Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.
Chapter #12
*Late Friday Night*
Sam and Mikey were both laying across the couch, Sam's back up against the left arm and Mikey's up against the right. Their legs laid out across the couch as the two faced each other. They both held their own white boards and markers. Mikey had learned Japanese while learning the ways of ninjutsu with his family, and Sam had learned some Korean from her adopted siblings, so the two were slowly teaching some words and phrases from the language they knew to the friend sitting across from them.
Sam picked up a card from the table.
"The next word-phrase is…hello."
The two then began writing what they believed should have been the correct words of the language they were learning on their white boards. Sam lifted hers first.
The board read:
* こんにちは
Konnichiwa *
Mikey looked at the board and gave her a thumbs up. Sam had started lightly studying the language since she would be taking the AP Japanese test during her senior year of high school, so she was doing a pretty good job at correctly spelling words, both the kanji for the words and in their Romanized forms.
Sam nodded towards Mikey.
"Alright, let's see what you've got."
Mikey's board read:
*여보세요
Yeoboseyo*
Sam tapped her fingers against each other which made Mikey confused.
"Did I get it wrong? I could have sworn I had this one right."
Sam tilted her head some.
"Well technically this is correct since the card didn't specify the situation. Usually people say yeoboseyo when they're on the phone. Do you know how people greet each other face to face?"
Mikey froze for a second and then began writing on his white board. He then flipped the board around, it now read:
*안녕
Annyeong*
Sam leaned her fist forward and the two fist bumped.
"Well look at you, only studying for a week and you've already learned so much."
"Heh, don't tell my brothers. They'll literally make the biggest deal out of me learning anything within a week."
"Speaking of your brothers…" she turned her head and looked all around the room for any sign of the others and Mikey searched as well. "I think we're free to go."
He nodded and the two stood up.
Without hesitation they both got out their boards, ran over toward the nearest exit, and took off. The rockets on both boards activated and sent the two of them speeding down the tunnels of the sewers. Throughout that week the two had mapped out various escape routes for moments like this where they needed to meet quickly. They would never tell the other three, or anyone for that matter, but Mikey hadn't just been training Sam so that she could defend herself, he wanted her as a teammate when kicking bad guy butt as well. He had been teaching her different tactics to use both to defend herself in one-on-one and in group battles. He had also helped her learn to maintain control of her skateboard for quick getaways.
Once they reached the intended manhole cover, they both climbed up the ladder that lead to the surface and then traveled on up to the top of the building in front of them. They both started setting up for that night as they talked.
"Not gonna lie, moving at that speed makes me feel like a total badass" Sam said as she checked all the devices that she had brought with her in her back pack.
"You're welcome for that!" Mikey replied as he pat down his pockets, making sure that all weapons he brought with him were secure.
"I hate your man shorts" she said playfully, putting her brown hair back into a ponytail and clipping back what little of the side bangs that she had.
"Hey, what did my man shorts ever do to you?"
"They have hella pockets! It's not fair, guys get tons of pockets on their pants, and I'm stuck with this!" she said as she tugged at the fake stitched on pockets of her black jeggings. "Like who came up with this?"
"The people that make bags?"
She pointed at him in approval. "Exactly! And it sucks! They make it so that woman purposefully have to buy designer bags. But I don't like their bags, so instead I got this beauty!" She said as she turned around and pointed to her amazing back pack that could hold almost any and everything in it.
"You still didn't have to hate on my man shorts though" he pouted.
She turned around and smiled. "Alright, I apologize for hating on your man shorts. Your man shorts are alright, everyone else's man shorts can kiss my ass. Better?"
"Better! Alright, so where are we going? Anyone ready to meet our fists yet?"
Sam pulled out her fixed phone and began typing away.
"Watcha doin?"
"I'm trying to connect my device to police phones, radios, cameras, things like that within their building. If they're talking about a possible robbery or that someone's cat got stuck in a tree, we'll know about it before they can even officially send a team out to go help. I'm sure we can get there sooner than they would anyway. Here, you can watch video footage from this" she said as she handed him a small tablet. "Once I play around with this for a few minutes, you'll be able to view any conversations being held at police headquarters."
