"Hey Don, can you fix my iPod it's not working!" Mindy asked Donatello as she went over to his technological work area with her pink iPod.
"Sure, I can update it for you too if you want?" Donatello replied cheerfully turning around with his swerving chair, his brown eyes curious behind his purple mask.
"Cool! Thanks Donnie!" Mindy exclaimed skipping off to watch 'How it's Made'. Suddenly the orange masked trouble-maker ran into the room.
"Mindy! I'm hungry, make me some pizza!" Michelangelo yelled.
"If you could say please then it'll be done soon." Mindy crossed her arms, her black hair and green eyes shining.
"Ppllleeaasseee!" he begged on his knees as if in prayer.
"Thank you." and with that Mindy went into the kitchen to make sure dinner wasn't burning to smithereens. As she made sure everything was safe her thoughts drifted to her old house. She still had to finish taking all her things out of it and put them down here in the sewer before a buyer came. Living with four turtle brothers could really make a girl on top of things turn into a procrastinator.
Mindy's adopted turtle brothers had come to her aid after her mother had passed away and things had turned from bad to worse. Mindy looked at the steaming pizza in the oven one last time before heading out the lair to make sure the movers knew where to put everything.
Just a few blocks away things weren't going as well for another family. A thin girl with long dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes stepped out of a neat brick home. Her shoulders were slightly hunched with anger as she stumbled down the front steps with heaped boxes blocking her view. When Lily finally managed to get down them without too much injury she whirled around, furious.
"I hope your happy, Jack!" she yelled at him.
"I am," he said simply. The figure known as Jack leaned against the door frame casually. He had brown hair and the same intense sapphire eyes. They had just lost their parents and Jack had quickly kicked Lily out as soon as he had heard in their will that he owned the home. Lily stomped down the sidewalk, shoved her boxes in the passenger seat, then hopped into the rusty truck and drove off.
She had to find a house now or she would be sleeping in the streets and sleeping in the streets of New York was never a good idea. Lily drove around through neighborhoods hoping to find something manageable while thick grey smoke trickled out the exhaust tube in the back of her car. Finally she stopped at a house with a "for sale" sign staked into the front yard.
It was a large yellow painted Victorian style house with a wide porch and peeled painted fence around the whole yard. Lily stepped out and came to the front door just as a pair of movers came out carrying a large chair. She walked in cautiously.
Mindy sat on a faded pink couch looking at a picture of six happy people who looked very similar to each other. A signature was at the bottom saying "In loving memory of Jim, Jen, Jackson, Joshua, Jacob, and Jeremiah Stari…" Mindy sighed sadly remembering her old life when a tap from her shoulder made her jump.
"Sorry ma'am, but do you need this couch loaded up too?" the movers face was slightly paranoid under a red ball cap.
"Oh yes, thank you," Mindy said as she stood up still holding the picture.
"Excuse me..?" a feeble voice said at the door and a dark blonde head poked in.
"Oh hi, are you interested?" asked Mindy a little excitedly.
"Yeah, it looks real nice," Lily said looking around, "how much is it?"
"Twenty one grand," Mindy replied happily. She could certainly use some cash, especially since Mikey liked to cook often.
"I'll take it." with a quick look in her wallet, Lily nodded and handed it over to Mindy "Thank you so much."
"Enjoy the place!" Mindy said over her shoulder as she walked out the door and into her blue mustang. She drove for a little bit often looking in her rear view mirrors to make sure no one was following her before turning down alleyways. At last she stopped in the middle of an alleyway between two apartments and parked her car before climbing down a manhole to the lair.
Mindy came into the lair with the picture still caught in her grasp. Donatello was typing away on just one of his keyboards staring at several different monitor screens. Raphael was practicing beating up a dummy giving it numerous fatal blows; while Leonardo sat meditating nearby. No one had seen the comical Michelangelo in a while and though that would have usually worried them they were all too busy stuck in their own activities.
