The rat man was baring his eyes into my soul and you stared right back at him. You didn't know what to say or do and his black penetrating eyes seriously creeped you out. As a result of that you just sat there in silence.
It seemed like he wasn't going to do anything and was waiting for you to move or speak. You felt so strange and this situation really made you anxious. Can he even speak? Would he understand you? Oh god this is so stressful. You couldn't take it anymore so you just kind of waved at him awkwardly? "Hey there." you smiled a little, hoping you seemed polite enough.
He still wasn't answering and his mouth twitched a little which made you even more nervous. Is he planning on eating you? Did April try to get rid of you this way or something? No, he can't move with so many injuries, can he? The situation was so tense you started to think about leaving as soon as possible. Maybe if you just got up and left...
And then he fucking sneezed. You got so scared that you jerked away screaming on the top of your lungs. You gripped the fabric of your shirt right above your chest and looked at him wide eyed. He shook his head and finally spoke. "Oh, and who might you be?" He looked completely unbothered by what just happened. You breathed in sharply and felt your heart racing in your ribcage. You were so startled you felt like crying. Was he sleeping with his eyes open?
"I'm April's f-friend." you blurred out and you were almost sure that you had a mild heart attack a few seconds ago because your heart felt like it could jump out of your chest. "I'm here because she called me to fix you up."
He turned his head facing upwards and tried to move his arms around. If it hurt him, he didn't let it show. "Yes, I do recall her telling me you would come Y/n." You were still a little shook but you found yourself relaxing a little. His voice had this calming effect on you. He spoke like everything was okay so you decided to ignore the fact he already knew your name. You guessed that April told him that much.
"What happened here?" you asked, motioning your hand to the fallen rocks on the ground everywhere in this strange place. April told you there's been a fight but a simple fight couldn't have such severe consequences as this.
He signed. "We were attacked by Shredder."
"Shredder?! Like the leader of the foot clan Shredder?" you said this with clear sarcasm while raising your eyebrows. No way this happened. But then again, the place was a complete mess and the rat man before you was clearly almost torn to pieces. But if Shredder was here earlier, where was April now?
He was about to answer you but instead a long set of wheezes and squeals came out of his throat. He wasn't choking but rather making these weird noises. "Uhh... You okay sir?" you swallowed loudly not sure what to do now.
He dismissed you with a slight wave of his hand so you just sat there awkwardly again for a while. When he stopped after a moment, he tried to sit up and you tried to stop him "No, no, you definitely shouldn't move around yet." He didn't look very pleased but did as you said, focusing his attention back to you.
"I don't remember much from the time I was in the laboratory. I am not sure, but I think I can remember you showing up a few times." He told you like that was a fact you were supposed to accept and move on.
But you were beyond confused. You had no idea what he was on about. In addition to this you felt really uncomfortable because you didn't know what to expect from him next. "A lab." repeating the word didn't clear your memory at all. "What do you mean?"
He tried sitting up again and this time you gently pushed him back down. Careful to avoid all the stitched up areas. "April's father worked there." You of course knew this so that didn't help at all. He furrowed his eyebrows and then added "I don't like talking to someone while laying down. Stand up."
You didn't want to stand up. You really didn't but you decided to give in. What if he's going to have another wheezing fit? "How is that going to help?" you complained while standing up and pushing the chair aside.
"Now I don't have to turn my head." he replied casually. You wanted to say something to that but he quickly interrupted you "You were visiting April's father with her in his lab when you were young."
"Really? I don't remember ever doing that. I'm sure I would have remembered you." you protested. You've never visited the lab as far as you recall. Your own father would never let you. Where did he even know all this from?
"Well I was just a regular rat before April saved us and we mutated," he explained.
"What." you were so lost.
He squirted his eyes at you and his nose did a little adorable wiggling motion. "I guess April really hadn't told you anything about us-"
"Us like in multiple? There are more of you?" There was no way, more rat men were running around in the sewers. No.
"Yeah. Ugh" he suddenly lifted his arm and touched his head, closing his eyes. You stepped closer, placing your hand on the table.
The concussion. Maybe he didn't even know what he was talking about. You couldn't be sure anything he tells you now is even true. "You could feel like this for a while. Dizzy, maybe your head is going to hurt." you informed him, biting onto your lip. You wanted to ask about everything April didn't tell you but he was in no condition to chat with you right now. "Hey uh- I still don't know your name."
"Splinter." he muttered.
"Splinter. I need to find April now. To talk to her. Do you know where she went?" you said softly in case his head was sensitive to loud sounds at the moment.
"I uh- I don't understand any of those modern things but there should be a tracking... box? On the table by the computers.'' He tried his best to explain and you quickly followed his instructions. You managed to find a small tracking device and turn it on.
A little dot was blinking on the screen but it was moving strangely fast. Even for a car.
"Who is this thing tracking?"
"One of my sons. Find him, you'll find April."
———
You took the elevator because walking up the stairs was against your nature and it would take too long. You impatiently waited for it to open and then pressed the top floor button multiple times just to be sure. When the elavator moved the only noise was a quiet humming of the elevator engines.
You wondered if it was a good idea to let Vernon alone in the lab. He may have been playing a hero in front of you but you knew he was shitting his pants. The sooner April's friends finish whatever they were doing up there the sooner the medics can get to Vernon.
You faced a mirror on the wall behind you and observed your swollen nose. It wasn't so bad but the bruising was still to fully show. The only thing that pissed you off was that you'll have to show up to work like this on monday. It was an embarrassing story too. Why couldn't it be something cool like a brutal fist fight with a cop? Even falling down the stairs would be better than this.
Your thought process was interrupted by another sudden shake of the building. The elevator lights went out and then lit up again and you grabbed the railing for support.
