Part 5
Part 5

It seemed an hour or two later before Jenny regained consciousness. She found herself stretched across a couch in the library. It was empty with a few overhead lights that shone down on her. Jenny sat up and looked around. What happened? One minute, she was talking to green men and now she's here. Alone. She started to head out the door and off to meet up with her friend.

Raph watched her leave from a safe distance and gave a thumbs up behind him.

"Maybe she'll think she dreamt the whole thing about seeing us, getting us off the hook."

The group nodded and left to turn down another darkened hallway.

"Jennifer! Damn it, what happened to you? Why can't you tell me?!"

"Because, Risa, you wouldn't understand."

Jennifer sat in the cafeteria with her friend, Marisa. Jenny had been spacing the whole time, thinking about nothing but the experience she had earlier with Leonardo. Maybe small talk would convince her.

"Risa, do you ever notice how you feel sort of drained after our one-on-one workout sessions that we get? I felt it today and something strange happened to me afterwards."

"What do you mean, strange?"

"Well, I left the gym and I saw some weird-looking men with green skin. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me but then I remembered seeing one of these guys earlier. Before my workout."

"Have you talked to our master about it?"

"No, he sent me back to my room. But I don't remember going there. I woke up on a couch. On the top floor library!"

"Whoa. How'd you get there?"

"I don't know. It's all like a blur and I remember bits and pieces. I hope to see those green men again. They seem to know more about what was going on than I did."

"Jenny, who are these green men? People from Mars or something? I think you watch too much science fiction."

"They didn't look human, Risa. They looked....reptilian."

"Wow. Reptiles from Mars. I feel like I'm talking to Gene Roddenberry. So when does your new series come out?" She laughed a little.

Jenny put a hand on her wrist. "It's not funny, Risa! I'm very serious! I think these men or whatever they are came here for a reason. I can sense they are harmless somehow."

"So now what are you? Psychic? One with the sixth sense? Come on, Jenny! You're not acting like your normal self today!"

"You're right. I haven't acted normal since I've signed up for training here. And I haven't felt the same since I met one of them."

"Met one of who?" A blonde-haired girl walked up to them, cutting into the conversation. She wore a blue bikini with denim shorts and a towel swung around her neck.

"Hi, Sam." Jenny smiled to her other friend.

"Hey, Sam." Risa watched her sit down next to her.

"So, who did you meet? I'm nosy."

"Oh, just some weird guys with green skin." Jenny spoke non-chalantly.

"I said they were people from Mars." Risa suggested.

"No, they're more like reptiles. They had shells so I think they were large turtles."

Sam looked to both of them quizzically.

"Sounds strange to me. Maybe we should tell someone about it."

Jenny shook her head. "No, they're harmless. In fact, they're actually cute in a way."

Risa rolled her eyes. "Great you watch too much sci-fi and NOW, you're talking romance."

"It's her choice of literature. I know that for a fact." Sam blew a kiss to Jenny whom pouted at her.

"Sooo, Sammy! Samantha, dear. What brings you down here? I thought you'd be sleeping in after your morning shift."

Sam's eyes widened. "Food brought me here! I'm starving." Jenny was glad the subject was changed. "I can't believe how hungry I've been. After my shift ended, I went and saw the master for my workout and then I wake up in my room totally drained of energy. It's only 10:30. I have some time before shooting practice. Or maybe I'll skip today. It really is no biggy. I was going to eat and then go swim in the pool and Jacuzzi. My bones are aching for those air streams."

"You, too huh?" Jenny looked to Risa. "I don't know why but I feel there's some sort of pattern going on here."

Sam nodded. "Oh? Like some unexplained daily routine?"

Jenny pointed a finger to her. "You know which one I'm talking about."

"I think I do and it's something you're not supposed to be talking about."

Jenny crossed her arms. "And why not? I have a right to know just as anyone else does."

"Yeah, I know. But no one seems to know anything. Or they just don't ask because it's better not to."

"Why do you think that, Sam?"

"Because they're scared."

Risa looked to Jenny and stood up. "Let's go for a walk. That should clear your mind of everything."

