Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.
Thank you.
Chapter #56
*Still Friday May 20th, 2016. Alternate Universe, 9:00p.m.*
As the guys walked with Jay and alternate Sam, they were amazed at the physical differences in this New York compared to their own. Overall things looked the same, but there were some buildings that curved or almost built upon each other in designs that looked as if they would never work and stabilize, yet the buildings were standing tall without a problem. Besides for the shapes of some of the buildings, the other most noticeable physical difference was that in transportation, and there were numerous ways to travel!
There were sidewalks and streets with people using regular cars and bikes, but there was so many more options to choose from now.
For one, there weren't just cars on the road, there were electric pods. This meant that one to two people traveled in a standing or sitting position. There were larger pods that could be driven on the streets, and there were much thinner pods that could be used on the sidewalks that included pedals.
Cars, buses, motorcycles, bikes, and other vehicles came in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and designs. In addition to seeing cars on the streets, there were also spots where cars could be parked and when the owner paid, the car would be taken underground so that the car was harnessed into a metal base on an electric track that would move the car through underground tunnels, and would then carefully bring the car back up to the surface. There were also trains that continued to run through subways underground.
Then there were the airbuses. These buses traveled on tracks that were located on the lines between lanes on roads so that the buses could carry people over top of the cars driving right below them.
Now there was transportation on land and underground, but there were also multiple choices that were higher up and off the ground as well. There were bus tracks and even individual pods that carried smaller groups of people higher up in the air. The tracks height was based on the vehicle being carried and how fast. Airbuses were one level up from where the cars drove, then above them were the tracks for individual train pods, and then above these were trains that were connected underneath tracks (basically group version of the individual pods, but they were underneath the actual train tracks whereas the individual and coupled pods were on top of their tracks, and of course there was enough space so that none of these vehicles collided). And then the highest level was the electric trains that ran on the tacks above the group pods that traveled directly below them.
The guys were standing in an alley with Jay and au Sam as they gawked at the insane amount of ways to travel.
"Sam, get us a bus that masks whose inside. I'll pay you the difference back later, but for now we just need to be out of everyone's sight" Jay stated.
"Yeah, no problem" she muttered. She was still annoyed from the events that had taken place not long ago, but she sensed that Jay really cared about these guys, so in respect of her friend she did what he asked of her.
"How is all this possible?" Leo asked, astonished at how many vehicles covered the roads and above.
"Look carefully," Donnie stated. "The roads are much thinner. That means cars are traveling quicker since the larger spaces from the roads have been removed. If all the alternate transportation methods more so require electricity than fuel to move, then things such as solar, wind, and other energy sources can be used so that more cars aren't needed since fuel won't be needed as much to generate power. It creates an eco-friendly cycle that provides more space for various transportation methods, and if the trains, buses, and other individual's pods are all on tracks that travel more quickly above and below ground, then that allows cars and buses on the roads to travel with ease since they can drive slower. The speedier methods are out of the way, so drivers can take their time more which then allows for safer driving and-"
"Hey genius! Our ride is here" Raph interrupted. He had a feeling his brother could talk for hours about how everything around them worked, and Raph was not in the mood for one of Donnie's never ending rants.
"What is this?" Mikey asked as the group loaded onto the bus.
The bus allowed so that the group could see through the windows (which the windows were literally the walls of the vehicle) but when looking in from the outside, no one could see a thing.
Jay knocked on a window. A small and very thin section of the dark window dropped so that Jay could tell the drive where the group needed to be dropped off at.
He then turned to address Michelangelo as the bus began to move.
"Hide and Ride. A bus company that allows people to travel without allowing others to know who they are. Some people like it when they're on vacation in unknown cities, some like it for after parties when they're tipsy and don't want the whole world knowing, some people like to ride alone on date night. They're a hit and perfect for our current situation."
"And that is?" au Sam asked. She sat in the seat that was attached to the back of the box where the driver was seated. Even this small box was completely darkened, the only difference being that the driver could not see the passengers, ensuring for complete privacy.
"We don't want people judging our friends because of their costumes" Jay stated as he sat in a nearby seat.
There were benches and individual seats that could be moved throughout the vehicle. They started out as benches that lined the walls of the bus, but could then be broken apart into individual seats. These seats could then follow tracks so that they could be rearranged as benches or individual seats throughout the bus.
"So why didn't they just change back at the concert? And what were you doing at the concert anyway?" Sam asked. "I thought you were working at home tonight and prepping things for that company party coming up" the girl stated, crossing her arms in confusion as she leaned against the wall behind her.
"Things change. I needed to meet up with these guys" Jay stated bluntly with a poker face.
"You worry me" Sam teased as she nudged Jay with her foot.
"He should, he's your brother" Raph mumbled.
The girl looked at Raph with a perplexed expression.
"What are you talking about? He's not my brother" Sam said, her face scrunched as she blinked at Raph.
Raph paused. He had been pacing around the bus (when did he ever sit still?) but was now standing still after turning to face Jay, who had puckered his lips as if saying 'oh shit.'
Slowly the personal changes of this universe and theirs was being revealed.
"Uh, right. My bad. I was thinking of…my other Asian friend" Raph said.
"Oh…okay" Sam stated. She found his response strange, but shrugged it off.
Seconds later the bus stopped. Jay walked outside and smiled, relieved that the driver dropped them off exactly where he had asked. He was afraid the driver would not drop them off near the alley like he had been instructed, but the driver followed all instructions.
Jay walked back onto the bus and directed the turtles where to hide. He then paid the driver a nice tip as thanks for following directions perfectly, and then he exited the vehicle to join the others.
"Why are we hiding?" Sam asked nervously.
Jay clapped his hands together and faced the girl.
"Okay, so a lot is about to happen in a few moments. You weren't originally supposed to know about any of it but, things didn't go according to plan. Pleaseeeeee promise me you'll just roll with things for now and you'll ask questions later. And you also have to promise you won't freak out, okay?"
Sam sighed. "Alright. I trust you with my life, so I'll roll with it" she said in a bothered yet cooperative and calm tone.
Jay then turned towards the turtles.
"Alright, so my place is on the 8th floor. There's a fire escape that leads up to the room, it's on the wall at the back of the building. I'll have the window open so you guys can just climb through. It should be the window on your right."
"Why can't they just walk up with us?" Sam asked, holding her hand in front of her to signal that that would obviously be the easier option.
"Hey! Questions later! Roll-"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever" Sam groaned in response to her friend.
Donnie couldn't help but grin. This seemed more like their Sam. He made sure to quickly wipe the grin off his face though. He didn't want to do anything that would get the girl all riled up again.
Jay and Sam entered the building, and within seconds the guys were already up the fire escape.
Leo peeked through the open window to make sure they were in the right spot.
He saw Jay sitting on the couch, so Leo slowly entered the room.
Jay looked over and his eyes went wide when he finally saw the four gigantic turtles entering the room.
"Whoa" he said as he stood up from the couch. He had no idea where he was going, but shock told him he needed to stand up.
"Wait a minute. You weren't wearing that a minute ago" Donnie said as he pointed towards Jay.
That's when the door opened.
Sam walked in first and threw her keys into a small bowl on a table near the door. She looked up and saw that the men in the costumes had entered in their odd way and that Jay was standing next to them…while Jay was also standing behind her.
She pointed forward, and then just stood there.
"Sam…" the Jay near the turtles stated. "Don't freak out now."
Sam just stood there…and stood there…and then dashed.
"Nope!" the other Jay stated as he quickly caught the girl.
"Let me go!" Sam screamed as she flailed in his grasp.
"Help please" Jay groaned aloud to the turtles as he struggled to prevent the flailing girl from fleeing the room.
Leo and Raph dashed over and easily pulled the girl back into the room.
