Chapter Text
April picked up her T-phone and rang Leonardo, an action proving to be more difficult than she first thought as she struggled to hold onto the several boxes of pizza she was planning on surprising the turtles with. Leonardo picked up just as the signal had rung four times and she had managed to balance the pizzas.
“Leo, finally! I thought you were never going to pick up.” she let out an airy laugh.
She could almost hear the sheepish look Leonardo was pulling on the other line through his tone. “Sorry, April. The guys and I have been watching this new show and-”
She cut him off. “It’s okay, it’s okay… but um, do you mind if I come over for a while? I’m only a few blocks away.” She often crashed at the lair, feeling safer with her secret mutant friends than anywhere else. Most of the time she didn’t even bother letting them know beforehand that she was coming over, her unexpected arrivals always ended up being happy surprises anyway. Today felt different though, for some reason April felt the need to let her friends know she was coming.
“Sure, but we’re probably just going to continue watching the show,” Leonardo responded.
“That sounds great. Actually, I have a little surprise for you guys that I think will go well with-” the sentence was cut off with a shriek and a thud, indicating that the phone had been dropped.
As April had rounded a corner she suddenly felt a shiver run through her body, when she turned around she was faced with the intimidating eyes of Tigerclaw glowering at her. The initial shock caused her to drop the things she was holding. Her face turned completely white and her hands quickly reached for the tessen she had hidden under her raincoat.
“April? April, hello? What happened?” Leonardo’s distorted voice could be heard at a low volume, coming from the cracked phone on the ground.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The booming voice belonging to the tiger drowned out Leonardo’s questioning. The desperate turtle on the other line must have annoyed him as the phone was almost immediately crushed under his paw.
April gasped, knowing that her contact with her friends had been cut and she was left on her own to face off against the mutant assassin. She didn’t dare to shoot a clever comeback his way, she knew she would be a fool to annoy Shredder’s strongest ally further.
Tigerclaw smirked at her and he was quick to reach for his gun, not wasting a second he started shooting in her direction. April was thankful for all the training sessions she had managed to have with Splinter’s before his passing as she easily evaded the shots with the technique of a real kunoichi. She bent her body almost like a contortionist as the gun aimed at her fired shot after shot, her tessen taking some damage as she blocked her face from being hit.
Tigerclaw grew frustrated that his shots weren’t hitting his target and he discarded his gun, reaching instead for his machete. As he switched weapons April saw a chance to escape. She spun around and started running as fast as her legs could carry her, speeding up even more as she heard Tigerclaw growling and swinging his machete after her.
As she rounded a corner and ran through a small alley she noticed that Tigerclaw no longer was directly behind her. Slowing down and catching her breath, she looked around the alley for the piercing yellow eyes belonging to her enemy. ‘Where the hell did he go?’ she wondered.
However, just as she was gathering up the energy to keep running again, Tigerclaw took his chance and sneaked up on her from behind. As soon as April noticed his presence behind her, it was too late. He put one of his giant paws over her mouth to stop her from screaming, his arm tightening around her throat subsequently choking her. In his other hand was his sharp machete.
“Do not worry, I’ll make it quick. You are just the bait after all,” were the final words he whispered in her ear before swiftly penetrating her back with his devastatingly sharp machete. The flesh made wet sounds as he slid his weapon out of her just a few seconds later. He looked down at his victim and noticed that she had not died yet which surprised him slightly, tears still streaming down her face and drenching his furry paw. He had to admit that the girl was strong, but as he switched his target to her throat and cut a deep gash across the blood loss was immense. He had managed to cut through an artery and copious amounts of blood splattered on the ground and brick walls around them. After a moment of thrashing around in his arms, April finally passed away.
Unsure at first as to what he was going to do with the corpse, the assassin decided to just leave it in the alley in hopes of the turtles finding it before the police did. With a smirk, Tigerclaw left the lifeless body of April O’Neil on the dirty street and let the rain drain off the blood from his sinful paws. He made his way back to Shredder’s hideout to tell his master that his plan had been executed perfectly.
Back at the lair, the turtles freaked out after Leonardo had told the rest what he had heard. As soon as he heard what he believed to be Tigerclaw’s voice on the other line followed by the long beeping signaling the connection had been broken, he rushed to tell his brothers. At first, the other turtles were so shocked by the information they didn’t want to believe him and they accused Leonardo of playing a cruel prank on them. After a few minutes of convincing his brothers that he definitely was not joking they finally accepted the reality of the situation and the panic started settling in amongst the brothers. April was in trouble, and she needed their help.
Raphael, realizing this, quickly put on his leather belt and kneepads, and his two younger brothers joined him and started gearing up. Leonardo seemed hesitant though and he didn’t start gearing up like the others.
