Emily walked over to Raph. He was surprised to see that it was completely without fear. When she got near him, about two feet away, she stuck out her hand. "Emily Fredricks. I've been told that I have you to thank, that you saved me from those Foot fighters."
Raph raised an eye-ridge, having heard his two younger brothers talking about her fighting skills. He tucked his fedora under his arm and met her hand. "You're welcome." He answered gruffly. He walked over towards the kitchen to put the pizzas on the table. "And it's Raph."
"Chow time!" Mickey called excitedly from the couch, which he promptly hurdled in his sprint to the kitchen.
Most everyone chuckled as they moved to follow him at a more leisurely pace. All but Emily at least did. She stood where she was, not sure if she was invited to join in our not. "Come on, kid." Casey told her as he passed, grabbing her shoulder to tow her along. "The name's Casey Jones." He stuck out his hand for her to shake. "That pretty lady over there is April O'Neil, you already met the reptilian brothers, and the furry one if their father, Master Splinter. And I hope you like pizza." He joked as they reached the large table that took up most of the small kitchen.
"I don't remember the last time I had pizza." She joked back, snagging a piece of pepperoni pizza from the box.
Mickey gasped and rushed to her side. "Oh however did you survive?" he pretended to be horrorstruck. But he did wonder how the twenty-something could have gone without pizza for awhile.
"Chinese takeout." She explained, promptly taking a bite out of the greasy slice of pizza. Splinter mumbled something derogatory under his breath and walked away to the hallway he had come from. Emily raised an eyebrow as she watched him go.
Leo laughed at his father's reaction and Emily's reaction to that reaction. "He's Japanese." He explained, propping himself on the counter. "So, you're the 'greatest female kick-boxer New York has seen in a decade' am I right?" he even used air quotes to emphasize what he had seen in an article about her.
"Well, if they said Emily 'Lightning Strike' Fredricks, then I am." She shrugged. "But I'm not that good. I just don't go down; because unlike them, I have something other than a bigger pay check to fight for." Raph saw the determined look in her eye and thought it was awfully similar to the one he used to get when he protected the streets as Nightwatcher.
And he knew that spark was dangerous and powerful. He suddenly came up with an idea. "Hey, Emily; if you're so good at fighting, how about you and I do a few rounds in the dojo after this?" he pointed at the table with pizza boxes strewn out over it.
"You're on, Raph." She smirked. She was undefeated, and she had the advantage of a smaller size of five foot eight against the turtle that approached six feet. For her, being smaller was better; for most it was the opposite.
"Be prepared to lose." He warned, pointing his half eaten pizza at her.
She shrugged and returned to her pizza. "So, what do you guys do?" she asked no one in particular.
"Casey and I are archeologists. Well, at least I am; he's the delivery guy. And the guys, Casey included, fight crime topside." April explained, reaching for a second slice of pineapple pizza.
"You mean like Nightwatcher used to?" she had secretly had a small infatuation with Nightwatcher, although she would never admit it to anyone.
Before anyone could mention that the previous vigilante was in the room, Raph interceded to cover up his tracks. "Yeah, sort of." Then he fell silent for the rest of the meal while Emily asked more about them.
"So we know you're a kick-boxer, but do you do anything else?" April asked. In all the interviews she had read about Emily in, they had never asked about her personal life.
"Nope. And all my friends are in the kickboxing business. Well, except Maddie. My friend Madeline Thorold is a model; but boy can she throw a kick." She smiled in memory of when she had been her friend's kickboxing coach. Madeline had been born in Norfolk, but moved to Manhattan two years ago. She wasn't that into kickboxing, but she was a good fighter; with superpowers to boot.
Mickey's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "You know Mad…Maddie Thor…Thorold?" he managed to stutter out.
"Yeah. Buy you know who she is?" Madeline didn't see why turtles would take interest in a model.
"He knows who she is, alright. He keeps wishing she would go into underwear modeling or something." Don grumbled as he walked across the room to the refrigerator. "Anyone want a beer?" he asked. Everyone said some form of yes except for Emily, who looked down and remained silent. "Emily, do you want one?"
"No thanks, Don. I don't drink." She mumbled as she dropped her head to hide her pain and sorrow that her eyes surely would have betrayed.
Mickey nearly fell off his chair laughing. "I think we found someone with more morals than Leo!" he cheered. He shut up when Leo came up behind him and smacked him in the head, hard.
