Chapter Six: Hallelujah

"Sooooo, you were created in April's dad's lab, grew up here in the sewers, and saved New York City from a horrible chemical terrorist attack three months ago?"

A nod.

"I didn't fall down yesterday, I thought that was impressive."

Marie snorted into her tea at Jaclyn's quip, then ducked her head apologetically. She looked around at the four turtles, Donatello having joined them upon coming in from his lab to investigate the hubbub. Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo. Easy enough to remember; she took art history. Matching them up to the turtle correctly would take time, though. April had it down well enough, she figured she'd be okay. She'd begun to create a mnemonic device to remember…Red Raphael, Mandarin Michelangelo, Lapis Leonardo…and then Donatello, whose name did not create a purple-based alliteration, but hey, there was only one left anyway.

"And I'm assuming our place was attacked in an attempt to lure you guys out?" she said.

"It would seem so," Splinter said with a sad nod. He reached over to lay a clawed hand over her own. "I am sorry, my child."

"We appreciate you letting us stay here," Jaclyn said. "But isn't this place pretty…um…" She glanced around at the rubble that was probably once a rather impressive lair. "…compromised?"

Leonardo nodded. "Yeah, but it's the best we've got until we can figure out somewhere else."

"Yeah," Donatello said. "Unless you know of some prime subterranean real estate, we're stuck here."

"Actually…"

All eyes turned to Jaclyn expectantly.

"I might know a place," she said. "I was reading up on the city's history, and there's actually supposed to be an old subway station from the early 1900s down around 17th…no one's been down there in decades since a tunnel collapsed from construction on 15th. But…if we can make it in?"

Michelangelo brightened. "Sweet!" he exclaimed. "Can we go check it out, sensei?"

Splinter considered, then nodded.

"In the morning," he replied. "I believe the girls could use some rest."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Raphael had trouble sleeping. Always had. And now that there were three new "roommates" in the lair, he found his sense of comfort was more disturbed. Nah, that wasn't it. He wasn't uncomfortable. Just…alert.

He gave up on trying to sleep. He'd been laying there for hours, having been roused by a vivid dream where he was watching her fall again, but this time he didn't catch her.

He had to catch her.

He had the sudden need to check on her. Dreams like that had a habit of putting him on edge until he confirmed that they weren't reality. It sounded stupid. But he'd feel better knowing she was still safe and sound in the main room of the lair where the three women slept.

He moved toward the main room, stopping in his tracks at the dim light coming from it. A lamp was on that hadn't been on when he checked the sleeping girls before he retreated to his bed earlier in the night. Someone was awake.

He leaned out a bit to peek around the corner, expecting to see one of the young women sitting up, awake. But they slept, unaware that a fourth figure was among them.

Michelangelo sat on the floor, the couches and recliner taken up by the sleeping women, flipping through a comic book, next to the loveseat that Marie slept on. She shifted, and his little brother straightened a bit, looking over at her with some concern etched onto his face. She stirred, but didn't wake, letting out a little sigh as she drifted further into sleep, having found a more comfortable position. Mikey gave a little smile and looked back down to his comic.

Raphael nodded to himself, and turned back to return to their bedroom. It seemed he wasn't the only brother feeling the need to check on the women.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"This must be it."

They stopped at the end of a tunnel, a seemingly dead end due to the pile of bricks and debris blocking further progress. Jaclyn aimed her flashlight at the ceiling of the tunnel.

"There's a gap up top," she said. She glanced at Leonardo. "Give me a boost?"

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded. She handed the light off to Marie for a moment, and laid a hand on his shoulder, not missing the opportunity to marvel at the creature before her. A mutant turtle…it was really amazing. Obviously turtles, but so humanoid…she wasn't sure how the mutagen had managed such a change. His skin beneath her touch was rough with scales, hard muscle beneath, and she thought, fleetingly, about the fact that he could probably break her in half if he wanted to, and something in her stomach fluttered at the thought of his strength.

He took hold of her waist, gently and carefully, perhaps too carefully, and gave her a lift to stand on top of his shoulders, making sure to avert his eyes from her rear end as it passed his line of sight…a gesture that Marie didn't miss, and she smirked a little. Jaclyn made a motion to her, and she tossed the flashlight back up to her friend, who peered through the gap.

"I think we found it!" she said. She pointed the light upwards. "The pile isn't supporting anything, we should be safe to clear it out."

Leonardo lowered her gently to the ground, and April pulled her hair up out of her face into a ponytail. Raphael gave her a look.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said in a slightly teasing voice.

She frowned, lips pouting out a bit. "Helping?" she said, reaching out a grabbing a concrete block and tossing it behind her.

"I think we can handle this one, O'Neil," he said, amused.

"Are you going to stop me?" she asked. The looked she gave him made the smirk fade away, a 'dare you' look that somehow made the turtle, easily three or four times her size, back down, moving out of the way so she could continue. Marie and Jaclyn followed suit, setting up their lights to illuminate the work as the four turtles and three humans worked at clearing out the blockage.

"So," Michelangelo said to Marie, tossing a boulder over his shoulder like it was a beachball. "What do you do for fun?"

She shoved her bangs out of her eyes and looked over to him, her forehead streaked with grime from their efforts. "Oh, you know, run around in sewers, excavate subway cave-ins, the usual."

"Me too!"

She grinned at him.

"Marie's a big ol' nerd," Jaclyn said. "Well, we both are, but Marie makes a pretend career out of it."

"Yeah," April said. "She writes for some comic website…WonderGeek or something?"

"SuperNerd," Marie corrected. The turtles all stopped, and the girls blinked in confusion.

"Wait," Donatello said. "Are you MegaMarie?"

"Um….yes?"

Michelangelo looked starstruck, and Donatello began talking a mile a minute.

"Your article about the sociological hierarchy of the Justice League was brilliant!" he said. "The psychological and historical take you have on comic lore is very impressive!"

Michelangelo got down on one knee. "Marry me."

Marie blinked, glancing at Raphael and Leonardo questioningly.

"Uh," Leonardo said. "We…don't get out much."

"Ah."

The conversation turned towards a debate over whether Wolverine or Superman would win a one-on-one battle in which both Raphael and Marie grew rather hostile toward both Leonardo and April, and Jaclyn and Donatello found themselves playing referee while Michelangelo planned he and Marie's wedding out loud.

"And then, instead of cutting a cake, we'll cut a twelve-tier deep-dish pizza, but we're not gonna smash it in eachothers' faces because that's a waste of good pizza and I can't wife a woman that doesn't respect the pie and oh hey we made it through—"

The hole in the rubble was big enough for all of them to crawl through, so Michelangelo led the way through. Jaclyn shone her light around, locating a fusebox. "Over here!"

Donatello crossed over, cracked his knuckles, and pulled the cobweb-covered lever. The chamber lit up, and there was a collective gasp.

"Wow…" April said, looking around. The old station was enormous, and much more ornately decorated than those currently in use, the walls and columns carved and painted in the turn-of-the-century style it was built in. Three old subway cars were still on the track, providing something akin to actual rooms.

"Holy shit, Jac," Raphael said. "This is awesome."

Jaclyn smiled a bit. "Guess my overly-scholarly-ness paid off," she said. "And it looks like no one's been down here for years…decades, even."

She looked to Leonardo, raising a brow at him. "So, fearless leader, what do you think?"

He looked around, then nodded and grinned.

"Home sweet home."