Present Day:
New York City
It was a cold mid-September evening in the bustling city of Manhattan or as they call it the city that never sleeps. The city's nightlights beamed brightly out of every street corner, stop light to tall skyscraper windows.
And just like every beautiful city, it had its unsightly sides.
Downtown New York seemed notorious for that. You'd meet interesting folks. Some looking for company and others looking for trouble, especially at night…
A high pitch scream suddenly tore through the silence of the empty dark, echoing in an alleyway near china town. A woman on her way home after a long day of work was pursued by a group of six muggers looking for a little fun.
As it just so happens that a team of four brothers were patrolling the same area that night. They moved as swift as the wind and mysterious as the dark side of the moon, hiding within the shadows of the city lights.
"C'mon baby cakes don't be shy. We don't bite, much." One of the muggers chuckled mischievously
They cornered the shaking female into a brick wall, while tightly clutching her purse close to her chest attempting to protect herself against their lustful eyes.
"Please…l-leave me alone" her voice shook biting her lower lip, but to no avail her begging only fueled their temptation even more as the thugs were closing in on her when out of nowhere-
BAM! BIFF! BOOM! KYA!
Two of the six thugs were suddenly rammed into a rusted metal vent that now had a large dent on it, knocking them unconscious.
Four dark, muscular figures that carried ninja like weapons, their eyes glowering against the blackness of the city.
"HEY, this is our spot man, get the hell out!" another one of them yelled, pointing and aiming a gun to them as a warning.
But they weren't scared off that easily.
Before they continued harassing the lady, a shuriken star was thrown at them just barely missing the loud mouth thug's head by a hair and struck through the brick wall as a warning.
He saw this gesturing his head for his boys to get them, nodding the group held out wooden bats and knives ready aiming at the ninja-like shadows.
"Aw what, no guns this time?" a sarcastic snicker was heard by a raspy voice while firmly unsheathing a pair of Sais.
Two of the thugs then ran towards them at full speed, their bats high above and ready to strike at their heads. Until one thug felt a hard kick on his side that put him to the ground out of breath. While the other felt a sharp blow to the head and fell unconscious. The other remaining tried to escape, but were effortlessly taken care of.
The scrap between the groups was swift and effortless.
Limp bodies fell on the wet gravel and the thugs all went down for the count grumbling in pain. All while the frightened woman had her eyes shut the entire time of the fight.
She opened them finding everyone suddenly disappeared. As if they vanished in thin air. Looking around frantically she saw nothing but a clearway out of the alley sighing a shaky breath of relief as she made a mad dash out of the alley, quickly caught the nearest cab and drove away without knowing who saved her that night.
Up from the distance, the four ninja's stood tall on top of a secluded rooftop leaving the thugs tied up on a lamp post out cold, as police sirens can already be heard wailing in the distance.
Only a hint of the orange ambient light from the streetlamp gave off the four figures' outline, gleaming against their scaled green skin.
Four mutant turtles each wearing their respective colored bandannas tied firmly around their heads over their eyes as the cold wind briskly blew through the cement rooftops.
"Hmm, well that seemed easy enough…" sheathing his wooden Bo weapon in back of his leather strap belt from his shell, the turtle wearing the purple bandanna, Donatello, was the first to break the silence.
"Tch, what'd you expect from a couple of dirty thugs against trained ninjas, Donnie? It's pathetic, that wasn't even a warm up." The tone of his temperament matching his red bandanna, Raphael, while stretching his bulky arms,
"Tell me about it bro, too bad the Foot isn't around to beat up. Ah, how I sure do miss the glory days." The orange clad turtle, Michelangelo, strutted playfully reminiscing while doing a small handstand near the edge of the rooftop.
"Two years seems too long if you ask me," and last with crossed arms with a cool, stern expression matching his blue bandanna, Leonardo.
"Let's go guys. Looks we're done here for the night." He said,
The mutant brothers took off, moving at top speed jumping off and on the roofs of clustered buildings.
