“It’s not fair!” she glowered, striding down the empty street. She tugged her coat tight around her and again exclaimed “It’s not FAIR.”
She’d been ranting now for over an hour and was still showing no signs of cooling off. How dare her father treat her like that? She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She deserved the freedom to do what she wanted. She didn’t CARE how dangerous it was, she just wanted a friend of her own age. Just that. A friend. But could she have one? No.
Lilac’s fist contacted viciously with the trash can laying at the side of the street. The metal ripped under her knuckles and cut into her skin, but she felt no pain. She was SO mad. The can found itself skidding down the street after her foot made contact with it. The only person her age she was allowed to see was that stupid Sarah girl. She wanted to make HER OWN friends, not ones her father had chosen for her!
Why wouldn’t he let her go to that club? It was dark and she was completely covered in clothes, no-one would be able to see her clear enough to worry about her features. Geeze, he was so, so pedantic! If there had been a book written for parents to follow he would have taken every word literally.
Freedom. That was the matter behind it. Freedom. She wanted it, and he wouldn’t give it to her. It was her RIGHT to have freedom! He couldn’t keep her caged forever. She wasn’t an animal!
Lilac was mildly surprised as the hand caught gruffly hold of her shoulder, but she wasn’t in the least bit frightened.
“Right, give us yer money, like, and we won’t harm ya.” snarled the thug. Lilac almost sniggered at the pathetic attempt at a dagger that she realised the youth had pressed against her shell. Yeah right, like he was gonna be able to hurt her!
“Leave me alone.” she growled, sticking her fingernails into the hand on her shoulder and smiling smugly as it retracted quickly.
“Bitch!” cursed the thug, cradling his hand. After making sure the scarf was pulled tight around her face, Lilac turned to face him whilst smiling to herself. She could handle this guy, and many like him. So why wouldn’t her Dad let her go out once in a while? But the smile froze to her face as she watched more thugs sneak out of the darkness to join the first. Even in the gloom, Lilac could make out at least six or seven of them. Suddenly the odds didn’t seem so good...
She turned to run, but found to her horror that they had spread in a semicircle round her. She was trapped against the wall! From within the depths of her coat, Lilac pulled out her Sai and dagger. Drawing them in front of her, she glared menacingly at the thugs. One thing was for sure, they wouldn’t get anything without a fight!
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the guy on the left make a dive for her. He was quick, but not quick enough. She noted the look of astonishment on his face when he found himself skewered by her Sai. A single tear started to trickle down his face and he brought his hands down to the prongs digging into his stomach by the gaping wound Lilac had provided. Lilac herself didn’t particularly want to watch the guy die a slow and painful death so she twisted the sai cruelly, ignoring the crack of the guys bones shattering. He died pretty quick after she removed the weapon.
“Anyone else want to try?” she invited, twirling the Sai round her fingers. Perhaps this fight wasn’t going to be as hard as she thought. There was a slight murmur of fear from the group, but that unfortunately was quickly replaced by anger at their colleagues death.
“Kill her!” screeched the leader, pulling a gun from under his jacket.
‘Shit!’ Lilac swore inwardly. She hadn’t realised they’d got guns! Her eyes flicked from side to side as she looked for a possible exit. The thugs were moving in, she couldn’t get out. She felt a trickle of sweat pass down her neck and behind her shell to the small of her back. As the leader raised the gun and started to squeeze the trigger, she knew she could be dead by the time the trickle reached the ground.
“Do-on, I’m bo-ored!” whined Michaelangelo, peering into his fellow turtle’s lab.
“I’m busy, Mikey.” dismissed Donatello with a wave of his hand. “Go pester Venus.” Returning his hand to the keyboard he continued to type feverishly.
“Venus told me to come to you...” Michaelangelo complained. “You’re both being really, really bo-oring.”
“Good, good...” mused Don, squinting at the computer screen.
“Donnieeee....” Michaelangelo whined again. Don ignored him and continued to type. “What are you doing, anyway?” Mike asked, pushing Don’s chair to the side so he could see.
“Hey! What do you thing you’re doing?!” exclaimed Don, pushing Mike back out of the way so he could continue to type. “Just leave me alone, Mike. I have to get this finished today or I won’t get paid.” Mike gave Don’s screen one last look before sighing dejectedly and headed out of the door.
“Maybe if you brought some money in, I wouldn’t have to work so hard.” Mike heard Don mutter as he left.
He did TRY and bring money in! He’d draw his pictures, but no-one wanted them. They always like Venus’s better. And then there were his stories! He worked really hard on them, but the publishers always turned them away. It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t gifted as much as the others for stuff like that. Mike was sure he’d have made a good TV presenter, or even a nursery school teacher or something. But those were things he couldn’t do!
“Hi Venus.” he moaned, approaching the female from behind and brushing against her arm as he walked past. Venus jumped in surprise at his touch, and the platter of paints she had on her lap went all over her legs, all over the floor and all over the painting!
