Authors notes- I do not own any of the TMNT or their compadres.
Sorry this has taken such a while! I've had a lot going on right now, but hopefully this will make up for it, enjoy!
Definitely no angel.Once again, my brothers, my sensei, Raph and I are bundled into the back of Casey's trailer. This time, there's no panic, no urgency, no hurt, just apprehension for what we may find awaiting us back home in New York.
Though Leo is well again, and as strong as he once was, I fear that strength is only skin deep. Our leader sits in the corner of the trailer with a brooding look that is normally too often seen on Raphael's face. Mikey on the other hand sits talking away to Donny, apparently excited about going back to the Lair and playing his video games. Don's eyes meet mine and he rolls them slightly. I laugh to myself at my unfortunate brother. My gaze then glances to Raph, taking the chance to let his guard down, for once, laying his head in my lap and dozing peacefully. I yawn too.
"The journey is long my daughter." Splinter speaks to me from his place beside Raph.
"It is father, if only we could go on a plane, huh?"
The old ninjitsu master smiles slightly, his gaze then turning to his two youngest sons. I stroke Raph's cheek as his chest rises and falls under his plastron.
It's not long before the trailer is stopped and the slamming of two car doors is heard. I shake Raph gently but he only grunts. I smile and roll my eyes.
"Raphy, you got a spider on you…"
Faster than I've ever seen him move, Raph sits bolt upright, feeling every inch of his skin for the small intruder. Giggling and laughing comes from both inside and outside the trailer, whilst a glower is thrown my way.
"Very funny."
"Okay, the coast is clear an' it's nice an' dark." Casey leans into the open doorway. "Ya head straight fer an alleyway, okay?"
"We know Casey." Leo speaks, his amusement quickly gone. Splinter carefully slinks out first, the last of him seen is a flicker of his tail. Mikey goes next, hovering in the doorway nervously. Donny gives him a small shove before following him out. Raph next, his strong frame not holding back his agility in any way. With one small smile to Leo, I follow Raph, dashing into the alleyway where the glint of four pairs of eyes watch. Mikey turns to the sewer cover and quickly lifts it. Descending into the sewers the order is the same again, Casey and April also following.
As usual, the sewers drip and splash, and other than the quiet tapping of footsteps, there are no other sounds to be heard. A rough hand finds mine and I squeeze it slightly, comforting him I'm there. My hand sneaks to my obi belt and I take one of my tessen, just in case, and I also hear the chime of Leo's katana drawn.
We come to a halt about 10 minutes later. We take cover as Don gets us back into the Lair, turning certain pipes and entering a code into a keypad. The wall creaks open and I watch as my purple banded brother stands poised with his bo staff, ready for any attack. Raph tenses beside me, his hand taken from mine to hold his sai.
"It's okay, coast is clear."
With the words of our calmest brother, we each peek out from our hiding places, then follow him into the Lair.
"Home sweet home!!" Mikey almost bounces into the kitchen.
"Yeah, but why is home sweet home untouched?"
"Raph, you really think even the Foot could get in here? Gimme a little more credit than that bro." Donny takes his place at his computer.
"It don't make sense Donny boy. Even if they hadn't found this place after 3 months, surely they'd still be down here, or even on the streets?" Raph twirls his sai expertly in his hands as he talks.
"Maybe they don't think there's anyone to look for Raph…" Leo speaks, turning to his family with a dark look on his face.
"You mean…" I start to say, unable to think of a way to say it.
"The Foot may think we had perished in the fire my daughter. If they have reason to believe we are no longer a threat, there is no longer a need to search for us."
"One thing that doesn't make sense though. If they thought we'd… died in the fire, surely they'd search for… well, evidence of it…" Don stops tapping on his keyboard to talk.
"Who cares? They think we're dead, that could give us a helluva advantage." Raph's eyes twinkle with ideas and he grins.
"An advantage indeed Raphael. Shredder is vulnerable to attack… but…" Our master stops, a sad look in his face.
"But what sensei?" I ask softly.
"My daughter, tell me, do you think it is honourable for us to attack Shredder whilst he is vulnerable to attack, like he once did to us?"
This time it's my turn for my eyes to twinkle.
"Karma works in mysterious ways father. It is down to Shredder's own fault that he has left himself vulnerable to attack. I say, we take every opportunity we get." My eyes narrow, and a dark smile plays on my lips.
"I'm with the chick on this one. It's time for Shredder to get some payback!" Casey grins wildly.
"Yanno, I think they have the right idea." Raph's grin broadens.
"Hmm." Splinter stands amongst us, fighting his morals.
"Sensei, I know your honour means a lot to you. If you don't want us to go, we won't. We'll go right up to Shredder and show him we're still alive."
