Cabin Fever

Summary: Feeling suffocated, April sneaks out of the Lair, and is followed by a well-meaning, blue-eyed tagalong. Really, how much trouble could they get into? Rated for violence.

A/N: Phew, this one grew into a bit of a beast. Part 2, coming soon!

Okay…here we go. One tiny step at a time, you can do thi—UGH!

April O'Neil cringed in horrified disgust as her bare foot landed in something cold and vaguely squishy. Feeling around with a cautious toe, she identified the object as a stray piece of pizza that had somehow escaped the feeding frenzy of her honorary brothers earlier that evening. The turtles were now spread around the faintly flickering light of the TV in various states of unconsciousness. She could see Donatello draped slightly over Raphael's shell, utterly undisturbed by the red-banded turtle's gentle snoring right next to his ear. Leonardo had fallen asleep close-by, with Michelangelo curled up next to him. She could see Leo's bandana tails waving in the breeze caused by Mikey's even breaths.

All in all, it was an adorable scene, and one that she had been part of up until five minutes ago (her place had been somewhere between Leo and Donnie). However, as much as she loved the turtles, their constant boyish presence and the crushing loneliness of the sewers had begun to weigh heavily on the redhead. Her chest ached with an anxious need to experience the sights and smells of New York City, to once again become an invisible part of the crowd.

Sneaking out was the only option, surely?

So, holding her boots in one hand in order to be as silent as possible, April had extracted herself from the turtle-huddle, and begun her painstaking trek to the lair's exit. It wasn't easy. Every tiny noise from the pile of ninja behind her caused April to freeze and force her heart to stop thudding. Finally, she vaulted near-silently over the turnstiles and bolted into the sewers, smugly congratulating herself on a job well-done whilst pulling on her boots.

She had one boot on and was starting on the other when a voice floated out of the darkness, calling her name. Screeching, she wind-milled wildly before giving in to gravity.

Fortunately, a pair of large, strong hands steadied her, and April turned to look into a pair of blue eyes.

"Geez, April, you about scared the shell off of me! What are you doing, sneaking around like some kind of…bare-foot spy? Are you a spy?! Who are you working for!?"

Momentarily speechless, April stared open-mouthed at her exuberant assailant. Michelangelo's blue eyes were as round as saucers, and he was pointing a large green finger at her with a look of deep betrayal. She clapped a hand around his mouth and seized his bicep, briefly regretting the decision as the muscle tensed under her hand. However, his instinctive reaction lasted no more than a split second, and he became as docile as a reptilian ragdoll as she towed him further into the sewer tunnels that lead out of the lair. When she deemed them far enough so as not to wake the others, she bonked him soundly on the back of the head, and knelt to tug on her boots.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

His voice had taken on a whining tinge that she knew would be accompanied by the puppy-eyes and quivering bottom lip that suckered in his brothers every time. Just don't look, and you'll be fine.

"What are you doing out here, Mikey? Just go back home."

She could tell from his slight hesitation that he was hurt by her tone. Crud.

"…You woke me up when you were sneaking out. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, dude. You shouldn't be heading topside on your own, y'know, Sensei'll get mad."

Well, he sure grasped the situation quickly. She had to hand it to the little guy, when it came to picking up on the emotional wellbeing of his family and friends, there was no one more talented. The amount of times he'd come to her when she had been silently brooding about her father's disappearance, brandishing a cup of strong tea and a hug, were numerous. Say what you would about Mikey; his skill for empathy was unparalleled, and that knowledge evaporated the last of her irritation with him.

She knuckled him gently on the head, much to his consternation. Striking up a conversation to distract him, she led him further down the sewer tunnels. Bound and determined as she was to get above ground, it might be nice to have some company. "How did I wake you up, anyway? I was totally ninja-silent, and you were sleeping like a log!"

Sensing her mood change for the better, he grinned cheekily. "Not silent enough. You owe me a new slice of pizza!"

"I can't believe that woke you up."

He nodded emphatically. "Me 'n pizza have a special connection, April! I heard it cry out for me when you squashed it under your giant foot."

She gaped at him in mock offense. "Like you can talk about 'giant feet'! My feet are normal-size, thank you."

His grin grew wider, if that was even possible. "Not to a poor defenseless slice of pizza. I think I heard its death-scream. I may never be the same again."

April rolled her eyes, then brightened as she noticed that they were approaching the metal ladder that would lead them topside. "So, what is this, a new superpower or something?"