A ninja's greatest weapon is his stealth and secrecy, as their sensei and father would remind them from time to time.
Just before they had an opportunity to look for a vacant manhole, a sudden shrill sounding 'beep' noise came from Donatello's sash pocket.
Taking it out, almost dropping it, was a device that looked like a hand-built cell phone in the shape of a turtle's shell. The screen shined bright on his face as it showed he had received a text message,
He stopped his pace and strained to see the new message, scrolling to read it as his expression slowly widened,
"What up, Donnie?" Leonardo asked, Raphael and Michelangelo circling their wiz-tech sibling
"It's a text message, from April!" his eyes scanning the long message to make the news brief to his brothers,
"She and Casey just came back into town this afternoon from their honeymoon in Cancun… and have some 'special' news. Apparently she wants us to come by ASAP," looking up to meet the other three's gazes for their response,
"Special news?" Raphael grumbled, raising his left brow impatiently, he was never the type to beat around the bush,
"Dudes… What if they became spies or they won the lottery! Or won the lottery and became spies! Oh-Oh! Or even better, they want to split the money with us and join their super secret awesome spy group!" Michelangelo joked with a wide goofy grin,
Leonardo groaned in annoyance and Donatello lowered his face to his palm in embarrassment as Raphael did the pleasure of smacking the side of Michelangelo's head,
"Ow!"
"You really need to stop watching those cheesy late night shows you shell for brain" Raphael stated,
"What do you say guys? Let's drop by and greet the newlyweds before heading home," a genuine smile plastered on Leonardo's face.
The brothers nodded in agreement and headed out for their friend's apartment that was conveniently only a few blocks from where they were at.
It always warmed Leonardo's heart to hear from his friends again after a long while. The turtles just about considered them like family! It was always nice to have friends above the sewers, especially if you were a mutant living in the sewers of New York City.
The newly wedded couple was unpacking in their shared apartment suit after being away a solid two months on their honeymoon slash extended vacation. Away from April's busy city work life and Casey filling in on numerous part time jobs while playing vigilantly every night fighting bad guys, not that he didn't miss that.
It wasn't long until Casey heard a sharp knock at the window.
While heading downstairs carrying a few boxes, he glanced up to see what the noise was, seeing four large mutant turtles smiling and waving at him from outside the window.
A smirk twitched up on the corners of Casey's mouth,
"You guys!" Casey exclaimed waving back at them close to tripping himself down the stairs but managed to reach the first floor rather gracefully.
"Babe! The guys are here!" yelling loud enough so his new wife would hear him from upstairs,
"Already?!" April's muffled voice screeched from their bedroom scrambling her way to the restroom across the hallway, "Wait! Don't let them in just yet! I'm a mess! I didn't think they'd get here so fast!"
"They're ninjas April, in case you forgot that little detail.'Sides why get all dolled up? They've seen you banged up after fighting the foot before. I-"
April suddenly came out of the room and viciously threw a book at her new husband as he dodged it with slight ease landing with a loud thud next to his feet,
"Geez I can see those womanly hormones are kicking in just in time" Casey winced inwardly as he felt April's gaze burning into him, another heavier book ready in her hand.
"Whoa, babe, Babe! Relax! You know I'm kidding! You're still beautiful, since the first time I laid eyes on you." Placing a hand on his chest and another outwardly towards her,
"Aww, Casey" swooning as her face softened
"Even with your nasty makeup and your body going crazy, you're still a hottie to Me." he winked,
"Sweetie?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"Just shut up."
"Got it."
April then rushed back into her room before Casey went ahead toward the window to open it. The brothers were then greeted by the burst of the warm AC and giving hearty hugs to Casey, as guys do.
"Took ya long enough to open the freaking window, Case. We were almost turtle-sickles.'" Raphael shaking himself off while rubbing his arms together,
"Ah, sorry guys, I forgot New York shows no mercy during this time of the month." sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "Hey, April and I are making some hot chocolate to warm up, you guys want any?"
"Yeah!"
"Sure!"
"Sounds good ta' me"
"Marshmallows' on mine, please!"
