Space Heroes!" Mikey piped in as they raced across the rooftops of Queens.
"Keep your focus, guys. Purple Dragons have been spotted in this area."
"Don't change the subject, Fearless. Or didja think we wouldn't notice." Raph was egging him on, hoping to relieve his own tension at the expense of his older brother.
"I've got a lot on my mind."
"Guys! I'm picking something up." Donnie huddled at the edge of a roof. The three brothers skidded to a halt and surrounded him.
"What're they sayin', genius?"
"Shh!" Donnie squinted and leaned into his earpiece, as if that would help him hear anything better. He rubbed his head and looked up at the others. "They're job is done and they're headed for a warehouse on 33rd and Vernon."
"That's kind of far. Can we beat them there?"
"Yeah. Let's just get on the N train at Astoria-Ditmars."
Raph seemed in a bad mood, as usual, so Donatello chose to ignore him. "If we hop in the Party Wagon."
"How soon can we get it here?"
He grinned his gap-toothed smile. "I've had her following us the entire way."
"Nice work, Donnie!" Pride showed in the younger brother's chocolate brown eyes.
The four brothers dove off the roof, swinging off emergency stairwells until they landed in silence ten stories below. The Party Wagon pulled over to a stop at the alleyway in front of them.
"Woah, Donnie. Like, who was driving the Party Wagon, though?"
"I programmed it to follow the gps signals given off from our Shell cells, Mikey. It's the same kind of technology Google uses when they have their unmanned vehicles."
"Ri-ight. But who was driving it, dude?"
"Shut up, Mikey," Raph shoved his youngest brother's shoulder and got into the van.
"Dude, what's his problem?" Michaelangelo asked.
Leonardo put his hand on Mikey's shell. "He woke up and was still Raph. You ready?"
"Shell yeah, big bro. I'm going to kick some Purple Dragon ass."
"Don't let Splinter hear you talking like that," Donnie said, poking his head out of the van, looking as though Splinter might be around the corner.
Leo jumped into the driver's seat as Mikey closed the door. "Let's go."
…...
Tailynn stepped out from behind the dumpster. She had heard the boys talking on the roof. She had suspected they were the vigilantes that had been taking down Purple Dragons all around New York. She just didn't expect them to be turtles.
Her body hummed with anticipation as she started toward the train station. If she hurried she could get to the warehouse and follow them.
Four mutants were sure to know something about the Kraang and the ooze that had made her life a living Hell for the last year.
…...
Leonardo had hoped that the warehouse would be a major location of Purple Dragon activity, but he was not so lucky. The brothers were able to subdue the dragons and stop them from shipping whatever they were delivering, but still had no idea where all the ninjas were holding up.
"Dudes! What if, and just go with me on this one, what if the Foot Clan and the Purple Dragons end up beating each other up?"
"Mikey, if it were that simple, it would have happened already. Numbskull." Raph grabbed his brother in a headlock.
"Raph, no! Please!" Mikey pleaded, flashing his baby blues.
"Heh. Ya know it only makes it more satisfying when ya beg."
Leo rolled his eyes and turned to Donatello. The tails of his purple eye mask trailed behind him like a ponytail. "What were they transferring?"
"Weapons, mostly. Some strange stuff mixed in, though."
"Strange how?"
"The Purple Dragons are usually pretty straightforward. Get bigger and better weapons. Steal bigger and better things. They're usually not very tech savvy."
"Where are you going with this, Donnie?"
"I found some computer hardware in one of the crates in the warehouse."
"Only you could see a computer while dodging ninjutsu."
Donnie blushed. "I bet you could hear Space Heroes during a battle, so I'll thank you not to tease me about something that has given us such awesome tech as the Party Wagon and the Shell cells."
"And Metalhead."
"Anyway," he shook his head, taking him back to the moment. "I think I may have found a type of Kraang communicator."
"Kraang?"
"And get this, I think it's designed to be used by humans."
Sirens blared in the distance. "Let's get whatever you saw back to the van and head home."
"Affirmative." The two brothers ran to the warehouse.
"Raph! Get the Party Wagon warmed up and keep Mikey with you." Raphael had his foot on his younger brother's shell, and was holding his head up by the ties of his mask.
