Hey, I'm alive. Just had a long vacation. And getting to a computer without beating people off with a stick is an impossible miracle. So here I am.
Rated T for:Realism, Violence, and some mild language. (All in it's place, as it should be.)
Inspiration: Brothers, pain in the neck when their around, pain in the heart when their gone.
Thanks to: Pretender Fanatic, Storm Princess, and , PainterofSorrows
Maria made it back to her van in short order, locking the doors, and making a quick drive off for it. She had been so close to capture. She knew that. It had been too close. If they caught her, there was no hope for them. None for her family at all.
As she drove into a new parking space, she felt her heart squeeze in pain. Maria understood how important this was, but she was having a hard time with it. It wasn't in her nature to be running from some sort of organization, and their leader, a man of whom she had one meeting with, and dozens of childish memories of what this man could do.
Laying her head against the steering wheel, Maria let the stinging tears form, and run down her face.
She was alone in this fight, and now she was going to have to bring up her guard a little more.
"Time to up the anty I guess..." She sighed, wiping away the tears. "Alright then..."
Maria braided her hair back into two pigtails, trailing down her back. That would help her hide her hair easier. Then she counted out the cash she had. Six grand. Enough to help her if she was careful with it.
Maria smiled. She could do this. Despite the vague clues as to what she was looking for, she could do it. Her next step was to continue her search. The local News Station might have something. She sighed. Her next step was clear. Now if she could just do it without getting herself killed...
Leo growled, kicking into the air. She had given him the slip. His last hopes at finding the Foot had out-witted him. Him. Him, the leader, the tactician.
He threw a vicious left hook to an invisible enemy. Another kick. A second punch. As many as he could throw, until he was worn. Still his enemy loomed over him, laughing at his sad defeat.
A hand touched his shoulder, causing him to turn. His sensei stood a sad smile on his face.
"My son," He said. "This frustration is difficult to combat, but you mustn't let it conquer you, and those around you."
"But Master Splinter, we just lost our only lead!" Leo exclaimed. "How could she have gotten away!?"
The old rat shook his head. "Leonardo. Have patience with this. You will find Maria Connrad again, and I have a feeling that when you do, she will have some answers in store."
Splinter walked to the door, then paused. "But perhaps," He said, looking thoughtful. "They won't be the ones we are expecting."
Maria woke up that evening feeling tired, and truly frightened. Fear was something that she had pushed to the back of her consciousness, but now it was front and center.
'I'll just have to think of something different...' She thought groggily. 'First thing's first...' She went out to the back, and pulled out a screw driver. Going around to the side, she unscrewed the license plat, and tucked it under her arm. She made her down the street until she came to a row of cars. Looking through the cars, she went on until she found a plate that was newer, and had no particular lettering or numbering. It was average. Working quickly, she pulled of the New York License plate, and replaced it hastily with her old Louisiana plate. As soon as she was done, Maria made a dash for her van, and put the license plate on. Standing back she studied her work, pleased.
Next, Maria went into a Gas Station and bought a Bass Pro hat, and a big baggy dragon T-shirt, and disappeared into the bathroom. Tucking her long hair into the cap, and pulling her new over-sized Tee over her plain black blouse. She glanced at her appearance in the mirror. It was an improvement, but it still needed something. Glancing down at her feet she got it.
Maria made a run to a local shoe store. Picking out a medium pair of steel toed boots, colored black, she completed her costume. Her baggy dark blue jeans would have to do for now.
With that, Maria took her van to the Channel Six news station. She smiled. This was it.
She walked inside to see a young receptionist. She couldn't be much older than David, with pink rimmed glasses, and a gaudy colored lip stick. A name tag read: 'Irma'.
'Kay...' Maria thought, gulping. 'Here goes.'
"Excuse me Miss." Maria called, deepening her voice to sound more masculine.
The woman looked up. "Yes?"
"I was wondering if you knew where I could get some information." She smiled.
"Hmm, what sort of information are you looking for?" The woman leaned forward some.
"Local Heroes." She shrugged. "I'm doing a report for school, and I'd like it to be an A."
