Chapter 1. Beaten.
KJ climbed through the manhole and dropped into the watery tunnel below. Surely those horrible guys wouldn't follow her down here. She looked up at where she came, remembering that the manhole cover was off. 'Shit!' she thought as she saw the outline of someone looking down to where she was from the streets above.
She moved out of sight. Her heart was pounding in her chest and throat. She was terrified. She leant against the tunnel wall, hoping that the men had not seen her.
"I think she went down here," one of them yelled, "…stupid bitch, why the fuck would she go down into the sewer?"
KJ kept to the shadows, looking up at the manhole, praying that the men would not follow but they did. As she saw one of the men's feet come through the hole she darted off through the water. The splashing only alerted the men.
"She is down here!" one shouted as he jumped down, "…she's in the tunnels!"
KJ waded through the water quickly as she heard the splashing sound of the men jumping down into the tunnel. She was becoming weaker and feeling light-headed. She had been ill all night and morning from her flight into New York. She had never had travel sickness before so trust it to happen this one time.
As she started to slow, she saw light at the far end of a tunnel that veered off to the right of the one she was running down. She turned down it sharply and ran as fast as she could towards the light. The light was so bright, to the point that she didn't realize until the last moment that there was a drop. She skidded, trying to stop herself, almost sliding over the edge, luckily, she was able to grab on to some of the tunnel coving at the edge and pulled herself back up. As she stood, now drenched, she looked around. She was looking out to a drop that had numerous other tunnels and pipes running off to it, water was running from them giving waterfall effects. The drop was high, but there was no telling how deep the water was below or what was under it. She could not risk jumping.
"There you are!" came a voice from behind her.
Her breath hitched in her chest as she turned and saw the 3 men at the other end of the tunnel. She had nowhere to go.
She would certainly put up a fight though, she could throw a good punch, that was for sure, but she knew that that would not be enough. She wasn't confident that she would be able to get away and had pretty much come to terms with that assumption, she just hoped that whatever it was that they were going to do to her they would get it over with quick.
As they moved closer KJ shivered as a cool breeze hit her wet skin. She noticed that the light, which was now behind her, had suddenly dimmed as though something was blocking it. She then saw the 3 men stop and their dirty smiling faces turn white.
She began to turn to look behind her but as she did, she was knocked to the floor. She scrambled and struggled to get out of the water and out of the way of whatever it was that had pushed her.
She looked around but all she could see was water splashing and the 3 men falling over and being smacking into the tunnel walls. One of the men fell and grabbed on to her, pulling her close to his face. "Help!" he screeched as something big grabbed him from behind. The man's face looked terrified as his hand was torn from her shoulders then dragged away and out of her view. Whatever had grabbed the man had grabbed her too throwing her back into the water as though to keep her away from the fight. She sat up quickly and shuffled herself up against the wall, pulling her knees to her chest, closing her eyes tightly and putting her hands over her ears to block out the screams from the men.
Suddenly, there was silence.
KJ could hear her heartbeat in her head, it was pounding so hard and fast. As she felt the water around her ankles settle and stop lapping, she opened her eyes and slowly moved her hands from her ears. She looked to her right and saw the 3 men. They were knocked out, laid out in the water further down the tunnel. She rolled on to her front and used the wall to pull herself up, while all the time still looking in their direction. She suddenly felt the cool breeze on her skin again, but this time a deep animal like growl followed. She closed her eyes and gulped as she slowly turned around, she was so frightened. After seeing what this 'thing' had done to those men, she was scared that it was going to do the same to her. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up to the giant that was blocking the light from the tunnel behind it. All she could see was the silhouette of whatever it was, no other details were visible. It was big, that's for sure, and she could tell that it had legs and arms, but then she saw its eyes. They were a mix of green and amber, reflective, depending on where you stood, like those cat eye things that are in the middle of a highway.
She squinted as light spilt through the gaps between it and the walls. She lifted her hand trying to stop the light shining in her eyes so she could see better, but it wasn't helping.
"You ok?"
A gruff voice came from the silhouette. It didn't sound too bothered, kind of like a customer service advisor who had lost the will to live and just wanted you to go away, but still had to do their job and try to be nice.
