Chapter 3:
Emmaline sighed as she finally left the theater, shoving her hands in her pockets as she walked along. It had been a rough shift. There had been a few arguments among patrons that lead to things getting thrown. A recently hired employee had set off a popcorn avalanche right as she was walking through the concession stand, leading to her getting covered in it, and for some reason she had to keep going into one theater to tell one person that no, they could not scream at the people on their cellphones no matter how annoying they were. I swear, any movie goer besides the actual quiet ones are idiots… How hard is it to plop your butt down in a chair for two hours and be a civil human being!?
And for that matter… Ugh, I'm gonna be combing popcorn out of my hair tonight… She ran a hand through her hair, dislodging a few stray kernels. "Yep… So combing popcorn outta my hair…"
Swear that guy in the trench coat who wouldn't shut up was giving me a glare when he was walking out… Dude, I have to do my job…
She was in a bad mood and the sight of the boathouse only served to alleviate it slightly. She rummaged through her purse, finding the keys and unlocked the door heading in. "Lora? I'm home!" She called.
Loralie peered out from behind the door to their makeshift shower. "Ten minutes and it's yours. You don't wanna know what I had to go through."
"... We'll share stories of woe after I get the shower."
When both sisters were cleaned up and able to relax, Emmaline let it out, ranting and raving as she combed through her hair. "And I swear one of 'em would've pulled a knife or something on me if he had the chance!" She made a stabbing motion with her comb before flopping back onto her bed. "So that was my sucky night. How was yours?"
"I got marauded by mutant tortoises."
There was a moment of silence before Emmaline shot back up. "YOU WHAT!?"
"You heard me." She crossed her arms, giving her sister a look. "Mutant tortoises… Okay more like turtles, but man… Talk about annoying!"
"What happened!?"
Loralie got up, pulling out the keyboard, now cleaned up and presented it to her sister. "Happy late eighteenth."
Emmaline looked at it confused and surprised. "How…?"
"This is why I got maureded. You're welcome!"
"Just...Tell me! Thanks for the present and all but seriously!"
"It's a long annoying story." Loralie sighed, laying on her side, curling up a little. "There was two of 'em. One of 'em didn't annoy me for the most part, but the second one… I was THIS close to mauling."
Emmaline didn't believe her, giving her an unimpressed look. "You, maul someone?"
"... Okay, so he totally kept dodging any attempts to scratch his face off-"
"He attacked you!?"
"..." Loralie muttered something.
"What was that?" Her sister pressed.
"... He played keep away… He was taller than me…" She muttered, turning a shade of brown, blushing. She hated how short she was and that night just proved how short she actually was.
"What did you do to prompt that!?"
"I fell off a pile of garbage and was trying to make an exit that WASN'T like an elephant storming through a china shop! There!"
Emmaline shook her head in disbelief. "So… You got seen… and harassed by two… mutant turtles?"
"One, the other one was trying to control him." She replied, giving a sheepish look. "Please don't be mad."
"YOU GOT SEEN!"
"And they were mutants too, so it's good-"
"No! It's not!"
"Emma!"
"LORALIE!"
"Emma… Let's not do this right now. I'm tired, you're tired we're both mad-"
"Lora… You are SO busted tomorrow when I've had some sleep."
Loralie rolled her eyes, rolling over. "You're welcome!"
Emmaline sighed, laying back, setting the keyboard down. A thought crossed her mind. "Hey, did you find a better scale-"
A pillow was chucked at her. "GO TO BED!"
So that's a no.
Alright… So Loralie got seen… Got into a keep away fight with someone else… A turtle…
Given what I saw when we busted her outta that place a few months back I can't call bullcrap…
She closed her eyes trying to push it from her mind for now. She could worry about it in the morning when she wasn't running on a dose of caffeine and little sleep.
And I'm buying a new scale…
"And then, she kept coming in and tellin' me to shut up!"
"Raph, she said to keep your voice down."
All four brothers were now at home and going over the evening's events. Mikey and Donnie were a little disappointed to hear their brothers had snuck into the newest action film. Come on, at least ask us if we wanna go!
"So you kept being the loud mouth in a crowded theater… Niiice." Mikey smirked. "Though if she threw you out that'd be better-"
"Don't make me come over there."
"Not like you were any better." Donnie said, giving him a look. "Wait until you hear about our evening…"
Leo frowned leaning back in his chair. "What happened?"
Donnie started to explain, Mikey cutting in trying to defend himself. "And then he played keep away with the darn thing-"
"She was short! Not like she could even reach it!"
