Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Evita's mother had always told that in times of danger, the best thing to do was to show no fear and to herself if she ever needed. Her father always told her to always be kind, and to never judge someone by the way they looked. She never imagined that she'd have to do both in the same situation.

It was late, and she had been running from the store trying her best to avoid the Purple Dragons when she had stumbled upon the creatures before her. There were four of them, all of them varying wildly in shape, color, and attitude. They were angry, yelling, no- screaming at each other as were scrounging through a dumpster.

The blue one, who she assumed was the leader, was practically barking to the others about something to do with incompetence and time travel and something about this asshole named "Darius" . The red one was yelling something about being hungry and how the blue one was being a shitty leader. The purple one was freaking out, muttering something about " primitive technology ". The yellow one was just pissed off that he couldn't find anything edible in the dumpster.

Evita wanted to help, but at the same time, it was pretty late and she needed to get home before any purple dragons caught her. She wasn't really afraid of the creatures, especially after all the alien invasion and mutation shit that happened a couple years back, but they didn't seem too friendly with each other, and despite her father's advice, her head told her to run away and forget about them. And she would have. She would have just run off and forgotten about them, and pretended that they never existed in the first place. After all, with all the alien invasion and mutant bullshit going on, it would have been safe to assume that these four were nothing but trouble. But they didn’t seem like monsters or conquerors. They seemed like people, like humans. Maybe it was the way that they spoke to each other, almost as if they were brothers, that made them seem more human than anything else.  And even if she was wrong, even if they attacked her like those mutants or aliens would have, Evita couldn’t just leave them hanging.

Most people would have screamed, or ran off, or called the police by now. They wouldn’t have even bothered to see what they were doing before labeling them as monsters. Evita was not most people.

She knew what it was like, to be judged by the way she looked, by her race, by her ethnicity, by things she just couldn’t control. Evita had been a ton of shit just for being an afro-latina, there was no way in hell she’d willingly put someone through the same thing.

She approached them calmly, slowly, and made sure not to make any sudden movements. She sighed, before clearing her throat to get their attention. The four immediately went silent and turned to her. The blue one was shocked. The red one was fuming. The purple one looked uneasy. The yellow one gave her a smile and waved. Evita stepped forward and placed two of her grocery bags in front of them as an offering. The creatures stared at her in astonishment.

" DIBS!!!" , the yellow one screamed as he pounced on the bags and tore into them.

" I SAW 'EM FIRST, THEY'RE MINE!!!", the red one shouted as he tackled the yellow one to the ground and started throwing punches. The blue one lunged at the two wrestling over the food and tore them off each other before snatching the food and attempting to divide it between them, with the purple one laughing hysterically all the while.

Damn, these guys are weird.

Not wanting risk a run in with the Purple Dragons, Evita started to run off before she felt someone grab her arm and pull back- hard. She turned around and found herself face to face with the blue creature. He stared her down for a few moments before handing her some of the food back. He released his grip on her arm, and made his way back to the other creatures.

“Uh- Hey! Ya don't hafta give any back, I have enough!”

“Don’t bother.”, The creature replied, “My brothers and I have taken enough from you.”

“But I-”

“ DON'T bother. We've taken enough from you already.”

Evita was taken aback by his response. She couldn’t really tell if he was trying to thank her and didn’t know how, or if he was too prideful to admit that he appreciated the help. Either way, it was… odd the way he approached her. It was almost like he didn’t know to talk with someone without getting physical. Like he didn't mean to startle her, but he just didn't know not to. Kind of like how her father had said her mom was like before they met.

The leader watched as the girl quietly gathered her things and ran off. He turned back to his brothers, who were scarfing down what she had given them. He sighed before calling out to them.

“Hurry up and finish your food! We don’t want risk another person seeing us!”

“Oh, come on! ”, the mischievous brother replied, “We’re like four or five times the size of those humans! There’s no way they’d be able to take us in in this era!”

“Ever hear of guns?”, the scheming brother asked as he slapped the mischievous one with his tail.

“Who the fuck cares about some stupid guns!”, the angry brother asked in frustration, “They’ve got guns in the era we’re from! I’ll bet my goddamn shell they’re deadlier than the ones they’ve got in this era!

“Would you all just SHUT UP and finish this food? It doesn’t matter what era we’re in right now. What matters is that we need to find some shelter!”, The leader huffed.