Jenny followed then turned to Sam. "Okay. Do you want to come too?"

"No, you go ahead. I'm going to get a snack. I'll catch up with you later."

The Turtles walked down endless hallways that seemed to go forever, occasionally hearing loud screams of young adults through each door. Some doors were doubled that went through into other parts of the building. Shortcuts and passage ways lined the halls in a maddening maze of twists and turns. Leonardo felt his head hurting again and stopped to rest against the wall. Something was now distracting his brain ever since he and Jenny slammed into one another. It was almost as if a piece of her had entered his soul and he could feel what she was feeling. Telekinetically.

"Leo, you okay?" Mike bent down in concern as Leo cradled his head between his legs. His hands rubbed his temples slowly to relieve the continuous pain.

"Uhhh, just been feeling a little dingy, that's all."

"Well, that's nothing new." Raph smirked with arms crossed. "I always knew were a bit dingy to begin with."

Leonardo placed a hand to Michaelangelo to back him away. "I'll be okay. It's just a slight headache. I banged into the wall pretty hard. Hasn't stopped hurting since."

A group of soldiers were heard coming up the hall; their boots clomping on the hard floors.

"Leo, come on! Let's go!" Don whispered as he tried to pull him along. Leo didn't respond and kept his head down.

"Freeze! Put your hands up!" A soldier pulled out his laser.

"Well, which is it?" Raphael's grin quickly faded as the lasers went off. "Shit! Can't ya take a joke?!" He ducked out of the way and started to run.

Mike followed and turned to see Don struggle with Leo whom started a walk fast.

"Leo!" Donatello pleaded. With all his strength, he lifted him up onto his shoulders and started to run. The soldiers continued to fire, lodging burn marks into Donatello's shell. He cried out in shear pain as Leonardo quietly mumbled in his spot.

"Don. Put me down. I can walk."

"Walk, nothing! We've got to get outta here!" Donatello released him and Leo started at a fast pace up to Raph and Mike.

The lasers found their mark as the soldiers continued to aim. The Turtles shouted as they were hit in the legs and arms. Raphael growled and circled around right into the line of fire. The men stopped shooting and stared in shock as Raph came into attack mode. He easily knocked down two as three charged him from the rear. Michaelangelo circled as well and came to Raphael's aid, pulling out a nunchucku and going after the three soldiers. The other men counter attacked with open lasers but were quickly stopped as Don and Leo jumped on top of them. A full brawl began as men, turtles and lasers were thrown around in the small hall way. Raphael grabbed a laser and began aiming and shooting it off at the soldiers. One by one, their bodies were hit and fell limply to the ground.

"Raph!" Leonardo shouted from the bottom of a heap of soldiers whom continued to pound him. Leo elbowed, kicked and rolled around till each was either away from him or knocked out. He ran over to Raphael and pointed an accusing finger. "If you use one of those things, you're just as evil as these men are!"

"Damn you, Leo!" Raphael screamed as he punched out a man who came close. "Whatever works, I'll use it!"

"I told you-" Leonardo turned and side-kicked another on-coming soldier. "Never use guns! Splinter would not be pleased about it!"

"Fuck Splinter!! He's not even here to begin with!"

Leonardo stared wide-eyed and slammed Raphael with a right hook.

"How dare you-" Soon, the two were fighting with each other as the men paid their attention to Michaelangelo and Donatello.

"Oh, wonderful!" Don droned as he punched and kicked to regain his footing. He saw his brothers fight until their dispute was quickly broken as lasers shot off in their direction.

Michaelangelo was thrown against the wall and was pounded over and over again in the stomach. He howled in pain and lifted his padded knee to thrust the soldier hard in the stomach. The soldier backed away and before he could react, Mike puffed out a breath and punched him from an upward angle, sending him flying into the opposite wall.

Leonardo backed up and unsheathed a katana, putting the blade to good use. Knowing a laser will cut through his precious blade, he would dodge the stream of fire without even once thinking of using his weapon as a shield. Poor guy loses too many of his prized possessions, he couldn't bare for one of them to be wasted on these men. Especially men with guns. Two men opened fire and Leo side-stepped and approached them with a zig-zag motion. Upon reaching them, his sword met their flesh and sliced across both their stomachs. The two stared with shock and were left to bleed to death. Leo jumped over their bodies and watched them hit the floor with a loud thud.

