The turtle boys were sat on the roof of Aprils' apartment for almost a half an hour before they got any news. April had convinced her friend to keep quiet and to meet them on the roof so they could all straighten everything out. Leonardo was back to pacing, Raph was leaning against a roof access looking sullen. Donnie had recovered enough to keep calm and continue thinking about a certain red-head, while Mikey was still sitting cross legged thumbs racing over the screen of his hand held game, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth.
"What is taking so long?" Raph demanded, as if that would help any.
"Give it time, I'm sure Donnie scared that poor girl pretty bad. How would you feel if you came face to face with something that didn't exist?" Leo reasoned.
"I wake up to Mikey's cooking every day, I know exactly how she feels." Raph shot back.
Michelangelo just glared at Raphael. Raph never seemed to hate his cooking that much since he always ate it, and usually took seconds.
They all turned as the ladder started rattling against the bricks of the building, scraping harshly and digging deep grooves into the concrete. Aprils fiery hair was visible first, she hopped over the low wall and smiled at her mutant friends.
"Hey guys, sorry we took so long. I really need to start locking that window when I have company over." April smiled sheepishly at the guys. She was literally about to lock the window when her aunt had called to her that the pizza was burning.
"Hey April!" Donnie said overly enthusiastically. The others nodded at April as they noticed a brown haired girl climbing up onto the roof.
"Guys, this is Holly. First off, who came into my room?"
"That was me," Donnie grinned rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, I thought it was you in the other room." He turned to Holly, "Sorry if I startled you, I really didn't mean to scare you."
Holly stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "It's fine, sorry I assaulted you with a lamp, and the stapler." Aprils head snapped around at her friend. "What, I thought he was trying to rob you, or eat me! I had to defend myself."
"You got beat up by a girl with a lamp, oh that's rich!" Raph laughed at Donnie's expense.
"Dude! How'd she hit you with a stapler, you're supposed to have ninja reflexes!" Mikey joined his brother laughing as Donnie turned red in the cheeks.
"Would you guys knock it off, this is still a serious situation." Leonardo turned and looked Holly straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry to sound rude here, but we need to be sure that you aren't going to tell anyone about us. We have to remain hidden from the world to ensure our safety."
Holly dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. Besides, who would I tell? April is pretty much my only friend right now. Plus, if I did tell I'm sure I'd either be laughed at or dragged off for a mental health screening."
"Good. Now that that is out of the way, I'm Leonardo. Everyone calls me Leo." Leo held out his hand to the girl who stood on the roof of the apartment in a track suit and no shoes. She hesitated, but only for a moment before grasping his hand and shaking it gently.
"It's, interesting, to meet you." She smiled nervously at him, then glanced at the others.
"That's Mikey on the floor, and the sulky one is Raph." Leo pointed to his brothers. "You already met the so called genius Donatello." Leo narrowed his eyes warningly at the purple clad turtle.
"Yeah, I really am sorry. My instincts just kind of took over for a minute there." Holly grimaced at him.
"It's alright, you didn't hurt me. I will admit that I was surprised that you didn't just keel over like most people do." Donnie laughed nervously. Holly chuckled too. April just kept quiet beaming happily to herself. She had been dying to tell someone about the turtle brothers. She never would reveal their secret willingly but now that someone else had stumbled upon them it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
"This is so awesome!" April squealed. Leo gave her a weird look, as did Holly. "Sorry, but it's nice to have someone else around that I can talk to about you guys!"
"You've wanted to talk about us?" Donnie asked
"Well yeah, it's kind of hard keeping such a big secret. Besides it will be nice to talk to a girl for a change." April stated plainly.
Holly just shook her head. This was, by far, the strangest day ever. She just stood for a moment taking it all in. Her best friend had somehow found a group of mutated turtles and befriended them after her father was abducted. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, something strange was going on. She was missing pieces of this puzzle and now that she had started it she wanted to see the bigger picture.
"You said that these guys had started life as ordinary turtles' right?" Holly directed the question at April, but Donatello was the one to answer.
"Yes that's right, we were pets but when our owner was covered in a mutagen some of it splashed on us and we changed into what you see now." Donnie gestured at himself and his brothers.
"It's a shame you all look like you do, when you could have looked as good as me." chimed in Mikey.
Raph smacked him over the back of the head. "You wish half pint. Besides we all know I'm the good looking one." Raphael tapped himself on the plastron to emphasize his point.
Holly laughed softly, but turned her attention back to Donatello. "That's all well and good, but where did the mutagen come from. There is no way that it was just lying around and if it were just some radioactive waste it would have given you cancer and killed you, not mutated you into half-man, half -turtles."
"She catches on quickly doesn't she?" Donatello looked over at April.
"That's why she's my science partner!" April replied brightly.
"I hope that's not the only reason I'm your science partner." Holly huffed, crossing her arms back across her chest.
The rat-tag group of friends laughed together, and even Holly cracked a smile. Raphael just stood in a corner, brows furrowed and scowl firmly in place. "Now that we're all chummy- chummy, why don't we go do our patrol? You know, like we were supposed to do an hour ago."