The brothers finally settled down and went back to eating. The leader sighed as he sat down to think. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone approach, let alone hand them some food. It was surprising. Not just surprising- It was confusing.

He knew that he and his brothers were stuck a hundred years in the past, and he knew that people in this era weren’t really as accepting of differences as they’d be in 2105.That’s what he thought he knew. And yet, that girl, that human girl of all people  was willing to give up her food for them.

Darius sure as hell wouldn’t do that.

Once his brothers were done, he gathered them up at the nearest manhole and crawled down to the sewers to search for shelter. He ordered his brothers to split off into  different directions, and to meet back at the manhole when their search was done. The leader set off in his own direction, lost in thought, continuing to wonder about the girl. He had only been brought back to reality when he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. He turned to find that his scheming brother had been following him.

“I thought I told you to go in a different direction!”.

“No need to be so harsh, brother! I only  wished to ask you a mere question.”

He doubted it. The scheming brother had always been more than inquisitive. It had never been a “mere question” with him.

“Fine! But make it quick! We need to keep searching!”

His brother brother fell silent for a moment, his usual smug expression now replaced by one of deep confusion.

“When you divided the food  between us, you only made four portions. You gave the first three portions to the three of us, and gave the last one to the girl. You didn't have any.”

“Yes, and?”

“You hadn't planned on giving her any back in the first place. If you had, you would have split it into five portions. That last portion was supposed to be yours. But you gave it to her anyway.”

“What’s your point?!”

“I was wondering why you gave her your food.”

The leader went silent. He didn’t know why he felt the need to give some of the food back. It wasn’t something he felt he needed a reason for. He just felt like he had too. There wasn’t anything else to it.

“She looked like she needed it.”

“Bullshit. There’s gotta be more to it,”

“She looked like she needed it, and i felt like doing it. There’s nothing more to it.”

He turned away from his brother, trying his best to avoid his interrogation. Out of nowhere he felt a hard strike to his back. The next thing he knew was that he was on the ground, his windpipe being crushed, and a heavy weight on his shell.

“Don’t lie to me, so-called fearless leader ! There is something more to it! You know humans won’t accept us in this era! You know that! You may be dumb like the others, but you’re not stupid!”

He shook his brother off and slammed him to the ground.

“WHAT THE HELL’S THAT  GOT TO DO WITH IT?!!”

His brother got up and dusted himself off before exploding in his face.

“YOU KNOW THOSE MONGRELS  WON’T ACCEPT US, YET YOU WERE KIND TO HER ANYWAY! YOU’VE GONE SOFT , BROTHER! NOW THOSE BASTARDS WILL WALK ALL OVER US AND TREAT US LIKE SHIT BECAUSE WE COULDN’T SCARE OFF SOME GIRL! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED?! IS IT-”

He cut off his brother’s tirade with a swift blow to the jaw, knocking him down one more. He knelt down and helped his brother back up, despite his brother yelling at him not to.

“Brother, if you honestly think that showing someone gratitude is ‘going soft’, than you’re no better than Darius.”

Chapter Text

It had been a week since her encounter with the creatures, and Evita was running home once again. It was earlier in the evening than it had been a week prior, but that did nothing ease her mind. The Purple dragons were prowling closer to her home that she would have liked, and she was NOT  about to let herself get caught, not after what they did to her parents…

They died a year ago, and yet the scene was still clear in her mind. The shouting, the fight, the screams. Oh god, the screams…

Evita pushed the thought to back of her mind as she approached her apartment building, trying her best to stay vigilant. Life had been rough ever since she lost her parents. Not only did she have a crappy job with and even crappier apartment, but it always felt like Purple Dragons were hot on her trail, always watching, always waiting, and always ready to finish off her bloodline.

Evita entered her apartment with a sigh as she locked the door behind her, dropped her things, and collapsed onto the couch in exhaustion and relief.  She would live to see another day! All her struggles melted away, having to run from that goddamn gang, the stress from her stupid job- All of it was now background noise to a well earned, and well overdue nap. That is, until she was rudely awoken by loud banging on her door.

“Hold on, I’m comin’!”, she called out groggily as she departed from a restful sleep.

The banging grew louder and more violent in response.

“Calm down, damnit! I’m comin’!!!”

Evita angrily marched off towards the door, unlocked and swung it open, full ready to give the asshole behind her a piece of her mind. The color drained from her face as she saw who the man was.

