"I told you to run, and all you did was stand there."
"I didn't just stand there! I fought." Kayla shouted back at her brother.
"Which I specifically told you not to!" Leo countered, his dark brown eyes getting close to hers.
"Oh, like I'm just gonna take off and leave my brothers to fight the Foot alone." Kayla threw her arms up in annoyance.
"When I tell you to, yes!" Leo shouted back.
"Leo…" Don tried to calm his arguing siblings but it was like he was invisible. Don, Raph, and Mike all stood there, unsure of what to do or say.
"Oh, so you think you have authority over me, huh?" Kayla shouted sarcastically.
"I'm your older brother, therefore, Yes!" he shouted back.
"Yeah, so? Michelangelo's my older brother, too. That doesn't mean I'm gonna go around doing what he says." Kayla swept her arm around, gesturing to her other brothers.
"Yeah, but I'm the leader. You're supposed to follow my orders without question. I told you to run and not fight."
"Leo, I can take care of myself!"
"The whole reason we were fighting the Foot was because the Shredder wants YOU!" Leo threw his arms toward her, gesturing to her. "If the wind hadn't picked up when it did who knows what would've happened?"
Kayla gritted her teeth. She couldn't think of anything else to say. Earlier that evening they were all out on a normal patrol. Then, they ran into several dozen members of the Foot Clan. They made it pretty obvious that they wanted Kayla, no surprise there. Ever since Kayla found out the Shredder was her father, which he already knew before her, he'd been trying to force her to be a member of the Foot Clan. When it became nearly impossible to keep the ninjas off her Leo had ordered her to leave, to run away and not look back. But Kayla couldn't bring herself to abandon her brothers like that, so she disobeyed and stayed to fight. Suddenly the wind picked up and nearly swept them all off the roof. The Foot ninjas ran away and that gave them the opportunity to get home safely.
Leo took a deep breath in front of Kayla. "Kayla…I don't want you going on anymore patrols for a while." he crossed his arms and looked down at her.
Kayla looked at him like he just grew a pair of rabbit ears. "Are you serious?" she asked angrily, her eyes widening in shock.
Leo didn't flinch. "Until you can prove that you can do what I say I can't trust you." seeing her face Leo tried not to waver on his decision, it was for her own good.
"So… what? You're just going to keep me at home? Is that it? While the rest of you get to go topside and have the time of your lives? You're gonna lock me up here like…like…a baby or something?"
Leo sighed, "Kayla it's not like that,"
Kayla didn't stay to listen. She flipped her skateboard up and grabbed it in her hand. "I gotta go." was all she mumbled as she left the Den, going full speed on her board. Leo stood there, frozen in place as he watched her go. Raph, Don, and Mikey looked over at him.
"Way ta go, fearless leader." Raph grumbled as he shoved past Leo on his way to the workout area. Mike and Don glanced uncomfortably at their oldest brother before going off to do their own things.
Kayla pushed her foot off the side of the sewer tunnel, making her board roll up the side of the tunnel wall to make it around some debris. She closed her eyes as the rush made her black hair fly back, the tails of her mask, which was currently pushed up to her forehead, mixed with her hair. When an opening appeared in the tunnel she pressed back on the back of her board, making it skid on the floor of the tunnel and slow to a stop.
She grabbed the end of her skateboard and slid it onto her back where there was a strap on her top that held her board in place. She was wearing her black ninjitsu outfit with knee and elbow pads, but she left her bow and quiver back at the lair. Placing a hand on the wall to steady herself she looked down into the sewer junction. There were several other sewer tunnel entrances around the sides where the water and sewage ran into this junction. The water level below was a good twenty to thirty feet below her.
Taking a deep breath she took a few steps back before running forward and leaping into the air. Her hands grabbed onto a small, sturdy pipe and she hung there for a moment before turning herself around and re-gripping the pipe. Seeing her target below she swung her legs back and forth several times. Then, as her legs swung forward she let go and felt herself go flying. She landed on her feet, knees bent up, arms held out to keep balance. The surface below her feet was jagged and bumpy below her, a broken up chuck of brick wall that stuck out about five feet.