It had been like that for as long as anyone could remember all the way back to when Master Splinter had first vanished and never returned. Mindy sat on the tattered couch tired from a long day and ready to eat the pizza that wavered from the kitchen to the living room. Suddenly the orange masked Mikey came bursting from his bed room doors
"I lost one of my nunchucks!" he exclaimed
Lily had finished unpacking and sat on her inflatable mattress gazing at the house with the light of a single lamp to keep out the looming darkness. She glanced around at the kitchen with its spotless marble table tops but she wasn't paying any attention to that. She had noticed something on the floor. It was two thick straight pieces of wood wrapped in orange cloth with metal chains linking them together, a nunchuck.
She stood up and grasped a hold of one end peering at it curiously. What was a nunchuck doing in an empty house? Lily grabbed a phone book she always had at her side and flipped through it to find Mindy Stari. When she found her she snatched her cell phone and dialed her number. After five rings a voice answered.
"Hello?" Mindy's voice was frantic talking jittery on Lily's end and yelling on the other but Lily couldn't make out what.
"I uh...Have something of yours?"
"Oh yes! Thank you I'll be right over." and with another shout she hung up. Lily waited and soon the door bell rang. She hurried and opened it to see a breathless Mindy panting at her door.
"I believe this is yours." it was more of a question and it made Mindy more nervous.
"Um yeah I'm learning karate." Lily handed it to her satisfied with her answer, but suddenly stared fearfully into the dark when her porch lights illuminated a shadow.
"There's s-something out there," Lily said her voice faltering. Mindy growled and shoved Mikey against a nearby wall just as he was about to become more that a shadow to Lily.
"She could have seen you!" Mindy hissed and grabbed Michelangelo by the end of his mask before dragging him home. Lily slowly closed the door behind her unsure of what had just happened before going to bed on her inflatable mattress.
"What were you thinking of, running off into a strangers home to get your weapon when Mindy already was?!" Leonardo yelled at Mikey the second the two had gone home and explained what had happened. Michelangelo cringed and hung his head. That night Mikey crept into Mindy's room and stood next to her.
"Mindy…" Michelangelo whispered. Mindy sat bolt upright and whacked him hard on his head
"OUCH!" he yelled holding his probably bruised cranium.
"Oh. It's just you Mikey. What do you want?" Mindy grumbled half asleep.
"I just wanted to say I was sorry I was so dumb tonight." Michelangelo's voice was sincere, but Mindy didn't buy into it.
"Yeah, we know you were," she said before going back to sleep. Mikey sighed and walked out before going into his own bed (though it was certainly not as neat and had comic books streamed all over it) and going to asleep.
"Wake up!" Michelangelo yelled from the living room as it echoed through the lair's halls "It's Saturday cartoon time!" instantly Mindy ran out of her bed and met Raphael on the best seat on the couch before grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. Mikey whined at them then slumped over to the lumpy seat.
RRRIIIINNNNNGGGG! Lily moaned as her alarm clock went off and rolled off her bed. It was 7 AM on Saturday and she had to go to work. She quickly got dressed in work clothes that were suitable for going to the laboratory, fixed her hair, and got in her car before going to work. She parked in the employee's only area and went into the tall metal building.
There was waiting for her in his office ready to give her, her first assignment out of the classroom science labs. Lily took the elevator not looking straight into the security cameras like she usually did when she was a kid. When she got to his level Lily walked down the hallway and opened a door with Dr. Ware's name on it. There sat.
He was a very thin man who had a bald head on top but long gray hair circling the rest of his head and his black eyes pocked out of his circular glasses. had a white lab coat on over a gray suit and was looking at some files before Lily came in. A smile spread across his wrinkled face as Lily shut the door behind her.
"Ah Ms. Ponca, I have a special assignment for you today." the doctor's voice was thick with good means but his grin was sly.
"Thank you so much for choosing me. I won't let you down," Lily stated, practically jumping up and down with excitement on what she would be doing to help people in the future.
"As you know, our research mostly contains animals and bacteria that are still undiscovered and what we have found is that instead of going all the way to South America to find them we actually have a great supply of the unknown right under New York's feet. I need you to go down into the sewers and try and find any unknown life forms today, and we need them today because the mayor is seriously considering closing this place down since we haven't found anything and the rest of the other students have either quite or are in South America."
