Disclaimer: Yeah, so I forgot to announce I don't own TMNT (though you'd think it'd be implied. This IS a fanfiction site, after all). For previous reference I also don't own Justice League.
Chapter 3: Life in the Lair
I looked on in awe. I definitely hadn't been expecting this, even before I knew the turtles lived in a sewer.
The main room looked like a mix of a gym and some sort of karate place or something. I figured that was where the guys practiced their martial arts.
Mikey ran into a conjoined area that was obviously not part of the martial arts place (isn't that called a dojo or something? Yeah, that sounded right). It was a huge entertainment center with several large TVs on the wall. There were several other rooms that went off from these, and even more on the upper level.
"This place is awesome!" I gaped.
Raph laughed at me as he walked further into the dojo and grabbed a weight in his right hand.
Donny also scampered off into one of the rooms spurred from the dojo. I could vaguely hear him muttering about "experiments" and "inventions". It was obvious to me he was the smart turtle of the bunch, but he must have been even smarter than I realized, because only a real scientist would bother with stuff like that.
Leo sighed, but was smiling. "Come on. I'll introduce you to Sensei and show you where you can stay."
My head was spinning from trying to take everything in. I nodded but didn't move.
I heard him laugh and felt him grab my hand, pulling me away from the huge room and over to another, smaller one. This one was covered by blue-green, Japanese panels.
"Wait here." He told me quietly. He then entered the room, sliding the panel shut behind him.
I frowned at that. I hated to be kept waiting. I looked behind me and made sure the others were still occupied before I put an ear-hole to the door and listened. Luckily, my hearing had sharpened enough for me to hear the entire conversation with ease.
"Master Splinter?" Said one voice that was obviously Leo's.
An older voice answered him. "Kneel, my son. I sense you and your brothers have all returned safely."
"That's correct, Sensei. We have also brought a guest."
"A guest? Is it the presence I sense listening to our conversation?"
"It is."
I jerked my head back away from the screens and felt heat rush to my face, turning it a slightly darker green. Still blushing, I put the side of my head back against the panel.
"You may enter." The elderly voice wasn't as quiet this time, so I knew he was talking to me.
For some reason I felt nervous. I guess it was because I knew the turtles' master could decide whether or not to let me stay.
"Come on, Delilah. No fear. Can't show any fear, that's what gets you into trouble." I chided myself. I then quickly-but gently-slid the panels back and entered.
The room was dark except for what had to be at least ten lit candles. Everything in it was very traditional Japanese, I could even smell incense burning somewhere. There were scrolls with Japanese writing all over the walls, and those little plants that look like miniature trees (weren't those called bonsai trees? Thank you, Karate Kid! Who says you can't learn stuff from TV?) were sitting on a shelf.
I noticed Leo kneeling in front of a low, Japanese table, and a large mutant rat wearing a Japanese robe on the other side. His fur was grey-ish silver, showing signs of his elderly age, and he carried a walking stick. His eyes watched me cautiously, yet they were soft and caring. I instantly felt my previous nervousness melt away.
"Delilah," Leo addressed me without turning to make sure I was really the one eavesdropping. "This," Here he turned to look at me and gestured at the elderly rat. "Is Master Splinter, our Sensei."
I nodded to show I'd heard him, but didn't move. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to.
"Please come and sit." Splinter smiled kindly at me. "Make yourself comfortable."
I hesitated for a moment. Somehow I knew if I let him get a closer look at my eyes, he would know everything there was to know about me. I really wasn't sure if I was comfortable with being exposed like that. Finally, I sighed internally and sat down with my legs criss-crossed next to Leo.
The blue banded turtle gave me a reassuring smile. I was starting to realize he was good at that, and I couldn't help but feel a bit better and smile nervously back.
"Miss Delilah." Splinter began. "Would you please explain to me how you came to be in the protection of my sons?"
I couldn't help but cringe when he called me "miss", and I noticed Leo trying to suppress a laugh at my reaction. At least now I knew where he got it into his head to call me that when we first met.
