Hi guys! Sorry this took so long but to be honest, for some reason I completely brain-farted on this chapter. This chapter is going to to pretty much be short and boring, but my brain is still struggling to get out of a random un-inventive phase. Next chapter will be big and juicy, I promise! Anyways, sorry for the delay and the shortness and the boringness and such and such... but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Karai watched silently from the rooftops as the family of mutants emerged from the sewers. As she saw all of them, even the rat and the girl, crawl from the hole, she was genuinely shocked to find herself feeling relieved. Stranger yet, when the family had embraced in the alley with solemn faces, Karai had been struck once again by the pang of emotion that had caused her to drop her weapon when she had been with Leonardo.
She was confused. She did not understand why this emotion had appeared out of nowhere, forcing Karai back. She did not know how it was possible that because of one emotion, one feeling, one thought, Karai had somehow changed inside. And though she still did not understand why or how it happened, there was no denying that it had. In that moment, as she held the blade above Leonardo, the moment where she could have changed everything, the moment she could have ended it all, the moment she could have made her father proud, the moment where she, and she alone, could have won, she had changed.
Suddenly, a feeling had been triggered by the surrender of the one that had tormented her for so long. She had felt some sort of compassion, a sort of sympathy for the family. She had realized, with a shocking jolt from somewhere inside of her, that what she was doing was wrong. Evil, even.
Never before had Karai ever believed herself to be truly evil. At times she had realized that she was doing a bad thing, but she had never considered it herself that was doing the bad. She had always just been obeying her master, she would do what he wanted and it would be him that was doing the ultimate evil. But now, she realized that she was more than just a slave to the villainous rule, but she herself had been doing the wrong thing all of her life, out of her own will. She had had the opportunity to disobey, but she had been to weak to face the consequences of what would have happened. Too scared.
It was amazing, how that one moment had opened up all of these thoughts. Karai had realized that she was a weak, scared, evil person. It disgusted her. She could no longer act this way, she would no longer act this way. And so, with that huge rush of thoughts, Karai had found her hands opening, and the blade slipping from her grasp and falling to the floor. And she had let them go.
The bombs had not been Karai's idea. Fishface, being the unloyal attention-seeking whelp that he was, had placed them all around the lair once Karai had called a retreat. He had saw that she was giving up, and had taken the opportunity to try to prove that he was worth something to the Shredder. He had done it after she had left, assigning the closest robots to disperse them throughout the area in less than seconds. Karai had ran out of the room immediately after she had given the order for the troops to back down. Their only goal was to listen to Karai, so they of course would obey, but Karai knew that as soon as they returned back to the Shredder that she would no longer be someone they would have to listen to but instead someone they had to hunt down as well. So she had run away, hiding from the army as it continues it's way back to their high leader, where they probably were now, explaining to the Shredder what had happened as he became more enraged every second.
When she had gone into the sewers, she had never expected that this would have happened. She had expected to be back with the Shredder at this moment. At this exact moment, she would be throwing the entire family of mutants into the hands of the Shredder, and she would have been proud of it. But that was not the case. Instead, she was huddled up on a rooftop, watching the ones she had before known as enemies as they miserably went to the rooftops and began heading off to whatever place they had decided to take refuge in.
And she could not go back to the Shredder. Not now, possibly not ever. She was alone.
It was Raph's turn to carry the unconscious Gracie as they despairingly trudged across the rooftops on their way to April's home. Somehow Gracie still managed to tightly grasp whatever it was that she had rescued from their home in tight fists against her chest. The poor bandages over her wounds were falling away and blowing in the cold air as they walked.
The family knew that her state was not good, and that they needed to help her quickly, so they all together seemed to increase in pace as they went along. Finally, April's apartment came into sight.
April lived with her father above an antique store that was owned by a woman that seemed to be as old as the things she sold. Raphael didn't care enough to know her name, but he did know that she owned the entire building, including the store and the two apartments above it. He also knew that April worked at the store occasionally, when she felt like earning a few extra bucks. The store itself was called Second Time Around, and there was two entrances; the one that led strait into the store, and the one that led to the hallway containing the stairs to the upper apartments along with the stairs to the basement.
