Relativity

Rated: T+ (May go up in later chapters)

WARNING: This story contains ideologically sensitive material involving human mutation and mutant love.

Leatherhead/OC

Relativity: A state of dependence in which the existence or significance of one entity is solely dependent on that of another.

…

Chapter One

"Come on slow pokes! You must be the ones who inspired the story: The Tortoise and the Hair!" Michelangelo taunted as he led the nightly training route over the roof tops of Manhattan. He moved smoothly and strived to keep ahead of his brothers. They were all hot on his tail, but he was definitely putting a strain on them.

As he glided with practiced ease from one rooftop to another, he heard the soft pad of his brothers landing soon after he did and he knew he would not keep the lead for long.

"Can it, Mike! Just wait til I get my hands on ya!" Raphael growled back, though he sounded quite winded.

Mikey laughed heartily and sank lower on his heels to propel himself over another ledge when something caught his eye. He stopped in his tracks and looked. A girl was climbing out of her window in her underwear. He'd normally have something quite hilarious to say about such a scene, but there was something funny about her.

Unfortunately, before he could figure it out, Raphael crashed into him, followed by Donatello and Leonardo thankfully stopped just short of completing the dog pile, though he teetered before backing away, looking somewhat annoyed. .

"Hey, what's the hold up, Mike?" Leo asked as he folded his arms over his plastron and gave a cocky smirk," giving up all ready?"

"No! There was a girl-!" Michelangelo fervently protested beneath his two older brothers, struggling to wriggle out.

Donatello disentangled himself from Raphael and dusted himself off," Peeping at innocent girls is not a good excuse to sabotage us all."

"Dude, get your lard butt OFF!" Michelangelo roughly shoved Raphael off of him and ignored Donatello completely to dart to the edge of the building. The girl was hanging from her window sill and it seemed as though someone dressed in all black was moving around inside.

"Look!" He said, pointing.

The other three leaned over to see whatever he was pointing at. The girl was slowly climbing downward, her footing very clumsy. She slipped several times, but barely managed to catch herself.

"Do you guys uh… notice something… special about her…" Donatello asked.

"Other than da fact that she's scaling a wall practically naked?" Raphael put in.

"She's… red…" Leonardo observed, narrowing his eyes at the scene. Indeed, the skin of the woman's back did seem to be a bright crimson color.

"And blue and orange," Mikey added, nodding," See! I told you I saw something! And I wasn't peeping this time!"

Leo sent Michelangelo a scolding look and opened his mouth to give a miniature lecture about the inappropriateness of peeking at unsuspecting indecent humans, but was interrupted.

"Guys, I think she needs help!" Donatello stated, straightening and pointing to where a man was leaning out of her window. He wore a mask that hid most of his features, but proudly bared an uncomfortably familiar bright red insignia on his upper arm.

"The Foot!" Leonardo snarled, reaching for his swords.

Donatello surprised everyone by jumping over the edge of the building before anyone else could react and not a moment too soon…

…

The world seemed to suddenly move in slow motion as Lavinia's hand slipped from the old brick wall. Her body reacted sluggishly; her arms flailed, swinging uselessly behind her and grabbing for something to grip and stop her fall.

Her heart leapt into her throat, throbbing in panic and making her choke. The wall drifted slowly away and the man in the window was making angry, violent gestures, but his voice was muffled in her ears. Terror roared in her mind, instead, drowning all other sounds around her.

I'm going to die… She thought to herself, tears prickling her eyes, I can't believe it's ending this way…

The seconds dragged on and she seemed to be falling for an eternity when abruptly, she stopped. A force hit her at her knee joints and shoulder blades, knocking the wind out of her. Gasping, her mind noted that her guts were not splattered all over New York pavement.

It also informed her that she was cradled in strong arms and pressed gently against a cool, hard surface. Her vision swam for a few moments, especially because no sooner had her body stopped falling when she got the feeling of weightlessness once more.

Though she was conscious of the movement, her mind, having all ready been scared witless, went completely blank. Dazed, she instinctively clung to her savior.

Blinking rapidly, Lavinia focused on the hard surface, closest to her face. It was an off yellow color, flecked with brown. Smooth under her fingers, it had an indented groove right in the center and small, thin lines across the otherwise even surface.

