"Pizza's here!" Raphael calls out.
Mikey, Donnie and I lift our gaze from the TV playing Super Mecha Robot Force.
"Wait..." Mikey scans Raphael. "You only brought one pizza? I'm like a two pizzas all by myself dude!"
"Too bad," Raph says.
"Doesn't matter Mikey," Donnie says. We grab one slice each and start to eat, when Mikey narrows his eyes at us.
"The pizza," he takes out a smoke bomb, "is mine."
He throws it to the ground revealing the bomb's purple smoke.
"Mikey!" Raph yells.
"I cannot believe you did that!" Donnie says.
However, I laugh loudly at Mikey and point at him when I see that his trick failed miserably. He wasn't able to grab the whole pizza and instead all the slices are scattered on the ground.
"The pizza..." Mikey says anxiously. "Where's the pizza?!" He crawls around trying to find every slice, having Donnie, Raph and I laughing at him.
"I can't believe you guys are fooling around like this when Karai needs us," Leonardo says.
"Not this again," Raph says.
"Raph, we have to rescue her," Leonardo tries to convince him.
"She may believe that Splinter is her father," Raph says, "but she was raised by Shredder. Do you think she'll turn on him just like that?"
"I do," Leonardo replies.
"I'm with Leonardo on this one," I say.
"Not you too!" Raph gets up. "Out of all of us, you should hate her the most!"
"You're overreacting," I tell him. "If Karai wanted to attack us she already would have done it."
"Thank you, Sara," Leonardo gestures proudly at me. "Besides, I'm the leader of this team, aren't I?"
Donnie and Raph exchange looks and don't say anything.
"So I'm only the leader until I give you an order you don't like?" Leonardo challenges them.
"Pretty much," Raph replies.
Leonardo rolls his eyes and begins walking away from us. "Have it your way. I'm checking out Shredder's lair."
I catch up to him. "I'm coming with you."
We walk past Mikey, who's still on his sorrowful scavenger hunt for pizza slices. Leonardo and I are already outisde the lair, when the other turtles (yes, even Mikey) catch up to us, and the five of us climb into the Shellraiser. We already know the way to Shredder's lair, so we make our way there.
"I'm thinking we might have better luck if we tunnel up from beneath Shredder's lair," Leonardo says while he drives.
"I know!" Mikey blurts out. "What if we tunnel down from above? That'll really confuse him!"
"You can't tunnel dowb from-ugh!" Raph gives up on trying to explain it to Mikey. "We're not tunneling, we're not going in!"
"Seriously," I look at Raph. "Why did you even come then?"
"Because you did," Raph admits.
"Well if you're gonna be here, you cooperate," I say. "If you don't like it there's manholes all over the city and you can go home. We don't wanna put up with your whining."
Raphael looks at me with hints of sadness, and then he looks back at his screen. "Fine."
I go stand next to Leonardo. "Any ideas?"
I'm still having a hard time trying to figure out what's up with him and Karai, but at the same time, I love him. I really do, and I somehow want him to know I do.
"So far-" Leonardo doesn't finish his sentence.
"Hit the brakes!" Donnie starts to yell, when Leonardo reacts quickly but still the Shellraiser hits something before it stops completely.
"What was that?" I ask Donnie.
"A guy," he replies. "But he only showed up on infrared."
"An invisible guy," Leonardo says. "Is this a Kraang thing?"
"I don't know," I say.
Raph walks away a few meters and crouches down as if he were going to pick something up. Then, a large group of Foot Bots surrounds us from the rooftops with their weapons pulled out.
"Guys?" Raphael calls our attention. He holds out the item that he picked up from the invisible guy. "You're not gonna believe this."
It's Shredder's helmet.
Raphael puts it back in the bag and stands with us. We stand in a circle facing the many Foot Bots with our weapons pulled out.
"So what's the plan?" Raph asks.
"Oh, you know," Leonardo replies. "Kick, punch, stab..."
"Right in my alley, bro!" Mikey says. "Come and get some, Foot suckers!"
All the Foot Bots rush toward us so we scatter and fight them separately.
"Come on!" Leonardo says when there aren't many Foot bots left, and we all fall back to the Shellraiser.
"Booyakasha!" Mikey yells out and throws a smoke bomb to distract the Foot Bots allowing us to get inside the Shellraiser and drive away.