Irma considered that for a moment. "Well I don't know..."
"Ah, please Miss Irma Ma'am," Maria deepened her voice, looking truly pained. "If I don't bring back a good grade..." She looked away for a moment, then looked back up, and tried to pull a tough act. "Never mind. I'll try elsewhere." She turned away.
"Oh!" She heard the receptionist cry. "No, it's alright. Please, come with me."
'Waaaaay too easy!' She thought triumphantly. "Okay..."
Irma led her to the elevator, and handed her a card.
"Clip this to your shirt, and you're free and clear. You can go to the computer lab, on the third floor, and get information there. The password for the computer is "guest"." She instructed.
"Thank you Ma'am." Maria smiled, entering the elevator's confined space.
"Good luck with your report." Irma waved, then walked back to her desk, picking up a book. Maria wasn't totally sure, but from what she could gather from the cover, it was a romance novel.
'...Somebody needs a life...badly.' She thought, punching the number to the third floor. 'Ah well. I'd trade mine for hers any day.'
As she reached the floor she felt anticipation. Maria was finally going to get some info on her childhood heroes, and that in and of itself was special. More importantly though, she was going to find a way to help her family, and end this accursed nightmare.
'Well,' she thought chuckling to herself. 'I always wanted to go on an adventure.'
Leonardo sat in the living room with his brothers doing something that was necessary. Both for him, and his brothers.
"Look. I've been kind of a jerk ever since this whole CIA bit started in." He turned to eye each one of his brothers. Raph had his arms crossed, his face held no particular emotion, just an attentive stare. His brown eyes held a question, almost saying; 'Okay Leo, what is it now?'
Donny sat back facing the computer, every aspect of him telling Leo he was focused, and paying close attention to his words. A typical stance for Don.
Mikey sat next to the play station, bored expression. His bright blue eyes glazed over, in disinterest. Also very typical.
"I'm sorry."
At this, Mikey glanced up. Raph squinted in confusion, and Don swiveled to better face his brother. More natural reactions, to a seldom used word. Sure they had often got into fights when they were younger, and even plenty now. It was just one of those words they didn't have to say. In a strange way, all of them were connected. They understood where the other three were weak, where they were strong. As such, it always seemed that when one had wronged the other, and realized this, the bother seemed to know, and simply accept, without apology. This phrase seemed so foreign, they all took notice.
"I just got so caught up in chasing after the Foot... I-" He chuckled, embarrassed. " I guess I've been endangering all of us."
"That kid was scared too." Raph added. "Not that we really expect any different from her, but you weren't very patient."
"She didn't see anything though." Don stated matter of fact. "If she had seen us, she wouldn't have been able to escape. She'd be in too much shock."
"Well, the next time we see her," Leo sighed crossing his arms. "We'll have to be more careful."
"And treat her as your equal." Splinter's voice stated, as the rat came into the conversation. He had been in the kitchen where he could hear his son's discussion, while he worked on preparing dinner. Pizza.
"Eh?" Raph asked, squinting one eye. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The rat came to sit on the old chair that he had long used when he was going to tell his sons something of great importance. Such things usually didn't apply to the battlefield, or not directly. Mostly the most important things about life.
"My sons," Splinter said, authority in his voice. "She may be young, in experience, and in knowledge, but she has some knowledge that few possess." He let his words sink in for a moment before continuing. "Firstly, she has knowledge of her own life, and what she knows, and in her case, it is an invaluable asset. Secondly she has some knowledge as to what the Foot are doing. And thirdly, while we do no know her reasons for being here, we do know that they must be important."
"Yeah, that's been bothering me." Donny piped up.
The others focused their attentions on the brainic of the group.
"Think about it. If she were running from the Foot, she wouldn't come to New York. That's like trying to avoid getting burned by sitting in an oven."
"Yeah." Mikey added. "If the Foot don't find her first, the Purple Dragons'll make short work of her."
Raph gave a silent curse under his breath. "We'd better find this kid quick then."
"Where do we start?" Don groaned.
