The Nightwatcher's sidekick
Chapter 3: New tricks
It was cold; almost annoyingly so. The sea breeze did little to help. At times like these he cursed the fact that he was cold blooded. It had been three days since his fight with Donatello. During this time he had not really spoken to his brother. Not that his young leader hadn't tried to talk to him. He did. But Raphael was in no mood to listen to the brainy turtle try to pull off the Leo act.
He had been going out every night, beating up bad guys and sleeping for most of the day. When he wasn't asleep, he was punching his bag, but not as furiously as he had been the day he first went topside. He knew that things would get complicated pretty soon. He had to use all of his ninja skills earlier to evade his father and teacher. Storming out on Donnie was one thing, but Splinter was a completely different league.
Thus, today he had gone out earlier than usual. The sun hadn't set yet and even he knew that it was dangerous to be running around during the day. He could still remember the angry anti-alien mobs after the Triceraton invasion. He did not want that particular experience again.
He had thought of visiting the girl he had met three days back. "Saima" he remembered her name. He had spent most of that night in her living room. Strangely, they had spent most of the night talking, an activity that Raph had never been particularly fond of. But he had enjoyed his time with her.
He hadn't told her much about himself. He had said that he was trained as a ninja by his father and that he had brothers. He knew that she had been curious about his family, but she didn't ask and he was comfortable not spilling everything yet. It felt good not having to explain himself.
On the other hand, he had learnt that she had been in New York for only one week when he met her. She was a freshman at NYU and her classes would be starting shortly. She was studying to be a vet. He also knew that her father was dead and that he had been a Marine. He didn't ask anything about her mother.
She had a huge cat named Nola. Saima had explained that Nola was a Maine Coon and that it was normal for her to be that big. He still had doubts about that: the furry creature was somewhere around a foot tall and 30 inches long. His brother's cat, Clunk, was barely half that size! They actually spent a big part of the night talking about cats. The strangest part was that he remembered enjoying it. Or maybe it had just been the pancakes.
He hadn't seen Saima since that night. When he came out of the manhole earlier, he had decided that he'd try kill some time at her place, but the girl wasn't home. Instead, he had a staring match with Nola, who was casually sitting on the windowsill.
Now the sun had completely set and he found himself at the docks. He had noticed that there were fewer crooks than he remembered from the time he was going on patrol with his brothers. But tonight, thug central seemed to have moved to New York Bay.
Raphael watched from a relatively safe distance as some men bearing Purple Dragon tattoos were handled a bunch of heavy looking crates. There were a lot of goons around. It looked like a big operation.
"Watch it, maggots" a big guy with a dragon tattoo on his face yelled at two men who had nearly dropped a crate. "Those are worth more than you see in a year!" he added, looking angry.
"Valuable, eh?" Raph thought, quietly making his way towards the men. They were loading the crates in a big truck. The vehicle was guarded by ten guys with guns. "Heavy guard" the turtle smirked, knowing that he wouldn't be using stealth for this one. And that was fine by him. He preferred direct fights. He stalked over to the truck, careful not to be noticed before he made his move. He positioned himself behind one of the guys.
"Boo" he hissed and the man turned around surprised. He didn't have time to do anything, however, because the turtle quickly knocked him out with a powerful punch. This drew the attention of the other men and Raph had to move quickly to avoid the bullets flying his way.
"It's one of those turtle freaks!" one guy screamed and Raphael growled at the name. He disappeared behind some crates and ambushed the two men that were still holding the large wooden box. It hit the ground and some bullets struck it, missing their target.
"Watch the stuff, you bozos!" the man with the tattooed face screamed, revealing a strange looking gun. Raphael used his sais to disarm one of his foes and jumped towards the water. He did a backflip, dodging a light blue ray that shot out of leader's gun. He landed on the edge of the dock and took two steps to his right, avoiding a few more bullets. He had not yet admitted to himself that he was in a pretty tight spot, but he was getting there.
He saw the leader aiming his gun. He wasn't quick enough to avoid the shot entirely and the ray touched his arm. He screamed in pain and lost his footing, falling in the water. The armed goons ran to the edge and shot a few rounds in the water.
"Quit it, maggots! We got to get this stuff back to the boss" the man with the tattoo on his face screamed. The others complied. A few minutes later, the truck was speeding off.
Raphael surfaced as the vehicle was leaving. He coughed and swam to shore, using only one of his arms. The other one felt like it was on fire. He was breathing heavily when reached his destination. He inspected his injured arm. Its color was darker, but touching it didn't seem to make the pain increase.
He knew he was in no shape to follow the truck, not to mention fight more of the goons. He groaned, thinking that he should get Donnie to take a look at his arm. He did not want to get his brothers involved; especially since it would mean getting his father involved. But he suddenly remembered that Don was not the only doctor he knew anymore. Smiling, he quickly went back into town, hoping that Saima had returned home.
Saima gave a satisfied sigh as she took a step back, admiring her good work. The bookcase in her bedroom was finally in order. It had been hard to find a place for every book she had brought from home and still leave space for all the textbooks she'd be getting once the school year started.
"Meow" she heard behind her and turned to see her old cat standing in the doorway, looking at her with large, green eyes. Nola was her gentle giant and at her 12 years, she was still pretty active. The cat meowed again.