Someone threw an arm around Raphael's neck and attempted to squeeze the life out of him. Raphael scratched at his arms and started to walk backwards, slamming the guy into the wall. The guy still held on as Raph gasped and grunted with anger. He smacked him against the wall again and the guy loosened his grip, allowing Raphael to lift his arm and punch him in the face from behind. A soldier witnessed this and drew his weapon at him, shooting at perfect aim. Raphael leaped and backflipped, dodging each shot. The soldier walked closer for better aim and Raphael was finally cornered and crouched down. Before the soldier shot off the weapon that would end his life, the hilt of a katana bapped him on the head, knocking him senseless. Once fallen over, Raphael could see Leonardo standing over him, staring with heaving sides.

Raph glared up at him, knowing he should say something. "Uh, thanks, Leo. I owe you one next time."

Leo continued to stare. "Never dishonor our sensei. Ever again. Or there won't be a next time."

Couldn't argue with that. Raphael nodded and slowly rose off the floor. Leonardo stepped away and viewed the area before resheathing his sword. Donatello was nursing burn marks that hit his arms. Michaelangelo rested against the wall, attending to marks made on his legs. Both looked up as Leonardo approached them.

"Ya, know, with the two of you going off on one another it really makes it more difficult to succeed in battle."

"I know, Mike." Leo spoke in a low tone. "I know."

"I counted 20." Don's voice wheezed from the corner. "Unless I was seeing double. But it was a surprise attack and the odds were definitely uneven."

"How's your arm? S'cuse me, arms plural." Mike sat down next to Don and examined him carefully.

"I feel like a Swiss Cheese, but I think I'll live. Ow!" Mike lightly touched his arm which made Don groan.

"Yeah, my skin isn't laser proof either. Check these babies out." Mike turned his leg over to show small holes with blood trickling down from them. "And my shell got a few hits, too."

"Yup, babies alright. Mine must be full grown. They're actually bigger because their shots were at closer aim. I had to lug our Fearless Leader which slowed my speed down." Don glanced at Leo.

"I wasn't prepared for a battle. And I'm sorry that you got injured on my behalf. Please accept my apology."

"It's okay. I'll be okay. These holes are going to take awhile to heal." Don stood up and Mike followed. "Come on. I know where there's a place to get some first aid."

"How do you know all these places? Did you do some scoping around before meeting up with us?" Mike started to walk with Don.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. It wasn't a grand tour but I did pin point a few locations."

Jenny walked with Risa through the halls, saluting to a group of soldiers whom walked by them. Jenny reached her room and went through with Risa following behind. She flopped her body on the bed and turned to Risa with one arm propped up.

"Do you want to skip shooting practice today? Sounds like Sam's got the right idea. I don't think we'll be missed."

"Jenny! We can't do that! There's nothing else to do here anyway then what we've been doing these past few weeks."

"Risa, what have we been doing here that will be useful in our lives? Have you even thought about that?" Risa stared silently as if thinking. "Exactly. I'm beginning to wonder if our being here even has a point. We work out, practice to shoot hand guns and lasers, we visit some guy we hardly know or if not him one of his assistants. After that, I go blank. Totally forget what was happening."

"I don't know what to say, Jen."

"And look at me." Jenny sat up and gestured to her body. "I don't remember the last time I was overweight. I'm actually under normal weight. The master has said it is because of the exercises and leaves it at that. Workouts take time to lose the weight. I weigh 90 pounds and stand at 5'4. Not a good match. I'm as thin as a rail! And it's really scaring me. I feel like I can't gain weight even if I wanted to."

Risa looked to her body. "I'm 5'2 at 125 pounds so maybe your metabolism is different than mine. It's quite possible your weight loss will come back as you get older and your body will change."

"That's IF I get older! If I lose any more weight, my bones won't be able to support me and I'll eventually die." Jenny shuddered and wrapped her arms around her chest.

