Beginning: Part Seven
Day Four I

L woke up on the floor. It happened every now and then and each time she was more and more grateful that the girls didn't keep the coffee table too close to the couch. She grumbled to herself as she stood and stretched, giving her sore back the opportunity to scream at her in a very painful language. When she was finally ready to actually move somewhere she peeked into the kitchen and noticed Alisa wasn't there. With a shrug she shuffled into the bathroom, silently calling first dibs on the hot water.

Alisa awoke to the shower running. She yawned, and sat up, stretching a little. She got out of bed, and walked to her closet, pulling out some clothes. She dressed in a pair of cream colored cotton pants, and a blue blouse with tiny white rose blossoms printed all it over. She slipped her feet into socks and shoes, and then headed out of the room to the kitchen to make breakfast.

The most recent events in her and Alisa's lives did little to calm L's sometimes random sense of paranoia. Just knowing that Leonardo and Raphael had been watching them and that Leonardo was able to get into their apartment made her question every shadow she thought she saw. Feeling particularly vulnerable in the shower, she washed quickly and hopped into her clothes after only briefly drying herself off. When she left the bathroom she looked around, saw nothing, and headed into the kitchen where she could hear Alisa making breakfast.

"Good morning," Alisa greeted her. She curiously watched her friend glance around the room as she came in. "Looking for something?"

"No," L lied. "But coffee would be nice."

Alisa gave her a suspicious look.

"Okay, so maybe I'm a little paranoid that random ninjas are watching us from the shadows. I have every right! But I'm fine, really... though I was serious about the coffee." She filled the kettle and put it on the stove, once again wondering why she didn't own a coffee pot.

"I think we're pretty safe." Alisa finished scrambling the eggs, and dumped them onto a plate. She then began frying up some sausage links. "So, where do you want to start on our job hunt this morning?"

"Doesn't really matter. I guess the closer to home the better though. We can just start wherever is closest and move out from there. The more applications we put in the more chance we have of actually getting a job soon. God I'd love to be able to be picky about this... but nope." While she waited for her water to boil she grabbed the instant coffee, sugar and creamer, and as an afterthought a coffee cup.

"All right then." The sausage was cooked, and Alisa carried both breakfast items to the table. She then sat down, and selected her portions, then passed them to L. She picked up her fork, and started to eat.

After piling some of the sausage and eggs onto her plate L hurried over to the stove where her water was boiling merrily. She poured her coffee and was soon at the table eating breakfast along with Alisa.

The girls chatted idly while they ate, the subject of ninjas or giant turtles not coming up once though it was on both their minds. Though she didn't want to admit it Alisa's mind kept occasionally wandering back to Leonardo, while L was beginning to feel more and more self conscious about her freak out the night before. She decided that if she ever was in the presence of the Turtles again, she'd explain to them exactly what had happened. Most people had heard of schizophrenia but didn't really understand it, and she sure as hell didn't want anyone thinking she was hearing voices telling her to kill people or rape cows or something. To L both killing people and cow raping were equally bad if it involved her.

When breakfast was over they cleaned up the kitchen and other than a fiasco involving a roach skittering across Alisa's shoe the morning passed uneventfully. Soon the two girls were ready to go out and face the hassle of picking up applications.

Grabbing her messenger bag L followed Alisa out of the apartment and onto the busy streets of New York. In truth this was the easy part of the job hunting process. Today all they had to do was go around picking up as many applications as humanly possible, which they would then fill out once they got home and return tomorrow. For the moment both girls were feeling pretty confident about their possibilities.

"Here we have a lovely eatery with quick service and a wide variety of food items," L said, motioning towards the door they were about to enter.

Alisa laughed. "It's a McDonalds."

"Well yes, but if you say it that way it sounds so negative. Shoo shoo, on we go!" She shooed Alisa inside and in minutes the two were back on the sidewalk with applications in hand. "Oh yeah, we scored the applications!"

Laughing again, Alisa urged L to keep going and to save her celebrating for later.

The girls continued to walk along the avenue. The next stops included a pizza eatery, a Burger King, and even a grocery store to collect applications. When the girls each had an arm full of papers, they decided to call it a day, and head back home.

