"You sure you don't want a ride there?"
Kat stood on the doorstep of an old building, part apartment, part small shop. Her black leather jacket was slung lazily over her shoulder as she leaned against the rusty railing.
"No Rach. It's only a couple blocks away, and she already knows I'm comin' over." She brushed a strand of blue-dyed hair out of her face. "You worry too much."
Rachel glanced worriedly down the dark deserted street, it seemed like they were the only two living things on it.
"Okay, but don't come cryin' to me when you get mugged by a bunch of street thugs." The brunette gripped the doorknob tighter and glanced around nervously. Kat rolled her eyes and started down the city street leaving Rachel glaring after her punk friend.
She waved he hand over her shoulder. "Like I said Rach, ya worry way too much. I mean, come on, it's mewho we're dealin' with here!"
"That's just what I'm worried about." Rachel mumbled, closing the door and retreating into the apartment/shop, leaving Kat alone on the street with only enough light emitting from the surrounding windows to see in front of her. An echo bounced off the brick walls every time she took a step, giving the surrounding night an eerie feeling.
She pulled her iPod out of her jacket pocket and stuck the buds into her ears; she needed something to pass the time. When she turned the sleek device on, Paramore immediately sounded in her ears and she couldn't hear any other sounds as she turned the corner. Not even the steady footsteps coming from the darkened alley she just passed.
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Raphael jumped over the edge of a building, glad to get his anger out. Stupid Leo! I'm glad he's gone, fact, I hope he never comes back! We're better off without him tellin' us what ta do. Leo had been gone for over a year for training on Splinter's orders to become a better leader for their so called 'team'.
Raph had become somewhat reluctant for following some of Master Splinter's orders lately ever since Leo had left. Both of his brothers had changed ever since Leo left, Mikey hasn't been his happy, comical self, and Donny is trying to take Leo place and become their 'leader'. That's exactly what ticked Raph off, Donny trying to be leader and telling him what to do.
Donny! Jeez, why can't any of my bros actually be normal for once?! He thought, tugging uncomfortably at the jeans he was wearing. Master Splinter had made him put on some clothes in stead of his regular belt and knee pads, he didn't want some passing bystander to see a giant reptile scaling the rooftops.
He ran along side the outer ridge and catapulted himself onto an outcropping of a nearby cathedral, crouching next to a large stone gargoyle. Everything was quiet in this part of the city at this time of night, except for the distant rumble of cars downtown and a few crashes from different alleyways from which stray cats where jumping down from tin garbage cans. The only light came from the open windows of surrounding buildings.
Suddenly, as Raphael listened to the soothing silence of New York that rarely came, he heard a crash in a near-by alley.
"Get away from me!"
"Well, ain't you cute? Don't you agree boys? Now why don't you had over some cash so I can take 'ya on a nice romantic date."
He heard others murmur in agreement, certain that someone was about to get mugged. He rose from his outcropping and jumped to the silent building that looked over the dark alleyway. Luckily, none of the thugs heard him as Raph hopped onto a fire escape.
"I said, get away from me, bitch!" A teenage girl backed up against the wall, her hands held up in fists.
"Feisty, huh? We like that in women." The gang leader pulled out a long metal bat, hitting one hand with it as he closed in on her, his body inches away from her own. "But no one, not even a hottie like you, calls the Purple Dragons bitches."
"Well, than I'll hafta call ya douches then! Or would you prefer jackasses?" the teen snarled back at the men, getting into attack position. But before she could do anything, a trash can-sized hand appeared and grabbed her by the neck, dangling her feet above the ground. She struggled against it, trying to pry the fingers off her neck.
"Douches won't do either, sweetheart." The gang surrounded the gasping teenager and held their weapons aloft, prepared to strike, but Raph wasn't going to let that happen. He pounced from the fire escape onto one of the out skirting thugs, knocking him flat out. He pulled his sweatshirt hood up over his face so the girl wouldn't be freaked by his appearance, and tapped the leader on the shoulder.
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Kat struggled against the gang member's tight grip, almost choking herself in the process. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Purple Dragons get bawled over by an invisible force and knocked flat out. She gasped for air as the over sized man squeezed his fist tighter and tighter around her neck, it felt as though her head might pop right off of her neck bone.
