Chapter 2

Friends and their Enemies

The next morning, the turtles woke up feeling more sore than they had in a long time. Their mentor, Splinter (a talking rat with careful posture and the robes and bearings of an elder in society), paused in the middle of pouring himself some tea. The boys were moaning a lot more than usual.

"Good morning, my sons," he greeted them cheerfully. The usual group greeting of "Good morning, Sensei," was definitely lacking in enthusiasm.

"Rough night boys?" asked Splinter, turning around. He raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. The turtles were all sporting small injuries. Leo had white gauss wrapped around both upper arms, Mikey had a black eye that not even his mask could hide, Don had the back of his head bandaged, and both of Raph's shins were heavily bandaged. Plus, all four of them were covered in numerous bruises (the whole left side of Raph's jaw was purple).

"We ran into some…uh, very skilled ninjas last night," said Don, wincing as he sat down at the kitchen table. The other three sat down too, obviously just as uncomfortably.

"We ran into four …a…. other turtles," Leo clarified, "Just like us, only female."

"Yeah," said Raph, pouring himself a bowl of cereal, "and they were good. They fought real hard, in kind of the same style we use."

"How fascinating. Who would have known that there were others like us? Where are they from?"

"Montana," answered Mikey. "You know that one with the yellow mask? I actually though she was a total babe." Don gagged on his orange juice.

"What?!" he spluttered, staring dumbfounded at his younger brother.

"Yeah, well they're girl teenage mutant ninja turtles. What's not attractive about that?"

"Last night you were complaining about being beat by girls! Now you're saying that they were attractive?"

"Hey, I'm a teenager."

"It doesn't matter," said Leo abruptly, "We probably won't see them again."

But Leo couldn't have been more wrong. In the super structure of the lair, the four girl turtles perched, concealed by shadows. They had actually followed the boys home the previous night, keeping in mind that they needed a place to stay. They highly doubted the boys would be all that welcoming after the previous night's fight. But, it was worth a try.

They felt a little twinge of awe as they surveyed the underground chambers that the ninja turtles called home. The lair was located under an old subway station. It's door was a section of wall, that, when a lever disguised as a pipe was pulled, slid open to reveal the first level of their living quarters. The first floor was simply a walkway that led to a hallway off to the side, where the turtles had their bedrooms. A large square stairway led down from the first level to the main living area. This section of the lair had a high domed ceiling made of red brick, with long black wires hanging dejectedly from the curving iron arches to which the girl turtles now clung, unseen. Directly in front of the stairway were two arcade games with which the turtles amused themselves when they were bored. To the right of the arcade games was a large wooden skateboard ramp, built especially for Mikey, so that he could practice. To the left arcade games rose a great concrete dais on which sat two comfy leather armchairs and one four-seat leather couch. In front of the lounging furniture, a great plasma screen TV and three smaller TVs were perched on a large black shelved table. Behind the dais, the kitchen/dining room was snuggled in a large niche built into the wall. The turtles and Splinter now sat at the small wood table that sat on the threshold between the kitchen and the living room. Directly to the right of the kitchen, huddled in a corner of the space, was Don's domain: the computer area. Wall to wall technology spread like a spiders web from one end of the corner to the other: computers, video cameras, random inventions, pencils, calculators, headsets, microphones, and compact discs littered the little counter on which everything was piled; wires connected one thing to another, crawling up the wall like mechanical creepers; and in the center of all this mind-boggling technology, was a special revolving chair, fitted just for Don's shelled frame, complete with a keyboard bolted to a little revolving shelf attached to the left arm of the chair.

Directly to the left of the stairway an arched doorway opened up into a smaller domed room. This room was the weight room, where the walls were lined with workout equipment: exercise machines, dumbbells piled on top of layered holders, spare weapons, sandbags, punching bags, sparring dummies, medicine balls, jump ropes, pull-up bars, and rubber bands (the big kind, not the office product). To the right of the weight room, a large square set of double doors led to Splinter's room. The lair wasn't, by any means, tidy. Mikey's skateboards and basketballs were a constant hazard to anyone who chanced a walk across the living area; old news papers, magazines, chip bags, coke cans, candy wrappers, degraded CD cases, and numerous video game contaners littered the carpet by TV space; wrinkled paper full of calculations, heavy books, manuels, dismantled remotes, magnifying glasses, tweezers, laser pointers, and empty water bottles dominated the computer area. The whole living area was lit by large incandescent lamps hanging from the high domed ceiling. But the thing that drew the girls' attention the most was Splinter himself. They had just gotten over the shock of actually meeting the only other mutant turtles in the the world, but seeing a giant rat, wearing a long red robe, leaning on a tall staff, and speaking with a very light Asian accent was just too much for the four of them.