“Leo, what are you doing? Don’t just stand there, put your damn gear on!” Raphael spat at him, the tone of his voice indicating he was feeling immensely stressed.
Leonardo sighed and fought an internal battle with himself. At last, he looked Raphael straight in the eyes and spoke calmly: “No, we are not going topside now. It’s too dangerous.”
Instantly he was met with the disapproving looks of his three younger brothers. Michelangelo looked shocked, and so did Donatello with a twinge of hurt in his eyes at his brother’s apparent unwillingness to help their friend. Raphael was already furious with him.
“No? NO? April is up there probably fighting for her life and you tell us no?” Raphael’s voice rose and with each word he took a step closer to the leader. He glared at Leonardo.
“Think, Raph. It’s still bright outside- we would be noticed in no time by the humans if we went topside right now!” Leonardo countered, not feeling threatened by his hot-headed brother. Their sensei and father Splinter had long ago set up a few strict rules for them to follow, even after his passing, and one of them was to never risk the safety of their family. Leaving the sewers during the day was a major risk, and with Leonardo now being the sensei he made sure the rules were upheld. He loved April deeply, just as much as the other turtles did, but the love he held for his brothers was even greater and he would never allow their safety to be jeopardized by going topside in broad daylight.
Just as Raphael was about to send a comeback his way, he was interrupted by Donatello. The purple-banded turtle frowned and looked desperately into Leonardo’s eyes. “Leo, come on man… Tigerclaw beat our shells before, how is April supposed to beat him on her own? She needs our help.” Michelangelo nodded in agreement. Donatello usually wasn’t one to plead, so Leonardo was a bit taken aback.
He knew they were right, there was no way April would be able to take on Tigerclaw on her own, even with her mystical powers growing each day. His head was in a battle with his heart. He wanted to leave right away and make the evil tiger bastard pay for attacking April, but he also didn’t want to risk their family’s safety if they got caught.
“Wait… if we can’t go out because it’s too bright, why the heck was Tigerclaw outside at this time?” Raphael suddenly asked his brothers, silence following his question as they all thought for a second.
Donatello spoke up after a few seconds of silence between the turtles. “Well… I’m pretty sure there’s some heavy rain right now- I was studying the prognostic chart I had made of the possible occurrence of cumulonimbus clouds over New York and-”
“DUDE! There’s a rainstorm right now and you didn’t tell us?” Michelangelo whined, the youngest turtle had always been afraid of thunder so Donatello kept track of upcoming weather so he could help Michelangelo prepare in case a storm was coming.
“Hold up guys- the rain would make it dark enough on the topside for us to go out. Tigerclaw is as cautious as we are about being caught so if he’s out there then that means the humans won’t easily catch us.” Leonardo said as he put on his gear.
“Well then let’s go!” Raphael shouted, running out into the sewers. He was pissed at Leonardo for stopping them from leaving at first, but as he saw how scared his older brother seemed his heart softened. Raphael knew Leonardo always prioritized his family’s well-being over anything else, and his initial refusal to go topside wasn’t because he didn’t want to help April, it was because he loved his brothers so much and he would feel responsible if they got caught.
Michelangelo being the quickest of the team reached the manhole first. He was followed by Raphael, then Leonardo and Donatello arrived last, with the young genius tapping away at a T-phone. He didn’t watch where he was going, so absorbed in the screen, and he bumped into Leonardo.
“Watch where you’re going, Donnie.” Leonardo spun around, ready to pull the other turtle by his bandana tails to get him to concentrate when he saw what Donatello was holding in his hands. “Is that my T-phone?” he asked, glaring at his younger brother.
Donatello finally looked up and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it is. You were the last one who was in contact with her so I’m trying to see if I can track the location of her phone at the time of the call.” He continued tapping away at the T-phone, the others patiently waiting. “I mean seriously, were you guys just going to look through the entire city to find her? I really am surrounded by shell brains… wait, I’ve got something! The signal is saying… aha! Follow me!” Donatello suddenly pushed past his brothers and climbed the ladder quickly, lifting the manhole cover and dashing away through the rain.
The other three obediently followed him, making sure to be extra careful as the rain made the concrete slippery. Donatello had been right about there being heavy rain, the sky was almost fully black with thick clouds promising heavy raindrops and possible thunder. As they ran across the rooftops their feelings of anxiety heightened. It had been about fifteen minutes since Leonardo’s and April’s call had been cut off, and anything could have happened to their friend by then.
Suddenly Donatello stopped running after about five minutes. He looked puzzled, looking around. The other brothers did the same. They came to the conclusion that April most likely would have fought on the ground, so they carefully went down and started looking around corners and others places. They hoped she had managed to hide somewhere and was waiting for her friends to find her and bring her home. The turtles first wanted to split up, but Michelangelo was growing increasingly scared and his big brothers took pity on him. If Tigerclaw was still out and ready to fight, it might be wiser to stick together anyway.
