April woke up pretty early the following morning, she had been hanging out with her Aunt most of the evening and had enjoyed one of her favorite home cooked meals with as many vegetables as she could get her hands on. The following morning however, the leftovers that we're in the garbage, didn't smell too great. So, April grabbed the bag, put on some shoes, grabbed her keys and took the smelly bag out to the dumpster.
She bounced down the stairs and out the front door. It was a beautiful day already, the sun was out and the temperature was just perfect. She took a moment to enjoy the weather before hurrying around the corner to throw out the trash. Oh her way back in however, she spotted a suspicious man hanging around at the end of her street. He was just standing there staring down the street in her direction. April frowned and squinted trying to see him more clearly.
Once back inside, April raced back upstairs. She hurried back into her room and grabbed her phone off of its charger and typed a quick message to Holly. She received a reply almost immediately, apparently Holly had slept better last night and was up just as early. It said that Holly would wake up the boys and see what they thought was the best plan of action. April took her phone with her into the kitchen, if she was going to have to wait for an answer, she would at least have some coffee and breakfast to pass the time.
Holly had woken up when April texted her. She had filled the guys and Splinter in on what they had seen the previous day, and while they agreed that the gang members' behavior was strange, they didn't feel it warranted investigation. Not unless there was more to go on than just them standing around not doing anything. Holly rolled off the couch and grabbed her glasses out of their case, she quickly walked over to the kitchen to see if anyone was already there, and luckily for her, Leo and Donnie were.
"Hey guys, Did April text you?" Holly didn't even sit, she walked straight for the coffee to help un-fog her brain.
"What? No, why would she?" Donnie frowned slightly, judging from Hollys' body language something was going on.
"She saw another creep hanging around her street." Holly said. "Don't worry, she's fine, she's in her apartment with her Aunt." She reassured Donnie when she saw the look of worry on his face.
"What does she want us to do about it?." Leo said. "It's not like we can go out and take care of him."
"No, but she wants to know what you think she should do." Holly put her hands on her hips and frowned.
"Well, ideally she should just stay put and stay safe until we can get there later. But I have a feeling that she won't want to do that." Donnie said with mild amusement. April was not the kind of girl to sit back and let everyone else have all the fun.
"Exactly my point. When are the others going to wake up?" She spun around looking impatient.
"You don't need to wake them up for this. Raph will just be crabby and Mikey will fall asleep standing up if he has to." Leo said.
Holly turned back to Leo, she knew he was right. She sighed and nodded at him and sat in one of the empty chairs. She pulled out her phone and sent April a message saying that Donnie wanted her to stay put and Leo said to be careful, even if he hadn't actually used those exact words.
April was sat watching cartoons while she ate her breakfast, no matter how old she got, she still loved early morning cartoons. Her phone beeped at her and she snatched it up to read what the verdict was. It was pretty much what she had been expecting, no one wanted her to do anything until they could get to her. But that would take all day, and she was not going to miss out on the fun just because she was a little paranoid. She stood up, put her bowel in the sink, and decided to take a shower before she headed out for the day.
Holly was frustrated, she was pacing back and forth behind the couches trying to make up her mind about what to do. On the one hand, it was unlikely that she and April would be able to fend off a group of Purple Dragon members, if they were indeed up to no good. However, two people would fare much better than just one, and that was even if there was anything to worry about. There was a good chance that the gang members they had seen last night were just bored, and that the one by Aprils place was just a coincidence.
Holly couldn't take it anymore. She stuffed her phone in her pocket and started running for the exit. "I'm going to Aprils. Hopefully we'll be back soon."
"Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Donnie yelled at her from the couch. He stood up, just in case he needed to stop her from doing anything rash.
"I'm going to Aprils." She repeated.
"Why? It's much safer, and cooler, down here." He started walking towards her, the rest of the turtle boys were interested in this conversation now, and had dropped what they were doing to listen.
"Because, there may not be anything going on, I don't want to leave her alone." Holly said hurriedly.
"But if there is something going on, wouldn't it be smarter to wait for all of us to be able to go?" Leo asked from the couch.