"Got that helmet, Raph?" Leonardo asks.
"You bet," Raph holds up the bag with Shredder's helmet in it.
"This is perfect, guys," Leonardo says happily. "Perfect!"
"Yay-ah!" Mikey celebrates with his brother. "Wait... what is?"
"The helmet," Leonardo continues, "we can trade it for Karai!"
"You're delusional..." Raph says.
"Are you sure they'll want to?" I ask.
"It has to be important," Leonardo says, "otherwise they wouldn't have sent the Foot to chase it."
"Seriously, how many times does Karai have to try to kill us for you to realize she's not on our side?" Raph says angrily.
"You're wrong about her, Raph-"
Something hits the Shellraiser making it lose control and spin around, making us crash on its walls. Finally, it comes to a stop and we get out as soon as we can.
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't Karai, Raph," I say rubbing my head.
Leonardo helps me up. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I say.
A laser impacts the ground right next to me driving my attention to the sky. It's Tiger Claw flying toward us with his jetpack and shooting continuously at us, along with Razhar.
"Don't let him get the helmet!" Leonardo yells at Raph who is holding the bag.
I aim at Tiger Claw and fire an arrow that hits his arm, but he still manages to keep a steady flight pattern.
"Sara!" Mikey yells. "Throw me!"
I lie on the ground and allow Mikey to stand on my feet so that I can launch him up. In the air, Mikey kicks Tiger Claw away and we run away to a fire escape. Raphael throws the helmet at me and I catch it, but Razhar now comes after us.
At the top of the building, Xever and Stockman take us by surprise.
"I believe you have something we need," Xever says.
"Deodorant?" Mikey mocks.
Xever chuckles. "Funny, turtle."
Behind us, Razhar towers above us. I hang on tightly to the helmet and try to run out of there while Leonardo protects me. Stockman (nicknamed Buzzkill) shoots acid at us but fails almost every time.
"He has a million eyes," Mikey says, "you'd think his aim would be better."
Then, the metal beams holding up the billboard start to creak. They're melting because of the acid that fell on them, and the billboard falls on top of Mikey, Raph and Donnie.
"No!" Leonardo and I yell at the same time.
I fire an arrow at Buzzkill making him go berzerk, and Leonardo runs on top of the fallen billboard and tries to get his brothers out.
"You two go!" Raph says. "Save Karai, we'll handle it!"
"Got it!" Leonardo yells. "Hey freaks, we have your helmet!"
Leonardo takes my hand and we run as fast as we can. Luckily we can put a lot of distance between us and the mutants. When we're running through a deserted street, Leonardo is suddenly hit back.
It's the invisible man.
Leonardo gets up and faces me.
"Ooh," I hear someone saying. By the sound of his voice I can tell he's young, and the tone tells me he likes something he sees. "Now that's one fine looking girl!"
I look around angrily until I literally feel the guy put an arm around me. He then becomes visible: he's wearing a black suit with purple circuitry and high-tech glasses.
"Enchanté," he says, "the name's Zech."
Leonardo runs up to him while he's distracted and kicks him away, harder than I've ever seen him kick anyone. I feel flattered, but I also realize we should probably lead Zech away from us. I look over at the dark alley and get an idea. I take the helmet and run toward the dumpster and get the helmet out of the bag and replace it with trash.
Then I throw the bag at Zech and push him. "Have fun with your friends!" Tiger Claw, Razhar, Xever, and Buzzkill start running toward us from the edge of the street. I grab Leonardo's hand and lead him into the alley.
"Wait," he says and grabs a bannana and throws it randomly to trick the mutants into thinking we kept running. Then we hide inside the dumpster and close it, and listen as the mutants go further and further.
"You have the helmet, right?" He asks.
"Yeah," I say and realize the position we're in. Leonardo is right on top of me, his face really close to mine.
"You know," I say, "this would be very nice if we weren't inside a dumpster."
"Yeah..." he says, and we hear a small thud. Leonardo flinches in the cutest possible way. "What's on my head?"
"A diaper," I say.
"GAAH!" He yells and throws his arms up opening the dumpster. The coast is clear, so there's no problem now.
"That idiot was hitting on you," Leonardo says referring to Zech.
"That's what bothers you?" I ask. "As if you had any right to be jealous..."
