February 4, 2008
Our front door has always opened at the same speed. The only exceptions are when it was blasted open, or something was blocking it. No, there wasn't any spectacular reason why I started out like this. Our front door opened as it usually did, but I knew the feeling of urgency in someone's run. Haley looked ready to kill our doors when they opened, because they were moving at their normal speed and not to the speed of what she wanted.
Still, she jogged through the doors with light feet and an urgent tone. I was the only one out at five in the morning, mostly because I couldn't sleep. I was Night Watcher for two years, it was hard to rebound back to sleeping normally like my brothers.
Haley looked professional as always in her Foot uniform, but her breathing was ragged and her hair was stringy in some areas. Her eyes landed on mine immediately, and she came over to me. In a voice bordering hyperventilation, she said, "Hey, Raph."
I stood up careful, rounding the love seat to the much shorter Haley. I kept a distance because unlike Leo (and Mikey who was warming up to her), I didn't like the idea of getting close enough to touch her yet, but I wasn't going to avoid her every word and move as Don did.
Haley had other ideas; she collapsed in my arms. From pure exhaustion or if she was just out of breath, I couldn't tell. I did immediately pick her up and place her on the couch though.
"Donnie!" I shouted, the first thing I thought of at the moment.
"No, I'm fine. I've been running for a while." Haley brushed off, closing her eyes. I pulled away from the young girl, wondering if I should get her water or just stand there. It seemed awkward to stand in front of her, and without Liza, I didn't know what to say to her. It wasn't like I tried for a conversation with her before, and I was starting to regret not doing that.
"Yes Raph?" Don's voice rang out. He sounded really tired, so he probably had a late night. Oh he was going to hate this. Haley closed her eyes, rubbing her cheeks tiredly. I step farther away from her, letting Don come up beside me. He looked down at Haley, and he gave a very theatrical sigh.
"What part of coming over without any problems-"
"I'm fine." Haley stopped him. She looked up at us, her pale eyes giving us a half-hearted glare. "I'm just tired."
"Why are ya tired?" I asked, sitting back in the love seat across from her. Haley sat up, throwing her legs over the edge. She made a motion to get up, but at the last second, she deflated. Don sat on the opposite end of the couch from her, but turned his body to her. From way far in the house I heard Leo's alarm ring, signaling the long morning of his routine.
"I've been worked hard. Liza is trying hard to get back on Shredder's good side, and one of the ways she's doing it is working all of us into the ground." Haley said tiredly, a yawn overtaking her.
"Shredder's good side?" Don asked, looking over at me. I shared his worried look, because that didn't sound good. Haley nodded, brushing her hair back.
"Yeah, it got loose she kissed a hulking form in a trench coat before they went into the sewers. She claimed she killed him, but no one knows because she killed the scout who tried to report it." She answered. Don shot a look at me, silently asking if I knew this happened. I nodded.
"That was almost a month ago, why is she gettin' in trouble now?" I asked. Haley looked up at me, a smug look on her face, like I had just confirmed a suspicion of hers.
"I don't know. Rumor has it she's got a lot tacked on her. She's not allowed to leave, even for patrols. She dropped the Terror act because of it. And from what I could tell, she's under more security. No one in or out of her room unless you've got the Foot Emblem." She spilled willingly. I sighed, dropping my head to rest on my chest. Great, that is exactly what we needed. Someone opened a door on the second floor, and Leo came out of his room. We stayed silent until he came, just so Haley could repeat the news.
"Good morning," Leo mumbled, jumping down the stairs instead of walking down them like a normal turtle. Then again, it was a fast way to move, and it got some adrenaline in your system.
"Hey Leo," Haley said, perking up a little bit in his presence since he was the friendliest with her. Leo paused on his move towards the kitchen, looking over at us. He looked at Haley with surprise, and he changed his direction towards us.
"Hey, Haley. I didn't think you'd be over so early." He murmured. Haley shrugged, yawning widely again. I could see Leo's brows crunch together, and he looked at Don and I. I was wide awake, but Don looked about ready to fall asleep where he sat.
"It was my only free time to come. I'm here to relay a message actually." Haley said once her yawn stopped.
"A message?" Leo and I asked. Leo looked between the three of us, counting slowly and taking in our emotions. It didn't take him long to figure out there was a problem, and he closed his eyes when he figured out what the problem was. "Where's Liza?"
"In her newest training session," Haley muttered, leaning back into the couch. Leo nodded, and rolled his hand in a circle to say continue. Haley bit her lip, looking between us. "I don't know what she's subjected too. No one but Shredder, Hun, and Karai are allowed in. There isn't any screaming going on, so I don't know what's being done. I just know I'm becoming a regular in her bathroom."