"Alright, four extra hot coco's coming right up! Just make yourselves at home April should be down in a bit."
Casey then went to the stove to brew up the hot drinks, and as if on cue April made her way out of her room finishing putting her now groomed red hair up in a bun.
"Hey you guys!" squealing in excitement greeting her four friends all with group hugs. Since she hadn't seen them since her and Casey's wedding day, even if it wasn't that long it felt like forever to her.
"Oh, it's so good to see you all! We missed you guys so much!" April giggled taking a seat on her lounger across the couch where the turtles sat.
"It's great to see you again too April, or should we call you Mrs. Jones?" Leonardo joked earning a chuckle from April,
"So how was the vacation?" he asked,
"Oh! Cancun was awesome! We had so much fun and the scenery was gorgeous and the beaches were so beautiful! Our room was so nice it looked like something I'd see out of a magazine!" April went on about the days she and Casey spending their time there. Mostly funny stories about Casey's misadventures with several situations, like when he got jet lagged and felt sick on their first night in the hotel and also how he almost set their hotel room on fire while trying to make a 'home-made' romantic dinner for them and ended up ordering take out at a fast food joint.
The room filled with fits of laughter from April's stories,
Casey then came in the living room with a tray full of hot cups of chocolate with a bag of marshmallows' having an unimpressed look on his face,
"I'll have you know, making a home-made gourmet dinner is a lot tougher than it sounded." Placing the tray of six steaming hot chocolate drinks on the coffee table as the gang all grabbed their individual cups while Mikey shouted dibs for the entire bag of marshmallows' and Raphael wrestled to get a few.
"And even if you almost burned the entire room down it was still a romantic gesture" April then greeted her lips to Casey's rough-skinned cheek resting her head on Casey's shoulder as he responded by wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, sounds very romantic. Who says ya don't know how to show a girl a good time, Case." Raphael chuckled,
"So April, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" Donatello asked curiously.
"Yeah" Raphael added, "Something about 'special news'?"
Michelangelo and the rest looked up anxiously at the couple having their full attention.
April looked excitedly at Casey nodding for her to go ahead, "Well," Setting her cup down, taking deep breath before she could go on.
"What I'm about to tell you is something, BIG!" April couldn't help but start feeling giddy, clasping her hands together,
"Literally" Casey added receiving a playful punch on his shoulder from April as she continued,
"Casey and I have really thought about it before. And you know, since the Shredder is dead and the bad guys have been gone for a good while. We figured maybe this decision wouldn't be so bad after all." holding on to Casey's hand,
The turtle brothers were confused on where she was going with this.
"And that means?" Donatello asked gesturing her to go on,
"You guys, I'm PREGNANT!" April shrilled out excitedly confessing finally,
At this point the confusions on the turtle's faces melted into wide expressions with half of their mouths agape in astonishment. Raphael almost choked on his marshmallow.
"You mean, as….as in-" Leonardo questioned and gestured his arms as if cradling something to make double sure that's what she meant,
Raphael gave his older brother an odd look, "Well, duh Leo what else does the term pregnant mean to you!" lightheartedly shoving him aside,
Michelangelo on the other hand was still a little lost
"What's peg-nut?" he asked, scratching the side of his head apparently he wasn't fully paying attention.
"That's pregnant, Mikey. That means she's going to have a baby" Donatello smiled explaining it, trying hard not to get into the 'details' of its functions.
"Huh! Really! Well why didn't she just say that instead!" failing his arms up and rushing towards April into a tight hug.
"Wow! April, that's amazing!"
"Congratulations you guys!"
"Yeah man, Congrats!"
April and Casey knew the guys would be just as excited as they are, if not more.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Donatello asked,
"Well I'm about ten weeks in, so it might be a little too soon to say. I'm already craving pickles with onion dip covered in chocolate syrup!" she marveled while rubbing her belly, it was just a crazy wonderful experience being with child.
