Disclaimer: I do not own any of the TMNT, April O'Neil, or any other TMNT characters. However, I do own Melody and the other fictional characters of this story.
Leo POV~
This night just got about ten times better. Perfect time for a Kraang beat down and to show Melody my skill. Even with the odds being about ten to one and several them carrying laser guns, crushing the Kraang is the easy part. The only thing that could possibly ruin this perfect opportunity for a little showing off is this big, flying alien hovercraft that- yep, you guessed it- shoots lasers.
"The ones who are not permitted by Kraang to witness this test run will now be destroyed by Kraang with the device we are using in this test run."
Ooh, I'm trembling in my shell. Even with this new and potentially deadly laser weapon, the Kraang are about as intimidating as that wannabe superhero we rescued one night when we took the shellraiser on its first test drive. What did he call himself... the Pulverizer, I think?
I stepped in front of Melody and take out my katanas, pointing one at a Kraang for dramatic effect of course. "Kraang, I won't let you use this- this thing to harm the innocent people of New York."
"The one who is one of the turtles will now be destroyed by Kraang."
I could feel Melody tense up and grip onto my shell. "Leo, who are these guys, and- and what do they want?" she whispered to me.
"Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Just stay behind me," I told her giving her an assuring glance and putting my arm out protectively.
"Get down!" Dodging a laser, I find myself laying on top of Mel and probably looking like such a klutz.
A muffled "Ow" arose from underneath me, and I quickly stood up to help Melody. "I'm so sorry Mel. I- I," I stuttered embarrassingly. I was tripping over way more than my own two feet. This was not a great impression on my part. "She probably thinks I'm a complete idiot," I thought to myself. Shell, I'm acting just like Donnie does whenever he's around April. Does this mean I have a crush on Melody? I really couldn't tell you. I mean, she seems pretty cool, but there's so much I don't know about her. Still, there's that nagging feeling that I've known her for a lot longer. Never have I been this unsure in my life.
Brushing herself off, Mel smiled sweetly and looked up at me with kind eyes. "It's fine Leonardo," she replied.
Dang, those blue eyes...
"Um, but you might want to do something about those robots." she continued, pointing to the Kraang droids who were advancing with their weapon.
"Oh yeah. Uh, don't worry. I got this," I said trying to look as if I wasn't just caught staring at her. And with an elaborate back-flip, I skillfully sliced a Kraang droid in half and avoided a couple dozen lasers while disarming the few that still carried guns. Now for the hovercraft thingy...
I turned back in the direction where I left Mel expecting to see her standing there impressed with my swift moves, but instead I couldn't find her anywhere. On top of that, the Kraang's new flying laser device was nowhere to be seen as well. "Where the shell did she go?" I wondered.
"Ugh! Get away from me you alien robot freak!" I heard Melody's voice from the next alley over and raced to an almost comedic scene. There was tiny, roughly five foot Mel wielding a scrap piece of piping she must have found lying around and threatening to beat the shit out of a Kraang droid that tried to attack her. You had to admire her courage.
"This girl's got spunk," I thought.
More droids started to surround Mel, and seeing she was outnumbered, I jumped over the growing circle of Kraang to protect her. "Hey, you think that your chi-blocking would work against these guys?" I joked. It was just a way to relieve some of the tension I could tell she felt. She has obviously never seen alien robots that are out to destroy all human kind, and if I was her, I'd feel the same way.
She chuckled nervously, "Sorry, but I'm pretty sure it only works on people."
"And mutant turtles," I added which made her laugh.
Now this is when it got really strange. I had my katanas out ready to strike any Kraang stupid enough to try to hurt Mel, but then all of the sudden the mass of robots turned and started walking towards the main street. Melody looked at me as if to say, "What was that all about?" I just shrugged my shoulders back at her because I seriously had no idea what was going on.
"Come on!" Mel was about to run head on into god knows what kind of dangerous Kraang plot to wipe out half of New York.
I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me. "Wait. Mel, it could be dangerous. And I don't want you getting hurt."
"Oh Leo. That's sweet of you, but I think I'll be fine." She patted my shoulder and walked right past me.
Man, what does take to get through to this girl? "Melody, I'm serious. You don't know what you're getting in to. The Kraang, they're-" I followed her around the corner and was so utterly confused at the sight before me.
There was absolutely nothing- no Kraang, no people, no cars, and (more importantly) no laser hovercraft. New York can be funny like that. One minute it lives up to its reputation as 'The City That Never Sleeps', but then another it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop from the middle of Times Square.
I gave Melody a puzzled look while she stood there grinning with her hands on her hips. Now it was her turn to give the 'I told you so' look. "What were you saying about the Kraang Leo?" she said.
"I um..." I replied, distracted by a sudden movement on the top of one of the apartment buildings.
"What? Leo, what's wrong?" Melody asked sounding scared. "You don't think it was those robots, do you?"
"No, it's nothing. I just thought I saw something, but it was probably just my imagination," I said reassuringly. "Come on, I should get you home before your parents start worrying where you are."
I don't know what expression I saw creep across her face when I mentioned her parents. Was it anger? Hatred, maybe? Whatever it was, I didn't like it. "Yeah, my parents," she remarked, and I could hear a mix of disgust and sadness in her voice.
On the way back to her apartment, we agreed that Melody and April would come by the lair tomorrow, so we could think of a plan to take down the Kraang and their new weapon. Despite the danger, Melody insisted she and April could help, even though I didn't want either of them near the Kraang.
I watched her as she climbed the fire escape that led to her window, and before entering her bedroom, she turned around and smiled. "Thanks again Leo. Goodnight," she said.
"No problem. See ya tomorrow," I said waving back.
I walked back to the shellraiser in some sort of a daze, and couldn't help but think how good the night went while driving back home. Even that figure, that I knew wasn't a figment of my imagination, I spotted on top of one of those apartment buildings couldn't ruin this unknown, bubbly feeling inside of me.
Author's Note: Finally an update! Right? Sorry 'bout that I've been in Florida the past week for April vacation. I'm planning on posting a chapter every week from now on. Comment/review and tell me what ya think about Leo's feelings towards Mel!