He looked so pleased that she was playing along. "Yup! I haven't decided whether to use it for good or evil y-"

They had reached the ladder.

"April…what are you doing?"

April plastered on a reassuring grin. "We're gonna go up top."

To say that he was stunned would have been an understatement. The Shellraiser could've parked in his gaping mouth. "W...You can't go TOPSIDE! Are you crazy?! Leo 'n Sensei said you had to stay down here, it's not safe!"

"I'll be safe with you!"

"You wanna drag me into this?! Huh-uh, no way, April! Do you know what they'd do to me if they found out?! I'd be tomorrow's pizza topping!"

She put on her most pathetic puppy-dog expression, ironically learned from Michelangelo himself. "Please, please, Mikey? I just need a break from the sewers, just for a little. Please?"

He drew himself up a little taller, scales ruffled from the unintended insult to his home. "What's wrong with the sewers?!"

Ugh, apart from the obvious? "Nothing, Mikey, the sewers…they're great. But they're not," suddenly she found that she no longer needed to fake her sad expression. "They're not…home."

Mikey's expression softened slightly. Patting her slumped shoulders, his features relaxed into rare seriousness. "You really need to do this?"

She nodded, dashing a few unexpected tears from her eyes. "We could sit on a rooftop somewhere. Just…just for an hour."

She saw the exact moment he relented. Sighing dramatically, he patted her on the head. "Come on then. Just for an hour. Do you have a weapon?"

She giggled wetly. He was clearly channeling his inner Leo. "Yes, I grabbed a tanto before I left."

Mikey nodded, assuming a superior expression. "Right. Okay, I'm in charge. I'm the boss. Whatever I say go—hey, April, not cool!"

She watched, giggling, as he adjusted the bandana she had just twisted around his face into its proper placement. The ladder felt slightly slimy under her fingers as she climbed the first few rungs. "Come on, shell-brain."

"Coming from you, that's totally discrimination, sis."

"Your brothers call you 'shell-brain' all the time!"

"They're turtles too! You're just…shell-ist!"

"Even if that was a thing, Mikey, do you really think—oh, we're at the top!"

April heaved the manhole cover open, more than slightly impressed by the new muscles Sensei's tough regime was building. She clambered out, ignoring Mikey's continued jabbering behind her, and took in the surrounding alleyway. The air was damp and full of the mixed scents of late night eateries and gasoline. She snuffled it all in gratefully.

Home, sweet Home…

Page Break

This…was actually pretty amazing. April had expected to sneak out for half an hour, skulk in an alleyway for fear of being seen, and then trail back to the lair. So far, with the added confidence of Mikey watching from the shadows, she had bought a caramel latte from a 24 hour coffee shop, picked up a stack of magazines, and just stood silently enjoying the fresh night air. Just so that Mikey didn't feel left out (though he took great pains to assure her that he didn't mind just watching), they swung by Murakami's noodle bar to pick up some pizza gyoza. The elderly man and the enthusiastic young turtle had been ecstatic to encounter each other again, and chattered rapidly in Japanese whilst the food was being prepared. April figured she caught about one word in every fifty. She was picking up the language slowly from the boys; they tended to slip into their native tongue quite often with each other.

Regrettably, she eventually had to tear Mikey away from Murakami, and they found themselves winding up on the roof of one of the smaller high-rises near to the lair. Eating pizza gyoza and lying back to look up at the sky with one of your best friends by your side…it couldn't get much better. Sure, she missed the others, and the sky was hazy with smog and the lights of the city, but Mikey's exuberant mood more than made up for it.

"Ever seen the stars, April?"

"Sure. Dad and I used to go camping upstate sometimes. The light pollution is really low up there."

He gave a wistful sigh and turned on his side, hitting April with the full power of his puppy-dog eyes. "I wanna go camping!"

She ruffled his bandana tails. "I'll take you some day."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

He shuffled closer to knock his head gently against hers. "Thanks, 'nee-chan."

She knew enough Japanese to recognize the affectionate term for 'big sister', and her grin was brilliant as she sat up and drew him into a hug. He submitted to it gladly, and began to hug her back, when she felt his entire body become suddenly rigid. April had just enough time for her instincts to scream 'something's wrong—', before Mikey threw both of them sideways, avoiding by inches the two gleaming shuriken that sliced through the now empty space. He was on his feet before she could blink, standing protectively in front of her with his nunchaku spinning.

