Chapter 3: The Purple Dragons
It was about five in the morning and April woke up and couldn't go back to sleep for a while longer, she could hear the TV on but it wasn't loud at all. She peered from the covers to see that it was Leo who was crossed in front of the TV with a hand on his cheek looking bored as he browsed the channels looking for something to watch, she also noticed he was the only one awake as she could see and hear Mikey still passed out snoring on the bean bag chair.
April removed the covers slowly and lifted herself from the couch, she put pressure on her injured ankle to see if it was better a bit and could at least stand on it, which she could, and she could walk a bit as it didn't hurt as much like it did last night. Leo let out a bored sigh and turned the TV to a random channel and decided to just watch whatever it gave, Mikey let out a loud snore on accident which woke himself up, he let out a small scream and collapsed off the bean bag chair and shot himself upward looking at April then back at Leo. "Dude's, I had the craziest dream!" Mikey said as both Leo and April stared at him, Leo knew April was awake as he peered behind himself and noticed her sitting on the couch looking at Mikey.
"I was in a world full of trees growing pizza's, and clowns would steal and cut down the pizza tree's." Mikey said surprised and looked upset about it. Leo and April only stared at him confusingly and Leo turned back to watch the TV, "How about you go make breakfast?" Leo suggested to Mikey since he was the one who always made breakfast. Mikey smiled widely and hopped to his feet "No problem!" Mikey said giggling happily walking off towards the kitchen.
"You're always up this early?" April asked, looking at Leo as she crossed herself onto the couch getting comfortable. Leo didn't bother to look back at her, he was pretty bored at the moment, "Could say something like that." Leo replied to her. April knew he seemed really bored not being able to find anything to watch, let alone being stuck down here until dark without much to do, April smirked a bit as she crouched off the couch and moved her bag over to open it. Leo peered over his shoulder hearing April scrounging through her bag again and was confused, she pulled out some cards and showed them to Leo, they were uno cards. "Wanna play some Uno when Mikey gets done?" April asked him. Leo tilted his head a bit, "Don't you have an apartment to get to soon?" He asked, reminding her. April only chuckled a bit, "The staff don't open the check in until Eight. I have plenty of time to spare." She said smiling, waving the cards in the air. Leo gave her a small smile and stood up, he walked over to her and handed her the remote, "If you can find something to watch until Mikey gets done, then absolutely." Leo said. April put down the cards on top of her bag and accepted the remote and sat back on the couch, she remembered a channel she used to watch all the time when younger that had pretty good shows on it and thought maybe it would be enough.
Mikey came back a few minutes later, carrying three plates of scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and potatoes. He threw a plate at Leo who was sitting below the couch next to April not even looking at Mikey, Leo caught the plate not even harming the food on it, even when mid air. The sudden throw shocked April as she didn't even notice it and Leo did as he moved the plate into his lap and started eating, she noticed a plate of nice smelling food next to her face, It was Mikey handing her the plate with a smile on his face. She grabbed the plate from him and placed it on her lap and started to also eat, and it was very good. "You're a good cook, Mikey." She said nomming on some bacon. "Aww yeah, you bet!" Mikey said, letting out a large burp as he had already finished his plate.
After everyone was done eating, the three would begin playing Uno and April had to explain the game to Mikey, even though he had already played it before but forgot. "UNO!" Mikey shouted as he giggled with one card left in his hand. "Come on Leo, Don't let him win again!" April said sobbing with like a dozen cards in her possession. Mikey has won pretty much all the games somehow and he wasn't cheating, just very lucky and it ticked off Leo and April as they tried even teaming against him but it wasn't working. Leo put down a red card with the number five on it and it was April's turn, April also put down a red card with the number eight on it, and both her and Leo glared at Mikey as it was his turn. Mikey gave a huge smirk as he slammed the card down, it was a blue card with the number eight on it also, and placing the same number down even though it's a different color is allowed. April sobbed as she lowered the cards to the ground, Leo threw his cards at Mikey, "You gotta be cheating!" Leo said as he threw the cards. Mikey only laughed and jumped to his feet and started dancing, "Aww yeah, I am on a streak man! You can't beat !" Mikey laughed.
