"Wait...so you just jumped out of the car?"
"Yeah. I wasn't gonna tell them I was leaving because that wouldn't be very mysterious," Noah explains casually. I shake my head in disbelief and swallow a sip of my strawberry smoothie.
"And jumping out of the car is so much more mysterious," I say, sarcasm dripping.
He looks defensive. "It is! When you mysteriously leave a crowded place, people are like, 'Whoa...where'd he go?'"
"Well a car isn't exactly a mysterious place! People aren't going to be wondering where you went; they're going to be wondering what it wrong with you and where they need to hide your body if they can find it," I point out.
"You're just jealous."
"Yeah," I say. "I'm so jealous of you ability to do stupid things and still be alive." I toss my empty smoothie cup into the trash. "No thanks. I choose life."
It's been a little over a week since Noah had come up here to New York. And since then, we've spent a lot of our time together when I don't have work, school or when I'm not hanging with the turtles or Mal.
I even find myself spending more time with Noah than I am with Leo. I love Leo, but I can never find the guts to say no when Noah asks to hang out. Without a doubt, I know my bond with Leo is slowly but surely falling apart. And I want more than anything to stop that from happening.
"Well," I say, shrugging and standing up. "I'd better head off to work now."
"I can walk you there. I'd kind of like to know where my best friend works," he offers. I pause. I hope my sudden halt isn't too obvious.
Noah doesn't know about the other half of my life. He doesn't know why we moved to New York. He doesn't know about the Headquarters and he definitely doesn't know about the turtles. I know I can't risk telling him any of that. For his safety, and for our own.
"It's alright," I decline.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I'll see ya later."
"See ya. Maybe I can join Recluse Day like the old days?" Noah suggests with a smile.
I chuckle and shrug. "Maybe." But as I walk out of the Smoothie Shop, I find myself shaking my head. I would feel like I was betraying Leo if Noah joined. Leo has been to almost every single Recluse Day since we met the turtles. And I really don't want to seem like I'm using Noah to replace him.
I enter the Headquarters and find my desk, piled high with papers. I notice they're profile reports.
After getting to the fourth report, I look up to find a turtle I recognize: Leo. He's standing right next to Don and Dr. Faulkner.
We've tried all we can to find what chemicals before we got so near to finding a cure, but so far, no success. It's like Leo feels me staring, because he looks over and locks eyes with me. My stomach and I am the first one to do something. I lift up my hand, waving him forward.
He casually strolls over to my desk.
"What are you doing?" Leo asks.
"Currently doing Profile Reports," I answer.
He looks confused, so I try to elaborate.
"Alright, so basically these are stacks of paper."
"I can see that."
"Well in the print of these stacks of paper are words."
"Words," Leo repeats, scrunching his forehead like he's thinking. "I've heard of them..."
I feel a laugh tickle my throat, but I swallow it down.
"These words have different people from different gangs. We find their age, height and sometimes their past."
"Isn't that kind of personal?" Leo asks curiously.
"It is," I admit. "I felt bad at first. I mean, I know I would hate it if people were making notes of my every move. Even though it was my childhood dream for people to follow me around and take pictures and videos of my best moments."
Leo laughs. "I thought your childhood dream was to find a chocolate bar the size of your head. What happened to that one?"
"That is now a goal," I inform. "Come on, Leo, keep up with me here."
"Well that's kind of hard to do when you're avoiding me." His voice is still light but I know there's truth behind it. Lot's of truth. Maybe all truth, carefully masked with humor. But I know Leo better than that.
"Leo," I say, trying to look into his eyes, which he keeps averting. "You know I would never try to avoid you. Ever." I pause. "But Noah came all the way down to New York and found me. He took time to literally track me down." I laugh a little. "Creepy a little, but really nice."
Leo is hesitant to respond. But when he does, he looks into my eyes. My stomach flips.
"I understand, Lexi. You can spend as much time with Noah as you want. I can't do anything about it," he says softly.
I raise my eyebrows and briefly put a hand on his. "You can do something about it. If you feel like I'm not spending enough time with you and your brothers, tell me. Because you're my best friend, Leo."
He looks curious. "I thought Noah was your best friend..."
"We used to be," I say. "I mean, we've known each other since Kindergarten." I pause. "But a lot can change through the years. Especially when I meet four mutant turtles and their mutated rat father."
Leo chuckles and slightly nods. "Gotcha..." He looks at the reports. "So what determines what's on the paper?"
"How well they hide," I answer. "If their bios are super long, it means that really need to work on hiding from us more. Either that, or they're really proud of who they are. We've gotten a lot of that." I put one of the Reports down. "Like the MAD Boyz."