"Let me go!" Sam continued to scream. She stopped thrashing once she saw Leo's expression change so that both he and Raph were holding her arms back, such fury and displeasure written on their faces from having to hold her back from running away.
They both scared the shit out of her, so shut her mouth in fear of either of them losing their cool and beating the shit out of her.
She made sure not to make eye contact with either of them and instead looked down and out of the corners of her eyes.
In doing so, she was both shocked and confused to see that the tallest of the four brothers was…was he blocking the shortest one?
'Why?' she thought. 'Why are you standing that way? He's not in danger. What are you protecting him from?'
"What is she doing with you?" other Jay asked, bringing everyone back to their senses.
"She happened to be where we landed. When your portal is shut down then apparently we must get thrown wherever. We're still learning about that" their Jay stated.
"Wait, where did you land?"
"Some warehouse where a concert was being held."
"Ohhhhhhh" other Jay said as he pointed to the girl who now stood frozen like a statue since her older friend knew where she had been. "Oh I am so going to kick your ass! I let you live here and that's the crap you pull?"
"What's the big deal?" their Jay asked.
"Even if our city is ten times safer than yours it's still not perfect. Especially at events like that. Someone could be stabbed and people would be oblivious because 'social events are a safe place.' People would get confused with screams of excitement and screams of terror."
"Well that explains some of the defensive actions taken tonight."
"What?"
"Nothing, I'll explain later. But yeah, she was there and ironically ended up talking with one of the guys."
"So you brought her here?"
"Well I had to! She literally slapped two of them!"
Both Jays were now glaring at Sam.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" other Jay asked.
"He touched me! And then he shoved me to the ground! And ow this hurts" Sam proclaimed.
The two brothers threw their hands up and walked away.
"Okay it was a misunderstanding since your Sam is very different from ours" their Jay stated.
"Wait, you didn't tell them about all the differences yet?"
"It's on my to-do list!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
The two men turned to look at Sam who was fuming.
"Explain what all this is, NOW! Or I keep screaming."
The four brothers groaned as they stood near the couch.
Sam glared at the four and pointed at them as she demanded "them first. Explain who they are first."
"Sam calm down" the au Jay said.
Then Mikey cut in.
"Okay what do we even call you. Like, Jay 2?"
"Not gonna lie, that sounds awesome" he said as he nodded to his alternate counterpart. "Except it would be J2 like the letter and the number. That's what makes it cool, like a code name."
Mikey smiled. "Okay. Continue."
J2 smiled at the way his guest spoke.
He then turned towards Sam and walked over towards her.
"Okay, you know how sometimes I work on some projects I can't tell others about?" he asked.
The girl nodded with wide eyes. "Yeahhhhhh, go on."
"Well…we built this machine, and long story short, it lets us travel places."
Sam looked confused. "You mean, like, to other parts of the world?"
J2 shook his head. "Not that kind of travel. Space and time type travel."
He paused for a moment so that Sam could try to make sense of what he just said, and her pale faced expression signaled that she was picking up on where this conversation was heading.
"So you're saying that your clone over there is literally you from another world?" Sam asked as she pointed towards Jay.
J2 nodded. "But you cannot tell ANYONE. This is serious shit Sam, you need to keep your mouth shut."
"Really?" she asked as she tilted her head downwards to scowl at him. "I've kept secrets of yours since I was in elementary school. Give me some credit. Now tell me how those four dudes come into play."
"Ummm I'll take over on that part" Jay stated as he raised his arm halfway. "Ummm so there's this criminal group from our world known as the Foot clan. 17 years ago the clan conducted experiments on some baby turtles to test some toxic chemicals, and now-"
"They're mutants?! Those aren't costumes?!" Sam exclaimed in shock.
J2 quickly covered her mouth. "Keep your voice down."
Sam just continued to stand there in disbelief. Her friend removed his hand from her mouth and after a few seconds she finally spoke.
"But, doesn't stuff like that only happen in movies?"
"Half the things in your city only happen in movies where we're from" Donnie stated lightly.
"Okay, fair" she replied with a nod. She then stood still as her face displayed she was contemplating something.
"Wait, if there's two Jay's…what about me?" she asked nervously as she pointed towards herself.
"You're a lot nicer where we're from" Mikey grumbled.
"Oh no" the girl said as her hands covered her mouth, now realizing that obviously these guys must have been good friends with her from this other world everyone was talking about. "That's why you were acting so comfortable earlier" she stated, her face immediately turning red.
"Yup" Mikey replied in a disappointed tone.
"I'm so sorry" she said, her hands now covering her reddened cheeks. "I had no idea. I mean, I know I was rough regardless but, well that's a story time for another day. Still, I'm sooooo sorry. To you as well" she said as she faced Donatello.
Donnie grinned. He assumed that the girl must have had some not so great experiences that probably were triggered from Mikey's actions. Her sincere apologies now allowed him to truly forgive her for the events that happened earlier.
"It's fine. I mean I did call you a bitch after all" he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"What the hell happened?" J2 asked.
"That one took my helmet and touched my face, but I sorta know why now" Sam said as she pointed towards Mikey.
"That one has a name" Raph grumbled.
Sam turned to face him. She seemed a bit frustrated with his tone, but she said nothing of it, knowing that she hadn't had the best first interaction with any of the turtles. Which she was still wrapping her head around the idea that these guys were legitimately turtles and not men in costumes.
"Right. Am I allowed to know your names then?" she asked sincerely.
"I'm Leonardo, but call me Leo" Leo stated, bowing from his position where he stood behind the couch.
"Raphael, call me Raph" Raph stated, barely raising his hand and his gaze from the floor to look at her as he spoke.
"I'm Donatello" Donnie stated, standing near Leo and slightly raising his hand as well.
"I'm Michelangelo, but nice ladies can call me Mikey" he stated while sitting on the couch.
"Got it" she said with a nod.
"Tch, no you don't" J2 teased. "You suck at remembering names. You'll get them all mixed up in a matter of minutes.
"Whatever" Sam said as she rolled her eyes and looked away from him. "So I'm going to go change out of this" she said as she presented her hand in front of her to reference her costume, "and then I want to know more about how all this happened."
J2 then turned towards the rest of the group as Sam exited the room.
"So I apologize for any and all rude things she said and did tonight. She's had some bad experiences with guys making advances on her in situations where they could try to get the upper hand, but those aren't my stories to tell. I'm not telling you that to excuse her behavior, but just so that there's some understanding of why she would go crazy like that. She can be really nice, but as you've seen she can be set off quickly" he reassured. "I also just want to say how incredible it is to meet all of you. I've met Jay a few times now and I've heard about you four, but seeing you in person is…incredible" he said, his nerdier side revealing itself.
"Do you know anything about why we're here?" Leo asked.
"Yes" J2 said as he reached for his back pocket. "I assume each of you got one of these communication devices today. I've had one for a few weeks, so Jay was able to update me immediately when…who are they again?"
"Karai, Hun, and Tatsu" Jay reminded.
"Right, he told me when they entered our universe. I'll do whatever I can to help you guys out and as quickly as possible. Have you guys determined any reasons why they would want to come here in the first place?"
Donnie of course was the first to chime in.
"There's a chance they're aiming to steal advanced technology from this universe and bring it back with them to ours. If that's the case then we need to track them down as soon as possible and stop them."
Just then the T-coms each went off.
"Here I got it" Donnie said, "if one person answers it then we all can hear the same message."
He pulled his device out of his pocket and clicked the blue button.
"What's up guys?"
"Ummm we have a situation?" came Justin's voice on the other end.
"And that would be?" Donnie asked cautiously.
"Someone is a little sneak and got through to where you guys are, hehe. Have fun!" Justin stated before disconnecting.
"He doesn't mean-" Leo started.
"Oh I think so" Donnie said with pursed lips.
That fast a huge purple circle formed in the ceiling, and who else but their Sam dropped down from the ceiling.