"Guys!" Leo cut in a serious look in his eyes. "The biggest thing is… You're sure she was a mutant?"
Donnie nodded. "Positive. There was no way that could've been a costume. No smudging to indicate paint, and think about it this way… Why would a girl in a costume go to a junkyard? No reason for it… Plus… The fin sticking out of her back was a good indicator." He replied thinking back to earlier that night. "Wasn't exactly a strong fighter though. Couldn't get a blow in period. Definietly inexperienced… She was more like… Well remember that time with Angel's iPod?"
Angel was an old friend of theirs they met through Casey and the turtles sometimes messed with her like older brothers with a younger sister. Raph winced, remembering the iPod incident. "Yeah, she didn't get any blows in at first but then she gave Mikey a good scratch with those nails of 'ers."
"Yeah that almost happened. He at least ducked this time. But she had claws on her hands. Could've really gotten him if she had actually landed a hit."
Mikey scoffed. "Not like she could've! I was fast… Like a shadow!"
Five… Four...Three...Two-
"Besides! I'm the Battle Nexus Champion!" He boasted with a smirk.
WHACK!
"OW! HEY!"
"For the millionth time, we get it!" All of his brothers chorused. He's never gonna let THAT go.
"Anyways… She took off after Mikey finally dropped the keyboard, and that happened. Oh, and we didn't find what we were looking for either… SOMEONE was busy bugging me and strange mutants instead of helping." The genius gave his brother another look. Mikey hmph'd, crossing his arms.
"Hey, we didn't get attacked at least."
"Still… There's another mutant wandering New York… She might not have been a skilled fighter tonight but that could change… And for that matter… If someone's created another mutant… Who's to say she's the only one?"
I swear, I shouldn't have brought that thing home… Loralie thought, covering her ears, blocking out most of her sister's playing. The keyboard still worked but the sound was… Wonky at best. Emmaline was good at the piano. She had a baby grand back where they grew up… But the keyboard was proving a challenge.
If I hear one more off note…
PLINK! PLINK! PLINK!
"Oooh! You! You got what I neeeed!"
"WILL YOU SHUT THAT THING UP!?"
Emmaline looked at her younger sister with a bit of an evil grin and just kept at it, singing out of key for good measure. Loralie groaned, covering her head with a pillow.
"No! NO! Anything but that song!"
"Oh but you have summoned it, I only obey its orders!"
"Emma! Please!"
"NOPE!"
PLINK!
I may have to kill her…. "You know… This constitutes as psychological warfare somewhere."
"And I don't apply to that."
"Emma!"
"Lora!"
Both sisters stared each other down. If she doesn't shut that thing up I am BREAKING HER SCALE AND LEAVING A BIG BAG OF POPCORN RIGHT IN REACH!
PLINK!
"Lessee… Oh, I know!" Emmaline gave another evil grin.
"What?" Loralie asked, gulping a bit.
"You know you love me, you know you care-"
"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT SONG!"
Emmaline smirked and kept going.
"And I was like "baby baby oh! Like baby baby, baby no!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! NO! STOP IT!" Loralie screamed, running to the opposite end of the room. "STOP!"
"NEVER!"
"STOP!"
Emmaline played a bit more before giving her sister a smirk. "I will stop… Eventually."
"That's it. Your scale is going in the garbage!"
"WAIT! No, anything but that!"
"TOO LATE!" Loralie plucked the device off the ground and looked around outside before throwing it out into the street. "If you want it, go and get it!"
Emmaline set down her keyboard, looking around. "No cars…"
Loralie waited until her sister was just leaning through the threshold before shoving her. "And THAT is for that song!"
"OOF! Hey!"
Emmaline gave her sibling a look before quickly retrieving the scale. "Now… C'mere you!"
"NEVER!"
They broke into a chase. There was screaming, some name calling until Emmaline tackle hugged her sister, messing up her hair.
"Ahh! Not the hair! Not the hair!"
"Oh yes!" They both laughed as they goofed around more.
I love it when my sis has days off….
"So… Did ya work with HIM last night?" Loralie asked, her sister grinning. Emmaline poked her sister in the forehead, shoving her lightly.
"Oh hush up. I have no time for boys so don't even go there."
Loralie shook her head. "C'mon why deny yourself?"
"Because… I literally have no time for boys and I like having my free time for me." She retorted, shrugging. "I just don't see the point. Not when I got more important things."
"Sis…"
"Seriously… Like for one… You… And second… Losing those two pounds…"
Loralie shoved her sister. "You are officially the weird one."
