Holly and April had been texting each other most of the afternoon and on into the evening. April had been keeping an eye on her street, looking out for any other suspicious activity, while Holly had nothing better to do than chat with her friend. Her mother wasn't home and her apartment felt very empty and lonely having spent most of the week at the turtles' home.
The sun was setting over the city, and Holly had the doors to the balcony wide open. A warm summer breeze floated into the living room while Holly walked around looking for something to do. She had already showered, done her laundry, cleaned her room, done the dusting, and made herself a healthy treat. She had to admit that hanging out with the others was much more fun, and even when Raph was being grouchy, it was better than being alone.
Speaking of Raph, she hadn't heard from him at all. She had texted him earlier to let him know she was at home, but he hadn't replied. She wasn't really worried about him physically, it was his emotional state she was concerned about. Normally he was all too willing to spill his guts to her, but he had been acting differently today. She really didn't know what was going on, he was just fine yesterday.
Holly sighed to herself and walked out onto the balcony, she set her phone down on the little table and leaned against the railing, watching the sun sink below the skyline and the lights of the city winking on one at a time. She picked up her phone and decided to try Raph one more time before she called it a night. She typed him a quick message saying that she was just making sure he was ok, and that she and April were fine, and pressed the send button with a sigh. She didn't expect a response, but a few minutes later her phone buzzed across the little table. She picked it up and opened the message.
"Hey, how's it going?" Was all it said. Holly felt a flair or irritation rise up within her, and she was not above letting him know it.
"Really? You've been acting weird all day and all I get is 'Hey'?" She sent the message hoping he would read it how she had intended to send it. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for him to respond.
"I know, I was being a jerk. I'm sorry." He sent back. She was a little stunned, she had been expecting him to be more defensive or at least crack a joke. Her phone buzzed again, "What are you up to?"
"I was about to go to bed" She typed to him.
"What!? It's like, 9?" Holly laughed to herself, she could practically hear him mocking her.
"Yeah I know, but I have been sleeping on your couch for the last week and I am quite excited to sleep in my queen-sized bed." She typed as quickly as she could, smiling to herself as she did so.
A few seconds later her phone beeped again, "Yeah, that's not happening." Holly frowned slightly, she wasn't exactly sure what he meant. She sent him a message asking him, but he didn't respond. She started pacing as she sent him another message. He wasn't seriously on his way over, was he?
Holly quickly ran to her bedroom and threw on some actual clothes, and checked her hair and teeth in the mirror. She then proceeded back out onto her balcony to wait.
Raphael raced across the rooftops towards Hollys apartment. He didn't want to think about her being home alone, and he wanted to see her anyway. He had acted like a moron earlier and he wanted to make it up to her, and what better way than to keep her company when she was lonely?
He climbed up to the roof of the apartment building and over to where he knew Hollys apartment was. As he peered over the edge, he saw her out on the balcony staring out over the city. It had been dark for a while now, and the temperature was steadily dropping. Holly had grabbed a sweater and was currently wrapped up in as the wind swirled her hair around her shoulders
Raph took a moment to just watch her. They were very rarely alone, since they spent all of their time in the sewers with his brothers, and when they were together he usually had on his tough-guy face. He peeked over the ledge a little further.
"You didn't have to wait outside." Raph said.
Holly span around and looked up. A smile spread across her face and she felt herself blush slightly. She didn't know why, but she was feeling a little nervous, this would be the first time they had really been alone when she wasn't crying.
"I can't believe you came all the way here." She almost laughed.
"I didn't think an apology through the phone would be good enough." He grimaced, feeling ashamed of himself.
"Don't worry about it." She waved him off, "Do you want to come down? Or should I come up?"
"That's your call." Raph chuckled.
"Alright, then help me up." She rushed over to the stone railing and carefully climbed up onto it. She reached up as high as she could since it was at least a ten -oot climb. Raph grabbed onto her hand and easily lifted her up, careful not to bash her against the ledge.
"Wow, I keep forgetting how strong you are." Holly said.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." He pretended to flex his biceps giving her his best smug face.
"Shut up." She gave him a good jab, making him chuckle. "It's a good job I'm here to keep your ego in check."
"Yeah, that's probably true." They smiled at each other, letting a comfortable silence fall between them.
"Hey. How was your trip home? I didn't really get much info earlier." He asked.
"Oh right. Well, the Purple Dragons have taken to stalking April sneakily. They were hiding in another building peeking out at us through the blinds, and I took a cab home since I didn't feel much like getting into any trouble myself." Holly summarized for him.
"Hmm, they're almost getting too smart for their own good." Raph snorted. He sat down and leaned against the little wall that prevented people from falling over the edge, Holly joined him and wrapped her arms around her knees.
