Sasha approached. She stomped her foot down on the back of Raph's shell. He winces.
"Nice catch," Sasha chortles. She peers down at Athena.
Sasha takes her foot off the turtle and steps away. "Well, go on. Pull her up."
Raph didn't question why Sasha would allow him to. With his other hand, he gripped the side of the building as he hoisted Athena up. He groaned and huffed. His arm shook with the pain from the cuts and bruises and the strain of pulling her up.
Once Athena could reach the ledge of the rooftop, she pushed herself up, relieving some of the tension in Raph's arm. She embraced him and dried her tears.
"Thank you," Athena whispers.
"Like I was going to let you fall," Raph groans. A soft laugh escapes his lips. "How many times is that now that I've saved your life?"
Raph slumped back onto the rooftop. He held his incredibly sore arm and heaved. Athena looked at him frighteningly worried. She traced the cut across his face with her thumb. He flinched.
Past Athena, Raph could see Sasha walking toward them. He attempted to sit back up. He fell back as he unexpectedly put too much weight on his arms. Athena looked behind her. Raph tried to get back up but Athena was much faster to get back on her feet. She took his sai and as she raced toward Sasha, she swooped down and picked up the other one she had dropped.
Athena was able to land a good few hits. Sasha, of course, returned them. But, Athena wasn't about to hold back.
"You're good," Sasha compliments. She blocks Athena's sais and pushes her away. As Athena stumbles back, she sweeps her legs out from under her. Sasha shakes her head. "But... you fight just like Karai."
Athena clutches the sais tighter. Her knuckles turn white. It was true, she did fight like Karai. Karai was her sensei. Karai taught her everything she knew. Sasha knew everything she knew and how to best defend against it. Even still, Athena noticed just how similar her and Sasha's fighting styles were as well. Sasha also fought similarly to Karai.
Sasha and Athena were both so focused on offense—landing hits. Athena lowered her head. She thought back to her sparring match with Leonardo. He was so easily able to avoid her advances and defeat her when the opening was provided. Indeed, Sasha was stronger and faster, but if Athena wanted a decent chance against Sasha, she'd have to take a page from Leo's playbook.
"Alright, Athena," she mumbles to herself. "Precision."
Athena stands up again. Sasha looks at her amusingly. She didn't intend to keep this fight going much longer.
When the two returned to their battle, Sasha was taken by surprise. She hadn't anticipated Athena switching up her attacks. Her movements were meticulous, which provided the room Athena needed to successfully counter Sasha's moves. Despite the change in agility, Sasha still managed to overpower Athena. She pushed her away and kept an arm outstretched toward her. Sasha's eyes fogged with the darkness and all of a sudden, Athena couldn't move.
Sasha leaned her head over her shoulder. Raph had managed to get up on his feet. Although slower, he had already begun racing towards Sasha. But, he too, stopped right in his tracks, unable to move. Sasha's arm shook under the immense strength it took to hold both Raph and Athena in place. The pain and tension were almost too much but Sasha held strong.
"Remember this fight, Raphael. I want you to remember how I could have killed you. This was your only chance to give me what I wanted without serious consequences. Next time, it will not be so easy." Sasha tilts her chin up. "But if your brothers are half as good as you are, you all might prove to be an actual challenge."
Sasha turns her head back to face Athena. She smiles. "I don't think we'll be seeing much of each other."
Sasha's arms caved. She lowered them and took off sprinting toward the edge of the building. She jumped to the next and kept running. It didn't take long before her figure began a small spec and disappeared in the distance and into the night.
When they could no longer see her, Raph fell to his knees and hunched over. Athena rushed to him, kneeling beside him. She placed one hand on his back and the other on his plastron.
"Are you okay?" Raph grumbles.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Athena says. There was barely a scratch on her. She only suffered minor bruising.
Athena places one of his arms around her shoulders. With her free arm, she picks up to box. "Come on, we have to go. Let's get you some help."
The descent down the building took longer than usual and the process of dropping down into the sewers below was rather difficult. Raph was not capable of moving much faster. Athena remained patient although rather anxious. She wanted to get back to the lair much quicker.
Eventually, after slow stumbles and groaning, Athena and Raph came upon the lair. Casey and Mikey sat exactly where they had been when they left. Mikey heard the footsteps. He sat up and turned with a wide smile. It instantly dropped.
"Dudes!" Mikey whispered urgently. "What happened?!"
Casey turns. "Bro. Who beat your ass?"
Raph rolls his eyes. "Not now, Casey."
Athena pointed at Donnie's door. Mikey shot up and raced passed them. Athena led Raph to Donnie's door. Mikey gave a brief and quiet knock before pushing the door open. Donnie was fast asleep and didn't wake at Mikey's gentle nudges. Casey entered the room and, without much thought or guilt, began violently shaking Donatello. It took a few seconds for the turtle to process what was happening but, when he did, he sat up with the utmost fury and annoyance.
"What the hell is wrong with you? I'm trying to sleep here."
"We need your expertise, Dee," Mikey says.
"What could you possibly..."
Donnie stopped himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the silhouette of Raph and Athena in the doorway. He squinted and his mouth dropped open.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Long story," Athena whispers.
