Chapter 1: Irma Meets the Turtles


Part 7

Irma thought hanging out with mutant ninja's would be the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her.

She thought there wouldn't be an ordinary moment in their secret lair; a place that sheltered a powerful family from the eyes of the human race.

Irma thought the mundaneness of human life and the concept of boredom could not touch her while she was so far removed from the world.

"Got any threes?"

"Go fish," Irma said. She smirked slightly as she watched the youngest turtle pout and take a card from the dwindling deck. Irma and April sat together on the sunken bench with a deck of cards and their own matched pairs lying between them. Irma and April were roughly equal with the amount of cards in their hands and matched sets between them.

Michelangelo sat on the floor facing the couch. He was leaning forward slightly with his arms resting on the edge of the bench. He had four times the amount of cards in his hand than Irma and April had combined.

"Have any nines, Irma?" April asked. Irma handed over her nine of hearts. April added it to her nine of clubs and placed them both face up on the bench.

"Aww, why didn't you take my nine? I have way too many cards. I can't hold them all!" Michelangelo complained lightheartedly as he struggled to maneuver his overwhelming amount of cards. Some of the cards were sideways and others were tucked so far beneath the others Irma wondered if Michelangelo knew the cards were there.

Irma let out a small laugh as she placed her own cards face down on the bench.

"Here, like this," she instructed as she took the cards from Michelangelo's three-fingered grip. She quickly organized them facedown so she wouldn't see what they were and then fanned them out away from her face. With her left hand, she grabbed Michelangelo's hand and placed his fingers at bottom center of the arrangement of cards, which allowed him to hold all the cards together with just two fingers like he was holding a fan.

"Ohh… Hey! That's much better!" Michelangelo gawked and the new arrangement. His attention snapped back to her and his smile seemed to light up the room around him. "Thanks Irma!"

Irma had heard of people "beaming" or smiles that "radiated joy" and she had always thought those expressions were a bit far-fetched… until she met Michelangelo.

"No problem." She picked up her own cards. Glancing up at April, she was surprised to see the girl considering her with a small smile on her face.

"What?" Irma asked her.

April shook her head. "Nothing."

Donatello, who had spent the last half hour scouring the internet and listening in on 911 calls for any sighting of wolves, came over to join them. From his position standing next to them, he had a good view of everyone's hands.

"Hey Donnie," April greeted.

"No!" Michelangelo suddenly shouted and threw his body over all his cards, even the ones that had already been matched. "You can't play, Donnie! You'll ruin everything!"

Irma blinked and looked up at Donatello who was less than amused.

"I wasn't going to ask to play. I was just going to watch," Donatello assured tersely.

"No! That's worse!" Michelangelo complained, still not removing his body from blocking Donnie's view of the cards.

Irma looked at April for some sort or explanation but the girl looked just as mystified as she did. Good, at least it was nice to know she wasn't the only one confused.

"Why can't Donnie watch us finish playing?" April asked. "We're almost done anyway and we can deal him in the next round."

Michelangelo gave the red-headed girl a pleading look. "April, you don't understand what he's like! Never play cards with Donnie! Ever!"

Donatello rolled his eyes. "Really Mikey, it's not that big of a deal. Irma is going to win no matter what I say."

Mikey clamped a hand over where Irma assumed his ears were and groaned. "Not again!"

Donatello didn't seem to notice him as he continued. "Irma only has two cards left, the King of diamonds and the ten of clubs. She's going to ask one of you for her cards, but she's most likely going to ask you for a King, Mikey, since we heard you ask April for that card a few turns ago, but April didn't have it. Then she'll ask someone for her last card, which none of you have. However, she'll pull the last card she needs from the top of the deck." He nodded to Irma. "Go ahead. It's the ten you need."

Irma looked at April who shrugged and glanced at the deck expectantly.

Irma took the top card and flipped it.

It was the ten of hearts.

Irma gaped at the card and then looked up at Donatello.

"How did you do that?" She asked, a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth.

Donatello laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"He cheated!" Mikey groaned, his pout growing.

"I did not cheat! It's just the law of probability," Donatello explained.

"It's just the law of taking the fun out of everything!" Michelangelo snapped.

"Mikey, that doesn't make any sense," the purple-masked turtle corrected.

"You don't make sense!"

Donatello sighed.

"See!" Michelangelo said, pointing at Donatello. "This is why he can't play! He always ruins the game!"

"Okay, but seriously, how did you do that?" Irma asked again. "You could have been wrong about what card would come up next."

