"Hey, Karai," April greeted her cheerily.
The dark-haired girl was sprawled on the couch watching television, her head on Mikey's leg and her feet being repeatedly shoved to the floor from Raph's lap. "Hey, Princess. What's up?"
April paused, smirking. "Would you punch me if I said 'the sky'?"
"Yes."
"Okay then." The redhead leaned over the back of the couch to talk to Karai properly. "You up for a trip to the park with us?"
"Us?" inquired Raph. He had been a lot more protective since their close-call a few days ago, though they had yet to tell anyone about that.
"She means Casey and Angel," Karai elaborated, sitting up properly. "And sure, sounds good."
April smiled at Raph. "I figured you wouldn't appreciate me bringing a fourteen-year-old into your lair, so I made Casey wait topside with her."
He gave her a single nod. "Thanks."
An hour or so later, Karai was sat with Angel and April on a park bench, watching Casey attempt roller-skating tricks on the skate ramps.
"He's gonna break his neck one of these days," muttered April with an amused smirk.
"Totally," Angel agreed. "I'm not sure how he's lasted so long against some of the freaky villains you guys go up against."
April laughed. "Yeah, me neither. I keep telling him he should train with Master Splinter, but he really isn't up for it."
"I don't think he has the control to learn Ninjutsu," mused Karai.
The redhead hummed in agreement. "Or the patience."
"Well, yes, but I'd be a pretty big hypocrite to call him out on patience," the dark-haired girl admitted.
"Same here," she giggled. A low buzzing rang out and the redhead checked her phone. "Aw, man, my dad's calling. Uh, you'll be okay here with Angel for just a few minutes, right Rai?"
Karai rolled her eyes. "Gee, I don't know. How will I survive with only my weapons and kunoichi training?"
After swatting Karai over the head, April apologised again and walked to a quieter section of the park to take the call. Casey didn't seem to notice as he continued to skate.
"Hey," Angel said softly, drawing Karai's attention back to her, "you are okay, right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Karai couldn't bring herself to be sarcastic to the younger girl. "If anything, I'm relieved to be out of the lair."
"It can't be very good spending months in a sewer." Angel dropped into a small whisper at the end of the sentence.
"No, not really. It's... nice, though. Having a family, I mean." Karai lifted her legs onto the bench and folded them under her. "I wish I'd found them sooner... Don't tell them I said that, though."
The younger girl smiled. "Damn, and I was just about to go search the sewers for hours to do that."
"Shut up."
The girls sat together making small talk for a while, until a not-very-manly shriek from nearby caught their attention. Casey, who had been trying to a flip mid-air off the ramp, clearly hadn't put too much thought into his trick, because they watched him crash to the ground in an undignified manner.
Karai's eyes widened in alarm, but Angel shook her head and grinned reassuringly. "Don't worry, he does this all the time. Casey, you're such a moron!"
The kunoichi didn't realise that she shouldn't have let Angel leave until the girl was already at Casey's side, struggling to help him stand on his roller-skates again. Calm down, she thought to herself. You're a kunoichi; you don't need bodyguards. You've had more self-defence training than the three of them put together.
So she settled back against the bench and watched the proceedings with amusement. Just when she was getting up to go help the idiot, a young Chinese man approached her. "Excuse me, Miss?"
He didn't sound hostile, and he looked unassuming enough in his regular clothes. Besides, if he was working for the Foot, she would have seem him before, even if only in a picture. "What?"
"I was just wondering if you could help me; I seem to be having some trouble with my car." He smiled apologetically, then gestured to her outfit; old boots, dirty jeans, a battered tank top, and her spiky jacket. "You seem like quite a handy girl."
Karai glanced around nervously. April was barely in her line of sight, so there was no chance of catching her attention. Angel and Casey were close enough, but neither were looking her way. She refused to shout for their attention, and anyway, she was confident that she didn't need it. It was just a random guy asking a random person in the park for help. She loved her family, but they were making her paranoid.
Sweeping her bangs out of her face, she smiled at the guy. "Sure. Where's your car?"
"Oh, thank you," he said gratefully, his eyes bright and kind. "My car is just over here."
He led her out of the park and down the street, and though Karai followed willingly, she let her hand drift to the tantõ strapped to her stomach cautiously. When he stopped beside a pristine black van, Karai was thankful for her paranoia.
"I thought you wanted help fixing your car," said Karai pointedly. Subtly, she glanced around again. April was completely out of sight now, and even the Jones' were too far for her to get their attention.
