Thank you to all who reviewed, and for not flaming me for my my horrible torturing of poor A.J. I really appreciate it. Y'all are connecting with my characters, and that's a good sign.
To all you who know the turtles well, I need a little help. Does anyone know if they have a last name, and if they do, could you tell me please? Like I said, I'm new to the TMNT cult. Also, I need some ideas as to what to give them for Christmas (Sneak peek at the sequel:0) Thanks so much!
So, let's get this show on the road!
"So...what do you think?" Leo asked his brother as he stretched his arms above his his head.
"I think it's freaking disgusting, is what I think," Mikey replied. He bent his leg behind him, stretching out the muscles in his thigh. "Those four guys doing all that stuff to the poor girl." He shook his head and shivered. "Ugh. It's amazing she's turned out they way she has. I can't believe her sanity's still intact."
"It's horrible, all right," Leo agreed, leaning over to one side, then the other.
"And she's so sweet, too. Sweet girl. She didn't even scream when she first saw us."
"I think that was because she didn't really know what she was looking at, so she didn't know whether to scream or not."
"Either way, it makes me think that there are creeps in this world that do things to sweet little girls like her."
Leo rolled his broad shoulders. Master Splinter had taught them to always stretch before practicing, or they could pull something and end up in a lot of pain.
"She's hardly a little girl though, Mikey. She's gotta be at least our age. Maybe younger judging by how naive she comes off."
"She's not naive though."
"Heck no. She's seen more than most eighty year old women in the world. She's anything but naive. She just acts really innocent, kind of like a classic schoolgirl. You ready?"
"Yep. Ready when you are."
An hour and a half later found the two of them sitting on the couch, watching TV. Or rather, the TV was on, but the boys were just staring at it, their minds elsewhere. They were listening to the low voices coming from Donny's room, thinking about the task at hand. It had been a while since they'd shut down a huge operation like this, not since the Shredder had been silenced, and they were excited in a way, for another challenge. On the other hand, they had never faced this sort of crime before. They were venturing on unknown territory, and none of them knew the first thing about handling it.
Questions were chasing each other around in Leo's mind. Who was behind all of this? Why were they doing it? And how many more bodies were going to turn up before they were caught?
No one ever said they were pleasant questions.
Towards the end of her time in Donny's lab, A.J's voice became higher in pitch and more distressed. They could hear Donny trying to calm her down, and as her voice got louder, they could hear her crying again. Her breath be came raked with sobs, and whatever she had been saying became unintelligible. After about five minutes, Donny emerged, the human girl cradled in his arms.
"Here, Leo," he said, handing over the bundle to his blue-banded brother. He had an uncomfortable look on his face, as though he had no idea what to do with a crying girl. "You were really good with her last time. She's pretty upset."
"I guess," he replied, folding her into his arms. "What happened? Did you get the descriptions?"
His brother's eyes sparkled as they always did when he was onto something.
"We have faces," he said gleefully. A.J. let out a choked cry. Leo looked at the others.
"Wait here," he told them. "I think this one needs to calm down. I'll be right back."
He took A.J. to the bathroom, set her down on the tub, and began to draw the water. He took a towel off the rack, and set it down near her. He looked into her eyes, bloodshot and tear-filled from all her crying.
"Hey. Get cleaned up, okay? I'm gonna talk to my bros, but I'll be back when you're finished. Sound alright to you?"
She wiped her face on her sleeve, then nodded, unable to make her mouth form words. Leo put his arms around her in what was probably an uncomfortable hug for her, but it was the best he could do.
"Don't worry. We'll catch these guys, and when we do, we'll make them pay for what they've done to you. Okay?"
Her hands clutched his shell, and he felt her nod into his shoulder. He held her for a moment longer, then released her. She managed a weak smile before he turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Back in the living room, he faced his brothers.
"What happened?" he asked Donny.
"Yeah really, Don," Mikey put in. "What did you do to her in there?"
"I did everything I was supposed to do," Donny snapped at him. To Leo, he said, "She was doing fine when she was describing them to me, even as we went through the facial matches. It was when she was describing the leader dude that that she started choking up, and then when I showed them all on the screen, she freaked out and started crying really hard. That's when I figured she'd had enough, and brought her out."
"Good move. I made her take a bath, so she would be out of our way for an hour or so. Did anyone of them look familiar?"