"You and I both know she's not going to sit tight, so why should I? The two of us would fare much better than just her by herself." She
The turtle boys all looked at each other, apparently they were having a silent discussion that she wasn't a part of. She knew she couldn't fight off thugs like they could, but she couldn't sit back and do nothing.
"Let her go." Raph said suddenly. Hollys' eyes widened in shock, of all the turtle boys, she had not expected him to be the one to agree with her. "We can't stop her, and she's the only one who can go out right now anyway."
"Alright, but call us if you need us." Leo said.
"Let us know when you get to Aprils." Donnie added.
"Don't worry so much guys, she can handle it." Mikey chimed in.
"Thanks Mikey." Holly said quietly.
"Just, you know." Raph coughed trying to cover up his uncomfortableness, "Be careful."
Holly just nodded, she felt touched that they trusted her to do what she felt was right. She turned on her toes and rushed out of the lair. On her way back up to the surface, she called April to make sure she was doing alright. April was still at home, so that was good. But she had been keeping an eye on the street through the window, and there was still the same guy hanging around. Holly made sure no one was around before she stepped out onto the street, she couldn't be too careful right now.
As she walked the city streets, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The people walking around didn't seem like they were up to anything and no one seemed to be following her. Holly relaxed a little, but not completely, as she drew closer and closer to April's apartment she kept her eyes peeled for anything unusual. She walked on the other side of the road than they had the previous night, and passed right by the convenience store where the men had been loitering. No one was there now, just the occasional customer going in to buy milk or coming out with a pack of cigarettes.
The next road she walked down would be the one where the guy had been spotted earlier. Again, she stayed on the wrong side of the road so she could pass buy the guy without being spotted herself. As she walked she slowed down slightly to get a better look at the guy. He didn't look like anything special, but he was wearing the trademark black and purple of his gang. He was just leaning against the wall at the end of the street, he had his phone out and was focused pretty intently on it. He would look up every once in a while, but he mostly stayed glued to his phone. Holly crossed the street right in front of Aprils' apartment, and walked straight up to the door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the man straighten up and watch her. She stepped through the main entrance and bolted up the stairs to Aprils' apartment.
"Hey." Holly said cheerfully, happy that her friend hadn't done anything reckless.
"What's up? Come on in." April stepped aside, and Holly stepped inside.
The girls sat around giggling and acting like regular teens while Aprils' aunt was still around, but whenever she left the room, they would switch conversation to the man outside.
"How long has he been there?" Holly asked.
"He was there when I took out the trash at about seven-thirty. So I would assume he's been there a while." April said.
"What do you think they're planning?" Holly asked
"I don't know, but I'm not letting one guy ruin my day." April hopped up and headed for the door. "We're going out, I'll see you later!" She shouted into the apartment.
"Ok girls, have a nice day and be careful." Aprils' aunt yelled back.
"Bye Ms. O'Neil." Holly yelled.
The girls walked down the stairs, and out onto the street. Holly looked down the road, the creepy guy was still there, but now he was standing up straight and was clearly watching them.
"Let's go the other way, just in case." Holly said with a frown
"Yeah, alright." April followed Hollys' gaze and a wrinkle of concern crossed her brow.
The girls turned their backs to the guy at the end of the street and walked away. They kept their conversation light to make themselves seem like they were just normal kids, all the while they kept their eyes and ears open to their surroundings. They rounded the corner at the end of the road and chanced a glance behind them, and just as they suspected he would, the guy at the end of the road was now following them.
"Ok, something is definitely going on here. He's following us." April said quietly.
"No, he's following you." Holly corrected her. "They didn't follow me home last night."
"Me, what did I do?" April sounded more annoyed than anything.
Holly just shrugged, she was smart, not psychic. "Whatever it is, we can't lead him back to the turtles."
"We'll have to ditch him somewhere away from the lair and double back." April said excitedly.
The girls continued to walk in the wrong direction trying to think of the best place to lose their unwanted company. They wandered aimlessly for almost an hour, watching the reflection in the shop windows to see if they were still being followed. It seemed that the guy who had been hanging around all morning was getting worn out, he was still behind them but his pace was slowing and he seemed distracted.
"I know the perfect place to lose this guy." April said suddenly, a grin spread slowly across her face. She took off walking without another word, Holly had to jog to catch up to her.
