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April waved and rolled her eyes when four shadows jumped out of sight on the rooftop across the street. The wind carried down the panicked discussion.
‘Oh, no, you think she saw us?’
‘Nah, April’s just weird, we’re nailing our stealth missions.’
‘Yes, people wave at nothing all the time.’
It didn’t matter that she’d saved their asses multiple times, they still insisted on walking her to her door.
They could at least be subtle about it. She needed to have a talk with Splinter about their ninja training. Just shouting ninja-mode didn’t do anything to obscure their stalking. She laughed, the four brightly colored bandanas and the red lights of Donnie’s periscope binoculars were still peaking over the ledge.
Usually she didn’t mind their fussing really, it was sweet. Today though, she closed the door to her apartment complex behind her and sagged through her knees. It took that much more energy to keep up her strong front for those extra blocks they insisted on accompanying her. Her back was killing her, her ribs ached and she really needed a Tylenol … or four.
April rounded the corner of the hallway and knocked her head against the cool metal of the elevator doors. She slapped at the out of order sign.
“Just my luck,” she huffed and pushed open the doors to the stairwell. “April O’Neil,” she whispered and took her time tackling the steps one at a time.
She’d received a kick to the ribs, two hits on her back with a weapon, some cuts on her arms and legs and one mean punch to the face.
She took out her keys but they dropped to the floor when she fumbled for the keyhole. Her mother opened the door and jumped back at the pathetic image she made.
“April, honey, what happened?”
“Don’t worry mom,” she said as she kept her back straight … or as straight as possible, “It was an intense training session today.”
“Should I talk to your teacher?”
“Sensei,” April corrected.
“Sensei. Perhaps the class you’re in is too advanced?”
“Mom, please don’t worry. It’s part of the training, we have to compete to get better.”
April had the coolest mom, she wasn’t fond of her daughter participating in combat events on a weekly basis, but she wasn’t about to stop her. She summoned all her patience and did her best to be understanding and interesting in her daughters’ life, “So how did you feel it went?” she asked carefully.
“It was fun,” April said, “I won every time.”
Her mom had a proud look on her face, but took out the medical kit, “That’s great honey, now sit down.”
The day after was the worst. April had slept like a rock. She’d been out the instant her head touched her pillow. When she got up … or attempted to … her muscles tensed and stiffened.
Luckily it was a Saturday, so no school and her mom would be on the day shift all day … she was finally free to wallow in pity and sleep off the painful events of the previous night.
Around noon her phone pling plonged and she groaned when she noticed Donnie’s purple avatar.
Not today guys - she replied.
“Hey April!” Mikey offered a high five and gave her back a gentle pat.
“Long time no see, sis,” Raph greeted and gave her the gentlest of fist bumps. One time had knocked her too hard … or hard enough to leave a bruise. April hadn’t minded, but Raph had been horrified. Ever since he got the cutest expression on his face when he used only the smallest fraction of his enormous strength around her.
April beamed, she had missed them. Her joy died when she noticed Donnie’s mean stare. She thought it was weird he didn’t come to greet her. But it wasn’t too out of character. She wondered which argument he was still clinging to and to whom his anger was directed.
She follow Leo’s excited antics and passed her brilliant friend.
She didn’t miss his quiet passive aggressive mumble “Yes, thank you for gracing us with your presence.”
April snapped up, alert. Oh, he was angry at her was he? She wasn’t one to suffer Donnie’s temper in silence. Before she could retaliate however Leo hooked her in and manhandled her to the edge of the building, “There is our target,” he declared and spend the next fifteen minutes explaining the most convoluted way to go about a simple search and retrieve mission.
They had stumbled on a foot hide-out and Raph and Leo were out on reconnaissance. They’d send a signal when (not if) they would need help.
“Aren’t Raph and Leo the least stealthy among us?” April wondered.
Mikey gniffled, “Yeah, but they need to practice.”
“What do you think Donnie?”
“Oh, you have time for me now?” Donnie wouldn’t be Donnie if he didn’t drag his horrible mood out as long as he could.
April rounded on him and gave him a shove, “You want to lay off with the passive aggressive nonsense and come out and tell me what’s been bothering you?”
He remained silent.
“I swear I’ll beat it out of you,” April swirled the mystic bat. She wouldn’t actually hit him with it but it seemed to install enough fear to loosen his tongue.
“I know you’ve been ditching us for the last couple of days,” he said, she hadn’t seen him this angry at her.
It threw her off, she stammered “I haven’t been …”
“Excuse my sigh of disbelief,” he droned and tapped away on his I-pad, “If you didn’t feel like hanging out, you could have just said so. I don’t appreciate the lame excuses.”
Donnie’s logic was razor sharp, April didn’t have a good response. She had so much fun with them and was so overjoyed to be included in training and missions. If they found out how hard it was on her, they might cut her lose.
“Nothing to say huh? How surprising”
Mikey stepped in between them and gave his brother a firm shove, “Give her a break Donnie, it wasn’t as if she ditched us … she was home the entire time.”
It was both the comment and the panic in Donnie’s eyes that gave April an excuse to summon her own anger.
