Disclaimer: I do not own Turtles. I do own Lilly
A/N: Welcome to the SEVENTH chapter of True Love of a Different Sort where Lilly and the guys will head to TGRI. I apologize for it taking this long but I hope you all enjoy! So without further ado, I turn it over to Lillian.
"And in this day and age of ecological abuse, it's nice to find a company that's doing something to help," reported April as Lillian watched her aunt's segment from earlier while the boys cleaned the apartment. "Joining me on the final day of their cleanup efforts is Techno Global Research Industries Spokesman Professor Jordan Perry. Excuse me, Professor?"
"Good afternoon, Miss O'Neil," the professor greeted her. He wore a lab coat, hard hat and glasses.
"Professor, perhaps you can tell us why TGRI has finally decided to clean up the waste that's been burying here for years?" asked April.
"Would you like me to keep my answer succinct or will you be able to edit later on in case I start to ramble which I'm in the habit of doing," he replied.
No kidding, thought Lilly.
"Professor, we're live," April told him.
"Oh, right, well, yes. Our organization has always been very concerned with the welfare of the community we serve," Professor Perry began before continuing for a while then excusing himself to go help one of the other scientists leaving April to wrap up her piece.
Lillian turned off the tv and stood up, stretching. She then glanced over at the kitchen where Mikey was currently scrubbing the counter.
"Hey, guys! Check this out!" He called, grinning. "Wax on. Wax off. Wax on…"
Raph laid a hand over his brother's stopping it. "Mouth off!"
"Hey, everyone's a critic," said Donnie, patting Mikey's shoulder reassuringly.
Lilly smiled. I'm going to miss them not being here all the time.
"Hello?" called April, opening the door and walking in causing the guys to groan.
"April, you spoiled our surprise," Donnie told her.
"Yeah, we were gonna clean everything up," explained Mikey.
April laughed. "Thanks, guys."
"Looks like you won the bet," noted Raph as he came to stand next to Lilly and played with a strand of her hair.
"Looks like it," she agreed, glancing at him. "What did you want if you had won, anyway?"
"To watch Oprah together on the couch, just the two of us," he replied. "You?"
"To rub my feet," she revealed, giving him a mischievous smile. "You know we could do both of those things."
Raph smirked as April inquired where Splinter was.
"He's been up on the roof ever since he saw your report," answered Leo.
"Really?" said April. "Doing what?"
"Coming to a decision," announced Splinter, suddenly appearing outside of the kitchen window.
"You've been meditating for many hours, Master Splinter," noted Leo as he and his brothers rushed over to their father.
"Yes, and it is time," he informed them. "Join me above."
The Turtles, Lilly, and April headed to the roof where Splinter was waiting for them and took their seats in front of the ninja master.
That report must have really bothered him, thought Lilly as she sat in Raph's lap. I've never seen Master Splinter so serious before.
"These last hours have been spent pondering many questions," said Splinter. "Some are the very questions of our origin. The sewer. Our transformation. But the answers have always remained hidden in the past veiled by a shadow too deep to penetrate until now. A light from the present reaches back to illuminate that shadow."
Splinter lifted the blanket which had been covering a cracked tube he held in his lap causing his sons to gasp.
"That's the canister that had the ooze!" exclaimed Donnie.
His father nodded. "That transformed us all. I have kept it these many years."
"But why do you show us only now, Master Splinter?" asked Leo.
Splinter grabbed both halves of the canister and turned them so his audience could see what was printed on them.
"TGRI!" exclaimed April, rising to her feet. "The interview today. I knew it! I knew there was something else going on with those guys."
Splinter nodded. "Yes, and we must know what for if the contents of this canister were not unique, the city may now face grave danger."
"After all these years," murmured Donnie. "After all this time wondering who we are."
"The past returns, my son," his father told him. "It is time to seek our answers."
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
"Come on guys and Lilly," said Leo as the five ninjas stood outside of TGRI later that night.
"I love this spy stuff," whispered Mikey excitedly as they snuck towards the building.
"Not much security," noted Lilly, glancing at their fearless leader.
Leo inclined his head. "It doesn't look like there's any, but we better move in quiet."
"Come on, Leo. What do you say? Let's do it, eh?" replied Raph, strutting forward causing Lilly to sigh and shake her head as she followed after her boyfriend. They entered the establishment and found a gigantic lab filled with equipment. "Would you get a load of this crazy joint!"
Lilly shushed him. "Ninja, remember?"
"Yeah but no one's here," he pointed out.
"That's what worries me," the kunoichi murmured as Donnie spotted a computer and ran over to it.
