𝚁𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙰


"Are you sure? Do you think maybe she only saw the cat?

"Dude, she fainted," Mikey said. "Twice. If she didn't see me the first time, she did the second."

I sighed and looked down at the unconscious girl laying on the dry sewer floor. Mikey had been thoughtful enough to untie the sweater from around his waist and lay it underneath her after she passed out the second time.

I left work as fast as I could to get there. I insisted Mikey send me an authentic video to ensure he wasn't pranking me, then I rushed to ask Lauren if I could leave early after realizing how very real the situation was. Thankfully, she'd been very understanding and let me and Red leave immediately. I even took a cab to get there faster, finding Mikey in an alleyway sewer hovering nervously over an unconscious girl, the mentioned cat nowhere in sight.

"Did the cat at least make it out?"

He nodded, looking down at the girl as well. "Yeah."

She looked about the same age as us, with wavy brown hair and deeply tanned skin. Her face was sharp and so clear of acne and blemishes I couldn't help but admire it. She had on a black beanie, a red flannel and dark-wash jeans while her bag resided on the ground beside her. Mikey had taken it off of her and swore he didn't go through it.

"Please tell me you have an idea, Raiy," he pleaded.

I grimaced and turned my gaze upon him. "Sorry, Mikey. We have to call Leo."

The turtle's shoulder's slumped forward and he nodded, resigning himself to face his older brother's wrath. God, I hated disappointing him like that. But she'd definitely seen him. There was no chance of leaving her and pretending it never happened.

I tried my best to be reassuring. "He won't be mad at you," I said. "It was an accident. Maybe Donnie can make some of that amnesia stuff again." Red crawled carefully across my chest to reach my opposite shoulder.

Mikey shook his head. "Leo's gonna be pissed, Raiy. Maybe you should leave."

I scoffed, thinking back to the first year I met them. "I've dealt with his shit before," I mused. "Plus, I can help her." I nodded to the girl, my eyes widening when I realized she was sitting up and staring right at us, her mouth hanging open and her bright blue-green eyes filled with fear and shock.

"Hi," I began carefully. "My name's Raiya. This is my friend, Mikey."

Her gaze darted between me and Mikey, her shoulders beginning to rise and fall faster as she panicked.

"I–I know karate," she threatened. "I'm a black belt. Seriously."

Mikey laughed. "Us too!" He cried happily. "We're ninjas!"

I elbowed him pointedly.

The girl's expression fell, almost as if a visual shit flitted across her face.

"That doesn't mean we're gonna hurt you," I insisted. "We just wanna talk. You kinda scared Mikey and then you fainted and he wanted to make sure you were okay, which is why you're down here."

"I scared him?" The girl demanded sarcastically.

"Yeah, dudette! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!"

I looked away from the girl to talk to him in a low voice. "Mikey, can you call Leo and tell him what happened?" I asked. "I'm gonna calm her down and make sure she's okay."

"Good idea," he whispered back, turning around and hurrying further down the tunnel. I smiled and spun around to look at the girl, who didn't look any calmer than before.

"What was your name?"

She hesitated. "Um, my friends call me J.T.."

I nodded conversationally. "What's it short for?"

"Jasmine Taylor."

I thought for a moment. "Can I call you Jaz?"

J.T. nodded, then narrowed her eyes slightly. "Can I ask you how you know him?" She jerked her chin at Mikey's figure, standing far down the tunnel.

"It was an accident," I admitted, scrunching my nose up in thought. "...mostly." I opted out of telling the whole story, deciding it was best to reveal less at the moment. I wasn't sure how Leo wanted to deal with this situation.

"Okay," she said, "I'm trying not to freak out, but I need some answers." J.T. sucked in a breath and her eyes widened as they settled on something by my ear. "What is that?"

Oh. "He's a sugar glider." I lifted my hand up to pet him, feeling his whiskers when he sniffed at my fingers. "His name's Red and he needs someone to take care of him for a while before he can live at the zoo."

She shook her head as if attempting to clear it of all the weird. "So is there anything you can tell me? About this?"

I shrugged. "Not a whole lot, but Mikey's really great. I know you're probably still scared but he's so sweet and he's hilarious. I've known him for a long time and he's really awesome." I felt my earring buzzing and I raised my hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, clicking it on as I did so.

Leo's voice came through. "I'm on my way." And the line went dead. I wasn't sure wether to be scared for J.T. or relieved that I didn't have to try to explain everything to her and end up doing it wrong.

Oh well.

"My friend is on his way right now," I continued. "He's gonna explain everything for you. He's...like Mikey. And I'm warning you now that he can be pretty tense. But he's still a good person. Just try to keep an open mind; these guys haven't had a very easy life."

Hearing that, her expression softened and she glanced behind me at Mikey, who I could hear approaching.

"Hey, Raiy. Leo's on his way, he wants me to go back so I'll see you later." He held his fist out and I gave him a fist bump. "Thanks for ditching work to help me out," he added.

I laughed. "No problem, Mikey. I'll swing by later."

He grabbed his hoodie and said goodbye to J.T. as well, waving as he retreated down the sewer tunnel and returned to the lair. Jaz watched him go with what looked to be guilt seeping through her fierce exterior. Before Leo showed up to bear the bad news, I decided to shift the atmosphere towards something a little more mundane, complimenting her cute black backpack, which was some vegan Canadian brand I'd never heard of. And of course I had to ask her about her skincare routine because how could I not?