"Sounds like fun, April." Raphael joked, sipping his hot drink,
"You crave pickles, onion dip and chocolate syrup all together? That sounds disgusting. I'd try some of that!" Michelangelo said while rubbing his plastron belly,
"Ugh, really Mikey" Donatello said disgusted
"What, dude? We've eaten worms and algae before." He pestered on,
"Don't remind us." Leonardo confessed, having unpleasant memories about their early meals.
"Actually pizza with pickle toppings sounds pretty good right now too." said Michelangelo
Suddenly hearing the idea of pizza, April had a sharp nauseating feeling at the pit of her stomach and placed a palm on top of her abdomen.
"Mikey, stop" she grunted,
"Babe, you feeling alright?" Casey asked, placing a concerning hand on her shoulder,
"What? All I said was pizza with-" Michelangelo went on,
"No stop you're going to make me…" but before April could finish explaining she got up and made a mad dash to the restroom behind the closed door the sound of vomiting occurred.
The guys overhearing it winced in disgust, as Michelangelo received three individual smacks from his brothers for his outburst that made their friend sick,
"Ow! What? I didn't think she was going to puke if I said pizza and-
"SHUT UP MIKEY!" all three of them said,
"Ow! Okay, okay I'm sorry!"
"April's in a delicate state and her nerves are probably very sensitive right now. Her cravings are the baby's way of trying new foods." Donatello explained,
The sound of her throwing up echoed faintly into the room,
"And that is the baby's way of rejecting foods," Donatello stated, "I'll go give her a glass of water" he stood up to go fetch her that.
"Geez, being pregnant sounds horrible! Glad I was born a dude." Michelangelo pointed out while stuffing two marshmallows in his mouth.
Raphael and Leonardo shook their heads in annoyance.
Casey smirked, "Yeah, she's been like this on the plan coming home." He set down his mug and brought his elbows to his knees, his eyes looked somber.
"I gotta tell you guys, it feels pretty surreal. I never thought I'd be the kind of guy to agree with settling down and starting a family of my own, and in less than six months I'm going to be a dad!" Casey expressed, smiling in disbelief. His hand brushed his hair back taking a deep breath.
"I mean it feels like only yesterday I was kicking bad guy butt with you guys against the foot. Man, but now…now I'm going to have to raise a family. I'm going to be a father you guys!" Casey didn't know if he felt excited or scared, or a mixture of both about April holding his child.
He had to admit he didn't know if he was fully prepared for a kid in his life.
"Hey Casey, don't sweat it. You'll do fine." Raphael comforted his best friend placing a firm hand on his shoulder, "You're a lucky guy to have someone like April."
"Yeah, and we all know you'll be an amazing dad to your kid." Leonardo added
"Ah, thanks you guys that means a lot, really. I always thought no woman would ever tolerate a guy like me. April sure did me that favor" Casey snickered laying his back comfortably on his sofa chair.
"But you know… speaking of women, now that the Shredder's gone, the foot seemed to have disappeared and the purple dragons being discreet. Don't you think this seems like the perfect time to, you know, maybe find yourselves a nice girlfriend?" Casey implied suggestively,
The room grew oddly quiet as Raphael, Leonardo and even Michelangelo stared at Casey as if he grew another head, not that Mikey would mind.
"A girlfriend?" Leonardo repeating that last word rather ironically raising his brows,
The turtles knew nothing but the value of family, friendship and the honorable code of the ninja, taught by their beloved sensei and father. The most they knew about romance was between seeing Casey and April's relationship blossom to Master Splinter's drama-romance soap operas on late night television.
Other than that, the subject matter of 'romance' seemed alien to them.
Leonardo hadn't really thought about it but it's not that he didn't know what it meant to love. However, the opportunity never really came to him or his brothers to find a special girl. They were too busy protecting their friends, the city, and each other from the Shredder and so on to even think about romance.
Raphael and Michelangelo broke Leonardo's train of thought with a fits of laughter.