"I will certainly do my best." and with that Lily went to get her supplies and head down into the sewer.
Mindy, Raph, and Mikey were staring with glee at the cartoons when suddenly Mikey turned his head his expression full of alarm.
"What's wrong Mikey?" Mindy asked in question. Raph hardly ever looked away from the TV.
"There's someone here!" as much pranks as Mikey pulled on Mindy, she knew this wasn't one of them.
"I'll see what it is." Mindy got up leaving a terrified Mikey and a cartoon watching Raphael. Mindy opened the door that lead to the sewer and went out. She hadn't brought a flashlight and now she wished she had, it was pitch black. Mindy didn't even have to move from her post at the door when a beam of light blinded Mindy.
"Um...Hello?" Mindy cringed as Mikey started yelling hysterically.
"Oh, uh hello...Wait! You're the lady that gave me my house, what are you doing down here?" Lily had been suspicious from the start and now she wasn't going to leave but find answers to these hard questions that came to mind.
"I uh...Work here." Mindy winced at her lie, even she didn't fall for it.
"You're a biologist too?" Lily cocked her head in confusion "I've never seen you at our building before."
"Okay I'm not really a biologist."
"Then what?" she asked hands on hips. Mindy saw that Lily wasn't falling for the lies anymore.
"Just...go back up please," Mindy pleaded to her, "We-I own this area."
"I have to work here or I'll get fired!" she said harshly.
"This is private property!" Mindy yelled, "If you dare do anything to them I'll..." she muttered under her breath, "oh great…"
"Who is this 'we' you keep talking about?"
"Uh…nobody," Mindy said in her best I'm-not-up-to-something voice. Mikey hopped from foot to foot impatiently, wanting to see who was at the door. Mikey poked his head out of the door.
"Hey it's a girl, and she's kinda cute," Michelangelo said grinning. When Mindy noticed Mikey there she just blew up.
"MIKEY GO AWAY!" Mindy shrieked at him making him run all the way to his room. Then Mindy turned to a very wide eyed Lily. She gave out a blood curdling scream before running as fast as she could away from the lair, dropping her flashlight, and making her white lab coat billow behind her.
"No stop!" Mindy yelled after her trying to catch up. Mindy darted forward and caught the sleeve of Lily's lab coat, "Don't tell anyone about them!"
"Let go of me!" Lily screamed jerking away and running faster.
"They could get killed!" Mindy shrieked. Exhausted with grief, she fell down and cried afraid of what was to come. Leonardo had heard screaming and ran to Mindy covering her in protective arms.
"What's wrong?" he said in a soothing tone.
"She's going to tell!" Mindy bawled. Lily turned around to see who Mindy was talking to and when she saw Leo she let out a shriek and climbed the ladder out of the sewer "No! No!" she cried as she looked up to see Lily climbing up the ladder. Mindy looked up at Leo with tear struck eyes.
"Aren't you scared? You know what will happen to you when you're found out." Leo thought for a moment then nodded.
"It's a scary thought." Mikey had been listening to their conversation and suddenly ran after Lily. He wasn't about to let some human girl take away his comics. Though it was a Tuesday in the middle of a sunny day Mikey wasn't going to stop running.
"Mikey stop!" Leo and Mindy shouted in unison. Michelangelo ascended up the ladder. The sun's intense rays hit him with so much force he almost jumped back down. But when his sight came back he saw Lily just a few yards in front of him and hurriedly climbed out and ran after her.
Lily glanced behind her hearing footsteps and when she noticed Mikey running after her she put herself in full gear as she got closer to the biology research center. When Michelangelo saw distance being put between them he ran harder, did an acrobatic flip over Lily, and came standing in front of her.
Lily had been distracted; staring at the security camera hoping someone would see her being chased by a giant turtle, when she ran right into Mikey. He swiftly scooped her up, in the blind spot of the camera, and ran back to the sewer and toward the lair.
Lily kicked and screamed and tried with all her might to get away but it was no use, there was no escaping the giant ninja turtle that held her fast. As the two came through the lair door everyone turned to stare at them. Leo had finally coaxed Mindy back while Lily and Mikey were running and now they stood gaping at the two.