"…um yeah, I, I suppose…thank you? I guess…"
"is it an animal? Did it actually speak to me?" She thought. She continued to try to get a better look at her rescuer, now realizing that it had being protecting her, but she noticed that whenever she moved, it moved, making it difficult for her to see. It was obvious that he didn't want her to see him. "Him" she thought again, it had a male voice, a husky male voice, with a Brooklyn twang.
He lifted his arm slightly, hesitating as he did so, pointing to her brow, "…your bleedin,"
"Oh!" she touched her head and looked at the blood on her fingers as she went wobbly, "…sorry…"
The giant moved forward a little, "…your apologizing for bleedin?" he said with an amused tone.
"No," she said as she reached for the wall, "…I'm sorry for, for, for passing out…"
She fell against the wall then to the floor and slid back into the water.
The creature let out a deep sigh of frustration, "Fuck."
He assessed the situation for a moment then knelt down and scooped her up into his arms, watching as her cheek pressed against his plastron. From what he could tell she was pretty, but she was beat up bad. Her hair was straight and just past her shoulders, auburn in colour and warmth and shaved down one side. Her skin was slightly pale, and she had long lashes, he was yet to see what color her eyes were but assumed that they would be warm too. She was wearing grey jeans and a thin grey hoodie which had been ripped by the 3 guys, luckily, she had a black vest on underneath, protecting her modesty. Her figure was hidden but she looked like she was curvy. He lifted his hand and moved her hair from her face and continued to look her over, being this close to a girl was a rarity. He didn't realise just how long he'd been stood looking at her until he heard one on the men on the floor groan. The giant wondered over and gave a swift kick to the guys face, knocking him out again. He looked at the girl's injuries again and gave a little smirk knowing that he had punished these guys good for what they had done to her.
He turned into the light and walked towards the tunnel ledge then jumped to the tunnel opposite it.
After a 20minute walk, and 6 tunnel jumps later, he arrived back at his home. He walked through the doors of a secret entrance and into a large space filled with neon lights, arcade games and makeshift furniture. There was music playing throughout and another creature like himself was in a corner working on some tech.
"Donnie!" he yelled as the other creature lifted his head.
The one known now as 'Donnie' was busy welding something that had his full attention. He had purple bandages around his wrists and forearms and had on light brown trousers. He lifted his welding mask, sitting it on his head. Underneath was a purple bandana and turtle shell spectacles. He pushed his feet against the table he was at, making his chair slide back so he could see with no obstruction.
"What the hell Raph?!" he said as he saw 'Raph' carrying this girl through their lair towards him.
Donnie shot up from his chair, he whipped his welding mask from his head and ran over to help.
"Don't ask!" snapped Raph as he moved past Donnie, "…let's just get her patched up quickly and get her outta here!"
Donnie nodded and ran ahead of him to get the medical bed ready in his lab. Once she was on the bed, he looked the girl over, checking her head that was bleeding, her heart rate and her vitals. He tied a tourniquet around her arm and proceeded to take blood from her.
"Is all this really necessary?!" Raph snapped again, feeling anxious as he looked around. Raph wore a Red skull cap bandana. Red, that correctly matched his personality.
"There's more going on here than just a bump on the head," said Donnie as he put some of his new patient's blood on to a sample stick then dipped it into some solution in a beaker, "…I think you got her here just in time…"
"In time for what?" another voice came as Donnie and Raph both looked up to see another creature walk into the lab. This guy had on a blue bandana. He was big too. Not as huge as Raph but he held himself with some majesty and looked like an authoritative type. He saw the girl on the bed and stormed over, looking at Raph as though he had already figured out that he had brought her here.
"Who is this?! What did you do Raph?!"
Raph rolled his eyes, "I didn't do anything Leo! She got jumped in the sewer, 3 guys where bout to have their way with her so I stopped them…"
Leo got close to the girl and watched as Donnie carried on doing his thing.
"…I know the rules," Raph continued, "…I did everything we were s'posed to do, kept hidden, kept her safe, all that, then she passed out, I couldn't just leave her there,"
"So, she saw you? Is that why she passed out?" asked Donnie, it seemed that this kind of thing happened regular when people saw them but this time it wasn't the case.