“Michaelangelo!” she exclaimed in horror, “Look what you have caused me to do! This was one of my best pictures!”
“I’m really sorry!” apologized Mike, genuinely sorry. He hadn’t intended to shock her. “Here let me help...” He grabbed a handful of tissues and started to swipe at the painting, getting the excess colour off. But all that happened was the colours began to merge with each other and smear all over the canvas.
“No! Stop!” wailed Venus, trying to bat Mike’s helping hands away from the painting. “Leave it! You are making it worse, not better!” Michaelangelo, desperate to help, turned and started to try and clean Venus up herself. But all he did was smear the paint on her deep into her ankle bandages, staining them.
“No! Please, stop. Do not help. Go... Talk to Donatello.” she pleaded, snatching the tissues away from his hand.
“Already tried that...” Michaelangelo mumbled, slouching off to the living room. Life was so dull now! Shredder had been dead for over 15 years, and the Dragon Lord for over 10. All their other enemies had gone in one way or another and all the turtles had finally begun to settle down to a normal life.
Raphael, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Venus still lived in the sewers with Splinter, saving up to move to a better home after having paid April back for all the money she’d given them when they were young. April herself had now also settled down with Casey and they had their own 15 year old daughter, Sarah.
At first it had been kinda cool not to have to worry about any enemies and being able to be a family together underground, raising Leonardo and Andrea’s daughter, Lilac. But when their second child, Sebastian, was born when Lilac was eight, Leonardo and Andrea had decided to move topside where they felt the children would be better living. So, working together to produce some of the top selling karate and judo instruction books, they’d saved until they could afford to rent the apartment opposite where April and family lived.
The sewer was empty without them. It wasn’t that they didn’t visit, but it just was so quiet without the children constantly running round causing mayhem. Michaelangelo even kinda missed the times when he’d been constantly woken in the night by a child crying. It was so sweet when you’d put everything right, the happy smile they gave you. He longed someday to have hatchlings of his own, but it didn’t look like that was ever going to happen.
Sometimes Andy invited him over, to help her care for the newest arrivals in the household, just passed one year old now. Twins, Monica and Lisa, were a handful separately. Together they were just chaos. Michaelangelo would go and spend long hours with Andrea while they fed and cared for her young daughters. April too often joined them.
Most nights Leonardo and Casey went out with Raphael to continue with their missions to clear the streets. It made them feel good that they were still benefiting the community in some way. Mike felt good knowing that he was helping Andrea raise his nieces and nephew.
Even though he was happy that it happened, Mike suspected that Leonardo and Andrea hadn’t actually planned on having the twins. But nature had played its course and dealt them as the couple turned 31. Michaelangelo tried not to think of the fact that he was now 32. It was just too depressing. Where had his childhood gone?
Time had affected Splinter the most, though. He rarely moved from his seat nowadays. Age had taken hold of the ancient rat and even the ever optimistic Mike knew that his sensei’s days were numbers.
His train of though was cut off by the shrill ringing of the phone. “I’ll get it!” Michaelangelo yelled excitedly, diving across the couch to reach it. “Hello?” he answered, lifting the hand- set to his face.
“Mike, hi! It’s Andrea.” said the voice. Mike wished they’d got one of the phones that sent video images of the caller so that it was like a real conversation. Don had never had time to make them one though...
“Hey Andy! Wassup?” greeted Michaelangelo cheerfully. “How are the littluns?”
“Oh, yeah, they’re fine. Um, it’s the biggun I’m worried about...”
“Lilac?”
“Yeah, she ran out again after another fight with Leo. I don’t suppose you’ve seen her?”
Andrea’s voice was so full of hope that Mike felt really bad that he had to let her down. “I’m sorry Andy. There’s been no sign of her in the sewers. I’ll go have a look topside for you, if you want.” he offered. Andrea paused to consider this.
“Yeah, okay. Make sure you tell Don and Venus to keep and eye out for her down there. Raph, Casey and Leo went off a few minutes ago. They were heading for the park, so why don’t you look more inner-city?”
“Sounds good. Okay, well I’ll call you if I find anything.”
“Thank-you so much, Mikey.” said Andrea, gratitude clear in her ever-so-slightly wobbly voice. Mike knew that Andrea was particularly emotional at the moment, due to the lack of sleep provided by two screaming infants. It had taken her a while to physically recover from the nightmare pregnancy and birth of two instead of one and now Lilac’s escapades were not helping his sister.
“Andy, don’t worry okay? We’ll find her. She’ll be fine. She’s a pretty independent lass, she’s probably quite happily sulking someplace. We’ve just got to hope she didn’t bump into anyone, or we could be cleaning bits of their body off the street!” he joked, trying to decipher whether the noise he heard was Andrea laughing, or crying, as she put the phone down.