"Stop giggling!" hissed Freida. Elizabeth put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. She had broken into a fit of giggles when she heard Mikey say that he thought she was a babe and found her attractive.

"Let's hope these guys are feeling generous today," said Cleopatra.

"If they aren't, we can't rule out groveling," said Frieda.

"Okay," whispered Joan, "Let's move." The girls jumped down from the rafters, onto the floor behind the table. The boys and Splinter jumped up in surprise.

"Hi. Hope you guys, don't mind us dropping in," said Freida.

"What are you doing here?" asked Leo in alarm, "How'd you find were we live?"

"We followed you here," said Joan, winking.

"What do you want?" Leo demanded.

"Look, we're really very sorry about last night. We were scared, and we didn't want anyone to find out about us. We panicked."

"Tell it to the injuries," snapped Raph. He tilted his head to one side so that Freida could see his purple jaw line. She winced, casting her eyes downward.

"Sorry about that," she murmured.

"Sorry don't cut it."

"Calm down Raph," said Leo, "They followed us so that they could apologize, give them a chance." Raph turned away, his expression tense.

"Actually," continued Joan, " the main reason we followed you here was because we need a place to stay, and we were hoping, maybe…"

"Are you kidding?" interjected Raph, glaring at the girls. "After what you pulled last night? No way!"

"Raphael!" Splinter thumped Raph on the shell with his staff. "Enough. There's no need to be hostile." Raph folded his arms across his chest and said no more.

"Why did you come all the way to New York anyway?" asked Don.

"We don't know," said Cleopatra. "Frieda won't tell us why she made us all come here."

"Are you the leader?" Leo asked Frieda.

"Oh no, we don't have a leader."

The boys were a little taken aback. No leader?

"We work as a single unit," said Joan.

"Yeah," Elizabeth chimed in, "Our teacher, Master Lin, told us that we aren't ready to be lead."

"She says that leadership is a responsibility that we just aren't ready for," said Freida.

"Well, who makes the decisions for the team?" asked Don.

"Joan usually does, seeing as she's the oldest," answered Cleopatra.

"But I wasn't the one who decided to drag us halfway across the country," said Joan, "Freida did."

"We came," said Freida, her voice impatient, "because of unforeseen complications back home."

"Which we don't know because you won't tell us what they are!" said Elizabeth

"You don't need to know!"

"Oh, I think we do!" said Joan, turning towards her sister. Freida turned to respond, and suddenly the four of them were arguing.

"Jeez, they're worse than we are!" said Mikey, sniggering at the brawl that was taking place.

"Are we actually going to let them stay here?" asked Raph. Leo shrugged.

"What do you think we should do, Sensei?" he asked, looking over at Splinter. The old rat didn't answer right away. He scratched his chin thoughtfully, regarding the squabbling sisters with a curious expression.

"I think that, considering that they have no place to go, we should give them a chance," he said at last. "They might prove to be valuable allies."

"But first we have to get them to stop arguing," said Don. Of course he was right. The girls had started shouting now.

"I got it." Mikey nonchalantly sauntered over to the group, put his thumb and first finger in between his teeth, and let out one long, loud, high pitched whistle. The girls jumped, and then fell silent.

"You girls can stay for a while," said Leo.

"Really?" asked Joan.

"Yes, as long as you need to."

"Oh thank you, thank you very much, Leonardo." The four girls bowed deeply.

"You're welcome. And you can call me Leo."

"And you can call me Mikey!"

"Call me Don."

Raph didn't say anything. He simply huffed and walked away, climbing the stairs to the upper level. The others heard him mumbling angrily to himself as he disappeared down the passageway that led to the bedrooms.