It was about 11:00 at night when the two began listening in for any information on local crimes and finally around 11:45 the two heard some interesting information.
"Hey Sam, you might want to check this out."
Sam looked over her friends shoulder and watched what was happening on the tablet. The two watched as some officers were at a display board as they talked about the recent crimes that had been caused by the Foot clan. They mentioned that the Foot had been stealing records on famous scientists and had also been breaking into their houses, but they weren't sure exactly what the point of these crimes were. As the officers talked, Mikey noticed something on the evidence board behind the officers.
"Hey, does that white board mention something about the Sachs estate?"
Sam paused the screen and then zoomed in on the section that Mikey had been talking about.
"Yeah, it's talking about scientists, doctors, different people that worked on location at the estate. Sachs is the guy who worked under Shredder right? The one who attacked you guys a few months back?"
"Yeah that's him, still can't believe the Foot helped him escape before the police could get to him."
"Well according to the notes on the board, he's back in action and he's been helping Shredder track down and locate where all his past employees have been hiding. Looks like he's not done with them. They're all in hiding after what he forced them into in the past, and it seems that he's trying to have the past repeat itself."
"I wonder what he wants them for this time."
"Well, it looks like he's targeting this one guy in specific." Sam moved the screen over a bit and zoomed in on a profile that had a huge star next to it. "Professor Jordon Perry. He worked at TCRI until he was recruited by Sachs to work at his estate, which at the time was seen as a huge honor. It says he was one of the top scientists and almost recreated his own mutagen that, based on what I read from Donnie's files that I sort of stole from you guys, would have closely matched the mutagen that was used to mutate you guys, but just as they were about to start testing it is when Sachs reunited with April and instantly he went after you guys instead."
"Do you think that's he going after this dude so that he can get that old mutagen back?"
"I have a strong feeling that that's what Shredder wants. Oh, look at this! This part of the board shows a few different places that Perry has been moved around to hide at."
"Why is that place circled though? Does it says what's so special about it?"
"…I wonder if that's where they're going to attack next…"
"Does that meannnnnnn?"
She looked over and smiled at him. "It means we're going to go and check it out."
She put her fist out in front of her. "Cowabunga."
He bumped his fist against hers. "Booyakasha."
The two packed up all the devices, Sam put her face mask on, and the two began running along the roof tops.
Mikey began to laugh as he noticed the cute teddy bear mouth on his friends surgical mask.
"A bear, really? You couldn't use something more tough and scary?"
"Hey! When they see this, they won't be prepared for me to kick their butts!...Plus its cute…"
"What happened to being a tomboy?"
"I'm still a girl you dork, and regardless of gender I'm still allowed to like cute things. Being a tomboy means that I'm just not as feminine and girly as most women, not that I have to be a stereotypical man."
"Heh, it's so easy to set you off. Like you make it incredibly easy."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep attacking my style and I'll start insulting your man shorts again."
"Oh no not the shorts!" he shouted sarcastically.
After about twenty minutes or so, the two reached their destination. Perry was currently staying in a hotel room, and Sam and Mikey were hiding out in the parking garage below said hotel.
"Okay, I know the board said Perry was staying here…but why are we so far down below?" Mikey asked.
Sam was getting her weapons ready. "As we were looking at the evidence board, I overheard the officers saying that Perry was going to be moved to another hotel again tonight. If the professor is in hiding then he would be moved somewhere down here where nobody would see him. I think there's a good chance the Foot soldiers are going to try and capture the professor down here. And right on time, there he is."
The two watched as a couple of officers got off an elevator with Perry right by their side. As they walked over to a cop car that was parked nearby, about 10 Foot soldiers appeared, 5 being actual Foot and the other 5 being Huns men. They were so fast that it literally seemed like they had all appeared out of thin air.
"Come on, let's go this way."