"Ow" she groaned since she had landed directly on her side. She slowly sat up and saw Donnie glaring at her. "Well hello, traitor" she said through smile of gritted teeth.
"You hacked my computer" he stated, furry slipping through his voice.
"You four are assholes *gasp* oh my-gosh are there children?" she asked as she quickly scanned the room. "No? Awesome. HEY YOU FOUR ARE ASSHOLES!" Sam exclaimed.
"YOU HACKED INTO MY COMPUTER?!" Donnie shouted once more.
"I've done that before!" Sam shot back.
"Yeah, with my permission!"
"Well it never would have happened if you jerks hadn't left me back home while you traveled to another freaking universe! Literally just saying that sentence sounds amazing! And you left me!"
"Sam you knew the rules were that we would update you if and when your life is in danger" Leo cut in.
"Yeah well there's mutagen running through my veins so I'm always in danger Leo" she said, adding a sarcastic tone to the way she said his name, which she learned very quickly was not appreciated in the slightest.
"You kinda also had this thing called finals to worry about" Raph added.
"Really, Grumpelstiltskin? I studied for weeks for each test! And there are make-up dates! Regardless, everything would have worked ou-"
She was then cut off as she was hugged by Mikey.
She stood there for a second before slowly placing her hands around him to embrace him in the hug.
"Sweet cinnamon roll, who hurt you?" she asked.
He backed away. "No one" he said with a fake smile. "Just glad you're you again."
Sam paused and with a blank expression leaned to her side as she now realized that there were two of her brother standing behind Leo and Donnie.
She then placed herself right back in front of Mikey and asked "you see two Jay's over there, right?"
Mikey nodded.
"Good, just checking. Hey look that way" Sam said as she pointed to her left.
Mikey did as told since he trusted Sam, but then flinched when he saw her right hand come up and was now inches away from slapping him.
"Dude!" he said as he instantly turned back towards Sam. He now stood there in shock as Sam stared wide eyed at him in pained anger. She knew he would laugh it off if she pretended to slap him and that he wouldn't even flinch if she was the one standing in front of him, but his quick flinching reaction demonstrated that he had been harmed recently. There was no other explanation for him tensing up when she was right beside him.
"Someone hit you" she stated solemnly. "Was it Raph?!" she said as she jumped and pointed at a now offended Raphael.
"Why do you go straight to accusing me?" he asked gruffly.
"Cause sometimes you can be a huge dick" she said nonchalantly.
"The biggest" he said with a wink.
"With that ego of yours, doubt it" Sam said with a wide-all teeth bearing smile.
"Dude, the fuck?" J2 asked.
"Well he's obviously compensating for something" Sam teased while Mikey grinned and nodded devilishly.
"Unfortunately this is more common than you think" Leo groaned.
"What?" Jay asked, just as shocked as his alternate counterpart.
"I mean, wow guys that's super immature" Leo said, caring and not at the same time.
Jay shook his head. "Wow. You've changed man" he said as he grabbed onto his shirt, signaling that his heart hurt.
"Blame her. Her weird sense of humor rubs off on you after a while" Leo said with a grin.
He then turned to hear Donnie continuing to argue with Sam.
"How did you do it? Did you wipe out everything?"
"Mikey am I bleeding? Because it feels like I've been shot!" Sam announced, pretending to faint backwards as her best friend caught her.
"Dude! She's been here for like 2 minutes!" Mikey protested.
"She touched my things without permission and without me knowing what she did and how! Things in regards to the project in creating the portal along with programs and codes for hacking that have saved our asses numerous times are on that computer" Donnie stated.
Sam groaned as Mikey helped her stand back up.
"And you really think I would do anything to wipe all that out?" she said as she rolled her eyes. "Look, I used the code you showed me last month. It safely transferred everything to my computer, I read enough to know how to get myself in, and then I went for it."
"How did you even get in the building?" Leo asked. "I've heard you and Donnie talk before and you said you didn't know how to hack a system like the one the building uses. So how could you get in the building without seeing someone plug in the combination?"
"Ummmmmm lucky guess with the combination?" Sam awkwardly asked as her answer.
"YOU HACKED MY SHOULDER CAM?!" Donnie exclaimed, knowing that would have been the easiest way for her to figure out the combination. "Since when could you even do that?"
"Since you fell asleep during prank war week and I got ahold of it, and possibly took it apart and put it back together. This is where prank week continues! Surprise" she said shyly as she threw her hands up no higher than her shoulders in length, although Donnie made it clear he wasn't buying it.
"Your Sam is cool" J2 said with a chuckle. "My Sam can't code or do anything with modern technology really" he said with a sigh.
"You!" Sam said as she pointed towards J2, "I will greet you in a second, but you!" she said as she pointed at Donnie, her expression softening, "someone hit you to. Damn Raph what did they do to piss you off?" Sam said as she turned to face him.
Raph threw his arms up at his sides. "It wasn't me!"
"It actually wasn't, and how can you even tell that?" Donnie asked with genuine curiosity.
Sam shrugged. "I've known you guys for 2 years, I can tell when your colors change, and you and this one's cheeks are slightly darker" she said as she pointed back and forth between the two youngest brothers. "Now if it wasn't the Hulk over there that hit you, who did? I promise I'll kick their ass" she said as she punched one fist into her other hand.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Sam? It's Kris, open up!"
The turtles looked at J2 since they didn't know what to do in this situation.
"You guys hide wherever you can. You can go upstairs if you need to. Sam, how close are you to Kris back home?"
"Super close, just like when we were kids."
"Awesome. You talk to him then and do your best to get him to leave. I'm going to go distract my Sam so that she doesn't walk out and get Kris involved in all this."
J2 ran upstairs while the turtles all went and hid. Raph and Mikey hid in a nearby closet while Leo and Donnie crouched down and hid out on the fire escape.
"I'll be nearby in the hallway in case you need help getting rid of him" Jay stated.
Sam gave him a thumbs up and then walked over towards the door. She swung it open and smiled at Kris. He looked the same except for the fact that his hair was a bit longer and was styled so that is flowingly spiked up some at the top. He looked like a k-pop artist with that hairdo, but Sam was digging it.
"Nice hair" she said as she leaned against the doorway.
Kris laughed. "Well I hope so, you're the one that styled it this way. I've been doing everything you told me to so it would stay this way" he said as he walked past her and into the room.
Sam just stood there and then swung her arms to her left, the side of her facing the interior of the room.
"Sure, come on in" she whispered sarcastically, since she never actually invited the man to enter the room.
"So what happened tonight?" he asked as he sat on the back of the couch.
Sam shut the door and walked so that she was standing closer to her friend.
"You're gonna have to be a lot more specific buddy."
Kris couldn't help but laugh at the way the girl spoke. She was acting differently and more comical than usual.
"You said you had to fight some guy tonight because he touched you at the concert."
Sam stood there, only blinking.
"How did this fight go down?"
"What?" Kris asked with a confused smile.
"It's been a long night, so remind me of what I told you."
He shrugged. "You said that you were talking to some guy and then he started touching your lips, so you slapped him and then he pushed you to the ground."
Sam pointed to herself, astounded by what she just heard.
"Me?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"I slapped a guy?" she asked, pointing at herself.
"Uh-huh."
"Just one guy?" Sam asked curiously.
"Ummmmm oh! Now that I think about it, you said you slapped the guy and his brother" Kris said as he remembered the details of the messages he received earlier.
"Ohhhhh that's right" Sam said through gritted teeth as she ran her hands over her head where they then rested for a few seconds.
"Do you have any idea who they were? If I had been there I'd have kicked their asses" Kris said, now sounding more serious and upset about the event.