"I was captured by a guy named Bishop, and he turned me into this." I gestured to my new body. "Then these guys showed up and saved me." I shrugged. That was really all there was too it.
"I see." The old mutant pondered what I had said. "And I assume you cannot go home now, due to your unusual appearance."
"That's right." I bit my lip, thinking about my mom again.
"I understand. You may stay as long as you need to." Splinter assured me, still thinking. "You may both leave. Leonardo will show you to your room."
We both stood, and I noticed Leo bow. I looked at him funny, but clumsily did the same before following him out.
"Come on, this way." Leo instructed me to follow him. He still had this huge, amused grin on his face, like he really wanted to laugh at me but thought it would be rude. It was really starting to piss me off.
"Whatcha smiling about?" I asked with a slight edge to my tone.
He chuckled. "You tried to eavesdrop on ninjas."
I thought about that for a moment and repressed a rising blush. Now that I thought about it, that WAS kind of stupid. Ninjas were supposed to feel the energy people give off or whatever, right? So of course they knew I was listening.
"Yeah, I didn't think that through." I admitted gruffly.
He shrugged. "It's ok. But I wouldn't recommend trying it again on Master Splinter in the future."
"What about the rest of you?"
"I can feel many presences, but not as well as Master Splinter can. If someone were trained to hide their chi, I wouldn't be able to feel them. The others are still working on that aspect of ninjutsu, and can't really feel much yet."
"I understand…I think…"
I noticed now we were heading over to a ladder that led upstairs. Leo ignored it, instead preferring to jump and catch the ledge with his hands, continuing to swing himself into a crouching position on the top floor.
"Show off!" I called, and used the ladder instead.
Once on the top floor, he motioned for me to follow and walked over to the second to last room on that floor. There were a total of six.
"We usually use this as a guest bedroom for Casey, April, or Angel, so there's already a bed and dresser. I'm pretty sure Donny even installed a TV."
"Who's Angel?" I asked before even glancing at the room. What can I say? Curiosity usually gets the best of me.
"Another human friend. She's about our age."
"Did you save her too?" I teased.
Leo grinned. "Actually, Casey saved her from joining the Purple Dragons, but got himself captured in the process. He told Angel to contact us to help break him out."
"In a way, ya saved her from guilt." I pointed out.
"I suppose that's true. You're wiser than you pretend to be."
"I'm not sure if that's a compliment…"
"It is." He smiled and turned to leave before stopping abruptly. "Oh, you probably want to know where everything else is, huh? Come on."
I snickered. "Being absent minded doesn't fit you."
"It happens."
He jumped down to the lower level with ease and I headed for the ladder again.
Things weren't going as bad as I had anticipated. I couldn't believe how great the Lair was, I mean seriously. The guys have, like, twenty TVs. Plus, they'd all been really nice to me. So far I understood Raph the most, but only because we were really alike. I was still trying to get a grasp on Leo's personality. Obviously he was the leader and an overprotective older brother. You didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. But he was also very complex. All of the brothers were. I could tell there was also more to Mikey and Donny than meets the eye, and I knew for certain that although Raph and I were similar, I didn't have him totally figured out yet either.
Delilah jumped down from the ladder four rungs up and followed me over to where Raph was lifting weights.
"So this is the dojo." I informed her.
"I knew it! I knew it was called a dojo! Yesss!" She congratulated herself. "Uh, I mean cool."
I laughed at her again. I knew when I laughed it helped her feel more at ease. "We practice ninjutsu here."
Raph stopped weight lifting and smirked at us. "Dis is where ya can find Leo 24/7. He's a workaholic." He snickered.
I rolled my eyes, but didn't protest. Although I practiced all the time because I wanted to be a good leader and be able to protect my brothers, Raph did have a point. Most people would say I was a workaholic.
"When yer done with Fearless Leader's tour, why don'tcha come back here and lift weights with me, huh?" He called as we left to explore the rest of the place.