J.T.'s face flushed and she actually laughed a little. "I, uh, just use some stuff from a brand called Lush. And I drink a lot of water." She shrugged and adjusted her hat, smoothing her hair beneath it. "Is your hair naturally red?"

"Yup. And it has absolutely no volume because it's straighter than a board."

Jaz smiled. "Well, mine's naturally wavy and if I don't put any product in it, I look like a Pomeranian, so," she shrugged helplessly, and I couldn't help a small laugh. I kinda liked this girl, she was shy yet funny and honestly relatable. I could almost see myself sharing a bowl of popcorn with her during a weekend movie marathon.

And Leo was on his way to scare the shit out of her and probably induce Doublethink.

Just my luck.

"Is that him?" J.T. was looking at something behind me, her expression once again one of apprehension.

I glanced over my shoulder, finding Leo walking toward us. Thankfully, he didn't look too pissed. "Yeah," I said. "That's him." When her skin paled almost instantly, I tried once again to sound reassuring. "He's not that scary, trust me. He just tries to be." In reality, he was just as soft and squishy as Raphael.

"Hey, Raiy." Leo planted himself beside me and nudged me with his arm. "Thanks for coming to help Mikey." Then he looked at Jaz. "I'm Leo."

"J.T.." She looked like she wanted to say more but was too nervous to do so.

"I apologize for my brother dragging you into this," he continued. "Nobody is supposed to know we exist, it's too dangerous."

I rolled my eyes. "It's been two years and I haven't died yet," I pointed out dryly.

J.T. bit her lip against a question and listened to Leonardo.

"Anyone associated with us is officially a target for any villain in New York. Especially the Footclan–"

"But–" realizing her outburst, J.T.'s cheeks reddened. "Sorry," she mumbled, "but I thought you guys took care of them." Leo didn't reply right away, prompting her to elaborate. "You're the ones that saved the city, I've heard of you. You fight crime and stuff, you're the city's secret hero-dudes."

Leo and I shared a surprised glance. This girl was obviously not a local, which meant if she'd heard of the Foot's defeat, the turtles weren't unknown as the city's secret protectors.

My cuoriosity got the best of me. "Where are you from?" I asked her.

"Canada," J.T. replied. "A few hours north of Montana."

Holy shit. I nudged Leo playfully. "Sounds like we're famous!"

A small smile of excitement he couldn't quite conceal peeked from beneath Leo's tough and sophisticated pretense for a moment. "Look," he said, turning his eyes on J.T. once more. "Shredder may be behind bars but the Foot will do anything to rise to power again, which means you're still in danger. If anyone knows that you know us, they will not hesitate to go after you, so you have two options: leave and pretend none of this ever happened or help us stop them. You'll be safer helping us, we'll be able to protect you and teach you to fight if you want. But if not, you're on your own. We can't spend our time following you around making sure the Foot doesn't kidnap you."

J.T. looked horrified. "I'm not even gonna be here that long. I'm leaving in, like, two weeks to go to Oregon." She snorted humourlessly. "I guess now, that's not soon enough."

A disappointed frown tugged at the corners of my mouth. Figures that the only decent person I come across in this city isn't here to stay. Just my luck.

Leo shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's up to you."

I watched him oddly. Why is he acting so intimidating?

"Sorry," Jaz said, shrugging her shoulder and smiling apologetically. "But I really don't think this is something I wanna be involved in. No offence...But I think I'll be fine on my own. My mom calls me every few hours and if I don't pick up she'll instantly send a search and rescue, so...thanks, but...no thanks. Sorry."

I noticed the stress pouring off of him immediately evaporate. Leo actually seemed relieved as he dipped his head in understanding. "I'll take you home, then; answer some questions, if you want."

Surprise bloomed across J.T.'s face. "Oh, we're taking the sewer?" Her nose wrinkled distastefully but she nodded nonetheless. "Cool."


author's note

Surprise mothafuckas it didn't actually take me forever to update this time lol

My girl J.T. has finally met her mans but she don't know it yet lol I can't decide if I want to write the next chapter in her POV where Leo walks her home (basically a fuckton of dialogue similar to when Raiya fist met him) or keep Raiya's POV and write about her training/hanging out with the turtles ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'd like to hear your guys' opinions!

As a side note, I think I'm about to get sucked up into the tornado from Wizard of Oz because I stg the wind here is about 10000 knots

AND

It was SNOWING today

I wish I was kidding. I don't think the weather has been above 12°C since last August. I feel like I'm living in the North Pole, I did not sign up for this why tf aren't we doing anything about climate change ?

Speaking of, if any of you are on Instagram, please go like the post on the tentree account to help them plant 1 million trees!

Okay I'm done

SIKE haha

ENDGAME COMES OUT TONIGHT AND I AM NOT OKAY BECAUSE IM NOT SEEING IT UNTIL LIKE NEXT WEEK AND IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY SO NO SPOILERS PLEASE OK THANK YOU

Anywho please please review! I spent a lot of time working on this to try to make up for my shitty updating lately lol I'd love to hear your guys' opinions/feedback regarding J.T.! :D