It was eight right on the dot and April made sure everything was packed and set before heading off to check into her apartment. Raph woke up at around seven thirty and went back to his room with a plate of leftover breakfast and Donnie was passed out on his computer desk as Leo told her he tends to stay up all night long experimenting and sleep almost all day. Splinter always stayed in the dojo or his room within the dojo and hardly ever came out unless needed or to check up on things. Leo helped April to the nearest manhole outside the lair which still was pretty far and also helped her with her bags to get out from the sewers, April turned and looked at Leo who was about to head back down, "Thank you, again. I mean it, Leo." April said with a grateful smile on her face. Leo looked at her and returned the smile with a wave, "We'll see you later, don't worry." He said as he climbed back down into the sewers and put the manhole back over, taking his leave.
April sighed as she walked out of the alley to see what street she was on, and it was actually the street she needed to be on as the apartments were directly across the street, April gave a happy sigh "That was not the nearest manhole you silly…" April chuckled, knowing Leo purposely helped her all the way to the street she needed to be on now. April crossed the street and entered the building as the staff were there checking people in, April checked herself in receiving the key needed in order to go into her new home and went up towards her apartment, she had to use the elevator due to her ankle, plus she didn't wanna hassle her large bag up the stairs. April entered the apartment and noticed it was left just as it was when her parents had left it to move to the farmhouse two hundred miles out of New York, so she had some cleaning and arranging to do to suit it to her liking. April only sighed in annoyance and collapsed onto the bed in her new bedroom, It was a long night last night and she was still tired, she ended up passing out on the bed.
Many hours had passed and it was already about six pm, and was getting dark out. April woke up and lifted herself, her hair was crazy and all over after being in a nice deep sleep, she pulled some hair strands out of her mouth and limped her way to the restroom to fix herself up and wake up so she could start fixing the apartment up since she got some more rest. She sighed as she splashed water onto her face, she limped her way back to the bed and scrounged through her bag grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste and heading back to the restroom to start to brush. Before she could start brushing she heard knocking from her balcony door, she peered out from the restroom with the toothbrush being held in her mouth and toothpaste bottle in her hand, It was Leo and Mikey as they waved at her from the other end of the glass door. April was happy to see them as she put her toothbrush and paste down on the counter and walked over to the door opening it for them.
"Hey April! How's the new life kicking!?" Mikey asked her as both him and Leo walked in. April only sighed unfortunately and looked around the area, "Well, I haven't even started cleaning or fixing anything up considering I took a nap instead. I just woke up a few minutes ago." She said with a small sob of disappointment. "What are you guys up too? No Donnie or Raph?" She asked, turning to them. "Raph and Donnie had to stay and do some training with Splinter." Leo said to her, "Aww yeah, Splinter wanted me and Leo to come check up on ya and see if ya needed any help." Mikey added on. April looked at Leo and Mikey's arms and legs, they were bulked with muscles and she smirked getting an idea. "You guys can move furniture easily, right?" She said pointing at their muscles, "Or are those just for show?" She asked. Mikey poked his arm muscle and giggled, Leo only looked at April raising an eye "We didn't train since we could walk for nothing, of course we can." Leo stated. "That's child's play, bro!" Mikey said with a nervous chuckle, since he isn't nearly as strong as Leo.
Mikey was browsing around the apartment looking at all the weird stuff that was laying around, he grabbed something that caught his eye and walked back over to April and Leo and showed it to them. "What's this? It's neat." Mikey said, asking April as he showed her it. April stared at it and raised an eyebrow, "It's a small ancient statue my parents had before moving out of here, you can keep it if you want, I don't want it, nor does it really have any value anymore." April said, smiling at Mikey.