Raph saw that it looked like Emily wasn't going to join back into the friendly banter, and he was a bit bored, so he put down his beer can and walked over to her. "How about that match, Emily?"
She nodded and followed him out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the Turtle's training dojo. On one wall was a rack with all of the brother's weapons and their training weapons. Against another were various heavy bags and ground bags. The rest of the room was open space with bamboo matting.
Emily walked over to the corner and pulled off her sweater and shoes, putting them in a pile. She took out her hair tie and fastened her shoulder length dark brown hair into a ponytail. When she turned around, Raph got his first good look at her. She was very thin, about as much as April; but he could see the muscles running up and down her arms. Since she was a kick-boxer, he could only imagine how strong her legs were. Her skin was tan, even though she lived in New York, and marred my scars and bruises.
"Ready to get your butt handed to you on a silver platter?" she joked as she walked past him to the center of the mat.
Raph laughed once without humor. "Are you?" he growled back.
He rushed her and attempted to flying side-kick her in the back of the head, but she heard it coming and ducked, putting her behind him. He lashed out again, this time with a punch to her gut. She blocked it and tried to kick him in the kidney, but hitting his plastron was like hitting a wall. She winced, but threw a second kick to his unshelled thigh, temporarily buckling his knee. He growled slightly at her, but made no move for a third attack.
They circled each other for a few moments until Emily threw a jump round-kick to Raph's head, which he blocked and held onto it. He smirked at her as she struggled to maintain her balance, until finally he jerked her foot and sent her onto the ground. He moved to pin her, but as he dropped down, she kicked him in the jaw; sending him stumbling backwards and giving her enough time to get up. He once again resorted to rushing her, hoping to overwhelm her. But that didn't work. As he threw the punch, Emily blocked to the inside and grabbed his wrist so he couldn't pull away. Then she hooked her arm around the top of his and planted her hips in front of his. Unfortunately for her, Raph knew the move so he grabbed her other shoulder with his free hand. When Emily threw him over her hip, Raph pulled her down and rolled her to the side. This time he pinned her before she could get up.
Going out on a limb, not knowing if it would work, she kneed Raph where most men's weak spot was. His breath whooshed out and he loosened his grip on Emily enough for her to flip them so that she was now on top. She may have been much lighter, but she knew where to put her weight so he couldn't push her off. Raph had returned to his senses by then and was struggling under her to try and throw her off or at roll them over again. Finally he gave up and just glared at her in anger. She just smiled innocently at him back.
After a few moments, she let him up. "I honestly didn't think that move would work." She joked as she stuck out her hand to help him up.
"And why didn't you think it would work?" he slightly growled as he took her hand and hoisted himself up. He was slightly surprised that she was able to keep her balance, even though he weighed probably a good fifty pounds heavier than she did.
She let go of his hand quickly and stared at the ground. "Well, you're a… well you're a giant turtle." She finally spit out.
"Yeah." Raph laughed. "I've known that for twenty-six years. But I'm also a male turtle." He shook his head at Emily's partial ignorance. "Want to go another round?"
"I'll just cream you again." She smiled up at him.
"You want me to go and get Fearless in here so you can test your super kickboxing skills on him?" when Emily looked at him like he was crazy, he realized she didn't know whose pet name Fearless was. "Leo, I mean."
"If Leo wants to, I guess." Emily shrugged, internally welcoming the challenge.
"If I want to, what?" Leo asked from the doorway to the dojo.
"Fight her." Raph jerked his thumb sideways at Emily.
Leo shook his head and smiled. "If you beat her that fast don't you think she should maybe step down to someone like Don or Casey? I'll fight her if she wants to but,"
Emily cut him off. "I beat Raph this fast."
"Oh." He whistled and smirked at Raph. "You are losing your touch, little brother. Of course I'll take a shot at you, then." He returned his eyes to Emily as he tried to size her up. Raph walked over to the wall and mumbled something about cheap shots and not being fair before he turned to watch the second match.
Leo was much more patient than his second in command, and was content with just circling Emily, forcing her to make the first move. And she did, she tried to sweep his legs, having learned that aiming for their stomachs would only hurt her. He jumped over the sweep and attempted to hook kick her in the head, but she blocked it and sent him spinning around. She tried to rush him from the back, but he stuck out his foot. It caught her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her.