"What do you make of it, Donnie?" inquired Leo.
"Well, I'm not sure," admitted Donnie. "Looks like just a bunch of serial numbers. Let's see, uh, disposed, disposed, disposed."
"Hey, dudes," called Mikey, making them turn to look at him. The ninja turtle held two empty canisters in his hands. "We're too late. Like, uh, no deposit, no return."
"Well, except maybe this one," said Donnie as he swiveled back around and pointed at the computer screen.
"'Active'," read Lilly.
"Can you bring up the file?" asked Leo.
"Well, I could try," began Donnie. "But if the database is coded, the whole system might go down."
The brothers glanced at each other.
"Do it!" said Raph.
Donnie tried to do his thing but his efforts proved in vain as the computer crashed. "Drag. Drat. No, no, no! So close!"
"Uh, guys, we've got company," Lilly informed them as she reached for her tonfas. The female ninja had been keeping a lookout as Donnie had worked and was now staring at an old enemy. "The Foot are back."
The boys whirled around to see Tatsu and his band of ninjas standing across the room.
Donnie pointed at Tatsu who held up the last remaining tube of ooze. "He's got the canister!"
Not for long he doesn't, thought Lilly as she made for Tatsu but was met with a wall of Foot ninja. "Seriously, how many of you guys are there? Is there a job listing for evil ninjas out there somewhere?"
Lilly fought her way through and knocked the canister out of Tatsu's hands, sending it flying at Raph who caught it. Raph then tossed it to Mikey who passed it to Donnie. Donnie strove to keep the ooze away from the Foot but was eventually sent onto his back, causing the canister to sail into the air. The five ninjas scrambled to get the tube back but Tatsu ended up catching it and threw a smoke bomb.
That could have gone better, thought Lilly bitterly as she and the boys coughed while the Foot Clan disappeared. Now what do we do?
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
"Now, look, we've all talked about it," Leo told April the next day as the turtles gathered their belongings and packed them away. "We've decided to do it and that's all there is to it."
"But I don't understand," argued April. "You guys haven't even found a new place to live yet."
"It's too dangerous to stay here with you when the Foot are out there," Leo pointed out. "They might be looking for us."
"We could go looking for them for change," said Raph. "I mean, they've got the ooze."
"First we move, then we look," Leo responded firmly, locking his eyes with his brother's.
"Leo has a point," agreed Lilly. "While I love having you guys here and wish you could stay forever, we don't know what the Foot are planning. If we all stay here then the Foot will come knocking and innocent people will be put in danger. We can't let that happen."
"I don't know about you guys but I could really go for a slice of…," interrupted Mikey as they suddenly heard a knock on the door.
"Pizza!" called the pizza guy from the other night.
"Whoa! Spookular!" whispered Mikey.
Lilly facepalmed. "Guys, don't you think we should, I don't know, hide?"
The boys rushed around the room to find hiding spots as Lilly hid with Raph inside a coat closet. April then opened the door.
"What?" asked the pizza guy after am awkward silence.
"I didn't order any pizza," she told him.
"Oh, I know," he revealed. "But the guy over there did and now he doesn't seem to be there. I figured since you order so much anyway that, you know, maybe you…"
The young man trailed off as he spotted Michelangelo's nunchakus on the kitchen counter. He put the pizza down on the table and picked them up. "Where'd these come from?"
"Those…are mine!" said April, taking them from him and doing a terrible impression of a nunchaku user. "Yeah, I, I like to do a little chucking every now and then."
"Yeah, I'd keep practicing," murmured the guy as he started to move around the place and inched towards the closet where Raph and Lilly were.
"On second thought, why don't I take this pizza anyway," offered April. "I can always use more. Let me get my wallet."
"No, that's okay. Don't worry about it. One last thing, though. You might want to know about this!" he replied, stomping on Raph's foot causing the ninja turtle to shout and emerge from the closet as his brothers and Lilly appeared as well. "You guys!"
"Can I hurt him?" asked Raph, reaching for the guy while his brothers held him back. "Please! Tell me I can hurt him! Please, please!"
Lilly placed her hands on his shoulders. "Easy, Raph."
"I think you'd better sit down," suggested Splinter as he materialized behind the young man causing him to turn around and faint.
"You really do know how to make a first impression, don't you Master Splinter?" noted Lilly, smiling slightly as they glanced down at the pizza guy. "Guess the cat's out of the bag now."
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
"And here I thought I was the one who was going to get a foot message," mused the kunoichi as she rubbed Raph's foot while they waited for the pizza guy, Keno, to wake up.