With two of his brothers standing next to him Mikey tossed Lily to Raphael who in turn threw her to Leo. Leonardo quickly set Lily on the tattered couch, as they all stared at her wondering what to make of her. Lily had been fighting for freedom but now as she realized that she was a prisoner she stopped resisting and lay limp in fear.
Leonardo certainly looked the most agitated apart from Raphael who was keeping a keen eye on Lily.
"Please, calm down we're not going to hurt you," Leo stated reassuringly. Mindy ran to the door and locked it just in case Lily had any ideas of running. Lily only responded by wedging herself deeper into the couch cushions praying this was just a bad dream.
"Look," Leo began with a sigh, "we're all Mindy's got. All her family members are dead. We adopted her as a sister so if something should happen to us she would...well she would probably do something horrible to herself…" Lily didn't respond, "All we're asking of you is to not tell anyone about us because, to them," Leonardo pointed to the city up ahead, "we don't exist…and we'd like to keep it that way"
"And if she gets hurt…" Raphael clenched his fists. Mindy smiled and ran over to Raph and hugged him. She whispered "thank you" in his ear while Lily still stared apprehensively.
"You may go, but please don't tell anyone."
"O-okay," Lily stuttered before practically bolting for the door.
"Is she going to tell?" Mindy looked at Leo worriedly.
"Sadly...I don't know," was his only response.
Lily walked into the biology research center and opened 's door. She hesitated as his full attention was drawn to her.
"I'm sorry I…couldn't find anything." the doctor's face went from a pleased smile to a hard frown.
"Very well," he said and went back to looking at something on his computer. Lily took that as a cue to leave and sulkily went on her way home.
Mindy tossed in her dreams restlessly.
"STOP!" she screamed as the turtles lay on the floor motionless. A dark shadow of a man walked towards Mindy with a horrid grin across his face.
"NNNOOOOO!" Mindy yelled jolting awake in bed. She lay panting when Leo came running in.
"Are you okay?!" his face was streaked with terror.
"It was just a dream…" she reassured him.
"Okay…" Leo glanced back at her before going back to bed.
"It was just a dream..." She reassured herself then lied back down and fell asleep. The wee lights of dawn had barely climbed the horizon with thin ribbons of pink and orange when Mindy snuck out of the lair.
"Okay, I can do this…" Mindy muttered to herself before jogging off to Lily's house. With heart racing she knocked on the door. Lily had been up at least an hour before and had just finished getting ready. She answered the door and her face expressed surprise to see Mindy standing there.
"Oh…uh hi."
"Y-you didn't…tell, did you?" bile of fear from the unknown rose in her throat and she gulped.
"No." Mindy relaxed slightly relieved that her adopted brothers were safe, for now.
"Good…thank...You. It's just…well he told you…"
"Yeah…they scared me pretty good."
"Well, I'd better get back before they worry. Thank you…again."
"Bye…" Lily knew how valuable their secret was but now she was unsure of the future of the biology research center. Mindy then ran off as a pallid light crept slowly over head.
"Mindy! Where did you go?" Leo came over to her as soon as the door to the lair had closed behind her.
"I had to make sure…" Leo's stern gaze softened and he wrapped her in a hug
"It's okay, we scared her a bit, she won't tell"
"I'm glad you're so positive," said Mindy's muffled voice against his shell.
Lily slowly walked into the research center. The elevator ride was like a snail crawling up a wall. By the time she actually got to the 5th floor her heart was thumping frantically against her chest. She was unsure what was to happen to her and that scared her. Lily timidly opened the door to 's office where he sat just like yesterday.
"Ah Lily…it's good to see you," she nodded feebly, "Let's just get to business, since our last attempt to find anything to save our company was a failure and we have nothing to fall back on I'm afraid…you fired," Lily just gaped. She knew her job wasn't very stable at the moment but she never realized just how badly.
"What?"
"I'm sorry Lily." she stood there for a moment in shock then slumped out of the room. Lily started her cars engine and drove home wondering what she would do. As lily plopped on the couch Mindy went for a jog listening to her new and improved iPod. Suddenly a loud knock came at Lily's door and with a huff she got up and opened it.
