A/n: This is where the big changes start showing up.
"Wake up, honey." My mother whispered to me. The soothing lull of her voice was a monumental comfort to me, and I forgot for a second that that voice was nothing more than a memory of someone long gone. Her laugh filled my ears, and another person's laughter started up with her, creating a duet. I was able to pinpoint the peels of joys to my late younger brother, and for a second I could imagine the trip we'd taken to see my grandmother in Oregon. We'd taken a train.
I woke up abruptly, torn from the somewhat peaceful sleep by the sounds of a train horn. It echoed in my ears as I attempted to look around the room, but it was too dark to see. I did know that this bed was too comfortable to be a sleeping bag or the ground, and the blanket I had was soft. Two luxuries I'd missed for quite a few months, and that was enough to set me on edge.
As my eyes adjusted to the room, I moved my body, half to get the stretches out of the way and half to see if I was under any restrictions. I sighed as my neck popped, and made a long humming noise as I stretched my arms and legs. I considered it good news I could still move and relaxed into the bed below me. I made to brush my fingers through my hair in a vain attempt to push it back, but stopped when something big and hard met my forehead instead of my hand.
That's odd. I pulled my hands away and stared at the hard thing in the dark, and wondered what monstrosity was holding it prisoner. A brace. For my wounded arm.
My morning came back in a swirl. The explosion, a robbery, chains, Tommy, gunshot, a turtle/human hybrid named Raphael, sewage. My head got dizzy again from the rush of the memories, and I rested my head on the pillow; only to shoot right back up as noises appeared outside.
"Raph! You can't keep her!" An angry voice shouted.
"I'm not sayin' keep her, Leo! She was obviously hurt, do ya expect me ta jus' leave her ta die?" Raphael's answered. There was silence.
"Yes, I did. She's a killer Raph. She will do no good for us." The voice I assumed was 'Leo' shot back.
"Ya have been teachin' us ta take care of the people in trouble. She was hurt! She collapsed onto my shell! Even Master Splinta said she was in trouble." Raph answered. There was a short five seconds of silence.
"All I am trying to do is take care of this family," Leo said, calmer, and Raphael snorted.
"Yea. Nice job at that. I think there's some humans that know 'bout us though. Wha' are their names again? April, Casey, Angel, Hun, the Foot, the Purple Dragons, Karai-"
"Raph!"
Raph stopped talking, and I was given a moment to register that Hun and the Foot knew these turtles existed. Were they friends? Enemies? Allies? What if one of them was Hun, the recruiter I was trying to avoid? I wasn't actually ever given a physical of what the dude looked like.
There was stomping outside the door to my room. Raph spoke one last time just outside my door, possibly just to get the last word.
"Look, Leo, she said once she's better, she'd be out of our skin. Tha' we'd never see her again." He said. With that, he opened the door to my room and walked in. I was too shocked by the sudden burst of light to try to act asleep, and as soon the door closed I was once more bathed in darkness.
"Yer awake," Raphael said, sounding more like I'd confirmed a suspicion than actual surprise. I nodded, then remembered there was no light. I cleared my throat.
"Yeah. What time is it?" I asked. Raph moved from the time I saw him to the time I talked because a lamp turned on just as my question was asked, and I finally got to see my surroundings. The walls were bare, and the furnishing consisted of only a desk in the corner of the room and the bed I was on. The comforter on the bed was black and felt worn against my skin and the pillows I'd laid on were white and shined bright against the black. I look away from the monotonous colors and back to Raphael. I still didn't know how they knew Hun or the Foot. That should have been the first thing I asked.
"It's two in the afternoon." He answered, subdued in a way I hadn't seen when we were on the roof, nor just now when he talked to Leo.
It took me a second to register he was naked. Or wait, maybe not. The front of his chest, torso, and abdomen -what I'm sure was called a plastron- was a yellow color, and looked more like body armor than skin. Over his shoulders and between the gaps of his arm and torso I saw what I could only assume was a shell- which answered that question. I also discovered that his entire body was that dark green I'd seen on the roof; he was a literal half-human/half turtle hybrid. I also discovered that that metal suit he wore added on mass. His body was lean in figure, but amazingly well muscled. I trailed my eyes over his arms lined with clear definition, and could only imagine what he did to gain such a physique. My venture ended on his hands. Just like the rest of him, they were green, but instead of the five fingers you saw on a human or normal turtle, he has three.
He got all the luck, didn't he? No hair to take care of, fewer fingers to count, clothes that never need to be removed as far as I could tell.
My eyes travel back up his arms, and back down his chest and stomach -he didn't have a belly button-, to thighs and calves that were just as defined as his arms. I sat up slightly to see his feet and got a good look at his four toes. Two toes on each foot, what a blast.
And then what he said sunk in.
"It's two! Jesus, how long was I out?" I asked. Raphael looked down sheepishly and made the motion of scuffing his feet on the floor.