She crawled forward, through a small hole in the wall, about three feet tall and four feet wide. The floor slanted up slightly for about two feet before it opened up into what some might call a cavern, except in the sewers. She looked around smirking. She found this place by accident one day when she accidentally found this sewer junction and fell into it. When she resurfaced in the water she saw this hole, which couldn't be seen from up above. She started coming here whenever she needed to get away from her brothers, none of them knew anything about it, well except for Raph. He followed her one day, but promised he wouldn't tell anyone about it.
She sighed as she slipped her board off her back and set it on the floor. Then she pulled a large brick out of the wall. Inside was a large, water-tight plastic bag. Inside of it she kept; a sketchpad, some pencils, a sharpener, some non-perishable food items just incase, a large towel, a first-aid kit, a lantern, and a box of matches.
She got out the lantern and a match and lit the lantern for light and warmth. Then she got out her sketchbook and started drawing to pass the time and cool off. She always seemed to calm down when she drew, it helped clear her mind.
Raph threw in a few more good punches on his punching bag before resting his hand on the side and taking a breather. He looked around the den. Mikey was lounging on the couch playing video games, Don was working on the computer, and Leo was pacing near the entrance; glancing at the doorway every so often. Raph glanced nervously from around his punching bag at Don. Just a few minutes after Kayla left Don had announced that some bad weather was headed their way. He'd been monitoring it since he found out. Leo, on the other hand, had been pacing since Kay left, which was over an hour ago.
Raph took another deep breath before attacking his punching bag again, letting out all his pent up stress.
Kayla sighed deeply as she reached to her right to where she placed her skateboard. She knew she should be heading back soon. As much as she dreaded facing her brothers again she knew they'd be worried about her, especially Leo, though she hated to admit it. Her hand reached to where her board would be but instead of feeling the smooth surface of her board her hand touched water. She yanked her hand back in surprise as she whipped her head to the right. The water level had risen. The highest she'd ever seen the water level in this junction was about three feet below the floor of the entrance to her hideout, but now it was about one foot ABOVE the floor of the entrance.
Kayla sat up and knelt on her knees, leaning away from the water. Looking out she saw her skateboard floating in the water just inside the entrance. She leaned out over the water carefully to reach it. She managed to reach it with only getting her hands wet. She slid the board onto its usual place on her back.
'I'd better head home and find out what's going on,' she thought to herself as she blew out the lantern and started putting everything into the bag. She waited a while for the lantern to cool off so it wouldn't melt the plastic. By the time everything was back where it belonged and she pushed the brick back into place she noticed the water had risen at least a few inches. She stood up as best she could at the back of the hideout and looked out the entrance. 'Looks like I'll have to wade through it,' she thought to herself, hoping she wouldn't have to swim. She stepped back against the wall, getting ready to step into the water.
She felt some of the jagged bricks under her left foot shift under her weight before she felt them roll and felt a huge weight land on her foot. She yelped as she felt jolts of pain shoot up her ankle. She looked down at her foot. The jagged pieces of brick had shifted under her weight and caused a large chunk to break off the wall and fall on her foot. She shoved on the bricks with both hands trying to move it, but it wouldn't budge. It was probably a good hundred pounds with all the bricks cemented together. She instinctively reached to her belt for her shell cell to find it…not there. She put her palm to her head. She'd left it back at the lair.
"Crap," she whispered to herself. She was trapped in a hole in the side of a sewer junction, that was slowly flooding, with no way to call her family. Now she was screwed.
Raph sighed, wiping sweat from his neck with a towel. He'd just finished bench pressing past his limits trying to clear his mind. He closed his eyes and breathed out, trying to calm himself. Then the light he could see past his eyelids vanished and he opened his eyes.
"What the shell?" Mikey's voice called from the other side of the lair. All the lights and the TV's were out.
"Donnie?" Leo called from near the entrance. Everything was dark but it was just light enough to see.
"What 'appened?" Raph called, standing up with the towel around his neck.
"Well, it turns out the 'bad weather' I mentioned earlier was a hurricane." Don answered, coming over from his computer, which was also out. "It's just hitting us and the power's gone out." Don shrugged in a 'nothing I can do' manner.
"A hurricane? How bad?" Leo asked, all four brothers meeting up in the TV area.
"It's supposed to get pretty bad, but I'm not entirely sure yet. The power went out before I could look into it more."
"Are we in any danger?" Leo asked.
"Well, we're a lot safer here than we are topside, but with all that extra water several parts of the sewer will probably flood. I'll keep an eye on the surrounding water levels just in case." Don walked toward his lab.