Mikey motioned for Sam to follow him. As the soldiers all circled the officers and the professor, the two ninjas carefully and quietly traveled around the garage without being seen. Within seconds the soldiers knocked the officers unconscious. Just as they were about to grab a hold of the professor, they heard multiple swishing sounds. Before they could do anything, multiple shuriken knifes were being thrown at them. The trained Foot soldiers easily dodged them and fell back so that they could figure out what was going on. The remaining soldiers however just started shooting in the direction that the shuriken had been thrown from. Just after Sam had thrown the shuriken, she and Mikey had begun charging the standing soldiers. Sam aimed at knocking the weapons out of their hands as Mikey aimed using his nunchucks to knock out the soldiers.
"Yeah bruh, like shadows in the night!"
"Yeah, but these shadows aren't done yet. We need to guard the professor as we take out those five."
"Can you get those elevators open?" Mikey asked as he pointed towards the wall behind the soldiers.
"I still have a ways to go, but I think my aim is decent enough that I could get them open. You take three and I take two?"
"What about the professor?"
"Oh he passed out already. Unless Shredder has more guys around, then he's not going anywhere."
"Alright, game on!"
The two charged towards the remaining Foot soldiers. Sam threw two kunai knifes and both landed on the buttons to the hotel elevators, and immediately both sets of doors opened. Due to how fast he had been running, Mikey's charged attack made backing the soldiers into the elevator quite easy. Since Sam was obviously much shorter and thinner than her mutated friend, she used her speed to help her leap over the soldiers, who then chased and followed her into the elevator. The two did so assuming that they would easily be able to take out this girl, but to their surprise she kept up with them the entire time they were in the small room. The two swung their swords, but every time they swung, Sam quickly dodged. Using the techniques Mikey taught her about maintaining balance and stamina, Sam was able to move swiftly while dodging attacks from the two soldiers, waiting for the right moment to attack. Finally, one of the soldiers had lost his balance for a split second, and that fast Sam had rolled over his body, and when doing so she swung one of her tonfa under his stomach where it connected with her other hand. Using both hands, she stood up and pulled back on the tonfa, pulling the man into an upright position. She successfully used him as a shield to block a solid kick from the other soldier. As the shield soldier collapsed to the floor in pain, the doors opened. Sam sprinted out of the elevator and ran to the staircase. As she ran up, she pulled a small walkie talkie out of the side of her bag.
"Genos to Saitama, where are you?" She said in a rushed voice as she ran. The two had decided days previous that they needed a quick way to communicate when in battle, so Sam had bought two small round walkies that the two could easily carry around with them.
"Saitama has taken out the enemy and is heading back down in the elevator, where are you Genos?"
"Ironically heading in the opposite direction. I still have one guy left."
"Alright, heading back in your direction!"
Sam reached the top of the staircase and ran to the center of the roof of the building. Not long after, the soldier had caught up to her and was charging at her. The two continued their fight on the top of the building. They kept up with each other very well, making it hard for either to find a weak moment from the other, so all they could do was attack, dodge, and block, with no real damage being done. Sam was the first to lose her balance for a split second, and the soldier knocked one of her tonfa out of her hand. It flew far enough back behind Sam that it would be impossible to turn back now and reach for it. Instead, she grasped onto the remaining tonfa like it was a baseball bat and swung at the soldiers head in his open moment. Her weapon connected with the side of his face and he stumbled back some. Sam leaped backwards, creating more space between the two. She then got out a few more shuriken and threw them towards the soldier. He dodged all of them with ease, but wasn't able to move away in time. Sam threw her knifes so fast as she charged towards the man that he could dodge, but he couldn't move away from where he was standing. Sam took advantage of this and instead of throwing her final shuriken, which the man was expecting, she shoved a kunai knife into his shoulder as she pushed him back. She pushed him back far enough that his shoulder was now pinned up against the wall. As the man was pinned, Sam brought her foot up and connected it first with the man's stomach, and then her fist with his face, knocking him unconscious.
"Wow, now that was truly incredible" Mikey said as he slowly clapped.
"How long have you been up there?"
"I got up here a little bit before that got knocked away from you" he said as he pointed back towards the fallen tonfa.
"…I meant to do that by the way" Sam said as she walked back to pick up her weapon.
"Oh sure, and Saitama isn't actually bald, he's just wearing a clear cap."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" She said playfully. "But I thought for a first time out I wasn't that bad."