The figure was in some type of suite of metal with two long gray daggers coming from a dark metal glove. The persons face was concealed by a thick metal Japanese style helmet with three points coming from the top and a cloth covering his mouth.
Everything about the person was jagged, severe, powerful, and just plain frightening. The two beady eyes that stuck out from underneath the cloth looked positively red.
"Hello?" Lily said confused. This certainly wasn't a girl scout selling cookies.
"Where are they?" the figure asked. By the harsh tone of voice it was unmistakably a man.
"Where are who?" the man seemed to have lost patience. His weapon covered hands tightened into fists.
"The turtles, you idiot! Where are they!" he shouted and grabbed Lily by the neck, dragged her out of her house, and slammed her spine hard against the brick wall of her home. Lily screamed and blacked out, losing consciousness. Mindy had been jogging around Lily's neighborhood, still unsure of what to think if her when she heard Lily cry out and ran to her house. When Mindy turned a corner and saw the weapon coated man there on her old porch holding a limp Lily, she stood shocked.
"No...No...No, no, no, no, no, no!" she screamed and grabbed her shell cell, the only contact device they could have with one another.
"Guys," she always called them that, "get to my old house NOW!" Mindy practically screamed into the shell shaped cell phone.
"What is it?" Leo had been the first to respond and answered her demands in question.
"No time to explain, NOW!" she yelled and didn't even wait to hear his reply, "HEY IDIOT! YEAH, YOU SHREDDER!"
"What! Oh she must know where they are," Shredder said to himself and dropped Lily before coming at Mindy. When she saw him coming, her voice turned small like a scared child.
"Oh uh…guys…you're supposed to come now…AAAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed as Shredder went into a full out run after her, "GUYS HURRY UP!" Mindy shrieked into the tiny communicator. Then Lily woke up. Her eye lids lolled open slowly and she rubbed the back of her head where it had hit against solid brick.
She carefully picked herself up leaning on the veranda's rail still only partly conscious. Once Lily saw Mindy and her pursuer she found strength to go on. Lily ran off her porch and raced to the humanoid victim. Mindy was running as hard as she could muster, all of her might into getting away. But one thing is bad about New York roads; they have bumps and cracks in them from years of use.
And now Mindy was to be subject to the mayor's carelessness. She felt her foot connect with a pothole, small but lethal in certain situations, as it sent her feet flying beneath her and head rushing to the broken concrete. With several scratches and bruises Mindy gingerly propped herself on her elbow to see what was of her pursuer.
Shredder had seen her fall and now towered over with a smug grin, or at least it looked like that from under the tight cloth. He grabbed Mindy tight and hauled her into the air, her feet dangling far from the ground. Lily screamed in terror first for Mindy and then for the four giant turtles that had suddenly appeared.
"Let her go!"
"Put her down!" Lily's and Raphael's demands and threats intertwined into a giant smoldering roar. Mindy coughed and choked gasping and sputtering for air. Lily's anger grew. She had just met this girl but she felt a great sense of determination to protect her. Thick patches of striped fur sprouted from her skin as she ran. Her human eyes became like a cats, thin black slits instead of pupils. She fell on all fours her hands and feet becoming huge furry paws, claws unsheathed.
Suddenly she exploded into a massive tiger, teeth bared. With her first and only thought as to tear apart the maniac holding Mindy she barreled into Shredder. The wind was knocked right out of him and fell hard letting Mindy slip from his grasp. Lily snarled as she stood on top of shredder ready to use her claws. Suddenly she realized what she had done.
She had just showed her enemies her secret and now they would probably use it against her, and besides Mindy would be safe with them, the enemy was of course her brothers. Lily quickly turned back to human and ran back to her house away from suspicious eyes and tried to get the fear struck look of Mindy's face by going to bed. Raphael was on a rampage. That dumb shredder had hurt his little sis' and now he was going to pay.
"I'll kill him!" Mikey shouted and ran at Shredder. He easily knocked him back, "Agghh!"