"Thanks Don." Leo nodded to his brother. He glanced over at the clock on the wall, Raph followed his gaze, thinking the same thing. It was going on almost midnight.
"Kay's been gone for over an hour an' a half," Raph thought out loud as he got out his shell cell. "I'm gonna call 'er." he quickly dialed her number and held the phone to his ear. Hearing a ringing sound from the end table by the couch Raph and Leo looked down to see Kayla's shell cell sitting there, ringing. Raph hung up, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach.
"So, what do we do, now?" Mikey asked, looking up from the phone to his older brothers.
Leo took a deep breath, trying to think like a leader and not like a protective older brother. "Kayla knows these sewers as well as any of us. As soon as she knows what's going on topside she'll head home." Leo nodded, as if reassuring himself as well as his brothers.
Raph looked back down at the phone on the table. No matter what Leo said, Raph just couldn't shake that feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Gggrr!" Kayla broke off her struggle to catch her breath. No matter how hard she pushed the bricks on her foot wouldn't budge. She leaned back on the wall, because of the position her foot was in she couldn't sit down without gasping in pain and feeling like her ankle would break. She wiped her forehead, unsure if the wetness was water or sweat. The water had risen and was now up to her ankles, almost covering the bricks that were currently pinning her in place. She sniffed and leaned her head back against the cold, hard bricks behind her. She wiped her wet, black hair out of her face as she took a deep breath.
'Okay, calm down,' she though to herself, 'Raph knows you come here to cool off. He's probably on his way right now.' She smirked thinking of how he was going to yell at her later. Who would've thought she'd actually miss that?
Kayla breathed in a shaky breath, feeling a few salty tears slide down her face. "Raphael, where are you?" she asked out loud.
Raph was sitting on the couch hunched over, his elbows on his knees. Leo was leaning against the wall near the entranceway, Don was still in his lab monitoring the surrounding sewer tunnels, and Mikey was reading a comic book.
Raph looked up when Don came out carrying several rolled up posters. Raph watched as his brother laid them all out on the kitchen table. Having nothing better to do Raph got up and went to see what he was doing. He saw Don putting X's over certain sewer tunnels and junctions on several large maps.
"Whatya doin' Donnie?" he asked casually.
Don glanced up at him. "Marking off what sewer tunnels have started flooding so far. These are the junctions that surround our lair." he pointed to the several junctions on the maps, "Some of them have already started to flood because of all the excess water topside. I doubt they'd flood completely but I'm just keeping an eye on them. If they flood completely we'd have to evacuate the lair, but I doubt it'll come to that."
"Flood?" Raph asked distractedly. He was looking thoughtfully at one of the junctions Don had crossed off. He recognized which one it was. It was the junction Kayla always ran off to when she wanted to be alone. If she went there, and the junction was flooded…
"Raph, what are you doing?" Leo asked as Raph rushed past him toward the entrance.
"To get Kay." was all he said as the brick sliding doors shut behind him.
"Hello? Somebody! Anybody?" Kayla leaned her head on her arm, which was holding the wall above her, "Help." she sniffed again and wiped her face on her sleeve. The water had risen another foot, about past knee height, if she was standing straight up; but since her hideout wasn't too big she couldn't stand straight up, so it was about at her waist. Her throat was sore from calling, she was shivering badly, and she'd almost lost feeling in her legs.
"Figures the one day Raph decides to give me space is the one day I need help." she shook her head, chuckling a little to herself.
"Kay!"
"Great, now I'm going crazy." she muttered to herself.
"Kayla!"
Kayla lifted her head a little. It couldn't be…Could it?
"Kayla! Answer me!" Raph's voice echoed off the junction walls.
"Raph!" Kayla shouted, her voice cracking from yelling for so long, "Raph I'm down here!" There was a silence and Kayla worried he hadn't heard her and left. Then she saw something green shoot down and splash into the water several feet outside her hideout entrance. She saw him surface and crawl into the tunnel. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Raph crawled up to her, unable to stand in the small quarters. "You!" he pointed a finger at her, his voice out of breath, "Have some serious 'splainin' to do!"
Kayla chuckled a little. "Yeah, yeah. Lecture me later, okay? My foot's caught under some bricks. I can't get it out, that's why I've been here for so long." Raph reached his hand under the water and tried to move the bricks. They moved a little but not enough. He got out one of his sais and wedged it under the large brick. He used his sai as a lever and pushed down.