"Nope not a clue" she said with a fake smile, swinging her arms back and forth in frustration. "But you know it's been a long day, indeed" she said as she pursed her lips together. "If it's alright I'd rather just stay here with my brother rather than hangout" she said innocently, hoping her friend would leave and not be offended.
Kris's face scrunched some. "What are you talking about? I saw your brothers earlier. I was with them when you texted me."
Sam paused before looking him straight in the eye.
"What did you say?"
Kris snapped his fingers. "Ohhh you mean Jay, since he's like your brother. But hey since he isn't here yet…"
Kris trailed off as he gently pulled Sam forward. Sam was clueless as to what he was doing and just went with it, until she realized he was pulling her in so he could kiss her.
Before Sam could even react, a soft pair of lips was now gently being pressed against hers. Sam was so mind blown that she had absolutely no clue how to react. She was shocked since she never expected Kris to kiss her, and she was scared because this was her first kiss and she had no idea what was happening or what she was doing. She then felt worry wash over her for a couple of reasons.
For one, she was being kissed! Like, what does one do when being kissed? Cause right now she was basically standing there while Kris kissed her. Like, should she kiss back? How do you even do that? She was supposed to be acting as the other Sam, but did other Sam just stand there like she was now? She was mentally freaking out and had no idea what to do, so she just continued to stand there with her eyes shut tight. Apparently her alternate self was dating Kris so she couldn't just push him away, so she hoped that this would end soon as she just stood there and allowed him to keep kissing her…although his hands were now traveling up her back, and one was now under the back of her shirt.
The second reason she began to worry was because while Kris was tenderly kissing her, Sam heard some small ruffling noises being made from behind her. She assumed that either Raph or Mikey was about to beat the shit out of Kris…and then she sensed both Leo and Donnie silently open the window before they ran past where she was located by the couch. Luckily the two brothers who had been hiding on the fire escape were now far enough away and silent enough so that Kris didn't sense a thing, although that was also probably because he was very occupied at the moment. If both ninjas were running away from their hiding spots, then that meant BOTH Raph and Mikey were aiming to beat the shit out of Kris.
The door slammed rather loudly as the two brothers fought to keep the remaining two calm.
Kris went to turn his head, but in fear of the turtles getting caught, Sam pulled his head back down so that he would continue to kiss her.
'God this is so wrong and so weird!' Sam thought to herself. 'Like, howwwwwww?! How did I end up in this situation, and why am I dating Kris in the first place?!'
She could feel Kris smiling through the kiss and as much as she liked that a smoking hot guy wanted to kiss her, she didn't like him that way and this also was the most awkward first kiss ever.
She tried waving her hand to the side to signal for Jay, and thank god he caught the hint.
"Heyyyyy Kris! You're here, kissing Sam. Why?" he asked in an annoyed tone, which was evident even though he was smiling and moving around in an animated fashion.
Kris pulled back and held onto Sam in a cuddly hug. He pulled her in so that her back was against his chest as he wrapped his legs around her. His chin lay on her shoulder while both teens faced Jay.
"Sorry, I didn't know you were here. But Sam texted me about what happened" he said, holding onto her a little tighter as he thought about a guy trying to take advantage of her.
"Oh, so I also guess she told you that she is grounded then?" Jay asked as he pretended to rummage through the fridge for something.
Kris looked confused and pouted as he turned his head to face Sam.
"You didn't tell me you were grounded. Are you trying to get me in trouble?" he teased. His smile softened as he realized that Sam's face was bright red.
"Awwww, you still blush when I kiss you? God you're adorable" Kris said with a heart-warming smile as he then kissed Sam's cheek.
"She is! And she's also grounded! Which means you need to get the heck out" Jay said comically yet with a touch of frustration in his speech as he slammed the door shut.
"Alright I got it" Kris said as he stood up and stuck his tongue out at Jay. Before moving away from his spot, he turned towards Sam, shooting her a heartfelt and genuine smile. "Next time just call me instead of having me come over then. I need to stay on people's good side so that we can spend more time together" he said as he leaned forward and kissed Sam's forehead.
"Right, my bad. I, uh, thought he would have left by now" Sam stuttered.
"Don't worry babe, at least I got to see you for a little bit tonight" he whispered.
Kris pulled her in for one last hug and then began to walk towards the door.
"Text me when you get home" Sam called out.
Kris turned towards her as he was now standing in the doorway.
"Always do babe. Love you!" he called as he closed the door behind him.
That's when Raph and Mikey had pushed their way out of their other brother's grips and were now charging towards Sam.
"What the hell was that?" Raph demanded.
Sam faced the two as she threw her hands by the sides of her head.
"You tell me! Like, what?!"
"Sure looked like you enjoyed what happened for someone who's so confused!" Mikey declared.
"Are you kidding me?! I had no control over that!"
"You didn't say no" Raph stated.
"Yeah I also didn't say 'hey Kris come suck on my fucking face' either!" Sam bit back sarcastically.
"You should have kicked his ass then! He totally took advantage of you!" Mikey announced.
"Well obviously he's dating alternate me, which how the hell did that even happen?!" Sam exclaimed.
"He's not allowed over anymore. Dude doesn't know how to ask for consent" Raph growled.
"Agreed" Mikey stated in fury. "Tch, and alternate you was mad at me? He had his hands all over her!"
"Because they're dating" Donnie announced. "I can't imagine Kris doing that if the two were just friends."
"Honestly I thought you'd be happy about it" Leo said with a bit of shock in his voice.
Raph, Mikey, and Sam all turned and glared at Leonardo.
"What? I thought you liked him" Leo stated honestly.
Sam leaned forward and threw her hands forward. "When have I ever said that? How many times do I have to keep telling people I do not like him that way?!" Sam declared.
"Awwww you've been traumatized" Mikey said, his angry expression softening.
"YES! Like, what was I even supposed to do?! My first kiss is ruined" Sam pouted, crossing her arms and glaring down at the floor.
Leo turned towards Jay.
"You gonna add anything?" he asked.
"Naw, you guys are doing the 'brothering' for me again. Not much else for me to say. I low-key wanna kill Kris though" he said with a nod of his head and a twitch in his brow.
J2 then reappeared.
"Why are you all so loud?" he asked in concern.
"Because Kris is scum and needs to be taught a lesson" Raph snarled.
"Uhhhhhh" J2 said in confusion.
"YOU DIDN'T SAY I WAS DATING HIM!" Sam announced, extremely loud and extremely fast.
J2 still looked confused. "But you said you were still close with him like when you were kids."
"Yeah! We're still good friends, but we're not dating!" Sam said.
"Ohhh. Hehe, my bad. I assumed that you stayed really close just like my Sam did" he said, grabbing onto his arm from embarrassment since he could tell things must have been awkward for her based on her reaction to whatever had happened moments ago.
"Everyone is fine though" Leo reassured. "I think it's important that we discuss all the main differences between this and our universe though so that everyone is caught up with each other."
J2 nodded.
"Sam! Please join us!" he called out.
Seconds later the alternate Sam entered the room.
The original Sam's eyes went wide as she stared at her alternate self who was wearing little to nothing as she wore a sleeveless gray crop top that revealed her stomach and a pair of tiny black Under Armour running shorts.
Sam, infuriated for a couple reasons, stood up, walked over to her alternate self who smiled and seemed as if she was about to speak, and then slapped her across the face.
Au Sam just stood there in shock.
Original Sam just smiled. "Hi. I'm Sam. That was for slapping two of my friends earlier today."
"I apologized for that" au Sam said as she gently rubbed her hand against her now red cheek. She would normally have retaliated, but she knew she had that coming. "Are we good now?"
"If you go change" Sam stated bluntly.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You're almost naked! Like, you're barely wearing anything!" Sam proclaimed.
Au Sam looked down at herself. "I'm wearing comfy clothes."
"There's barely anything there!"
"I'm in my house!"
"And there's people here!" Sam announced as she waved her hand behind her towards the group of men who had no idea what was happening.