"No!" Raph snapped again, "…she was all over the place, she saw the blood that was comin out her noggin and then she hit the deck!"
"She does look like she's been knocked about a bit," said Leo as he moved some hair from her face to reveal some more bruising. The three gasped a little at her state.
"Oh. My. God!" another creature entered the lab. This guy was covered in orange, his bandana, his shorts, his bandages.
The other three rolled their eyes and annoyed groans came from them all.
"Who's the babe?" he asked as he moved closer to the rest of them trying to get a peek of their new female friend.
Raph growled, "Mikey, now is not the time!"
"What? I'm just here taking in the sights…"
As Mikey got close, he saw the bruises all over the young girl and looked at Raph with an angry face,
"…I hope you kicked the shit outta whoever did that to her bra!"
Raph smirked a little, "huh, you know it!" the two grinned and smashed there knuckles together.
"So, do we know what's wrong Donnie, other than the obvious?" said Leo as he straightened up folding his arms.
Donnie sat back on his chair and pushed his glasses up onto his nose, "She has a little anemia, that could explain why she passed out. Her sugar levels are low, but nothing I can't fix. But she's gonna have to stay here for a few days,"
They all looked at Donnie.
"Awesome!" said Mikey with the biggest smile.
Donnie looked towards Leo who had a look of concern on his face.
"We can't just dump her," said Donnie, "…you can see she's in no fit state to go anywhere,"
"Then she will stay with us," a stern voice came from behind them all.
They turned to see a short human size rat looking up at them. They all moved a side as he walk towards the girl. He looked at her with concern and worry. "…it is our duty to protect the people and that is just what you did Raphael," He turned and looked at Raph. "…you did the right thing my son."
Raph smiled and nodded.
"Donatello!" he said sternly, Donnie stood up quickly.
"Yes, Master Splinter?"
"Keep me updated with this young lady's progress."
Donnie nodded, "Yes Master Splinter,"
Splinter wandered off out of the lab and disappeared. Donnie slumped back into his chair.
Suddenly KJ started to stir.
The guys all froze.
"Quick!" said Donnie, "…get a cloth, a towel, anything to put over her eyes!"
They all rummaged around for something to use as a blind fold.
Mikey grabbed a clean cold washcloth from the nearby sink and passed it to Donnie. Donnie placed it over her eyes, careful not to catch any cuts or bruises. He then hovered his hands over her and moved back a little and began to speak.
"Hello? Hello Miss?"
KJ started to move around; the panic started to set in as she realized she could not see.
Donnie moved in and held her shoulders trying to calm her, stopping her from reaching her face.
"It's ok Miss, your safe, you have a cold compress on that's why you cannot see at the moment"
"So, I'm not blind?!" she stressed.
"No, we just need you to keep the compress on for a little while longer," Donnie's voice seemed to relax her, and she went back to laying her head back on the bed.
"…I'll lift the top of the bed up so you can sit up, ok?" he continued.
She nodded.
"Are you the one that helped me?" she said moving her head into the direction of Donnie voice, "…you don't sound like him,"
Raph lifted his head, she was talking about him.
"No, but he's here, I'm his brother," Donnie looked over to Raph and smiled.
Mikey nudged him and grinned.
Donnie and Leo exchanged glances then Leo nodded for Donnie to take the blind fold off.
"There are four of us here," Said Leo, "…we are brothers. We help people like yourself, in times of need."
KJ flinched a little not realizing that there was more of them.
"…am I in a hospital? Are you doctors?"
Donnie smiled, feeling quite flattered that she thought that.
"No and no," he said, "…although, I am more than capable of attending to your injuries. I have an online bachelor's degree in human medicine if that puts you at ease…"
KJ smiled nervously.
"…I have other medical degrees and masters too!" he continued proudly but then noticed his brothers annoyed glares, "…but I can tell you more about those later."
"Ok, miss," Leo continued, "…we're going to take your compress off now, but we do need to warn you that you might be a bit confused by what you are about to see,"
KJ's heart rate started to rise and the monitor that Donnie had connected to her was starting to beep like crazy.