“What do you mean, home the entire time? How did you know?”
Mikey had the decency to look sheepish, “Oh, what is that? A pigeon, let’s investigate.”
“Does it matter?” Donnie dared to ask.
“Yes! Were you spying on me?” Did he see she’d been in pain and still judge her for it? Did he spy on her? She wanted to believe him to be above such things, but she knew Donnie had little to no ethical quarries.
“Don’t flatter yourself, I wasn’t stalking your fire escape.”
“Nah, he just tracked your phone every hour or so,” Mikey offered in an attempt to help out.
“ ‘Angelo, please invoke your right to remain silent!”
“Donnie! That’s such a violation of privacy!”
Before he could reply an enormous red fist punched through the roof and two guys were send flying from the upstairs window.
“That’s the signal,” Mikey called and roped down to offer the requested back up.
It was a bad idea to fight when angry, though it did feel good to vent some the rage.
“Leave some for the rest of us April!” Leo joked.
The fight was almost over, April let her guard down and searched for the source of her anger. He wasn’t difficult to find, Donnie loved flair in everything. The purple laser show he set up was just for dramatic effect … a feat she usually could appreciate, now it only ticked her off even more.
It was then that she failed to realize the ninja behind her wasn’t completely KO’ed and he wacked her in the back before kicking her between the shoulder blades.
Something in her back snapped and the old injury reared up again. She had just enough energy to whirl around and slam the mystic bat in the goon’s face. Before crashing down and suffering the painful spasms.
She knew it would pass, the pain was familiar at this point … she just hoped the others would be too occupied to notice.
Her opponents sure didn’t. They honed in on her weakness and circled her like vultures to a carcass. There would be nothing she could do, she couldn’t even get up at the moment. When her opponents realized this as well they pounced.
A huge red mystic fist blocked a volley of shuriken and a chain swiped away the five guys sneaking up on her. Mikey landed behind her.
“You need a minute?” he asked.
“Yeah, a minute,” she wheezed.
By the time her back-spasms died down and April managed to climb to her feet again, the battle was over.
She had more trouble getting home this time around. Mikey offered to accompany her.
“Do you want me to look at it?” he offered, “I usually get the couch potato-kinks out of dad’s back every week or so.”
“I have no need for Dr. Delicate Touch, thank you.”
“Nah, April, you know we all get hurt too don’t worry about it,” Mikey slowed his pace to match her, “You should talk to Donnie though.”
“I’m not apologizing.”
“I didn’t say you needed to apologize, just talk to him. He’s pretty dense you know. His brain comes up with the most crazy solution to simple problems.”
“Hmm,” April nodded and smiled at the wise turtle.
“Trust me, if anyone can understand this it’s Donnie,” he said.
April did her best not to roll her eyes. She had a hard time believing Donnie of all people would be able to produce enough empathy to care after she’d lied to him.
“Also, who do you think you’re fooling? If you’re in pain just say so.”
She was about to lie and totally deserved the jam in the middle of her back.
She dropped down to her knees and again had to wait for the spasms to stop. The pain radiated to her ribs and it left her breathless for a moment.
“You, you …” she panted. Mikey held out his hand and she pushed her pride aside and took it. He lifted her to her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Talk to Donnie, trust me,” he said, “And do me a favor, don’t wait a week this time. He gets a bit villainy when he’s nervous.”
April smirked … that she could believe. Donnie was one bad day away to becoming an evil scientist.
Mikey was relentless in his texts and calls. He insisted she came down to the lair to talk to Donnie. Finally, she caved. Her anger had died down and she was ready to talk like an adult.
Donnie whoever … “Back already? It’s only been two days.”
He had a way of dragging out the worst side of her, “Why are you so surprised? Is your stalker-app malfunctioning?”
She could hear his teeth grind. Happy to get under his skin, she continued. “Where is your night vision goggles and bionic listening devices”
He wasn’t even denying it, “None of your business.”
“Ah-HEM!” Mikey cough-ticulated and gestured in the most non-ninja way possible for her to continue (or start) the conversation she had come for.
He had a point, Donnie was a jerk. But they’ve been friends long enough that she was willing to let this go. Admitting weakness was not something she was looking forward to.
She released a deep breath, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied.”
“No you shouldn’t have,” Donnie sat turned his chair.
“I wasn’t blowing you off, I …” How could she explain this without giving away too much, “…I… my …”
“Her back hurts,” Mikey whispered, helpfully from the open door.
“Mikey!” April hissed.
“Wait, what?” Donnie turned back in his chair.
His eyebrows were liberated from the perpetual scowl they’d been trapped in.
“No, no, it isn’t a big deal,” April backpedaled.
Mikey, helpful as always did the poke again … and though it was less painful this time, the injury was still raw enough for April to stagger. She had to lean heavily on Donnie’s desk.
“Mikey!” Donatello stepped up to push him away, but Mikey had already backed off.
Donnie stood over her, arms flailing about “Are you serious? Of all the stupid things to keep from us. Why did you think … I don’t underst…”
“It’s nothing, I can keep up,” she waved him off.
He lowered his goggles and did a scan.