I closed my eyes, feeling a slow and cold despair bleed into my heart. And just as the despair started, the anger boiled. I clenched my fists, taking slow breaths. A regular in the bathroom. Haley wouldn't have to be there unless she needed to patch up wounds. Or help Liza walk. Or simply know she was able to breathe. Liza was being put through pain, and it was because of me. Because I got cocky and decided to surprise her on a rooftop.
"There's something I'm missing," Leo said, not needing to question what the newest training session meant. There were several moments of silence, which I tried to control myself. It wasn't working, and the anger that I'd managed to keep a hold on for a while now was rearing its ugly head. Only this time I couldn't even leave the lair, I'd have to find some punching bag to have fun with. I didn't only want to punch stuff, I wanted to shout, and curse, and spit at Shredder.
"What's the message?" Don asked, taking a deep breath to wake himself up. Haley stayed silent for a couple of seconds, and I tensed, waiting for the words.
"Are there words?" Leo asked. I looked over at him, confused, before I realized that a message didn't always have to be words, and looked over at Haley. She shrugged, looking at the ceiling.
"She says she's fine. Shredder isn't going to kill her, he called her valuable... She sends apologizes to Don," Haley muttered. Don perked up, opening his eyes to stare at Haley in surprise. When Leo and I looked at him with curiosity, he shrunk into his shell. Haley took a deep breath. "And tells Raph not to freak."
I chuckle, imagining Liza glaring at me when I got angry. Haley smiled over at me, sharing my humor.
"Is that it?" Leo asked. "That's all she has to say to not being able to come over anymore? Sorry, Don, and telling Raph not to do what he's going to do anyway? What does she even have to be sorry about?"
He pointed the last question to Don, who shrunk a little more. I think Leo just realized how out of the loop he was, and now we were going to be hounded.
"I'll explain it after Haley leaves." Donnie murmured, face staying towards the ground. Leo glanced over Don slowly, gauging just how bad it was. I turned away from my brothers, facing Haley. Haley turned towards me, facing away from the taller turtles.
"Relay a message back for me?" I asked. Haley sighed, but nodded.
"Woah woah, Raph, before you do that." Donnie butted in, looking away from Leo. "Haley, you need sleep."
She brushed his request off like dust, standing up to stretch. She twists her body, popping her back in several spots. Haley pulls her hair back up, curling it on her head to put the Foot mask on.
"No can do, Doctor. I got training in an hour." She answered.
"Yes can do. You're tired. You will lay down and sleep at least an hour. Liza will understand." Don bit back at her. Haley looked at Don with something akin to surprise.
"Look, I get your worried. But I'll fight you to the door. I cannot miss a training session, no matter who is my teacher." She fought. Donnie stood up, facing Haley bodily. She looked up, and their size difference was comical. In fact, it was so comical it wasn't funny.
"Haley," I murmured, and she looked down at me. "We're lookin' after ya. Just an hour, ya really need it."
Haley opened her mouth to respond, and her jaw snapped close. She looked up at Don, who looked tired and annoyed but was still trying to fight for her own health. She sat down, curling her legs under herself. Don leaned over Haley to grab the blanket, and he tugged it around her. Haley reached over the edge of the couch, dropping her weapons to the ground. She glared at each of us in turn, but none of us were going to leave.
"She's going to kill me," Haley muttered, leaning back to relax.
I slipped into her room quietly, taking care to avoid walking over the rug she had. It didn't look noisy, but the hairs rubbed together and created static that sounded loud in the room. Liza was well adapted to hearing the smallest of sounds, and right now I just wanted to find her to see the damage. True to the turtle's words I woke up an hour later, a bit more refreshed and just late enough I hadn't been able to sneak in with the group.
There was a shuffling coming from her bedroom, and I paused. There was nothing else, so I felt safer to walk towards her room. Taking slow steps, trying to use all the training I did to remain silent, I crept to her door. I raised my hand up, fighting the urge to knock. Liza could be in pain, or she could be asleep. She didn't need something like a knocking sound to arouse her from whatever she was doing. Large amounts of adrenaline rushed through my body, and my heart sped up way too fast that I could feel it stuttering.
I grabbed the door handle, twisting it slowly to ease any sound. I peeled the door back, cracking it just enough so I could see inside. Liza was angry usually, and if she was fit enough to stand, she was usually fit enough to punch something or train too long. If she wasn't fit enough to stand, she had a quick silver tongue that spit fire worse than a dragon. I knew she didn't mean anything she said, but since degradation was something she was familiar with, she used it to push people away. And if I wasn't careful, her insults stuck.