"Oh, Jen! Listen to yourself. That's impossible. The only thing that would kill you is lack of eating. And I know you're not anorexic. You have a hearty appetite which you don't puke up later so I know you're not bulimic either. Come on! You're really healthy. Just small and fragile. And very flexible."

Jenny walked over to her closet to change clothes. Risa turned her attention away and skimmed opened books that were left out on her desk. A paperback with a bookmark tassel sticking out caught her attention. She lifted it up to see it was one of those romance novels with a guy and girl in a passionate embrace on the cover. She flipped to the insert to read the reviews and a bit of the blurb on what the story's about.

"Why, Jen? What's your fascination with these Harlequin novels? It's just pure fantasy in my opinion." Risa looked over to see Jenny's bare back facing her. She could see her spine sticking out along with her shoulder bones which moved around as she placed on a lacy black bra. God, she is too thin. She just didn't want to admit it.

Jenny turned around, pushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "My taste in literature has done nothing to harm my personal life. It would be nice to find a gorgeous hunk like the guy on the cover. He'll sweep me away to a uninhabited island and we'd make love from sunrise to sunset. So far, he hasn't come around and it's my imagination that gets me through the days."

"Well, I don't see the harm if you don't let it get to your head. I've been reading horror novels where the gorgeous guys turn out to be serial killers. My taste in literature is when the guy slices and dices his victims or ones that just refuse to die no matter how many times they're killed."

"Are we talking Jason, Michael Myers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Manson material, here?" Risa nodded and grinned. "I worry about you sometimes, kiddo. Where's the romance?"

Risa held up her novel. "Right here if I want it. Which I don't. You won't see me asking you to borrow one of these. Give me Stephen King or Koontz and I'll be gone for weeks."

Jenny pulled up a pair of blue jeans and buttoned them with no trouble. Risa watched her.

"What are those? A size 3?"

"1. Hate to admit they're loose."

Jenny turned and put on a black poets shirt with buttons down the front and flowing, billowy sleeves. The top had a lacy fringe and the bottom tied together to reveal a bit of her pale stomach. She had a belly button ring which was a simple sterling silver loop with a black pearl. Her pants were low so that the piece of jewelry wouldn't rub and irritate her skin. Jenny sat at her vanity table near the bathroom door and combed out her hair. She smiled at her reflection and started to put lipstick on. Freezing in the routine, she opened her mouth again to see her teeth had a red tinge to them. She touched a tooth with one finger and pulled it away to sniff it. It smelled horrible.

"Ewww, what's on me?!" She stood up and felt her teeth again. She stepped over to Risa who wasn't paying attention. "Risa, look at this. What do you make of it?"

Risa turned around and looked into Jenny's grinning mouth. "Eeww, what's that stuff? Did you suck on a red Popsicle without me seeing?"

"I didn't have any Popsicles, Riz. How could you have not noticed it before?"

"I don't know! I don't check on such things as this. It could be something you ate in the cafeteria."

"No, I didn't eat anything. You were the one that ate something. I haven't eaten all day."

Risa shrugged. "So your teeth have a little redness to them. What's the big deal?"

"Are my gums bleeding?" Jenny turned back to the vanity mirror and opened her mouth wider. "Uh, uh. No." Her voice sounded slurred as her lips were pulled upward.

Risa sighed and checked her watch. "We'd better go before class starts. Then I have my solo training afterwards."

"Don't go." Jenny went to put shoes on.

"Excuse me?" Risa followed her. "Don't go to class or training? Which one is it?"

"Umm, don't go to training." Jenny placed on one sock and gave her a worried look. "Sam and I always have ours before you and felt the results. Let's just try an experiment, okay?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's see what will happen if you skip today."

"I'll get punished. That's what will happen."

Jenny stood up and threw down frustrated arms. "Let's lay low today. Go out for awhile and away from the area."

"Have you lost your mind? I'm not leaving till my classes are done for the day. Then I'll go out later."

"Fine. Stick to the rules. Just like we always do. Might as well go to shooting practice a little earlier."

"That's the first normal thing you've said all day. I'm glad to see one of us is getting their routine back in order."

"Yeah, one of us."

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