Leo and Mikey listened to April as she explained to them where she wanted certain furniture and which one's to go out by the dumpster, she didn't care if they threw it off the balcony as long as they weren't too loud doing so, it is an apartment after all, there were people still next door. Mikey was staring at the statue as he listened to April, But before any of them could get to work, they all heard a knock on the door that April knew she was not expecting any more company at all. "You guys better-" April began, only to turn around and see Leo and Mikey already gone, "Hide…" She finished without knowing. "Man, you guys are good." She said silently in astonishment.
April noticed they went out to the balcony and she smiled as she walked to the door, but as she opened it and noticed a familiar face, that smile faded instantly. "Jenna…" April said in shock, standing in front of her with the door open was a young black haired girl wearing a gangster outfit with a purple dragons tattoo on her right shoulder, and with a bunch of men by her side as guards also with purple dragon tattoos. "What a surprise...I haven't seen you since you left." April gulped nervously. Jenna only smirked at her, "Hello, April." She said as she shoved April to the side and walked past her into the apartment as her men followed behind. Leo peered through the glass of the door placing a hand on his sword hilt, April noticed this and shook her head, not wanting him to expose himself for her sake again. Leo looked annoyed at the fact of these people barging into April's home, but he didn't hesitate to listen to her, removing his hand from his sword.
April only wiped her shoulder from the shove and followed behind but not closely at all, "Can I help you, Jenna? Do you need something after not showing or even contacting us for a long time?" April asked, keeping her distance. Jenna was looking around the apartment, almost like she was looking for something in particular. "Yes actually, thanks for asking. Where's that little ancient statue your parents kept here, huh?" Jenna said as she moved an angry gaze towards April. April realized immediately what she was talking about and also realized Mikey took it with him and was outside the balcony with it most likely, she didn't respond as she acted out like she had no idea what Jenna was getting at. Jenna only sighed angrily and snapped her fingers, the men around her began to spread out and started tearing the place apart to look for it. April only had an annoyed and unamused look on her face as she didn't really care considering most of the stuff in the apartment currently wasn't even hers let alone arranged the way she wanted it.
"Found it, M'lady!" One of the men said quickly, running to Jenna and handing the small statue to her. April was shocked but didn't show that she was, Mikey must've put it back without her realizing it. Jenna didn't bother looking over the statue, she only glared at April and smirked, "Well my job is done, good day." Jenna said as she signaled her men and left the apartment closing the door behind them. Leo and Mikey came back in from the balcony as April walked closer over to them with a sigh, "Well now we have more of a mess to pick up." She said, disappointed. Mikey was about to say something but all three of them came to a sudden spook and shock as the front door was kicked open, it was Jenna and her men again. Leo and Mikey instantly went into a defensive stance, Jenna had an extremely angry look on her face, "Got some costume freak friends I see!" She mocked them. Leo nor Mikey showed any agitation towards the statement as they glared at her, Jenna ignored them as she moved her angry gaze at April, Jenna waved the statue she had taken from April's apartment, and it was broken in half. April was extremely confused on what Jenna was getting at, Jenna only growled as she marched angrily towards April but was stopped by a sudden blade in her face. Leo had drawn one of his swords and pointed it directly at Jenna keeping her away from April, and giving her a dead serious look telling her he wasn't messing around, especially for a so called costume freak.
April didn't even notice, let alone hear Leo draw his sword, she turned her look from Leo back to Jenna. "Look, Jenna, I honestly have no idea what you are getting at, if you mean the statue is fake which I am assuming you are, then I have no idea regarding the real one. Just like you, I was never attracted or interested in my parents antiques or decorations because they were always creepy and weird. So that must've been fake all along or they replaced it? I don't know, ok." April explained herself regarding all she knew about that small statue, she also grabbed Leo's arm that was holding the sword gently and lowered it slowly, showing Jenna she wasn't kidding or lying either. Jenna angrily glared at April then looked at Leo who also angrily glared at her, she honestly was slightly afraid of Leo and Mikey due to them having legit Ninja weapons on them, Jenna growled loudly and left the apartment again but the door was still open due to the lock being broken.