I saw her grin. "You might be a ninja, but I bet I can lift more than you with these muscles Bishop gave me!" She challenged.
I tried to contain another laugh as we walked away from the eldest of my younger brothers. I could just here Raph yell "it's on!", before the sound of Mikey's cartoons overpowered his voice.
"Hey dudette!" He greeted Delilah. "Leo giving ya the old tour of the place? This is my personal favorite room, the living room! Check out all the TVs! Pretty wicked, right?"
"If you can always find ME in the dojo, this is where you can always find MIKEY." I declared teasingly.
"…Dude." Mikey's eyes widened. He looked at Delilah. "What did you do to him? He made a joke!"
Delilah looked between me and Mikey curiously. "He's made a lot of jokes."
I shrugged.
"Don't tell me he's laughed at yours?" My youngest brother asked in awe.
"…Yeah…"
"Oh…my…God. HOW COME YOU NEVER LAUGH AT MY JOKES?" He demanded of me.
"Because they aren't that funny?" I offered.
He folded his arms and mumbled something unintelligible to himself. "Well, whatever." He finally spoke so we could hear. "As long as you're getting him to loosen up, I don't care."
I rolled my eyes and led Delilah away.
"Do you really never joke?" She asked me curiously.
"I do occasionally. I think I've laughed more and joked more today than I have in a long time, though."
"Why?"
"You're sarcasm and sense of humor cracks me up." I said innocently enough. "It's sardonic, but not as angry as Raph's. It perplexes me, and I find that inexplicably funny." So it wasn't the WHOLE truth, but it wasn't a lie either.
Delilah stopped walking and stared at me. Suddenly she burst out laughing. She began laughing so hard, she was soon kneeling on the floor.
"Sorry." She said in between chuckles. "It's just that, usually my sense of humor gets me into trouble. It pisses people off, but it's never made anyone laugh!"
"There's a first time for everything!" I told her cheerfully. "Come on."
We peeked into Donny's lab quietly. "Hey, Don? You busy?"
"Am I ever NOT busy when I'm in here?" He teased. "You can come in. It's fine."
"So this is Donny's lab. Don't touch anything if you value your life." I said seriously.
Delilah laughed, but caught my look and realized I wasn't joking. "Well ok then!"
The lab was full of test tubes and beakers, several file cabinets, and a few heaps of scrap metal and scavenged parts from electronics. Donny was sitting at a desk covered in miscellaneous papers and two computers.
"Never come between a geek and his work." Donny grinned as he whirled around in his chair to face us.
"I'll keep that in mind." Delilah nodded seriously.
"Ok guys, I need to get back to work now." He told us before turning back to his desk.
"Alright. Don't stay up too late, Don." I reminded him.
"Leo, you know I always stay up. And don't tell me I need to be awake for practice tomorrow. That's what coffee is for."
I shook my head at my brother and left with Delilah in tow. After our stop there, I showed her the kitchen and bathroom
"Could I take a shower?" She asked me while we were still in the bathroom.
"Sure. There should be a fresh towel hanging up already. We don't have any shampoo or conditioner though. I'll see if April can lend us some of hers while you stay with us."
"Thanks." She smiled at me before shutting the door.
I rubbed my neck awkwardly before walking to the dojo. Having a girl in the house was going to take some getting used to. Especially one with as much emotional pain as Delilah. Sure, she was good at hiding it. But I could tell she had gone through a lot, and it affected her personality. I really did think she was funny, but I mostly laughed and joked with her because I wanted her to feel more comfortable here. I knew laughter was one of the few things that anyone could bond over, even if you had an exterior as rough as Raph's.
My life is over. O-V-E-R. I'm a freaky mutant that can't go out in public without causing panic, and my mom is more than likely going to be put in jail for being too drunk to get a job and pay her rent. On the "bright side" (like there even is one in this situation…), I DO feel like I fit in more now than ever before. The mutant turtles who saved me have treated me more like a human being than anyone since my dad left.
