April loves the air up on the rooftops. It's so different from the air down on the streets, purer and so much more exciting, smelling and tasting of adventures to come.
Not that she really is going to be involved in any adventures.
The rules say she stays out of fights. The rules say that she is just here for surveillance.
Just to watch and taste the exciting air.
And that's enough for her.
She can hide in the shadows and feel like a real kunoichi.
She takes another deep breath, tasting the air on the back of her tongue, and she loves it.
It's moments like this when she feels special again.
The good kind of special, of course, the one where she's a kunoichi, not the one when she's the center of an alien invasion and is partly Kraang and has psychic powers.
No, this is the kind of special that makes her heart pound with life, not the one that makes it freeze and throb with pain.
There's a movement down in the alley, and April moves closer to the roof edge.
Carefully, she looks down into the alley and sees - nothing.
With a twist of her mouth April steps back again.
The attack comes unexpectedly from behind.
April feels a punch against her back, not very hard, but hard enough to make her gasp and sends her down to her knees, sliding close to the roof edge again.
Out of instinct, she rolls to the side - only to be hit by a harder punch against her back again, harder this time. She falls face down onto the concrete.
There's laughter and then pressure against her cheek. It takes her a while to understand that her attacker has placed a foot on her cheek.
"You've gotten rusty, O'Neil," a voice says.
April knows that voice. She knows it all too well.
"Karai!" she hisses, the foot on her cheek making it hard to speak.
"Well, at least your sense of hearing is still working," Karai says and puts her foot away.
April sits up, rubbing her jaw.
"What?" Karai laughs. "You don't lunge for your precious little tessen or your sweet little Turtle phone? What's wrong with you, O'Neil?"
"You aren't here to kill me," April replies, getting back to her feet and brushing off the dust.
"And what makes you think that, Princess?"
April studies her face for a moment. Karai's eyes are glistening, and there's this smirk on her face April knows so well.
"Otherwise I'd be dead already."
It's true, Karai isn't here to kill. She's here to get a little amusement.
The kunoichi bursts into laughter.
"Now that's a clever princess," she says, still giggling.
"I'm just not sure why you're here, though," April says. "I thought you had other plans."
"Awwwww, Leo told you, didn't he? He's such a cutie!" Karai's voice is dripping with sarcasm. "That's why I let him wait, you know? It makes him do things he'd never do when he weren't angry."
This makes April straighten.
"So you only get him angry so you can defeat him!?" she shouts, grabbing her tessen.
"Defeat him?" Karai repeats, then laughs again. "Oh, you poor innocent child, you have no idea!" The glistening is back in her eyes when she continues. "But it looks like I can at least get a little fight out of these rusty bones."
And with that Karai attacks again, harder this time, more powerful. She lands blow after blow.
April manages to counter and duck a few, but takes most of the beating.
At least she can land a few blows herself, for appearances' sake.
Then all goes into a blur, and when April comes back to her senses, she finds herself on the ground, on her back, and Karai is kneeling on her body, one hand on April's shoulder, and the other on April's boob.
This is odd. April can only think that it happened by mistake.
And if to prove her wrong, Karai adds some pressure on April's boob.
There's this glistening in Karai's eyes again, and then she moves off April's body, jumps backwards and disappears into the night.
Trying to catch her breath, April sits up.
Her body is aching, and oddly enough, it feels like she can still feel Karai's hand on her boob.
April shakes her head.
It's just Karai, and Karai loves to play games. That's all there is to it. And it doesn't mean anything.
But why is her heart still pounding in her chest moments later although her breathe is back to a normal rate?