I didn't have to worry though, because Liza was in her bed, face down. Her back was bare to the air, and there was a crude bandage going down the length of it. Little flecks of blood were peeking through, and Liza was making an obvious attempt not to disrupt the delicate casing.
I knew immediately she wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, and I opened the door the rest of the way. Liza turned her head towards me, listening to my footsteps. I walked over to her bed, getting closer to see the damage of her most recent training session. Goosebumps ghosted her flesh, showing just how cold she was. I reached down, pressing my fingers to her arm.
"Spice," Liza started, tilting up on her elbows to look at me. I pulled my mask off my face, brushing my hair over my shoulder. Liza turned away from my grasp, looking at me sharply. "Where were you during training?"
I paused, curling my lips into my mouth at being caught. Liza stared me down, her glare cold and calculating. I knew the face well, though it was hardly ever turned to me. She didn't go easy on me any less since I met the turtles, but she was less angered towards me if I made a mistake. That glare was reserved for the person who messed up the most, and now it was directed towards me.
"I was with the..." I pointed down, not wanting to say it aloud. Liza looked down, her brows crunching together. A few seconds later she got it, and she looked back up at me in surprise. Her anger dissipated, and she relaxed in my grip. She didn't lay down again though. She stood up, making a pained sound as she did it.
"How are they?" She asked. The covers pooled on the bed, and I saw she was wearing the pants of her BMT uniform. She wasn't allowed to be the Masked Terror anymore, but she still had the outfit. They weren't comfortable sleepwear, but it was the only time she could wear them.
"They're good. Mad at Shredder of course, but they're good. Nothing bad happened to them, and they got your message." I reported faithfully. Liza looked over at me as she rubbed her shoulder. She winced in pain, and I moved towards her to help her if she needed it. "What did they do to you?"
"Nothing," Liza answered immediately. I raise an eyebrow, giving her a dull stare that said I didn't believe her. She sighed, releasing her shoulder. "One of my punishments is him opening up some old scars. He can't very well shoot me or shove a pipe through me, so he went for my back."
"Oh my god," I whisper-shouted, panic shooting through me. I circled the taller woman, getting to her back. "Are you okay?"
"Well, of course, I'm freaking ok. I'm standing aren't I?" She muttered, keeping her back away from me. I grabbed her shoulder, doing a daring move and tugging her around. It wasn't daring in a way of hurting her, it was in a daring way that she could kill me for forcing her to do anything.
"That means nothing," I grumble, and Liza had to spin to keep her balance. She hissed at me, and I wondered if she had pain medication anywhere. Was she fighting through the pain by herself? "You can withstand several hours of nonstop blind fighting and come out standing."
I tugged the corner of the bandage down, looking at her shoulder. Liza's back tensed, but she let me do what I wanted. I felt some relief when I realized she didn't mean actually opening the wound, just the center of it. It was a thin slice through the center of the scar tissue, and I had a feeling it was like that all the way down her back. I sighed in relief, and Liza's skin prickled when my breath brushed over her bare shoulder. I put the bandage back in place, pressing it down so it stayed in place.
"You had me worried. I thought you meant the whole scar, not just a part of it." I said, calmed in my knowledge. Liza chuckled darkly, turning around to face me.
"Oh please, I might be under watch, but I'm still a high ranking commander. He can hurt me, but he needs me." She grumbled with an eye roll.
"Right, because Karai and Hun weren't enough for several years," I muttered. Liza's face never changed in reaction, but she did scoot away to get back in bed. She scooted up to the pillows, laying herself slowly on her stomach. I knew that was my signal to leave, and I moved towards the door.
"Spice," Liza said, and I paused. "You will have to make up for your missed training, and I won't go soft. Also, you'll have to tell me what the turtles talked about."
"As you wish," I whispered, grimacing as I thought about what she would do to make up for my missed training. A one on one with her was probably most likely, and that didn't sound like a fun thing. I can't wait...
March 1, 2008
Liza stopped coming nearly a month ago. I hadn't seen my girlfriend for nearly a month, and all we had to let us know she was alive was Haley stopping by occasionally. It wasn't as often as any of us liked, in the last month she'd come by only a handful of times. The last time she stopped by was a week ago, and she brought better news than the time before that. Liza was getting better apparently. There was less abuse getting inflicted on her body, and she was able to walk around the lair without guards. The time before that though, Haley looked tired and somber. Mikey was the one awake at two in the morning that time, doing his horror movie marathon. She apparently scared him with her sudden appearance, so much so he screamed. That scream was what woke the rest of us up, believing Mikey was in trouble.