"Argh man! She's gonna freak out!" Raph growled as he moved closer to the bed.
"We'll deal with it Raph!" snapped Leo as he turned to his brother, but the tension was just escalating the issue and the beeping on the monitors increased.
"Guys, this isn't going to do her any good!" Donnie raised his voice trying to interject.
The three squabbled between themselves for a minute but then stopped when they heard the monitor flat line. They looked over to the girl to see Mikey sat next to her with the heart monitor wires in his hand.
"That noise was driving me crazy!" he said as he looked at them all, trying to stick the monitor stickers on his head.
Donnie sighed and went back to KJ's side and sat down.
"Miss?" he said calmly, "…we are not like everybody else, we're different…"
"Like the guy that saved me. Not human, right?" she said flat toned.
The guys looked at each other.
"Right," Donnie nodded.
She took a deep breath, "Ok. I'm ready."
They all looked at one another again then Donnie proceeded to remove the towel.
KJ squinted her eyes as the light hit them and she shuffled herself up the bed, so she was sat properly. As her eyes adjusted, she started to blink to get her vision clearer. She was nervous to look but curious at the same time. She lifted her head and looked to Donnie who was holding her hand.
She saw a sweet soft looking face smiling at her, his eyes magnified by his glasses. It was strange, she didn't feel threatened or frightened, just inquisitive and surprised.
She looked from Donnie to Leo and smiled as he smiled back, then she looked at Raph who looked back at her, then he looked away quickly. She then looked to her left and saw the biggest smile on Mikey. She looked back at Donnie and smiled again.
"Hi," she said nervously. They all smiled back, apart from Raph who was lurking around in the background.
"You ok Miss?" Leo asked as he got nearer.
"I think," she said, still struggling to get comfortable, "…I'm hurting, and I feel a little sick, but I'm ok."
The guys looked at each other again and Donnie sniggered, "…he meant are you ok with us not being human?"
She looked at them all again, this time Raph was looking at her obviously interested as to why she hadn't acknowledged their differences.
"Well," she said, "…I suppose it all depends on one thing…"
"And what's that?" said Donnie.
"…are you going to hurt me?" she asked.
Donnie and Mikey looked at each other and grinned.
"No, we're not, you're quite safe here." Donnie smiled.
"Ok. In that case I'm fine," she leant back against the back of the bed.
She looked at Mikey who was still smiling like crazy at her. It was infectious and she smiled back at him.
"So, you got a name?" Raph said abruptly.
She looked up. That voice.
"Yeah!" said Mikey, "…the whole 'Miss' thing is getting old, we prefer names like sweet-cheeks or angel-cakes or hot buns, those sorts of names."
"I'm KJ," she chuckled at him, "…well, Karilyn Jessica Jamerson,"
"But people call you KJ, right? For short?" Mikey smiled again and she nodded.
"It's just easier to remember," she smiled softly.
"Well, it's nice to meet you KJ," said Donnie, "…I'm Donatello, that's Michelangelo…" he pointed to Mikey who was still smiling widely,
"Or, Mikey, for short!" He shot her a smouldering look.
KJ chuckled as Donnie rolled his eyes and continued.
"…this is Leonardo…" Leo gave a little nod, "…and the one loitering around in the back there is Raphael, he's the one that saved you."
KJ's eyes widened and she looked over to see Raph.
"Really?" she looked back at Donnie then back at Raph, she had figured as much that he was the one, she recognized the voice. "…well, thank you…" she said in his direction, "…I'm so grateful that you were there."
Raph looked up and nodded, "No problem," their eyes met for a moment and Raph's breath caught in his throat and he felt a hot rush as he looked in her eyes. They were a beautiful chocolate colour, dark and warn, just as he thought but more beautiful than he had imagined. He looked away nervously and quickly left the room.
"You'll have to get used to him," said Leo, "…he's not the easiest to talk to."
"Well, I'm grateful none the less," she rubbed her arms, "…without him I, well I don't know what would have happened."
"What did happen?" asked Donny as he started attending her cuts and bruises, "…your obviously not from around here, your British, right?"