"We were certainly fruitful in our search," Alisa remarked, as they stepped inside their apartment, "I hope someone will hire us from one of these places."

"Yeah," L replied.

They carried their stack of papers to the kitchen, and laid them on the table. They would fill them out later.

"Sooo... it's lunch time," L said. "Eating out isn't an option I guess since we should save our money and we did have pizza last night. But I was thinking maybe a picnic? That is, if we're brave enough. Nothing's happened to us so far today!"

Alisa thought it over, and then nodded. "All right. We'll have it in the park."

She began opening various cupboards, taking inventory of their supplies. They had enough to fix a picnic though afterwards they would seriously have to go grocery shopping. "What do you want to bring?"

"Sandwiches are fine with me. I can seriously live the cheap food life, unfortunately ramen doesn't really go well with picnic." She began rummaging through the fridge to inspect the lunch meat for mold. "I think we have some chips in one of the cabinets, I'm not sure."

Alisa noticed the bag of chips L mentioned, and confirmed they did. She brought those down, and set them on the countertop.

"So chips, and sandwiches. What else? Cookies?" She rummaged around until she found a half eaten container of Oreos.

"Oh hell yes cookies! And sodas, we're almost out by the way." L retrieved the lunch meat and sodas from the fridge, as well as various condiments they may need for their sandwich making pleasure. "Do we have something to carry all this in?" she asked as she began to prepare the sandwiches.

"Um..." Alisa knelt down to the lower cabinets, and began searching through them. L heard various rattles of crockery as Alisa moved them aside.

A few moments later, Alisa emitted a triumphant "Yeah!", and pulled out a small cooler. "I think this will do," she said, as she stood up with it, "I just need to wash it out first."

"Oh good, I hate it when my sandwiches have that cooler funk aftertaste." She finished up fixing the sandwiches and afterwards put them into little baggies. When Alisa was done washing out the cooler and toweling it off L carefully placed their lunch inside. "I think that's it!"

"Yeah."

Alisa picked up the cooler, and carried it to the door. The two girls stepped out of the apartment once again, this time heading to Central Park for what they hoped would be a peaceful picnic lunch.

"So far so good," L said cheerfully as they walked. "We picked up our applications, we came home and we've made it this far without incident. I told you today would be better than yesterday... not that it would really take much. Yesterday was horrible."

Alisa nodded. "I know."

She was really grateful the day seemed to be going smoothly. She felt more relaxed and not so on edge without looking into every shadow-filled corner for danger. Now if it would just stay that way.

Ten minutes later, they reached the park, and traveled the path inside until they came to a nice clearing with tables scattered around.

"This seems like a good spot," Alisa suggested.

"Then this is where we eat!"

They sat at one of the tables and began unpacking the food.

"I used to come here as a kid with my family y'know," L said. "My big sister and I would play until we annoyed the crap out of our parents and they finally decided it was time to go home." She laughed. "Of course that was years before I was diagnosed."

Alisa smiled. "My parents used to bring me here as a kid too. I didn't have any siblings to play with, but I played with the other kids in the park. My favorite place was the fountain, and the lake with the boats."

She sighed deeply, her smile fading as she felt a slight twinge of sadness creep over her. She'd mourned, and gotten past her parents' deaths for the most part, but every now and then it still hurt.

L suddenly felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry, I should have thought before I said anything. I know it's got to hurt..." It hurt enough knowing your parents were alive and didn't want anything to do with you, she could only imagine what it was like for them to be dead.

Alisa shook her head. "It's okay. I need to remember."

She picked up a sandwich, and removed it from its bag. She bit into the bologna on white. She swallowed before continuing to speak. "I just can't see how your parents treat you the way they do. It's wrong."

She shrugged. "I can kinda understand... they tried to help me but I wasn't exactly very appreciative. After I... let myself out of the hospital and refused to go back they gave me the choice. Go back or leave for good. I wasn't going back. I mean it wasn't like some hideous torture chamber like you see on TV sometimes but they weren't going to make me better. So my parents got their perfect daughter and got rid of their flawed one."