Then, someone appeared out of no where and tapped the leader on the shoulder, he spun around and charged at the stranger, trying to knock him over. Kat seized this chance to free herself from the colossal's grip since all of the other men were too preoccupied watching their leader and the masked stranger fight each other, so she kicked the man hard in the gut, making him double over and drop her on the ground. She was pretty impressed with herself, making a man twice her size double over in pain. Who knew Chuck Taylors' could be useful in a fight.
She got the chance to run over to her jacket and check the pockets to see if anything had been taken as the man fought with the gang members, he had defeated their leader and was now taking care of the rest of them. But as she sprinted over to her jacket, she slipped and stumbled to the ground, a piece of broken glass raked her shin, leaving a deep cut. A hiss of pain escaped her mouth and she clutched her cut leg, but she had to ignore it and keep going.
Kat felt the pockets for her things and found that one was empty, the one that had contained her iPod! Swearing every curse under the sun, she picked herself up off the ground and limped over to the group of battling men, picking up the unconscious leader's metal bat. A livid look obscured her face.
The nearest Purple Dragon was on the outside of the fight, helplessly trying to get into the action. Kat aimed and swung the bat, hitting the man square in the shoulder blades. He slumped to the ground without anyone noticing. She made her way through the crowd, knocking out thugs left and right. Some people would say she had some anger management problems, but hey, she really wanted her iPod.
She searched for the small music player on the ground, but too much commotion was going on for her to do it thoroughly.
"Move, jackass!" Kat spat at a rather scrawny-looking thug who was blocking her path. He jumped and ran out of her reach, looking terrified. She smirked with satisfaction and moved on to the next one in line. Now, where is it?! She thought, rather worried, she couldn't live without her iPod, literally.
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"Holy crap! How much do you weigh, Tiny?" Raph strained as he fought with a colossal twice his size. Beads of sweat started to drip onto his face and he helplessly tried to wipe them away with his sweatshirt sleeve, but he was too busy fighting the Purple Dragons. He had noticed that the girl had managed to get away and didn't see her anywhere, at least she got away.
He and the biggest thug were the only ones standing, everyone else was out cold on the ground. Weird, I don't remember taken' down all of em'. Raph thought curiously. The Purple Dragon managed to push him to the ground, and was now above him, holding a thick chain above his head.
"Come on, can't we talk this over?" Raph asked smartly from the ground. The man shook his head dumbly and was about to bring the chain down on him. But before he could, a loud, menacing crack sounded and the colossal fell to the ground beside Raph with a loud thud. There, standing over the unconscious thug, was the girl holding a metal bat in her hands. A livid look was upon her face, even if he couldn't see it that well.
The girl looked at him and her expression softened, some. She held her hand out to help him up, he almost forgot he was laying on the ground. "Now I know who 'ta thank." he muttered.
"Uh, thanks." He said finally.
"No prob, one of these jackasses took my iPod. And if they thought that they were gonna get away with it, they were wrong." The girl started to search the dark alleyway, pushing aside a few thugs here and there. Raph noticed that she was limping on one leg, and saw a small trickle of blood emerge from a tear in her jeans.
"You ok?" he asked. She glanced at him and nodded, then let out a gasp of pain when she kneeled down to pick a small object, stretching the deep gash in her shin.
"I'm okay, really." She held up a hand when he started walking towards her, Raph still came next to her and picked up what she was reaching for. It was a sleek black iPod with a neon green metallic cover coating the outside. It looked like an iPod Classic.
"Here." He said roughly, handing it to her. "Ya know, it isn't safe ta be out at this time a night."
"Well, look who's talkin', smarts." She retorted, clutching her bleeding shin while leaning against the alley wall. Raph had to bite his tongue to keep from lashing back out at her and starting an argument.
"Look, why were ya out here anyway?" he tried to change the subject. She looked up at him, a fiery spark burning in her eyes, much like the one he had when he was annoyed with someone.
"Why do you wanna know?" she asked him skeptically. Raph sighed, it was going to take a while to get through to this chick.
"Never mind, but we should get outta here. The sleepin' beauties are wakin' up." She giggled a little, standing up straight but clutched her leg in pain once more. "Shit," she cursed.