"Starbucks?" Mikey suggested hopefully.
His suggestion was met with annoyed glances, and mostly stiff silence. His sensei shook his head in that 'where did I go wrong?' Sort of shake.
"Maybe April would have something for us." Leo commented.
"Did I just hear an excuse for us to go topside?" Raph grinned, touching his sias. "What are we waiting for?!"
With a shout of excitement, Raph jumped to his feet, and made a beeline for the elevator. Leo smiled. For once, he had to agree with his hot-headed brother. This was it. The other two felt it as well, following after Raph.
"Leonardo." Splinter called. The eldest turtle paused. "Remember what I said, my son."
Leo nodded. "Yes, Sensei."
'I've just wasted, two hours of your life.' Maria thought, her eyes glazed over. She stared vacantly at the screen telling of firefighters, and cheerleaders who saved people from fires. A few random citizens who managed to save they day once or twice, a tale of an ex-gang member who snitched them out to the police.
The list of Lone rangers over the years went on. It was a list of people who alone did the right thing, when no one else. None of them fit the description of what Maria was looking for.
She sat back and let out a heavy sigh. This just wasn't her day.
'Course,' she thought chuckling wryly to herself. 'I haven't had a day where everything went right in soooo long.'
She glanced at the Top stories. Random stuff to do with celebrities, politicians and stuff like that. A few things on turtles-
'Good grief.' Maria thought running a hand over her face. 'If you were to pick up a book, you'd learn far more about turtles instead of watching about them on the News, we'd have people who actually knew about how the world worked, not a bunch of bums with no future.'
A door opening caught her attention. There had been a few people who had paused to see what she was up to, but hadn't taken much interest in her at all. Just a small glance at the screen, then walked off. She glanced up at the door anyway to see who was coming in.
She nearly choked at the sight. Four figures in long brown trench coats, and brown hats. Leather gloves were worn around their hands, and it almost looked like they only had three fingers.
Fear made Maria's spine tingle, as she tried not to shiver. She had never experienced the kind of fear that drove her whip back around to the computer screen in terror. She hunched over in discomfort, feeling trapped. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Footsteps echoed in her skull as the foursome passed by her and the computer that she was working on. Their loud footfalls nearly drove her mad as they felt slow, her heart beating twice the rate of their carefully placed steps. She almost expected them to glance at the screen to see what she was looking at, or to surround her and laugh at her sheer stupidity. She expected them to pull of their trench coats to reveal black clad ninja prepared to take her away from here, into her worst nightmare, torturing her for the amusement of it, or for the information she didn't have. A single tear made its way down her face, a testimony to her terror.
She heard a door shut silently, a noise that seemed so loud it screamed into her ears. Maria's head shot up.
They were gone. She was alone again.
With no second thoughts, Maria jumped to her feet, canceled everything she was doing, and flew to the elevator. She couldn't jam the first floor button enough times. Panic surged through her body, adding to the adrenaline rush. She was scared. Her face was pale, her eyes as wide as green pools.
The doors opened, and Maria shot out of them, practically running for the door.
"Did you find something for your report?" The receptionist asked, calling out to her.
"Yes!" She squeaked automatically. "Th-thank you!" She added hastily, shoving the doors open.
The warm, night air rushed out to greet her, relieving her of the over air conditioned building. Still a chill hung around Maria, a truly hair-raising feeling. Goose bumps covered her arms, as she made a beeline for the parking garage. It was a short walk up to the second story where her van was parked.
That chill grew into a tempest of cold, mind-numbing fear, as Maria stared in panic at her van.
Five men in black suits, with red foots screaming out, surrounded her vehicle. She ducked back, hiding behind a red Porsche.
'Oh God-' She felt her stomach churn, as she crouched behind the expensive car. 'Did Lee ever have to face this sort of thing?' She wondered, as she glanced around wildly for an exit. There!
A chained off sectioned leading to the first floor! Maria slowly crawled towards it on her hands and knees. Once she reached the chained off exit, she ducked under the chains, and slipped to the floor, carefully. Getting to her feet, she began to brush off some dust.
