Chapter Two: Raphael

Raphael wasn't one to wait around nursing wounds; still smarting from the brand new burns, he tore after her. He didn't know what the hell she'd hit him with but he didn't plan to give her the chance again. He'd had his own misgivings about hitting a pretty little thing like she was, despite what he'd told the others, but as far as he was concerned she'd just made herself a real enemy. Fucking Foot. Every time you thought you got rid of them, there they surfaced again.

He threw himself forward, catching the girl in a flying tackle, slamming her into the thin layer of sludge that covered the surface of the tunnel floor. He kept her crushed beneath him to make sure she couldn't get a shot off with those hands, because as far as he could tell the fireworks were somehow coming directly from them. He'd mull over the implications of that later, the important thing now was to subdue her and get information.

"No way I'm lettin' you hit me with that again," He snarled in her ear, keeping his heavy body weight over her, three fingered hand sliding between them to take both her wrists in a tight grip. He could feel her tremble beneath him and he wondered with a cynical smirk what exactly she was afraid of. His eyes centered on hers seriously. "Alright, we're getting up now and you're going to behave or I'm going to have to bash you."

"BEHAVE?" She demanded, as he hauled her to her feet, legs kicking and looking like she was doing her best to boot him between the legs. Thank goodness for shells. It was good to be a turtle.

"What's going on?" Leonardo appeared in the doorway fixing his brother with an accusatory look.

The girl writhing in his arms certainly looked shocked to see another one. Almost more shocked than she'd appeared at getting a good look at Raphael. He'd have to look into that later.

"She tried to escape," He explained looking irritable at being accused, holding the girl's back to his plastron, arms tight around her, wrists bound so that her hands were pointed at herself. He carried her forward, almost amused at how her legs kept swinging in a desperate attempt to get free.

Leonardo nodded toward the living room, looking serious. When did Leo not look serious? Raph let out a snort of irritation at his brother's demeanor as he carried the girl inside. As always, Raphael was the one doing what had to be done. Leo would probably have found it…dishonorable or something…tackling a young girl. It wasn't as though Raphael got his jollies off strutting around caveman style with little girls in tow.

"No one's going to hurt you," Leo felt it necessary to promise her as his other two brothers and Master Splinter filed out into the living room. Again the girl looked far more surprised at seeing Mike and Don than she did at Splinter's strange visage. Definitely an unusual reaction. Of course, she probably thought they were regular mutants like she was. She wasn't used to seeing a family of identically mutated turtles, but no one ever was.

"Oh yeah right! Like I'm supposed to believe that?" The girl writhed again and Raphael scowled, wearing the expression he so often did when he was losing his temper. She was really starting to piss him off.

"Raphael, let her go," Leonardo interjected firmly, wearing that 'I know what's best for everyone' expression that Raph hated so much.

"Are you kidding?" He demanded, glancing down at the squirming bundle of girl that he noticed Mikey giving the eye to. "Are you out of your fuckin' mind?"

The language elicited another scowl from his older brother and Master Splinter inclined his head.

"I agree with Leonardo. We are not jailors, we cannot imprison her here. We must hope she is willing to stay and speak with us awhile, but we cannot force her."

Raphael looked furious, seeing red for a minute and it was pinned squarely on his elder brother. "Fine then," He growled between clenched teeth, "It's on your head."

As soon as he released his hold and he moved back away, she held up her hands in defensive warning. Her narrowed eyes slid from brother to brother, obviously not considering the elderly rat to be as much of a threat. Raph took the opportunity to pick at his teeth with a sai, slouching back against the wall and letting the others deal with her if they wanted to go this route. He'd said his piece.

Michelangelo elbowed him and leaned in to whisper, "She's a babe."

"She's a brat."

"SHE is standing right here and can totally hear you," The girl exclaimed, shooting Leo a hostile look when he took a step toward her.

"Guys, can it." The eldest ordered, "I'd really like to know why you attacked us….." He trailed off waiting for her to fill in the blank with her name.

She looked hesitant, and when Raphael was able to stand back and watch her he realized she was probably scared. She covered it well enough though, jaw jutting out and thin arms flexed with determination.

"It's Jubilee, and I attacked you, because you were following me. Or…" She seemed to realize slowly, "At least I thought you were."