Raph winced as she fell back onto the floor. But before Leo could take advantage of it, she rolled backwards and stood up, shaking off the impact. The two returned to just circling each other, not wanting to be the first one to leave themselves open by striking. That was until Emily threw a round kick to Leo's head, which he barely blocked. He shot a kick to her side, which she blocked and scooped. Leo couldn't keep his balance, so he fell onto his back. But he managed to roll Emily past him so that she couldn't take advantage of the turtle caught on his back. Emily couldn't stop her roll, so she ended up skidding into one of the heavy bags and hitting her head pretty hard.
Raph winced again and moved to help her, but she shook her head at him and quickly got back on her feet. The others who were still in the kitchen had heard the bang of Emily hitting the bag, so they came to investigate and see who was beating who. They walked in on Emily cautiously advancing on Leo, who was still struggling to get off of his back.
That's when Splinter came. "Enough." He called calmly to the fighters. "Emily has won the match." The two reacted immediately. Emily dropped her fighting stance and walked over to Leo to help him up. He took her outstretched hand and hoisted himself up, much like Raph had done, but Leo was a little bit lighter. "That is the end of the fighting for today. Emily, it is late, do you need to be returning home?"
The mention of home snapped Emily out of the bliss she had been in since she had woken up. "What time is it?"
"A little after three in the morning." April told her, being the only one with a watch.
"Yeah, I need to get home." She mumbled and moved to get her stuff form the corner.
"Leonardo will escort you home." He added. "And please, feel free to return here anytime you wish." His whiskers pulled up as he smiled up at her. He was glad to see that his sons and their friends had warmed up quickly to Emily, even if some like Don were still a bit wary.
"Thank you." Emily smiled back at the elderly rat, also to the brothers.
Mickey slipped into the dojo from behind Casey to talk to Emily. "How about you stop by later today and we can play video games or something?"
She brightened up her smile for him. "Sure Mickey. I'm ready to go, Leo." Leo nodded and walked past everyone out to the main room. Before she left, she turned to Raph. "You can challenge me to a rematch later, Raph."
"Who says I need to beat you?" he shot back defensively.
Emily shrugged and followed Leo out into the main room and to a door to the left of the stairs. From the outside, it looked like the rest of the bricks that made up the wall of the sewer. But there was a skateboard spray painted onto the door, almost like a marker. Emily followed Leo as he walked quickly along the sewers, keeping track of where they were turning so that she could get back later after practice. After about five minutes, Leo turned to her a little sheepishly. "I almost forgot to ask; were do you live?"
"Cherokee Place and East 80th Street." Emily answered simply. She waved off the fact that he had forgotten to ask her earlier, only hoping that it didn't mean that they had to backtrack.
Which they didn't. They continued down that tunnel and took a few more turns before Leo stopped and pointed at the manhole above their heads. "Now, my brothers and I trust you; but I have to ask you for your discretion to keep our secret safe." He hated to have to say this, to make it seem like Emily was a suspect for betraying them.
"Don't worry about it, Leo. I don't have anyone to tell it to anyways." She joked wryly as she climbed up the ladder. "See ya later!" she called back to the retreating turtle.
"Yeah, see ya." He replied, stopping to wave at her before he continued on his way back to the lair.
Emily pushed the manhole cover out of the way and pulled herself into the alley. From where she was, she could see the fire escape that led to her window. Looking for any Foot, she ran across the street and began to silently climb the fire escape. She finally got to her window, she opened it as quietly as the warped wood was capable of; hoping that her father was asleep.
Unfortunately, he wasn't. "Where ya been?!" he slurred. And he was drunk.
"I've been with friends, Dad." She told him slowly, trying to calm him down. As she was talking, she was covertly moving forward towards her door to shut.
"Ya know what time it is?!" he stumbled towards her and caught himself on the wall.
"Yes, Dad." She told him. "I'm sorry I'm late, but we got lost on the way here." Well, she wasn't lying.
Her father took a few more menacing steps towards her. "So, ya were with a guy!" he shouted.
"Not like that!" she pleaded. She was already sore from the kickboxing match and the run in with the Foot. She really didn't need this tonight.
"Ya been with a guy." He seethed, even angrier now that he thought his daughter was trying to make excuses. He raised his hand and brought it down against her face. Emily didn't even try to block it. She lost her balance and stumbled into the wall, hitting her head again. When she turned back to her father to try and explain, he shouted again. "Ya been with a guy!" he hit her in the side where her ribs were already bruised. Again, Emily didn't try to defend herself.