She was as good as dead.

He was tall and lanky, with a sickeningly pale face and mess of spikey hair that had been dyed a bright, almost neon red. His face was gaunt and scarred, and his eyes were blank and crazed. He wore filthy ripped jeans, a maroon shirt stained with God knows what, and  a black leather jacket adorned with the insignia of the purple dragons. He eyed her hungrily the moment she opened the door, like a starving dog after some juicy meat. The bastard let himself in without saying a word, taking his time to look gawk at the shabby almost barren apartment before striking up a conversation.

“Nice place you got. You just moved in?”

“What d’ya want from me, asshole?”

“Whoa there, sweetheart! I’m just here to discuss a protection fee on behalf of the new landlord!”

Evita’s eyes went wide with terror.

“N-new landlord?!”

The thug leaned in closer and put a hand on her shoulder, smirking with pride.

“Let's just discuss that protection fee! Since you're a pretty girl I'm sure I can let you make an alternative paymen-”

Evita shoved him off her, temporarily forgetting that the asshole could kill her at any moment. Even so, she couldn't stand his type and knew his game.

He was a creep. A pervert. A sick bastard trying to get it. And if he honestly thought he could barge into her apartment demanding money and then expected to get it, than he'd get another thing coming.

“Don't you DARE  fucking touch me! I don't care if you're a goddamn Purple Dragon or not! You try to touch me again and I’ll-”

Before she could finish, the bastard slammed her into a wall, knocking the wind out of her and catching her by surprise. She struggled to her feet before he slammed her into the wall again, this time pinning her to it and choking her as well.

“The hell you think YOU’RE  gonna do about it?”, he screamed as he released her from his grasp, “Run? Scream? Fight me? Face it bitch, there isn’t a thing you can do about it! Now get the goddamn money, or we’re gonna have a fucking problem here!”

Evita scrambled to her feet and ran of the room. She was not giving the money. There was no way! Evita knew she’d regret it later, but there was no way in hell she’d let this asshole boss her around! Not now, not ever!

She looked back to the thug in the living room. His back was turned to her, and he stood causal and relaxed. He had his guard down. This was her chance.

Evita grabbed a baseball bat and silently made her way back to him, ready for any sudden movement. She struck him in the back of the head bringing the bat down as hard as she possibly could. He collapsed mere moments later.

She ran to her bedroom and grabbed a duffle bag, and stuffed it as many things as she could. She couldn’t stay there. Not with the Purple Dragons on the prowl. And especially not with one of their members knocked out- or possibly dead- on her floor.

Once she was sure she had all her necessary things, she made her way to the bedroom window and left from the fire escape. She was getting out of there. Evita didn’t care if she needed to find a new place, all she cared about was getting the hell out-

She didn’t expect to see so many of them out on the streets.

It had been a week since the encounter with girl who had given them food. The group had just found an abandoned warehouse to set up shelter, and things had been going great!

Mostly great.

The leader was having a rather difficult  time in particular. It seemed that every time he tried to, well, you know- lead   his brothers, they’d keep bugging him about what he did. The scheming brother in particular was the worst offender. Every chance his brother got, he would berate and insult him without fail, going on and on about how “stupid” and “impulsive” he was for trusting the girl. It had been eating at him, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed a break.

He had ultimately left in the middle of an argument. Only, it wasn't really and argument. It was a full blown brawl.

He wasn't really sure what happened, all he knew was that the scheming brother and the brute we're trying to kill each other and yelling about “brains vs. brawn” or some shit like that. Whatever it was, it must have really petty. The scheming brother was flaunting his arrogant ass every time he got a hit in. Which was only twice, at least from what the leader had seen- not that he cared anyway. He'd let the mischievous brother fill him in later on anyway. He just needed to get some space.

There weren't many people out that night. It was colder that he was used to, and it smelled strangely too. He sat alone on the ledge of a roof, watching the humans pass like water down a stream. It sure as hell wasn't quiet, but it was peaceful. And that was all he needed. It was so peaceful in fact, that he didn't even notice on of his brothers sneaking up behind him.

“GUESS WHO!”, The mischievous brother shouted as he lunged at his brother, nearly making him fall from the ledge.

The leader regained his composure and dusted himself off before scolding his younger brother.

“What the hell were you thinking!? You. Could have gotten me killed!”