"What about him?" asked Freida.

"I suggest you not talk to him," said Leo grimly, "Unless of course he talks to you first."

"So what about you guys?" asked Mikey. "You got nicknames?"

"You can call me Cleo," replied Cleopatra.

"And me Lizzie!" added Elizabeth.

Just then, a call came down from the lair entranceway that made the girls gasp and whip their heads around in the direction of the stairs.

"'Morning boys! We've got the weekly ration of groceries for you!" It was April's voice; she and Casey had dropped by unexpectedly. The girls glanced at each other, then at the boys.

"Uh, yeah," said Leo, a little embarrassedly, "We have these two friends who…" but before he could finish his sentence, the four girls had disappeared once again. The boys blinked, surprised.

"Where'd they go?" asked Mikey.

"Where did who go?" April and Casey had reached the bottom of the stairs, bags of groceries in their arms. Casey's dark eyes widened as he beheld the boys' abundant injuries.

"Whoa-ho!" he exclaimed, "What happened to you?"

"Did you guys get in a fight last night?" asked April, concerned.

"You could say that," said Leo. He and Don took some bags and carried them over to the kitchen counter.

"Where's Raph?" asked Casey, taking a seat at the dining table.

"He needed to sleep in a bit," Mikey fibbed, sitting down across from him. "He really took a beating last night."

"Who attacked you?" asked April.

"Just some…newcomers," said Don delicately.

"What do you mean?"

"Ah…" but Don didn't go on. He's just spotted one of the girls hiding underneath the stairs. He was pretty sure it was Cleo. He scanned the room, and spotted the rest of the girls, all expertly concealed in places that you wouldn't be able to spot unless you really looked. Joan was hidden behind the plasma TV, Freida had perched herself on a ledge between the back of the skateboard ramp and the upstairs walkway, and Lizzie was crouched underneath the shelve running around Don's computer area.

At first, the girls had been afraid, and suspicious, of April and Casey's arrival, but as they watched the boys interact with them, their fear and suspicion turned into curiosity. All four of them peered, intrigued, at the two humans. It was not as if they had never seen humans before (far from it), it was just that every human they had ever seen was either a masked criminal or their foster mother; these two were just a couple of regular New York citizens, apart from the fact that they were friends with four mutated turtles and one talking rat. Lizzie, whose curiosity was often the hardest to satisfy, slipped out from her hiding place and crept on all fours, silent as a hunting fox, up behind Casey's chair. April, who had turned around to help Leo unload the groceries, didn't see her. Don and Mikey cocked their heads sideways, looks of apprehension and amusement on their faces, as they watched the girl turtle examine the back of Casey's head. The closer Lizzie looked at the color of the his hair, the more entertained she seemed to get. Casey, completely oblivious to her presence, got up out of his chair and stretched, causing Lizzie's captivation to grow.

"You guys know if the hockey game's on tonight?" asked Casey. Mikey and Don tried to answer, but the words just came out as,

"Uh…ah…um…"

"Hey, you guy's okay?" Casey stared at the two of them, his left eyebrow cocked. Don and Mikey continued to stutter. Casey shook his head.

"Honestly," he said, beginning to turn around, "you guys must have hit your heads pretty hard." He turned the rest of the way around, so that he was face-to-face with Lizzie (well, as face-to-face as he could get, considering she was a good two-and-a-half feet shorter than he was).

Casey yelped like a puppy whose tail had been stepped on. Lizzie let out a squeal of surprise and excitement.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, "I didn't think a guy could make that kind of noise!" Casey's yelp made April whirl around from her place at the kitchen counter. When she saw Lizzie, she screamed and pointed frantically.

"Who is that?" she shrieked. Lizzie's eyes flitted over to April. Her mouth fell open.

"Your hair is red!" she gasped, mimicking April and pointing, "Hey Cleo! Are humans supposed to have red hair?"

"Some do," came Cleo's gentle voice. She cautiously stepped out from her hiding place beneath the stairs. She too was eyeing the two humans with interest. "I think red hair is a recessive trait; both of her parents would have to have it."

"And check out this guy's hair!" said Lizzie, gesturing at Casey with her thumb. "Blue-black! Now that's cool!"