Mikey then walked in between the two women as he faced his best friend. He then smiled as he took steps forward.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked.
"Just walk away" he said as he continued to smile.
"What?"
"Just walk" he stated calmly, hands by his side as he continued to smile.
Sam took a few steps back. She now realized that Mikey assumed the two girls were going to fight each other and thought he was preventing this from happening.
"I'm not gonna fight her" Sam said with a chuckle.
"Had us fooled" Raph said as he coughed into his hand.
"That's because guys are always rough no matter what" au Sam said.
Raph stared wide eyed at her as she made this comment.
"Yeah, yeah. I sound like a hypocrite, I know" she groaned.
"What do we call her now?" Mikey asked.
"S2? Since I'm J2" the man stated.
"Man, women named Sam are interesting creatures" Jay teased as he lightly slapped his sister on the back of the head. "Play nice. These are allies in catching Karai and her followers."
"Oh right. Have we learned anything about them yet?" Sam asked.
"No. We're going to update everyone about everything that has happened and has been learned so far before we even enter that territory" Jay stated.
"Get comfy. There's a lot to talk about" J2 stated as he guided everyone towards the living room.
S2 began to shiver some.
"Anyone mind if I close the window? It's getting chilly."
"Psh, maybe if you were dressed properly" Sam mumbled.
S2 shot her a frustrated look as she was shutting the window.
"You're telling me you never wear comfy clothes?"
Sam held her hands out to her sides as she looked down at herself.
"I am in comfy clothes."
S2 looked at Sam in disbelief as she observed what her alternate was wearing. Sam was currently wearing a light mint blue Adidas hoodie with black gym pants that were soft and form fitting that had the cuffs at the ankle while wearing Adidas brand skateboarding shoes (which were also soft as anything and so comfortable!)
"You call those comfy clothes?" she scoffed.
"Come feel me up! I'm soft and warm!" Sam announced, her arms lifted up high and outwards.
"Oh my god get over here" Raph groaned.
"Here, if you're cold then take this" Sam said as she lifted her hoodie up and over her shoulders and her head.
"WHOA!" S2 exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked midway through taking her hoodie off. Her blue hoodie currently blocked her eyes so she couldn't see anything as she twisted and turned in fear of something going wrong and being momentarily blinded during so.
"You're ripped!" S2 announced as she stared as her alternates stomach (which was once again exposed as Sam removed her hoodie, a problem that apparently occurred more often than she realized).
"Cover yourself" Leo teased as he pulled Sam's shirt down so that her stomach was once again covered.
Sam successfully removed the hoodie and then tossed it over to her alternate. She looked up at Leo with a smile and playfully pat his head as a thanks.
He pursed his lips and looked at her in a way that told her to knock it off.
Sam was now wearing a short sleeve pink Adidas shirt.
"That's the one I got you" Mikey whispered to Sam, who was now sitting next to him.
"That's because we have the same taste in fashion" she whispered back as the two silently fist bumped.
"If you're sitting next to someone where you know you're going to talk then move now" Leo declared.
Sam pouted as she then stood up and sat next to Leo instead, in which he then pat her head in mockery of how she had treated him mere seconds ago.
"So where does this story start?" S2 asked, now wearing Sam's mint blue hoodie.
Donnie told everyone about Kraang from their universe and how his mutagen allowed him and some human friends to build the portal that transported them there.
That's when J2 started sharing how he was working with some friends on a similar project. There was no specific reason as to why, just that they had the materials to do so, so their team was informed to lead the project. J2 more so worked on the construction of the project, but it allowed him access to one of the coolest thing he had ever partaken in, so he wasn't going to let the opportunity slip by him.
He and his alternate then discussed how the two met and that both portals were open when this happened, hence their much simpler travel from one universe compared to the others when the group and when Sam entered the new universe. The other side of the portal had not been opened, so that's why the turtles and Jay, and then later why Sam was just dropped anywhere.
"We're still learning about all that, so right now we don't really know why it dropped us off at the concert, or why it dropped Sam here where we were compared to the concert" Donnie stated.
"So are there any other major differences?" S2 asked.
"Psh, how about the fact that you're dating Kris here" Sam scoffed.
"Oh, I guess you're not dating him then?" her alternate asked.
"Nope" Sam answered quickly.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Like, why didn't you guys stay as close friends that ended up dating?"
"…I turned him down" Sam said matter of factly.
"Wha-" Mikey began, about to question this newly learned information, but was cut off by Raph who knew Sam was obviously lying.
"Oh, really?" S2 asked, sensing the same thing that Raph had. "Why?"
"Too clingy" Sam answered.
"I don't buy that" S2 said with a smirk. "Did something awkward happen? I can give you advice if you want to win him back" she said with confidence.
S2 then saw Raph shaking his head with his hand near his neck signaling to 'cut it out.'
"Thanks but no thanks. I don't need a man to make me happy" Sam said with confidence.
"Says the girl surrounded by men besides for her alternate self" S2 mocked.
Sam opened her mouth to retaliate…only to realize the girl made a point, so she just shrugged and chuckled. She then tried to change the subject and asked "soooo is this where you and your brother live?"
S2 shook her head. "Nah, it's just me and Jay who stay here."
Sam looked at her alternate with a perturbed look. "That's what I just said."
"No you didn't" S2 said as she shook her head. "You said I lived here with my brother."
"Yeah, Jay. Duh" Sam said rather rudely.
"Jay isn't my brother, so you're wrong" S2 bit back.
"What are you talking about? Why else would you live with him if he wasn't your brother?"
"So that way I could have some privacy. I love my parents, but I'm 18 and in college. I want some space away from them knowing everything I'm doing every second of every day" S2 groaned.
She then realized that all the turtles (except for Donnie who was looking down at the ground) and Sam were now staring at her as if they had seen a ghost.
"What's wrong?" S2 asked.
"Your parents?" Leo asked.
"Yeahhhhh…" S2 lead on.
Sam then got up and exited the room as she headed upstairs.
S2 looked on with worry. "What is she doing?"
"Looking for family photos" Leo said as he sunk into the couch. "So that's what you meant by what happened to her is different here."
"It's what didn't happen" Raph said as he ran his hands over his head.
"Oh my god" Mikey said as he now looked down at the ground, sadness written on every inch of his face.
"Oh god what did I do?" S2 asked, assuming she had done something wrong and that was the cause of all four brothers looking so worried and upset.
"It's okay, you didn't do anything" Jay reassured. "Things are just, very different here compared to where Sam and I live."
"Hey me" Sam stated as she re-entered the room. "You have a phone?"
"Yeah."
"Toss it here" Sam said as she put her hands in front of her.
"Sure?" S2 questioned as she tossed the phone.
Sam then walked towards the door and took the keys from the bowl next to it on the small table.
"Thanks" she said as she opened and then exited through the door.
"Wait! What are you!-"
"She's going to see her siblings" Donnie said in dismay.
Mikey looked up at his brother.
"You knew about this?" he asked, almost in a whisper.
Donnie nodded.
"And you didn't tell anyone?" Mikey asked as he balled his hands into fists.
"He was working on a classified project Mikey," Leo cut in. "You can't believe that he wanted to ignore a chance to let Sam see her family."
Donnie looked at Mikey with a pained expression. "You think it's easy to walk around knowing you can't tell one of your best friends something like this? I've wanted to tell her from the second I found out. But if we did then she would have dropped everything and begged to be put on the project, and with her powers, she could-"
"She has powers?!" S2 interrupted.
She then slapped her hands to her mouth. "Sorry" she muttered.
Donnie sighed.
Raph cut in so that Donnie could calm himself. He faced Mikey with a sympathetic look.
"Sam would have used her powers and would have done whatever she wanted and would have disrupted both the project and her own life. Hell, Jay and Donnie had to get Casey to try and stall so that Sam wouldn't leave her finals early to try and join us" Raph grunted.