"As you've probably guessed, we live here," Leo pointed out patiently, "We were just going home. We weren't following you."

The gears were grinding as she thought it over, patching together the likelihood of their story with whatever had come before it. Raph smirked as that brash mouth on her looked at a loss for words. He folded his arms across his chest; feeling at least mildly satisfied that she wasn't going to be blasting up any of his brothers. Maybe calling her Foot had been jumping the gun after all.

"I uhm. Well I thought you were following me," She tried lamely, frowning, "Sorry."

"Are you in trouble?" Leonardo seemed to determine that it was now their obligation to assist her since she didn't seem to be an enemy. He adopted the look of concern he always did when 'helping the helpless'. Raphael rolled his eyes as his brother continued. "Are there people following you?"

He could pick up on her defensive posture immediately. The unsettlement in her eyes that betrayed her bravado. He was pretty sure Leo could see it too, or he'd have pointed it out. His brother might piss him off but he wasn't stupid, and the girl…Jubilee…was obviously in more trouble than she wanted to let on.

"Actually I'm great," She promised, "I had a little bit of a hitch but y'know, nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah I'm sure," Raphael agreed with a sarcastic chuckle, which earned him a dirty look from most of the room. They seemed to think dealing with kid gloves was the best direction to take, but Raphael was of the opinion, anyone who got herself into that much trouble should be able to handle being told about it. Pretending like they believed her didn't do anyone any good.

"If you're in some kind of danger, maybe we can help," Leo tried.

"Nope," She agreed, "No trouble, but I'm late. Really late. Important date and all that. So I gotta go. It was really great to meet you guys. Seriously. We'll write or something."

Leonardo nodded looking somber and understanding. Of course he did. Of course he wasn't bothered that the pretty human couldn't wait to get away from them. Raphael turned away to mask the bitterness on his face.

"I'm going out."

He heard his brother asking her to keep their existence a secret as he headed out the door. Fat chance of that. They should probably move. They'd had good luck with humans up until now. Leo was being stupid to just let her go like this.

He stalked around the sewers for a few minutes, shadowing the young woman as she headed toward the surface with his brother's instructions. She pushed up the grate and then he saw her freeze and duck her head back down in the shadows. He heard movement overhead.

Raphael reached up suddenly to pull her down from the ladder, holding her against him as the footsteps got even closer. His mouth was near her ear, feeling a strange sort of thrill and anger at knowing he might disgust her.

"Shhhh."

She swallowed hard, not trying to pull away until the footsteps had faded. He could feel her heartbeat thumping hard against him and hear the sound of her breathing loud in his ears, small gasping.

"You okay?" He ventured finally, surprised at his own gentleness. She'd made him nervous. He called her kid but she was probably really about his age. He hadn't known a girl his age before. That elicited an inward groan. Getting a hard on over the first girl he met, and not even the same species. Not that girls came in his species. He was thinking on this too much.

"Yeah," She swallowed hard and glanced up at him, his hand still on her shoulder and he swiftly moved it.

"Who is it?" He asked mildly, moving to pull himself up the ladder and glance out curiously.

"Friends of Humanity," She answered after a moment, the expression on her face indescribable.

"That one of them Christian Coalition type things?"

"No, this is more…mutant haters. Big bad, burn you at a stake types."

He snorted shaking his head. It seemed like every time he turned around another group of hate mongers sprang up. Knowing there were mutants on the street hadn't eased their minds much about going topside. Most of these mutants looked human. Had gifts. He and his brothers were just freaks.

"How 'bout I take you home," He offered, pushing the grate up and away with ease. He glanced back to see her chew on her lip and nod. She seemed the stubborn type, so they must really scare her. He reached down to offer a hand, calmer now that he could see she was just a kid who didn't mean his family harm.

When she took his hand, he smirked slightly, glancing away to hide the pleasure at the fact she didn't shy from his touch. He pulled her up easily, glancing around for trouble, but the city was pleasingly quiet.

"I've got a motorcycle…s'not far," He offered, glad he'd kept the Nightwatcher gear even though he'd hung up the chains, so to speak. She strode evenly after him, a bounce to her gait as she glanced around. "Y'know," He started conversationally, "Yellow isn't the best color for camouflage."