It continued like that for an hour; Emily's father shouting at her, insulting her, and beating her; and she didn't do anything about it. Finally, he "let her off with a warning" and stumbled to his room on the other side of the apartment. Emily grabbed the windowsill to pull herself off the ground, bleeding and battered.
She managed to limp to the small bathroom attached to her room and looked in the mirror. Her face was bruised from where she had been slapped, and her nose was bleeding profusely down her face. One of her eyes was swollen, her shoulder was bruised, and it felt like her wrist was sprained. Lifting up her shirt, she saw a medley of bruises from her various fights that day, and unfortunately, some of the scars that had come from her father when he still had the beer bottle in his hand when she got home.
She carefully cleaned and dressed as many as her injuries as she could, shrugged out of her clothes, and carefully pulled on her night clothes. Emily stiffly climbed into her small bed and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep and dreams to overtake her and make the pain go away for a few hours.
The next morning, Emily woke up early, not wanting to encounter her father; incase he hadn't slept it all off. She cooked breakfast, pancakes, quickly eating her half and leaving the other on the table for her father when he woke up. She went into her room and grabbed the envelope of money she had been given for winning the fight the night before. Counting out the right amount she put that back in the envelope, leaving the rest in her dresser drawer. Emily rooted around her tiny room for a pen. Finding it, she wrote on the envelope the address of the company that owned the apartment complex. On the front of the envelope, she wrote "Rent for 546."
She grabbed her sweater, pulling it over her head but being mindful of her sore shoulder, and left the apartment, this time out the front door. She hurried down the stairs to the ground floor and walked onto the street towards the gym.
While she walked, she thought about what she would tell the brothers about her new injuries. Kickboxing practice? No, she had too many on her face for that to be true. Another run in with the Foot? No, that would make them worried about something they shouldn't be. So she decided to not bring it up, hoping that they didn't know enough about kickboxing training to realize her injuries were a bit too ruthless for that.
Now she just had to get past Mr. Potter, who had stepped up to the role of her caretaker when Austin died. But she didn't have time then to come up with an excuse because she was already at the doors of the small gym where she had trained since she was a sixteen tear old with issues whose only cure was a long session with a punching bag.
She walked through the gym, getting mixed hellos and congratulations for her victory. Even the woman she beat came up to her and wished her good luck on her fight on Friday, since she was heading back to Albany the next day. Emily waved and mumbled thanks to most of those who spoke to her. Finally she reached the back where the lockers were. And without surprise, Mr. Potter was leaning on the locker next to her. He was smiling until he saw Emily's face and saw all the new bruises.
"Em, what happened to you?" he rushed to her and tilted her chin to get a better look at some of her bruises. He was her coach, caretaker, and medic.
Emily waved and mumbled thanks to most of those who spoke to her. Finally she reached the back where the lockers were. And without surprise, Mr. Potter was leaning on the locker next to her. He was smiling until he saw Emily's face and saw all the new bruises.
"Em, what happened to you?" he rushed to her and tilted her chin to get a better look at some of her bruises. He was her coach, caretaker, and medic.
"Dad." She mumbled, jerking her face away and roughly opening her locker. She grabbed her gear and carefully took off her jacket before shoving that into her lockers.
Mr. Potter saw that Emily's shoulder was wrapped, since she was wearing a grey tank top. "Em, you can't train like this." He sighed, trying to sit her down on the bench.
"I have to." She snapped, quickly wrapping her hands with the long white bands.
Mr. Potter shook his head sadly. Anger and determination were not a good mix in Emily. She was going got get herself killed training for the fight on Friday. And even if she didn't she might wind up dead after the fight. "Emily, Austin wouldn't want you to push yourself too far." He knew bringing up her late friend would knock some sense into her, or at least make her pause and think things through.
"I have to win that fight Mr. Potter!" she stated as strong as she could, but her voice began to break. But before he could call her on it, she ran out of the locker room and into the heavy bag room.
For her four hour session at the gym, Emily punched, kicked, elbowed, and kneed the bag in front of her. In her mind, it became the faces of those she knew in the Foot, the people who had killed Austin. She ignored the burn in her shoulder and the piercing pain in her side. She was as bad as Rocky Balboa, ignoring her pain for one goal, victory.
