Never-NeverLand – Chapter 6
Sterling watched the highway glare strobe over Raphael's face. He still held both of her wrists in one of his muscular hands. His expression was nothing less than smug. 'Oh, I see. We've got an ego, don't we Mr. Ninja? Well I, for one, am not gonna give you that satisfaction.' Sterling arched an eye ridge at him, shrugged half-heartedly and rolled her eyes. She couldn't have said, 'I'm not impressed.' any better if she'd used neon lights.
She watched his eyes widen, then shut until they were angry slits. His grip tightened, then it was gone. He turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. He missed seeing the laughing light in her eyes as she covered her beak, trying not to smile.
'Goddamn her! What's a guy gotta do to impress—Shit! Why the hell are you trying to impress her, you fucking moron? She's trouble! You messed it all up already. Fuckin hell…' Raphael shut his eyes and cursed a silent hate-filled mantra. 'Why does that bitch do this to me? Like I should care what she thinks? I mean, she's not the only girl on the planet. If she's stubborn and cold and fuckin' PSYCHO, then why am I getting' all worked up about her?' An image of her covered in dirt, grease and soot filled his head. 'Out in the barn, playing with power tools. Shit. Sexless tomboy.'
Sterling watched him pout for a bit. 'Well, that certainly gave me a reaction. Your shell's not too thick, is it Raphael?' Sterling's mirth had died; he was clearly more upset than she had intended. 'We just keep doing that to one another. Neither of us is as strong as we pretend. Jeez, I didn't mean to hurt you.' She didn't know how to apologize without words and without making a scene, or making it worse. She leaned back against the cooler, and stared at the ceiling.
'What the hell is wrong with me? My sisters don't seem to have these problems.' Laughter interrupted her thoughts. She shut her eyes, hoping to somehow shut out the sound. 'Why did I have to go an' be spiteful like that? What's it matter if I acknowledge that he's got a strong grip, or fast hands?' Sterling sighed. 'For that matter, what's with him? Why does it matter whether or not I'm swooning over his skills? What kind of CHILD can't handle bein' teased just a little bit? Arrogant jerk.'
Pipes pulled out of her shell. +"Dang it, Mikey! How come you needed to put ME at ground zero for your little land-war with the 'Foo'? "+ She turned to face him, noting that her wrath had not even 'blipped' on his radar. She threw on an outrageous British accent, +" Jus' YOO way-t, Moikee 'iggins!"+
"Oh no! It's Eliza Dolittle! What're you gonna do? Huh?" Mikey bapped the top of her head. Pipes raised a hand to stop him and failed miserably. "Huh?" Bap. "Huh?" Bap. He changed his target, tapping her on the shoulder instead. "Whoops! Too slow!" Tap. Pipes sat still and folded her arms, fighting a smile. Mike continued to grin and play "bongo" on her head and shoulders. "You gonna EE-nun-See-Ay-Tuh at me? You gonna put all that RAY-en from SPAY-en on my PLAY-en?" Bap-Tap-Bap-Bap-Tap. "Huh, Miss Dolittle? You gonna beat me at Street Fighter? Huh? You gonna thumb wrestle me into submission?" Pipes' smile unfolded across her face.
+"I would offer to thumb wrestle you, but I'm scared I'd break your boy-child fingers."+ She inspected her own nails as silence rolled through the van.
"What?"
+"You heard me. I know that you and your pudgy three little piggies there are no match for me."+
The guys burst into guffaws of laughter. Pipes ignored them, cracking her knuckles and massaging her hands and wrists.
"Sure! Why the hell not?" Michelangelo managed to wheeze before he lapsed back into laughter.
"Don't hurt her, Mike." Leonardo sounded genuinely concerned, but willing to go along with things.
Donnie just shook his head, "I can't watch this."
Shima and Cabbage traded smirks with Sterling across the van. "Would you gentlemen like to make a wager?"
Shima suddenly had even Raphael's attention. "The best two out of three. Hold for the count of five seconds, timed by Donatello's watch. She wins, and all sisters are exempt from embarrassing stories for the rest of the trip. He wins and the reverse is true. Oh, whichever side wins can demand five completely truthful answers from the opposite team."
Pipes looked up from her hand stretches. +"Oh, and if I win, I want Mike's bandana as a trophy."+
Mike snorted, "Yeah, right. And if I win? What do I get as a trophy?"
Pipes didn't blink. +"A massage."+
"OK! Move it guys, Pipes and I gotta be across from each other."