Liza was going through her various punishments that went over the course of a few weeks. It started with reopening her old scars, the first one being the one across her back. After that had two days to heal, Shredder opened the one in her forearm, shooting her at a distance of three feet. He didn't trust anyone else to do it, and the gun he had was softer because of the distance. It hit the spot on the mark, and Liza was now wearing a cast to hold her ulna in place. Haley ran to us after the third wound was remade, and refused to say what else was done to her after it. Liza's scar on her face, which Don said made tremendous progress the last four years since she sustained it, was reopened. It wasn't with a pipe though, it was a very clean and swift blade, and apparently wasn't as deep. She was blinded in her left eye again because she had to wear an eyepatch. It was her last of those punishments, because all the other wounds she sustained either nearly killed her or sent her to the hospital.
Haley didn't tell us what her next punishment was, and apparently waited until there was good news to share before coming back. That was a week ago, and she had happily told us Liza was better. Liza had a message to share too, which Haley recited. It was a question and a request. A question for Don, and a request for Leo.
"Don," Haley recites, looking up to remember. "I have blueprints of Shredder's Tower. Shredder is the third floor from the top now. See if you can figure out a way in with everything we know."
And to Leo, "I need you to train your brothers. Do dirty tricks as part of the training, because the ninjas here are no longer following that honor code."
There were no comments for Mikey and I, and Haley left a little while after giving Don the blueprints of Shredder's Tower. I was a bit miffed she had nothing to say to me. In fact, Haley didn't glance at me at all, and refused to smile at anything Mikey said to lighten the mood. Leo pushed us to the dojo right after Haley left, doing exactly what she said.
It wasn't hard to fight dirty. We were strung up already, and stress increased it. We had a looming fight that was supposed to happen within two months, and I was especially angry because of what Liza was being put through. She was 'punished' because she associated herself with us, and because I was cocky enough to walk outside in nothing but a trench coat and hat. I should have listened to Liza or my brothers. Instead, Liza was now trapped in hell because of me.
Nighttime was better, sort of. I could spend my nights day dreaming or sleeping. I could imagine things, or reenact what Liza did with me the morning before she left. She saw an important part of me, and she wasn't repulsed by it. She seemed pretty happy about doing something with me and pushed me far over the edge, and at night it wasn't hard to imagine her doing it again. And again. And again.
Point is, I was glad Liza wasn't around for the Mating Season. I didn't know how much control I would have around her, especially now that most of my fears had been erased in one morning. It was also painful, because I had got used to the visits every three days. I was getting used to the idea that a woman, who was sane, had fallen in love with me.
She was in love with me... The last thing she said to me before she left was that she loved me. She had her mask on, so I was unable to see her face as she said it. She sounded beyond nervous though, and I immediately wanted to ease that worry. I had, and I wanted to do more, but Haley had pulled her out the door before I could say anything. I thought I could tell her three days later, but instead, I was given the news that she was being kept in the Shredder's Lair like a hostage. That gave me a good reason to give my punching bag a few new holes. Also, a message for Haley to relay back to Liza.
Things were going well, I thought. Liza was getting better, there was less security on her, and we turtles had yet to get into a physical fight that Master Splinter had to break apart. The plan was going to be put into action within the next two months, and our training was going better than originally thought. Leo and Don switched places in Liza's stead to continue with the training she started, and while it left us mentally drained, we were lasting longer each time.
So when Haley fell into our home, her hair sticking to bleeding cuts on her back and her clothes torn, no one could blame me for standing dumbstruck. Haley looked up at me, coughed, and said one thing before passing out, "I can't believe I got sucked into this drama."
March 18, 2008
Haley was out for three weeks. Don did a physical to see if she was in any major trouble, but all he found was just that she was physically or mentally exhausted. The cuts on her back were from a fight, and there were burns on her arms and legs. What Don got from it wasn't pretty, and we almost dreaded her waking up. I was pushier to pump her with adrenaline to wake her up and ask what happened, but Don guarded the room she was staying in like his life depended on it.
When she did wake up, none of us knew about it. She was up for several hours, laying in her bed and crying. Mikey was the one to find her, and his immediate reaction wasn't to come get his older brothers, but to comfort her. Don walked in on Mikey hugging Haley as she cried in his chest. She didn't care about her burns, or that she had scabs all across her back. Safe to say, I didn't feel too good about what happened.
"Haley?" Leo murmured, leaning over the bed she had preoccupied. Haley didn't respond to her name, and Mikey was left shaking her to get her to look up. "Haley."
