I don't know how far we ran, or where we were going. I kept my head down and followed the turtles' lead. At some point we entered a storm drain and ran through the sewers, out feet splashing noisily in the water. I started to tire, my breath coming in short gasps. I slowed, and Leo slowed to match my pace. Donnie threw him a worried look. He was obviously worried about Mikey, who had still not woken up. Leo nodded, and Donnie passed us, racing toward our unknown destination. Raph soon joined him, leaving me with Leo.
"We can stop." He said softly.
"I'm fine."
"I don't believe you."
I looked up, surprised at his comment, but he said nothing more. We padded on, slower than we had before. After I caught my breath, I asked him, "Why don't you believe me?"
"Today you started a whole new life. That's not east to accept at first, believe me. Plus, you look dead on your feet. Remind me to call April when we get home. She will help you get cleaned up so Donnie can take a look at you."
"Who's April?" We took a sharp left into what looked like a dead end, but Leo didn't stop. Right before he hit the wall, he leaped into the air into a passage above the part of the wall the dim light illuminated. A huge passage way lay just out of the light, wide enough for us to walk side by side. I jumped, but fell short, my hands barely touching the bottom of the passage. I grabbed onto the wall and tried to pull myself up , but my arms gave out. Leo grabbed my wrist and hauled me up with surprising strength. He seemed surprised too, for some odd reason.
"Don't' take this the wrong way, but how much do you weigh?" he asked, genuinely curious.
His question took me off guard. "Um… 130 pounds, I think. Why?"
"You don't feel that heavy… Oh, well." He began walking and I followed him, clutching the filthy lab coat around me like a blanket. Leo started talking to fill the silence.
"April is one of our very few friends who live topside. She's not mutated like us, so she can do things for us that only a human can do. Being a six and a half foot tall turtle doesn't exactly go unnoticed in the human world. Anyway, she should be in the lair waiting for us and will be able to help you get bandaged up."
"I'm not hurt, really. Just…shocked."
"When was the last time you looked in a mirror? You're hurt. Badly. You must not feel it because of all the adrenaline in your body. Either way, we're here. Welcome home."
Sure enough, we had come to what looked like a large hole in the ground. I peered into the hole, which ended in blackness. Leo hopped into the hole without so much as a second glance, leaving me alone in the tunnel. I never heard him land but his voice floated up through the blackness.
"Jump! I'll catch you!"
"I'm not sure if I trust you yet…" I spoke softly into the blackness, but he heard me and chuckled.
"I guess you'll just have to trust me anyway. The fall's not that long."
I figured that if I was willing to follow these creatures into the sewers and trusted them enough to not kill me on sight, I could trust Leo to not drop me. I jumped, feeling the air rush past me. Sure enough, Leo caught me a split second later. He set me gently on my feet and gave me a moment for my eyes to adjust. At the end of a short tunnel was a warm light, leading to a room filled with the rest of the turtles. I walked toward the light slowly, not trusting myself to not freak out at what I saw. The room looked surprisingly normal, with a large TV in one corner, a doorway leading to a kitchen, another to a bathroom, and four bedrooms in a second story above the main level. A staircase curved up the length of an entire wall leading to the upstairs. Comfy armchairs and an old couch took up most of the living room. An old wooden table occupied a majority of the kitchen, but a sturdy looking refrigerator hummed along in the corner. A massive computer set sat in the back corner of the living room, its many screens providing security footage from different parts of the surrounding sewers. It looked eerily similar to the security computer in the lab, making me shudder internally. Other than that, the underground home looked welcoming.
"Leo! Thank goodness you're back. You had me worried." A clearly feminine voice came floating out from one of the bedrooms above us. I looked up, surprised to see a human woman looking down at us from over the handrail. She wore a sporty yellow pea coat and black skinny jeans with some knee high boots. Her dark brown hair framed a pretty face with knowing, brown eyes. She took one look at me and her eyes widened. Without saying a word, she hurried down the staircase toward us. I glanced up at Leo.
"Is that…?"
"Yeah, that's April."
"Oh,… okay."
April hurried over to us, staring at me with wonder. I shifted uncomfortably under her intense gaze. "Oh, sorry," she apologized, her gaze softening. "You're just so… wow."
"Freakish?" I offered
"Actually, I was going to say stunning."
"Sure you were."
"No, really. I-"
"April, please," Leo interrupted us gently. He was leaning heavily against the wall. "Can you check on Mikey on me and show out friend here where the bathroom is? I need to sit down for a minute. Have you seen Splinter anywhere?"
"Not recently. I just saw Mikey a minute ago and he was doing better than how he came in. You all have some serious explaining to do. Now," April turned to me, "If you'll follow me. The bathroom is right around the corner. I think I have some spare clothes that might fit you. Remind me to go shopping tomorrow."