Donny shook his head.
"None that I recognized. But I can run some scans through police records and see if they've been convicted of anything else, then maybe we can get a name."
Mikey frowned.
"You can do that?"
"I can," Donny replied, a glitter of mischief in his eyes. "The local records aren't that hard to hack into."
"Check records from other states, too," said Leo thoughtfully. "In case they've been convicted of anything in other places."
"Ooh, good thought," said Donny.
"And see if you can find anything on that candle drawing as well. That's an important clue to where she was held. Look for larger buildings. Wherever this place is, it's big."
Donny nodded.
"Got it."
He disappeared into his lab again. Leo turned to Mikey.
"Go back to the place where we found A.J.'s body. Search the area and see if you can find anything that might help us."
"Anything special I'm looking for?"
"A clue might be nice. Oh, and if you run into Raf, make him help you."
Mikey didn't look too thrilled at the idea of forcing his hot-tempered brother into helping him look for clues, but he nodded anyway.
"Okay, dude. What are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna stay here with her. See if there's anything more I can do to help."
Mikey nodded again, and turned to leave.
"Hang on a second," Leo stopped him. "Take a pair of gloves, and a camera. Just in case you find something interesting."
"Right."
Mikey gathered up the items in question, flipped his skateboard into his hand with practiced ease, and left the lair. Leo, meanwhile, sat down, staring mindlessly at the TV. He sat there for a few minutes, then got up and poured himself a cup of tea from the pot Master Splinter had made. He sat back down, blew on his tea to cool it, then took a drink. The liquid was hot against his lips and tongue, but it was good. He took a deep breath and let it out again, repeating this several times to calm his nerves and clear his mind. He had to be in control if he was going to help her. He couldn't let himself run away with his feelings, because it would only distress her more. If she saw how calmly he was handling the situation, maybe she herself would be calm as well.
Not to mention the wonders a bath can work on the body and mind.
He stared at the TV again. Will and Grace was on, but he wasn't paying attention. His mind was elsewhere, mostly on how she could have survived the horrific events she had described to then two hours earlier with the ability to function like any normal girl her age. She wasn't nervous and jumpy, nor did she sit and twitch uncontrollably. She hadn't escaped completely though. She had suffered two breakdowns today, she still was a little reluctant to being touched, and she was afraid of the dark, but other than that, there were only the physical scars left behind. The bullet holes would scar no doubt, and there would probably be some permanent damage done...between her legs, but most of her wounds were just bruises and minor cuts and scrapes that would heal fine in a week or two. Her fingers would take a little longer, though.
Donny was right about you, he thought to himself. You are one tough cookie.
His mind wandered again, back to the night he had first seen her singing in that stadium. He remembered the song, and how eerie the coincidence had been that he should be hearing that particular song at that particular time. Her voice still rang in his ears.
"I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'till the end of the night.
Was there a reason that she had not died in the five minutes between the shooting and when they had actually found her? Was it possible that she held on to her life because, somehow, she could feel that they were coming? The song had said she was holding out for a hero. Even a year later, could that still be true?
He shook his head. No, that was impossible. It was just a coincidence. She had said herself that she had really thought she was going to die, and not once had she mentioned in her story that she had somehow felt a reason to try and stay alive, even in her subconscious. Still, the coincidence itself was too eerie to ignore.
He set his cup down on the table, preparing to head back and see if A.J. was done with her bath. He stopped, and got another cup out of the cabinet, setting it down on the counter and pouring the last of the tea into it. She might appreciate it, he thought. She needs it, and Donny did say to see that she gets a lot of fluid to help with the blood loss. Once that was done, he headed back to the bathroom door. He knocked.
"A.J.?" he called.
"Come in," she replied.
He opened the door. The room was warm and steamed up, and she was sitting on the edge of the tub, dressed in her robe and running her fingers through her hair, just like she had been the last time she was here. She smiled when she saw him.
"Thanks, I feel much better now," she said. He picked her up and carried her out of the room. "I am a little hungry though."
"Well, let's see if we can't find something for you to eat in here. Oh, here."
He set her down at the table, then handed her the mug of tea he had made for her a few minutes before.
"Thanks again," she said, bringing it up to her lips. Leo went into the pantry, looked around for a minute, then came back out with a can of chicken noodle soup.