"Two days… Yer disappearance is all over the news." He answered. I groaned loudly and laid back down.
"All right, Raphael, on second thought-"
"Raph." He cut in. I looked up and stared at his hazel eyes. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Call me Raph."
I blinked twice at him, that was hard to process for some reason.
"Okay, Raph." I tested the name. He nodded to me like I'd received instruction well, and I looked back down. I was wearing a purple shirt, huh.
Wait, purple? My hands flew to my face. Bare, only skin. I looked over at Raph, terrified over the fact I didn't have my cover over my face. The mask was my protection, what shielded me from others.
"Where's my mask?" I asked. Raph looked at me, confused, and threw his thumb over his shoulder.
"Donnie has it…" He answered.
"Who's Donnie?" I asked, more confused.
"He's my brother. He's the one tha' bandage yer arm. Why are ya so worried over Donnie havin' yer mask?" He asked me. I dropped my hands to glare at him, and covered my face again when I noticed he flinched and looked away.
"It's not whose hands it's in, it's my face being uncovered. If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of wanted by the law, and I've got a scar over my left eye." To prove my point, I pushed my hair off my eye. Raph ducked down to see it before he smirked. I pulled back, and my hair fell back in place.
"What?" I asked.
"Believe it or not, but I think the scar is hot." He mused. My jaw dropped at the statement, and I looked for something to throw at him. I grabbed my pillow and threw it at him as fast and hard as I could, and yet, Raph still managed to catch it with ease.
"Whoa. That was a compliment, not an insult. Which reminds me, how did ya get it?" He asked, all curiosity. I looked at him dully and crossed my arms over my chest. He waited for all of two seconds and then copied my pose. On him, the crossed arms looked dangerous.
"On the homicidal train wreck," I answered finally. "I was found with my left eye ripped from hairline to orbital bone from debris that cut me, some metal debris in my lower abdomen, and a pipe that went through the lower half of my ribs, front to back-"
I cut off from talking to lift my shirt and show the circular scar of about an inch thick that was just under my ribs. The scar has shrunk from its original diameter of two inches, but it was still a large reminder. The exit point of the pipe was directly opposite on my body, in the lower ribs on my left side, in my back. That one would require me turning around to show him, which wasn't happening anytime soon.
Raph walked over to the edge of the bed and dropped to his knees. He didn't touch me, but his eyes made the scar tissue feel like it was burning. I could see him trying to imagine the scene and sighed internally.
"An' this one?" He asked, gesturing to the quad-star shaped scar that was higher up on my ribcage. I attempted a sideways smile, but it felt more like a grimace.
"A different gunshot wound. This one I got from a homeless guy while I was trying to help him get up. I think he meant to rob or kidnap me, which didn't happen because the gun he pulled out fired. I... managed to turn his gun on him. I didn't want to shoot him but I was unable to escape him otherwise. I barely made it to the hospital in time." I answered.
Raph looked up at me, and with slow, hesitant deliberation he placed his hand on mine. I examined him suspiciously, and slowly moved my hand half out from under his.
"Sorry for what's happened to ya." He murmured. I snorted and rolled my eyes.
"What's done is done, and you can't undo it," I said, sighing. He tilted his head at me.
"Tha' doesn't mean I can't be sympathetic." He answered, too honest to be kidding me. For a moment, a brief one, I wondered if I could actually relax around the boy in front of me. Or maybe he was a man. I didn't know if he was a boy. I didn't know his age, if he was younger than me or older than me, and if he was older than me, how much older? Turtles could live into the hundreds if they were taken care of, so for all I knew, the turtle-human in front of me could actually be fifty. Or a hundred and fifty.
"I don't know where to go from here," I said honestly and bluntly. Raph's eye... Ridges? His eyebrow ridges raised up in surprise, and he let out a short bark of a laugh.
"Not tha' it was my decision, but Leo's outside. He wants ta talk to ya," He said. I pinged in on how he said it wasn't his choice, and wondered what his decision had been. I overheard Leo telling Raph he couldn't keep me, though I felt that was more an exaggeration than truth.
"Hey Raph," I blurted out as he got up to leave. He froze in place, and the two of us stared at each other awkwardly. I knew why I stopped him, I did not want to face his brother, but I couldn't exactly say that to him. "Thanks."
"Yeah... Yer welcome." He responded. He rubbed the nape of his neck for a few short seconds, and then turned away.
He opened the door to the outside world and walked out. Immediately in his place was a lighter-skinned turtle in a blue mask. All I could think was, 'These guys are color-coded, how wonderful '.
He shared a similar body structure to his brother, as in he had the whole plastron, shell, three fingers, two toes, and unfairly muscled thing going on. Beyond those descriptors though, he differed from Raph. His skin tone was more grass green than oak green, his eyes were a dark brown, and his body was a leaner muscle form. He made Raph look like a bodybuilder in physique.