You were scared for a moment that you're gonna get stuck in here, but then the elevator finally stopped on the top floor. You hoped April was okay because whatever was happening up there didn't sound good. You got out expecting to be on the roof already. To your displeasure you stepped out only to see a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway.
One thing was for sure, your condition was terrible and you had to start exercising more. Groaning you quickly went up the first set of stairs, second then third. You had to stop a few times to catch your breath but after the last one you finally saw light above you.
And there in the light stood April, she was holding the tube with green liquid she had grabbed from the lab earlier. "That belongs to me." a deep voice spoke. You couldn't see who it was but the dude sounded like there was something stuck in his throat. April backed away from him. Sparks and pieces of metal were falling down, you assumed from the tower on the top of the building.
You quickly moved up the last few steps separating you from the roof. Calling out April's name before you fully reached the top. She didn't look at you but she stepped a bit to the side and that was when you finally saw the full scene playing out i front of you.
Man dressed in heavy armour was standing before you and the whole tower was collapsing behind him. You took a hesitant step back and watched the metal construction diving towards the ground with an awful lot of noise. Then your eyes fell back on the armoured men. Shredder, you realised. He was looking at April, slowly moving around with dangerously sharp blades that were attached to his arms. Your gaze met Aprils and Shredder used this to his advantage.
April must have heard his shoes screech beneath him as he charged at her with full speed. However, she reacted immediately throwing you the tube with the green stuff inside. It all happened so fast you could barely take it all in. One second you were reaching for the tube, purely on instincts. The other you watched April being yanked off of the roof by Shredder.
"April!!" you screamed on top of your lungs holding onto the tube for dear life as you hurried to the railing. Your soul left your body when you saw April free falling off the building but she managed to grab onto the fallen construction stuck between two skyscrapers. Sadly Shredder managed to save himself as well.
You held in your breath as you watched her struggle to hold onto it, seriously debating whether to jump after her if necessary. Fuck, if April fell down you would be following right after her. No question. Shredder was hanging by his arms trying to pull himself up. You were rooting for the metal rod to gave up above him.
"Miss, I advise you to step away from the edge." someone yelled at you from behind. You assumed it was the cops so you didn't even turn around to look and god forbid take your eyes off of April. Her hand almost slipped and she let out a scared whimper. That was your last straw.
"Don't tell me what to do." you spat out and threw one of your legs over the railing. You were determined to go help her however you could.
"Dude she is going to jump!"
"Catch her!"
You could hear voices behind you but you didn't really focus on them. You were trying to figure out how to jump after her without letting go of the tube and breaking it.
Then, a pair of strong arms wrapped around you and pulled you back onto the platform. You struggled against them, throwing around in their arms, trying to break free. It was no use, the person behind you was insanely strong. You would fight them but you held onto that container in your hands and you didn't want to break it. Because even though you didn't know what it was, it was important to April.
You lost sight of her and your aggressive kicking and struggling turned to desperation. "Go on without me and help April, I will take care of this." it was clear from his voice that you were giving him a hard time. That was the moment you calmed down. You realised this must be one of April's friends. One of Splinter's sons. Hope arose in you and when the person realised you weren't fighting back anymore, they decided to let you go.
Please don't be a giant rat, please don't be a giant rat.
You turned around and the first thing you noticed were two deep blue eyes staring down at you. "Are you going to try to jump off the building again?" he asked with hands raised in front of him as if ready to grab you again if you tried anything.
You looked at those hands reaching for you. They were green? Your eyes traveled along his frame when you studied him. Your gaze stopped at his face, he looked a bit worried and you furrowed your brows. You started your little observation all over again. Paying attention to his height, his appearance, his weapons, his blue bandana...
Holy shit.
There was a giant fucking frog standing in front of you. No, not a frog. Frogs don't have shells, a turtle. Big, muscular, armed, in a weird way attractive turtle. "I am not even fucking surprised anymore." you muttered under your breath shaking your head.
"Excuse me?" he asked, clearly confused. Maybe he expected you to run away screaming when you saw him or something. On normal terms you would be reacting very much differently. You weren't sure why you weren't freaking out at all. This was the most surreal situation you've ever been in.
"I said I am not going to try to jump off the roof again." you spoke louder and he nodded in acknowledgement. The construction in between the buildings screeched again so you stepped away from him a little. Just so you could turn your head to see what was going on down there. You couldn't see anything. Without second thought you walked up to the edge again, the giant turtle following close behind.
Oh god there are three more...
"I have to go help my brothers. Don't do anything stupid please." said the turtle in blue bandana as he walked past you but when he was about to jump across the railing he looked at you one last time. Then his gaze found the green tube in your hands "Look after it for us, okay?" You nodded your head and with that he jumped.
You watched as he landed on the metal construction with ease. As if jumping more than 18 metres from a skyscraper was something he was used to. He got to the other turtle guys who were with April already. You were much calmer when you saw that the turtle in red had his hand against her back for support.
Freaking turtle ninjas.
Then you looked over at Shredder you noticed that he couldn't be bothered by the four muscular brutes in front of him. Instead he was looking at you. You realised the thing you were holding in your arms must be super important. Shredder placed his free hand on his ear and you could hear him say something very faintly. The turtle in red threw his weapon at him and it pierced his shoulder, his hand going limp.
It was that moment that you felt someone approaching you from behind. April's warning shout only confirmed it. All of the turtle brothers turned to look at you arguing about something between eachother.
You turned around to find yourself facing a female with two foot soldiers at her sides. "Give us the mutagen and maybe I'll make your death quick." she said and pointed her katana at you. You knew what it was called now, you had time to google it. But that didn't change a thing.
You were screwed.