Leonardo looks at me, puzzled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hello?" I say. "Have you forgotten all your going nuts over Karai?"
He sighs, and he smiles at me sweetly. He takes a few steps toward me so that he's close enough for me to feel his warm breath on my skin. As he steps closer, his soft smile doesn't fade.
His left hand lightly traces a strand of hair that's over my face away, and his right hand pulls my mask down and then cups my cheek lovingly. I feel the rate of my heart get faster, and my grey eyes look into the leader's blue ones.
He leans down and he kisses my lips, softly yet very expressive. I close my eyes and slowly kiss him back.
"I love you," he says and starts kissing again. "I love you... and only you."
I kiss him back with more force after hearing those words and my arms go up around his neck.
"I love you too," I say quietly. I gently hold his jaw and look into his beautiful blue eyes.
Leonardo moans softly when he kisses me and his hands travel down to my waist holding me firmly. His kissing gets stronger too, until he stops but keeps holding me up to him. And during this time, I feel good. I feel safe and secure, sure that he loves me and that I love him. I even feel happy.
"We should go," I say after a long while of silence.
"Yeah," he replies and gently breaks the hug. He grabs the helmet from the dumpster. "Come on."
We climb up the building and keep making our way to Shredder's lair freely now that we don't have to worry about mutants chasing us. We use the little breach in the corner of the glass of Shredder's lair to go in quietly. Leonardo holds the helmet with one hand, and my hand with the other.
We walk in the familiar main hall of the lair wary of who could come out. And then...
"Why does the fly wander into the spider's web?" It's Shredder, towering above us; his face is burned and looks viciously at us.
"Because all the spider's henchmen are out," Leonardo steps in front of me.
"Have you come to make a trade?"
"The helmet for Karai," Leonardo holds out the helmet.
Shredder looks at one of his Foot Bots. "Very well. She will have to be brought up from the dungeon."
Leonardo turns around and looks down at me. "Sara, I need you to watch over Karai and whatever happens, don't fight Shredder."
"Only if you don't either," I say.
The Foot Bot brings Karai back with a bag on her head and places her beside Shredder.
"Let me go!" She says.
"Now," Shredder says, "the Kuro Kabuto."
"How do I know you won't attack me once you have the helmet?"
"Of course I will attack you," Shredder replies. "Did you think I would let you get out of this without a fight? It will be one on one. The Human Turtle stays out."
Leonardo sets the helmet down beside him and pulls out one of his katanas. "Sara, promise?"
I nod worriedly at him, and then, Shredder charges at Leonardo. He kicks him away with way too much ease and pins him against a wall.
"No!" I yell.
"Sara, please-"
"Pathetic," Shredder says. "But that is to be expected when your sensei is a coward like Splinter. You never should have tried to do this alone."
"He didn't!" Raph's voice fills the room. Behind him, Donnie and Mikey have their weapons out.
"Guys!" Leonardo yells.
"We weren't gonna leave you two alone together for too long," Raph says.
"And none of us wants to tell Splinter we didn't try to save his daughter," says Donnie.
"Now let's take Shred-head down," Mikey says.
The turtles run over there and help Leonardo out. I run over to the throne and take out the Foot Bot that's guarding Karai to later pick her up.
"You'll be alright now," I tell her and take out my bow and arrow. I am at Shredder, who's completely distracted by the turtles fighting him.
"Move it!" I yell at the turtles.
They each move away from Shredder. That's when I shoot the arrow, and it successfully hits Shredder's shoulder electrifying his armor and weakening him. Mikey throws a smoke bomb giving us enough time to escape.
We hop from roof to roof until we're close enough to the lair.
"Alright Karai," I say and start to take the bag off her head. "Welcome-"
I stop. This isn't Karai.
It's a time bomb.
"Take cover!" I yell, and the bomb explodes.
"No!" Leonardo yells in distress once we're out of harm.
Mikey, Donnie and even Raph seem upset. I do too. How could this have happened? And why the hell didn't I take the bag off when we were still there?!
Leonardo sighs and looks back at the city. I walk up to him and hug him from behind.
"This isn't over," I say. "Remember your plan to tunnel up?"
"Yeah," he replies.
"Well get ready to do it."
He takes my hand and squeezes it, and then looks at me with grateful and determined eyes.