Chapter 3.

I woke up late the next morning, around 11. I quickly showered and threw on an old pair of jeans and one of my old softball hoodies from my old school. I didn't attend school anymore, I mean hey...I didn't really need to. Being hunted down prevented me from getting involved with the public in any way. I had to stay low. I walked out the door grabbing my sword and staff and slinging them around my back. Every time I leave the house I always turn my weapons invisible. It has become a habit for me. Imagine how people would react if they saw a sixteen year old girl walking down the street with a six foot sword strapped to her back. I'd probably be sent straight to prison.

It took me about six minutes to walk from my apartment to Antonio's pizza place. The smell of pizza was overwhelming and it made my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten anything since I woke up. Right before I got to the door April came out carrying three large pizzas. I wondered how she was able to balance them all.

"Hey April, want some help?" I asked laughing.

"Please, my arm is killing me!"

I grabbed two of the boxes as April protested saying that I only had to carry one. After a minute she decided it was probably a good thing I grabbed two because I was more physically built than her. Even though the pizza didn't even weigh that much.

"So where are we meeting your friends?" I asked wondering why they couldn't just meet us at Antonio's.

"You'll see" She said smirking at me. I hated that smirk, she was up to something.

April led me around a corner into an alley-way with a dead end. I was super confused at this point.

"Okay April, you better start telling me something...What's going on, where are your friends?" I asked kind of getting annoyed. I had only known April for one day, not even. Could I trust her?

"Just follow me, you'll see" She said as she proceeded to set the box down uncovered the manhole that led into the sewers. At this point I was bewildered.

"What the hell April! You can't just go crawling into the sewers, what is wrong with you!" I said yelling at her.

"Oh don't be a baby Alex. It's not that bad"

"Oh really? because this seems like a scene from a movie where the killer leads their victim down into the sewers to KILL them April!" I said yelling louder than I did before. I got only a few stray glances from the sidewalk.

"Oh my god. Alex, listen to me. I'm not a murderer. This is where my friends live." Seeing the look on my face when she said her friends lived in the sewers, she added "You'll understand later, Come on they're probably hungry!" She then disappeared into the sewers leaving me to make the choice.

I decided I could easily protect myself against these people if they were actually going to try something so I slid down the ladder holding the boxes and caught up to April who was waiting a few yards away.

"Took you long enough" she said smiling.

We walked through the sewers for what felt like a half hour. I really couldn't tell if April was trying to trip me out or what, were my first friends really going to be a bunch of social rejects who lived in the sewers?

I finally spoke up after the long silence. "What if they don't like me April, I'm so different..."

She stopped and turned to me, I couldn't read her face but she seemed sincere. "They're going to love you Alex. Well I don't know about one of them but he really doesn't like anything." She said with a laugh at the end.

Up ahead I saw a faint glow and made the conclusion that we finally made it to where Aprils friends lived. I was so nervous to meet them. She told me they were all guys and that made me more nervous. I had never actually been around any other guys in my life besides my uncle and my father, and also Casey if you want to count one night. The thought made me shiver. It was time to let go of my past for a moment and start a clean slate with all new people.

"Okay listen, before we go in I just don't want you to freak out."

"Why would I-"

Before I could get my answer I voice echoed through the tunnel and I heard footsteps. It was only one set of footsteps.

"Here comes Mikey" April said under her breath.

"HEY APRIL, did you get our pizza!?" Shouted the voice. He never came out of the shadows long enough for me to see him before April said yes and he ran back to wherever he came from. I could hear him yelling still.

"Okay so they're kind of mutants" April blurted out, talking fast.

I wanted to scream but I kept my cool. "Um, what did you just say?"

"My Friends, they're...mutants, but don't worry they're-"

"I swear to god April you pick the worst times to tell me things" I said as I drew my staff sending it to it's full six feet. "It's not my fault if I kill one of them"

I started walking toward the light at the end of the tunnel, never looking back at April. I was so taken over with anger just by the word mutant. Mutants killed my family, how could these mutants be anything but killers. I kept walking my pace speeding up as I heard voices. Suddenly something launched at me, It was April. She knocked me over forcing me to let go of my staff.

"April what the fuck! how could you bring me down here to the very things that killed my family!?"

"Alex I'm sorry, but these guys are different, they're kind, and sweet, and funny...please just give them a chance."

I hesitated, glancing over at my staff, I could either knock April over and lunge for my staff or I could go invisible and leave the sewers unnoticed. before I could make my decision I realized my staff was gone, and now in the hands of a giant turtle. For being a turtle he had the body of an average teenage boy, except much more built. the thing that stood out to me the most was his overwhelming blue eyes. "Did I miss something?"

April got up, reluctantly trusting me enough around the mutant. "No Mikey. You didn't miss anything, this is Alex." he looked confused. "Remember the girl I told you about on the phone?"