I'm still worried sick about my mom though, and I don't know what I'm' going to do with my life. It's completely over. It sounds cliché, but it's true. There's absolutely nothing I can do anymore. Not that I would have gotten into college anyway. No money and bad grades…right, great chances right there. Still, I can't help but wonder what I could have accomplished as a human. I've always wanted to be an artist. Not that I was that good or anything, but it would have been cool to try.
I tried to shake all of these thoughts from my head as I started the water in the shower. I sighed in contentment. Hot water. Honest to goodness hot water. Not warm water, not room-temperature water, or even the usual cold water. I was showering with hot water! I couldn't even remember the last time I showered using hot water. I used to pay the water bill, but the boiler in my old apartment didn't work anyway, so I used the showers in the girls locker room at my school during lunch or early in the morning if I could. Usually there wasn't any hot water though.
That wasn't even the worst problem with my plumbing. It hardly ever worked, and when it did it was so dirty it was practically undrinkable. That's when I started figuring out how to steal water bottles from my school's vending machines. It made me feel guilty at first, but I needed to drink to survive so I figured it was justified. Hey, it's not like I was stealing expensive stuff from them, like Gatorade. My mom stole my money to buy beer, so luckily she didn't need anything else to drink.
I really don't want to think about anything except for the warm water on my skin. It feels so good. I'm glad I'm still warm blooded. Or at least I think I am. I sweat still, so that means I'm warm blooded…right? Now I wish I had paid more attention in biology.
I sighed and shut the water off, leaving the shower and grabbing a towel. I quickly dried myself off and put my clothes on, leaving my hair down. As much as I hated it in my face, it would dry faster that way. I then left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen to get a snack. Usually I wasn't this hungry (not eating much while growing up had shrunk my stomach a lot), but then again, I usually didn't mutate into a "super soldier" either.
I entered the kitchen but stopped abruptly. There was a human guy with his head basically inside the fridge. He was muscular, and wearing a red tank-top and blue, athletic-looking sweats.
"You Casey?" I asked.
The guy jumped at my voice, causing a loud bang. He turned around rubbing his head. "Ouch! Ya made me hit my head." He grumbled.
I grinned. "By the looks of you, I'd say you probably didn't damage much."
Casey raised an eyebrow, but immediately chuckled. "Raph was right. Ya are just like 'im."
I shrugged. "What can I say? Hey, anything good in there?" I pointed at the fridge.
"Eh. Just some leftovers. Mikey's a good cook though, so dey're probably a'right."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Umm spaghetti, pizza, some more pizza, stuff ta make tacos with…ya get da idea. If ya want any beer though, ya gotta ask me. Raph's da only one dat drinks it every once-in-a-while so I keep some stored in my truck when I come over."
I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, I'll pass. After living with a drunk, alcohol just doesn't sound very appealing."
Casey shrugged. "Whateva. Thought I'd letcha know since yer s'pposed ta be like Raph and all."
"Raph and I are really similar, but we're not totally the same." I reminded him.
"Yeah? A'right, what's different 'boutcha?"
"Well first off, I'm a girl, I'm not a ninja, I'm an only child, …and I don't really know Raph well enough to say anything else." I shrugged. My eyes lit up as an idea came to me. "But I bet he doesn't draw."
Casey thought for a second. "I don't think he does dat, but ya never know with 'im. So ya can draw? Ya any good?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "Give me some paper and a pen and I'll show you."
"A'right." He went over to the doorway. "Yo, Raph! I need some paper!" He yelled.
"Get it yaself!" Raph yelled back.
"Wow. You sure are lazy." I sighed.
Before he could retort, April entered. "Casey, what…oh! Hi, Delilah!" She smiled at me before turning back to Casey. "What did you need paper for?"
"Del's gonna show me some of her drawin'."
"Don't call me that!" I snapped. "And yeah…I was…"
"I've got some paper in my purse." April smiled, putting the bag down on the counter and getting several blank sheets of paper and a pen out.
"Um…" I muttered, uncomfortable now. I didn't like people looking at my art. I only wanted to show Casey so he knew Raph and I were at least a little different, but now that April was here to see it too, I lost my confidence.