"There's a laugh. My brothers and I will just waltz into the streets and post flyers and signs of giant MUTANT TURTLES that live below the sewers of New York looking for a girl to date. Yeah, that's an attractive quality" Raphael scoffed sarcastically,
"Good one, Raph" Michelangelo joked along while busy munching on a few extra small marshmallows he grabbed from the bag.
"Yeah I know the idea seems farfetched" Casey said raising his hands in his defense, "but I mean, c'mon man you know what I mean. We've seen FREAKY things these past years that I've known you all, and you guys been to countless alternate dimensions', even the digital one! You would think you'd guys would come across some mutant babe somewhere, you know?" Casey pointed out,
"Tch, yeah that'll be the day when hell freezes over." Raphael taunted under his breath.
"Don't get me wrong I mean being ninjas and kicking bad guy butt while hanging out with your boys' sounds like the life!" Casey said, "But at one point in life there's that time you think about just sharing that kind of life with someone very special, ya know?" Casey said taking a sip of his now lukewarm drink,
Raphael took his words into consideration. The idea wasn't bad but the reality was that they were likely to be the only mutants in New York, if not the world.
"Well thanks for that unlikely suggestion Case, but that's probably the last thing we'll ever see in this city.'Sides we got each other, family is number one for us. What more do you need?" Raphael remarked,
Before Casey could reply to that question, the sound of a door closing from the hallway caught the attention of the others as they saw Donatello walking behind April holding an empty glass,
"Hey babe you feeling' alright?" he stood to make sure she was doing ok,
"Yeah, I'm fine, ugh, but my head is killing me though." April rubbed the temples of her forehead
"She puked quite a lot in there" Donatello helped April across the room until she reached the sofa,
"And it won't be the last…" she groaned
"Aw here babe, sit down, let me make you your favorite tea" Casey offered willingly giving her a quick peck on her cheek and heading to the stove again to prepare the hot water,
"Thank you sweetie" smiling at back at him, as Donatello helped her take a seat on her sofa,
"Oh, hey April, don't forget to tell them the other part of the news!" Casey called out from the kitchen,
"There's more?" Raphael chuckled half-heartedly,
"Oh yes, that's right it totally slipped my mind!" she said trying to ignore the painful headache she was experiencing,
"Since my baby will be here in a few months, I was going to ask you guys if you'd be willing to be the godfather's of my baby." April grinned happily hoping they'd agree, "Even Master Splinter if he wants to of course. I feel you guys are my family and, it just seems right to ask."
Without hesitating the four brothers simultaneously agreed,
"We'd be honored April" Leonardo confirmed, "And I'm sure Master Splinter would be more than thrilled to hear the news."
"Alright! Casey and I figured it was the least we could do after all we've been through" April smiled looking down while rubbing her stomach,
"We're more than happy for you guys," Donatello said,
It was already getting late past midnight. April and Casey still had luggage to unpack and leftover bags unopened.
"Well, we should let you rest April. It looks like you guys had a long day." The turtles stood up, stretching and went to say their hugs goodbye to both their human friends.
"Yeah, if you guys ever want to stop by you know where we live" Casey bid them goodnight as April hugged each of them before they left the same way they came in.
And like the wind they were gone out the window and into the cold night home.
On the way home, Leonardo thought back on Casey's suggestion about him and his brothers finding someone.
He'd imagine different scenarios, and taking girls out on dates just seemed unreal to him. Unless one of them found another mutant, but the chances of that happening are one in a billion.
In the city that never sleeps filled of so many different people, they would always be considered outcasts.
Different in a place they called home. That was why family was and always will be number one to them.
They then found a nearby manhole in an alleyway nearby China Town, the brothers swiftly and silently crept into their secret home deep beneath the underground sewers of the city.
However, they were unaware that pair of piercing gold eyes that shined in the shadows kept a watchful eye on the turtles entering the manhole not too far away.
These eyes belonged to a pure white arctic mutant fox hiding mysteriously on a high rooftop keeping a low profile. She was on a mission. Its job was to search the city and capture the whereabouts of stray mutants. However, the scent of these turtles was unfamiliar to its senses, but a fascinating discovery.