"What is it, sweetheart?" the girl asked, bending down to pet the fluffy, calico fur. Nola meowed and ran into the living room. Saima followed her, curious. Upon entering, she was met by the sight of a large turtle creature standing outside her window.
"Raphael!" she exclaimed, running to open the window. After three days with no sign of life, the girl wasn't sure if she'd ever see him again. "Hello" she greeted, as she opened the window wide enough for him to climb in. Her eyes widened when they landed on his arm.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, moving closer to his injured arm. "What happened?" she asked, guiding him to the couch.
"Got shot" he spoke, his voice hoarse.
"Shot? This doesn't look like a gun wound."
" 'twas some kind of ray gun" he mumbled. The pain had started to subside, but now his arm was numb. Saima placed her hands on it, probing the dark colored skin.
"Strange…" she mumbled "… it looks like frostbite" she said, feeling the waxy texture. "Stay here."
" 'm not goin' anywhere" Raph replied, trying to move his arm.
She came back quickly, with what looked like a wet towel. She wrapped the material around his arm. It was warm. He gave her a questioning look.
"I'm pretty sure that's at least second degree frostbite, so I'm going to warm it up." She smiled at him and he nodded, letting her work.
"So… what happened?" Saima asked after she was done.
"Ah… ran into some goons at the docks… Purple Dragons. They were loadin' some crates into a truck." He said, squeezing his injured arm a little bit. It felt better.
"And they had ray guns?" the girl asked, curious.
"One of 'em" the turtle explained.
"Well… you're going to have to keep that on for a while. If you're lucky, the freeze isn't deep and the arm will only be a bit painful and itchy." Saima said, motioning to the wet towel. "I'll change it when it gets cold." Raphael nodded.
"Thanks" he said and she smiled at him.
"You're welcome" she answered. She reached for the TV remote, turning it on. Nola made her way through the living room. She jumped on the couch, rubbing her head against Saima for a few seconds then moved on to the turtle. She rubbed her head against his good arm and when he stroke her fur she climbed in his lap, making herself comfortable.
"Nola likes you" Saima told Raphael, as she put on a news channel.
"Well, she's not so bad herself" he smiled at the big cat, scratching her behind the ears. "even if she is so huge" he continued, earning a giggle from Saima and something that sounded like a groan from the creature in his lap.
"Hey, you are!" the turtle told the cat. Nola's tail left its spot and hit him on the arm. Raph gave her an amused look.
"Don't listen to him, sweetheart." the girl spoke, reaching out to scratch the cat under her chin. "You're perfect just the way you are"
Nola purred at her mistress' touch. She raised her body a little bit and slapped the mutant turtle over the face with her fluffy tail.
"Hey! A-coo!" he sneezed. "What the shell, cat?" Raphael protested. Nola continued to purr, sitting back down in his lap, like nothing had happened. Saima was giggling. She shot him a look that was half apologizing and half amused.
"I'm going to change that towel" she said, feeling that the one he had on was getting pretty cold. She sprinted out of the room before he could complain about her laughing at him earlier. He huffed, settling to watching the news. A blonde woman was speaking of a string of robberies at high-security facilities.
"Ok, now I want you to hold your arm out." Saima said, entering the living room with another hot towel. Raph obliged, still half listening to the TV.
"Wow, you heal fast" the girl said and he turned to see that his arm was already going back to its original, dark green color. There were a few blisters, but they didn't seem very bad. He moved the arm a little bit, noting that it felt a lot better. Saima inspected the limb before wrapping it in the warm cloth.
"This kind of thing usually takes about a month to heal" she told him. She was obviously fascinated and the question that she had wanted to ask when she first met him was again written all over her face. Raphael considered telling her, but something caught his attention.
"It is confirmed that the points of entry as well as the vaults in two different locations have been submitted to extremely low temperatures…" the blonde lady said.
"Low temperature…" the turtle repeated. Saima gave him a questioning look. "The Purple Dragons have e freeze gun" he said.
"You think they're using it to break in and steal things?" the girl asked, her eyes wide in awe.
"I can't think of anyone else who'd do it" he mumbled, pushing himself off the couch. Nola jumped off his lap, obviously displeased with the loss of her spot.
"Wait, you're not thinking about going to them, are you?" she asked, worried.
"Of course I am. It's not like the police are going to figure it out anytime soon" he said, unwrapping his arm.
"But you're hurt!" the girl protested.
"I'm fine" he answered, flexing his arm. It still hurt and it was kind of itchy, but he was sure he'd be able to take the Dragons anyway. "They're probably at the rundown factory at the edge of the city. That's where they usually are" he said to himself.
"Raphael… at least wait until your arm's better" her soft voice spoke.
"It's ok. Thanks for the help" he gave her a smile. He headed towards the window.
"Be careful" she told him and he nodded her way. Then he was gone.
"Meow?" Nola gave her mistress a questioning look.
"He's hurt, Nola. And there are a lot of bad guys where he's going."
"Meow"
"I'm worried too, sweetheart" the girl answered. The cat sat on her hind-legs, and watched the brunette girl. She meowed again.
"It's what daddy would do" Saima whispered. She then rushed to her room emerging a few minutes later dressed in a pair of black pants and a black long sleeved shirt. She had a small backpack hanging over her shoulder. She rushed out of her home, her large eyes not looking half as confident as her stride.
"You be good, Nola, ok?" she called to her cat, before closing the door.