"April," he said, his tone unnaturally solemn. "I'm gonna need you to take out your T-Phone and press the big square button at the bottom. There're too many of them for us to take out alone, we need my bros."

"Too many of who?! What's going on?!"

But even as she hissed the words and pulled out her T-Phone, the darkness in front of them seemed to move.

"April! Press the button!"

She jumped slightly, and jammed her thumb into what she hoped was the correct button. A red light began to flash at the top of the custom cell, and Mikey huffed in relief.

"Awesome. Hey, I've always wanted to push that button! Donnie threatened to take my T-Phone away if I kept asking about it. Was it as cool as I thought?"

His attempts to cheer her up were thwarted as the darkness shot closer, revealing the gleam of weapons, and soulless masks.

The Foot had found them.

Page Break

There was someone screaming in the Lair.

Leo tore his eyes open and lurched to his feet, still mostly asleep. The last thing he remembered was Michelangelo cuddling into his plastron like a turtle-shaped limpet, and he cast a bleary eye down to the floor to see if he'd disturbed his little brother at all.

Mikey wasn't there anymore, and someone was screaming in the Lair.

The fog of being abruptly woken dispersed, and Leo was aware of his remaining brothers murmuring crossly as the loud screeching broke into their sleep.

"Shut the hell up," Raphael was growling at a bewildered Donatello.

"I'm not making that noise, shell-brain! That's the emergency signal."

The three of them shared a look of bemusement, then Donnie's words clicked into place.

They dived simultaneously for their T-Phones at the same time as their father raced into the room, panting with an urgency that was almost completely alien to his nature.

"Boys…where is April? Where is your brother?!"

Leo took in Sensei's tail lashing agitatedly, his ruffled fur, and his flattened ears and felt his stomach twist. He and Raph sprang towards their father just as the rat began to sway, easing him gently to the ground.

"Sensei! Sensei, what's wrong?!"

Splinter looked up at both of them, his whiskers trembling. They had never before seen the strong rat so unsettled.

"I had…a most terrible dream, Leonardo." Glinting metal and long claws and sparks, chains and noise and red red red…He realized that his sons were growing frantic, and placed clawed fingers on both of their cheeks. "Please, my sons. Find them. You must-"

"GOT it!" came the triumphant shout from the sunken seating area. Donnie was on his feet, waving his T-Phone in the air with a slightly manic air about him. "I've traced their signal; they aren't far. Ten blocks east."

Leo glanced at Raph; his red-banded brother was already moving, snatching up his sai and sprinted for the turnstiles with Donnie. The eldest gave a last reassuring squeeze to his father's shoulder.

"We will find them, Sensei. Everything will be fine."

Not waiting for a reply, Leo grabbed his ninjato and sheathed them in the same movement, never breaking stride as he raced after his brothers.

Page Break

April had seen the boys fight many, many times before. They moved like a well-oiled machine; perfectly in tune with each other, always finding time to toss careless comments back and forth between them. Their grace and style was beautiful to watch, if a little stomach-turning at times. She found that, apart from the inevitable bloodshed and the danger that the turtles themselves might get hurt, she actually enjoyed watching their deadly displays.

There was nothing enjoyable about this.

Michelangelo fought like a cornered animal; brutally drawing enemy ninja into the lethal range of his nunchaku, and taking out the men skulking in the background with the kusarigama. All around April were the sounds of wood striking flesh, and the scream of the kama blade on Mikey's long-range weapon splitting the air. It was obvious that he was used to the added back-up of his three older brothers; untrained as she was, April could still recognize holes in his defense. So, with a surprisingly clear mind, she loosed a wild yell and leapt into the fray. Narrowed blue eyes flashed with surprise, then gratitude as Mikey turned his attention to her for a split second. April swiped with her tanto at the ninja about to land a lucky hit on the youngest turtle, and gasped hoarsely, "I got your back!"

Although they were certainly not as attuned to each other's movements as Mikey would have been with his brothers, April thought they made a pretty good team. She dispatched any ninja attempting to sneak up on her turtle brother, and in turn, he made sure that she never suffered even a scratch. For a while, it looked like they might actually win.

So caught up in the fight was she, April didn't realize until too late that the remaining dozen ninja were forming a strategic wall between her and Mikey. When she eventually looked up, they were somehow on opposite sides of the roof. The next few moments seemed to happen in a series of slow motion flashes that she would later dream about and wake screaming.

A large ninja sneaking up on Mikey as he took on three opponents.

The ninja was clutching something.