The Chinese man turned to her with a look of surprise. "Oh, did I say car? I meant-" His expression darkened and he lunged for her, snatching her arms behind her back.
Reflexively, Karai slammed the heel of her boot into his shin and twisted his arm as he doubled over. She pulled her tantõ free and set it against his neck as she pinned him to the park's fence. "Who are you?"
He smirked. "They call me Hun."
His foot slammed into her stomach and winded her, his opposite knee connecting with her face in her moment of weakness. Involuntarily she released his arm, and he shoved her face-first against the side of the van. Her tantõ had fallen in their scuffle and now lay abandoned in the road. Hun unclipped some handcuffs from a belt he had concealed under his jacket, fastening her hands behind her back.
"I must thank you for your ignorance," he taunted. "Master Shredder will be very pleased with my accomplishment, and you didn't even make it difficult for me. Truly, thank you."
Karai tried to kick him in the groin, but he side-stepped and drove his heel into the back of her knee. She dropped to the sidewalk, and he forced her up against the van again as he tied her ankles together. "Silly, silly girl. Did you really think you could escape the Shredder?"
With her limbs bound and no way of getting her sword, Karai resorted to a last-ditch tactic. She let out a piercing scream and began thrashing as he escorted her to the van. "Let go of me, you creep!"
Passers-by on the street and in the park began to look over at the commotion, just as she had planned.
"What's going on?"
"He's kidnapping her!"
"Somebody call the police!"
Hun, knowing there was no way to pass his actions off innocently, ducked his head and quickened his step, yanking open the van doors and trying to push her inside. Karai continued screaming as she tried to wrestle free, aware that people were coming to her aid. However, what she hadn't counted on was the Foot-Bots lurking in the shadows of the van, who seized hold of her and dragged her inside, one clamping a metallic hand over her mouth.
Casey finally caught sight of the scene just in time to see Karai disappear inside the van and Hun slam the doors as he raced to the driver's side, ignoring the people advancing on them. He took off towards his kitted-out bike, calling to Angel over his shoulder, "Tell April to call the guys!"
Pulling his mask over his face, Casey snatched his bag of sports equipment and slung it over his shoulder, pulling on his Taser-equipped glove as he cycled. Pedestrians shouted as he whipped past them, but he paid them no mind as he struggled to reach the van.
Meanwhile, Karai wriggled desperately to get free of the Foot-Bots, secretly trying to knock one of their weapons down. One finally dropped a shuriken, and Karai caught it between her feet gleefully. She managed to cut the rope around her ankles enough to break out of it, then proceeded to kick a katana-wielding robot's head off.
"Who keeps thinking it's a good idea to pit me against these things?" she wondered aloud as she grabbed the katana in one hand.
Unfortunately, the Foot-Bots seemed to remember her last escape, because they removed the weapon speedily and threw her against the far wall of the vehicle. One moved to secure her ankles again, but she leapt aside. Two more pounced at her, but she ducked at the last second and they crashed into the back doors of the van. Said doors flung open under the impact, though the robots grabbed hold of the rim and pulled themselves back up.
With the doors open, Karai could now see Casey approaching, and a crazy plan began to form in her mind. "Cycle faster!" she yelled to him, wheeling around to kick a Foot-Bot in the stomach.
"I'm trying!" he hollered back, using a lower voice so the witnesses wouldn't recognise him.
Karai managed to hold her own against the Foot-Bots, until one took the wheel from Hun, allowing the young man to join the fight. Seeing him climb over the seat, Karai frantically glanced back at Casey. He wasn't as close as she would have liked, but she was pretty sure he was close enough. So, allowing herself no hesitation, Karai jumped straight out of the speeding van.
Casey saw this and peddled madly to get within reach. Had she not been training for her whole life, she never would have made the jump.
Without her arms to brace herself, Karai smacked full-force into Casey. He just about kept them upright on the bike, but the impact sent said bike sideways. It crashed into the stone wall lining the park, launching them both over the wall and down a grassy hill. The van kept driving, now with a police car on its tail. Casey tried to cushion the fall as best he could for Karai, though when they finally rolled to a stop, both were grinning giddily from the adrenaline.
"You okay?" he asked, still using his deep voice.
Karai let her head fall against the ground, fatigue and fear settling in as the adrenaline wore off. "I think so. I, uh…"
"You're welcome." He ruffled her hair. He peered back at his bike against the wall. "My bike's probably totalled, though."
