AUTHORS NOTE: Chapter 4, TCRI here! I don't own TMNT only my OC's. Feel free to rate and review! I think I'll post another chapter tonight if I'm feeling it. Fingers crossed :)
A helicopter whirred over the dark New York skies as the city slept beneath it. The humans of the big apple not realizing the eminent danger they were in and their struggling mutant heroes remained a secret to most. A few humans knew the existence of the turtles. Their foes; such as the purple dragons and The foot clan and their friends; April O'Neil, the Pulverizer and Murakami-san. Then there were the occasional other humans who just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Leonardo struggled to get his mind off of one in particular.
"Stay on 'em Leo! My Kraang tracker is tripping out! It's picking up the signal from the power cell." Donatello exclaimed. They were bustling through the deserted streets of NYC in the patrol buggy.
Leo asked, "Again? Last time that thing led us to a burrito in a microwave."
"Left!" He replied. Leo swerved the buggy to the left. "Left again! They're getting away!"
The helicopter flew past them over top of a pizza place.
They passed a human with short blonde hair and blue eyes who watched them with interest; Leo swung his head to look behind him to catch the girl. Behind them was just a cat under a lamp post and a mail box. He shook his head in confusion.
"-ight! Right! Leo I said RIGHT!" Donnie screamed.
His focus back where it needed to be Leo swerved the patrol buggy to the right and met a dead end. He slammed on his breaks and the force of the stop made Donnie's t-phone fly out of his hand and hit the brick wall; shattering the screen as it went dark.
The helicopter flew out of view.
"We lost them!" Donnie exclaimed and groaned. "What the hell Leo?"
"I'm sorry Don, I-I don't know what happened." He said sheepishly.
Michelangelo jumped out of the buggy and said, "No sweat dude, you just need to focus better like me!" His brother pointed to himself and took a whiff of the air, "Ooh, I smell pizza."
Leo rolled his eyes and waited for a comment from his most argumentative brother. He met Raphael's eyes and they looked at each other intently for a few moments before Leo clenched his teeth and turned away, "That's it, we're going to see Leatherhead."
Donatello cooled down at the thought of seeing the mutant alligator, "Uuh, L-Leatherhead?"
"He's the one who took the power cell from the Kraang. He's the one who might know where to find it."
"He's also the one who likes to grab my face and shake me like a rag doll!" The brilliant turtle complained.
Mikey giggled, "Good times! Oh come on, he's a pussy cat….who likes to grab your face and shake you like a rag doll!" He laughed again.
Donnie glared at him and Michelangelo shrunk down, "Right…Let's move!"
The ninja team ventured down to Leatherhead's lair and found him sleeping peacefully by the water.
"There he is." Leonardo whispered, "We don't want to alarm him so nobody make any sudden moves."
Michelangelo was voted to wake up their ferocious ally, "Leatherhead, wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey."
He poked him with his foot. Leatherhead's eyelids snapped up and he stood over Michelangelo and growled loudly. He ran past the orange banded brother and grabbed the purple masked turtle's face instead. He shook Donatello around while he screamed almost comically.
After settling the alligator down the boys spoke to him about the power cell. When Leatherhead found out they had lost the kraang tech, he became angry for a moment before accepting the fact and calming down.
"With the power cell the Kraang can open the portal to dimension X, and when it opens-." Leatherhead began.
"They can use it to bring anything from their home here." Donnie finished.
Leatherhead nodded, "Things so horrible they terrify even me."
"We need to keep that portal from opening." Leonardo nodded, "Can you tell us where it is?"
The alligator took a deep breath and began drawing in the dirt, "All I remember is this." He drew a symbol made out of hexagons that was on a lot of the kraang tech they discovered.
After saying their goodbyes to Leatherhead and making their way back to the Lair; Donatello went to his lab to look into the symbol. The other brother's gave him some space to figure it out. Raphael went to his weights, Michelangelo played pinball and Leonardo struggled to meditate.
Blue eyes and blonde hair flashed through his thoughts, even when he didn't want them to.
"Guys, I figured it out!" Donnie yelled. The team followed him back to the surface where he was running excitably across the buildings.
Leonardo followed him but exclaimed, "Donnie, hold on!"
"Just hurry up!" He replied.
Raphael groaned, "I hate when he's like this!"
They jumped over another alley that Leonardo recognized as the one he had first saved the girl. He stumbled as his feet hit the roof and he grit his teeth in frustration, "Focus Leo!" He thought.
They stopped not far ahead and Donnie said, "I figured out where else I've seen this." He pointed to a huge building in the middle of the city.
"T.C.R.I.?" Leo's eyes widened.
Raph asked, "They're behind the Kraang plot?"
"The invasion?" Leo added.
"The Olympics?" Mikey joked. Raphael smacked him, "What was that?"
"A new Olympic event." Raph commented. Michelangelo pouted and turned his focus back to Donnie who spoke again.
"They've been in plain sight this whole time. We just never realized it!"
Leonardo nodded, "I think it's pretty obvious what we've gotta do. We're going in and taking down that portal."
"And I've gotta get my head in the game. She can't distract me from this one." He thought.
Leonardo was able to pull through when his team needed it the most and even though Leatherhead was sacrificed, the rest of his family made it back alive. April and Splinter awaited them at home; the boys gave them the news and they struggled with what they were going to do next.
Michelangelo took a piece of Kraang tech that Donatello was trying to decode and Leonardo was talking to his sensei and April.
Raphael listened from above and added in when he could.
Suddenly Donatello came back into the living room and said, "Guys, I think I found something."
Leonardo noticed his tone when he said it; usually when he figured something out he was more excited. His tone implied that whatever he found was bad news. They followed him into his lab and gathered around his computer.