Mikey smiled at his friend as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Powerful you have become, more training I sense for you."
Sam rolled her eyes. "And what happened to your guys?" she asked as she gave him a quizzical look.
"PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE YOUNG PADAWAN!" he said as he walked over and picked up the injured soldier.
"Oh god what did you do?"
"Well" he started timidly as the two began walking down the stairs of the building, "let's just say that after you contacted me, one of the soldiers decided to get back up and fight some more, and he accidentally hit a button that stalls the elevator. So now the three soldiers are kind of bloody and bruised…and someone is going to awkwardly come across them once the elevator begins working again. Hehe."
"Looks like we should get ready for a quick getaway soon" she said with a playfully sneaky look.
Once they reached the lowest level, the two tied up all the remaining soldiers.
"Sam, what do we do with the professor?"
"Hmmm, I guess it would be best to at leave him back at his room. Let's do that and get out of here."
The two secretly dropped the professor off outside his hotel room, and made their way back up to the top of the building. They were too high up for Sam's liking. She had done a great job of mastering how to use her new board, but she wasn't anywhere near as skilled as Mikey was, so he let her jump onto his back until they reached a lower level. Once she was secured tightly, Mikey hopped onto his board and glided down to a nearby building that was much lower than the one they were on. Once they were both back on their feet, they ran along the roof tops of the nearby buildings until they found a manhole cover in one of the alleys. They climbed down and then hid out in the sewers.
Once they were hidden below the surface, Sam got her phone and tablet out again to see if the police had been notified about anything. From what it seemed, they knew nothing about what had gone down that night. Just to be safe, she hacked into the hotels security camera footage to delete any evidence of their presence. Sam looked up at Mikey and put her fist out for a fist bump, signaling to her friend that all footage had been wiped and that there was no visual evidence of them being there that night.
Mikey returned the gesture and helped his friend pack up.
"Dang, you progress quickly Sam. That was incredible what you did back there. You're now able to hold your own against two soldiers, something you struggled with only about a week ago."
"Well hey, that's what happens when you have a great teacher" she said as she gently nudged his shoulder.
Mikey rubbed the back of his head feeling a bit bashful from her comment. "You really think so?"
"Are you kidding?! You're the one that helped me with speed training, maintaining balance and stamina, everything that went through my head as I fought those two was advice and techniques you taught me this past week. You're literally the reason I was able to win that fight! It's like, you're L and I'm Near!"
"So, I'm a dead guy?"
"Ugh, noooo!" she said, playfully rolling her eyes.
"Haha I know, I know. Even though I wasn't the one fighting, because of my training I still won the battle through my student. Just like how L technically defeated Kira through his protégé Near."
"That…that was a beautiful explanation" she teased as she pretended to wipe a tear away from fake crying eyes. Mikey smiled as he lightly shoved her, to which Sam put her hands up in defense.
"Okay, I'm joking! But seriously I'm glad you got that reference. Thanks."
"Don't worry I got you. So, what should our code names be next time?"
"How about No Pockets and Man Shorts?"
"Pfft! Okay, sounds great" Mikey said as he burst out laughing.
The two continued to walk throughout the sewers. As Mikey went to turn one way, Sam turned the other way.
"Oh, you heading home?" he asked.
"Aren't you coming with me?"
He tilted his head to the side. "Why aren't we heading back to my place?"
"Because then your brothers would ask where we went. If we both stay at my place, then they'll assume we were there the whole time."
Mikey nodded his head in approval. "Having a genius as a best friend definitely comes in handy."
"You're welcome" she said as she mockingly bowed in front of him.
He playfully shoved her, but accidentally did so with a little more force than he intended. As he laughed hysterically, Mikey pulled out his board and took off towards Sam's house, knowing that she would easily get her revenge if she caught up to him.
Sam followed him on her board, and without realizing it, the two had spent about an hour just chasing each other around the sewers.
Their mission had been a success, so now they decided to kick back and just have some fun for the rest of the night.