"I think you're ready to eat this."
"More soup?" she asked in mock exasperation.
He held it up.
"Chicken noodle," he said. "You actually get to chew."
"All right!" she said happily. She drank some more of her tea as he poured the soup into a bowl and put it into the microwave. Then, he took a banana out of the fruit bowl and handed it to her.
"I guess it won't kill you to eat that, too," he said. She took it and began peeling it. He sat down next to her as she bit into it.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She looked at him, mouth full of banana, her cheeks puffed out. The look was comical, and Leo bit back a laugh. The question was supposed to be a serious one.
She swallowed and nodded.
"I'll be fine," she said briskly. "I'm well on my way to recovery, and eating semi-solid food no less."
"You know what I mean," he said. "You're body's healing fine, but…" he stopped. How did he tell her what was on his mind?
To his surprise, she smiled.
"I never want to see a naked man again," she said, then started giggling.
"Well," said Leo, laughing along with her. "I'm sure that can be arranged." She giggled harder. It was good to hear her laugh after only hearing her sob for the past few hours, but in the back of his mind, Leo was wondering. Surely she meant a naked human. But she'd never said anything about…
Get a grip, Leo, he chided himself. She's just been through a horribly traumatic experience. There's no use thinking like that. Get your mind out of there.
The timer beeped, jerking him out of his thoughts. He got up and took the bowl out of the microwave. He stirred the soup with a spoon, then put it back. He let it warm for a minute and stood in front of the microwave, trying to get a handle on himself. As a protector, it was his duty to keep others safe. Taking advantage of a young human girl was not exactly a way to carry that duty out, especially when she was as shaken up and vulnerable as she was. She was beautiful, sweet and good-natured, polite, shy and modest. He would never dream of hurting her, even if it meant sacrificing his own desires.
He looked over his shoulder at her. She had her eyes closed and was drinking deeply from her mug, the empty banana peel in front of her, blissfully unaware of the struggle inside of him. He took a deep breath, the sound lost in the beeping of the timer again, and shoved these feelings into the back of his mind. He'd deal with them later. Right now, he had to concentrate on feeding her, and making her comfortable.
"Where is everyone?" she asked brightly as he took the soup out of the microwave and brought it over to her.
"Donny's in his lab, trying to see if he can find out who your captors are," Leo replied, setting the bowl down in front of her and turning back to get the spoon. "Mikey's gone back to the crime scene to see if he can find any clues, and I have no idea where Raf is. Hopefully, Mikey got him to help out, but there's no guarantee of that."
"So much for working as a team, huh?" she said with a knowing look on her face, then dug her spoon into the soup and put it in her mouth. He lowered his eyes in embarrassment, and that was when he noticed the bruises.
The folds of the robe had come open on her legs, and though they were crossed, he could see a black shading on the insides of her thighs. He frowned deeply.
"What happened to your legs?" he asked.
She looked up at him, then down at her lap. An unpleasant look came across her face, and she tugged the robe over them.
"It's from…them," she muttered.
"Let me see," said Leo sternly. Her eyes flashed in panic, and she flinched slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Her distrust was still evident in her eyes, but she didn't protest when he placed his hand on her knee and moved her leg so he could see the damage. The entire inside of her thighs were blue, black and a nasty shade of purple. Leo winced, and put her leg back.
"Ouch!"
"Yeah," she said, tugging the robe over her legs again. "They were really rough."
"I'm sorry," he said softly. Then he realized just exactly what he had done, and flushed hotly. He hoped she didn't notice.
"I…I didn't mean to frighten you," he stammered. "And I didn't mean to stare."
She looked up at him in surprise, as though she hadn't expected him to apologize.
"You're forgiven," she said, and put the spoon in her mouth.
Just then, Mikey burst into the lair.
"Dude, I just totally ran into the Nightwatcher!" he crowed.
Leo rolled his eyes.
"Not again," he groaned. It was all Mikey could talk about sometimes. A.J., on the other hand, was confused.
"Who's the Nightwatcher?"
"'Who's the Nightwatcher?'" he said, looking at her like she was an imbecile. "You're joking. You don't know who the Nightwatcher is?"
"Well, I haven't exactly been here very long," she said.