Donatello shrugged. "I could have been, but I wasn't. I counted the cards that were already played. You guys hadn't had a ten in play other than the one in your hand, and that means there were three in that deck, making the probability of you pulling a ten much higher. There also aren't that many cards left and most of them are the matches to Mikey's hand. It was just more likely that your card would come up next, and even if it hadn't been the next one, the probably would increase with each card pulled. You have the most matches and the likelihood that you would have lost was less than three percent… uh, sorry April," he added as an afterthought.

April just waved his concern away with a hand as she began to pick up her cards.

"You're a genius, aren't you?" Irma said suddenly. She had known Donatello had been smart; after all, he had built the device that was going to help them stop the wolves, but it was just starting to sink in how smart he really was.

"Oh… heh… well…" Donatello laughed uncomfortably.

"He is," April agreed. "He's pretty much the smartest guy there is."

At April's comment, Donatello blushed deeper than a turtle had the right to.

A ringing sound filled the air, and suddenly everyone was on alert as they looked at Raphael who pulled out his phone. Raphael looked at the number.

"It's Casey," the red-masked turtle confirmed.

Quickly, everyone crowded around Raphael's phone as he answered it, immediately putting it on speaker.

"Hey Case, you find anything?" Raphael asked.

At first, there was nothing but static and Raph's forehead creased with worry.

"Case? You there, bud?" he called.

The static began to come through the phone almost rhythmically, and Irma realized what it was. Casey was breathing hard into the phone. Was he running? It sounded like wind was rushing by.

"Hey… hey guys," Casey's voice finally came through the speaker, but it was ragged and the sound kept cutting in and out.

"Casey, what's going on?" Leonardo demanded. "Are you okay? Did you find out anything about the wolves."

"Hiyah!" Casey shouted and they could hear the sound of a stick connecting with something very large. Snarls and whimpers poured through the phone.

"The wolves?" Casey laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah, I found them. Well, one of them actually. Hey you fur ball, you want a piece of me? That's what I thought! Hold on a second." The sound of a fight burst through the phone accompanied with the crackling of static.

April inched closer to the phone and Raphael's face was set in a serious scowl.

Loud breathing came through the phone. "Sorry, yeah, the wolves are in Central Park. I figured they would go somewhere that reminds them of their home in the zoo, you know? But when I got to the park and followed their tracks this wolf snuck up on me. Oh, it's coming back."

Casey let out another battle cry and the sound of fighting continued.

"We should help him!" Michelangelo insisted, but Raphael shook his head.

"Casey's got this."

"Raph's right, plus it's still too light for us to go topside," Leonardo added.

"But… but what if something happens?" Michelangelo asked fearfully. Irma watched April and the turtles tense as they listened to the sounds of battle. April and Michelangelo would wince every time Casey cried out and Raphael was gripping the phone so hard Irma was surprised it hadn't broken under the pressure.

"Hold on a second!" Donatello exclaimed suddenly as he turned and practically launched himself across the room. Irma watched him leave in confusion.

"Okay… I think I-" Casey began, but seemed to be interrupted by something. "Oh come on! Just stay down already!" he exclaimed.

Donatello came back with the modified toaster in his arms.

"Casey, can you hear me?" Donatello asked.

"A little busy here, Donnie," Casey grunted.

"Put your phone on speaker and turn the volume all the way up!"

"What, why?" Casey asked.

"It's a test run! Now just do it!" Donatello shouted at him.

"Now I'm the guinea pig. And here I thought I was needed because I was human," Casey grumbled to himself.

Donatello flipped the dial and turned it all the way up. Irma assumed Casey had done what Donatello had told him, because in the next moment howls of anguish came through the phone.

"Whoa," they heard Casey breathe.

After a moment, Donatello turned down the dial and the howling stopped. There was a moment of silence before a rustling sound and then Casey's voice came back on the phone.

"The wolf ran off. What did you do? He just started holding his ears and howling."

"It's our secret weapon. Well… not so secret anymore but at least we know it works," Donatello explained.

"Casey, what part of 'wait for us' and 'don't try to take them down on your own' did you not understand?" April seethed.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault, Red! He snuck up on me!" Casey defended.

"Because you got too close!" April exclaimed. "Once you thought that they might be in Central Park you should have waited for us."

"But I had to be sure," Casey explained.

"Well, regardless," Leonardo interrupted. "It will be dark in an hour and we'll meet Casey outside of Central Park. Casey will stay out of the park until then. Does that work for everyone?"

Everyone nodded and Casey gave a defeated, "Yeah…"


"So does Captain Ryan always save the day, or does his crew ever get a chance to shine?" Irma asked as the episode of Space Heroes came to a close.

She was sitting next to a giant ninja turtle and watching a sci-fi series while they waited to take down mutated wolves who had taken over Central Park. Irma didn't know what was stranger, the situation, or the fact it was starting to feel normal.