Her white fur rustled anxiously. For her entire lifetime was it able to already have the pleasure of meeting another turtle, and she certainly wasn't part of these four.
After that, the pale fox scurried off the rooftops continuing her search for any discarded mutants in the city.
That same night on the other side of New York…
"Aaaaaahhhh!"
A loud shriek ripped through an unoccupied street coming from a 27/7 convenient store, a couple of robbers with black ski masks held pistols gunpoint to the cashier and two other customers held hostage.
"Stop it! Let me go! Help! Someone call the poli-!" a gloved hand covering the cashier girl's mouth to stop her yelling.
"Shut it lady or you'll regret it!" the man threatened, holding the gun to the side of the woman's reddened cheek. He held her against the wall while his other gloved hand reached for the keys to the register, opening it and collecting the cash in the bag. Informing his partner to scram before the police came.
The two fled the streets with the cash into an empty alley.
When all of a sudden one of the two robbers was struck hard on the head by a rock, making the burglar almost slip on the wet gravel, and his partner stopped in his tracks.
"What's that? Who's there!" he yelled, his gun loaded and pointed all over the place while his partner recovered and did the same.
Through the city's usual noise they heard a loud chuckle echoing walls of the alley,
"Why don't you come over find out ugly?" they heard a pair of knuckles cracked but saw nobody.
The voice came from a shrouded figure hiding above them. Then quickly moved down and landed in a puddle of murky sewer water with a loud thud in front of them. It was covered in black from head to toe, wearing a long dark cloak and stood on its toes hovering above them slightly.
"What tha-", but before the robber could spit anything else out, one of two got sucker-punched right in the face by the shrouded figure, crashing into a group of trash cans.
The other robber began shooting vigorously trying to aim at the creepy shadow that came closer to him. But it was dodging them from side to side until he felt himself trip on the wet gravel floor, after being round-house kicked in the chest causing him to lose his footing and crashed into the wall with a loud thud.
Both of the robbers were out cold.
The shrouded figure's shadow stood over the wad of cash the robbers stole left defenseless on the wet ground.
Before the cashier from the store that was raided a few minutes ago, came out to see where the robbers went. Only to have the money bag land in front of her, startled by the strange action, she looked from left to right and to her surprise saw no one.
The shrouded figure resigned on a rooftop as it looked down to see the cashier take the money back into the store as the police came and fled the scene.
It made its way to an unoccupied area in the city, making double sure the coast was clear. The hooded hero then uncovered its hooded mask from its cloak inhaling the frigid cold air for breath.
Revealing its face to have belonged to a female mutant.
She stood close to five feet and eleven inches tall and her eyes were round but narrow, her floppy webbed ears hiding beneath her gristly raven hair as she pushed it away from her view.
"Phew, glad that's over. I could hardly breathe in this thing!" she exasperated, pulling the hooded cloak off that hung behind her back.
The female mutant stood up stretching her rather built arms. Before she turned her arched heels to leave her eye caught someone under a dim lighted street lamp a few blocks ahead of her.
Recognizing who it is a mischievous smile crept in the corners of her muzzle plotting something. She covered half her face again while sneaking her way down the metal staircase from the roof she was on.
Wearing a simple coat jacket wrapped snug a neat around her neck was her pink scarf, even in such terribly cold weather it didn't seem to freeze her warm smile. Underneath her winter ware hid another mutant.
She had brown hair tied in a ponytail, feeding stray animal's canned food she packed in a plastic bag.
"There you go little guy" petting a dirty tabby cat eating the canned tuna, "next time I'll see if I can sneak you in some turkey bacon" she whispered playfully to the stray cat as it looked up meowing at her gratefully.
She wasn't fully sure if the cat understood her, but it seemed like this was the only interaction she would be getting from the outside world.
After the stray cat finished its meal, it scurried away to chase a rat it saw. The brunette mutant stood looking at the now empty alley way she was in. Feeling a raindrop on her head, she felt a chill run down her back and was ready to turn to leave the other way until a shrouded figure closed the space between them grabbing the brunette mutant by the shoulders.