"No Leonardo. I understand where your sister comes from," a small smile comes to his lips, "the odds have always been against us my son, let's take this as fate giving us a small chance."
"Alright, time ta smash some heads… other than Mikey's." Raph looks towards the queasy looking turtle in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Dude and dudettes, do NOT go in there. It's like, mouldy milk central!"
"Mikey, do you happen to know this, because you drank said milk?" Don is once again tapping at his computer.
"Uh, yeah."
Splinter sighs at his youngest son.
"Michelangelo, look before you leap. Maybe it would be best to eat, it has been a long journey."
"Take-out, take-out, take-out, take-out, take-out-" Slap. "Owww!"
I roll my eyes at the red and orange banded brothers.
"I'll go get some pizza." I put my backpack down and start to rummage for my jeans, jacket, boots, scarf and hat.
"I'll come with you." Leo says, taking his katana from his back.
"Yeah, I'll tag along too. I need ta go back ta my place anyway." Casey rummages in his pockets and hands Leo a 20 dollar note.
"Thanks Casey." Leo looks uncomfortable at the hospitality of our human friend.
Running upstairs into my room to dress, Leo follows, going into his room. Once I'm dressed, I slip a small tanto into my right boot leg as a precaution.
Going back downstairs, I look to Leo, standing uncomfortably in dark blue jeans, some sneakers, a light blue coat, dark blue scarf, hat and mittens. Mikey is chattering away to him, excited at the prospect of pizza.
"Mike, I know, you love anchovies little brother, I will get you a pizza with anchovies."
"Thanks bro." A dashing grin from Mikey.
"Ready Kar?" Leo asks, his eyes drifting from me to Casey sat on the sofa with Raph.
"Uh-huh, c'mon bonehead number 2, we're going." I subconsciously check my right boot for my tanto again as Casey joins us.
Once again we sneak down the sewers silently, though I can tell Casey is nervous from his shuffling.
"Case, it's fine, we'd sense Foot a mile off, okay?" I turn to him.
"It's not that chick, well, yanno, are you an' Leo gunna get away with this? I mean, ya are green."
"Casey we've been doing this since we were kids. You wrap yourself up in enough layers and go to a small pizza parlour, nobody cares."
"Obviously that doesn't apply in the summer." I add.
"Alright, but ya run inta trouble, ya call me, ya hear?"
"We hear you." I flash him a grin.
As we scurry up a ladder leading to the surface, not too far from our regular pizza place, Leo peeks outside.
"Coast is clear." He clambers out, me following and Casey right behind us.
"I'll meet ya back at the Lair." He says as we split up at the mouth of the alleyway.
"See you at the Lair." I wave to him as he goes in the opposite direction.
As Leo and I make the short distance to the pizza place, we stay silent, until I break it.
"Are… You're not worried about being topside are you?"
The brief pause indicates some thought on Leo's behalf.
"No." He pulls his scarf up over his beak as we enter the pizza parlour. I sigh and do the same, putting my head down as to disguise my face more. As Leo makes the order, I glance around. A small girl sitting on a seat, swinging her legs, eyes looking questioning at me. Her mother sitting next to her, glances at the child, nudging her to stop looking. I smirk to myself.
Icy air seeps into the shop once again as another girl enters the shop. Her eye catching purple hair is scraped into a ponytail showing off the multiple piercings in her ears and her pierced eyebrow.
Leo steps back after his order is taken and his eyes flash. She gruffly asks for a small pepperoni pizza and hands over her money. She also steps back after her order is taken. Leaning against the counter, she notices Leo looking at her.
"What?" Her tone is sharp.
"As courteous as ever, Angel." Leo tugs his scarf down slightly.
"Hmm, brown eyes but wearing blue, definitely Leo." Her frowning face turns to a smile. "I heard ya were outta town?"
"We've only just gotten back, had to pick up some pizza, for everyone, especially Mikey." He pulls his scarf back up.
"How is the goofball? I been missin' him."
"He's Mikey." Leo shrugs and the girl nods knowingly.
"Hawaiian pizza." The guy behind the counter shouts out and the young girl and her mother stand up, collect their pizza and exit the shop, leaving only me, Leo and the purple haired girl.
She takes a seat where the young girl once sat and Leo takes the seat next to her. I stand awkwardly by the wall.
"Who's the chick?"
"Sorry, Angel, this is Karma, Karma this is one of our friends Angel."
"Nice ta meet ya." Her brown eyes turn to me.
"Likewise." I mutter.
"Whassup with you? I ain't gunna bite." She frowns slightly and I inwardly sigh at being trapped with a hostile human.