KJ nodded, "I flew in this morning. I have a relative here, well, I did. My aunt. She was over in the UK with me and my family for a few months, but she passed away whilst there."
The guys looked at each other then back at her sympathetically.
"…in her will, she instructed me to come over and take care of her assets, her estate, that's why I'm here. I have a cousin here, but I've not been able to get hold of them. I don't know anything about New York, nothing. I hadn't even had chance to get to my aunt's house. I was making my way to there from the hotel I'm staying in, but then…" she took a deep breath, "…I obviously took a wrong turn and interrupted those three guys doing something they shouldn't have been doing, they grabbed me and dragged me into an alley…"
At this point Raph had re-joined the boys. Unknowing to everyone else he had been listening at the lab entrance and was interested in her story and the way she spoke, her accent was, different.
"…at first, I thought that they just wanted my bag, I would have been happy to give it to them just for them to leave me alone, but it turned out they wanted more. They tore at my clothes and held me down…"
She paused for a second, realizing just how lucky she'd been.
"…someone saw what was happening from a fire escape, I guess, they shouted down, it gave me a chance to get away, I have no idea how I managed it though…" she chuckled still in disbelief, "…I reached another alley, but it had a dead end, the only chance of getting away that I could see was down a man hole. I know you guys here in the states have a bigger sewer system, so I really had nothing to lose. But they followed me down and just when I thought it was all over, this guy appeared and stopped them."
She looked up at Raph again and smiled, and he gave a little awkward smile back. He and his brothers had helped many people but they had only ever been there at the tail end of an attack, they never really got to find out the reasons behind the attacks or what might have happened, or even if the people they saved were thankful. So, hearing this, the difference he had made to KJ's life, and how appreciative she was, well, it was nice to hear.
"Thank you, again, from the bottom of my heart." She pressed her hands to her chest, "…I mean it!"
Mikey shot a grin at his brother in red and winked.
"So, other than the attack, and our brave brothers rescue," Donny smirked at Raph too, then looked back at KJ, still cleaning her cuts, "…you were saying, about your aunt?"
"Oh, yeah," she continued, "…so she left me everything, her house, her business, everything. There's a few things to tidy up and finalize but that's pretty much why I'm here."
"So, you gonna live here?" Mikey chirped, "…because I could show you around and take you to all the cool spots that we know, it would be special gurl, this time of year too, there's beautiful sunsets and fall walks and things…"
The guys shook their heads and gave annoyed groans again but KJ thought Mikey was hilarious.
Suddenly KJ felt a sharp scratch in the back of her hand, she flinched and looked at it, then at Donnie.
"Sorry!" he said nervously, "…you have low blood sugars and a touch of anaemia, so I just thought I'd…"
KJ looked at the canular that Donnie had placed to help her.
"Its fine, Thank you," she said as she rubbed her hand, "…I was sick on the plane, I never get travel sickness, I guess it was the reason I passed out on you," she looked at Raph, "…sorry about that."
He shrugged, not really knowing what to say.
"So, are you all reptiles? Turtles I'm assuming, right?" She asked, they had gotten the answers they wanted from her, so she wanted some answers too.
"What was it that gave it away?" smirked Raph, "…the shell by any chance?"
She smirked back; she liked the sarcasm.
"Yeah we are!" said Mikey excitedly, "…so, we're mutants, we were itty bity turtles and we all got injected with this ooze type stuff and then we were magically transformed in to the sexy, hot, good looking beasts you see now!"
"I think the story come's better from me Michelangelo."
The guys all turned to look at the lab entrance and Splinter who was standing there.
KJ looked over to see the rat looking back at her.
"Oh my god," she said cheerfully yet surprised.
"Hello, my dear," he said as he walked over to her. "…you must excuse my interruption but sometimes Michelangelo gets the details wrong."
She looked at all the guys and then back at the rat.
"So, allow me to tell you what really happened," he continued.
KJ lifted a brow, "Okay," she said still in awe.
She was still in shock, firstly by her rescue then by the four giant Turtles and now by a talking rat. Either she had really had a good bump to the head, or she was dead, or she was dreaming. Whatever it was, she was loving every second of it!