Jay looked over and saw that Michelangelo still looked down in dismay.
"Mikey, it was for her and others safety that no one knew. Donnie isn't the only one who's been walking around with that secret in their back pocket. Sam would have let emotions take over and never would have listened to reason. I wanted to bring her here one day, but there needed to be a right time."
Mikey looked up at him, and then turned to face all the others.
"I wonder what's going on in her head right now. Should one of us be watching over her?" he asked, now realizing that she would be wondering the streets alone.
Leo shook his head.
"Apparently things are safer here, and Sam is tough and can defend herself. In a while one of us can go after her if she hasn't returned, but right now she needs her space" Leo stated gently.
Mikey displayed a look of dismay once more, but his expression softened when he felt Raph's hand on his shoulder.
"She'll be fine. She knows how to reach us if she needs us" he reassured.
"Okay someone please tell me what I'm missing! Why did the other me just walk out without saying anything and why did she take my phone? And why do you all look broken? Like I don't mean to sound inconsiderate but I'm completely lost." S2 announced.
J2 sighed.
"Sam, I need you to listen carefully, because you're about to hear things that are going to be difficult to comprehend. Okay?"
The girl's expression softened and changed to one of concern.
"What happened to you guys?" she asked softly.
Jay then took over in the conversation.
"There's a group known as the Foot back where we're from. They're a horrible group of people lead by a terrible man who goes by the name Shredder. He has a lot of followers, including a rich man who pays for research and test trials for whatever he needs. He made a toxin that ended up turning these guys into what they are now. He also did a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of people…"
Jay had to pause for a moment, since the next part focused on him as well, and even now it was difficult for him to talk about.
"Years ago when I was only 15, I witnessed a Foot robbery. Assuming that trusting the police was the best thing to do, I reported the robbery. As a result, Shredder had my parents killed so that it looked like an accident."
Sam instantly covered her mouth with her hands as she heard this news.
"At that point, Sam's parents adopted the four of us and we all became siblings. Unfortunately the Foot wasn't done with me yet. They manipulated people into working for them in all types of ways. In my case, it was black mail. They said that I had the choice to work for them or not, and of course I said no. Because I chose the wrong answer, they killed Sam's parents who at the time were my legal guardians."
It was obvious that the girl was becoming teary eyed as her eyes became red.
Being the gentleman that he was, Leo walked over and brought the girl a box of tissues.
She briefly smiled at him before turning back to Jay to hear the rest of the story.
"At that time I was 17, which means Amber was 19 and Jamie was 21. That meant they were both able to legally be deemed as guardians for the rest of us. For two years I was forced to work for the Foot so that they wouldn't harm anyone else in my family. No one I cared about knew that I was working for the Foot. I worked as hard as I could, being the third oldest sibling, to help my older sisters make enough money to provide the necessities so that we could all survive. Everything was beginning to work out since the 8 of us had each other…"
That's when Jay's voice began to trail off. He had already forced himself to tell this story a couple years ago when he approached the turtles in regards to saving Sam, and he wasn't sure he had it in him to tell the story again.
"They still treated him like crap even though he was working for them as a dedicated soldier" Leo cut in. He first looked over at Jay to gain approval to tell the rest of the story.
Jay nodded to Leo before then closing his eyes tight to prevent himself from crying.
"While Jay was trying to provide for his family, Shredder didn't think he was dedicating enough time towards the Foot. So he eliminated the problem" Leo stated, changing his tone as he said the last three words to emphasize how disgusted he was with Shredder's decision.
"Jesus" Sam said as she now covered her eyes with her hands. "So who got hurt next?" she asked softly.
"All of them" Raph muttered.
Sam then turned and faced him, removing her hands from her eyes.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"Shredder purposefully had his men take out all of Jay's siblings but one" he stated. "She didn't even know why everything had happened until a couple of years ago. Jay kept her in the dark to keep her safe, but told her everything when the Foot was taken down from the inside."
"And Sam was crazy enough to join to protect her brother" Donnie said lightly.
"She joined?! Why!?" S2 asked hysterically.
"Because she wasn't going to leave Jay behind and run away when he was in danger" Mikey stated.
He and the girl were now facing each as they sat on opposite sides of the group.
"She didn't even tell us once she found out because she didn't want to lose our trust, since we had only known for so many months at that time. She hoped things would go by quick enough that we would never know, but things went south really fast. She got hurt really bad and in the end she needed mutagen to save her life-"
"Save her life, as in she lost her life?" S2 asked.
Mikey nodded his head.
"Holy shit" S2 said as she slumped back slowly into the couch. "No wonder she cares about you guys so much. Sounds like you guys became her support system after all of that" she almost whispered.
"Luckily that's the bulk of the bad differences" Jay stated, finally calm and able to talk once more. "Sam's been through a lot, so just be careful in how you approach her and what you say."
"Of course" S2 agreed.
"So the other main change is that these guys unfortunately don't exist in this universe since the Foot doesn't exist here, so they never held their experiments that lead to your mutation" he said as he faced the guys.
"The only other main change is that I'm married and I have two kids" Jay said with a small smile.
"What?" S2 asked in shock.
"Oh yeah, you owe me pictures!" J2 stated.
"Oh man, I didn't even think of that!" Mikey stated. "We can't see the kids while we're here" he said as he began to pout.
"They're not gone forever Mikey" Donnie reassured, "they just aren't in this universe."
"Are you married to Brenda?" S2 asked her alternate friend.
Jay laughed. "Yes I'm married to Brenda. We have a son named Keno who is a little over 3 months old now, and we adopted a daughter named Renet who just recently turned 5. Here, this is them" he said as he handed the alternates a picture.
The two then began to "oooh" and "aww" as they looked at the two children.
"Alright, I believe those are all the changes that everyone needs to know about. Now we can start discussing what's going on with these villains" Jay stated.
"Do you guys have any major ideas as to why they would have traveled to our universe?" J2 asked.
Donnie nodded. "Back where we're from there was an alien named Kraang who tried to take over the world. We stopped him, and as he returned back to his dimension, he took the leader of the Foot clan back with him. Shredder, the clan's leader, had some loyal followers that continued to work with him after the Foot fell, and I suspect they're here because they can take advantage of the advanced technology that your universe possesses."
"Is there anything specific that has high value here that might be a main target?" Leo asked.
J2 leaned back into his chair. "That's the thing. You have to be way more specific since there are multiple energy sources, minerals, scientific studies and theories and materials used to test them that are valuable depending on their purpose. Is there anything that they may be searching for in particular?"
"Weren't you saying something earlier about them finding a way to reach Kraang?" Raph asked.
Donnie nodded as he then stood up and walked back towards the table in the kitchen. The others followed as everyone took a seat at the table.
Donnie sat at the head of the table. Down the left side sat Leo, Jay, and Mikey, and along the right side sat J2 and Raph. S2 sat the other end of the table as she listened to the group hold their conversation.
Donnie fidgeted with some of the controls on his watch as bright lights displayed pixelated images for everyone to look at.
"These three images show the pieces of the portal Kraang used to travel to our dimension. However, from what Casey, a friend of ours back home who is a cop, what he told us a while back is that the pieces were taken by the Foot clan before the forensics team could arrive to retrieve and inspect them."
Jay nodded. "So that means if Stockman, their scientist slave" Jay said as he nodded towards the human alternates so that they understood what was being discussed each time a new name was introduced "was able to work on those pieces and he finds some type of energy source, then they can re-open the portal without Kraang's assistance."
"Wait," Mikey cut in, "why can't they just put the pieces together like they did the first time? I mean that's all they did, right? They didn't have anything fancy to add to it."