"Easily impressed as always, Liz." Freida was climbing down from her perch behind the skateboard ramp. She took measured steps toward Casey, eyes narrowed. He backed up a few paces, but she followed him, still staring at him from the corner of her left eye. She got within a foot and a half of him, sniffed, then recoiled, huffing.

"Phew!" she said, coughing slightly, "Dude! I know cologne is supposed to be alluring, but jeez! You smell like a mule deer during the rut!"

"You know you could be a little more tactful, Freida." Joan had finally emerged from behind the TV. April walked over to stand next to Casey. The two of them turned to the boys, silently asking an explanation.

"Guys," said Leo, smiling nervously, "meet our new roommates."

"Roommates?" repeated April.

"Yep. This is Joan, Freida, Cleopatra, and Elizabeth."

"Greetings and salutations," said Joan, holding out her hand to the stunned humans. Cautiously, April took her hand, and shook it.

"I can't believe it," she said quietly. "I never thought there would be others like the boys."

"Me neither," said Casey, staring amazedly at Lizzie just as she was at him. "And they're girls too. Man, you guys really lucked out!"

"Casey!"

"What?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Freida, advancing toward him. Joan quickly grabbed her sister's shoulders and pulled her back.

"Easy," she said, "he didn't mean anything. It probably just slipped out."

"Anyway," said Leo, stepping between his old friend and his new one. "The girls are going to be staying with us for a while, and it'd be nice if we could all just get along."

"And if we could keep our existence a secret," said Cleo pointedly.

"Oh, don't worry," said April, "We've kept the guys' secret for a long time. You girls have nothing to worry about."

"Excellent."

April looked down at her watch and gasped.

"Oh! Casey! We better get going, or we'll be late for work.."

"Right, let's hit it!" said Casey. The two of them quickly headed towards the stairs.

"It was nice meeting you girls!" called April.

"You too!" the girls called back.

As two days passed, it became apparent that the girl turtles had a lot more in common with the boys than what first met the eye. Cleo, as a matter of fact, shared Don's interest in technology, and his intelligence level. That first day in the lair, the two of them became engrossed in a conversation about an invention that Cleo had been close to completing before the girls had left home.

"I was just so close!" said Cleo, frustrated

"Explain was it was again," Don encouraged, absolutely fascinated.

"Instant-Override-Chip!" said Cleo enthusiastically. "I've designed it to send a special virus, called the Nero-Bug, into the central nucleus of any device operated by computer. It breaks down data into micro-microscopic bits that are instantly dissolved by the rest of the virus."

"That sounds so cool!"

"Yeah. It took me two years to make, but I didn't get to finish it!"

"Bummer."

While Don and Cleo were occupied, Mikey started teaching Lizzie how to skateboard. Lizzie had always wanted to skateboard, but had never been able to.

"Okay, you've got the balance down," Mikey was saying. Lizzie was standing on his skateboard. "Now try pushing off with your foot. Once you get going use your feet to steer."

"Okay," said Lizzie. She put her left foot down and pushed off. She was very good at keeping her balance, and steering was getting easier too.

"Looking good!" said Mikey. Lizzie, turning back to wave, didn't see the wall she was coming up on. "Heads up!" called Mikey. Lizzie looked around just in time. She jumped the board into a 360-degree turn and landed ten feet from the wall, still on the board. "You're a natural, Liz!" called Mikey.

"Thanks!" replied Lizzie.

Man she's hot! thought Mikey.

Whoa, he's got gorgeous eyes! thought Lizzie.

Raph made no effort to make friends. He was pretty miffed about having the girls stay in their lair, and he was still furious from his battle with Freida the previous night. He decided to seclude himself in the workout room, taking his anger out on the sandbag, then moving on to lift some weights. He was so absorbed in his frustration that he didn't notice Freida quietly slip into the room, a little cylinder container in her right hand. She felt bad about bruising Raph's jaw, and she wanted to make amends. She cleared her throat in order to get his attention. He looked around, scowled, and then turned his back on her.

"What do you want?" he asked aggressively, not looking at her.

"Uh, look," said Freida, walking slowly towards him, "we kind of got off on the wrong foot last night."

"Kind of?" repeated Raph, a sarcastic bitterness in his voice.