"Oh Yeah! Sup Alex, I'm Mikey."

"Um Hi Mik-" Before I could finish I was cut off by a bear hug. It froze me where I stood and totally caught me off guard. At first I tensed up, then relaxed as he let go.

"Mikey grab the pizza and we'll introduce Alex to the rest of your brothers." Mikey obediently grabbed the boxes and led us into where he came from before. it was a large opening that almost resembled a living room. It had a TV and a couch and rooms that split off of it. Plus it didn't smell as bad in this part of the sewers.

"GUYS GET OUT HERE, APRIL BROUGHT HER FRIEND" Yelled Mikey. He immediately walked over to the couch, sat down and started eating.

"he has a short attention span" April whispered to me.

From out of what I assumed to be the kitchen a taller turtle appeared, looking almost older than the last. He had twin katanas on his back which I kept my eyes on for a split second. "Hey Alex, I'm Leonardo but please, Leo's fine" he said giving me a warm smile. He also had blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you Leo" I said giving him a smile back.

"The pizza's on the couch" said April realizing Leo hadn't planned on saying much. It was much easier meeting them one by one than all at once. It made me feel more at ease. Still I wondered why they carried weapons. When I asked April she said that they were sort of vigilantes. They helped the city. They only went out at night though. "Why haven't I ever seen them before then, I'm always out at night?" I asked. "You've probably seen them but they just move to fast for you to even register them as anything." April said.

"Come on, I've been wanting to introduce you to someone extra special." Said April sounding excited. She grabbed my wrist and led my through two large doors, inside looked like a laboratory, there were science posters and spare parts laying around, and on one table something was oozing out of a flask. The last place my eyes fell was on a desk, bent over the desk, looking hard at work was yet another turtle. How many of these things are there I though to myself.

"Donnie! She's here!"

As soon as April spoke the turtle looked up and stood to his full height. Has much taller than the last two I had met and instead of blue eyes he had a deep reddish brown tint to his. When he looked at me he smiled showing that there was a gap in his teeth. Maybe from some sort of accident? I thought.

"Hello April, and Alex." he said showing his smile again.

"I've heard a lot about you, April told me over the phone. You can call me Donnie."

"Oh...Hi Donnie." I said showing a little red in my cheeks.

"If you don't mind can I see what you did with the snow the other night?"

I nodded and reluctantly repeated the scene the other night at the hockey rink.

"Amazing!" Don said staring at the snowflakes in awe tapping a pencil against his chin.

"Alex you're truly gifted. If you don't mind I'd like to study your abilities a bit more. Maybe next time you come over?"

"Haha, Sure Donnie" I said gingerly.

As I turned to leave he stopped me. "Where'd you get that?" he said pointing to my staff. When Mikey gave me back my staff from earlier I must not have turned it back invisible.

"Oh this?" I took it out and stood it at it's full height. "My uncle gave it to me when I was younger, he trained me with this and my nodachi."

he looked confused when I mentioned my sword. I reached back revealing it at my touch and his eyes went wide.

"Alex I have a staff too" he walked over to his desk and lifted a wooden stick from where it rested on the wall. It felt nice to find someone to relate to.

"Oh my god Donnie, that's so cool!" I said as we stood our bow staffs side by side. His even had the retractable blade at the top.

We talked for another ten minutes about our training techniques before he told me he had to get back to work.

As I opened the door to leave he spoke up one last time.

"Hey Alex?"

"Yeah Don?" I said turning around

"Maybe sometime, we can train together. It'd be great to train with someone who has the same weapon as me" he said trying not to sound to excited.

"Sure, sounds like fun" I said as I smiled.

When I entered the living room April noticed my presence and got up off the couch. "Alex, It's getting close to 3 and I made plans with Casey. If you can find your way out you can stay if you want, who knows, maybe the grouch will show up..."

"No it's fine, I have to go anyway." I said realizing that I hadn't met the fourth and final brother. Before we could get to the tunnel a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"I had heard that April has brought a friend back to the lair, I did not realize that she would be a kunoichi" the voice said, he had a very prominent Japanese accent. As I turned to face the voice I realized it belonged to a giant rat. "Where did you obtain these weapons young one?"

"I used to train with my uncle when I was very young, But I haven't trained in a long time." I said looking up to him

"hmmm, perhaps you could visit us more often and you could pick up training with my sons?"

Even though I didn't really know them that well yet I took the offer.

"You may call me Splinter by the way, Alex"

"Nice to meet you Splinter" I said bowing to him as he did to me. My uncle used to make me do that before we would spar.

As I said goodbye I finally got out of the sewers and headed home. It was only 3:30 by the time I got home but April wore me out today. I decided to take a nap and sleep the rest of the day away. Night was my favorite anyways. And who knows, maybe I'd run into the turtles...

(A/N; I didn't put Raph in this chapter because I'm saving their first meeting for something different!)