"We don't know that for sure though" Donnie stated. "The pieces could have already had something within them such as mutagen. In fact," he said as he grabbed his T-com. "Anyone copy?" he asked as he pressed the blue button, connecting him to his friends back in his home universe.
"We copy D. What's up?" came Logan's voice through the small device.
"If you can, contact Casey and April and see if they can access anything from the files that were collected from Stockman when he went missing. We need to see if Stockman kept files about what made up the device he originally had for his teleportation device before he was introduced to the remaining two pieces."
"Got it. I'll update you if we find anything out."
"Why do we need to access Stockman's notes?" Jay asked.
Donnie put his device back into one his millions of pockets.
"If Stockman kept notes about his research, which I'm very confident he did, then he would have left all types of notes about what made up that device and how it worked. He probably won't have any information about the remaining two pieces, but just knowing how one piece worked is enough to figure out what types of materials Karai is going after while she's here."
"Whoaaa" J2 stated aloud.
The others turned to face her.
"What?" Raph asked.
"Dude is smart" she said in astonishment.
"Right, you're new. Have to remember that" Raph stated.
"If that is why they're here," Leo began, "then that must mean the other pieces he still has are broken. Why else would they be trying to find an energy source, right?"
"That's the thing, this is all assumption" Donnie said in a worried tone as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as his hands ran over the top of his head.
"But it's a start, and that's better than nothing" Jay added. "So where do we go with what we know?"
Donnie paused for a second. "For now we just search. We need to be ready and we need to be prepared for anything to happen at any moment. We have no idea where Karai is, so any place I can access security footage from is where we watch. We search for articles about suspicious figures, but we also look up articles and reports that state what the different and most recent discoveries are in regards to energy sources. That way we have an idea of what resources are even available here. Then look up where those resources are located, that might give us a hint as to where any of the three will strike."
"Do we have enough devices for that?" Raph asked, his brow raised in curiosity.
"I have a few small ones. Knowing Sam, she probably has some light ones with her as well."
He then turned towards J2 and asked "is there anywhere we can go that will grant us a ton of computer access?" he asked.
The man nodded. "We have a spot underground. Now that it's later it might actually be safer to take you guys there now. You guys have a lab that's' above ground, well ours is under. We have some safe spaces we usually hide out in just in case someone dangerous would come in for whatever reason. I can take you guys there, and then tomorrow when they're all awake, I can get access from them to bring you as many devices from our lab as I can."
"This sounds awesome" S2 stated bluntly, her jaw slightly open from hearing how 'fancy' and high-tech things sounded.
"Sam, you're staying here" J2 stated.
"What?! Why?!" she protested as her hands slammed down on the table.
Leo sent her an apologetic look. "Look, I know we just met you and all, but you're, well-"
"Not good enough?" the girl pouted, crossing her arms.
"Human" he huffed.
S2 calmed her stance some. "Oh…right. Wait, but so is your friend. She's the same as me."
"Pfft!" Raph clenched his fists as he sat with his arms crossed and as he pursed his lips together tight as a means to not laugh at the clueless girls comments.
Mikey straight up just threw his hand to cover his mouth.
"What is so funny?" S2 demanded.
"Honey you don't know shit!" Mikey said as he laughed out loud.
"Excuse me?" she asked fiercely.
"Shut up dude, shut up" Raph whispered as he playfully kicked his brother under the table.
"Really?" Leo asked dully as he looked down the table at Raph, "I expected this from him, but from you?"
"She thinks they're the same, and she's very wrong. Sorry I find that so damn funny, fearless" Raph bit back.
"Guys, we're not doing this right now" Jay said as he smiled through gritted teeth.
"I thought I knew all the major differences. What don't I know?" S2 asked, turning her head so that she faced each person at least once, desperate for answers.
"We mentioned that our Sam has powers, from when the mutagen saved her life. And instead of reminding you of that, the two dorks beside you would rather just laugh" Donnie groaned.
"Sweet!" J2 announced.
"What happened?" Jay asked.
"I used a private server to contact my colleagues, we have access to any and all devices we need. The sooner we get below ground the sooner we can use those devices to search for Karai and any resources she may be after."
"Pack it up" Donnie said as he stood up.
Everyone stood up and discussed how they would exit the building. Leo, Raph, and Donnie were going travel down the fire escape and would meet the Jay's in the alley way down below. They would travel through the sewers and would gain access to the building where they would all carry as many devices and materials needed for hacking databases and security footage as they could to a designated safe space.
S2 was about to protest that she wanted to join in on this badass mission, but then she realized that the orange one was sitting on the couch.
"Hey, Leo" she said as she nudged one of the turtles.
"I'm Donnie, but what's up?" he asked.
"Why is Raph sitting on the couch?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
"Raph is over here" the red bearing turtle grumbled. "MIKEY is sitting on the couch because he's not leaving until Sam gets back."
"Why? Can't you guys just message her with one of those shell looking phone things?"
Donnie chuckled. "The T-coms? Yeah, we could. But Mikey and Sam are best friends, so he knows she's gonna be emotional after seeing her siblings since, well since she lost them" he said.
The alternate noticed immediately that as Donnie said this that all the brothers, including Donatello himself, looked as if they themselves were broken.
"You all really care about her, don't you?" she asked softly.
All three brothers then looked at her.
"She's Mikey's literal best friend, but she's family to all of us" Raph grumbled. He then looked down out the window. "I see them, let's go."
Leo turned towards the girl as his brother exited the room.
"Sam's basically a sister to us. 3 out of us 4 had a hard time getting to know her, but she's a good person. If anything happens to her, we'd go bat shit crazy on whoever did anything to her. Hence why it hurt that one when you called him a freak" Leo said. He didn't say it in a nasty way, but more so in a tone so that the girl would understand Mikey's earlier actions.
S2 understood completely and nodded as Leo grinned at her before jumping out the window.
"She's our sister. Family is everything, especially when you're mutant turtles. Mikey will bring her down once she's ready to join us" Donnie said with a smile. "You on the other hand need to stay here where you're safe. You're definitely different from our Sam in more ways than one."
He smiled at her as he spoke, and then that fast he was gone.
S2 stood there for a second and watched how swiftly and quickly the three turtles moved as they descended from the fire escape and made their way down the building. Seconds after that, they disappeared underground through a manhole covered entrance into the sewers.
"I'd close the window if I were you. Never know who can see and who can snatch" Mikey stated as he got comfy on the couch.
"Right" S2 said as she then carefully shut and locked the window.
She then walked over towards him and sat next to him on the couch.
"Hey, can we talk?"
He shot her a strange look, but then shrugged and said "alright" as he sat in a more proper way compared to his more slouched position he was in a second before.
"Um, I just wanted to truly apologize for how I talked to you earlier tonight. I don't really want to go into detail, but I've had some not so great experiences with guys and our conversation and the way you were trying to touch me, it just triggered some not so great memories."
As she looked at Mikey she now realized how tense he looked.
"Oh my god, were… were you?"
"Don't worry I wasn't raped or anything, that rarely ever happens here. I was sort of assaulted though, almost forced to do things I didn't want to. It's very rare here, but sadly there are some areas where it happens if you stay there at the wrong times of the day. I was dumb and put myself in one of those places at a really bad time when I shouldn't have been there."
"You know it's not your fault right?" Mikey said attentively, staring the girl in the eyes the entire time they talked.
"I know," she said nervously, "but I should have known better. I was there for a dumb reason that I'd rather not discuss right now" she said, looking down as she rubbed her hands against her knees.
"I got you, I respect that."
S2 smiled as she looked back up at him. "I can see why my alternate is best friends with you, you're a sweet guy. She's lucky to have you." She then looked back down as she clenched her hands together. "Which is also why I feel horrible about the way I treated. I'm so, so sorry."
Mikey chuckled. "If it means anything, Sam launched a manhole cover at my head when we first met, and then she spun and kicked me right across the face."