"We're not going to judge." April told me, as if reading my mind.
"Ok, have you been hanging out with Leo or something?" I asked sarcastically.
She laughed. "Leo has ninjutsu, I have a woman's intuition."
I smiled slightly and took the pen from her. Hm. Now what to draw…well how was I feeling right now? Confused, upset, and unsure. Like a caged wolf. Ok that worked. I began drawing a wolf in a steal cage, snow and mist surrounding it under a pitch black sky. I paid special attention to the eyes, trying to capture as much fear and frustration as possible in them.
I looked at it for a second before writing my signature in the bottom left corner.
"Holy crap!" Mikey exclaimed.
I turned quickly to see most everybody was in the kitchen now and had been watching me draw. I'd been so absorbed in it I hadn't even notice. I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed and disguised my emotions with my "unreadable mask".
"You're good." Raph grinned at me. "Really, really good."
"Thanks." I smiled slightly. "I used to get bored on the subway ride to work…so yeah…"
"You are very observant." Leo mused.
I raised an eyebrow.
"To draw with such detail requires a trained eye." He remarked.
Raph rolled his eyes. "Ya always have ta categorize everythin' inta a weakness or advantage. It's so annoyin'!" He yelled at his older brother.
Leo bit his lip, trying to avoid a fight. "Look, Raph, calm down. It was just speculation. I was actually thinking that if her eyesight has sharpened even more than it already was, then it must be really amazing. I was just wondering what everything looks like to her versus what it looks like to us."
"Cut da crap, Fearless. Dat's a lie and ya know it! Ya always put everyone in a place in yer head!" He growled.
Leo folded his arms over his chest. "What do you mean, I 'put everyone in a place'?"
"Ya always rank people! Take in der abilities and weaknesses!"
I stared at the two brothers, wide eyed. Raph was full of anger, and I wondered where he'd gotten it from. As far as I could tell, Leo had complimented me.
"Uh, Raph?" I asked curiously.
"What?" He growled at me.
"Careful, Delilah." Leo warned.
Raph rounded back on Leo. "What's dat supposed ta mean? Ya think I'd hurt her or somethin'?"
"Raph, why don't we take this into another room, alright?"
"Ya embarrassed I'm tellin' everyone ya ain't perfect?"
"Look Raph, I'm tired of these fights! It's the same thing every single God forsaken time! You get mad at me after a sparring session or training and won't tell me what's wrong, then end up yelling at me about something stupid, ultimately coming to the fact that I'm not perfect. I know I'm not perfect, alright?" Leo snapped.
The others had backed away, and I thought it might be wise to do the same.
"Do they do this a lot?" I whispered to Donny.
"Yeah." He whispered back. "It's pretty normal."
April sighed. "It does get exasperating though. Casey, you should take Raph topside to cool off after this is over."
"Sounds good ta me." He answered good naturedly, but he looked a little nervous.
Raph laughed at Leo. "Ya say ya aren't, but ya act like ya think ya are! Yer always bossin' everyone around all da freakin' time!"
"I'm the leader, Raph! That's my job!"
"Who said we need a leader, huh?"
"Splinter did, Raph." Leo seethed. "Do you really think I would take this job voluntarily? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being your older brother, but keeping tabs on all of you like a parent can get a bit exhausting! I'm only sixteen, Raph! I didn't ask for this much responsibility!"
"Oh, poor Fearless. He gets all da praise from Splinter and gets ta boss everyone around. It must be SO hard ta be ya." The younger brother rolled his eyes.
"You know what Raph? Whatever." Leo sighed. The anger was gone from his voice and he just sounded tired. "There's nothing I can say to stop you from fighting with me right now. So be mad at me if you want, but I'm done arguing." He turned to leave.
"I ain't done talkin' ta ya!" Raph growled. He ran at his brother, hurling a fist in his direction.
My eyes widened and I was about to yell to Leo, when the blue banded turtle turned around and caught his younger brother's punch.