"Most the time Captain Ryan just saves the day with his awesome leadership, but yeah… sometimes his crew saves the day too." Leonardo explained. "In this one episode, they get a new transfer crewmate and he didn't quite fit in on the ship. But then, they ran into some trouble with this hostile alien race, and the new guy ended up saving the day… along with Captain Ryan too of course."

"Of course," Irma said; her head resting on her chin as she watched the credits roll.

In one swift motion, Leonardo got to his feet. He hesitated for only a second before he held out his hand and offered to help Irma up. Irma accepted the gesture and was lifted to her feet before she could blink. She forgot how strong they were when they were just sitting around doing normal teenager things.

"Okay, I think it's time," Leonardo called. "Everyone ready to go?"

It didn't take long before the rest of the turtles and April crowded around, excited grins on their faces.

"Okay, this should be relatively simple," Leonardo began. "We'll sneak up on the werewolves in the park. We need as many wolves to be there as possible for this to work. Donnie will activate the device and Alpha will be forced to negotiate with us. We'll tell him that his pack has to live peacefully in New York and stop attacking humans or Donnie will spread that frequency all over New York. You could do that, right Donnie?" Leonardo asked his brother.

Donatello gave him a gaped-toothed grin. "Of course I can."

"They won't have any choice but to agree." As Leonardo finished he turned to Irma. "Irma, you should stay here. We'll need to be able to sneak up on the wolves and only those with ninja training will be able to pull it off."

Irma opened her mouth. She felt like she should argue, like she should protest being left behind, but she also felt relieved. She really didn't want to face those wolves again. Feeling ashamed at her own cowardice, Irma closed her mouth and nodded her head. "Alright, I guess that makes sense."

"Don't worry," April assured her, "we'll be back before you know it."

"Not with that plan you won't," came a gravely, although feminine voice, from the turnstiles.

The turtles and April drew their weapons immediately as they turned to face the intruder. A dark grey werewolf with scars on her snout and bright yellow eyes studied them carefully. She was female and both smaller and younger than Beta had been; however, her eyes had a cleverness that many of the wolves did not.

"How did you find us?" Leonardo demanded, his grip tightening on his katana.

"Who cares how she found us? Let's show her the door," Raphael snarled.

"Please," the werewolf said as she held up a paw. She took a step forward and Irma realized she was limping. "I do not wish to fight."

"Well, you should have thought of that before you invaded our home!" Raphael shot back.

"I have come to you because I wish to help. My name is Zeta, and I am no longer with Alpha's pack."

"Oh yeah, like we're going to believe that," Donatello scoffed.

"It's true," the werewolf insisted, a desperate plea to her voice. "Even when I was a normal wolf, I was never really an accepted member of the pack. When we… we became this… they kept me around because of my advanced sense of smell, which is how I was able to track you to your home in the sewer where my kin could not. However, I disagree with Alpha's plan to hunt human and take the city. Unlike the rest, I do not hate humans. I'm just happy to finally be free, but the others can't see that. Alpha has filled their mind with this new vendetta and when I told Alpha I would not continue to help, Alpha ordered my brothers to attack me. I barely escaped with my life."

"And so you came here?" April asked.

The werewolf nodded. "Yes, after the attack on Delta and hour ago, Alpha has learned of your weapon that pierces the ears. He will not allow you to sneak up on the pack so easily. They know you are coming."

"Alright… I'll bite," Leonardo began. "How would you help us?"

"I know where my pack… my old pack," she corrected, "is located in the park. I can get you close without being detected. All I ask is that you shield me from your weapon that harms the ears and allow me to stand with you against my old pack."

"You would betray them?" Leonardo asked cautiously. Irma realized he had lowered his katanas to the ground somewhere in the conversation.

"I must," Zeta stressed with a growl in her voice. "What they are doing is even worse than what the humans did to us."

"How many wolves are there?" Donatello asked. "We thought there were only eight."

Zeta shook her head. "There are nine. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Theta, Sigma, Tau, Omega and me. I know Tau, Sigma, Theta and Gamma followed you into the sewers earlier today, and you fought Omega and Delta in the zoo when the three of you escaped. The only ones who you have not fought are Alpha, Beta and me. That makes nine."

"Okay, one last question," Raphael said, gritting his teeth. "Why should we trust you?"

The werewolf stared at him with steady eyes and Raphael glared back unflinchingly.

"Because," Zeta said, holding her head up proudly. "I know the pack better than you do, and you need all the help you can get."

I think the next chapter is going to be the last of chapter 1, Irma Meets the Turtles. At least, I'm going to try my best to finish the story up in part 8. It will probably be a long one though. Then, I'll post chapter 2 of this story called Last Words, which will pretty much be a separate story from Irma Meets the Turtles

Please review! Tell me what you think so far!