She nodded. "Yeah… You'll probably want to stretch out your legs later, too. You were pedalling pretty damn quickly."
Casey shrugged. "Couldn't let them take you. The guys would rip me to pieces."
Since her arms were still bound, Karai nuzzled her head against Casey's chest as an attempt at a hug. "Seriously though, you just saved my life."
"Hey, all in a day's work for-"
"Is it really worth putting on a mask and fake voice if you're just gonna start talking in the third person?" Karai inquired teasingly.
"Maybe not," he admitted. Another police car had pulled up, and several policeman were approaching them. "Actually," Casey said awkwardly, "I might have to get goin' before they start askin' me stuff…"
"Fine," sighed Karai, "but they're just going to question me."
"We can help with that," whispered April, as she and Angel hurried over.
Muttering a quick goodbye, Casey ran up the hill and grabbed his bike, pedalling away despite shouts for him to stop.
"It's okay, he saved me," Karai called quickly.
"He's an unnamed vigilante," April agreed. Seeing the questioning looks the police were giving her, she and Angel both wrapped an arm around Karai. "She's our best friend," April explained. The redhead chanced a look at Karai, and her heart almost broke at the mixture of disbelief and hope on her face.
"We were hanging out together by the skate ramps before that weirdo showed up," Angel continued.
"Then I'm going to need to speak to all three of you girls," said a strict-looking policeman.
"Yes, Officer," conceded April before Karai could cause another scene.
The trio were escorted to one of the police cars while the officers began questioning witnesses. A policeman unlocked Karai's handcuffs before asking her to sit in the back with her friends. As she sat down, April whispered, "I've called the guys; they're tracking my phone."
"Shit," Karai hissed under her breath. "Splinter's going to freak out."
"It's going to be on the news soon, the guys would find out anyway," April informed her gently. "Reporters love this kind of story; an innocent girl being harassed by sleazebag guy."
Karai huffed. "Imagine what a field day they'd have with my biography."
The other girls winced. The turtles had previously told April and Casey (who had later explained to Angel) about the Shredder abusing Karai, and none of them had made peace with the knowledge yet. "Don't say that," Angel chided. "It's not funny."
The dark-haired girl sighed quietly, and sat back on the seat. The policeman returned to the car and drove them to the station, promising that everything would be okay, that they would catch the scumbag before he could try this again. The vehicle pulled up and the man helped them out of the car. He led them into the building and sat them in the waiting room.
"I'll just be a minute," he assured them. "I need to check if there's a room free to talk to you girls in."
Once he was out of sight, April felt a tight grip on her arm. She turned, and was surprised to see the look of pure worry on Karai's face. "Are they going to take me to child services?" she whispered fearfully.
Part of her was tempted to make a wisecrack, but when April realised how honestly Karai was displaying her emotions, she couldn't bring herself to do so. "If they find out you're under eighteen and living with no discernible adult, then they'll try to," she admitted. "When's your birthday?"
"December 9th 1998," she answered uncertainly.
April shook her head. "That makes you seventeen; try again."
Catching on, Karai smirked. "Did I say '98? I meant 1995."
"That's more like it." The redhead clapped her on the shoulder. "What's your name again?"
During her individual interview, Karai invented a whole new persona. She was born on the 20th of March in 1995 as Harmony Smith ("I was born here, and I've lived in New York all my life, I just look different because my mother was Asian."), and she lived alone in a small flat across town that she didn't feel comfortable disclosing the address of. Her mother passed away when she was young, she had no siblings, and she hadn't seen her father in years. They asked her some questions about her kidnapper, but she pretended to know nothing of his identity or motivation. Finally, they took a photograph and her fingerprints, before letting her and her friends leave, promising to keep an eye out.
As she exited the police station with her friends at her side, Karai's heart filled with dread. Whether she was Karai, Miwa, Harmony, or anyone in-between, the truth was undeniable; any moment she was out of the lair, she was in danger.
Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, and I'm calling complete artistic license on American police proceedings. I'm British, and I don't even really know how our police system works, so just pretend that it could have happened like this. Okay? Thank you :)
EDIT: LilyTheNinjaGirl suggested something that I can't believe I didn't think of: Karai using Harmony as an alias. Again, can't believe I didn't think of it, but I decided to change it because I loved the idea so much :)
Also, thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it xD Even if I did add some more feels in at the end... Sorry...