"The MAD Boyz?" Leo asks, raising an eye ridge. "What is that like some kind of dance team?"
I laugh. "A newer gang around here."
He nods, his smile relaxing. "Have you ever gotten a report from someone you knew?"
I pause. "Yeah," I say quietly. "Once I got one on my ex."
"Tristan?" He and I have talked about Tristan only once or twice, so I'm surprised that he remembers his name. I shrug, but nod at his guess. I don't elaborate though. I'm glad that he seems awkward talking about it too; he swiftly switches the topic.
"How are you guys doing on finding another cure? Any luck?"
"Hardly," I mutter, shaking my head. I'm still upset and frankly angry that someone had destroyed the cure we were working on, and hadn't spoken up about it.
"You guys will figure everything out," Leo says. "You always do."
LEO'S POV:
"How'd your little talk with Lexi go?" Mikey drags, grinning as he passes by me.
I'm sitting on the couch, watching the news with Splinter. I've noticed that ever since I shared with my family how I felt about Lexi, we've been spending more time together as a family. Splinter spends less time meditating and more time with us, Raph stays out of his room longer, and Don has moved his work to the front room, unless he's working on something super important.
"If you must know, it went fine," I respond calmly.
"I'm surprised you haven't told her yet," Donnie mutters, screwing in a part for the Surround Sound he's installing.
"I don't blame him," Raph says, crossing his arms. "She's been hangin' around that Noah kid too much."
"Raph," I say evenly. "There's nothing wrong with Noah. He came all the way from California. I don't expect her to ignore him. She's embracing an old friendship."
"Who would want an old friendship when you can spend all your time with four, cool turtles?" Mikey exclaims, taking a bite of pizza.
There's a pause.
"Any sane person," Don answers, staring at our younger brother.
"And are you seriously defendin' the guy?" Raph asks. "Aren't you at least a little bit angry?"
"No," I say, but I hesitate before answering. "I know she doesn't like him like that."
"Raphael, Leonardo is being very wise to not let anger overcome his friendship with Alexandra. It's best we leave this alone," Splinter says, looking at Raph.
Raph mutters something, but then looks up. "Yes, Sensei..."
"Leonardo, I'd like you to take your brothers up for training. You all need your air for tonight," Splinter insists.
I inwardly sigh, but don't object. "Yes, Master."
"This is stupid," Raph mutters. "We already got our training with the famous Tatsuo at four in the morning! We don't needa train up here too!"
"Think about it, Raph..." Mikey begins. "We might run into your buddies the Purple Dragons and you'll get to bust some heads."
"I do like bustin' heads," Raph mumbles. He looks up. "Alright. But if we don't get any action in the next hour, I'm leavin'."
"Deal," I agree, not looking at my brother, but around the city. "We gotta look out though. From what Lexi has been telling me, the Foot and Dragons have been out a lot more often. And more dangerous too."
"Dangerous for us or dangerous for each other?" Mikey asks.
"Both," I say. "Apparently they've been really angry at each other lately. Like, really angry. We don't know why."
"Shouldn't we be figuring out what their problem is instead of jumping in?" Don asks, crossing his arms.
"I don't see why we can't investigate while bustin' heads," Raph says, punching his palm. "The more, the merrier."
"No," I say firmly. "We aren't going to just burst in if we see something happening. We're ninjas, in case you've forgotten. We use stealth."
"Leo, don't be so-"
"Hey guys, shut up for a minute. I think I see something," Donnie says.
My eyes follow his. From afar, we can see a group of men in a suspicious-looking circle. If you look closely enough, you can see identical tattoos etched in their arms. Purple Dragons.
"What are they doing?" Raph asks.
"Maybe they're doing that thing—what's it called—when you sit in a circle and try to talk to ghosts?" Mikey asks, and Don sighs. He shakes his head slightly and rolls his eyes at our youngest brother.
"A seance? They aren't doing that, Mikey!" he exclaims, with a hint of exasperation. "Why would they be having a seance?" He leans closer. "I think they're cornering someone..."
Raph laughs darkly and pulls out his sai. He smirks. "Alright! Finally: an excuse to fight!" But before he can pop up, I grab his arm and pull him back down. He shrugs out of my grip and glares.
"What's your problem, Leo?"
I ignore his question, and just watching the Dragons.
"Dudes, check it out: they're backing away. Now we can see what was so interesting," Mikey says.
The Purple Dragons continue to back away, and I feel myself grow tense when I see who is in Hun's grip: Noah McDaniel.
"Hey, I recognize that guy from somewhere," Don begins, but I cut him off.
"It's Noah," I say quiet but firm.
"How'd ya recognize him?" Raph asks, surprised. "We've seen him once!"