Too soon for all of her anger to be burned out, it was time for Emily to leave. But at least she was going to see the brothers, and they had a dojo she could continue to train in. She took a quick shower at the gym and grabbed her jacket out of her locker. She never went anywhere without her bulky and too large sweater; it had been Austin's before he died.
So she walked back to her house and dropped into the sewer system to retrace her steps back to the lair. She found the spray painted door easier than she thought she would and knocked on it roughly, wincing when it scraped her knuckles. After only a few seconds, Mickey opened the door with a huge grin plastered on his face.
"You came!" he cried happily and scooped Emily up into a bear hug as he brought her inside, kicking the door shut behind him.
Emily struggled against his grip, but it was useless, so she just dealt with it until he put her down on the couch and plopped down next to her. "You know, Mickey, I was just here twelve hours ago."
"I know." He shrugged. "But I didn't know if we had scared you away or something. We are a bunch of turtles, remember."
He and Emily laughed a bit at his joke. Emily began to realize that the brothers weren't really all that much like turtles. They were a lot like people, only green, with shells, and they only had three fingers and toes.
Mickey got up from the couch and grabbed two of the remote controls to his videogame system and turned it on. He returned to the couch and gave Emily one of the controllers. "You know the game Call of Duty?" he asked her.
"Sort of. But I've never played it." She shrugged. Emily had never been one for videogames or computers. She just liked to hit stuff.
"Well, you won't be able to say that after today." He smirked just before the video game loaded. For most of the day, Mickey and Emily tried to shoot the other down in the video game, all the while squirming, jumping, and shouting at themselves, their characters, or each other on the couch. After a few hours, Don had come in from somewhere in the hallway and took Mickey's spot and beat Emily within a few minutes. Leo came in a bit after that, but he just sat on the couch and laughed whenever one of the players did something stupid. And when Emily was playing, that was rather frequently.
Around seven, Casey came into the lair with a bag of pizza boxes much like Raph had the night before. "Hey Emily." He cheered. "Don't know if April's coming or not." He told her as he walked into the kitchen, Mickey hot on his heels.
Raph came in from the dojo, his skin glistening slightly from the sweat that rolled down it. "Hey, Emily." He greeted her as he rooted around in the refrigerator for a beer. He came out also with a can of soda. "Don forgot about these yesterday." He explained as he handed it to her.
"Thanks, Raph." She smiled and handed him a slice of cheese of pizza. He had eaten three of them the night before.
"You noticed, huh?" he joked, leaning against the counter next to her and beginning to munch on the pizza.
Emily nodded, and in the process noticed for the first time one of the brothers with a weapon. Tucked into Raph's belt were two sais. They glinted slightly in the light above their heads, and they looked like they had been uncharacteristically sharpened. She quickly snatched the one closest to her to examine it closer. Raph went to protest and snatch it back, but Emily held up her hand to stop him. "I'm not a little kid who's going to poke someone's eye out."
She remembered a few of the moves she had learned when she took ninjitsu and she carefully yet quickly spun the sai in her hand, flipping it around her hand a few times before settling it against the inside of her forearm. Only then did she give it back to Raph. "You know how to use these things?" he asked her, holding the sai she had given back to him.
"No. That was just a trick I learned a few years back." She sighed.
"Do you want to learn?" Raph asked.
Emily was so startled by his offer that she just looked at him for a few moments. "Um, maybe after this fight on Friday. Until then, I need to train for my speed in kickboxing."
Raph nodded and replaced the weapon into his belt and reached for another slice of pizza. "How about I give you some pointers for that match? I'm one of the faster fighters here, and only one of two who ever bothered with kickboxing. The other was Casey, but he just hits things and doesn't care how he does it." He smirked over at his friend, who was glaring at him, having heard Raph summary about his fighting.
"Sure." Emily chirped. Raph was a good fighter, that much she knew form experience. And the more help she could get, the easier Friday's fight would be. "Just let me kill this slice." She lifted the piece of cheese pizza that she still had in her hand.
And that's how the whole week went. She would wake up, go to the gym, go to the lair, play video games, train with Raph, and then sneak in the window at home. Thankfully for her, her father was asleep all the other times she came in at night.
Then Thursday came. It was the night before the fight, and Emily had opted out of videogames to go straight to the dojo and practice for the next night. She was mercilessly beating the stuffing out of one of the hanging heavy bags. Her shoulder had healed a few days before and her ribs weren't nearly as bad, so it didn't hurt to go all out.