"I'm drivin'? Fearless yer startin' ta speak my language." He let go and Mikey banged his head off the ground.
Leo and Donnie found the crate with the computer supplies and dragged it back to the Party Wagon. They could see the red and blue lights of the emergency vehicles in the distance. "We'd better haul shell."
Donnie was about to answer when his cell started to ring. "That's April's ring!"
"Not the time, Donnie!"
"He-ey, April. How's it going?"
Leo growled as they hoisted the crate into the back of the van. "Donnie!"
"Just stay calm, April! We'll get there as soon as possible." He closed the cell. "April needs us!"
They jumped in the van as the wailing of the sirens reached an apex. "Punch it, dude!" Mikey yelled. Donnie pressed a few buttons and Raph stepped on the gas.
"Uh, Donnie? Why're we headed straight for the East Friggin' River?" Raph twisted the wheel, but had no control over the vehicle.
"This is the fastest way to get to April."
"This is the fastest way to drown!"
"Oh ye of little faith." The Party Wagon launched off the edge of the road straight toward the East River. Instead of plummeting to the bottom with likely hundreds of mobsters in cement shoes, a ring around the van inflated. "I spent hours waterproofing it."
…...
Tailynn sighed as she watched the van float down the river. For a moment she considered going home and giving up on the mutants.
For a moment.
All the memories of the Kraang reared up in front of her. Their slimy tentacles reaching for her. The robotic husks that housed them dragging her to her feet. Her brother and sister held in cells next to her.
The van-turned-boat turned and headed toward lower Manhattan.
Her resolve hardened and she ran back to the subway. If she had to spend every waking moment looking up and down the East Side, it would be worthwhile.
…...
The turtles left the van at Avenue C and climbed to the roofs at East 7th street, making their way to April's house. Her aunt had no idea the turtles existed, let alone how involved April was with them, so stealth was a priority.
Donatello ran ahead of the group and dropped down to April's window. "Aww, bros, he's in love."
"Shut it, dimwit."
"Raph, what crawled up your butt? You've been a class-A douche nozzle all night."
"I've what?" A red flush crept up Raphael's neck, matching his red eye mask. Even his green eyes darkened.
Michaelangelo gulped, but stood his ground. "You heard me."
"Oh yeah? Well yer about to hear my class-A fist go down your throat."
"Children!" Leonardo decided to step in. "Can't you save that for the dragons? Or the Foot?"
Raphael shoved him. "Fuck off, Leo. Ya wanna know why I'm pissed? Because the only thing in this bullshit world that makes me forget about bein' a freak is bashin' heads. I'm outta here." He ran and leaped off the edge, heading to the next building.
"Should I go after him?"
Mikey looked after his older brother and shook his head. "He'll be fine, bro."
"I'll go find him once we make sure April is alright."
…...
"April?" Donnie whispered and peeked in her window.
She opened it and let him in. "I'm so glad you're here."
"You are?" His heart hammered in his chest.
"Yes. My Kraang detector went crazy before I called you. I thought they were going to come for me, but I think I've found a transmission from the Kraang."
Donnie's heart crashed to his feet, but his ears pricked at the word Kraang. First the communication devise, now this. "Were you able to decode any of it?"
"No, but I saved the mp3 file on this flash drive. Maybe you can make some sense of it." She looked behind him. "Your brothers didn't come with you?"
"They're here, I just, uh, ran ahead. I was worried about you." He blushed, trying not to lock eyes with her.
"I don't mind when it's just you and me, Donnie." In an instant her arms were around his neck and her lips found his mouth.
Donnie felt his pulse race, and almost thought he was going to pass out. "A-april I-I-I..." He tried to calm himself. "I thought that you and Casey..."
Her eager expression faltered. "Casey can be an ass. I'm not sure if I want to be with someone who's going fail senior year, again, when I'm going to graduate."
He tucked some of April's red hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I'm just surprised, is all."
April leaned into his plastron. "Let's say you wore me down." She kissed him again. Donnie thought he was going to lose his mind. April was kissing him. April!
Donnie broke apart from her. "I have to get this home and start decoding it. Can we, um, talk about this more when my brothers aren't going to drop in at any second?"
She pulled him close again, running her hands up his arms, making him shudder. "Yes. We'll definitely talk."