"And you two ended up on good terms?! Cause your brother said it was the other three that had a rocky start with her" she said with wide eyes.
"Ha, that's so true! But yeah. I mean there's reasons why all that happened, hell the four of us have so much history with her now that someone could write a book or make a movie about all of it" he said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the couch. "I do forgive you by the way. Besides, there were things you didn't know about that added to it, I can't hold that against you."
"Please tell me" the girl stated.
He titled his head so that he was just glimpsing at the girl from the corner of his eye, a playful stance to be in.
"Wellllllll," he said, quickly leaning forward as if he was about to 'spill the tea.'
"So when my brothers and I were growing up, we were able to watch t.v. due to Donnie's genius in being able to rewire and fix anything in regards to inanimate objects and physical medical injuries. Whenever we watched shows with monsters or any creatures that were abnormal, they were always called freaks or monsters, or whatever. My brothers learned that that meant we needed to stay away from humans, or at least prevent ourselves from being seen so that we wouldn't scare anyone off, even if we were saving their lives" he said as he rolled his eyes at the thought of someone insulting and being scared of him while literally saving their life.
"Anyway, what I learned was that humans feared us and would want nothing to do with us" he gulped. "My brothers have always been able to handle reality much better than I could. Even so, I've always wondered what it would be like to be accepted by others for who I am. We met one woman who actually took care of us before we mutated and we befriended her, but being friends with Sam is a whole other story."
"She gave you the acceptance that you needed" S2 said, twisting her body so that she was leaning into the couch, sitting in a much more comfortable position now that she and the mutant turtle were becoming more acquainted with each other.
"She gave me more than that" Mikey said with a smile. "She gave me someone I could turn to when I'm afraid to talk to my brothers about my problems, someone who will genuinely laugh at my jokes or let me know when they're not funny, someone who equally likes the same things I do and then introduces me to new things which I end up loving, someone who participates in activities that I enjoy and can handle my ridiculously high energy levels."
Mikey chuckled at his last sentence, thinking back to times when Sam was just as hyper and crazy as he was. "And you wanna know what the best part of it all is?" he asked.
"That the feeling was mutual" S2 said with a wide smile on her face.
Mikey was a bit shocked. "How'd you know?" he asked in pleasant surprise.
She shrugged. "Lucky guess" she giggled. In her mind however, she thought of how Kris made her feel the same way.
Mikey shook his head and chuckled. "Some of the ways she shows it is insane. Like, okay! There was this one time when my brothers and I were surrounded by police officers, and this was the first time the police had ever seen us, so they were all freaked out, and because of that there were a couple who started calling us monsters" he stated, now animatedly explaining the situation with his hands.
"Oh no" S2 said.
"Hold on, listen!" Mikey said in excitement. "So Sam could sense how upset I was, and at the time we were all still learning a lot about her powers. She couldn't control them all the time, and at that moment her powers kicked in with this want to protect me. That's when this huge gust of wind went whoosh!" he exclaimed, thrusting his arms to the side to emphasize the strength of the wind.
"Dang, your friend sounds badass" S2 laughed. "I wish I had powers like that."
"Oh, Sam was a badass even before she got powers. Her powers just emphasize her badassery."
The two continued to talk and get to know each other. If someone were to walk in, they would have no idea that these two were feuding and that S2 had slapped and insulted Mikey mere hours before.
But that's just how Mikey was. He was a kind soul who took the time to get to know someone, as long as they were willing to talk and make amends, that is. His other brothers would be more stubborn and would make someone really challenge themselves to want to stay around and get them to let the person in, just like they had tested Sam and had made it difficult for her to get them to open up to her. But Mikey had always been much easier going and willing to get to know and accept others, and at the moment, S2 was very grateful for that.
It was now about 12:00a.m. The two were still talking on the couch when the apartment door slowly creeped open. S2 noticed that Mikey tensed up and how his hand instantly reached for his back where his weapons were held, but his hand retracted immediately once he saw that it was Sam who was entering the room.
She dragged her feet as she dully walked through the doorway.
Mikey gingerly stood up and began to walk towards Sam. "Hey. How'd it go?" he asked cautiously.
Sam just stood there for a few seconds, staring forward blankly. She finally brought herself to face Mikey as she began to speak, pain and anguish evident in her voice.
She shook her head. "I couldn't even talk to them. I texted them where to meet me, and I just stood outside. I saw each of them, and I just couldn't bring myself to talk to them. I…I don't know why" she muttered with a quivering lip as she took a step forward.
Her arms were still by her side, but Mikey knew that Sam was in a lifeless state. He caught her as she basically fell forward, completely emotionless, and he held her.
He stood there and held onto her, not moving unless she signaled that she was ready for her to let her go.
S2 watched from back on the couch and was amazed at the scene that had just unfolded in front of her. There was no communication about what the girl needed, and yet the mutant knew exactly what she needed in this moment: to be held silently while she pieced herself back together after seeing her siblings in the flesh after having them stolen from her years before.
And the main thought that kept coming back to her mind was that this is how she and Kris were. They were also able to take care of each other without even speaking one word. She found this pair very interesting and she wanted to keep an eye on them. She assumed they were an item, but wasn't quite sure since no one had made any comment about this, not even Michelangelo himself when it was just the two of them sitting alone on the couch together.
"Thank you" Sam said, finally speaking and breaking the silence as she also ended her stillness as she slowly wrapped her arms around the mutant in front of her.
"Of course" he whispered, holding onto her a little tighter.
"Um, hey" S2 intervened awkwardly.
"Shit" Sam whispered as she quickly pulled away from Mikey, feeling a bit embarrassed for letting a stranger see her emotional side.
"Sorry, sorry" S2 said in a bit of a panic. "I just, I can't imagine what you're feeling but…if you want a second chance to see all of them, I can arrange something" she said cautiously.
Sam's eyes went wide.
"You…you would do that for me?" she asked, her lip beginning to quiver once more.
"Of course" S2 said gently. "Besides, I kinda owe you for hurting your brothers" she said with an awkward smile.
Sam couldn't help but let out a short laugh. She walked up and threw her arms around her alternate.
"Thank you" she said as a sole tear rolled down her cheek.
"Ahhhh so you are a hugger like me" S2 teased as she hugged her alternate back.
"Yeah" Sam chuckled, "but you know what I'm not"
"What?"
"Cold. Now go put some real clothes on" Sam said as she pat the girl on the shoulders.
S2 laughed. "Why? It's not like I'm going anywhere."
Sam was taken aback. "Oh? So you don't wanna join us on the greatest adventure of your life?"
"What?" S2 asked in excitement.
"Uhhhhhh Sam? What are you doing?" Mikey asked nervously.
"Bringing my alternate self with us below ground. Donnie texted me and updated me on everything that's happening."
"Yeah, and I'm sure he told you not to bring your alternate underground with us."
"Yeah, and I lied and told him I wouldn't." She then spun around to her other self. "I trick him like that a lot" she said with a wide smile.
"Ohhhhh we're going to get along very well" Sam said as she threw her arm around S2's shoulder. "Now let's go change you into something much more comfortable."
She laughed as her alternate rolled her eyes as the two headed towards the bedroom.
Mikey just plopped back down onto the couch as he held his head in his hands, thinking the whole time about how much his brothers were going to kill him.
I'M BACKKKKKK!
Oh my god! So much of this chapter has been sitting on my laptop for like, what, 5 months now? But FINALLY this past semester ended and I can finally sit in front of my laptop because I want to again :')
Hopefully if you were a past reader than you will return and continue to enjoy the series. Sorry if you though I disappeared on you, I just had to go to college and I enjoyed working with my kiddos, but man this semester has been tough on me -_-
I'm just glad to be back :D
Let me know what you think, and I hope I'm able to write much MUCH more throughout this summer! :D