Alisa looked angry and disgusted. "I would never treat my own child like that, different or not." She bit her lip. "That's what wrong with most people. They fear and shun what they don't understand, or isn't like them."

"It used to upset me... and it still does from time to time, but I've just sort of come to accept it. I mean I think I'm doing pretty well without them personally. If I was still with them I'd no doubt still be living at home under the close eye of my mother. I couldn't live like that, I need a certain degree of freedom. That could be why I hate being stuck inside the apartment for long periods of time... or that could just be because I'm fidgety." She laughed. "Either way it's a pretty good reason."

"As long as you're happy."

Alisa took another bite of her sandwich, and then followed it with a few chips. There was a warm breeze rather than a cool one like the past two days. Maybe that meant it would stay dry tonight.

They sat in silence as they ate, and once she was done L left the table in favor for the grass. After checking to make sure she wasn't in danger of landing in doggy doo or ant hills she spread out on her back and stared up into the sky.

Alisa finished her own lunch shortly after, and joined L on the ground. She didn't lie down, but sat beside her friend instead. She lifted her head to the pale blue sky. A few white puffy clouds drifted by lazily.

"This has been nice," she commented, "I hope the day ends as equally well as it began."

"Yeah," L said somewhat dreamily. "Given the shit we've been through lately it's been nice to just tackle the day with complete optimism and be rewarded for it. It sounds cheesy but on this particular moment in time, things really do seem perfect."

Alisa nodded. "That they do." She finally lay back on the grass herself. She remembered she used to do this as a little girl, and would imagine shapes in the clouds. She tried now to see if she could.

Once again falling into silence, but this time a pleasant comfortable one, the girls laid on the grass. Before L knew it, she had fallen asleep.

Alisa glanced over at L, and found her asleep. Despite the fact all was peaceful, she wasn't about to let her guard down that much. She must remain alert. She sat up, and began keeping watch.

Suddenly the air around them seemed very still, almost enough to unnerve even Alisa. Looking around she noticed they were alone in the park. Had they always been alone or had everyone left? And when did the breeze stop? Now little noises like twigs snapping and leaves rustling seemed incredibly loud, no doubt enhanced by the sudden silence and Alisa's sudden alertness. She began to wonder if she should wake L up when a rustling noise louder than all the others grabbed her attention.

A squirrel darted out of the bushes, quickly scampering for the nearest tree. Alisa nearly passed out from relief, and laughed at herself for being so afraid. She then shook her head, and sighed. She didn't need all of this stress. It was starting to make her jump at every noise.

She was beginning to relax again, when she sensed a presence behind her, and turned just in time to see a person clad in a ninja black dogi with the three-flame symbol; Foot. Before she was able to scream, he lunged at her, and immediately silenced her with a wet cloth. She briefly inhaled a strong, sweet scent, and she realized the cloth was soaked in chloroform.

He held the cloth tightly with one hand to her face while his arm snaked around her waist. She struggled to free herself from his grip, but she was weakening quickly. Though Alisa held her breath, she had already breathed enough of the chemical for it to work. She was starting to feel dizzy and sleepy, but still she kept fighting.

"Master Shredder will be pleased," he hissed softly in her ear, "Soon he will finish the job."

All she was able to do was emit a short, faint cry before passing out completely.

When L woke up some time later she was startled to realize that Alisa was gone. If it were any other scenario that wouldn't mean much but the two girls had been in the park and were making a habit of being attacked. This seemed bad... really bad.

She looked around frantically, getting to her feet in seconds. Calling Alisa's name did no good and it was soon becoming apparent that she wasn't anywhere in the immediate vicinity. L knew Alisa, and she would have never left her sleeping friend voluntarily.

Mumbling curses she ran as fast as she could back to the apartment. When she reached her door she wasn't surprised to find it open and the apartment a wreck. Whoever had kidnapped Alisa had been there first, and apparently didn't give a damn if L knew it. She ran a mental checklist of who the hell could have kidnapped her friend and the only people she could think of were the Purple Dragons and the Foot. The Purple Dragons would have taken her too no doubt, or would have been stupid enough to at least wake her in the struggle. On the other hand she wasn't sure if the Foot would have done this to her apartment. From Alisa's explanation they always sounded so elite... but she guessed that didn't matter.