I noticed that she liked to talk. She rambled on and on as she led me to the bathroom. I shut the door quickly, reveling in the alone time. The shower was cleaner than I would expect one to be in the sewers, thankfully. I turned on the hot water and got undressed while it warmed up. Leo was right, I was hurt. My shoulder was an ugly purple color and my feet were a bloody mess. My head wound left a bright red spot on the side of my head, and dozens upon dozens of cuts and bruises covered the length of my body from where the test tubes had been hooked up to me. I felt smaller, physically, mostly because of my massive wings that dwarfed me in height. Steam finally came from the shower, and I hopped in gratefully. It took several minutes and many rounds of body wash for me to wash the day away and even longer to finally relax. The water rolled off my wings without drenching the inner layers, no matter how long I kept them under the water. When I stepped out of the shower, I was surprised to find a large towel and some new pajamas sitting on the toilet seat when they had most definitely not been there before I got into the shower. I decided not to question it. The PJ's fit surprisingly well, though I had to roll up the pant legs a few times so they didn't drag. The top was a tank top, so I didn't have to worry about my wings, though putting it on was a nightmare.
I walked out of the bathroom, trying in vain to yank a brush through my tangled hair. It got so stuck that I could let go and it would stay attached to my head, bobbing every time I walked. I left it there, not even trying to undo it, and sat in one if the armchairs in the living room. A blanked lay on the floor, so I snatched it up and curled myself up into a ball, cocooning myself in its warmth. I couldn't tuck my wings in anywhere, so I moved them out of the blanket and folded them around myself, forming a protective shield of black around my entire being. It was pretty sweet, being in my own little ball of warmth. I soon got really hot, though, and peeped my head out from between my wings for a breath of fresh air. Donnie was standing right in front of me with some funky glasses on that made his brown eyes look huge, studying me intently. I shrieked in surprise and snapped my wings shut, hiding myself deeper in the blanket.
"No, no, no! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, honest. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay. Leo told me you got pretty beat up back there."
I folded my wing back slightly so I could see him. He held his hands up in the I surrender gesture and was giving me a crooked half smile. I was going to have to get used to this new life I had, living around mutants.
"Right. Sorry about that. I guess I'm still on edge from, you know… everything." I folded my wings back and let the blanket drop. Donnie drew a sharp breath when he saw my battered body.
"Geez, kid, what did you do, run into a bus?" asked a voice from above us. Raph watched us from the balcony-type hallway above us. He was already covered in bandages most likely put in place by Donnie a little while earlier. I shied away from his gaze, still intimidated by him.
"Back off, Raph. It's not like this is the life she would have chosen for herself. Besides, she came out looking better than any of us did after our first real fight," pointed out Donnie, rolling his eyes. He turned back to me and offered me his hand. "We can go into my lab and I'll get you fixed up in a jiffy. You're going to need some serious R& R after tonight."
"Okay, sure." I took his hand and padded after him into a room I had not seen before. He walked in and headed immediately for a large metal cabinet. I froze, oblivious to Donnie's questioning look when I did not follow him in. The room looked almost exactly like the lab I had been mutated in. I physically could not make myself go in there, not right now. My eyes met Donnie's frantically, and he seemed to understand because he gathered all his supplies in his arms and left the room quickly, shutting the door behind him.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Wasn't thinking. We can, um, go the kitchen, I guess. This way,"
"Thanks," I murmured. Donnie wet out his supplies on the counter and helped me up. He looked surprised for some reason as I settled myself on the counter.
"Random question, but how much do you weigh?"
"Not again. Leo had the same question. Last time I checked, I was around 130. Why?"
"You most definitely do not weigh that much. Hold on a second while I go get a scale. You couldn't possibly…" he hurried off into his lab again, this time coming out with a simple scale for me to stand on. He set in on the ground in front of me and I slid down onto it. The needle wavered around for a moment, and then finally settled on 48 pounds. 48 pounds! No way! I was supposed to weigh three times that much! How in the world…? Oh, right. I'm a mutant now.
Donnie shook his head in disbelief. "Incredible. Your bones must be hollow, like a bird's. That would explain the flying and the tiny body frame."
"I'm not that small, thank you very much. 5'3" is not that short."
"Hey, kid, I don't know the last time you looked in a mirror, but you'd be lucky to be considered five foot nothing. You are, by my definition, tiny. Now hop back on the counter for me so I can fix you up. Do you want me to get the brush out of your hair or…?"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about the brush. You're welcome to try," I hopped back on the counter, "but it's pretty stubborn." At that exact moment, April walked into the kitchen.
"Don, Mikey just woke up. Thought you should know."
Donnie took off, calling Mikey's name as he ran. It was amazing to me to see how much these brothers cared for each other. April cleared her throat, catching my attention.
"Want some help with the brush?" she asked.
"That would be appreciated." I couldn't help feeling more willing to let another human mess around with my head than a giant turtle. April smiled and strode over to the counter. I turned on the counter and lowered my wings so she could reach my hair. She talked as she worked the brush gently from my scalp. Almost on instinct, she began smoothly brushing through my hair once the brush was free. I thought about stopping her, but decided against it. The rhythmic motion was calming, and I was perfectly willing to let her deal with my hair and save me a heap of work. Maybe my new life wouldn't be so bad after all.