"Where are we going?" Holly whispered.
"It's perfect, it's on the way back to the lair, but it's out of the way too, and if we do lose this guy we won't have to pass back my apartment to get to the turtles." April giggled, she had some awesome ideas.
"Ok, but you still didn't tell me where we're going." Holly said irritably.
"You know, you really sound like Raph sometimes." April said, Holly scowled at her and April laughed. "See, right there, that's is exactly the same look he gives Leo all the time."
After another twenty minutes, April and Holly had arrived at their destination. April looked smug as Holly let an amazed look cross her face. The girls walked as calmly as they could towards one of New York's fish market, it was always filled with hundreds of vendors and customers yelling at each other and throwing fish around.
"This is amazing, how do you know about this place?" Holly grabbed Aprils arm.
"Dad and I used to come here all the time, it's always busy so we should be able to sneak out the back without being seen." April smiled sadly as she thought about her father.
Holly gave her friend a quick squeeze, then took Aprils hand and pulled her into the hustle and bustle of people in the covered market. They ducked around the people and wound between the stalls. They turned and ran down another aisle, and then another, and dove for cover behind crates full of fresh caught fish. They crouched down to wait and make sure they were no longer being followed. Not a moment later, a panting Purple Dragon member pushed his way out of the mass of people. He frantically looked around for the girls he had been following.
He pulled out his cell phone and ran his hands nervously through his hair as he waited for the other person to answer. "Boss. I lost them." He winced as whoever was on the other end of the line yelled at him. "Yes boss, I'll double back and check." The man stuffed his phone back in his pocket, and kicked out at a can in frustration. It bounced off the other side of the crates that April and Holly were crouched behind, they looked at each other with wide eyes. If he followed the can they would be caught. Luckily, however, he turned and stomped back into the market cursing under his breath.
April let out a sigh, as Holly poked her head out from their hiding place, "I think we're good." Holly and April wasted no time running as fast as their legs would carry them to the turtles' lair. They stopped a couple of times to make sure none of the Purple Dragons had picked up their trail again, but it seemed like they were in the clear.
The turtle boys had been waiting patiently for April and Holly to return, but they had been waiting for a few hours now and were starting to get worried. They had started their day either reading, working or playing games, but one by one they had abandoned their hobbies in favor of watching the clock, pacing or staring at their T-phones. Even Mikey had put down his controller and was staring absently off into the distance.
"This is stupid, we have to do something." Raph yelled after a half an hour of silence. He was frustrated and worried and hated no knowing what was going on.
"We have to trust that the girls are capable of looking after themselves." Leo said.
"They could be in trouble." Raph yelled even louder.
"Or they could be perfectly fine and you're getting worked up for nothing." Leo yelled back.
"You know what they say, 'No news is good news'" Donnie said, trying to defuse the situation. He wouldn't deny that he was worried too, but he wasn't about to go running around in board daylight just because they hadn't heard anything yet.
"Donnie's right, so just sit down and chill out." Leo said, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. Nobody could get under his skin like Raph could.
Donnie sighed as his hot head brother started pacing. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the screen for the hundredth time. He was debating sending one of the girls a message since Holly had said they would come back.
All the turtles looked up when there was suddenly noise coming from the entrance of their home. It started as a quiet shuffling noise and grew into booming footsteps that reverberated off all the walls. April stumbled into view panting and clutching her side, she dropped here bag on the floor and bent over trying to catch her breath.
"April?" Donnie said, he stood up and went to her side. "Are you alright?"
She nodded and held up a finger, asking for a moment. "We ran all the way from the docks."
"What were you doing there?" Leo asked.
"Getting rid of the Purple Dragon guy who was following us." April stood up straight and retrieved her belongings.
"Speaking of 'us', where's Holly?" Mikey pointed out.
"She was right behind me." April said looking around for her friend.
Raph took off running before anyone could stop him. He knew something would happen, and he wasn't about to sit back and do nothing anymore. He rushed through the twisting tunnels, thinking of all the most likely places Holly could be. His pessimistic mind was also flashing the worst case scenarios at him, he kept seeing images of the brunette being dragged back to Dog Pound for questioning. He picked up his pace as he drew closer and closer to the surface.