"Actually, I have a feeling if we don't do something soon, they'll resort to doing something drastic to get what they want." She let a worried look cross her face.
He nodded his agreement, they knew that the moronic gang wanted April so they could find out where the turtles were, but they didn't know how to make them leave her alone. "We'll figure it out. Besides, Donnie would be crushed if anything happened to her before he could make him move."
Holly's eyes went wide and her mouth fell open slightly. "Wait a second. You don't know what happened, do you?" She bounced happily and giggled to herself at his ignorance.
"What?" Raph looked confused, and a little scared, by her behavior. He wasn't accustomed to 'girl talk'.
Holly proceeded to tell him all about the kiss that April had shared with Donnie. She was so enthusiastic that she would start a new sentence before finishing the last one.
"Are you kidding me?" Raph looked shocked. "I can't believe he didn't tell us."
"You can't let on that you know though." Holly said.
"Why not? Can't I just rub his nose in it a little bit?" Raph said sounding disappointed.
"No! he's not ready for you to know just yet." Holly stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Raph just looked confused again. "Then why did you tell me?"
"So that when he does finally say something, you don't hound him for details." Holly said.
"That makes no sense at all. Are these like, girl rules?" He looked befuddled for a moment.
"Just trust me. When he brings it up, let him talk, and when he's done, just say 'Yeah, I know.'" Holly beamed at him.
"That is crazy." He shook his head at her, but let it go.
"I promise, that's all you need to do and it will make his day." Holly smiled smugly at him.
"Well anyway. What do you want to do?" He said changing the subject.
"I don't care, I'm perfectly happy just sitting here for now." Holly shrugged.
Raph thought about it for a moment and got an idea. "Well, I haven't really eaten much today, and if you want to come with me, I actually know a place we can go." He grinned.
"You know a place?" She looked at him skeptically.
"Yeah, I do." His grin widened.
"Alright, I'm curious." She stood up, now ready for an adventure. "Let's go."
Without another word, Raph stood and walked to the opposite edge of the building. He checked the street for passersby and turned back to Holly. He held his hand out to her, they were not going to take the elevator.
Holly hesitated for the briefest second. She knew he could lift her easily but she didn't much feel like hurling herself off her building. But, she trusted him, completely, and before she could change her mind she took his hand.
They just looked at each other for a second. Raph let a smile creep onto his face before pulling her closer, he slipped an arm around her waist. "Ready?"
She didn't answer with words, she just took a deep breath and nodded. He launched the two of them off the roof-top, he heard Holly gasp and she gripped onto his arm with surprising strength. They clambered down the building and across the alley to the building next door. Raph and Holly made their way across the rooftops, walking along the flat surfaces, but Raph would scoop Holly up when there was a gap to cross, or a few story drop to survive.
Raph dropped them down onto the street in front of a sushi shop Holly had never been to before. He let go of her waist but kept a hold of her arm just in case she was feeling a little wobbly.
"Are you alright?" He asked her with a grin.
"That was," Holly took a breath, searching for the word. "Exhilarating." He let out a bark of laughter, unable to believe that she had actually enjoyed climbing all over the city. "Do you feel that every time?"
"Yeah." He nodded to her. "Come on, let's go in." He had his hand on the door before Holly realized what he was doing.
"Wait, you're just going to walk in the front door?" Holly had a look of amusement on her face, this was the first time they had gone anywhere that made her feel like she was hanging out with a normal teenager.
"Yes, now come on already, I'm starving." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the store after him. "Mr. Murakami? Are you here?"
An elderly blind man shuffled out of the backroom, "Raphael? Is that you?"
"Any chance of getting some dinner?" Raph asked the old man.
"Of course, of course. You don't even have to ask." Mr. Murakami hurried around the tables in his restaurant and flipped around the sing in his window to 'closed'. "And who is this you have brought with you today? Whoever they are, they're too quiet to be April."
Holly laughed and introduced herself before they were ushered towards the bar so that they could watch their food being prepared. They sat admiring Mr. Murakami's ability to make perfect California rolls despite the fact that he couldn't see. They sat for quite a while trying many different kinds of rolls, Holly realized that Raph was quite adventurous when it came to food. He was willing to try anything offered to him, and Mr. Murakami would beam every time he expressed his approval of the last roll he ate, and Raph loved them all.
"And here I thought you only ate Pizza." Holly said before taking a nibble of a tuna roll. She popped it all in her mouth when she realized how delicious it was.
"Anything is good compared to what we used to eat." Raph devoured a piece of eel sushi. Holly just wined, she wasn't brave enough to try that one.