-
*Sunday May 25th/ early morning around 4a.m.*
Leo and his father were just ending their late night/early morning meditation session. They both had had some trouble when trying to fall asleep during the night, so they decided that now might be a good time to meditate since it was so peaceful and quiet. Usually by the end of late night meditation sessions, the two would be ready for bed, and once again it had worked.
The two had been meditating in Splinter's room underneath the central piece of the living room of the lair. They both wanted to go get a quick drink of water before they officially went to bed that night, but as they walked up the small stairs to exit the small space, they saw something that surprised them both. As they turned around to head towards the kitchen area, there was Sam with multiple bags of groceries. She was stocking their fridge and cabinets with multiple different foods. 90% of the time it was Mikey who did all the cooking, so no one had really realized that there were now new foods in the kitchen, until now that was. Sam was carefully putting the food away so that she wouldn't wake anyone, that and she didn't want anyone knowing that she had been doing this ever since she had been allowed to visit the lair. She had done a good job at moving gracefully as she quietly put the food away, until her spectators surprised the heck out of her.
"Is this all for a late night snack, young one?" Splinter asked.
Sam quickly spun around and threw the last plastic bag of food over her shoulder, attempting to hide it, only to have burst open. She smiled as she faced them, pretending to ignore that she had basically just chucked a few containers of flavorful spices and things of that such behind her.
"Heyyyyyy, you guys. You're awake…Why?"
Leo had to look away in order to keep himself from laughing at the epic fail he just witnessed.
Splinter sincerely smiled back at the girl. "We've been known to meditate when we have trouble sleeping. You're awake. Why?"
Sam's eyebrows went up. "I left something here."
The two responded with quizzical expressions.
"You left something?" asked Leo.
"Yup."
"And that is?"
"My comic book."
Splinter sat down at the table in the kitchen, he just had to continue listening in on where this silly conversation was going.
Leo continued to question the girl. "You think you left your comic book in the kitchen cabinets?"
"Yeah, maybe when I went to get a snack."
"From the snacks that you brought that is."
She looked at him inscrutably, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You mean you didn't put all that extra food in our cabinets and fridge, the food that none of us can go up to the surface and buy ourselves?"
"No."
"Then where did it come from?"
"…it was already there."
Splinter had to fight hard not to laugh at this nonsense.
"And what about the containers behind you?" Leo asked.
"They were like that when I got here."
"Ah, right. I must have missed them, you know, the entire time I've been in the lair, all day."
"Well, maybe someone snuck in here when you were meditating" she said as she turned to start picking up the containers.
"Oh someone entered the lair alright" he said amusingly.
Sam froze and turned to glare at him, but Leo could tell that she did so in a chipper manner.
Sam stood up and laid the containers on the counter and began to walk away towards Mikey's room.
"Whelp this was fun but I'm gonna go join my friend we were watching a movie anyway it was one of the Avengers films you should totally check it out its part of a great series mkay bye" she said within one breath.
Once she had exited the room and the two heard a door shut, they tried to stay quiet as they let out their laughter.
"I can see why she has become such good friends with Michelangelo, she acts just like him" Splinter chuckled.
"I knew it had to be her, since everything Mikey makes has extra toppings or flavors that we never tasted until she showed up, yet she still tried to play it off like she didn't know anything. It's literally like talking to a female Mikey" Leo replied.
"How have things been with our new guest around?" the rat asked his oldest son.
Leo paused for a few seconds. "Not bad, but not good either."
Splinter sent him a disheartened look. "How so my son?"
"*sigh* I think we're all still a little on edge with her around. Obviously Mikey trusts her, but she still seems suspicious to the rest of us, especially Raph. He's still set on the idea that she's secretly plotting against us and that eventually she's going to lead the Foot to our hideout."
Splinter nodded. "I understand why you all feel that way, I felt that way when Donatello grew worried about what she had stolen from him. But I still sense an overall peaceful aura from her."
"Overall, sensei?"
"I feel that she has some skeletons hiding in her closet, but besides that, she seems to be a sweet girl who is just looking for something unique to change her life. It seems that Michelangelo was the answer to her prayer."
Leo smiled lightly.
