Thicker than Blood.
Chapter 1- The Discovery
The storm continued raging over New York City, the thunders raged inside the clouds, and unleashed their fury into the black sky. Only a few cars were driving through the streets, the heavy raindrops falling onto them, flooding every corner and street, not enough to affect the humans, but enough to drench anyone who was foolish enough to remain outdoors at that climate.
While mainly affecting the streets, the New York City Sewer system was, at an extent, affected as well by the rain; the puddles formed at the surface sometimes fell into the sewers like waterfalls, but no one bothered to fix it, since people knew there was no one living down in the sewers who could complain about it.
Or so they thought…
"Argh, damn it!" Raphael growled for the fifth time, trying to save what was left of his comics and magazines, tucking them inside boxes, "Did I mention how much I hate rain?"
Leonardo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, about three times. Stop complaining! Would you rather be under the actual rain?" he said while putting an empty bucket to temporally stop one of the leakages of the ceiling.
"Well, at least I'm doing better than Donnie," when Raphael's features turned into a mischievous grin, Leonardo soon knew he was probably planning a prank.
"What did you do this time?"
"You'll see…"
The sound of a door opening and water splashing answered his question. Raphael started to laugh uncontrollably when Donnie walked into the living room, completely drenched in rain water, a bucket on his head, glaring at Raphael. Leonardo couldn't help it, and snickered slightly.
"Haha, very funny, Raph," the turtle clad in purple growled while taking the bucket off his head and tossing it aside, "Very mature."
"Come on, Donnie! Can't you accept a joke every once in a while?" Raphael replied, still laughing, clutching his stomach.
"If those jokes didn't occur almost daily, perhaps I would!"
"Speaking of jokes, have any of you guys seen Mikey?" Leonardo inquired upon noticing the youngest turtle was missing, "I haven't seen him for hours."
"I think he is accompanying April somewhere," Donnie replied, shaking the water off his skin, "He didn't say when he would be back, but I have the feeling he'll take a while."
"I thought they said they would be visiting Leatherhead, didn't they?"
"Knowing that giant gator, he'll probably be out," Rapha commented.
Leatherhead silently crept through the sewers, seeing if there were any lost fish swimming in the murky waters, although he knew the probabilities were low. Sometimes, Mikey and April would bring him some pizza, but even though he found it delicious, he preferred the taste of fresh fish; there were times he would sneak out of the sewers, dive into the ocean and catch a few fishes to eat, but in days when there were too many people on the docks, the turtles invited him to eat pizza. Splinter would teach him to control his rather-unpredictable temper afterwards, and he was proud to say it was helping him very much.
Suddenly, a low crying reached his ears, coming from one of the tunnels up ahead. Sniffing, he picked up the scent of milk and innocent, young flesh. Curious, he walked down the tunnel, illuminated by the moonlight filtering through the sewer tapes. Leatherhead followed the sound, which became louder and clearer the closer he got. Finally, at the end of one of the tunnels, just besides an old pipe hole, was a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, dirtied by the murky water of the sewers. Blinking, Leatherhead carefully picked up the babe, who fit in the palm of his large clawed hands, pulling the blanket away carefully in order to get a better look.
Golden amber eyes peered up into his toxic green ones. The child was calm again as Leatherhead examined her, trying not to hurt her with his claws.
Human met mutant for the first time.
Suddenly the baby laughed, flailing her little arms and reaching up to grab one of the crocodile's claws, not knowing that very claw could rip her apart should its owner want to. Leatherhead tried to draw his claw back, but the baby squealed and only tugged harder.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, little guy… err, girl." Leatherhead wasn't sure if this infant was a male or a female, he was not precisely an expert on that topic.
Eventually, due to the air of the sewer in her system or the stress of the day, the babe tired of grabbing the ivory claw yawned as she started to fall asleep. Grumbling, the crocodile cradled the girl in his hand. The girl burped happily.
"This is something you don't see everyday,…" the crocodile murmured. With a sigh, the baby shifted in her holder's palm, a tiny smile on her face.
"Well, I guess you and I will be together for a while," Leatherhead said, grinning slightly as he walked back the way he had come. "At least until I can get you back home," he whispered, walking languidly deep into the New York sewers.