"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really want to know." She said with a grim look on her face.
"Yeah, it grossed April out too." He finished off the last roll in front of him, and he sat back in his chair letting out a satisfied sigh.
"I take it your full?" Mr. Murakami said with a chuckle. He started cleaning off his workstation, feeling his way back to the kitchen to dispose of the contaminated knives.
"What do we owe you?" Holly said pulling out her wallet.
"Oh no my dear, this one was on me." Holly frowned at Raph who chuckled. Mr. Murakami sensed her confusion and chuckled along with him, "You guys make sure those Purple Dragon guys don't kick my butt, and you can come back any time you like."
"That's very kind of you, but I would feel bad if I didn't do something." Holly said feeling guilty.
"I tell you what, you can do the dishes if you really want to." Mr. Murakami turned and sat in one of the chairs that dotted the small restaurant. Holly immediately jumped up and started washing the chopping boards and fillet knives for the old man.
The two teenagers stayed for a short time after that, keeping the old man company and getting to know each other better. Mr. Murakami told Holly how the turtles had saved him and he knew exactly what they were despite his disability, although he didn't see it as a disability at all. Sometime around eleven thirty, Holly and Raph agreed that they should be leaving. Especially since Raph hadn't actually told anyone he was going out. They bade goodbye to the generous chef and set off back towards Hollys home.
Fong stood before the thing that used to be Bradford and Baxter Stockman. Normally he would be shaking in his boots, but today he had good news for them. Well, sort of.
"Why are you here?" Bradford yelled. He was not pleased to see the gang leaders without the red-headed girl.
"I have some good news. We can snatch the girl even if she is with her friend." He paused for dramatic effect. Hopefully, this information would lead to a raise, or at least less of a lashing later.
"And why is that?" Bradford asked trying to keep is voice calm.
"Because the other girl is in on it too." Fong said, satisfaction written all over his face.
"How can you be sure?" Stockman asked, he narrowed his eyes at his unexpected colleague.
"Because, the friend is the girl who lives in your building." Fong rocked back on his heels, obviously proud of himself.
"So what? It's not that surprising since we're all in the same district." Stockman said, waving off this information.
Fong sighed exasperatedly. "Ok, the night your information was taken from your apartment, that girl was on the elevator with us. I thought I saw someone dip into the stair well, and I'd bet anything it was her spying on us."
"That's actually an intelligent assumption." Stockman scratched his chin. "What's wrong with you today?"
"I'm telling you, she knows about them." Fong was getting annoyed, he hated that Stockman doubted his intelligence, he didn't get to be the leader of the gang on his charm alone.
"Alright. I'll do some digging and see what I can find out about her, it shouldn't be too hard." Stockman said, he walked over to his desk and flopped down into the chair. "Thank god for the Freedom of Information Act." he chuckled to himself as his fingers flew expertly over the keyboard.
He pulled up the list of tenants in his apartment building by hacking the managements' private database. After figuring out which apartment the girl and her mother lived in, Stockman had a name he could search.
"How are you going to find out about the girl?" Fong asked excitedly.
Stockman looked at him like he was a moron. "I'm going to type their name into google." Bradford laughed gruffly.
"You're joking, right? It can't be that simple." Fong let a flash of irritation cross his face.
"You don't have to look very hard to find information anymore." Stockman scoffed. He pushed his glasses back up his nose as Fong went to sulk behind him. He typed in the teens' last name and was surprised by the articles that popped up from the search engine. "Ho Ho. It looks like I'm living with a celebrity."
"What did you find?" Bradford asked.
"Well, this girls' mother is a fashion designer. I know that's not terribly important, but she is headlining a show that is currently running in Paris, it has been for almost a week." Stockman leaned back in his chair and swiveled around to face his companions.
"So?" Fong huffed, still sulking in the corner.
"So?" Repeated Bradford. "That means that our little friend has been home all alone." A wicked smile stretched over his sharp teeth.
Fong perked up immediately. He didn't exactly like the idea of roughing up a teenage girl, but he was tired of the turtles screwing up his plans and he was dying to get back at them for all the trouble they'd caused him. "I guess I had better go pay this girl a visit."
Fong stepped out of the fortune cookie factory onto the empty streets. It was late, almost midnight, as he started making his way towards Stockmans' apartment building. As he passed by the convenience store, he saw a couple of his fellow gang members loitering around the alleyway, being a nuisance. He whistled to them, and they scurried across the street to follow his orders.
"You're all coming with me to visit one of the turtles' contacts on the surface. I won't need you to come in with me, just make sure we're not disturbed." Fong announced. His henchmen nodded, they knew exactly what to do. The group turned and stalked off in the artificial lights of New York City.