"Yeah, it seems so. I just hope that she stays true to this peaceful aura. Hopefully Mikey ends up being the one to prove us wrong, and not Raph who ends up being the one to claim that he was right."
-
*Later that day/Sunday afternoon*
The four brothers had made their way into the dojo, kneeling in a line in front of their sensei. They listened to Splinter discuss what they were going to practice that day. He had all of their attentions, except for Raph who was easily distracted by someone who wasn't even in the dojo. Sam was sitting crisscross in one of the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. She was sitting in the top left opening while she had her headphones on and listened to some music as she worked away, but only Mikey knew what she was working on since it was related to their secret outings. Even though she was higher up, Raph could only focus on the music he heard coming from her headphones. The music wasn't blaring throughout the room or anything, but because Raph still loathed having the girl around, every little thing she did ticked him off. Without realizing that he was completely ignoring and disrespecting his father, Raph stood up and threw a kunai knife so that so that it hit the edge of the opening. He knew it would miss her face, but that it would also travel so fast that it would catch her attention. He knew his plan worked when he saw her lean her head over the edge and call out "you rang?"
"RAPHAEL!" Splinter yelled to his son, only for the teen to continue ignoring and disrespecting him.
"Turn your shitty music down! How am I supposed to concentrate when I can hear it from all the way down here?" he shouted as he glared up at her.
"Shitty? I wasn't listening to your mixtape" she said with a wry smile. She stood up and walked over to a pole along the edge of the opening and slid down to where everyone else was standing.
"Heh, it's like you want me to kick your ass again."
"With you gardening tools? Or your chubby arms?"
"With these guns" Raph said as he clenched his fists, resulting in his muscles flexing and his veins popping all the way from his wrists to his shoulders.
"You know" Sam said as she crossed her arms and responded with a mocking smile, "they say that guys with huge egos, are really small in other places."
"I'm gonna kick your-"
"ENOUGH" Splinter shouted. Both heads turned toward him as their faces went a bit red.
"Pffftt!" Mikey and Donnie had to cover their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.
Leo closed his eyes tight, trying not to laugh and to act mature throughout this whole situation.
Splinter just sighed in frustration.
"I see there is still some tension between you two?" he asked.
"No there's not-"
"YEAH!" Sam excitedly said with a smile as she cut the hot headed turtle off, purposefully messing with his head even more.
Splinter closed his eyes, wondering how he could try to settle things. After a few seconds, he came up with a solution.
"Alright" he said with a wicked smile, "how about a little competition between you two?"
Raph gave his father a confused look. "Why the heck would we do that?"
"Because the loser will be sent to the hashi" he said wickedly.
"Oooooh" the other brothers replied.
"The what?" Sam asked.
"The hashi" Raph replied, with a huge wicked grin spreading across his face. "That would be the perfect way to teach you not to mess with me and to keep your bratty mouth shut."
"Um hey, hi, you're not the only one with skills. Depending on the type of challenge, there's still a chance I can kick your butt."
"Pft, doubt it."
Sam turned towards Mikey. "Soooo, I still don't know what the hashi is."
"Welllll, it's a room where you basically push your body to limits that are extremely uncomfortable and it makes you feel like you're being tortured. But, good luck!" he said as he apologetically shrugged his shoulders.
Sam smiled as she rubbed her hands together. "When do we start?"
Donnie and Leo sat along the edge of the dojo where it dipped down and created a ledge. They would have just walked away and wouldn't have given this competition a second glance, but after seeing how the girl held up against Raph the other day, the two decided to get comfy and watch the battle that was about to unfold. Mikey walked over and sat next to his brothers, hoping that his best friend would be able to hold her own in whatever the challenge was.
"Alright Samantha, what are your interests and hobbies?" Splinter asked the girl.
"Soccer and dance" she said beaming with pride.
"How often do you train for each?"
"Combined, 8 hours a week. That's not including practice at home, actual games and performances, regular work out sessions, gym class, or other random or daily physical activities."
The old rat nodded his head. "Alright, you two are going to race each other."
Both competitors gave him a disturbed look. "That's it?" they asked in unison.