"The Nightwatcher is another protector of the city," Leo explained to her. "He showed up, when? Shortly after I left for South America?"
Mikey nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. But he's so cool! He wears all black, he rides a motorcycle, and totally beats the snot out of people! And his suit's awesome!"
"Mikey!" said Leo sharply. "That's enough. I need to find him, and we need to have a little talk."
"What for?" she asked.
"I need to tell him he can pack up and get out. We've got the city now, and there's not enough room here for all of us."
"We've got the city now…right," Mikey muttered under his breath so neither one of them could hear him. He knew as well as the others that they weren't exactly protecting the city fighting with each other. But he said nothing.
"Did you find anything?" Leo asked, changing the subject. His brother shook his head.
"Nope. Rain washed away any evidence. Sorry bro."
"It's fine," Leo answered. "We've got more than enough to start with."
Mikey grinned at them, then headed back to their room. "See ya later, dudes and dudettes."
As soon as Mikey had disappeared, Donny reappeared.
"Hey guys." To A.J. he said, "Feeling better?"
She smiled again, that same, warm, shy smile she always gave him.
"Yes, thank you," she said, eating another mouthful of soup.
"Sorry about that whole thing in the lab. I didn't mean to upset you."
"I didn't mean to get upset," she answered, still smiling.
With that resolved, Donny looked at Leo.
"When you have a minute," he said, and Leo nodded. "Is Mikey back yet?"
Leo nodded again.
"He was raving on about the Nightwatcher again. Says he actually saw him tonight."
Donny chuckled, then said, "Did he see Raf by any chance?"
This time, Leo shook his head.
"Didn't mention it. And he's still out, so I guess not."
A.J. set her spoon down in the empty bowl, and yawned. Leo saw this, and got up. He picked her up.
"You need some rest," he said, carrying her to their room.
"Yes, sir," she said, smiling to show him she was kidding. Leo smiled back. "I'm up for a few hours, then I'm asleep again," she said with a laugh as she fell into Leo's bed.
"It's good for you," said Leo. As he covered her up he motioned to Mikey, who was sitting on his bed next to them, absorbed in his PSP. "Come on. Donny wants to talk to us."
"Okay. 'Night princess," he said to A.J., who giggled and closed her eyes.
"'Night, boys."
They left the room, remembering to leave the door cracked so she would not be enveloped in complete darkness. A.J. let her head sink deeply into the pillow, breathing deep. The sheets smelled like Leo, and she remembered how he had held her when she'd had her first breakdown of the evening. True, he was a turtle and not exactly the most comfortable thing to lean on, but the way he had held her in his arms had filled her with a pleasure she had not felt in a long time. For nearly three months, the only touch she had known was cruel, hard, and hurtful, and now, suddenly, she was with four boys whose only touch was gentle and tender. Her captors had handled her to break her: Leo, Mikey, Donny and even Raf handled her like she was a porcelain doll, fragile and delicate. They looked intimidating at first sight: tall, broad-shouldered and muscular, but that very strength that could probably smash someone's face in had carried her easily from one place to the next, without any fear of dropping her on her head. Her heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help smiling. They all were kind and helpful, but Leo more than his brothers. He seemed to go out of his way to help her out. It was cute, but there was more than that. He had sheltered her, made her feel safe, and that was something she hadn't felt in a long time. Even before her captivity, she hadn't really, truly felt safe since her girlfriend and her brother had died. She may have been relatively safe from criminals, being New York City there was always a risk, but she had never been free of her parents disapproving eyes, her father's harsh words, and the feelings that, somehow, their deaths had been her fault. She had never been able to escape her self-consciousness, her fear that she was not good enough for the world.
But down here, the world didn't matter, and neither did anything else.
"Any luck on the matches, Donny?"
The three brothers found themselves sitting in a circle in the living room, Leo and Mikey on the couch and Donny in front of the TV, which had now been switched off. The genius turtle shook his head.
"Nope. Not here or anywhere else. Our boys seem to be clean, although there's nothing to suggest that they weren't convicted of small crimes like vandalism or trespassing when they were younger, and that's why their pictures don't match. This would have been a lot easier if we'd had names to go with them, but…it's a start. I can also get into the DMV's records and see if we can get a match that way as well."
Leo nodded his head.
"Good job."