Mind stressed, her fingers absentmindedly focused on tracing them. Strange the way the lines dipped into the hard plane, thinning to a point on each end. Almost like battle scars forever tainting the expanse.

"Leo, we should just go. There are a lot more in the apartment and she isn't looking too good," A male voice said and the surface below her strange new fingers vibrated. Her savior's voice, her mind supplied.

It was mature; sweet; the voice of someone with a good heart. Somehow she just knew these things to be true and even though fatigue threatened to claim her, she turned her gaze upward to smile gratefully at him.

Other strange voices spoke around her and she should have been concerned about the fact that her savior's face was a green and purple blur, but her over-taxed mind couldn't be bothered by such trivial things. With a soft sigh, she allowed unconsciousness to claim her.

…

It was bad enough when the woman was caressing his plastron, but when she passed out and began to snuggle against him, Donatello could no longer suppress a heated blush. He was grateful they were almost to the lair because his orange clad brother was beginning to eye him mischievously.

"Aww! Why do you get to be the knight in shining armor?" Mikey pouted as they headed as quickly as possible back to their lair," I saw her first!"

"Well, ya shoulda reacted faster instead o' gawkin' like a love-sick hatchling," Raphael responded, following closely behind Donny and Mikey. Mikey was leaning close and inspecting the woman, while Donny tried to shy away, giving his orange clad brother an annoyed look.

"'sides, ya might as well give up now. Donny-boy's all ready looking pretty smitten with da broad. Always gotta be da first ta snag all da ladies, eh?" Raphael teased, reaching out to tug the purple bandanna as he snickered.

Donny felt more heat rise to his cheeks and spluttered indignantly.

"Yeah! How come you never give someone else a chance to get a girl? You all ready failed miserably on April! Be the bigger turtle and let me carry her. Besides, my handsome face should be the first she sees, so she's not as startled by your guys' ugly mugs," Michelangelo quipped, holding his arms out to take the slumbering woman.

"W-what are you guys talking about?!" Donatello squeaked, feeling as though his entire face was on fire now under the harassment," April's our friend! I never…she…we… it's not like-!"

Leonardo sighed and rolled his eyes. He took the tail end of the group, listening carefully just in case they were followed. However, as Raphael and Mikey continued to tease Donny, they only grew louder and his ability to hear was being hindered.

There was no doubt that this woman was being hunted by the Foot clan and soon the streets would be swarming with enemy ninja. Before long, they'd extend their search to the sewers and while their lair was well hidden and protected, they shouldn't take any chances.

Raphael suddenly got a particularly evil glint in his eye as Donny's face only turned more scarlet and Leo took the opportunity to intervene before this got ugly.

"That's enough, you two. Cut it out. This is no joking matter. It's bad enough that we have a random mutant in our hands, not knowing anything of her origins, but we also know the Foot is involved and desperately wants her. This isn't the time for games," He looked pointedly at Michelangelo, who only raised his eye ridges innocently and shrugged.

The brothers fell into a contemplative silence and Leo, ever vigilant, perked his ears again for any unusual sound. The gentle roar of cars driving over them was almost masked by the soft tinkling of water dripping around them and the gentle howl of wind squeezing into the sewers, but he heard no living movement. No tell-tale splash of feet trudging through murky water after them.

There was a time when Leo was more care free, like his brothers, but it seemed that as they grew older, the world above them become more and more dangerous for them. Their enemies, the Foot, were gaining power daily and with Master Splinter deathly ill, they could do nothing but watch.

Now they had a mysterious mutant woman on their hands and something about her all ready wasn't sitting right with Leonardo.

He'd been trained to trust his senses and alarm bells were screaming in his mind.

Mutants weren't born. They were either subjects of freak accidents or created. Since he'd not heard of any freak chemical spills on the news, Leo couldn't help but assume that this woman was a creation; perhaps one that belonged to the Foot and escaped. Or… that was what they wanted him to think.

His eyes darted to Donatello's shell. The woman's strange patterned face was cradled in the crook of his elbow. He could see that she looked innocent enough, but if she was a weapon, then that would be precisely how the Foot would want her to look. Innocent. Harmless. Beautiful.

Beautiful? Leonardo instantly admonished himself. She was possibly the enemy; and he wasn't about to start drooling all over himself like Mike and Don all ready were. With Master Splinter currently bedridden, it was up to him to see to it that his family came to no harm. Until he could be sure, he'd watch this woman like a hawk and if she so much as twitched in the wrong direction he'd be on her like white on rice.