"What?" Haley whispered, her voice cracking from the number of tears that had fallen. Mikey's chest had water droplets that were slowly sliding down with gravity, and I wondered if they were tickling him. He was being serious, and wasn't trying to make Haley laugh, and that was concerning.
"What... happened?" Leo asked with hesitance. Haley paused, and Mikey froze.
"There was a fire..." She said. She sat up, looking at us. When her eyes landed on me, she shook her head. "Not at the Shredder's Lair, Liza is safe."
I couldn't help the sigh of relief, and I could see Don's shoulders relax. I shouldn't be so relieved, because Haley was still beaten up about something. Mikey and Leo were there for her though, so I could pay to be selfish for a couple of seconds.
"The fire was at my house." Haley murmured, and my relief was gone. I knew little about Haley's home life, because she didn't like sharing it. She had siblings, three older and one younger. All I knew was that her younger sibling was about six, and her mother died giving birth to her. Her dad was a stay at home workaholic, but after Haley started working for the Shredder he quit to focus on the sibling. Because apparently there was income working for the Shredder. "Gang violence on my street, the Purple Dragons actually, and they targeted my house. The Night Terror's second disappearance made top news, and the criminals are getting cocky since Night Watcher is no longer there to hold them off."
Dammit, just when the world needed me again. But I can't, because I was technically dead. Sonofa-
"Your family?" Leo asked. I paused in my mental curses at myself and the news. That's right, stay at home dad and a baby sister. They might've been in the house...
Haley shook her head, then shrugged. Her shoulders started shaking again, and Mikey pulled her back into a comforting hug. Haley accepted the hug from our youngest, and I was struck with how different she was from when she first met us. "After fighting the people who caused the fire and I... you know... I ran into the house. They weren't there, though I know they should have been. I get back right before dinner usually, unless I have nightly patrol, and I wasn't late that day. But they just weren't there."
"So there's hope your family is still alive?" Don asked. Haley's bottom lip quivered, and her eyes welled with tears again. "Right?"
"I don't know. The Purple Dragons are known to take hostages nowadays." She mumbled hopelessly.
"Well that's not too bad, we can get them back," I spoke up. "We've done it before."
Haley looked over at me with something akin to hope, and then deflated again. Oh, what now could be the problem? She didn't have a home, but her family could probably live with Shredder. Or us if they had too. Oh boy would that be a conversation. We'd probably terrify the kid so bad she'll have nightmares about us at ninety.
"Wha now?" I asked.
"I broke the family honor code. I can't face my dad with that." Haley whispered.
"What did you do?" Leo asked.
"I killed them..." Haley answered quietly, and we didn't have to ask who. The ones who started the fire.
"She has yer honor code, Leo." I muttered. Leo gave me the stink-eye, but I ignored him in favor of talking to Haley. "Hey, uh, Haley."
She looked over at me, and I jutted a thumb at Leo. "He's got yer same honor code, and he's killed before. As long as yer doin' it ta protect the weak, I think yer safe with your honor. As soon as ya kill for the hell of it, then yer breakin' somethin'."
"Funnily enough though, Raph has never killed anyone." Mikey mused. That made Haley smile, and she looked over at Leo for confirmation of what I just said. He nodded, looking sheepish doing it.
"But Liza killed enough for all of us." Leo retorted. I glared in his direction, flexing my fist to fight the urge to punch him. Hormones, he didn't mean it in a rude way. Stress, he's joking along with us. Think about Liza.
"Sorry ta change the subject, but ya were gone for a while there. What happened at home base?" I asked, switching topics. Home base as in Shredder's Tower. That was the main spot for our fight, so it was called home base. Also, that was where the generators were, which was a major part of the success of our plan.
"I don't know, what's today?" She asked.
"March 18," Donnie said immediately, anticipating her question. Haley looked surprised, and then she collapsed into Mikey again. Except this time it was because she was tired, and not because she was crying. We soothed her worst fears, so now she could relax again.
"Well, then I'm out of the loop. From what I do know, Liza is still doing a lot better. She should have her eye patch removed a week and a half ago, and she's back on training duty. Shredder is slowly forgiving her, but of course, she's not allowed out." Haley reported. Damn.
"Thanks." I muttered, turning to leave. My curiosity was spent, and any possible questions I had, had been answered. Right now I was fighting the urge to fight my brothers, and I had a punching bag in the dojo that was collecting dust. None of them stopped me from leaving, which I found surprising. Then again, what did they need to stop me for? I wasn't allowed next to a sleeping Haley because they were worried I'd wake her up. Now that she was awake, she was getting all the support she needed. I wasn't part of that equation, so I went and made my own.