"Once was enough for me..." I mutter, setting my jaw. "They must've kidnapped him. I doubt he waltzed onto the roof on his own."
"What are we waiting for then? Time to bust some heads?" Raph asks, twirling his sai.
I don't object this time. "Time to bust some heads."
Raph goes at them first-no stealth at all-knocking over Hun. Hun falls to the cement of the rooftops, and it takes him a while to realize what has happened. In an instant, Raph and Hun are fighting. Raph punches Hun in the stomach, and Hun grabs Raph by the arm and tosses him to the side. He storms towards Donnie and yanks his bo staff out of his hands. Before Don can stop him, Hun breaks the staff into too pieces and tosses the remains over the building.
"Why is it always my weapon that gets tampered with?" he shrieks, anger and humiliation stinging his facial expressions.
"Well for starters," Raph says, grunting as he tosses two Purple Dragons to the edge. "Your weapon is a stick. No offense, but it look like something you'd pull out of a dumpster."
Mikey grins and slaps some Dragons with his nunchucks. "I always think of Donnie when I see a trash can."
"Thanks guys," Don says. "That feels great."
"Don't mention it, smart guy," Raph responds, motioning his head to the side. "Now if you're so defenseless, go help out McDaniel over there."
A few Dragons that are lucky enough to be carrying knives throw their weapons at us. That action surprises me. As a ninja, we are taught never to throw our weapons. But the Purple Dragons aren't ninjas. They aren't technically trained at all. They just fight because they have anger inside them that they want to do something about. They're like Raph, only they have no professional training.
"Uh...guys..." Mikey calls, ducking two Dragons. "When are we planning on falling back? I think they're multiplying."
I look over and see that Don has already managed to get Noah off the building. So I decide it's safe to turn back. Tossing a smoke pellet, I hop off the rooftops, and hope my brothers take the hint. They do.
"Don, take Noah behind that dumpster. Hurry. Raph, Mikey, get over here now. They aren't going to give up looking and we don't have time to get back to the lair." My brothers finally follow my orders and we get behind the large, green dumpster. Just in time too. As soon as I'd stepped behind it, I hear the grunts and curses of the Dragons.
"We lost 'em!" One shouts. "Ya idiots, we let 'em get away!"
"They threw a smoke bomb," one with a heavy Brooklyn accent points out.
"I wouldn't care if they'd gotten on a plane and taken off, you still coulda got them! Those turtles are part of this too!" Hun's booming voice shouts. "You're all failures! We can't have failures here. We're against the Foot Clan!"
"Hun, the Foot ain't ever gonna be better than us," one says.
"You fool! You're too confident for your own good!" There's a silence and then the sound of a sword. I hold my breath and try not to gasp. Had Hun just killed someone? Shocking waves of shivers are sent down my spine. Another cold-blooded murder from another unsuspected.
"Do we have anymore objections?" But it's no question. It's a challenge. And one that nobody takes. "Good. We will find this friend of Alexandra King." Soon enough, they've gone.
I turn to my brothers. "Let's get down to the lair where it's safe."
"How do you know my name? I heard you say my name. Why do you know my name? I don't know you! What are you? Who are you?" Noah babbles.
"Don't go yellin' at us! We just saved your butt; you should be thanking us," Raph says, crossing his arms. I notice Donnie has a grip on Noah's arm, so he can't turn loose. We can't have him telling the world about us. I'm still trying to brainstorm on how we'll tell Lexi.
"Pretend you're in my place right now," Noah begins. His voice is trembling. "I was just kidnapped by these huge guys with matching tattoos who started questioning me about my entire life. Then, these green things begin fighting them with weapons; and to top it all off, I just heard a man get killed for being confident." He shakes his head, trying to back away from us. "Is this normal in New York? Because if it is, I'm taking my plane ticket back and getting out of here."
"Please calm down," I plead. "All you need to know right now is that we're friends with Lexi."
"How do you know Lexi's name?"
"He just said we're friends with her!" Raph exclaims. "Why don't ya trust us?"
"Oh well I don't know," he says sarcastically. "I just think that the average person wouldn't be very open to the home of green talking aliens armed with weapons!"
"I'll show you what a weapon is," Raph growls, pressing forward, but I put my hand in front of him.
"Raph," I warn. I turn back to Noah. "Look, what would make you feel more comfortable?"
"Make this purple guy let me go."
"That ain't gonna happen, buddy. What'da ya want? To call Lexi?" Raph asks.
I sigh. "Raph, it's almost midnight." But Noah crosses his arms. The look on his face is clear: he isn't following us until we call our mutual friend. "Fine; call her quickly!" He fishes out his cell phone and dials the number. I can tell he's trying to avoid our eyes.