April sat down on the floor as her ankle was hurting from standing on it too long, Mikey was also about to say something again but was stopped by Leo as he waved his sword in front of him shaking his head due to him knowing what Mikey was wanting to say. Leo also knew and could sense Jenna was still at the door hiding against the wall listening in to see if April was lying, Leo acted out, "Any idea what she wanted it for?" Leo asked, looking down at April who sat down next to him and Mikey as he sheathed his sword. April only sighed sadly, "Not a clue, her name is Jenna. She is my adoptive sister, my parents adopted her when her parents died in a fire at age ten. She has lived with us ever since at the farmhouse two hundred miles away from here, me and her never really got along, like at all, considering she is three years older than me. She thinks she is more mature and the better one, so as soon as she hit eighteen, she left us and was never heard from since then. So for three years I only heard rumors about the purple dragons in New York city, which is a gang of gangsters full of muggers and bad people, and I heard she had possibly joined them. But I didn't really believe it since it was just rumors, but now I do after literally just seeing her with the tattoo." April waved her hands in the air with a large sigh and fell back onto her back. "I wish we got along, would've loved to have a good sister or brother who actually cared like you guys do. But my parents always collected weird and creepy old stuff to this day, so I don't know why she wanted just that one small statue unless it really did have some value to it for money. But then again, The Purple Dragons are just a psychotic gang who enjoy stealing and hurting people." April said with another sigh.
Leo noticed Jenna had left finally after April was done explaining, probably finally realizing she was telling the truth. Leo walked over to the busted door and checked it over before closing the door and forcing it closed nodding to Mikey, Mikey sat down on the floor too and pulled an item out from under his belt and waved it above April with a smile on his face. April noticed it was the same small statue and it shocked her as she shot upward and snatched it from him, "How did you…?" April began to ask, but had no words. "Apparently there were two of them to begin with." Leo said, kicking the door into place so it would hold and stay shut. "Yeah, I noticed this was the real one compared to the other because of how it felt and looked. And I kinda just grabbed the real one instead of the fake…" Mikey said. Leo walked back over and sat on the floor next to them, "The fake one Jenna brought back was broken in half, so they probably were after it for a reason, and whatever it was, is inside the statue maybe." Leo said, pointing at the statue in April's hand. April looked at it and back at Mikey, she handed the statue back to Mikey, "You break it, I was going to give it to you to begin with, plus you're the prankster, no? Which means you must be good at breaking stuff." April said smiling at him.
Mikey chuckled nervously, but sadly agreed with her because she wasn't wrong as he grabbed the statue back from her hand. All three of them glared at the statue in Mikey's hand before he went for it to break it in half, Mikey managed to easily break the statue in half. Mikey pulled out a small piece of technology, it was about the size of a regular computer drive but it also looked like it was no ordinary earth related technology as it had strange markings on it. Leo grabbed it from Mikey as he instantly knew what to do, "Should let Donnie check it out, he should know what's stored in it on one of his computers." Leo said as he circled the drive in his hand, and all three of them looked at it confusingly.
A loud crash came from the front door, and all three of them instantly looked over to see and what they saw was a large man charging them as they were still sitting on the floor. Mikey took action fast and jumped at April as she and him jumped out of the way of the incoming boulder man, Leo didn't have time to do the same thing and instantly stood up crossing his arms in front of him to block the incoming hit. The hit was applied with a lot of muscle force that sent Leo flying a bit, he flew out the balcony door and hit the railings. "LEO!" Both Mikey and April yelled, Mikey told April to stay put as he leapt into action, charging the large man who ran in and attacked.