"Okay, bye," he muttered, walking backwards out to her baclony.
"Dude? You okay?" Mikey peered at his brother as he hung upside down from the emergency stairwell.
"Yes. Have to decode Kraang. Talk to April later. Lots of talking."
Leo squinted at him. He snapped his fingers a few times. "Donnie? We need to find Raph. Can you use the Shell cell to track him?"
"Shell cell. Yes." He took out his phone, pressed a few buttons and handed it to Leo. "There he is."
"Hmm, he's in Tompkins Square Park." Donnie looked in a daze and Leo didn't want to ask what had put him in it. "Let's get him and go home. I'm tired."
…...
Raphael didn't know why he blurted out what he had to his brothers. He hated talking about that shit.
The wind whipping the tails of his mask and whistling through his sai made him forget. He liked to forget.
And when he couldn't forget, he liked to punch.
The buildings ended abruptly and he found himself in a park. He was almost surprised to hear voices.
Almost.
He was getting used to running into every single scumbag that ever walked the earth. It seemed that every time he would put one away, two would spawn in their place.
"Grab it and bring it in. You know Shredder likes the freaks."
Freaks. God he hated that word.
"You wanna piece of freak? Well ya got one fuckheads!"
Raph jumped out and caught one of the foot off guard. His knees hit him square in the chest with a satisfying crack. His sai were in his hands before he registered pulling them out. Another foot went down as his fist connected with his temple. The last one tried to throw a kunai at him.
Pathetic.
He roared and struck him with his feet and fists until the ninja wasn't moving. Raph sucked in a few deep breaths.
"Freak." He spit on the body and turned away.
A shadow dropped from the trees and he jumped back.
Not a shadow. A black cat. A mutant. A mutant black girl cat wearing a green scarf. His life was getting weirder by the day.
"You wanna piece 'a me, too? Who're ya workin' with? Fishface, prob'ly."
"What?"
He lunged at her, but she was already up in the tree again, and his cheek was sore. Raph touched it and saw a drop of blood. She had evaded him and scratched the shit out of his cheek.
"Oh, that is it." He punched and kicked the tree.
"This is actually the most fun thing I've been involved in for a long time," she answered.
"Get down here!"
"I don't want to end up as a pincushion." She jumped down, pushed off his shoulders and ended up behind him. "Let's chat."
"I'm not chattin' up a mutant who's workin' with Shredder."
"So, this Shredder, is he a turtle, too?"
"Don't play dumb, mouse eater." He slashed at her, but she leaped away again.
"Mouse eater? What do you eat? Algae? At least I'm a mammal."
Raph turned. "Yer not with Shredder?"
The cat sauntered up to him and put her hand on his plastron. "Those nazi wannabes were trying to capture me and take me to him, muscles. I guess I owe you."
He glanced around, unsure what to make of the mutant. "Uh, yer welcome."
She leaned in and rubbed her cheek on his neck and chin. "I didn't know there were other people like me in New York."
"Uh, me neither." He hoped his pounding heartbeat wasn't as loud to her as it was to him.
"You don't meet many girls, do you?" She laughed. "Do you know how we got to be like this?"
"Yeah, that glowin' ooze shit."
She purred. Raph swallowed hard, trying to keep calm. She was purring dammit. "There is a brain in there along with all those muscles."
"What's yer point."
"The ooze. The Kraang. I want to find them. Are you in?" She grabbed the ridges of his plastron with her fingertips.
Her face was right in front of him. Those eyes, even though her pupils were slit like a cat's they were a perfect pale blue. They were almost hypnotic. He wanted to lean in feel her soft mouth melt under his. To feel her velveteen fur with is fingers.
And what was stopping him?
"Muscles?" He cupped the back of her head and captured her mouth with his. Her arms went around him and he felt her digging her claws into his shell. That dark fur down her back felt like silk as his caressed her.
He pulled away. "My name's Raph. And if it means I can crush some Kraang, then fuck yes I'm in, woman."
She grinned, showing her gleaming white fangs. She was going to enjoy this. For the first time since the incident, she was actually smiling. "Meet me here tomorrow. We'll kick some ass."
The cat turned away, her tail swishing behind her. "When?"
"Same time. Oh, and I'm not your woman. I'm Tailynn."