With one of her knives in her hand in case anyone was still around L made her way through the mess over to the fridge where thankfully Casey's number remained. She grabbed the piece of paper and deciding that using a payphone would be better than remaining in the apartment just in case, she ran to the pizza place that was only feet from the apartment complex. Once inside she dialed the number and prayed that Casey was home.

"Hello?"

"Casey! Casey you have to come get me, Alisa's gone!"

"Hold on a second, what are you talking about?"

"She's gone! We were in the park and I'd fallen asleep- yes I know how stupid that is you don't have to tell me. When I woke up she was gone and when I got home our apartment was a wreck." She looked around the room suspiciously and lowered her voice. "I think it was the Foot."

That was all it took, Casey was off the phone and on his way within seconds.

---

When Alisa came to, she found she was no longer in the park. She was lying on a cot in a darkened room. She tried to sit up, but her head started to ache from the effects of the chloroform, and she was forced to lie back down. She resigned herself to her current condition, and looked around. The room was tiny, and sparse. Aside from the cot she laid on, there was no other furniture. There were no windows, or any other light source.

She didn't know exactly where she was, but she was certain of who this place belonged to. She was at the mercy of these assassins, and it was only a matter of time before they'd kill her too. Her small, thin frame began shaking terribly with fright. She didn't want to die. She had come too far for it to end like this.

She wished there was someone who could help her. L was probably frantic by now, and calling Casey. Alisa knew he would come, but he would be against impossible odds if he came alone. He'd have to have reinforcements. Maybe he would ask the Turtles, even Leonardo. At the thought of him, she suddenly felt overwhelming sadness wash over her. She'd probably never get to see him again. There was no way now they would ever have a chance together.

Very softly, she began to cry.

---

L had no doubt that Casey had sped to get her and for the first time she saw the beat up black van he drove. She should have assumed something was up but she climbed in the passenger's side and simply leaned back, not bothering to ask where they were going.

"Tell us what you know about what happened."

L would have fallen out of her seat had she not been buckled in. She turned to see all four turtles in the back of the van.

"I... I don't know. I fell asleep and when I woke up she was gone, there was absolutely no sign of her. When I got back to the apartment the door was open and the place was wrecked so I ran to a payphone to call Casey. I know the Purple Dragons aren't exactly fans of us and the Foot have been looking for her since they killed her parents." By now she was shaking and flipping all three rubber bands on her wrist rapidly, not even feeling the sting.

"You expect us to believe that she just disappeared and you didn't even wake up?" Raphael asked with obvious skepticism.

"Raph if the Foot wanted Alisa there'd be no reason to bother with L," Donatello pointed out.

Raph glared at L, still suspicious. "It just doesn't sound right to me."

"Right or not Alisa's been kidnapped and we have to help her," Leonardo said.

"Of course you'd say that," Raph replied with a snort.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh please, you've been soft on this girl since the minute you saw her, get over yourself!"

"Guys!" Casey shouted, interrupting the argument. "Can you please shut up long enough to tell me where the hell I'm going?"

Donatello informed Casey of their destination and thankfully the argument ended for the moment.

"So you... know these guys then? The Foot?"

"Oh yeah, we go way back," Michelangelo said casually. "They've been mad at us ever since we started trying to stop them from destroying the city."

"I can imagine."

"Do you have any idea why they killed Alisa's parents?" Leonardo asked.

L shook her head. "She never said, I don't even know if she knows. We've talked about it but I know it's a painful subject so I don't really bring it up much y'know."

"This doesn''t make sense, even for the Foot." L didn't care to turn around but she could feel Raphael's eyes on her. "Why should be believe you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Why should we believe you? We don't even know you."

Leonardo was obviously growing angry at his brother. "Raph that's enough!"

"No Leo, let her answer. Why should we believe some crazy girl we just met?"

L closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Raphael I will tell you once more before I attempt to slit your throat... and I will, whether I have a chance or not. I am not crazy. I am schizophrenic. I'm paranoid, I sometimes smell or feel things that aren't there, and on very rare occasions I see things that aren't there which is why I freaked out when I first met you. I sometimes laugh or cry when I shouldn't, and I don't like people I don't know touching me. I am not a pathological liar and I do not have a problem distinguishing reality from fantasy. Other than being a little mentally ill I'm relatively normal."

"Give her a break Raph, I know L, she's not some kind of weirdo. If she says Alisa was kidnapped she was," Casey said, his eyes never leaving the road.

Raph seemed to accept this answer and oddly he was more amused by L threatening to slit his throat than offended. She knew she couldn't do it but she'd try anyway, he almost had to respect that... almost. He still didn't trust her.

The rest of the ride was relatively silent and the sun was just starting to set as they reached their destination.

---

Time was torture in and of itself, especially when one was waiting to face death. Alisa was aware that some time had passed, but she didn't how much. It wasn't very easy to see a watch in the dark.

Her head was feeling better, and she sat on the cot rather than lying. She was still as a statue, her eyes closed, and her breathing deep and rhythmic. She was trying a slight form of meditation she learned to help her remain calm. So far it seemed to be working. Suddenly, she heard a noise outside the door of her room, and opened her eyes. The door was roughly opened then, and a tall mountain of a man strode in. He had blonde hair that was tied back in a small pony tail, and wore a grey jumpsuit. He had a tattoo of a full dragon on his arm.

The man grinned wickedly at her. "The Master has plans for you, girly."

He grabbed Alisa's arm, and yanked her hard off the cot. It took all she had not to cry out. He dragged her from the room, and into the hall, practically pulling her along behind him.

---

"So... what now?" L asked nervously.

Casey grabbed his golf bag and smiled. "Now we bust in there and grab Alisa!"

"Not exactly Casey." He turned to L. "But he has the basic idea."

"So that's just it? You don't have a plan?"

"You're new to this aren't you?" Michelangelo said.

Leo smiled. "Let us worry about that, you stay here."

"Whoa whoa whoa... that's my best friend in there... my only friend- no offense Casey. You can't expect me to just stay here!"

"Yeah we can," Raphael said quickly.

Donny ignored his brother. "L trust us, we're good at this sort of thing."

"And I appreciate that but you seem to be missing my point. Imagine one of your brothers was in there. Would you stay here in the van? I don't think so! Look, I'm no ninja but if you've failed to notice I don't exactly walk around unarmed." She swiftly pulled both knives from her boots, an action she'd practiced enough times that it looked fairly poetic by now. "And last I checked Casey wasn't a ninja either. I'm coming, deal with it."

The conversation was over, she was going and they knew that no matter how much they, especially Raph didn't like it.

"At the very least stay with Casey." It was a command but the way Leo said it sounded more like a request and L appreciated that.

"Yeah, I'll protect you."

L rolled her eyes and laughed. "Thanks, you're a peach."

Leonardo ignored their banter. "Is everyone ready?"

---

"I hear you've been messing with the Purple Dragons."

The burly man was making small talk with Alisa, but it was more to intimidate her than to be polite.

"Only because they messed with me," she shot back, "They didn't know when to leave well enough alone. It's not my fault they're a bunch of idiots."

She knew it would be better to hold her tongue, but she would not be scared into submission. The man roughly twisted her arm suddenly, and she let out a gasping cry. She bit her lip so hard that she began to taste blood as she tried to keep tears of pain in her eyes from flowing down her cheeks. He leaned towards her, his cold black eyes piercing her emerald green ones straight into her soul. He was so close she could feel his breath on her skin. She shivered, afraid now, and shrank back from him as far as her limited movement allowed.

"I suggest you watch your mouth, you little vixen," the man warned, "You will swiftly learn a smart attitude such as yours will get you killed."

Isn't this why I'm here? she thought, somberly.

Alisa looked to the floor and only nodded submissively, remaining quiet. The man gave her a sneering grin, and patted her head like he would a dog. She shuddered inwardly at the touch.