Leo was laying against the railing, he let out a small gasp for air as it felt like a bus had hit him, he also felt pain in his right arm, he looked down noticing a large cut on his right upper arm and looked back up as he lifted himself up still leaning against the railing for support from the hit. He noticed it was the same large man from back in the alley where he had helped April and another girl, he also noticed the man had a purple dragons tattoo on his right shoulder, which means Jenna must've sent him up to attack. The man also had blades attached sideways on his arms, and that must've what had pierced his arm. Leo was confused on how he was here either way, the cops should've contained him unless something went wrong back in the alley. 'Did Jenna find out about the chip?' Leo thought as he looked down at his left hand where the chip still was.
Leo was lost in thought with the occuring incident as multiple situations were going through his head, he snapped out of it when he felt a jolt of pain from his injured arm. Leo let out a small painful yelp and quickly turned his head to look over, he noticed April who had made her way to him, she was on her knees with one of her hands placed on his injury, covering her hand in blood. April wasn't even looking at him, as she had a very angry but also sad look on her face that confused Leo as he looked at her.
April was staring at Leo's cut on his arm, blood was rushing from it constantly and it wasn't no normal cut. She knew it was pretty bad, especially with how large and deep it was, stretching from his wrist to his elbow and was decently wide. Mikey had to jump and grab her to push her out of the way and again Leo had to take the hit for them, because the man rushing them could've easily turned his attack back at them and she knew this. Again, Leo saved her, and she was getting tired of it. She looked over to where Mikey was, who was fighting the large man and toying with him, dodging the attacks he threw at Mikey. She looked back down at Leo's injury, lifting her hand and looking at the blood. "I noticed you guys try your best not to kill, and I understand that...but why do you guys risk your own lives to fight against someone who has full intention of killing you if you can't do the same back? Like I know killing is bad, but it's a life or death situation." April said, still not looking up at Leo as she was angered with him still, tears were starting to come out of her eyes as well.
Leo sighed, grabbing April's hand off his injury and moving it away from it as he turned to face her, crouching. He placed the chip he had into her other hand, "Because it's the honorable thing to do, Splinter didn't teach us to kill people for a living, he taught us to protect ourselves and the people around us we care about. April, you only have one life, and everyone deserves a second chance even if they have the intent to kill at first. If you're mad at me for saving you again, then that's fine, it was my choice to make, you could have endangered us after I showed myself to you, but you chose not to and kept us secret when you could have easily spread it through the media about us. Because of this, we trust you and of course we're going to protect you, you're family now." Leo said to April who started crying more after not holding back the tears any longer, Mikey and Donnie considered April a sister after Donnie had talked with April, and after Mikey had played games with her, so Leo considered her family considering that was the case now.
"I have to go help Mikey now, you gotta stay here." Leo told her as he stood up about to run towards the fight, April stopped him by grabbing his hand and looking up at him, still with an angry look on her face. Leo only peered over his shoulder looking back at her confusingly, "Don't you two dare loose, and you are staying here after the fight to let me tend to that injury in return for all the saving." April said to him as she looked back down at his still bleeding injury. Leo only gave her a worried look, "I don't think that's a good idea… with how much ruckus has been happening in your apartment, cops are sure to arrive soon." Leo said. April only growled lowly "I'm well aware, and you don't need to worry about it, I have a plan, but you won't like it." She said, letting go of his hand and looking down at her own hands.
Leo only looked at her, still with a worried and uneasy look on his face, he knew she wanted to help him in return for the amount of times he had jumped in and assisted or saved her. Leo could also tell she knew he had taken the hit earlier on purpose, the man could've easily turned his attack directly towards Mikey and her, hurting one of them instead of him. And Leo couldn't honestly bear the fact of seeing his brother or an innocent get injured when he has an option he could make to prevent it. "Fine." Leo sighed uneasily as he drew one of his swords from his sheath and darted to assist Mikey with the purple dragon man. April only stayed put still glaring at her hands, she looked at the chip in her right hand where Leo had placed it for her to hold onto, but she couldn't move her eyes off her left which was almost covered with Leo's blood from his arm injury, "Idiot…" She mumbled.