Harsh laughter met her ears, making her look up. A group of some twenty odd men stood in front of her, all wearing baggy pants, holding bats, chains, metal pipes, and an assortment of dangerous looking weapons.
Fear struck her dumb. Maria stood there frozen in shock and fear, as the leader advanced. He was a tall, burly built man with a scar across his face, and a long Chinese styled dragon tattooed in purple over his forehead, and coming up from his neck.
"She's smarter then she looks, ain't ya girly?" He asked, holding up a large, long chain.
Terror held her throat. She couldn't scream. Horror froze her feet in place. Maria stared helplessly as they came closer. Her eyes were wide, mere pools of green eyes of fear.
"Aw, looks like she's just gonna stand there. Well, let's load her up then! Saki's gonna give us a good cut for this!"
The front man reached out and grabbed her arm. The touch of his rough, oversized hand snapped Maria back out of her fear. Anger found its way to her heart as she ripped her arm from his grip.
"Oh-howaoh!" He laughed. "Maybe she's got fight after all!"
The gang behind him remained silent.
"Let's see what you got Princess." He said, bringing up his chain.
Maria gulped, not really wanting to fight. Fighting was not really something that she and Amy were known for. Anne had been known for wailing on people who had had the bad fortune of getting on her bad side, or picking a fight with her. When she was in third grade once, she beat up a sixth grader. Amy told Aiden, and let him do the threatening. Maria never really had that problem before. If the boys got rough, she bit them with her little sharp teeth.
Now here she was, scared for her life, and all she could think to do...Well...
"Ahhhh!" The dragon faced man screamed hitting the new attachment that held his arm in an iron grip. Maria held him with her teeth, and shoved her knee into his most sensitive area.
'Always remember Rei,Rei,'Lee had told her once after a wrestling match between her and Aiden. 'Use your bite to hold him, then give him a dynamite move that'll drop him. If you can drop him, land a heavy dog pile. Easy, right?'
'Oh, Lee, if you only knew how hard this was gonna be...' She thought relaxing her jaw, and letting the man fall to the ground. 'I think you might have given me some better advice.'
With her elbow angled down, Maria jumped, on top of him, her sharp elbow connecting with his neck. There was a hiss, as he tried to expel the air from her landing on his stomach, and a loud crack from his jaw bones. His eyes went wide as he stared her. Two men rushed to his aid, knocking Maria over with a bat.
She quickly got the message, and rolled away from the crowd. She rolled up to a kneeling position before jumping up and taking off. The second floor was waiting, along with three ninja, prepared to take her down.
Had Maria been less frightened, and frantic, she might have cursed, but she was scared to the point of insanity. She stopped, starring at her new situation. Ninja in front, gang members behind, no help in sight.
She glanced around wildly. "Help!" She screamed. "Somebody!"
Two hands grasped her mouth, cutting off the ear-piercing cry. She struggled, tears rushing down her face, blinding her.
"Hey!"
Maria's hazel eyes whipped around to the new voice. Standing in the entrance of the parking Garage, were four figures. They were clad in long, brown trench coats. Brown hats sat atop their heads.
One stepped forward. "Let the lady go."
Maria blinked. 'What!?' She thought, stupidly. 'What the Hell is going on!?'
One of the ninja made a sign with his hand. The gang members glanced at each other, confused.
"What's that mean again?" One whispered loudly.
The ninja let out a loud huff. "Just attack them!" He snarled.
The gang needed no more urging they leapt at the foursome. Maria would have liked to see how these men handled themselves, but she had more pressing matters to attend to.
The two ninja pulled her further up towards the second floor. Maria jerked against them, and strained her arm form their grip. It slowed their progress, giving Maria an idea. She whipped around, and shoved herself backwards, throwing her body into her attackers. They went down, the ninja falling into a wall.