The group took neither of these entries, however, as they went the stealthy way and used the fire escape to climb into her apartment directly through the window. Raphael was extra cautious as he slipped in with Gracie, making sure not to bump her on the way in. Splinter was the only one who did not enter, as he stayed on the rooftop, probably to meditate.
April was already home and had immediately thrown herself into Donnie's arms, causing his face to turn dark red. "Guys! Are you okay? I was so worried! I'm so, so sorry!" This all came out in a rush as she released Donatello and began flitting between them all, her face concerned and condoling. She even managed to get a sideways hug in to Raphael as she looked at Gracie. "Is she going to be okay?" She asked, her face worried. She naturally looked to Donatello.
Donnie nodded grimly. "I think so." He said, although in his head he heard: I hope so. "She needs medical attention, though. And quickly."
"What do you need?" April said immediately. She seemed to be the only one with enough determination at the moment to be completely on top of things. Donnie hesitated, looking over Gracie as he thought.
"Stitches. That's the most important part. Her leg gets treated first. But, we could also use anything you may have for infections or burns. And fresh bandages, if you have them." He says. April nods and immediately hurries off, searching for the supplies, leaving the guys to stand there. None of them seem to want to move. By the time April rushes back in with her arms full of stuff, they are all still in the places she has left them in. She looks at them with a sorry expression, but immediately begins ordering them around, know that without her guidance, they would be lost at the moment.
"Raph, come put her on the couch. Donnie, go ahead and get started, don't worry about any mess. Mikey.. go ahead and make some food." Noticing that Raphael and Leonardo still stood idle after Gracie had been laid out and Donnie had already begun fussing over her and Mikey had went to the kitchen, thankful to be able to do something he enjoyed to help him get his mind off of things, April grabbed the remote and threw it to them. Leo caught it and gave April a small smile, which she returned. "If you guys want, you can grab some pillows from my room."
Once everybody was situated, April joined Donnie, who was unwrapping Gracie's leg. April winced at the sight of it. It was swollen quite a bit and covered in a clear, greasy looking liquid. There was blood on it, both new and old. April fought the urge to look away. Donnie rummaged through the pile of antibiotics April had scrounged up from around her house and pulled out a small tube of ointment and handed it to April.
"There's not much of this left," He said. "So try to use it on her worst burns first." April nodded, thankful that Donatello had given her a job that did not involve the gaping wound on Gracie's calf. She immediately began spreading the ointment over her many burns, trying to avert her eyes from what Donnie was doing on her leg.
At some point in time the house phone rang. April looked to Donnie, who met her eyes with a nod. "Go ahead. I can handle this for a second." He said. April returned the nod with a small, encouraging smile. She got up and headed to the kitchen, where Mikey was brewing up some kind of concoction. April didn't dare to interfere because she knew that for now he was happily distracted. April leaned around the corner and picked the phone up from the receiver, cradling it to her ear.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Uh, Is this April O'neil? " A male voice asked.
"Yes, this is her. Who is this?" April replied.
"Uh, hi. This is Alex." He said. For a moment April's mind drew a blank.
"Alex?" She echoed dumbly. Donnie looked up at her at the mention of the name that seemed to be so important to Gracie.
"From the park?" Alex supplied. Finally April's mind seemed to function properly.
"Oh! Of course!" She said, feeling like a moron. "Uh, how did you get my phone number?" She asked suspiciously.
"I looked it up in a phone book." He explained. "I need to talk to you."
"Oh...Okay..." April said nervously. "What's up?"
"I need answers. Now."
Well there you go. Not much, but I promise, next chapter will have a whole bunch of everything to make up for it :PI'm super sorry this was so short but I really just wanted it to get out to you guys since It's been way to long. Don't worry, next chapter is going to be super exciting! There's gonna be scenes from The Shredder, from Gracie's family, from Karai, from Alex, from our beloved gang of reptilian teenagers, and of course from Gracie herself! It's going to be nuts! Anywho... look out for that next chapter and thanks for reading! Please review and favorite and follow and all that other junk, and I'll see you in chapter TWELVE!