"That's it you ugly idiot!" Raph shouted and punched Shredder with all his strength sending him flying across the street.
"Leo, you'd better get back here…" Donatello trailed off as he looked at Mindy in concern.
"Why? What's wrong?" Leonardo asked coming over to kneel beside Don.
"Mindy..." Mindy was breathing irregularly, it coming in short sharp gasps "she's been stabbed" Donatello delicately picked the injured girl and carried her to the lair along with a worried Leo, sore Mikey, and furious Raphael who was all too close to breaking his sai. By morning Donatello was exhausted, still trying to help Mindy. Raphael walked into the room and went over to the brainiac's lab where he was working feverishly.
"Is she okay?"
"I'm not sure…" the fear in his voice rang loud and clear. Raph in his fury of shredder stomped out of the lair and went to the woods to vent. It was the only safe place after security cameras on the roof had become a tradition. When he found his wonted tree stump he sat down still enraged with fists clinched.
Lily had snuck out of her home glancing both ways. If she was going to do this she would have to do this now. She hurried to the woods just next to central park. The sun had hardly come up but she was already sweating. Lily's fear of Mindy's adopted brothers had grown through the night and the only way she could put herself at peace was to run away from them as far as possible.
She froze when she saw Raphael and hid behind a tree. She knew he already knew she was here even if his back was turned but she didn't want to start any chance of conversation with the monster. The red masked turtle buried his head in his hands. Lily bit her lip and turned to tiger mode making a run for it.
Her plan was to go to Alaska, it was plenty far and she would easily stay warm if she took on the challenge of becoming total tiger. She would have gotten a plane ticket but with no job there was no money, and she never believed in banks.
Raph thoughts are like Mikey's drawings when they were little, scrambled.
"How could this happen!?" he yells at the ground. His pondering drifted to the girl, Lily "it was the girl's fault! She made Shredder chase Mindy!" his brain buzzed with terrible feelings for her like an angry wasps nest.
Lily's own thoughts are just as confusing. Now she's having second thoughts and its making her mad as well. What am I doing? Running away like this! Her paws slow down and her fur bristles, I'm acting like a kid!
As much as she resents Mindy's turtle brothers she knows she couldn't run away, she'd just have to toughen through. With gritted teeth Lily doubled back heading towards Raphael quickly turning human as she gets closer to civilization.
When Raph saw her coming his anger was his guide. He rushed at her and grabbed her.
"You! You're the reason Mindy is in there dying!"
"What? She's dying!"
"How could you do that to her?"
"I didn't know!" Lily struggled to get out of his hold squirming like a fish in a net. Raphael suddenly snapped out of it, he still blamed Lily for Mindy's troubles but he couldn't be out in the middle of the day harassing people. He quickly let her go and ran to the sewer to by Mindy's side. Lily's face was full of shock, but mostly fears. The thought of Mindy died pierced her heart like when she had found out her parents were pushing up daisies.
Lily had given away one of her deepest secrets to save her and now it seemed as if it was a lost cause. With emotions flying Lily went back home to think. When she finally got there her heart was beating like a drum out of control. Mindy couldn't die, there was something about her that would put Lily in front of any danger just to keep her alive a while longer.
"I have to make sure Mindy is okay," Lily said to herself. Even if Mindy was alive for only a few moments she just had to be beside her. Lily ran out of the house in a frenzy heading straight for the sewer. When her head went under she finally slowed down.
"I hope they let me see her," she murmured to herself and carefully walked through the sewer tunnels. But Raphael was expecting her. The minute Lily came to the lairs door he pounced on her like cat and mouse.
"I don't think so!" Raph stood in front of the door not moving.
"I want to make sure she's okay," Lily protested.
"Right, you nearly kill her now you want to make sure she's okay!"
"I didn't know!" just then Leo came through seeing Raphael troubling Lily.
"Raph! She had nothing to do with this. She was unconscious before Mindy was even in danger!" Raph turned to Lily with a menacing glare
"I'm watching you." Lily ignored the threat and vigilantly came in until which she saw Mindy and ran over to her. Lily stayed by her side anxiously as Don tried feverishly to keep her alive nonstop.