“Heh. Oopsie!”

The leader sighed and sat back down, urging the younger brother to join him.

“What the hell are you doing up here? I thought you were enjoying the fight!”

“Eh. Not really. Fighting's cool and all, but after a while it just gets boring.”

The two went silent for a moment before continuing.

“So,” The younger brother asked with a curious smile, “What are you doing up here? It's not like a 'fearless leader’ to just walk out with no explination.”

“I'm not sure. I'm just tired.”

The younger brother nodded in understanding.

“Tired of the other two, or just tired of the mad scientist?”

The older brother looked away and didn't answer. He only sighed and hugged his knees, trying to ignore his younger brother.

“You know bro, we really do have lots and lots of issues. Like for starters, the originals only have to deal with one hot head. With the mad scientist, we kinda have two-.”

The brothers went silent once again as they heard a spine chilling scream. They ran across the rooftop and peered over the ledge to discover a horde of bizarrely dressed men ganging up on a girl in an alleyway.

The leader leapt off the ledge onto the street below, and the younger brother followed suit. The men stared at the brothers in disbelief before charging at them.

“IT'S NINJA TIME, DUDES!!!”, The younger brother shouted as he lunged into the crowd and started tossing the goons around.

“Just shut up and fight!” The leader replied as he threw a man into a group rushing at his brother, knocking them to the ground.

After a short while of throwing the goons around, they had dispersed, leaving behind the girl's unconscious body. The leader knelt down to her and checked her pulse before scooping her up in his arms.

“Grab her bag, and we'll go.”

“Wait-what- Bro! What are you doing!?” The younger brother asked in horror and confusion.

“We're taking her back with us.”

“Bro, we can't do that! The mad scientist is gonna pissed, and especially after last week-”

“He's not the leader. I am. And I say we're taking her back with us.”

“But- Why?! Can’t we just leave her here? We taught those guys a lesson, I’m sure they won’t come back!”

"Our other brothers kicked our asses. Multiple times. Did that ever stop us from coming back?"

The younger brother froze. He was right. As much as the younger brother wanted to deny it- he was right. No matter how horribly they lost a fight, no matter how painful their attacks, they never backed down against their originals- Who's to say none of these goons wouldn't do the same?

The younger brother sighed as he grabbed the girl's bag and smiled.

“Aight. Whatever you say, fearless leader.”

Chapter Text

It had been a few hours since the leader and the troublemaker had returned. The fight between the red and purple clones had long since ceased, but that did nothing to quell the tension in the air. The red clone was watching the girl, waiting for her to wake up while his brothers argued.

“WHAT DO MEAN YOU HAD TO TAKE HER?!”, The mad scientist screamed.

“WOULD YOU HAVE PREFERRED IF I LEFT HER TO DIE?!!”

“SHE'S NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!”

There he went again. The purple clone always had issues with humans. He absolutely despised them, and in all honesty, the red clone couldn't blame him. Their first experience with humans had never been pleasant. Darius, their owner and the first human they had made contact with, had never been kind to them. He had never seen them as people, but animals. Things he could train to do his bidding. The purple clone hated that. He hated having to answer to someone who treated him like a dog. He hated having his potential wasted on a lost cause. He hated being nothing more than a twisted copy of something the entire world had decided was instantly better.

The other humans they met didn't help either. The year 2105 may have been much more progressive than 2007, but that didn't exactly make the humans much nicer. 

He had been staring down at the human the leader had brought back for what felt like hours before she had begun stirring. She was a rather scrawny young woman, with dark skin, and long, coily hair wrapped up in a frizzy bun. Her clothing was worn, and faded, giving her the appearance of a vagabond, rather than anything dangerous, like purple clone feared. Perhaps it was the dark bruises forming on her face and body, or  how small she seemed compared to her oversized old clothing, but there was an air of helplessness to the girl. Almost as if she had been trying to hide. But from what?

A few minutes later, and the red clone knew she was waking up. He panicked, darting towards a stack of empty boxes at the opposite end of the room. He dove behind the boxes and huddled into a corner shaking as he cursed himself in a frenzy.

“Fuck!- Can’t let her see me… lookin like a fuckin’ monster- Oh, god damn… Fuck Darius and those goddamn slime aliens who made us- can’t even remember the goddamn name-”

The clone had snapped out of his daze instantly when he heard the girl cry out in pain. He stiffened as he the girl struggle to get up while wincing and muttering to herself about the pain in her side. A moment later he heard footsteps, followed by the rustling of what he assumed was the girl rummaging through her bag. 