Kicking their arms off of her, and untangled herself. Someone grabbed her ankle, and pulled her to the ground. She landed on the concrete with a thud. Maria let out a high pitched shriek, whirling around, and shoving her heavy steel-toed boot into the man's face. There was a loud snap, and the hand around her ankle released her. Scrambling to her feet, Maria rushed off. She dashed for her car, huffing loudly. Her Bass Pro hat had fallen off sometime in the struggle, but she didn't care. She needed to get away. Her hand grasped the handle. She ripped the door open, and vaulted into the drivers side, reaching for her keys, she jammed them into the slot. The driver's side door opened, and an arm tore her away from the wheel, tossing her onto the pavement.
A rough looking woman stared down at her, laughing. "Thought you could make a run for it sweetheart?" She asked, reaching for the keys, shifting her weight to her left leg. "Won't be able to if I take the keys." She laughed harshly.
Maria kicked her left leg, bringing the woman down with a cry, as she twisted the keys in the ignition.
Light blinded Maria as a loud roar erupted in her ears. Her cries were lost in the din, as the force of the explosion threw her across the parking lot. Her back connected with the pavement, as she skidded to a stop, whimpering in pain. Sitting up, she glanced around. Fire was still burning from the car. Glass lay everywhere, and car alarms blared. She had to get away. She had to move before more came after her.
Maria pushed herself unsteadily back onto her feet, wobbling towards the stairs. She had to get away. Shoving the heavy door open she fell over onto her stomach. The door swung back, crashing painfully into her legs. She let out a howl of agony, as she pulled her feet towards her chest. The door crashed back into place with an audible click.
Maria sat up, adrenaline pushing the pain in her body aside. She stumbled down the stairs, holding back whimpers, as she clutched the stairwell's support.
She reached the bottom quicker than she had expected, a small thing to be thankful for. Putting all her weight against the crash bar, Maria swung out with the door, losing her balance in the process. She twisted her body mid-fall, letting her shoulder take the full impact. She let out a muffled cry, as the pain shot up her shoulder like fire.
Maria rolled over onto her back, relieving the pressure some. She looked straight up at the ceiling, holding back a torrent of pain filled tears, as she took slow, deliberate breaths. Everything hurt. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, her chest heaved with the struggle of breathing, and her arms were limp like wet noodles. She knew glass was sticking out of her right calf, and her back was scraped up for sure. The rest hurt, although the reasons escaped her.
A figure stooped over her, pressing three green fingers against her sore shoulder. She whimpered, reaching over, and shoving the hand away. She tried to sit up, and fend off her new attacker, but found no strength to. Her sore, battered body betrayed her, refusing to move more than it absolutely had to.
Maria felt the three fingered hand press against her shoulder again, and let out a growl. The hand, in response, pressed harder.
Maria threw her torso up into a sitting position, as she shoved the hand aside. She gasped at the pain, panting from the effort.
"Is she okay Donny?" A voice asked, steadily coming closer.
"Looks banged up." Another comment, a little closer, with a heavy accent. Maria wasn't sure which it was, everything seemed so foggy. She glanced up, and saw four figures. The first was squatting down on his heels, examining her leg, refusing to answer, or look up. The second stood close by, arms crossed, glancing with some interest at the two of them on the ground. Two more figures stood together, coming closer to the scene, one bearing a pile of dark coats.
It wasn't what they were doing that frightened her. It was their appearance. Each one of them was some shade of green, with a large, round shell on their backs. The first one wore a thin strip of purple fabric as a mask around his eyes. A long sturdy looking stick lay at his side, the middle wrapped in a white fabric to better keep one's grip.
The second Turtle wore a similar styled mask, his being a bright red. A leather belt was tied around his waist, with a pair of metal sias hanging within easy reach. He glanced back at the others.
The one with the coats wore an orange mask, and a worried expression, as he walked up to stand next to the red masked turtle. He too wore a belt with a pair of numchucks at on his left. The coats in his other arm obscured the other side of the belt, but Maria assumed he had another one on his right hip.
The fourth turtle came up to the purple masked one, and gave Maria's body a small sweep. He wore a blue mask, and unlike the previous two, his weapons were place on his back. Maria guessed they were Katana's, as the swords crossed his back in an X-shape.