"I did, however, find something on the candle drawing. It's the emblem of a shipping company that went out of business about five years ago. They had a bunch of warehouses around the city, although most of them have been closed up or torn down. But there are a few that are still up."
"Hmm." Leo frowned.
"So you think these dudes bought one of the warehouses and turned it into a creep-fest for little girls?" asked Mikey. Both Leo and Donny smiled at his word choice. If there was anything Mikey had a creativity with, it was language.
"It's possible," said Leo.
"Not just possible: likely," Donny corrected him. "As you said, Leo, this place needs to be big, and there are fewer places bigger than a warehouse. My guess would be they bought the property with the warehouse still on it, divided it up into cells, and never bothered to paint over the sign."
"Probably to hide," Leo continued. "I bet they kept the purchase real quiet, didn't make a huge press deal about it so that no one would know it was sold, just in case anyone really did find out what they were doing there. Covering up the candle would be a further clue that something was going on there."
"But how did they keep the building process quiet?" Mikey asked suddenly. "All that construction equipment needed to build the walls and doors and stuff, plus plumbing, electricity and who know what else. Someone was bound to notice something."
"He's right," said Donny. "A.J. said that it was really cold, and that she had a toilet that flushed. In order to install all that, they would have had to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it from the ground up. And bulldozers, cement mixers and industrioneumatic chisels aren't exactly quiet."
"Industrio-what?"
"Industrioneumatic chisel. It's an air-powered machine with a giant chisel at the end that makes a sound like a woodpecker or a really slow machine gun. It's used to break up hard things like concrete, rock and asphalt."
"I thought those were only used at demolition sites," said Leo.
"Mostly they are, but sometimes a construction sites too. They come in handy when you need to get into the ground so you can install things like pipes and wiring."
He rolled his eyes at his brothers' blank faces. He enjoyed being the smart one of the group, but it could get very annoying when no one had a clue what he was talking about. He was such a mine for useless information such as the function of an industrioneumatic chisel.
"Anyway, I guess we'll find all that out when we do. For now, let's just take it one step at a time. I'll check the records and see if I can find any purchase of those properties."
"How're you gonna do that?" said Mikey.
"By hacking into the most reliable records in America," his brother replied with a grin. "Tax records. The bankruptcy of a huge company and the purchase of all properties therin? That's big man. Shouldn't be that hard."
With that, he turned and headed back to his lab. Leo turned the TV back on as Mikey looked at him.
"The most reliable records in America are tax records?" he asked.
"Apparently so," Leo answered. "But I think that's the case with all countries, too." He turned back to the TV, his eyes glazed over. Next to him, Mikey slouched and stuck his feet out in front of him.
"I wanna go stomp somebody," he sighed. "Can we go stomp somebody?"
"If you wanna stomp something go stomp sandbags," said Leo, not looking away from the screen. The flickering light was suddenly so fascinating. "Make some use of your time."
Mikey groaned.
"But that's all we've been doing since you been gone!" he wined. "When are things gonna be like they were before?"
Leo sighed, and turned at last to look at his brother. There was no mistaking the sadness in his eyes.
"When we can learn to fight as a team again."
Over the next couple of weeks, A.J. traveled along the road of recovery. There were times when she'd sleep for as much as two days and nights straight, but it was worth it. Her wounds healed, her bruises disappeared, and her fingers straightened themselves out, thanks to the homemade splints of Donny's. The bullet holes left two ugly scars on her shoulder, but there was nothing they could do about that, and at least they didn't get infected. She gained her weight back rapidly, helped out by the boys' diet of pizza, soda, and chocolate chip cookies once she was able to eat solid food again, and soon she was as plump and curved as she had been the night Leo first heard her sing. She regained her ability to walk too, first taking shaky steps on Leo's arm, then putting one foot in front of the other by herself. Much to Leo's disappointment of course, for now he could not hold her close for the few seconds it took to get her from Point A to Point B. Her cheeks filled out and regained their color, and the glow returned to her eyes. Her shyness subsided a little, and she laughed more easily, giggling until her sides hurt and she had tears in her eyes. Even her hair became shinier.
But, even though her strength had returned, and even though her health improved, even though she could hardly stop laughing when she spent time with the boys, when they left her side and went to sleep, her nightmares were never very far away…
Ahh...the plot thickens... R&R, dudes!