"I used the kraang processor inside metalhead to access that storage device. A lot of the files are damaged, but I think I found what they're after." Donnie explained. He entered a few more keys before pictures of April displayed all over the screen.
April gasped, "They're after me?!"
Everyone took the news in different ways. Raph went straight to his punching bag, Donnie continued to pry into the Kraang tech, Splinter stayed at April's side, and Mikey cooked up some food for everyone. As for Leo, he had so much swarming in his head he felt overwhelmed. The normally calm turtle decided a run would be the best way to clear his mind, as meditating wasn't working as of late.
Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Leo did begin to think a bit clearer. He put everything in perspective and pondered why April was the target of the Kraang. Even though he didn't know the reason, he knew that April was their friend and they protected their friends. He stayed completely focused, not even one thought of the mystery girl; that is, until he saw her sitting on a roof with a book and pencil in her hand.
It was nearing midnight and this blonde haired blue eyed girl sat criss-cross in a lawn chair, drawing. She used a headlight to see well as she drew in her book. A small blanket covered her shoulders as she hunched over her drawing. "She seems like she can focus better than I can. She probably doesn't even think of something like me." Leo thought uncomfortably.
Then a dangerous thought crossed his mind. "No, this is a bad idea. I should just turn back now while she's not trying to call the cops or an exterminator or something." He argued with himself. "I learned my lesson when Karai double crossed me- I mean us."
Her blonde hair swayed in the wind and Leo found himself making a decision, "Shit."
He jumped onto her roof and silently stood at the ledge. He sat down and watched her draw for a while before clearing his throat.
She jumped in surprise and met his eyes. Her surprised expression relaxed then she smiled kindly and waved.
"H-hi, I j-just wanted to say hi and I-I saw you- so I uh- did." He said awkwardly. "I'm uh- my name's Leonardo."
She stood up and Leonardo got to see her toned, creamy legs. She was wearing short jean shorts and a large green sweater that came to just above the hem line of her shorts. The turtle averted his wandering eyes back to her face as she walked towards him.
He stood awkwardly as she approached him and held out her hand. Leonardo let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and took her hand to shake. She smiled calmly at him and gestured him to follow her.
Hesitantly Leonardo followed the quiet girl who was pulling out another chair for them. She pointed to the chair and then back to Leonardo, "Oh sure."
He sat down next to her as she picked up her book and showed it to him. The leader's eyes widened as he saw a picture of himself drawn above a cityscape. She was really talented.
"Wow, you drew this?" He asked and smiled, "It's amazing."
He handed the sketch book back to her and she wrote words on the opposite page then handed it back to him. It said, "Yes, thank you. My name is Jude."
Leonardo smiled at her, "Nice to meet you Jude."
He returned the notebook and she wrote, "Nice to meet you too Leonardo. I'm sorry but I can't speak. I know sign language and I can write to you, that's it."
She held up her book and he read it. Leonardo nodded, "That's alright, I don't know sign language but I don't mind you writing."
Jude put her open palm to her lips then extended her hand towards Leonardo. Then she wrote in her notebook, That means 'Thank you'.
"You did that at the school." He remembered.
Jude nodded and wrote, "I wanted to thank you for protecting me from those muggers."
Leonardo chuckled, "It's no problem, and you could say that the purple dragons and I have some history."
"You and the other turtles fight bad guys right?" She wrote.
Leonardo widened his eyes, "She knows about us?"
Jude noticed his surprise and wariness then wrote him another note, "I looked up 'ninja turtle in NYC' on Google. Don't worry it's not much but a few people have seen you and posted about you guys online."
He nodded, he should've figured; humans nowadays practically live on the internet.
"You haven't told anyone about us?" Leo asked.
The blonde haired girl smirked and wrote, "My lips are sealed." She pretended to zip her lips.
"Ah- I didn't mean-." Leonardo stuttered. Jude smiled and put her hand on his shoulder, assuring she was just kidding. Leonardo blushed and nodded with an awkward smile, "So, you like to draw?"
She nodded and wrote, "Yes. I also like to paint. Do you like to paint Leonardo?"
"Ah- funny." He chuckled; she was poking at his name. "Not really, most of my time is filled with- uh work."
He patted the hilts of his katanas.
"All work no play?"
Leonardo shrugged, "I like to watch Space heroes and read comic books."
Jude giggled and Leonardo decided it was the most wonderful sound in the world. She wrote, "I haven't watched space heroes in ages. I stopped watching it after Captain Ryan sacrificed Dr. Mindstrong to the Rognaroars in season 2."
"What?" Leo asked, "He did it to save the entire ship!"
"Then why didn't he sacrifice himself?" She wrote.
"Because, he is the only one who has the ability to command the entire fleet. They'd be lost without him." He explains. "Besides, Dr. Mindstrong returns in season 3 because he has a frozen clone of himself hidden on planet 8."
She scribbled down words, "Spoiler alert!"
"Well are you going to watch it?" He asked.
"Will you watch it with me?"
Leonardo read her question and looked back at her. He could feel his face heat up and he awkwardly nodded, "Sure, but uh- I should probably go for tonight…my brother's will begin to wonder where I am."
He stood up and Jude stood up too. She scribbled down a question, "Am I going to see you again?"
Leonardo nodded and grinned, "Here, put your number in my phone."
He handed her his tPhone and she gave him her cell phone.
They inputted their numbers and returned the phones.
Leonardo stood at the edge and said, "Bye Jude."
He jumped off of the roof onto the next and sprinted across the tops of buildings. He felt a buzzing in his pocket and looked at his t-phone. Jude had texted him. He stopped and opened the text.
Bye Leo.
He turned around and saw her waving from the distance. He chuckled and waved back. Leonardo entered the lair in a better mood than when he exited. And it was all because of her. It was all because of Jude.