"Good girl," he said, simply.

He continued to lead her down the long hall. A few minutes later, they finally reached the end of it, and came upon a set of double doors with a huge three-flame fire emblem of the Foot in the center. The doors parted open silently, and the man pushed Alisa inside the large room. At the back of the room, a man of Japanese descent sat at a low table. A huge black banner with the Foot symbol hung on the wall behind him, and two black iron fire pedestals stood on each side a few feet away. The flickering flames made the shadows in the room dance eerily, adding to the ominous atmosphere.

The Japanese man gave a slight smile as they entered. It was welcoming, but lacked warmth or friendliness. Alisa could feel the sheer power that emanated off his being, and where she was only slightly scared of the blonde man, she suddenly felt complete terror of this man. The blonde man bowed to him, and forced Alisa to do the same.

"Ah, Hun," the Japanese man addressed the burly man, "You have brought our guest? Excellent. You may leave us."

The man waved Hun away, and Alisa was left alone with the leader of the Foot.

---

L simply went with it, following the group as they made their way inside and quietly hurried towards their destination. She asked no questions but her mind was full of them. It was apparent that they had been to the building before and therefore knew where they were going. While that gave L a sense of assurance she still had a nagging sense of paranoia regarding the ease of their entry. If this was Foot headquarters where were all the Foot?

Her answer was given to her sooner than she had hoped. In the blink of an eye Foot ninjas were everywhere, and L suddenly wondered what the hell she'd gotten herself into. She wasn't disillusioned. She knew she was no match for these guys and she also knew that Alisa would probably yell at her for even trying, but L was stubborn. As the Turtles flew into action she clutched her knives with her own plan forming in her mind.

The Turtles fought with honor and she could respect that. She had to, their honor had saved both her and Alisa's lives. L however didn't have the luxury of such a thing and simply took to playing the vulture. She tried to remain as out of sight as possible, appearing only when one of the Turtles or Casey had knocked a ninja down long enough for her to attack. She was good with her knives, good enough to make quick work of most people, but ninjas were outside her realm of expertise. She took no pride in it but she was simply forced to remove the fallen ninjas from the fight permanently before they could get back up.

"Come on!" Leonardo yelled once enough of the ninjas were down that they had a relatively clear path.

When Leonardo ran they followed, Raphael taking up the rear and almost gleefully fighting off any Foot who dared attack him. He had a ferocity his brother's lacked and L realized that quickly. They were all excellent fighters but Raphael seemed to really enjoy himself, almost a little too much. It only made L feel more uneasy.

"Is everyone okay?" Leonardo asked, always the leader.

They had momentarily stopped in a corridor that for the time being was silent and free of Foot ninjas. She could see Donatello working on a hand held computer though she had no clue what exactly he was doing.

"I'm fine," L said finally. "You all seem fairly comfortable with all this. Is it safe to say you've been here before?"

"We know The Shredder," Raphael replied without explanation.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"There's no time to explain," Donny said. "We've got company coming."

For a second L thought this was something he learned from the computer he held but then she realized even she could see the ninjas coming at them from both sides.

"Shit... what now?"

"We do what we always do," Michelangelo told her, his trademark smile intact as always. "We go up."

"Up?"

Donny pointed to a ventilation shaft which much like dark alleys are generally conveniently placed for just such an occasion. "Up."

By now L felt she had no grasp on the situation at all. "Oh. Yeah, that makes sense... I guess."

"C'mon lady, no more talking."

Before she could protest Raphael grabbed her with one arm around the waist and the four turtles plus one vigilante and one increasingly disturbed young adult were in the ceiling. The space was cramped but L wasted no time putting as much distance between her and Raphael as possible.

"What is wrong with you, I just saved your life AGAIN."

"I know... and... thank you." She hated to have to say that to him. "But I... I don't like to be touched."

"What? Y'know you really are-"

"Guys, can you please be quiet?" Leonardo hissed.

Michelangelo laughed quietly. "Yeah, you're totally ruining our stealth!"

Leo sighed but was happy enough when no more words were heard. It wasn't too long before they were only feet away from the room where Alisa was being held.