The trip to the farmhouse was silent but urgent as everyone wondered what would happen next. Leo still lay in the back, unconscious and surrounded by his distraught brothers as April and Casey were lost in the blurs that passed them while their van continued down vacant roads.
The only occasional sounds were from April as she directed the teen to her family's farmhouse. It took at least an hour until Casey finally turned into a dirt road with a roof of branches from the surrounding trees. April leaned forward with confusion when they noticed a car already parked in the driveway.
"Who's that?" Casey asked, slowing as they approached the large house.
"I don't know," she replied. "I don't recognize the car."
When he stopped the van, she opened the door and instructed the guys to remain where they were. Casey got out with her, in case whoever was inside turned out to be dangerous.
The front door opened with a slight creak, and the first thing they noticed with the setting sun was that there weren't any lights on. The shadows were long and dull as the direct sunlight was hidden by the trees that surrounded them.
"Hello…?" April asked, glancing around. Casey closed the door slowly, leaving a small crack. There was a faint sound of cautious steps from upstairs and April reached behind her back to pull out her tessen.
"Who's there?" the intruder asked, hiding behind the wall beside the stairs.
"Uh, the owner of this house, that's who," April replied, figuring it wasn't a complete lie… for the most part. "Who are you?"
"Oh, oh no," the voice replied, and a girl who couldn't have been much older than herself and Casey emerged cautiously from behind the wall. "I'm so sorry," she apologized before starting slowly down the steps. "I thought this place was abandoned."
"It does kinda look that way, huh?" Casey noted, taking a look around before April hit his arm.
"But…" she started, stopping halfway down and pointing to the redhead. "Are you even old enough to own a house?"
"It's my family's," April replied curtly. "And we need you to leave—now."
The other girl crossed her arms with a skeptical look. "Yeah, right. Where's your family then huh? I bet you came here from the city didn't ya? Go find your own abandoned house to hide in, this one's taken."
April rolled her eyes and scowled at the girl. The guys were still in the back of the van, and she didn't want to waste time and take a chance on Leo's condition. "Look, we don't have time for this alright? You need to leave, now." The only thing that was on her mind was making the house safe for the guys to take shelter in, and she would do so even if it meant chasing the mystery girl out.
The girl laughed when April got into a defensive stance, her tessen held out in front of her. "What are you gonna do? Fan me to death? Nice try, little girl, but-"
She was cut off when a breeze blew past her and she witnessed some strands of her long, curly black hair fall to the steps in front of her. She looked up in time to watch April catch her fan again, and in a split second she had taken off up the stairs and into a bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
"We don't have time for this," April groaned. She started to head up the stairs, but Casey grabbed her arm.
"You're right, we don't have time. I'll make sure she doesn't try to sneak out while you bring in the guys. We can settle things once Leo's in."
With that, Casey started up the stairs and tried opening a few of the doors in the hallway. Only one was locked, and he chose to guard it and make sure the girl didn't see anything. The guys crept upstairs, each glancing to Casey, who assured them with a thumbs-up that they were good to go. The mutant turtles made their way into the bathroom, solemnly carrying their unconscious brother while April hurried to help them.
Out of curiosity, Casey placed an ear to the door he was guarding, and heard very little sound. After only a moment, the sound of the door handle being jiggled reached his ears and he turned to see the brown-skinned girl looking at him through a crack. Once their eyes met, she closed the door again and he heard it lock. He raised a brow and shook his head before turning back around and glancing to the bathroom where mumbling could be heard.
April was the first to come out of the bathroom, but once she looked at Casey things seemed to happen all at once.
The door flew open with a short creak, and a crack was heard just before Casey hit the ground. "Pull out that fan thing and you're next." The girl was standing in front of April with a bat in her hands, which stopped the redhead from reaching for her fan again.
"I want you to take your friend and leave," the girl said, gripping the bat tight.
April's hands were up and she took a cautious step back while thinking. She could feel her heart rate increasing and she tried to keep her breathing calm, but found it difficult to think of any solutions. The other girl continued to stare her down, a tight grip on her bat as she breathed stressed breaths.
This pause lasted for only a minute before things sped up once again. She raised her bat and started to take a step forward, but with a loud 'BONK,' her bat fell with a large staff and a pained moan was heard shortly after.
She sat on her knees with her quickly swelling wrist in her hand, before she noticed another figure had showed up beside the redhead. She looked up and tried to process what was before her and continued to stare as it picked up the long staff.
Donatello, misreading her shock as fear, tried to scare her off by demanding she leave. She failed to respond to his threatening demeanor and simply furrowed her eyebrows while asking "Who are you… people?"
"Well, that's different," another voice commented as he peered out of the bathroom. "You're supposed to pass out or scream or something."
"Can it, Mikey," the purple clad turtle before her retorted. She bravely began to stand, though she still grasped her bruised wrist close to her body.
"No, really, who are you?" she asked again.
April glanced at Don before taking a step forward and turning the attention onto her. "It's a long story."
Before she could say anything more, the girl cocked her hip and gave the redhead a look saying she was not to be written off so easily. "Well it's a story worth tellin', I think."
"We don't have time for you or your questions," Don chided. "This isn't your house and you need to leave." He saw she was trying to reply and he squeezed his bo so the blade popped out. "I don't want to use force, but I will."
April wasn't sure Don was going about this in the right way, but she understood that he must have been stressed, and he was resorting to the same kind of 'persuasion' she attempted to use earlier in desperation. She glanced back at the bathroom and saw that Mikey was still peering out to see what was going on, while Raph was probably staying close to Leo. The entire situation was a huge mess.
"Woah," the dark-haired girl started, lifting her hands as she took a step back. The outside of her left wrist was clearly swollen and in need of some kind of treatment, but it didn't appear to bother her so much when she was staring at a giant turtle with a sharp stick who wanted her out of the picture. "Chill out man, I was here first and you guys just came barging in like you own the place or somethin'!"
"My family does own this place," April chimed in.
"Like I had any way of knowing!" Her voice was rising in volume, and it was clear, to April especially, that she felt endangered. "I was just tryin to escape the city like you guys. It's all dark out now are you really gonna kick me out and make me find somewhere else to stay?"
"Ye-" Don started, but April cut him off by pushing him back some.
"No. Not tonight," she replied. She let out a sigh as she realized she would have to compromise with this stranger, and then continued. "But that bathroom is off-limits, and it'd probably be a good idea to stay in your room for the majority of the night. …I can't promise you these guys'll be so nice to you," she improvised. She knew that the guys probably wouldn't hurt her any more than she already was, but with the levels of stress everyone was faced with she really couldn't promise anything at that point.
"Yeah, right, whatever you say," she said as she backed up one more step. She glanced back at the guy on the floor, who seemed to be coming to. "…Sorry about your friend."
April gestured for Don to go back into the bathroom as she moved toward the girl. "He's had worse I'm sure. Let's get some ice for your wrist," she instructed with a voice more calm now that things seemed to be settled. April picked up the bat as she led the way down the stairs, and more groaning from Casey could be heard as he finally regained consciousness.
"So what's your name?" April asked once they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Marisol," she replied flatly. "But people mostly call me Mari."
"I'm April," the redhead replied with a small smile, hoping for things to work out all right for them. The last thing they needed was to have more issues on top of the ones they already faced. She hadn't even had time to herself since everything happened and it looked like she might have to wait another night for the opportunity.
Let me know if there was something you liked or didn't like! I may keep going but I may not depending on a variety of things. I really just wanted to get this down.