As he rounded another corner, he ran straight into Holly who was turning the same corner from the other direction. The collided with a thud, but since Raph had substantially more mass behind him than Holly did, he remained upright while she bounced off and landed sprawled on her back. Her glasses flew off her face and landed a few feet away.
"Holy crap, are you alright?"
"Oh my god, I think I was safer running from the Purple Dragon." Holly said from the floor.
Raph let out a bark of laughter, partly because he was so relieved to see Holly safe. "What are you doing here?" He pulled Holly back to her feet after he retrieved her glasses for her.
"April dipped through the access and took off running, leaving me to put the cover back in place by myself." Holly sounded irritated, but she had a smile on her face.
"Why didn't you run and catch up?" Raph handed the girl her glasses once she had dusted herself off.
"Are you kidding me? We just ran about four miles to get here, I'm not running the half-mile through the sewers too." She said.
Raph chuckled lightly, Holly filled him in on what had happened to the girls in the last couple of hours while they made their way back to the rest of the group. By the time she had finished telling him her story, his smile had turned to a frown.
"So the Purple Dragons are trying to follow you guys." Raph summed up her story, he felt anger bubble up inside him towards the gang members.
"Well, they're trying to follow April." Holly said, and she had to admit that she was scared for her friend. These men were criminals and were definitely not above kidnapping.
"At least you guys are safe now, we were starting to worry." Raph said.
Holly smiled slightly, "Were you worried about me? Is that why you nearly knocked me out back there?" Raph went very quiet for a moment, he looked a little uncomfortable so Holly decided to go easy on him for once. "Oh relax, I'm just messing with you." She shoved him playfully, but he didn't respond like he usually would. She stopped and looked at him as he continued to walk past her. "Raph?"
He slowed down slightly and glance over his shoulder. "Come on, the others will be waiting for us." He stated to walks away from her again, but she stood her ground.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, "What's going on Raph?"
He stopped again and turned around, he eyed her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. She raised her eyebrows at him waiting for a response. "I'll stay here all day if I have to." She said firmly.
"Do you remember the question you asked me the other day?" He asked her with a straight face. For once there was no hint of sarcasm in his tone.
She wrinkled her brow trying to figure out exactly which question he was talking about. It dawned on her suddenly and her eyes widened slightly, "Oh. I asked if you ever got scared."
"Yeah." He shifted uncomfortably again, "For about five minutes there, I was."
Holly just stood there, she let her arms fall to her sides and remained silent.
Raph cleared his throat and turned to walk away, "We should get back, I'm sure Leo wants to talk to you."
Holly watched him start to walk away, and hurried to catch up. She grabbed his hand as she caught up and pulled on it gently to get him to turn back towards her. "Wait. Just clarify something for me, were you scared that we were gone for so long? Or that April came back without me?"
Raph looked into her grey eyes, she was silently urging him to be honest with her, and she wanted to know. But he still was unsure of himself and of what could possibly be. He took a breath to answer.
"See, I told you she was right behind me." April said from behind Raph.
"April! Thanks for ditching me by the way." Holly let go of Raphael's hand and walked around him. On her way past though, she glanced at him for the briefest moment.
"I didn't ditch you, you're just slow." April laughed.
"Where we're you anyway?" Mikey asked suspiciously.
"I didn't feel like doing anymore running so I walked, and before I knew it I got knocked off my feet." Holly smiled widely at her friends, she started walking back towards the lair and the rest of the group followed. She glanced back at Raph as they all walked away, he was staring at her with a disappointed look on his face. He followed the group, but hung back slightly to collect his thoughts.
The teenagers all sat around in the living area having a serious conversation about what had happened earlier that day. April had filled in the rest of the group while Holly and Raph had been in the tunnels, and they all agreed that April was the focus of the Purple Dragons efforts. They also agreed that until they could figure out why they wanted her, it was not safe for her to be alone.
"You know you're always welcome to stay with us, and to be honest I don't think there's anywhere safer you could stay." Leo said.
"I can stay for now, but what about when we have to go back to school? My aunt won't let me out every night once summer is over." April said.
"I can walk with you to school and back, but hopefully they get bored of following you before then." Holly said unconvincingly.