"Lexi," he says. "Do you know aliens?" Silence. "You'll never believe it! I don't even believe it. It's irrational! They just saved me from these guys with tattoos but now they aren't letting me go, and they tried to force me down to their house but I'm not going to go with them but I'm curious about how they know you and I'm just really concerned because none of this makes sense."
Raph groans and Mikey snickers.
"How many people know about us that shouldn't?" I ask bitterly. It's meant as a rhetorical question, and my brothers don't answer. After a few moments, Noah puts his phone away. He looks at us wearily.
"She yelled at me for being out late at night," he begins. "But then she told me I can trust you guys."
"May we escort you then?" Raph asks, not even trying to push the annoyance out of his voice.
I sigh. I can't imagine what Lexi will have to say...
"And you, Noah!" Lexi exclaims, pointing at him. "I warned you countless times how dangerous New York City is at night. But did you listen to me? No! You woke me up at midnight to tell me that you didn't trust the people who saved your life and knew my name and all this impossible information about me! You still called me because you're too stubborn and wouldn't even let them give you proper hospitality until you could wake me up!"
She then turns sharply to my brothers and I.
"And you idiots! You were there to save him!"
"Why are ya yelling at us about that?" Raph asks. "If it weren't for us, this kid would've been killed."
"I was woken up just to come down to the lair because this idiot had to follow the 'don't talk to strangers' rule," she grows, glaring at Raph. "I can yell at whoever I want, whenever I want, for whatever I want."
Raph holds up his hands in surrender. "Carry on..."
"Noah, you really couldn't have waited until tomorrow to talk to me about this? I didn't have the easiest day. I needed that sleep." She crosses her arms. "What am I going to do with you?"
"What am I going to do with you?" Noah asks, crossing his arms as well. "You're friends with these...mutant things, and you didn't plan on telling me?" He scoffs. "This is crazy! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not surprised you'd be involved in something like this-"
"Something like this?" Lexi repeats, glaring at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Well clearly they're dangerous," Noah defends. "You have to admit that being connected to them puts you and your family in danger."
"Are you kidding me? Knowing me puts them in danger!" she exclaims, but from the look on her face, I know she regrets it. It's a sworn rule to remain confidentiality in the HUA, unless permitted.
"How could it put them in danger?" Noah asks.
I watch her bite her lip in regret. "That doesn't matter right now..."
"Are you in danger? I can help, Lex." He doesn't know who he's up against.
"We should take Noah back home," I interrupt. "We can all talk about this more later."
Noah looks suspicious. "Why can't we talk about it now?" That question earns a whack from Lexi.
"Because I'm tired, you dummy!" she exclaims. "I gotta get outta here. Leo, come with me." I don't object her order. Even though she's exhausted and not the cheeriest right now, I don't care. Any condition of the girl I love is still worth loving.
"Lexi...you said that Noah is really smart, right?" I begin, as we near the end of the sewer. I lift up the lid and climb out, holding out my hand for her. Her warm hand encloses into mine for a brief five seconds as I help her out. As soon as we are walking down the street, I miss the absence of her hand against mine.
"Yeah."
"Well..." I begin. "I don't know...do you think maybe-"
"I can ask Serena if I can tell him?" she finishes, glancing over at me. For a few moments, I see something other than the grouchy Lexi who was woken up in the middle of the night. Her eyes sit soft with thought. "I don't know yet, Leo. I know he'd be a big help."
"I think Noah will need a little longer to feel comfortable around us," I say. "I mean, we did kind of hold him captive and try to force him into our home."
"But your intentions were good. I'm sure he felt very grateful."
"I was thinking enraged or infuriated..." I mutter.
Lexi whacks my arm softly. "He's a good guy, Leo. You'll end up liking him a lot; I promise." But what's sad is that I know that she can't keep that promise. Because I unintentionally envied him the second he walked through those doors on Lexi's birthday.
When we get to her window, she turns to me and says, "Goodnight, Leo. Thanks for walking with me." And before I can even respond, she's disappeared through the hallway and into her bedroom without another word.
A/N: And here we have Noah McDaniel reacting like a normal person would. I know he seemed like he was being super extra but believe me, if the ninja turtles weren't a thing, and you saw them, you'd probably react similarly. It isn't something you see everyday.
I can't make the same promise Lexi made about you eventually liking Noah, but I can promise that he is a good guy! Personally, I think he's awesome guy - you'll get used to him. And I know that you might not like Lexi a ton right now because it seems like she's pushing Leo away but that will be fixed soon! Nothing can keep them apart for ever!
Thank you, my beautiful readers!