"Heh, this will be a race to see who has the most physical strength and stamina. You must complete: 100 crunches, pull-ups, push-ups, and then laps from one wall to the other."
"QUESTION!" Sam shouted as she waved her hand in the air, Raph grunting in response to the girl's childish antics.
"Yes?" Splinter replied with a blank expression.
"When you say 100 laps, does that mean running from left to right is one lap, or is running from left to right then back to left is one lap?"
"Hmmm, let's go with the latter."
Sam nodded. "Alright, let's do this."
*Some time later*
"There's no way she can beat him, right Donnie?" asked Leo.
"Well, where Raph wins in muscle, Sam wins in speed. She may actually have a chance."
"What do you mean a chance? She's right behind him!" Mikey shouted.
The two were now coming to a close on the pull-ups section of their race, and Raph was in the lead by about 10 pull-ups. Because of his large muscles, he had the advantage in moving quicker when it came to the portion of the competition that relied solely on muscle, however, Sam still wasn't that far behind. She continued to fight on, knowing that once she got to the speed section of the challenge that she would have the upper hand. Raph finished his final pull-up and dropped to the ground, starting his first push-ups as soon as he could. After a few minutes had passed, he noticed that the girl had yet to drop down next to him.
"Hmph, you give up already toothpick?"
"Think again cotton ball."
Raph looked behind him as he continued his push-ups and his eyes went wide in shock. Rather than her dropping down to begin her push-ups, Sam had swung herself forward and up so that her feet were in the air and she had started her push-ups while holding the pole and facing downwards.
"Isn't that cheating?" Raph called out.
"I'll allow it" Splinter replied.
Thanks to this tactic, Sam's momentum never broke, whereas Raph's had broken for a few seconds as he stopped and started up again when moving from the pole to the ground. Even so, Raph still stayed ahead by about five push-ups. After some time, Raph finished first and began his laps. He thought he had a pretty decent head start, until he felt a quick breeze go past him.
"She's running already?!" he thought to himself. He was even more shocked when he looked up and saw that she was quickly closing in on him.
Donnie had an electric score board, and every time the two completed whatever their task was correctly, he upped the number by one. Each time the two touched the other wall, their number went up by one, and Sam was very close to Raph. He was able to stay in the lead with a well maintained speed for the most past, but about halfway through his laps, he was only about a few steps ahead of Sam. At lap 55, the two were neck and neck with each other. Raph couldn't believe how fast this girl was, and not only that, but the fact that she didn't seem that tired out. Obviously both were sweating like crazy and both were also starting to slow down bit by bit, but overall they both still had a lot of power within them. For the rest of the race the two were always right next to each other.
"This is incredible" Leo stated with wide eyes.
"This is nothing to her" Mikey replied, "When it comes to speed and strength, Sam trains like this weekly, I mean she needs to if she plans on going pro."
Leo nodded. "Still, this is the second time that she has proven that can keep up with Raph, it's just hard comprehending that an everyday human can do that."
"Not to mention her technological skills," Donnie cut in. "I mean, is there anything this girl can't do?"
"Kill bugs" Mikey said bluntly.
His two brothers slowly turned towards him. "Are…are you being serious?" Donnie asked.
"Dead serious. She HATES bugs. Like whenever one comes near her she freaks out. That and she has a fear of heights."
"DUDE SHUT UP!" She shouted.
The three turned back towards Raph and Sam who were just about to end the race.
"Wow, it's really going to be a photo finish" Donnie claimed.
They were at lap 97…98…99…and just as they were about to end in a tie, the most random thing happened. Because of all the non-stop movement, Sam's laces became loser and loser, and since she couldn't stop to tie them back up, there was nothing she could do to save herself from tripping over her completely untied shoelaces during the last lap.
Raph would have been celebrating and rubbing it in in Sam's face that he won, and Sam would have been yelling about how this wasn't fair, but the two were too out of breath to say a single word.
"Ahhh Samantha, you held up a good fight, but I'm afraid it's time to head…TO THE HASHI!" Splinter shouted.
Sam laid on her back and held up the one minute sign to Splinter as she tried to catch her breath, terrified of what exactly it was that she would have to do next.