Raphael sighed. "Yer not gonna be able ta walk like that, especially with those Purple Dragons around. They're gonna want some pay back for what you did ta their guys." She glanced over at the unconscious men sprawled out all over the vacant alley and bit her lip feverishly. "Look, just tell me where you're goin' and I'll take ya there," It's the least he could do.
"Excuse me? I hardly know you." She noted picking up her jacket after a few moments of sharp pains from her leg. "I can get to where I need to on my own."
"Fine. Have fun gettin' mugged again. I bet next time, they'll bring heaters." He started walking back to the fire escape. She took some second thoughts. "Wait." She said weakly.
He turned around. "Yeah?"
"Maybe I could use a ride home, I mean, my friends place is over four blocks away, and…." She shrugged sheepishly, as though ashamed to even consider the thought.
"Okay then, follow me." He led her up the fire escape, which she had some trouble getting up due to her leg. They climbed up onto the roof and were immediately bathed in moonlight. Raph pulled his sweatshirt hood further over his face to cover any showing skin. He looked behind him to see if the girl had followed him up and saw her well for the first time that night.
She had a slim, athletic build and was about the same height as him. She had layered blond hair with electric blue highlights, like sharp lighting bolts, that went down a little past her shoulder blades. Her clothes were composed of now ripped black skinny jeans, a light green tube top, an unbuttoned black penguin vest, and blue high-tops. A black collar with a silver jewel-encrusted oval pendant was wrapped around her neck as black studded wristbands clasped her wrists with black fingerless gloves on each hand. She had at least four or five piercings on each ear.
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Kat dusted her jeans off when she reached the rooftop, even though it was kind of useless since they were torn and bloody anyway. She looked around again, Wait, why are we up here? The masked man stood a few feet away from her, staring absentmindedly up and down her figure. She rolled her eyes.
"What, you've never seen a girl before?" she scoffed at him, annoyed. He jolted up, realizing that she actually noticed him. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"So, tell me again why we're up here?" She glanced at him and noted that his hood was up. She couldn't see any part of his face, wait, take that back, any part of his body for that matter. The man started to answer but was cut off by a bunch of talking and swearing from the alley below them.
"Crap." Kat cursed to herself. "They're up." The stranger seemed to notice that too because he quickened his pace towards the edge of the building. "Come on, I don't got much time ta tell ya." She ran over to him and he grasped her wrist, pulling her to the side of the roof and just as it seemed that they were about to fall over the edge, he forced her onto his back and jumped at the last minute.
Kat had to grip his shoulders to stop from falling off. She didn't expect to hop buildings to get to Charlotte's place!
"Where to?" he called over his shoulder. She had to yell at him through the wind even if he was right next to her. "Three blocks over on South Street!" he nodded. South Street was a pretty big suburban area where condos and apartment buildings intersected with the biggest shopping scene apart from Time Square and Ground Zero, perfect for a girl like Charlotte.
What seemed to last for what seemed like half an hour was really just a few minutes, they reached the building with surprising speed and next thing she knew, Kat was on the rooftop of Charlotte's apartment. She climbed off of her savior's back and onto the roof, then turned to look at him. Since he had his sweatshirt hood up, if she saw him again, she wouldn't remember by facial features.
"Um, thanks, I guess." She said, her hands clasped behind her back. The man, or teenager, (she couldn't tell) just nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.
"No problem, I couldn't let those retards mug another person off the street. It wouldn't be polite." He chuckled softly. Kat smiled and, to her surprise, stuck her hand out toward him.
"Kat." She introduced with confidence. He looked at her with surprise, but none the less, took her hand and shook it. Kat grinned and stuck her other hand into her jeans' pocket.
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"Uh, Raph." The turtle answered, shaking her gloved hand briefly before letting go. Kat smirked and nodded.
"Nice to meet ya. And, again, thanks for savin' my ass back there from those bitches." He shrugged, "Ah, it's no big deal. I gotta whoop those guys' butts every other night anyway."
She chuckled softly and turned, heading for the roof's door. "Thanks for all your help, Raph. Hey, who knows, maybe we'll see each other again sometime." She grinned at him and then turned the door's handle and walked down the steps.
Raph stood there for just a few seconds, astonished that she had that much courage after getting mugged, but snapped out of it and ran and jumped to the next building, listing the events that just happened in his head. He sighed and started to head home. Oh, great. Now I hafta put up with Donny.