Raph came in, not expecting Emily to be there yet. He was surprised by the aggression she was putting into her punches and kicks. He walked up beside the bag and saw that her knuckles were red and scraped, some of them even bleeding. But her face, however covered in sweat, looked like she wasn't tired at all. That was when her anger and determination would become dangerous, to herself. "Emily, take a break. You're working too hard; just look at your hands."
Emily shook her head, dislodging a few beads of sweat from her bangs. "Can't…stop…fight's…tomorrow." She panted out.
Raph was suddenly overcome by a rush of anger at the sheer stupidity of the young woman in front of him. So he stepped in front of the bag when she took a brief pause in her onslaught and grabbed her hands to keep her from punching him. "Are you so stupid that you're actually going to fight tomorrow!" he shouted at her.
Emily stood there for a bit, catching her breath. But her anger was growing. "I have to, Raph! They killed Austin!" she shouted right back.
Raph growled low in his throat, trying to keep a hold on his temper. Two lit fuses weren't going to help at all. "And that justifies this suicide mission of yours?"
"If they killed Leo, wouldn't you want some sort of revenge?" Emily snapped. She had seen the way the brothers interacted. Leo and Raph may antagonize each other, but Leo was still his older brother, and they still cared about each other.
Raph glared down at her for turning the situation on him. "Yeah, I would. But Leo's my brother." He pointed out.
"Austin was the closest thing to a family I ever remember having!" Emily shouted, tears starting to prick in her eyes. She didn't understand why this one argument was making her so emotional.
Raph saw the tears in her eyes too. "But what about your dad?" he had heard her comment several times before she would leave the lair at night that she hoped her father asleep by time she got home.
Emily was silent for a few moments and looked at the ground. Raph felt it was safe for him to drop her hands from his grasp, no longer fearing that he would replace the punching bag. Emily finally looked up at Raph. The tears had overflowed and were running down her cheeks. "He's a drunk!" she cried, throwing her hands into the air out of anger and frustration. She was finally letting the truth come out. The only other person who knew the truth about her family was Mr. Potter. "Half the bruises and scars I have aren't from fights, they're from him!" her voice broke and she began to sob. She turned to another bag and began to punch it harder than before, scuffing and cutting her knuckles even worse.
Raph stepped in front of this bag, too, with a sigh. He grabbed her hands again and held them in one while he gently grabbed her chin with the other. "What about this one?" He touched her swollen eye with the tip of his finger.
"Dad." She mumbled. She wanted to wipe away her tears, But Raph had her hands firmly in his.
"What about your mom?" Raph asked. Emily had never mentioned her, but she must have one that helped take care of her.
"She OD'ed when I was ten." Emily sobbed. "That's when Dad turned to the bottle to drink his worries away and I became his punching bag." Emily nearly fell to her knees, but Raph held her up.
"How long has he hurt you like this, Emily?" Raph was now angry at himself for not noticing the bruises, Emily for still wanting to fight, and her father for what he did to his daughter.
"Fourteen years. I'll be twenty-five next summer." Her sobbing had stopped, but the tears still flowed down her face. "You've got to see that this is why I have to do what I can to avenge Austin's death!" she pleaded with Raph.
"Can't you see that it's pointless to waste all that you still have for a small revenge that barely anyone will recognize as being against the Foot!" he wasn't going to cave in, not without a fight.
Emily dropped her eyes to the ground again and Raph released her hands again. She sank silently to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest, crying quietly. "I don't know any other way to stand up for what's right." She whispered. "You and your brothers fight the bad guys on the street; I fight them in the ring." She whispered again, her eyes stared off into space as if remembering something she saw or was told. "I have to go into that ring and fight." Her voice broke and she buried her face into her knees.
Raph looked at the sight before him. The young woman who seemed to have drive and determination was driven by the worst kind of motivation: revenge. And she had never had anyone there to tell her that she was going about it the wrong way. Well, she had people now. He knelt down next to Emily and stroked her hair, finding it soft beneath his fingers. "You really want to get in that ring, don't you?" She nodded wordlessly. "Then listen to me or I'll drag you out of that fight myself." He pulled Emily against his side, needing to comfort her.
She curled into his side, finding the bridge of his plastron surprisingly warm and comfortable. She tried to slow the tears. Raph rested his head Emily's. "Thank you." She whispered.