…

"I know this sounds weird coming from me and it's not like I'm not enjoying the view, but don't you think we should cover her up, dude?" Michelangelo suggested, gesturing the mutant woman lying unconscious on Donatello's bed, covered only by her plain white under garments.

Mikey sat nearby on a rolling stool, watching as Donatello took her temperature and tsked to himself.

"A little on the warm side… huh? What was that, Mike?" Donny asked, turning to frown at his little brother, who, despite being a twenty year old, was spinning on his chair like a child. He stopped to answer, swaying slightly and shaking his head.

"Like, I know this is probably the only time you'll ever get a half naked woman in your bed, but I think you should at least put a blanket over her or something," Mikey said in one of his rare logical moments.

Donny's eye ridges furrowed, but he dismissed the half naked woman comment," Mikey… it's ridiculously hot and humid in here. I haven't fixed the air, yet. She all ready has a fever. If I cover her, she'll only get hotter."

The purple masked turtle blushed when Mikey sent him a skeptical look," Uh huh… That's the best excuse you could come up with? In the meantime, if she wakes up in your bed wearing hardly anything in front of several strange male mutant turtles, I'll let you handle the crazy screaming lady."

"Mike! I am not making excuses! She has a fever! If you cover someone who's got a fever-!"

"Yea, yea. Hey! Maybe if you repeat it enough, you'll start to believe it," Mikey smirked and folded his arms over his plastron, forgetting that his chair had no back as he leaned back. Donny only raised an eye ridge and allowed his baby brother to lean until the chair toppled over.

Michelangelo crashed with a surprised cry into the bookshelf behind him, knocking the shelves and thick novels off. They piled on his head and he groaned. Served him right.

Shaking his head, Donatello turned back to his patient, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Her skin was all ready a bright red color, so it was hard to tell if she was flushed or not, however heat radiated from her. She was feverish, but it wasn't serious. Her body should fight it off in no time without antibiotics. Donatello assumed the stress was taking its toll on her, nothing more.

"Mikey, I'm going to get a cool, wet cloth to help cool her down. Hopefully, then, she'll wake soon and we can talk to her about what's going on. Keep an eye on her," Donny instructed.

Mikey extracted himself from the pile of books that pelted him and rubbed the top of his head, but grinned cheerfully at his older brother," Roger that!"

Frowning, Donny paused and sent a warning glance over his shoulder," And keep your hands to yourself, you lecher."

"Sheesh, I'm not that evil, Don! I'd at least let her wake up first," Michelangelo teased.

"I mean it!" Donatello called back.

Mikey was totally kidding. He'd never touch her inappropriately. He was just enthralled that there was a new mutant. A female mutant, no less. She was so unique looking, too. The dark striped pattern was almost tribal looking. It was wicked. Mikey almost wished they'd inherited some of the markings of their kin.

Righting the rolling stool, he sat on it and scooted closer to inspect her face. Her expression was relaxed in her sleep. Her features were so unusual, even to Mikey, but strange in a pretty sense.

A small moan escaped her lips and he leaned forward some, tilting his head," you alive, dudette?"

Brown eyes fluttered open and the woman raised a hand to her head, groaning louder this time. Mikey looked uncertainly over his shoulder. He sure acted confident before, but he'd never imagined he'd have to confront this woman all alone!

…

Lavinia's head was throbbing. She felt as though someone had taken a mallet to her head and beat it savagely into mush. She was relieved to find that she in bed, though. Her dream had felt so real.

"What a horrible nightmare…" She murmured to herself.

"Bad dream?" Came a husky, surfer accented voice.

Lavinia froze and bolted up. She noted that not only was she not in her bed, but she wasn't clothed and her skin was red! Bright red.

"Oh no…" She whimpered, looking down at the strange patterns on her skin when a warm hand touched her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

She jerked and looked into startling blue eyes, which would have normally enthralled her, but considering their owner was green, her insides turned to ice.

Green skin, rounded snout, and a shell. Clearly an animal. A horrifying, twisted animal.

Whatever it was it looked like it had crawled right out of one of her worst nightmares.

Heart racing, Lavinia took a deep breath and screamed.