*About ten minutes later*
Leo lead Sam out from the exit by the living room and down another hallway to the right. Splinter decided to let Leo come up with a punishment for the girl because he knew he would choose something reasonable that would test the girl's limits and be some form of actual training, rather than Raph who would just pick something that would put a serious physical strain on her body. There were two rooms in front of her. The right room was a little brighter than the one on the left. She headed towards the brighter room only for Leo to put his arm out to stop her.
"Nope, that's what will eventually be the med wing. You're heading to that room" he said as he pointed towards the darker room on the left.
As they entered the room, Sam observed a wide variety of different objects scattered along the walls. There were swivels chairs, tricycles, ping pong paddles, a carton of eggs, literally the most random things covering each section of wall space.
Leo walked over and set up two large concrete blocks.
"Since I don't know what your specific strengths and weaknesses are, I'm just going to have you complete my usual punishment when I'm sent to the hashi."
"The fearless leader has a usual punishment?" she asked mockingly.
"We all do" he said sourly. "Alright, start by getting into a split with one ankle on each block."
Sam did as she was told, but she only straightened one leg.
"I said to do a split."
"This is a split."
"No, it's only half. Both legs need to be straight."
"…I can only do splits when I'm alone."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Just do it."
"…I can't…"
"*sigh* and why not?"
"Because I'm not flexible enough" she admitted in defeat.
Leo's expression softened some as he realized that the girl wasn't joking.
"You…you're being dead serious, right?"
"Yup" Sam replied, a bit of annoyance in her voice. "After years of sports and dance I've just never been that flexible. I can't even touch my toes."
"No way" Leo shook his head in disbelief.
Sam gave him an agonized look as she bent over and failed at touching her toes. No matter how far she stretched, her arms came nowhere close to her feet.
"Well, I guess I'll have to tell Mikey to add this to your list of weaknesses then. You still have to do a split though."
"Dude come on!" Sam pouted. "I know you hate me and all but can't you pick anything else, literally anything else?"
Leo's face went blank as he saw how much this truly bothered the girl in front of him. He still didn't really trust her, but that's also because he didn't really know her that well. This little bit of information was one of the few things he did know about her, but he knew that was also because he had been keeping his distance from her. He then remembered last week how she had tricked him and Raph into conversing with her because of how much he and his brothers had been avoiding her and that this demonstrated how much she was really trying to get on their good side and make amends with them. He then thought about what his father had told him early that morning about sensing a peaceful aura about the girl. Leo decided that maybe it was time to slowly start trusting the girl and not treating her like an outsider anymore.
"Okay, there are some tricks that aide one's ability to be more flexible. It takes time and may even hurt at first, but if need be, that will be your punishment for the hashi. Deal?" he said with a small smile.
Sam looked at the floor and shrugged. "Deal" she said with a sigh.
For about an hour, Leo helped Sam in being able to get her legs to stay straight without it hurting too much. Once she could finally hold the position, Leo backed off and let her stay put.
"See, was that so hard?"
"I hate my life" Sam replied dryly.
Leo chuckled. "Well my work is done, see you in two hours" he said as he started to walk off.
"Hey you" Sam called out as Leo paused and looked over his shoulder, "thanks for helping me and not just straight up torturing me" she said with a small smile.
Leo gave her a small nod and continued on his way.
As he walked, he couldn't get the images of her keeping up with Raph so quickly out of his head. Once again, her performance didn't help her in his questioning of whether she could be a Foot clan member in disguise, but he did continue to see her be playful and fair throughout the entire experience. She never physically threatened Raph, and she never tried cheating either, and then after she lost she remained calm and even admitted defeat to Raph, even though it was obvious how pissed she was at herself for losing.
Leo still wasn't exactly ready to become friends with the girl, but he did think that maybe it was time to start getting to know her a little more, but only for security reasons. If she was a Foot member, then it would be best to learn her weaknesses and things of that sort, and he needed to get to know her on a more personal level in order to do that. So yes, he would start talking to her, but only for the safety of his family. Well, that was the excuse that he continued to repeat over and over again in his head at least.