Raph nodded against her hair. "Now, I'm not worried about the match; I know you'll win that. Maybe even in that outrageous timeframe you set up. But after the fight is when you need to listen to me. Don't do anything to provoke their fighter, got it?" Emily nodded against Raph's chest. She had stopped crying, but she didn't trust her voice not to break. "Then go back to the locker room, and try to get rid of your coach as fast as you can. I'll come in and get you out. The others will be in a side street and we'll meet up with them. Then we're coming straight back here. Any questions?"
"No." she whispered.
"And you're spending the night here. I don't' want you near your dad the night before this fight. You need to be in your best shape tomorrow." He patted her head again.
Surprisingly, Emily didn't' complain. She just leaned into Raph's side and wrapped her arms around Raph's waist. "Thanks you." She spoke for the first time in a while above a whisper. She leaned up and quickly kissed Raph's cheek before setting into his side again. Both were glad that they couldn't see each other's faces, because they both began to blush.
After sitting there for a few minutes, Raph felt Emily's breathing change next to him and she seemed to relax farther. Looking down at her, he saw her eyes shut and her mouth slightly open. Emily was asleep. So Raph carefully picked her up, once again surprised at how light she was, and carried her out of the dojo, through the living room, up the stairs, and to the spare bedroom at the end of the hallway. He juggled her in one arm and pulled back the covers on the small bed with the other. He carefully set her down and pulled the sheets around her. He didn't want to think about how long it had been since she could sleep in peace without having to worry about things like her father.
Raph jogged back down the stairs to fill in his brothers about the deal he had made with Emily, but he left out the private information she had given him, knowing that she would tell the others when she was ready.
The next morning, Emily groggily walked down the stairs, rubbing her eyes and trying to flatten out her slightly unruly hair. As she reached the ground, she heard a sizzling coming from the small kitchen along with the smell of bacon and toast. She trudged into the kitchen to find Don cooking breakfast for the six people in the lair. "Morning, Don." Emily smiled. The sleep she had had that night was some of the best she had had in a long time.
"Good morning, Emily." He smiled back and handed her a plate full of food. "We're in on the plan you and Raph came up with yesterday. And let me tell you on behalf of all of us. Nothing will happen to you after the match tonight." He was so sincere and determined that Emily smiled at him again.
She nodded and touched his arm before she sat down at the table. A few minutes later, Leo came down the stairs with Raph right behind him. "Good morning." She greeted them as they too took a plate and sat down at the table.
Raph protectively sat next to her. "How did you sleep, sleeping beauty?" he joked.
"Good, thank you." Emily was too happy to be annoyed with Raph's jokes. Leo simply nodded and began to eat his breakfast. Mickey came down a few minutes later and Splinter came in from the lower hallway, greeting each of the young adults sitting around the table
Throughout the day, the turtles told her to take it easy and psych herself up for the match. Which she did, by playing Call of Duty with the brothers, and being subsequently creamed by them. Thankfully for the plans that had been formed, the fight wasn't supposed to begin until after dark, so the turtles could follow Emily topside on the roofs.
So half an hour before the fight, the five young adults set out for the gym, which is where the fight was to be held. Emily could tell that the turtles wee doing a good job watching her, because she could feel their eyes on her, but whenever she looked up, they were out of sight. She got to the gym in record time and hurried to the back locker room where she would spend her time until the fight. Her coach wasn't there yet, so she pocked her head out the window to see if she could talk quickly with the brothers.
Sure enough, Raph and Mickey were right outside the window. "Hey, guys, there's a skylight in the main room just above the wing, so you can watch the fight if you want." They nodded and disappeared back onto the roof.
She didn't know why until her coach came into the room laughing. "Who were talking to out there, kid?"
"Austin." She lied smoothly.
Mr. Potter nodded and handed Emily a package. "Amy made it for you, she thought your old one was getting to small and worn out."
Emily opened the package, pulling out a new uniform top in a leotard style. It was red with a black stripe down the middle. Those colors had been in hers and Austin's uniforms since the beginning. She quickly changed in the bathroom and put on her gear and waited for them to call her name.
Five minutes later, it came. The eleven words that she had been waiting five years of her life for.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in the red corner, Emily 'Lightning Strike' Fredricks!"
We're back!
We don't have much to say except:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's 11:55 here where we are, but some of our readers may already be in 2009.
And one of our resolutions is to update sooner, and we will try to stick to that.
Sincerely,
C M + L W = idkaname