Summary: "K-Keep away you...lizard thing! Keep away!"
Characters: Turtles & OC (Libby)
Genre: Humor
Written On: July 19th, 2012
Disclaimer: TMNT © Nickelodeon
A/N: Alright, this is a short chapter. The character featured this time is based on a random damsel-in-distress that is seen being saved by Casey and Raph in "Meet Casey Jones." Not one of my better chapters but I still had fun writing this. Enjoy.
04: Guardians
"Danger lurks in every corner, it can be hidden in the shadows or be right in front of us. It's not the danger that you should be looking out for, but for the people who protect us from it."
— Lyra
The first night that she had met the city's green heroes she thought that she was crazy.
It had been late in the night, close to eleven. She had gotten off work later than she had expected. The customer she had been assisting was hopeless when it came to computers and she had to get the man to send his broken laptop into the company. That whole process took her an extra hour and she was forced to stay after closing. Needless to say, she was beat.
Libby decided to cut through an alleyway to save some time and reach her apartment quicker. The thing was, some thugs had caught up to her and cornered her in the alley. She had noticed the strange man with the bizarre hairstyle, she was wary as she strolled past him, but she was sure he would leave her alone. She kept her hands on her purse and walked apprehensively, trying to reach her destination. A few feet into the alley two thugs appeared from the shadows, laughing creepily and forcing her backwards into the male with the outlandish hairdo.
Libby had been warned that a gang called the Purple Dragons ran the east side of town, in the area she lived in. She thought nothing of it at the time; she had only been living in New York for six months and believed she knew everything there was to know about the city. She was wrong.
Libby was trapped, three unsightly males with a terrible fashion sense surrounded her and there was no way for her to escape. She was terrified but her mind was being illogical and kept making her see her friends gloating. "You should have listened to us Lib! Now you're in trouble!"
Libby didn't put up a fight as they took her purse and out of nowhere a man wearing a hockey mask appeared, bashing a hockey stick against a garbage can lid. The man attacked the muggers with no remorse, intending to seriously injury them. Libby would have tried to intervene but she was more scared of the Jason imitator.
Things only got stranger from that point on. A large, green humanoid turtle (yes, that's right a humanoid turtle) jumped down from the top of a fire escape and grabbed the vigilante before he bashed in the thug's skull. Libby was relived at the lizard man's intervention, she wasn't too keen on seeing a bloody head. The gangsters got up and ran while the hockey mask punched the mutant turtle. Casey Jones chased after the Purple Dragons. She learned his name as he yelled it while running past her, "You can run Purple Dragons! But you can't hide from Casey Jones!"
The turtle got back onto his feet and promptly handed her the fallen purse. The turtle was surprisingly polite, apologizing for the man's actions and giving Libby her purse. Today she would have thanked him and even offered him a reward, but at the present time she did the opposite. She clutched the purse like it was in danger of being stolen by him and yelled at him, most likely insulting him, "K-Keep away you...lizard thing! Keep away!" and ran off, calling the police once she was at a safe distance.
It was one of the weirdest nights of her life and it wasn't the last time she had a run-in with the green men either.
The second night Libby had saw the green teens was a few weeks after. She had been staying with her friend, Veronica and her son, Mason. She had been traumatized by her encounter in the alleyway and had chosen to move into a home that was safe then her own. Veronica had been happy to open her doors to Libby, the two had been best friends since their college years and with being a single mother, it would be easier to have another person to help pay the rent.
The boy had woken up in the wee hours of the night, running down the hallway screaming for his mother, claiming that there were giant turtles in the bathroom. Veronica got up, as did Libby and she was led by her young son into the bathroom, only to find that it was empty. Veronica scolded Mason for waking her at such an ungodly hour and set him off to his room. Veronica had believed her son was lying but Libby thought otherwise.
The window in the room had been opened and Libby knew she had closed it when she had taken a shower. The lock had been unfastened and lifted wide open. She had peaked her head out the bathroom window, spotting two large shells in the shadows and their owners hanging from the laundry lines. Libby had shrieked when she saw them and one of the turtles yelped in response.
Veronica came running into the washroom, breathless and holding a tennis racket for some strange reason. She asked what happened and Libby explained to her friend what she had seen. Veronica gave Libby the same look she had given her son and sent Libby off to bed.
She hadn't been lying but was starting to think she was losing her mind.
The third time Libby witnessed the turtles was months later, when the city was being ravaged by war. The Purple Dragons, the mob and some odd ninja fellows were fighting in an all-out war. Citizens had been urged to stay inside and keep indoors for their own protection.
Libby needed to work however, paying the bills for a household of three was not easy and if no one was paid, nothing was bought. Veronica was fearful and kept her son home, taking an indefinite sick leave from work. Libby wasn't as scared; she had taken a few self-defense classes and felt she could take on anyone. That, plus she was the proud owner of a bottle of pepper spray.
She rode the bus home from work that night since Veronica refused to lend her the car. She sat at the back, reading a book entitled The Strangeness of The Human World: Proof That Monsters Exist. She had purchased the paperback on whim and had taken a liking to it. The book mentioned nothing about turtle humans existing but it was still a good read. She had ignored a majority of what was going on around her, but when the bus started swerving and passengers screamed, she paid full attention. She saw a giant metallic robot and three turtle men fighting it through the front window and at least knew she wasn't mad. The robot shot lasers at the bus and the metal contraption caught on fire.
Everybody ran off the bus when it came to a complete stop and Libby followed, not noticing the poor man who was trapped under some fallen debris. She just kept running until she reached the entrance to an alleyway and took refuge in there. One of the turtles must have seen her hiding there because the next thing she knew, the blue banded turtle came over to her, handing her the fellow she had been previously sitting beside and instructed her to get him to a hospital.
Libby took the man, staring after the turtle with a dumbfounded expression. He had saved the guy and didn't even have to. Libby began to think that perhaps they weren't monsters, but rather heroes. She took the man to the hospital and saw the turtles running across the rooftops once she left the place.
She actually smiled at the sight of them, but realized she never did get to finish reading that book.
A few times after that, Libby would see the turtles, whether it be running on the rooftops or hiding in the shadows. She actually got to speak with one of them during the invasion from the Triceratons. The strange dinosaur aliens had been rounding up people nearby Central Park and Libby had been unfortunate enough to be caught by them.
She was forced to walk in the long row of people and became stuck in the mass grouping when the barriers went up. Crazy stuff went down; she heard an explosion in the far distance and the shields came down when one of the turtles, the leader with the long blades, cut down one of the flying ships.
People ran about in a panic, stampeding over many of the aliens. The people all ran over and were given guns by a blue-haired male, the one Libby had met when she was mugged. She took a gun and shot at the aliens when they tried to attack the turtles. They didn't notice but she was glad to help.
The turtle in orange had jumped back, overwhelmed by a huge Triceraton. Libby didn't know what she was thinking, but she took hold of her new alien weapon and charged forward, shooting the alien repeatedly. The turtle was in shock, looking at her and waiting for what he must have thought was her screams. Libby smiled at him instead, telling him to run off and help his friends. The turtle, Mikey, as he introduced himself to her, returned the smile and went off to save the day. They were the ones who ended up defeating the dinosaur aliens, Libby just knew it.
She saw them numerous times afterwards but never actually interacted with them again. They were the ones who saved the city whenever it was in danger, Libby always believed that. To her, they were the city's guardians, its protectors. So long as the rumours floated about, telling about strange green costumed men helping to defend people, she knew New York would always be safe.