SURPRISE UPDATE

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT, If I did...Nobody would of let Micheal Bay within three hundred feet of the movie rights.

~O'Neil Apartment, New York City~

April paused the music that blared in her ears. "What?" she yelled from her room in an attempt for her father to hear her.

"I'm going to the lab for a while, I'll be home as soon as possible. Don't wait up." Dr. O'Neil pushed April's door open and made his excuse to leave the house.

April shrugged. "Of course, dad." She spoke blankly, without any emotion.

Dr. O'Neil was a scientist at T.C.R.I. He devoted the majority of his time to science and barely spent time with his daughter. But April was used to it. Her mother often called, telling her that She could always move to Iowa and live with her mother and stepfather.

The redhead always declined. New York was her home, even if she was always alone.

April had layered, orange-red hair that fell to her shoulders. She normally kept it in a high ponytail, but today it was down. She wore a white shirt with, faded light blue jeans, and white TOMS. One would describe her as cute.

The apartment was quiet. April was used to it, but right now it just felt… quiet. Like something bad was about to happen.

April pushed that out of her mind and slipped into her bed, not even changing into her pajamas as she turned the lights out.

~Sewer, New York City~

Leonardo Hamato rolled his eyes as Michelangelo ranted on about the comic book he was currently reading. "Mikey, for the last time. I don't care about how unreali-"

"Leonardo, Michelangelo. Where is your brother, Raphael?" Mr. Hamato turned to the two brothers as they entered the living room.

Donatello followed his father, "We can't find him anywhere. He won't answer his cell and we can't trace him."

"Aren't you over-reacting? He's Raph. He's probably off somewhere brooding, going over the list of things he hates." Leo shrugged and continued to his room.

Leonardo was the eldest of the four. He had dark brown hair that looked black from far away, it was longer then Raph's but shorter then Mikey's. His eyes were a shade of deep hazel. Leo wore a blue Polo and khaki cargo capris.

Donatello shook his head, "he should of gotten annoyed with how many times I've called by now. He would answer to get me to shut up," he trailed off.

They were silent a moment before Leo stopped and sighed. He turned around put a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "I'll go look for him, okay?"

Mikey and Donnie smiled and nodded. "And once you find him, pick up a pizza okay? I'm starving here!" Mikey clutched his stomach dramatically.

~Streets, New York City~

Raphael grumbled to himself as he stomped through the streets of the concrete jungle. He needed time away from the sewer, away from his brothers. Nobody really did know this, but Raph valued them more then anything else. But heck, they could be annoying.

Leo was Raph's main problem. He thought he was the best, the leader. Well Raph didn't want to be under Leonardo's 'leadership'. He didn't need him; he was fine by himself. In fact, Raph was better then Leo.

Because Raph had something Leo didn't.

Anger.

Leonardo kept his emotions to himself; he kept them in jar. He wanted to look high and mighty and perfect.

'He ain't anything close to perfect.' He told himself.

Mikey wasn't as bad as Leo, but was still a pain. Donatello was a nerd and a geek and a dork and a dweeb and so much more.

Yet, Raph would do anything to protect these people.

He quickly forced these thoughts out. Then a random thought came to him, the girl.

The girl he had saved in that alley… Was she okay? Had she been jumped again? And why the heck was he thinking about this?

Raph didn't believe in love or fairytales… but he had to admit, she was a least a little attractive. But love was for whimps, and Raph was NOT a wimp.

Where was she headed? She looked like a high-schooler, maybe she was walking home? Raphael began to form theories about her and who she was.

'Why do you even care, Raphael? She means nothin' to you," he argued with himself for a few minutes before "remembering that he dropped his sai in the alley during the fight".

The brothers would believe that. So with that, Raphael found the nearest manhole and escaped to the sewer.

~O'NeilApartment, New York City~

April O'Neil woke up with a look of murder in her eyes. She slammed her hand onto the 'Snooze' button. A groan echoed off the walls and reminded her that today was Friday, finally.

She forced herself up and got dressed. Ten minutes later she was out the door and on her way to school.

April was taking a different route, trying to avoid being jumped again. She had searched this way up on Google Maps, and the farther she walked, the more uncomfortable she felt. This wasn't a good part of town. She forced her head down and quickly walked, ignoring everything.

"Where do you think you're going?" a Man in a bulletproof vest and camouflage shorts grabbed her right wrist. She hadn't even heard him approach. "Do you realize how hard you were to track? I better be paid extra for havin' to find ya, missy." His raspy voice whispered in her ear.

"What? What are you doing? Someone…someone p-paid you to find m-me?" April was confused and wanted answers.

The man scoffed, "Don't flatter your-" he was stopped as April punched him square in the face with her free hand. He was taken off guard and let go of her, she ran as fast as she could to get away.

Raphael smirked. He had been following her, after realizing she lived in the apartments off of the alley she had been jumped in. Now he was admiring that she could at least throw a blowing punch.