"BOO"
"Aahh!" she shrieked
But before she had a chance to defend herself against the unknown menace, it backed away suddenly and unmasked itself showing the face of a now amused black-haired mutant. Laughing and pointing back at her victim.
"Oh man!" she breathed between fits of giggles, "You should've seen the look on your face, Mona Lisa!" holding her stomach as she continued laughing.
"Cleopatra! What the hell do you think you're doing sneaking up on me like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Mona gasped out, hand over her chest to make sure she didn't go into cardiovascular arrest.
"Relax, drama queen! Who knew a mutant in the middle of Manhattan's empty streets would be so easily scared of somebody in a mask." Cleopatra cheekily responded, brushing a strand of her raven hair out of her face while waving her infamous mask in front of her humorously.
"Yeah well you're not sight for sore eyes either" Mona remarked sarcastically while picking up the plastic bag of canned food that she dropped and noticed something different about her friend.
"What's with the mask, did you rob a bank just now?" her brows knitted this time her voice was laced with genuine curiosity. Cleopatra eyes snapped open and hid the mask behind her looking elsewhere in the dump of the alley,
"Oh I- uh, just wanted to take some uh, some fresh air and …it got nippy" The black haired mutant replied nervously, "I just happened to walk around this… area and saw you here, figured you needed a good scare." Cleopatra shrugged fiddling uneasily with the mask in her slimy hands, kicking a pebble into a murky puddle next to her.
"I doubt you followed me all the way out here just for that. You just happened to find me in this particular place wearing that smelly mask?" Mona asked suspiciously tightening her pink scarf as she folded her arms over her stomach self-consciously to keep warm.
"I have better things to do than follow your tail around this city. Plus since when is my fashion sense a crime?" Cleopatra trailed off avoiding Mona Lisa's question,
"Tch! You can't fool me, Cleo. I know you were out pretending to be miss 'super hero', again. Don't you get how dangerous that is to expose yourself like that?" Mona Lisa yelled busting her friend on the spot.
Cleopatra winced at the sudden volume but scowled angrily in return, "Don't lecture me like I'm doing something wrong Mona! You're no different going out exposing yourself being little miss nun every other night!" Cleopatra fumed, taking a couple steps forward towering over Mona Lisa a few inches taller.
"At least I'm being discreet about it, and not going around risking my life for people like some batman want to-be!" Mona Lisa knew full well if either one of them had been spotted news would spread like wildfire in the city and give attention to the wrong kind of people.
It was just too risky to be in any type of contact with humans.
"Hey! I wouldn't be saying anything lizard lady!" Cleopatra ranted feeling a shiver down her spine as the night grew colder.
"I've been called worse by better" Mona Lisa huffed,
Suddenly they heard a loud clash of metal trash bins that snapped them out of their dispute, followed by numerous gunshots in the distance and police sirens that didn't sound too far away startling Cleopatra to jump behind Mona Lisa who in return gave her an odd glance.
"Gotta love the city life…" Cleopatra sheepishly flashed a toothy grin.
Mona Lisa couldn't help heaving a sigh of exhaustion, the scare she had drained whatever strength she had left and worn out by the fact that it was already three hours past midnight and the temperature felt like it kept dropping every five minutes.
"Whatever, let's just get to the Irma's apartment. I'm freezing my tail out here" rolling her eyes and rubbing her arms vigorously.
Even as a cold-blooded reptile, she never found the icy weather to be pleasant in her experience.
"Fine," Cleopatra agreed dryly, not wanting to be in alley any longer than Mona Lisa. She let out a small cough placing her hood back on and walked next to Mona Lisa.
The two cautiously slinked their way into every corner down the sidewalks making sure nobody would find them suspicious due to their strange attires.
Mona Lisa physically resembles a mutant newt, a tail that tapered at the tip and three toed feet with an olive complexion wearing her coat jacket and a deep pink colored scarf tied around her neck.