After searching through a few nearby streets the turtles rounded a corner and stepped into a small alley. Immediately they were met with the horrifying sight that was April’s dead body on the cold ground. Michelangelo shrieked and covered his eyes. Leonardo and Raphael stood with their mouths open and their eyes wide, the image instantly traumatizing them. Donatello was the first to reach her, he quickly ran over with fat tears already rolling down his cheeks. He sat down on his knees next to her.
“April! Please!” Donatello begged, but he wasn’t fully sure what he was begging for. He didn’t bother checking her pulse, he could quickly deduce that she was dead just by looking at her. He pulled her to his chest and started sobbing heavily. Hearing Donatello crying put the other turtles out of their trances and they rushed towards the pair. Michelangelo started sobbing as well, and Raphael pulled him into a hug and cried silently into Michelangelo’s shoulder. Leonardo sat down next to Donatello and he looked at April’s face. She was still beautiful but seeing her tear-streaked cheeks and still-bleeding throat made Leonardo’s stomach churn and he finally let his tears escape.
“How could this happen… why did this happen?” Donatello thought out loud, hiccuping through his words. He hugged April closer to his chest.
The turtles grieved their best friend for the next few minutes, reminiscing on the times they shared with her. New York City had never felt this silent, only the sound of the rain splattering on their shells and the ground around them reminded them that it was indeed all real. The turtles had already gone through a lot in their young lives, they had to deal with the passing of their father, and now that things seemed to finally get better the universe decided to punish them further by killing their dear April. The four brothers held each other tightly as if they might lose one another if they let go.
Then something changed. Suddenly the air around them seemed to shift and they felt shivers run through their bodies. A figure slowly moved out of the shadows, and the turtles quickly stood up and drew their weapons out of their belts. A booming laugh cut through the silence.
“I see you have found the little treat I left for you.” Tigerclaw stood right in front of them, smirking.
The turtles felt intense rage rise inside them, they had never collectively hated someone as much as they hated Tigerclaw at that moment. Rationally they knew their most intense hatred should be directed at Shredder as he was Tigerclaw’s master, but right then all they could see was April’s murderer standing before them.
Tigerclaw took out his machete and spoke again. “You turtles are such fools, I knew leaving the girl’s body out here would lead you right into my trap. Now stand still and allow me to turn you into turtle soup.”
“Uh, Leo? What’s the plan?” Michelangelo asked as he spun his nunchucks. He wanted to escape into his shell and never come out again.
Looking around and evaluating the situation, Leonardo realized that with they were very unprepared for the fight. The last time they had tried taking on Tigerclaw he had beaten them easily, and back then they had fought with better equipment as well as more stable headspaces than they have now. He yelled out the only plan he could come up with:
“RETREAT!”
The four turtles scrambled to climb the fire escapes to reach the rooftops, hoping they could lose Tigerclaw by being quick on their feet. Their enemy did not let them escape that easily though; Tigerclaw took his pistol out of his holster and started shooting toward his targets. The turtles couldn’t get further up the fire escape since they had to keep avoiding the bullets. When they realized escaping by foot wasn’t going to work they were left with only two options: fight Tigerclaw or use their last smoke bomb.
“All huddle around Mikey- we need to use our bomb!” Leonardo ordered.
Tigerclaw growled and switched again to his machete, sprinting toward the turtles that had now huddled into a big clump. Just as he swung his deadly blade to the first shell he saw, he was surrounded by purple smoke. He coughed and held a paw over his eyes. After a few seconds, the smoke had cleared and Tigerclaw growled when he saw that the turtles had managed to escape after all.
Michelangelo had managed to use their last smoke bomb correctly and got them all to safety in the lair. Being back at the lair didn’t calm the brothers down though, suddenly they all felt the true gravity of the whole situation they were in hit them all at once.
“April…” Donatello whispered. He felt himself tearing up again, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Raphael gave his shoulder a squeeze and mustered up a small smile for his younger brother.
“Dudes… what now?” Michelangelo asked. He looked as shaken up as the others, perhaps even more since he had to face his fear of rainstorms alongside everything else they encountered today.
Leonardo shook his head and clenched his fists. He was fuming. He raised his fist in the air and spoke with a determined voice:
“First they took master Splinter, and now they’ve taken April too. We let them get away scot-free last time, but this time is different. They’ve taken everything we love and now they’re going to pay for what they have done. Raph, call Casey and tell him to get here in fifteen minutes. Donnie and Mikey- gear up as much as you possibly can. I’ll try to reach out to sensei in the spirit realm. The time for games is over. We are going to hunt our enemies down and this time we’ll make sure they pay for their crimes… with their lives.”