He jumped from building to building, she was easy to keep up with. He groaned as she cut through another alley. "They never learn," he grunted to himself as he dove into the alley and found a place hidden by darkness to wait in.

But Raph wasn't the only one following her. The man was back, with a nosebleed.

"You're freaking kidding me," April gritted through her teeth.

An evil grin tugged at the sides of his mouth. Yellow teeth flashed behind his lips. "Relax, Red. They only want ya as bait," he lunged forward and tried to grab her arm but stopped as a new voice joined the party.

"Yo, back off." a thick New York accent cut through the air and a masked man joined the two.

The new guy wore a hockey mask and had a golf bad slung over his back. Sports equipment filled the bag. He pulled a baseball bat out and charged April's somewhat stalker.

April stepped back and observed the fight. The thug was actually stronger then he looked and was now fighting back against the baseball bat.

"He's off balance, has barely any hand-eye coordination, isn't good at aiming. He's just whacking the stupid bat around." A low voice echoed in April's ears. She turned around, expecting to see the voice's owner. But nobody was in sight.

Raphael didn't realize how close the redhead was to him, she had heard him speak though. That wasn't supposed to happen.

The sportsman-as April had labeled him-got a good hit and had knocked the thug unconscious. He turned and looked to April, "what? No thank you?"

"Who are you?" April took a step forward.
Raphael crossed his arms and waited for his answer.

"Someone as pretty as you shouldn't worry about that." He winked at April and launched himself to the fire escape stairs. He was able to pull himself up and he clobbered up the stairs.

April rolled her eyes and acted as if she remembered something. "I know you're there." She paused for a moment, "You're the one who saved me the other day, right? I never got to thank you." she smiled warmly and hopefully.

Raphael paused, deciding what to do. There were so many ways this could go wrong. "Forget about it", he muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"Can I see you? Please?" She kept smiling.

"I'm nothin' special."

"You saved me, I don't know what would of happen if you hadn't. I think that counts as being pretty special."

Raph sighed in defeat and made sure his red mask was covering his eyes. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head. Raphael took a small step out of the shadows.

April's smile faded as she studied him, and then without thinking she quickly moved to him leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks" she smiled.

Raphael was frozen, what the shell had just happened. He thanked the lord that his hood created a shadow that hid his face. He was as red as his mask.
And then he did what he was good at; he disappeared.

April grinned and did a small victory dance before realizing she needed to get to school. She dashed off.

Raphael rolled his eyes from atop a building, not realizing he was being watched.

"What was that, man?" the New York accent burst Raph from his thoughts.

Raphael flipped backwards, realizing now that he had been seen. It was bright outside and he was on a roof, which meant nowhere to hide in the shadows.

"I just saved her and you get the credit? That ain't right." He pouted like a child.

"Who are you? Or am I too pretty to worry about that too?" Raph mocked.

The man slid a golf club out of his bag, "You wanna go? Come at me bro. Worst decision you ever make in your life."

Raph smirked, "Thought you'd never ask."

The man gave a battle roar and ran at Raphael, swinging his golf club at his head. Raph ducked and kicked the man's stomach, sending him back.

"She should be thankin' me, not you." He spat in what sounded like pure jealousy.

"Look, I don't know her, okay? I just wanted to make sure she was 'right. You can try your best at making her fall for you, but I doubt she ever would." Raph taunted. "You're embarrassing yourself. Who are you?"

The man got up and shook his head, "You don't deserve to know".

Raphael shrugged, "That makes it more fun." He took out his sai and the masked man pulled out mallets. They both charged and dueled,

Raph was a bit surprised, the person behind the mask wasn't as sloppy as Raph expected. He had probably trained at one point of his life, but obviously forgot most of anything he'd learned.

After a few more minutes passed, Raph's new objective became finding out who the shell this guy was. He only aimed for his face, trying to get the mask off.

Finally, Raph's foot connected with his head and he wiped out, his mask falling off in the process.

Raphael walked toward where he had hit the ground; he was out cold. This would make it easier to observe him.

The "man" was only a teenager himself. Probably around sixteen. His jet black hair flopped around his face, sticking to his sweat.

"That was of no help at all," Raph said flatly. He was still a moment before pulling out his cell phone and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously Don? Twenty-Two missed calls? I swear I live with a bunch of girls." He rolled his eyes as he dialed his brother.

"Raph! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Donnie. Can you explain to me why I have around twenty new voicemails?"

"Mikey! Call Leo and tell him to come back! We were concerned. Oh hey, Splinter, gotta go."

Raph hung up and made his way to the nearest manhole. He deserved more credit then what he was given.

...

Yes, you may believe I'm rushing this story, but believe me I'm not. I had to cut a lot out of this chapter in order to make it not all rush-y.

And a HUGE big thank you to Aster Sapphire! You totally rock.

Okay so how's everyone feel about Casey? I told you I was planning something for him.

Until next time~