Cleopatra is a tall mutant amphibian. Her height escalates a good 5'11, having a bottle-green complexion, webbed ears and webbed-hands that had dull claws. She had dumpy straight raven hair and two toed webbed arched feet, similar what you would see in a gargoyle's exterior. Her tail is short but slightly thicker while dressed in a dark cloak that covered more of her webbed exterior.
Although the city had their usual setting noises, it was too quiet for Cleopatra, making it too unsettling until she broke the silence between them,
"So, uhm, what did Venus say, is she worried that I went out this late?" she asked, referring to her childhood friend who happened to be a mutant turtle.
Mona Lisa shook her head, "She took off somewhere earlier. She mentioned she'd be visiting her dad for a couple days since he was in the city. That's all she said." she answered in a curious fashion since Mona never met this 'father' of hers but didn't want to be the nosy kind about it.
"Oh, so she gets to be out longer for more than a day but I go out tonight and suddenly I put our lives in jeopardy?" Cleopatra's words sounded harsher than she originally intended. Mona Lisa noticed how touchy her friend suddenly became and turned towards her,
"At least she has the decency to let her friends know where she was going ahead of time rather than going out to play hero!" the two stopped in their tracks, Cleopatra blinked and faced her angrily once more,
"Don't lecture me! I don't play the hero in this game you think I'm playing, AND I can go in and out anytime as long as nobody sees me!" Mona Lisa knew her long enough not to get on Cleopatra's bad side, it led to certain things, but she wasn't afraid to tell her the reality of the situation on playing against chance and also testing her nerves.
"Then why?" Mona Lisa's voice abruptly softened as she spoke, "Why do you do it?"
The sudden change in Mona's persona caught Cleopatra off guard. They were a couple inches away from being exposed by total brightness from a nearby lamp post, and a chilled wind blew past them sending an unpleasant sting against their bare faces.
"Do you think these people care about what happens to someone like us? Because they don't and I should know …" Mona's voice quivered, looking away clearly upset about the topic or just the fact that it was too cold out.
Mona Lisa's story was a tragic one and Cleopatra was aware that her friend was once human.
Becoming a mutant by a freak chemical accident didn't sound like a pleasant change to wake up to every morning. Since then, Mona Lisa's perspective on the world changed drastically knowing she could never go back to her original life.
Cleopatra felt her muscles tense.
Momentarily looking down at the concrete floor, her eyes narrowed in thought. Cleopatra loathed the way humans were, some were an exception but she wasn't one to be ignorant about it. She observed humans long enough. The good, the bad and how intolerant people's behaviors are when it came to different things they didn't understand.
Cleopatra looked back at Mona, hesitating to speak for a moment.
"Don't bother explaining" Cleopatra added,
"I sometimes wonder why I help humans. They're hopeless really. Always repeating the same cycle of hate and violence, and they start all over from there. So really your guess is as good as mine. But for as long as I've known you, you're better than that." She said looking ahead
Cleopatra's stern look transformed into a remorseful one but avoiding eye contact all the same as Mona Lisa stood speechless.
The silence between them turned apprehensive and it was like that until they made it down the end of the street.
"Thank you, Cleo." Mona Lisa managed to utter seeing Cleopatra continuing to walk without another word being said. She gave a weak but sincere smiled that hid under her pink scarf and followed her close behind, both headed to the same destination they called home.
EDIT: added more to the story! And again, most of these characters are official/canon in the TMNT franchise except for mine which is Cleopatra - totally made that one up.
Nope still not giving up on this story! (:
Sorry for this chapter being kinda short and corny. I've been having this story in my computer for the longest time, and every time i always had to go back and edit this sucker for countless times.
So hopefully this story won't turn out so bad, or take so damn long. I swear this semester for me was a big, fat drag!
On a note, yes she is already called "Venus" and I didn't like the fact that the turtles in the series were in charge of giving the name so I'll explain all that later. But it's like a cover-up name, like Robin in batman but his real name is Dick? … Never mind.
Happy Holidays and I hope i get more stories up soon!
Take care!
xoxo - Gabzgirl