"I still say I should get to pound him," grumbled Raph.
Lilly laughed as Keno finally awoke and Splinter told him the story of how they had come to be. "…And with an old Renaissance art book I found in a storm drain, I gave them all names."
Leo stood up and bowed. "I'm Leonardo."
"I'm Michelangelo," said Mikey.
Donnie raised a hand in greeting. "Donatello."
Raph pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm Raphael."
"Yeah all the good ones end in 'o'," grinned Mikey.
"Michelangelo," barked Splinter.
Mikey flinched and looked at his father. "Yeah?
"Go!" commanded the ninja master.
"All right," surrendered Mikey, walking away to do his flips.
"Basically, what you're telling me is you guys were slimed!" surmised Keno.
"It wasn't slime. It was ooze," corrected Raph. "And there's more of it out there."
"Where?" asked Keno.
"We don't know," replied Lilly as she finished rubbing Raph's foot and allowed him to pull her into his lap.
"See, there's this sort of clan of ninja thieves," Donnie told him. "They call themselves…"
"The Foot?" guessed Keno.
Lillian cocked a dark eyebrow. "You've heard of them?"
"The word is out that these guys are looking for anybody they can find with martial arts talent, especially teenagers," Keno informed them. "Hey, and if I let myself get recruited, guess what that might lead us to?"
"No way, Keno," said Leo. "Forget about it."
"Believe me, I really hate to say this," began Raph. "But the kid's got a…"
"No!" snapped Splinter.
"Why not?" demanded Raph.
"Too dangerous," the ninja master replied.
"But I thought we," murmured Raph, gently pushing Lilly off of his lap and standing up but his father remained firm making the ninja turtle storm off.
"Raph, wait," called Lilly, hurrying after her boyfriend. She caught up to him and grasped his wrist stopping him. "We'll find another way."
"This is the way," Raph persisted, turning to face her. He cupped her cheek with his hand. "Leo's got his priorities all messed up. We need to go after the ooze before it's too late."
"Are you worried about what the Foot is planning with the canister or are you trying to stall going back into the sewers?" asked Lilly.
Raph sighed and pulled her close to him. "Can you blame me wanting to stay here with my girl?"
Lillian smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "No, I suppose not."
Raph smiled back before bringing his lips to hers.
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
"How's he doing?" inquired Leo later that night as Lilly walked into the kitchen for some water.
"Still convinced his plan is the right one," she responded, grabbing her water and sitting down at the kitchen table. "So same old Raph."
Leo smirked slightly as he sat down across from her. "Do you think I'm right?"
"Why are you asking me?" asked Lilly, glancing up at him curiously.
"Because I trust your judgement," he revealed. "That and you're my sister."
"Really?" murmured Lilly. Leo nodded. "I do believe you're doing the right thing, bro though I also wish there was another way for us to tackle both problems."
"Me too," he agreed quietly.
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
"See ya, April," said Donnie as he and Mikey headed out the door. Meanwhile Leo walked over to where Raph was talking to Lilly.
"I know you want to go with us but can you stay here and look after Master Splinter?" he asked Lillian.
"Of course," replied Lilly, staring up at Raph. "Guess I'll see you later."
Raph grunted and bent down to kiss her before leaving with his brothers.
"Good luck, guys," she murmured.
~ True Love of a Different Sort ~
Lilly was sitting in her bedroom with her legs crossed, meditating when the phone rang. Déjà vu, much?
The young female ninja opened her eyes, uncrossed her legs, and rose to her feet. She then walked out to the living room and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lilly, it's Leo," greeted the fearless leader.
"Where are you guys?" she inquired. "Did you find a place yet?"
"We did…," he confirmed before trailing off.
"Leo? What's wrong?" demanded Lilly, getting a bad feeling.
"We're coming to pick up Splinter," Leo told her.
"I figured that much and I've known you long enough to know you're not telling me something," she responded pointedly.
Leo sighed. "Look, the reason I called you is because I was wondering if Raphael was there with you?"
"No, wait, he isn't with you?!" Lilly exclaimed.
"Great, just great!" grumbled Leo. "He stormed off and now instead of looking for the Foot and the ooze like we should, we gotta go out and look for him instead!"
Lilly groaned. "He went with Keno."
"That's what I'm thinking," agreed Leo.
"I'm coming with you," she declared.
"Thanks, sis," said Leo before hanging up.
Damn it, Raph, she thought, putting the phone down. You better be okay.
A/N: And there you have it! Hope you all enjoyed! Until next time, read review and show the love!