Kayla hissed in pain as the brick was lifted off. She carefully but quickly slid her foot out and leaned back against the opposite wall breathing deeply to ease the pain. Raph put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. She hugged back, wanting to just pass out. He pulled away.
"Come on." he turned around carefully in the small space with his back to her, "Let's get out of here." Kayla grabbed hold of his shell on his back as he slid forward through the water, his plastron to the ground so they both could slide through the short tunnel. Kayla held her breath as Raph and her dipped under the water to make it under the brick wall above. When they surfaced Raph swam to the wall just to the left of the hole, which was almost completely underwater.
"Hang on tight." he said over his shoulder as he pulled his sais out of his belt. Kayla wrapped her arms around his neck and gripped her wrist with one hand. Raph stabbed his sais into a couple cracks and crevices in the wall. He climbed up the wall slowly, stabbing his sais into the wall each time he moved up. Kayla winced whenever her injured foot bumped the wall.
After what seemed like forever Raph reached is hand over the edge of the tunnel entrance and tossed one of his sais in while the other was still stabbed into the wall. Kayla climbed up his shell and over his shoulder until she was safely seated in the sewer tunnel. She offered her hand to her brother and pulled him up with her. They sat back opposite each other, resting against the sides of the sewer tunnel, breathing deeply to catch their breath.
"So…why, exactly, did you come all the way over here…in this kind of weather?" Raph panted.
"What do you mean; 'this kind of weather'?" Kayla asked back, "I've been out here in thunderstorms before."
"'Thunderstorms'!" Raph huffed. Kayla was slightly confused. "It's a hurricane, shells-for-brains." he retorted back at her.
Kayla's eyes widened. "A hurricane!?"
Raph nodded.
Kayla leaned her head against the wall, her mouth open in shock. 'Leo's gonna KILL me!' she thought to herself.
After a few minutes Raph stood up. "Ya ready ta go?" he asked, looking down at Kayla, who'd almost dozed off. Kayla nodded. "Can ya walk or do ya need me at carry ya?" he asked, offering his hand to help her up.
Kayla ignored it and stood up on her own. "I can walk." she answered stubbornly, but as she put her injured foot forward to walk she gasped in pain and nearly fell forward. Raph caught her in his arms and helped her stand up.
"Sure ya can." he agreed sarcastically as he smirked down at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away, crossing her arms stubbornly. "Come on." he turned his back to her and hunched over a bit. Kayla sighed in defeat, knowing she'd never be able to walk back anyway. She gripped the rim on his shell behind his shoulders and pulled herself onto his back. He gripped under her legs just behind her knees and pulled her up, holding her there as he walked.
Kayla wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on, resting her cheek on his shell behind his head. He could feel her shivering against his shell. He had to get her home and warmed up.
"Hey, Raph?" she mumbled after a while, moving her head so her chin rested on the rim of his shell.
"Yeah?" he answered, glancing back at her briefly.
"How mad do you think he'll be?" she asked nervously.
"Who?" Raph asked as he turned a corner.
"Leo." she answered, watching his reaction. "How bad will he yell at me?"
Raph sighed deeply looking up at the ceiling in thought. Kayla bit her lip nervously. "Well," Raph started, still looking up, "you disobeyed a direct order, stayed to fight the Foot, got into a fight with him, challenged his authority and leadership, took off without telling him where you were going, and now you're going to show up wet, shivering, and injured…. I think it's safe to say he'll probably yell at you to the point either he'll loose his voice or you'll go deaf." Kayla rested her forehead against Raph's shell, closing her eyes in fear. "Then he'll probably hug ya ta death." Raph finished. Kayla couldn't help but chuckle a little at his last comment. She rested her cheek back against his shell like earlier and rested her eyes.
Raph could feel her doze off a little and leaned forward slightly, to keep her from falling backwards. He hoped Leo wouldn't be too hard on her when they got back. Raph had planned several things to say to her when he was going to get her, but as soon as he saw her injured all he cared about was getting her home, safe and sound. He hoped Leo would see things that way.
Kayla opened her eyes at the sound of sliding brick. She looked up over Raph's shoulder to see the familiar sliding brick doorway as Raph stepped into the Den. It was dark except for a few candles here and there for light. She saw Leo, Mike, and Don look over at them from the kitchen table and ducked down slightly, fearing the lecture she was sure she'd receive.