"Shark."
"Fleshy."
"Short."
"Freakishly tall."
"Least I can reach tall things."
"Those are fighting words!"
It was a few weeks later when Emmaline was working at the antique shop that she heard something upstairs.
"Um… Ma'am?" She called quietly getting the attention of her boss, April O'Neil. She looked up listening for a moment.
When I told Raph he could watch the Giants game with Casey upstairs I didn't say make a big racket…. She thought shaking her head. "Just my boyfriend and his best friend making goons out of themselves."
"Oh…. Wait! You have a boyfriend!?" She asked in surprise, she had never seen hide or tail of any "boyfriend" in her time working there.
The redhead grinned leaning against the counter a bit. "Yep. He's.. Interesting."
"Interesting huh? What's his name?"
April usually wouldn't open up about things like this, but she and Emmaline had gotten to know each other in the last few weeks. While the other woman hadn't revealed anything of her own background except that she had a kid sister back home, she figured Casey was going to reveal himself one way or another… As long as Raph and his brothers weren't revealed it would be alright. "Casey Jones."
"Casey Jones huh… Cool." She nodded going back to wrapping up the vases she had been trying to pack up. An older woman had come in a few hours before and purchased as many of the older vases that they had and requested them be ready for pick up for later that evening. It was a gift she had said. "You know… I wonder who she's giving these to… I mean… No offense April but these are some pretty… Funky." Hideous. "Vases."
April shrugged. "One man's hideous antique is another man's treasure."
"True-You think it's ugly too?" Emmaline giggled holding up one that was a rather atrocious color of pink with green accents.
"Oh gosh yes. Look at it! It looks like something my mother would've had in the 70's!"
"My mom would've killed to have this sucker mailed to her mother-in-law-" Emmaline cut herself off. Careful...Careful….
April looked at the younger woman raising an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"N-nothing worth talking about is all…. So… Your boyfriend… What's he do for a living?"
Bust heads. "He specializes in sports equipment."
"Ah. Dick's Sporting Goods or MC Sports?"
"Something like that." If by specializes in sports means that he knows exactly how hard to swing whatever sports equipment he has to crack a guy's head open… Then yeah he specializes in it. She thought before both jumped hearing something fall over.
"Ugh… Excuse me." She said cracking her knuckles heading upstairs to her apartment. "CASEY JONES! WHAT FELL OVER?!"
April entered her apartment to find not just Casey and Raph and a fallen over entertainment center…. But Mikey and Donnie as well. "So where's the Blue Ranger? I'm surprised I don't have a full pack of men here."
"Training." All four males responded.
"... And the TV?"
Donnie quickly set it back up and looked it over. "Still in tact… Wasn't us, but Raph-"
"HEY!"
April held up a hand demanding silence. "Look… I don't really care… I've lived with you guys long enough to know to get insurance on everything I own just in case… But my new cashier doesn't know that and she's downstairs wondering what the heck is going on."
"We're sorry." Mikey said giving her the kicked turtle look.
April swore she felt her heart break a little every time they pulled that tactic. It never failed. "Hrk! Not the face!"
Donnie and Raph shoved him closer. "You couldn't stay mad at this face could you?" Donnie asked as Mikey threw in a whimper.
"I mean look at 'em!" Raph added with a smirk.
April looked away. "Call him off! Call him off! All is forgiven!"
"Awesome!"
"Thanks Ape!"
She nodded. "I better head back downstairs before-"
They all heard a scream come from downstairs followed by the sound of breaking glass. "Oh...Shell."
The guys grabbed their weapons as April grabbed a bat she kept by her bed as they quickly hurried downstairs.
There was broken glass and a figure lying on the ground facedown, three masked men moving away from it, shoving what they could into bags.
April stifled a gasp recognizing the prone figure on the floor… It was Emmaline.
The turtles silently got into position.
One….
Two…
THREE!
It all happened in a flash, Casey ran in swinging, the turtles attacking the robbers as they got distracted. They were poor fighters and were taken down in a matter of minutes, as Raph and Casey tied them up.
As soon as she could April ran over to Emmaline turning her over. "Emmaline? Hey can you hear me?"
There was a small trickle of blood coming down from the girl's head trailing down her face. She was out cold.
Donnie knelt beside her looking the girl over. "Let's get her upstairs so I can get a better look… But it looks like once we're done here, next stop for this girl is the ER."
"Right… Let's just hope they didn't do too much damage…"
Though…. This girl looks familiar for some reason...