"But I have so many more questions!" Holly shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "How is this even possible? Scientific research is no where near causing this sort of genetic mutation, at least not in the public sector". She was muttering to herself just trying to come to terms with this whole situation.
"Unfortunately we do have to go, but if you like, we can come here again. I know that I still have questions." Leo offered. They needed to get back and inform Master Splinter what had happened. He wouldn't be happy, but he would see they had tried to fix the mess they had made.
"Its fine by me! You'll just have to come over more ofter." April turned to Holly, and so did four other sets of eyes.
Holly suddenly felt timid, which was not something she felt often. She took a step backwards again and stammered, something else she didn't usually do. "Uh, y...yeah I suppose you'll have questions for me too. You know, to make sure I'm trustworthy."
"Alright, well we'll see you girls tomorrow." Leo waved as he motioned for his siblings to follow suit. Without a backwards glance he took off over the roof tops at full speed.
"It's about time, later April." Raph looked stiffly at Holly, "and you too I guess."
Holly was taken aback, what the hell was that? Did she do something? She pursed her lips and frowned behind her glasses, what a jerk!
"Don't worry, he's just putting on a tough front. It's kind of his thing." April winked at her.
"See you Ape, and is there any chance you could bring some pizza with you tomorrow?" Mikey gave them his best puppy dog eyes.
"Let's go Mikey, see you Holly. Bye April." Donnie waggled his fingers at April then proceeded to shove Mikey toward the next roof top. They ran and leapt across to the next building almost silently.
Holly was amazed, and ran to the ledge after them. She watched as their frames grew smaller as the bounced out of sight into the night sky. April walked up behind her friend and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go back inside, your toes must be frozen."
Holly just nodded, and let herself be steered back toward the fire escape, down the ladder and back through the window into Aprils' warm bedroom. How was she going to sleep tonight? There were so many questions buzzing around her cranium that she could hardly stand it.
The turtles had finished their patrols and had made it back in the lair undetected. Even though they didn't get to beat up any Foot ninjas, tonight had certainly been eventful. Leonardo had gone straight to Master Splinter and informed him of what had happened. He had then sat his boys down for a serious conversation.
"Do you think she is trustworthy?" Splinter asked his adopted children.
"I think so sensei, she seems like a good person." Leonardo answered first.
"And what about the rest of you? What does your instincts tell you?"
"I think she's awesome!" bellowed Mikey, "She nailed Donnie in the head with a stapler!" He laughed to himself as Donatello glared at him out of the corner of his eye.
"I will say she seemed genuinely startled when she saw me, which would mean she's not a spy." Donatello added.
Splinter had noticed that Raphael had not said one word, he hadn't even looked his master in the eyes. Very suspicious.
"Raphael, do you have any input in this conversation?" Splinter eyed his son carefully, trying to read his emotions. But for once, Raphael was playing his hand close to his chest.
"We only spoke to her for maybe twenty minutes, I can't tell what a person is like after twenty minutes." He spoke to his master and father, but kept his eyes focused anywhere else.
Splinter had a feeling about what was going on, but didn't push his son for an explanation. If he wanted to talk, he would talk.
"We're going to go back tomorrow, and eventually if you are ok with it, we'll bring her here so you can see for yourself." Leonardo hoped his father would not be disappointed in his decision.
Splinter stroked his beard thoughtfully. It would be nice to have another set of eyes and ears on the surface, but he could not risk his families' safety. "I will need to meet this young lady at some point, but we do not need to let her know where we live just yet."
Raphael glanced for the briefest second at his sensei, but lowered his gaze back to his knees. A chorus of "Hai sensei" was heard, and the meeting was over.
Mikey stretched his arms and stood up, "who's hungry?"
"I'm famished." sighed Donnie. It had been an especially hard day for him, and some dinner sounded wonderful. That and a good long sleep.
"I could go for a slice of pizza or two. Is there any left in the fridge?" Leo followed Mikey into their kitchen space, with Donnie close behind.
Raphael stood in silence and turned towards his bedroom.
"Aren't you hungry Raph?" yelled Mikey.
He didn't even turn around, he just stomped right through his door and slammed it shut.
His brothers peeked out around the stone archway that led to their kitchen. They gave each other a nervous glance, eyebrows raised. It wasn't often that Raph got in one of those moods where he didn't even want to break something.
"What's eating him up?" Asked Leo to no one in particular.
"Do you think he doesn't trust Holly? Or do you think he's mad that I screwed up royally?" Donnie asked nervously.
"Who knows, I bet he's just mad he didn't get to beat up some of the Foot." Mikey said through a slice of pizza.
"There had better be some of that left for us." Leo snarled.
"There's plenty left for you Leo!" Mikey pretended to sound hurt, "There just might not be enough for you and Donnie."
"Hey!"
The brothers continued to squabble for a while until they made it to the sofas and turned on a movie. One by one they drifted off to their own rooms, throwing a quick glance at Raphaels' door. They would be sure to ask him what was up tomorrow before the girls came over. They didn't want to drive Holly off because he had issues, they needed her to like them and want to keep their world a secret or it was game over for their family.