"Banged up doesn't quite cover it Raph." The purple on spoke.
'Oh my-' her surprised thoughts were interrupted by a touch on her leg.
Maria reacted instantly, jumping to her feet, swatting the human-like creature aside.
"Whoa, easy." The purple one said quickly. "Someone, hold her."
The blue turtle stepped forward, and reached out to steady her wobbling form. Maria stepped to the side.
"I'm fine!" She squeaked, holding her hands out to balance herself. "Just leave me alone."
"I have to disagree." The purple Turtle said, now fully on his feet. "You're lucky to be alive, much less moving."
"Yeah, lucky..." She muttered, taking a step closer to the concrete wall.
"You need to sit down at least." He added.
Placing a hand against the wall, Maria took another step, leaning heavily on the wall for support.
"Uh-uh." She growled. "I don't appreciate your attacking," She took another step. "and chasing," Another step. "Me."
She paused for breath, panting for air.
"We weren't trying to hurt you." The blue turtle stated. "We wanted your help."
"Yeah right." She spat, taking a third step. "And next you'll expect me to believe we can help each other."
"Ah, com'n dudette." The one with the Orange mask spoke up. "You need to recover, and probably a place to stay. That car was all you had I'm guessing."
Maria winced, halting in her progress. He was right.
The other turtles looked at him, as if surprised. he shrugged at their inquiring glances.
"Think about it."
"I can get those on my own." Maria replied, stepping forward again. "I can't stop now."
The red one threw up his hands. "You sound like me!"
"No," She growled quietly to herself. "I sound like my sister."
"What?" The blue masked Turtle.
"Nothing." She sighed. "Look, I don't need your help."
"Care to tell us how you're going to escape notice of the cops?" He asked. "You can't walk very far, and you're easy prey for muggers."
Maria glanced at him. He smiled, rather smugly, his brown eyes searching from behind his blue mask.
"I-I" She paused, glaring back. "Oh I don't know!"
She threw her hands up, leaning her back against the wall. "How do I know you aren't working for Oroku Saki!?"
All three turtles stiffened at the accusation. The blue masked one, seemed to appear more hostile, his brown eyes gaining a glint.
"The shredder is our sworn enemy." He stated. "We have a common enemy."
"With a tacky nick-name." Maria added, smiling slightly. "I dunno about that Blue."
Maria glanced at them, and for the first time realized that there were four of them. It didn't make much sense to her mind. The story never mentioned any human form, but... Surely Lee, or David would have thought to tell her whether they were turtles...Wouldn't they?
Maria took them in. They had acted with heroism. 'But are they the deal?' She wondered silently.
She closed her eyes considering. 'What's the worse that could happen?' Her naive side asked.
'I don't wantto know.' Her newfound cautious side snarled.
'Do you have a choice?'
As if in answer to her internal question, sirens sounded off in the distance.
'...Danm...' She thought, despising the interference.
"What I do know is that I still have a mission to do."
Maria reopened her eyes. "So I guess I have to go with ya'll, and tough it out."
The orange masked one gave out a happy whoop.
"Cowabunga dudes!"
The blue one seemed pleased, but not quite so enthusiastic. The red one snorted, walking away, pausing only to say:
"Let's get this roller coaster ride over with."
"I'm driving!" The orange turtle raced past his red friend, who was now trying to catch up.
"Great." The purple turtle sighed. "Either way, we're dead."
Blue chuckled quietly, as he walked calmly after the other two.
Maria shoved herself away from the wall, limping after them. She shook her head when the purple masked turtle offered her his arm.
"I can do it." She stated stubbornly.
"Sure," He shrugged. "But your going slower than us."
"And that's pretty sad, being out walked by a turtle." Blue added, glancing behind at her.
Maria couldn't help it. She laughed. She laughed despite how much it hurt to do so. It felt good.
"Okay." She smiled. "You win."
Authoress Comment:Was that explosive enough for y'all? Cause This was sooooo much fun to do. I finally found a place to throw "Cowabunga" in there too. Yes! Well, Y'all know how this works! Review!