“Hey!” She covered her sensitive areas, “We are gonna talk about boundaries Donatello Hamato!”
“You have a slipped disk, causing your muscles to cramp. You should have trouble breathing, moving,” he scrolled through his I-pad, “What are you taking for pain meds? You should have a muscle relaxer …”
“Hey!” She slammed a fist on his desk, causing several trinkets to bounce and roll to the floor, “This isn’t about my injury, you know that right?”
Donnie put down the I-pad and looked over to Mikey, who was again gesturing something.
“I’m sorry,” Donnie admitted, she waited with raised eyebrows … a move she learned from him, “… I betrayed your trust and privacy. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right it won’t,” she muttered, but her sassy head tilt caused her back to complain again. “For goodness sake, Mikey,” she said and rotated her shoulder to try and ease the pain. Donnie took her elbow.
“Lay down,” Donnie gestured to a cot in the corner, which he only used for all-nighters.
“Dr. Gentle touch!” Mikey cracked his fingers and in the light of Donnie’s monitors he seemed genuinely frightening.
“I’m not sure …” she looked over to Donnie for support but found none.
“He actually knows what he’s doing,” Donnie said, he disappeared somewhere in the back of his techno-cave. She could hear him rummaging.
She laid down on her stomach and felt nervous as Mikey loomed over her. He didn’t lift her shirt, just carefully traced her spine with the gentlest of pressure. When he came across the injured area April let out a hiss. A tingling sensation ran from the spot between her shoulder blades all to way to the tips of her fingers.
Mikey retreated, “I won’t do anything without your say so.”
Looking over her shoulder had been a mistake, she never had been able to resist those giant puppy eyes, “Knock yourself out,” she found herself saying.
April braced herself. She expected him to jam his elbows or do something crazy like crack her spine. Instead he was gentle and massaged the area with great care. He pulled on her arm once and pushed on her shoulders, but it didn’t hurt. When he traced her spine again it felt so much better, the hurt area was still sensitive but the painful tingly sensation didn’t return.
“Huh, that actually feels better. Thank you Mikey.”
“It’s what I do!” he said, she smiled at his proud demeanor. Something crashed down as Donnie continued to search for something in the recluses of his room. Mikey gave her a wink, “See yah later April.”
Donnie returned from his expedition, hauling a huge chest. He put it down with a loud bang and she sat up. “You could have saved us both lot of pain and frustration if you’d just admitted your back was out of commission.”
“You could have just asked, like a normal person before hacking my phone,” she retorted.
Donnie was not amused. April sighed and supposed it was high time for a little honesty, “I just wanted to keep up with you guys, but between ninja skills, turtle armor and mystic Hamato power ups … it’s getting hard,” she admitted, “I miss the old days where we would get our butts kicked together.”
“You cannot mean that,” Donnie huffed.
“At least I wasn’t being left behind,” she said.
“Boy, you are hitting this close to home … did Michelangelo tell you to say that? He did didn’t he?” She didn’t know what he was on about, but she watched him pace through the room, “Fine! Stubborn human.”
“Pointing out the obvious that you have ninja skill and a mystic powered bat, the only thing you’re currently lacking is an armor upgrade yes?”
When he laid it all out, she felt like a whiny child. “Sure,” she admitted.
Donnie smiled, he pressed a button on his wristband and a funky tune boomed from his speakers. Then with dramatic flair he turned the chest towards April and opened it, “Would you care to browse, madam?”
April couldn’t avoid the roundhouse kick the goon send her way. It would have hit her right in the back, but it was deflected. Another fist aimed at her ribs was stopped in a similar way.
“What? What trickery is this?” the foot soldier said.
“Oh, no trickery my Podological friend,” Donnie flew by on his bō, “You should know, my earliest design beautiful in its simplicity …”
April vaulted over Donatello, using his battle shell armor as a step, “… less talking, more smashing,” April punched her fists together and the armor she wore stirred into action. The scutes covering her back hummed with bright yellow energy. They were masterfully designed to look like a turtle shell and were made of titanium but still flexible enough to keep up with her athletic fighting style. Donnie also equipped them with motion detectors and a prototype of the shield generators Donnie had designed for the Turtle Tank.
Two kunai were thrown her way, April could have avoided them but she promised Donnie to properly field test this baby. The kunai stopped inches above the beautifully crafted metal and fell down when the shield didn’t detect any more momentum.
“I get to punch April next!” Leo called.
“No me!” Raph made a fist and clobbered a goon trying to sneak up on him.
April turned, grabbed hold of Donnie’s bō and together did a Lou Jitsu move only shown in the deleted scene of ‘Crouching Shrimp Hidden Tiger Prawn’.
“April O’Neil!!” Donnie shouted as he launched her into a pile of foot soldiers.
“Strike!” he yelled and did a victory dance. April landed on her feet and stumbled for balance after the vomit inducing carnival ride. She jumped and high fived Donnie.
Mikey went for a pat on her back, only to be flown back by the still-activated shield.
“Sorry!” she pounded her fists again and the shield powered down. “This is the best gift ever, thanks Donnie.”
“You’re welcome, my lady.”