The blue masked terrapin walked over to me slowly, and his eyes never left mine. I felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck, and my back tensed involuntarily in the face of this turtle. It reminded me of a question I'd thought of earlier, and I thought of the best way to phrase it.
"Are you in any way affiliated with either of these men, Hun or Oroku Saki, better known as Shredder?" I asked, though the question of Shredder was to see if that name was actually commonly used for the businessman. It was safe to say what I said was not what Leo expected, and he paused in his step. It was less easy to say how he took that question, because his expression did not change.
"Affiliated as in enemies of ours, yes. How do you know them?" He asked, friendly for all tense and purpose at the moment.
"I was told of their existence by a companion of mine, and was warned to stay away from them at all costs," I answered. His expression took on something similar to appraisal.
"There's more than just you?" He asked.
"Not anymore." I shared flatly, silently telling him not to push the subject. Leo nodded slowly, and I saw a dissolve in his stance.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He murmured, though I couldn't tell if he was being genuine or coy. Either way, I nodded in acknowledgment of his words.
"So you're here because..." I asked, but left the sentence open-ended for him to finish. Leo remembered why he was here and stood a little taller.
"Master Splinter told me to come sort things out with you, but I don't think there's anything that needs sorting out. It's rather clear where I stand with you in my eyes. I save people, you kill people. You are what I'm supposed to stop, not house with my family." He said, point blank. I stared at him for a few seconds.
"I didn't want to come here any more than you wanted to meet me, but nothing ever goes our way. Right now, I'd rather be finishing my junior year in school on the other side of the country, with my family. You'd rather be torturing your brothers, but that ain't happening, so deal with it." I snapped.
"What did you do to convince Raph to bring you home? He's usually the least friendly with humans." Leo asked, switching the topic like one would a lightswitch.
"I dunno. I killed six men, climbed to the roof, had a chat with him, and he took me home." I answered.
"How did you get the name Susan?" He asked, changing the topic completely once more. I stopped breathing, caught off guard by his question. How did I what now?
"Well, I used a capital S, lowercase u, lowercase s, lowercase a, and lowercase n," I answered. Leo snorted, and turned away to hide his humored grin.
"That's not your real name?" He asked as he looked at me again. I bit my tongue, and for a moment cursed the moment of weakness I'd had with Raphael where I'd said it wasn't my name.
"No." I gritted out.
"What is it?" He asked next. I grit my teeth, seriously just debating using another false name.
"It's Elizabeth," I answered, choosing the more honest route. Leo hummed, like he was testing the name out in his head.
"Where'd you get Susan?" He asked.
"A family I stayed with while traveling to this hell hole. Their daughter's name was Susan." I answered again, honestly.
Leo looked over me carefully from head to toe, possibly trying to figure out why I'd put such sentimental value in a name. Point blank it wasn't the only reason, but it was the most prominent. He wouldn't get to learn that though. Abruptly, he sat down, right on the bed I was in. He steered clear of touching me, but still, he sat on the same bed as me. He crossed his legs Indian style and faced me bodily.
"How did you meet them?" He asked, like we were good ole friends about to discuss our day. I narrowed my eyes at me, drawing my legs in.
"There was this homeless guy that shot me when I tried to help him. Laura and Tom happened to be in the parking lot when it happened and my companion convinced them to take me to the hospital. When I got there, they lied to the doctors saying I was their child. I stayed with them and their family for six months before leaving. They have two kids; the oldest is Stephan, two years younger than me, and then there was their youngest, Susan. She's turning six this year. She was like a sister of sorts to me, and I wanted to remember her." I answered.
"What do you think they would say to you being the Black Mask Terror of NYC?" He asked, raising his eye ridge at me. I shrugged, because I was pretty sure Hitoshi told them what my plan was before we left.
"They knew I had killed three people already, and my companion had a few in his belt as well, and they knew I did it to protect someone. They weren't terribly concerned about it, so I don't think they care that I'm the Night Terror. Just as long as I don't kill the innocent- which I don't." I said, and said the last sentence to take a jab at him. He graced me with a dull look.
"Your honesty is appreciated." He muttered. I raised my good eyebrow at the turtle.
"How do you know I was honest about any of this?" I asked.
"I don't, but I don't think you'd allow me to see your weaknesses unless there was truth behind them." He answered.
"Weaknesses?" I asked, startled at his words. He nodded and waved his hand at my form.
"In the face of an opponent, you don't mention battle weaknesses, such as the homeless man, nor do you mention people close to you, like Laura, Tom, Stephen, and Susan. It leaves an open sore spot that I can now pick at, and I'm pretty sure if I did, you would be ready to attack me. Which you would only do for honesty." He explained. I gaped at him.
"What are you?" I asked, because how the hell did he get any of that from what I said. Leo shrugged and had a smug grin.
"I'm a turtle." He answered, and he allowed a grin of pride to appear on his face before he schooled his features back down into soberness.