“Dios fucking mio! Where the hell is my jacket?!”

Jacket? Oh, yeah, she wore a jacket earlier! Somewhere around here wasn’t it- Oh shit.

He looked down and realized with horror that the girl’s jacket was on the floor next to his feet. 

The red clone knelt down and slid the jacket out from under the pile of boxes before quickly retreating to his hiding space. For a brief moment he had believed he was victorious. It wasn’t until he heard the girl’s footsteps drawing nearer did he realize his horrible mistake.

In his frantic last-stitch effort of escape, the red clone tried to pull out the largest box he saw to hide himself under it, only to bring the mountain of boxes crashing down on top of him, destroying any chance he had, though it was likely that there was no chance at all. 

He laid motionless in the pile, fully expecting screaming or hateful words, only to be met with the girl kneeling beside him, offering her hand with a look of concern on her face.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked as she helped him up, seemingly indifferent to his physical appearance.

“You… ain’t afraid of me?”

She smiled, a warmth growing in her deep amber eyes.

“Nah, You ain’t half as scary as the shit I’ve seen, man.” The girl paused and gave a slight chuckle. “ In fact, I think we’ve met before!”

That’s when it dawned on him.

“Oh! Yer the girl last week, right?”

“ From last week buddy.” She put out her hand once more. “I’m Evita. Evita Gomez. You can call me Evie. What’s your name?”

The red clone stiffened. Darius had given neither him or his brothers any names, and they had never once considered calling themselves anything other than clones, creatures, or brothers. For a moment, he considered introducing himself as the name of his original counterpart, but he quickly dismissed the notion, knowing for a fact that it would only make things more confusing if he ever crosses paths with Raphael in this time. 

“Ain’t got a name. Darius didn’t bother with it.”

Evita tilted her head to the side with a look of confusion. 

“Who’s Darius?”

“He sorta owns us, I guess.”

“You and the other creatures , right?”

T he red clone nodded happily and replied,

“Those are my brothers! Purple don’t like humans too much, but yellow and blue are cool wit cha! They saved ya, actually!”

“ So are you like these... government experiments or some shit?”

“Nah, we’re from the future.”

Evita gave a nervous chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I don’t exactly follow.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty dumb compared to my brothers. It’d be better if they told ya.”

“Where are your brothers anyw-”

Evita was stopped mid-sentence by sounds of thrashing and yelling overhead. Just then, a trapdoor in the ceiling was torn open, and the troublemaker crawled out carrying a large bag full of food. He climbed down the ladder on the wall beside him, jumped down and placed the bag into a corner. He paid the two his brother and the girl no mind, seeming to be unaware of their presence. It was only when he turned their way did he notice they were there.

“Dang, look who’s up!”, the yellow clone said as he made his way over to Evita and his brother, “You were out for hours! For a sec I was kinda worried you were dead!”

“Where’ the others?”, the red clone asked.

“Still out. Still fighting.”,he turned to Evita, his calm expression morphing into a look of concern. “You okay? The guys who jumped you didn’t seem too friendly.”

“I’m fine! My side’s just killin me.”

The troublemaker sat down, eyeing the girl intently.

“Why’d those jackasses jump you anyway? You don’t exactly seem like one to start a fight or two.”

“I was runnin’ from a gang my parents have… had a history with. I found out they had taken over the area I was livin’ in, so I packed up my things and ran.”

“Dang, and you don’t have anywhere to go?”

Evita shook her head.

“I didn’t think that far ahead. I’ve barely been able to scrape by, I didn’t really have to time or money to prepare either.”

“You can stay here!”, the red clone blurted out in an attempt to ease the situation. He had barely given Evita time to refuse before continuing.

“You ain’t got any place to go, and ya seem real nice, so if those bastards ever come back, we can just scare em off and they’ll let ya be!”

“That’s awfully sweet of you, but you boys’ve got yer own problems. Besides, I’m kinda outta a job with the dragons in my area, so there ain’t much I can give ya.”

“

Nah, we insist.”, the troublemaker said, as he put a hand on Evie's shoulder and gave her a warm smile.

“It's the least we can do after you've been so nice to us. Call it good karma!”