"What do they want with me anyway?" April asked, she was concerned that the Purple Dragons had taken to following her.
"I have a theory." Donnie said, he was frowning slightly. "I wouldn't be surprised if they figured out that you know us. They're going to either use you as bate, or they're going to get you to lead them to us."
"But the Purple Dragons are push overs, why would they want to find us when they'll just get creamed?" Mikey asked.
"True, but we already know they're being manipulated by Dog Pound and Stockman. So I'd bet it's them who want to find us." Donnie said.
April sighed and rested her head on her hands, it seemed that she was in trouble no matter what they did. The turtles couldn't help her much during the day, and if the Purple Dragons decided they were going to try something, two teenage girls weren't going to be much of a problem.
While the rest of the group talked strategy, April stood and walked into the little kitchen. She grabbed a cup out of one of the rickety cupboard and ran the water in the sink until it was cold. She leaned against the counter and watched the water swirl down the drain letting her mind go blank for a few blissful moments.
"April? Are you ok?" Donatello had followed her from the other room.
April span around, startled by the sound of his voice. "Yes, I'm fine." She smiled at him, "I just needed a moment alone."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll go." He took a step backwards.
"No don't." She stepped towards the lanky turtle with her arms outstretched, she lowered them to her sides again blushing when she realized how crazy she sounded. "I mean, I don't mind if you want to stay." He gave her a confused look, but remained where he was. April sighed again, "I'm just a little overwhelmed right now."
"Can I help at all?" Donnie asked.
"Not really. I just don't want anyone to get hurt because of me." April looked at her feet, feeling foolish.
"No one's going to get hurt, you don't need to worry so much." Donnie moved around the table and put his massive hands on her arms, she looked so vulnerable and small, which was not normal for the usually bubbly red head he knew.
"But you guys are always fighting, and Holly has to practically shadow me from now on, and what if the Purple Dragons get tired of waiting for me and go after her, or my Aunt? She's the only family I have left." April felt tears well up in her eyes, it felt good to get all that off her chest.
Donnie looked into her sad eyes and his heart melted, he pulled her into a tight hug and gently stroked her silky hair. "Everything is going to be just fine. Holly is worried about you too, which is why she is willing to put herself in this situation, she doesn't want to see you get hurt either, and if stockman is as smart as he thinks he is, he'll know you wouldn't have told your aunt about us since she wouldn't believe you anyway."
He let her sob quietly into his plastron for a few minutes, just letting all the stress go that she had been holding onto for so long. She took a few deep, shaky breaths and pulled away just far enough to look at him again. He smiled his gap-tooth smile at her, and she let out a giggle.
"Feel better?" He said, whipping away the last of her tears with his thumb. She nodded and smiled at him again.
"Thanks, for everything Donnie." She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Her feet barely touched the ground, but they stayed there for a moment. She lifted her head to give him a peck on the cheek, but just as she leaned in he turned his head unexpectedly and she caught him on the corner of the mouth instead.
Donnies' eyes went wide in shock and he almost dropped April. He blushed furious and tried to apologize but all that came out was incoherent babbling. April too looked a little stunned, but she wasn't sorry. Not even close. Before she could change her mind, she wrapped her arms tighter around him and kissed him properly this time.
Donnie couldn't believe it, he had just accidentally been kissed by April and instead of pulling away from him she had kissed him again. He let his eyes slip closed and wrapped his arms around her waist, he pulled her as close to him as she could possibly be and held on like she might slip through his fingers at any moment.
They broke apart and just looked at each other for a few seconds. A slight blush crept up Aprils cheeks and a smile broke across her face.
"Ok, so am I in a coma and this is just an extended dream sequence?" He had to say something and it seemed like it could be a possibility a dream. April laughed at him and pinched him on the arm.
"Did that hurt?" She asked.
"A little." He admitted.
"Then I guess it's real." April said.
The two teens smiled, while neither really wanted their moment to end, but they knew it had to. April took the lanky turtle by the hand and pulled him gently back out to the others. She let go of his hand just outside of the group and took her seat beside Holly. Donnie took up his seat on the other side of the circle, and although he was supposed to be paying attention to the conversation, he couldn't keep his mind on topic. April kept looking up at him and smiling, apparently she was having the same problem.