"Angel." Leo's voice is stern as he shakes his head. She looks to him, then back at me. "It'd be nice if you could stop by one of the days, I'm sure Mikey misses you as much as you miss him."
"Yeah, I might do one o' the days. I would tonight, but I told Grandma I'd stay in with her an' watch this movie she's been goin' on 'bout fer weeks."
"Hey Angel, pizza's ready." The pizza is placed on the counter for her and she gets up to collect it.
"Thanks Tony, see ya next week. I'll see ya sometime soon Leo… Karma." She nods slightly at me, then braves the icy weather again.
"Sorry, I keep failing to think this through Karm." Leo mutters.
"I offered to do it. I thought I was over this fear, clearly not." I stay by the wall.
After a few moments of silence, our pizzas are called and Leo collects them. We make our way back home, silently once again. Sneaking down the sewers, as we near home, echoes of angry voices reach us. I frown to Leo and his brow knits in thought. We rush the last few metres home to see a familiar yet unfamiliar site.
Raph is poised for a fight, his broad shoulders pushed back and his hands twitching by his sai. I glance at Leo worriedly, as normally he's the one to be the opposite side of Raph right now, but, it's Mikey instead.
"At I do somethin' round here other than eat Mike!"
"All I do is eat, huh hothead?"
Both of the brothers tones are malicious.
"Yer the reason Karm an' Leo are out now gettin' food ain'tcha?"
"What's wrong with that Raph? Scared of 'em being alone, together?"
"You fuc-""Raph!" Leo's between them in a shot, holding Raph back from hurting the youngest brother. I get the pizzas from him, and lead Mikey off into the kitchen.
"That's right, go inta the kitchen, ta eat!"
I sit Mikey at the kitchen table and lay the pizzas out. He sits stiffly, his face set into an un-Mikey like frown. I collect plates and lay a big slice of pizza out for him.
"Raph, calm down, what was that about?" Leo's voice is calming but stern. I sigh. Before shutting the door, I peek into the main room to see April and Don looking slightly daunted at the computer, Raph pacing and Leo watching him, arms folded over his chest in his usual pose.
As I take off my mittens, I sit next to my youngest brother, taking a slice of pizza for myself whilst he doesn't touch his.
"Mikey," I say softly, "you don't just eat okay? Without you, we wouldn't laugh half as much as we do."
"So I'm just there to laugh at too?" His voice is hurt, verging on crying or shouting, I'm not sure which.
"Mikey, I didn't say that." I place my uneaten pizza slice on a plate and take my hat and scarf off, then unzip my coat too. "I meant, whenever things get tough, you are always there to cheer any of us up. If you hadn't come upstairs to check on me when Raph shouted at me, I would have had to put up with Don and his shitty jokes, and we all know, that's a fate almost as bad as death." I smirk.
"Raph is such a freakin' jerk." Mikey leans back into the chair, his face set in a scowl still.
"I know he is, we all know he is, but whatever he says, he never means. He's just angry, and you always say things you don't mean when you're angry."
"I never do, he always does."
I sigh.
"That's it." I pull Mikey to his feet. "C'mon, we got a family feud to sort." I burst through the kitchen door, Mikey following. All eyes turn to me, Casey and Splinter included.
"Look Raph, I don't know what your problem is, but either can it, or talk to one of us about it, there's no use shouting your head off. Mike," I turn to him, "don't wind him up, you know what he's like, and whilst it might make you feel better, it does nothing to help any of us. Leo," I turn to the eldest, "stop brooding like this, I would have thought you were Raph the way you're being. Where's the Leo who takes charge? I know you've been hurt, I know you feel you've let us down, but let what is past flow away downstream. Living in the past solves nothing, it only pulls you down further and further, and the only way you'll feel you haven't let us down is if you pull us back together. Donny," I finally turn to my purple banded brother, "what's the story?"
"I, uh… Well, I think April is managing to get through Shredder's firewalls and security systems, and soon enough we'll have the plans to Shredder's skyscraper so we can find out how to get to him exactly."
"Nice work." I smile then glance around to everyone staring at me blankly. "Well? I didn't go topside with Leo for nothin', there's pizza in the kitchen, get it whilst it's hot, but anybody touches the slice of pepperoni, I'll kick them topside." I put my hands on my hips. Quietly the four brothers file into the kitchen, Casey following whilst April stays at the computer, tapping away. Splinter comes up to me.
"How I am grateful for such a daughter, but tell me Karma, is there any Hawaiian pizza?"
"Plenty sensei." I grin.
"Arigato musume." The old ninjitsu master smiles and carefully makes his way into the kitchen. I sigh and go over the sofa, just wanting to close my eyes whilst the guys get their pizza…