April cried out a warning and threw herself forward.

Pain, crippling and white hot, the glint of red-streaked metal buried above her left ankle.

Sprawling, tripping, her ankle folding beneath her, and a shriek of agony.

Mikey looking up, distracted and frightened for her.

The sound as the tetsubo the huge ninja held smashed into the back of Mikey's head.

Time resumed its normal pace as April started screaming. She tried to stand, but the agony from the shuriken embedded in her ankle made her legs wilt under her. Mikey was on his knees ten feet in front of her, his arms limp and his eyes dull. A snaking trickle of blood ran down his neck, bright crimson against the lime green of his skin.

"Mikey! Mikey!"

He didn't move. The Foot did. Two of them seized the youngest turtle under the arms, and heaved him upright, his legs twitching weakly as the ninja dragged him towards the edge of the fifteen-story building. April started violently as an opponent seized her from behind and secured her with a manriki chain. She struggled hard, desperate to get to Mikey, but the ninja silently tightened his grip.

The two holding Mikey against the small wall around the edge of the rooftop appeared to be interrogating him in heavy Japanese accents.

"Where is Hamato Yoshi?"

"Where are the other turtles?"

"Answer, scum, or we will let you fall. Answer!"

It was clear that Mikey couldn't even hear the questions being asked. "St-stop, stop it!" April found herself crying out. "He doesn't even understand, just let him go!"

The two ninja exchanged a look. April glanced desperately at Mikey, and to her relief found him a little more alert. Blue eyes caught hers and held…

…just as his opponents heaved him up, and over the edge of the roof.

The scream that ripped free from April felt as though it tore her vocal chords apart. Sobbing and struggling with crazed, frenzied movements, she barely felt the kick her captor aimed at her ribs. However, the gurgling sound the ninja made as a shuriken, embossed with the symbol of the Hamato clan, buried itself in his neck broke through the maelstrom of grief that encompassed her. Dazed and still whimpering violently, April looked up as another deadly projectile found its mark. Three shadowed figures melted out of the darkness, and immediately engaged the enemy clan.

Michelangelo's brothers had arrived.

Page Break

Crushing a final Foot ninja's windpipe with a ruthlessness that he usually shied away from, Donatello put a swift end to his part of the battle, and noticed with satisfaction that his brothers had dispatched their opponents as well. He spun around and raced to April's kneeling form, checking her for any injuries. Apart from the severely sprained and bleeding ankle he discovered when he eased off her left boot, her wounds seemed superficial.

He heard Leo come up from behind him. "April, where's Mikey?!"

Donnie's heart dropped to his stomach as April's crying intensified, her words broken and muffled by sobs.

"He's…they…o-over…over…!"

Raphael had joined them by this time, and his anxiety got the better of him. Ignoring Donatello's sharp protest, he seized April by the shoulders, and barked "Over WHERE!?"

She looked to their left, toward the edge of the roof where the broken lights had bred creeping shadows. Her voice was shrill as she told them.

"They…t-they pushed him over!"

Sour bile hurtled up from Donatello's stomach, and he heard Leonardo drop to his knees behind him. The building was fifteen stories high. No-one, not even a mutated ninja, could survive a fall like that. Over the rushing whine building in his ears, Donnie heard Raph lurch toward the edge of the building himself. Suddenly electrified by the thought that another brother was going to fall, he hauled himself to his feet and staggered to Raph's side. It was impossible to see through the unlit gloom to the ground below them, but Raphael was peering furiously over the edge.

"I can't see him," he said in a low, frantic mutter. "We need to get down there, he's hurt and we need to help him, you need to help him, Donnie."

Donatello's teeth sank into his bottom lip as he suppressed a howl of grief. Raph was still convinced that their brother lived, despite the height of his fall. He couldn't let Raphael go down there and…and see. He placed a quaking hand on his brother's shell.

"I…I'll go and h-help him. You st-stay here with April in case there're any more Foot, okay?" The clan name tasted like poison as it pushed past his numb lips. I'll kill you, he vowed silently. I'll bury my baby brother, and then I will rip you all apart.

He turned and sprinted toward the fire escape on the other side of the roof, dimly noticing Leo ghosting him silently. He was immeasurably grateful for his eldest brother's presence as he passed April and noticed that she was clutching one of Mikey's nunchaku to her chest like a lifeline. Leo's hand on his shell was the only thing that kept him from collapsing.

A/N: Ain't I a stinker? Part 2 coming soon.