"Kayla!" Leo's voice echoed off the walls and she instinctively tightened her grip on Raph. She looked up suddenly being surrounded on all sides by her brothers as Raph gently lowered her to the floor. She made sure to keep all her weight on her uninjured, right foot and kept a hand on Raph's arm as Mikey took her skateboard off her back.
"Where were you?" Leo demanded, standing in front of her. She looked at the floor, unsure what to say.
"Ey, 'Fearless Leader', lay off. She's hurt." Raph nudged him out of the way as he helped Kayla limp to the couch. He sat her down and lifted her feet up onto the couch so she could lay down on the couch if she wanted. "Yo, Donnie! We could use a little medical assistance over here!" he called over his shoulder. Don, who'd gone to his lab when they came in, came back out with a first aid kit in his hand.
Kayla sniffed and hugged her arms as she shivered. She felt something on her shoulders and looked down to see a blanket wrapped around her. She glanced up to see Mikey looking down at her, smiling gently. She grinned back, "Thanks." she whispered. She bit her lip as she felt Don pull her shoes off and gently poke her injured foot.
"It's just bruised." he answered after a while, "You should be fine." He smiled up at her before he stood up. He pulled her into a side hug for a second before saying, "I'll go get you an ice pack."
Kayla looked at her lap. She could feel Leo staring at her from where he was standing a few feet away, but she refused to make eye contact, afraid of the disappointment and anger she'd find in his eyes. Mikey came in and offered her a cup of chicken noodle soup, and Don came in and gently placed an ice pack on her foot.
As she was sipping her soup Leo moved from where he was standing to sit on the coffee table only a foot away from his sister. Kayla knew what was coming so she looked down to study her soup. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him tilt his head to get eye level with her.
"Kayla." he spoke, trying to get her attention. Kayla turned her head away from him, pursing her lips together. She saw Mike and Don leave, but Raph stayed, his arms crossed as he watched. She felt a hand on her shoulder turn her to face him. She breathed in shakily as she glanced up at him. His eyes stared directly back into her eyes. They gave away no emotion. "Kayla," he started again, "where did you go?" he asked, his voice was almost monotone, showing as much emotion as his eyes.
Kayla bit her lip to stop it from quivering. "I… I went skating. Just like I always do when I want to be alone." she answered quietly, her throat hoarse and voice scratchy.
"I figured that." Leo answered, "But why did you come home wet and injured?"
Kayla looked away again, unsure how to answer without giving away her secret hideout. "I…I," Kayla's mouth was open but she couldn't think of anything to say.
"We fell." answered a voice from a few feet away. Kayla and Leo looked up at Raph, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I found 'er an' we were headin' back home when we fell into a sewer junction. She banged up her ankle in the fall." he looked up, his golden brown eyes meeting hers. She couldn't believe he just…lied…to cover for her.
Leo looked back at Kayla, who went back to staring at her soup. "Alright," he answered, "but why did you leave your shell cell here?"
Kayla sighed. "That was an accident." she answered honestly, glancing up at Leo, "I just wanted to get out of here and I forgot it." she looked away. Leo looked down at the floor, realizing she was afraid…of him.
Kayla felt him put a hand on her shoulder again, but instead of turning her to face him he sat on the edge of the couch next to her, face to face, with both hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him, fearing she'd find anger in his eyes but instead she found…relief.
"I'm just glad you're okay." he whispered to her before pulling her into a hug. Kayla's eyes widened for a moment before she realized what just happened. Setting her soup in her lap where it wouldn't spill she wrapped her arms around her brother and hugged him back tightly. She looked past him at Raph, who smirked at her and mouthed the words, 'Told ya so' before leaving the room. Kayla smiled again as she buried her face in Leo's shoulder for a moment. Then, Leo got up and sat behind her on the couch, her back to him. She finished her soup and placed it on the coffee table.
Then, she wrapped the blanket around her tighter before leaning back against Leo's side. She felt him wrap his arm around her shoulder and chest, hugging her to him. She opened her eyes slightly to see Raph lay another blanket over her before sitting down and gently placing her feet on his lap. She saw him lean back on the couch and doze off. Kayla felt her own eyes grow heavy. She could feel Leo's heartbeat against her as her eyes closed to a warm, comfortable darkness…