After some shuffling, Pipes sat with her back to the van's back hatch, her sisters along the right hand side of the van. Mike sat with his back to Casey. "I'm prolly gonna crash this van laughing if you get your ass beat by a girl."
"Shut up Casey."
Mike's brothers lined the other side of the van. Donatello held his watch's back-light button, illuminating the seconds. +"Right or left-handed?"+
Mike rolled his eyes, "Like it matters, dudette."
She shrugged and extended her right hand.
Mikey did likewise, noting that her hands were a lot more fragile than he remembered. As they clasped hands, the differences in hand shape became even more evident. Where his were compact and powerfully thick, her three fingers were longer and thinner. His knuckles sat flush with the meat of his fingers. Hers seemed to stand out like bony knobs. Though they gave her hands a slightly skeletal appearance, Mike could see and feel the tendons shifting along them as she adjusted her grip. Mike could feel sinews under the thin padding in her palm against the backs of his fingers. 'That does it, she's gonna gain some weight if I have to force her to main-line ho-ho's when we get home.'
Pipes noted the thick calluses and heavy joints in his hand. She knew that if she were pinned, there would be no weaseling out of it. His fingers were short, at least compared to hers. 'That's a point in my favor.' Pipes gave his fingers a squeeze, judging the reflexive twitch. 'He's fast and obscenely strong. I'm gonna have my work cut out for me. There are only a few points that I would be able to hold if I do pin 'im.' Pipes laughed at herself. 'Oh well, at least I didn't challenge him to arm wrestling. He'd've handed my ass to me on a platter.' She nodded to Shima. +"Ready when the boy-wonder is."+
"Dudette, you watch it, or you'll be singing that British song as a duet with Cabbage when you've finished that massage." Mikey smiled and nodded to Shima.
"One. Two. Three. Four. I declare a thumb war!"
Mikey went straight in for the pin, assuming that his speed and strength would overwhelm her slower, smaller thumb. Just as he felt her nail on the bottom of his thumb, he saw her thumb flip back at an almost impossible angle. It snapped back into place with a cricking noise and locked in a ring around his knuckle.
"What?—"
"Remember to count Donnie. The watch."
"Oh. Yeah. One. Two. Three. Four. Five."
Pipes released his thumb. "What in the hell?" Mikey shook out his hand. He wasn't gonna fall for that twice. "You're double-jointed!" She shrugged. Casey cackled in the front seat.
"Damn! Mikey… man, if we gotta hear stupid stories about Leo for the rest of the trip—"
"Shut up Raph! The stupid stories'll be about YOU, I promise." Mike studied his opponent's joints more carefully this time. 'Can't lose again. Cabbage is watching. My brothers would never let me forget it down. Casey'll never shut up about it. Sensei's right there, and I know he's not asleep.' Her hands looked just like they did the first time. "I'm ready; let's go." She nodded and extended her right hand.
Pipes kept her smile internal. 'I've got your attention now, don't I? I certainly wouldn't mind losing, if it meant I could just give you a massage. That would be fun, but then I'd have to listen to my sisters bitching about how I threw the match. Honesty is the best policy, right? May the best turtle win.' With a quiet sigh, Pipes nodded to Shima.
"One. Two. Three. Four. I declare a thumb war!"
This time Mike kept his thumb high and back as he searched for an opportunity to strike. Pipes felt his palm tensing against her fingers and lowered her thumb slowly into the pinning zone. Quick as a flash, Mike's thumb came down on open air. Some how she'd swung her thumb to the right over the back of her own hand and up, out of the way and poised to pin him again. She clamped down on his knuckle and Mike heard his brothers' groans as Donnie counted to five.
"Shit! Mike, I thought you could thumb wrestle, man!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Casey was belly-laughing in the front seat.
Mike snatched the bandana from his head, and threw it at Pipes, who caught it with a smile. Her smile faded though, as she realized that his pride was seriously bruised.
+"Oh, shut up. There's no way any of you guys would've won either.."+ She extended her hand and proceeded to dislocate every joint in her hand with a series of small pops. Where the muscles should have prevented movement, sinews shifted and stretched, making her hands look webbed. She fanned her three fingers out so wide that her thumb touched her wrist. She'd pulled the bone out of its socket at the base of her palm. She wriggled her fingers. It was like watching snakes dance.
Raphael spoke quietly, "Another birth defect?"
+"Nope. Elective surgery."+ Pipes smiled and folded her fingers back into their sockets. +"One of Cabbage's first and finest. That's my baby sister, the mad scientist."+