"Calm down, Raph!" Leo told his younger brother, slightly pleading now.
Raph growled in response, too filled with anger (and now battle fever as well) to calm down.
"Don't help." Leo told all of us. "He isn't thinking clearly right now."
Raph laughed. "Dat's right! Stay out of dis! It's between me and Leo!" He grabbed both of his sais from his belt.
"Raph, I'm not drawing weapons on you!"
"Don't hold back Leo, I sure as hell ain't gonna!" He then charged, wielding his sais around.
Leo dogged the best he could without throwing punches or drawing his swords. Eventually he was able to doge both of Raph's sais and elbow him in the plastron. He then used this distraction to kick the backs of Raph's legs just beneath the knee, forcing him to kneel. In the same motion, he pinned his younger brother's hands behind his shell.
Panting, and slightly cut in a few places, he forced his weight on Raph until he gave up and started to calm down.
Leo backed away slowly. Raph stayed where he was until Leo was a ways away before he himself stood up. He stared at Leo for what seemed like forever before storming out.
Once the tension in the room lessened a bit, I finally yelled "what the HELL was that?"
"That," Leo answered, finally turning. "Was one of my and Raph's fights. Sorry you had to see that."
"But what was it about?"
Leo shrugged. "Beats me." He frowned, examining himself. He wasn't hurt very badly. In fact, he only had two cuts on his left arm, and one on his right, so three tiny cuts in all. The worst one was a larger stab on his plastron. He acted like they weren't a big deal and like they didn't hurt, but personally I thought he looked like a wreck.
"Dude, you look like shit. Seriously." I told him.
Leo laughed. "Thanks. That makes me feel so much better."
Donny began to walk towards him, but Leo stuck a hand out. "Woah bro, don't even think about it."
"Come on, Leo! I need to disinfect your cuts!"
"I'm fine, Donny! Knowing you, you'll secretly slip me something to numb me so you can give me stitches, and I have a training session tonight!"
"Freaking workaholic." Don sighed. "I'm not going to numb you up or knock you out! I just want to check out the wound on your plastron."
"It's fine Don." He punched himself there without flinching, getting a little bit of blood on his knuckles. "See? It isn't deep at all."
"Dude, just go with Donny. He isn't gonna leave you alone until you do." Mikey advised.
"He's right ya know." Donny grinned evilly.
"Fine." Leo sighed, following his brainiac brother out of the kitchen and into the lab.
I was still staring blankly. "Is anyone going to explain this to me? I'm seriously confused!"
Casey and April shrugged.
"They fight. That's really all there is to it." April answered. "Look, I'm going to help Don. Casey, you should talk to Raph."
The couple left the kitchen, leaving Mikey and I alone.
"If you need to know," Mikey began. He was looking down at the ground. "Raph doesn't like taking orders from Leo and feels like he's living in his shadow or something. Leo practices more than any of us and it drives Raph crazy because he can't catch up. He also hates that Leo watches us like we're kids."
"Does Leo know this?"
"I don't know if Raph even realizes it, let alone Leo. Everyone knows this whole thing has to do with Leo being leader and Raph thinking Leo thinks he's 'perfect', but besides that, I'm not sure anyone else has figured it out."
"Ya sure are observant then." I remarked. "At first, I thought you were just the family jokester."
He shrugged. "We all need to relax and joke every once-in-a-while, don't we? And yeah…I guess I just pick up on stuff like that."
"So how come you haven't told anybody about it?"
"It just…seems like something they need to figure out on their own, you know?"
I nodded. I understood what he meant. "Hm. Maybe Raph and I are more different than I thought. I get angry, but not that angry."
"That's Raph for ya."
I frowned at that. I wanted to talk more with Mikey, but I suddenly realized just how tired I was. My eyelids began to droop and I yawned.
"You need some rest."
"Yeah." I agreed. I began to head to my room upstairs.
"'Night!" He called after me. I noticed he seemed happy again.
"'Night." I called back. "And thanks again."