Donnie stood up from his bed and pushed past Casey and Mikey to help his brother. He took Raph's other arm and placed it around his shoulders. The extra help made walking that much easier and faster for Raphael.
They headed for the lab—Casey and Mikey following.
They set Raph on a table. Donnie gave him a quick once-over before gathering all of his medical supplies and first aid.
"You better get to explaining," Donnie says, bringing the supplies over. He begins wiping the blood away and disinfecting all the cuts.
Raph winces and draws a sharp breath. "We were attacked."
"Obviously." Casey rolls his eyes. "Who attacked you?"
"A Foot soldier." Athena sets her box down and folds her arms. "A new one."
"It was Sasha," Raph answers bluntly.
For a moment, everyone froze.
"Are you sure it was her?" Donnie inquires.
"Didn't need a formal introduction to know. It was her. No doubt about it."
"She's the one that beat you up?" Mikey taps his chin. "Isn't that kind of embarrassing?"
Raph glares at his younger brother. "I would love to see you try to fight her."
Casey shrugs. "I don't know. Athena doesn't look too bad."
"She wasn't interested in me at all," Athena says. "She even tried to get me to leave... she had it out for Raph. I could hardly do anything against her to help him."
A worried expression crosses Mikey's lips. "Oh... so she's like... good-good."
"Neither of us even sensed her coming," Raph grumbles.
"We were... a bit distracted," Athena mentions.
Casey's mouth hangs open. His eyes widen. A look of pure disgust.
Athena catches his look, rolls her eyes, and shakes her head. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Casey. Not that!"
Casey holds his hands up. "Sorry, sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Raph mutters. "Should've been able to hear her coming."
"That's rather unsettling," Donnie comments.
Donnie moved up to Raph's face. He examined his lip and sighed. He would have to stitch it up. How inconvenient for him.
"How're you gonna hide this from Leo, bro?" Mikey questions.
"He's going to be pissed," Donnie adds.
"I'm not going to hide anything," Raph responds. "Just hoping he doesn't make a big scene about it in the morning."
"I doubt he would in front of their parents," Donnie ponders. "After they leave, though... might want to prepare ourselves for the fight of the century."
"I'm not going to fight with him."
"You say that... until he starts lecturing and bossing you around," Mikey says. "I'll be having popcorn ready."
"Whatever," Raph mumbles.
Donnie began stitching up Raph's lip. There wasn't much else that could've been said. So, Casey and Mikey wished everyone a good night and headed off to bed. Athena waited up for Donnie to finish patching Raph up.
Once Donnie finished stitching, he wrapped a bandage across and around Raph's face. He gave Raph a few icepacks for the bruises.
"That is going to leave a scar," Donnie comments. He shakes his head. "I'm going back to bed. Only wake me up if somebody's dying."
"Thank you, Donnie," Athena whispers.
He smiled and left the room. Donnie was eager to return to his slumber.
Athena helped Raph off the table. He grimaced at the stinging pain. He did his best to stand tall as they left the lab. Raph couldn't help but limp a little as he walked. Athena did her best to support him.
She led Raph to his room. Athena held his arm as he lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. He clenched his teeth.
"This is going to hurt like hell in the morning," Raph groans.
Athena sits next to him. She sighs. "We should have listened to Leo. We shouldn't have left."
Raph shakes his head. "Come on..."
"I have to say it. We shouldn't have gone." Athena looks at her feet. "It was stupid."
Raph turns his eyes downward.
"We got ahead of ourselves," Athena continues.
"Yeah..." Raph murmurs.
"Don't take it the wrong way. I had a good time... up until, well, I wasn't." She turns her head to look at Raph. "I'm just scared."
He glances up at her.
"It doesn't sit right with me that I get to just up and leave all this behind. I want to be here. And it's scary that I won't be when I know about all the dangerous..." Athena tries to find the right word, "...shit that is everywhere here. Going out was stupid and I just really don't want you to do anything else that's stupid."
Raph can't help but smile. He purses his lips together in an attempt to hide the grin. It doesn't work too well. A faint laugh escapes his mouth as he shakes his head.
"Why are you laughing at me?" Athena demands. Her face turns red with anger and embarrassment. She had just spilled out her worries to him and that was his response?
"You're worrying about something you can't control. I won't do anything stupid but everything my brothers and I have to do is still just as dangerous." The inner corner of Raph's eye ridges curves upward in a reassuring expression. "I am beyond happy that you won't have to be here for it."
Athena's lips trembled. Her eyes glossed with the tears she tried to hold back. She let one slide and Raph raised his thumb to her cheek to wipe it away. Although it pained him, physically to move in such a way, he pulled her closer to himself in a hug.
"And, for the record," Raph begins, "I don't think what we did was stupid. You didn't get hurt."
"What about you?" Athena whispers between sobs.
"I'm okay," Raph reassures. "I'm okay. Nothing happened to you. That's the most important part. I didn't and would never let anything like that happen to you... not again."
There was a moment when nothing else was said. All that filled the silence was her muffled crying.
Raph's smile returned.
"I told you, I've got you."