"I'm sorry about kicking you in the jaw like that, and pushing you off of that fire escape platform." Raph shifted his position a bit, so that the bandages on his shins were clearly seen. "And about that too."

"It's a little late for apologies," said Raph.

"I brought something to make your jaw feel better," said Freida. She quickly closed the gap between the two of them. Raph looked up at her, reluctantly putting his dumbbell down on the floor. He shifted around on the stool he sat on, regarding her with a doubtful expression. Freida held out the container. He took it stiffly, turning it over in his hands.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Arnica gel," she replied.

"How does it help?"

"It helps to dispel the blood and make the swelling go down." Raph still looked doubtful.

"Here," Freida kneeled down next to him. She took the container back and opened the lid. She scooped some gel onto her first finger, then, to his surprise, started to dab the gel onto Raph's jaw, and oddly enough, he didn't protest. He noticed how soft her touch was, and his shoulders relaxed.

"There you go," said Freida gently. Raph's eyes softened a bit as he watched her expression turn from apprehensive to nurturing.

"Ah!" Raph inhaled sharply.

"Oh, sorry!" said Freida. She'd accidentally touched a tender spot.

"It's okay," said Raph. Freida took her hand off and handed him back the gel. "Thanks, that helped."

"No problem." There was a pause, then Raph asked, bluntly,

"Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"What you just did."

"I wanted to make amends for being such a jerk last night."

"That's…real nice of you."

"Thanks."

"What did you say your name was?"

"Freida."

"Call me Raph." He held out his hand. Freida shook it, smiling.

Once Raph decided to finally leave the workout room (Freida following behind), Leo and Joan took their turn inside. Leo had told Joan about how he enjoyed to meditate, so now Joan wanted to show him a meditative position that she swore was more effective than sitting. She hung by her legs on a pull-up bar and crossed her hands over her chest.

"And then you start chanting," she said. She closed her eyes and started to chant the word "Om".

"Hmm, interesting," said Leo. He went over to a second pull-up bar, hung by his legs, crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and started to chant. They fell into rhythm, their voices blending perfectly, echoing around the domed room. This carried on for a while. Finally, the two of them opened their eyes.

"I've never felt so rejuvenated!" said Leo, letting his arms fall down over his head.

"Yeah, it feels good," agreed Joan, staring at him. Her eyes misted over. Even at this angle, she thought, he's still so cute!

That night, while the rest of the girls slept on the floor and the boys and Splinter were in their rooms for the night, Freida walked around the lair, thinking. The pulse she had felt the other night was not a good sign. It meant that the "complications" that had forced her to flee Montana had followed her to New York City. She had made her sisters come with her in order to protect them.

Well, they can't find out, she thought. If they don't know, then they won't get hurt.

At that moment, Freida's cell phone rang. She froze. She never used her cell phone. Only two people knew her number: Master Lin (but she didn't know where they were), and… Oh no! she thought, It's him! The person who had driven her here was calling her cell phone.

Tentatively, Freida picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"I didn't think you would answer this call, Freida."

Freida gulped. She knew that voice. It was him.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to sound brave, but sure she was failing miserably.

"I was simply making sure that you made it to New York safely." The voice was that of a Japanese man. He sounded young, but not real young, probably in his thirties.

"How did you know I was in New York?"

"I have my ways," said the voice. Almost instantly, Freida felt another electric pulse surge through her chest. She spasmed, and her energy was sapped. At this she gasped, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that none of her sisters had heard. Lizzie snored loudly, and Cleo shifted on her side, but they all remained asleep. Freida breathed heavily.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" said the voice smugly.

"You…evil…loathsome," growled Freida, her breathing ragged with the effort of talking.

"Now now, there's no need for names. If you had simply accepted my offer in the first place, you wouldn't have to endure the pain." Freida felt another pulse.

"What do you want?" she asked, her teeth clenched against the pain.

"I have a new offer for you," said the voice. "I understand that you are staying with a certain group of ninjas; the "protectors" of New York City." Freida tensed. "I am planning to operate in New York, but I can not do so with the turtles there. So my offer is this: eliminate the four of them from the picture, and I will remove the device that causes you pain. Don't disappoint me, Freida." The line went dead.