A million thoughts about Lilac’s possible location went swirling round his head as he grabbed his coat. On the way he stuck his head into Donatello’s lab and explained the situation. Don nodded in comprehension before continuing to type. Mike also briefly explained to the still paint covered Venus before dashing out of the sewers and into the streets to look for his missing niece.
Her heart was pounding so hard and so fast, Lilac could practically feel it knocking against the inside of her plastron. She was willing her body to move away from the danger, away from the gun, but she was glued to the spot; mesmerized by the shiny metal.
Lilac swallowed in fear as she watched the thug slowly squeeze the trigger. Every second seemed to take a life time as the catch slowly inched backwards. Millions of tangled thoughts scrambled their way through Lilac’s mind as she tried to convince her body to move.
Maybe her Dad had been right, she wasn’t able to wander the streets with as much ease as she’d imagined. And now it seemed that she was going to learn the lesson the very, very hard way.
Tears began to swell up behind Lilac’s eyes, but her mouth was as dry as cotton wool.
Her eyes inadvertently closed at the sound of the gun firing and she took a gasp of breath that she though would be her last.
A couple of seconds later confusion began to set in. There was no pain. Surely there should be pain when you were shot? Uncle Raphael often told her about the gunshot wound to his leg and even he said that it had hurt. Raph wasn’t the type to let on about pain easily.
A muffled yelp and the sound of the gun skidding across the ground caused Lilac’s eyes to snap open as quick as they had shut. She gasped in surprise at the sight of a bulky figure taking on her attackers. The shock was only momentary as she was prompted back into action by the sudden movement of a knife plunging towards her shoulder.
It was an untrained attack and Lilac had no trouble blocking it with her Sai. Her other hand moved quickly to plunge her small but deadly dagger into the chest of her attacker.
As she withdrew and watched her victim slump to the floor, a punch to the side of her face caused her to stagger into the wall, knocking her head against the bricks.
“You son of a bitch!” she growled, raising her hand to her pounding head whilst planting a knee in the stomach of the thug. she smirked as he dropped to the ground with a moan. He didn’t suffer for long though as Lilac kicked his head into the ground, rendering him instantly unconscious.
Lilac suddenly realised how silent it had become. Glancing around she discovered that only herself and the stranger who had rescued her were left standing. All of the gang were scattered around the area, or had fled.
Pulling her scarf across her face Lilac turned to face her rescuer, who stood nervously hunched in the shadows.
“Thanks.” said Lilac, “For coming to my aid like that.”
“Oh, it was nothing. You’re welcome.” the stranger replied embarrassedly. “I’m sure any guy would have done the same.”
From what Lilac could tell from the strangers voice, he was male and of similar age to herself. In the gloom she could make out that he was of equal height to her with a mop of slight wavy hair.
“Would you mind stepping out of the shadows, so I can thank you properly.” she requested, smiling winningly, although it was impossible to make out under the material.
“There’s not much to see...” he protested, nervously scratching his leg as he inched forwards.
Once in the light, Lilac could see his hair was brown. His eyes, which were studying her in the same way she studied him were deep brown, just like Uncle Mikey’s.
“What’s your name?” Lilac asked, feeling more and more curious about this heavily clothed youth. There was something about him she couldn’t place...
He paused, before slowly staring down at his feet. “I don’t have one...” he muttered. “No one really talks to me.” he added after a moment.
“Well, where do you come from?” Lilac tried.
“No-where, really.”
Lilac placed her hands on her hips. “So when I get home tonight I tell everyone that a nameless bloke from no-where rescued me?” She watched in mild amusement as the stranger shuffled his feet slightly as he grew embarrassed.
“Well, why don’t you give me a name then?” he eventually shrugged.
“Okay. I will.” Lilac said decisively. She paused to study the youth as her brain spun into action, trying to think of a suitable name. “What about... What about Kyle?”
“I like it.” replied Kyle, physically relaxing slightly. “Well, now I’m Kyle from no-where, huh?” he grinned. “So, what’s your name then?”
“I’m Lilac.”
“So that would explain the lilac coloured mask around your face then, huh?”
“I guess so.”
“You have very pretty hair.”
Lilac automatically raised her hard to run her fingers through it, caught of guard by the compliment. “Uh, thanks.” she stammered.
There was silence. In the silence the clear sound of a name being yelled could be heard. Lilac recognised the voice as her Uncle Michaelangelo’s and the name as her own. Kyle too seemed to hear as she shuffled back into the darkness.
“Uh, well good-bye, Lilac.” he said, raising his arm in a small wave.
“Will I ever see you again?” asked Lilac.
“I hope so.” Kyle replied in a whisper before slipping into the shadows and disappearing.
“Lilac!” came Mike’s voice again, louder this time. She started striding to where the voice seemed to be coming from, but stopped as something on the ground caught her eye.
It was a band of red material with a symbol on the front Lilac didn’t recognize. Without really thinking about it she slipped the band into her belt and ran to find her uncle.
“I have brought you some tea, Master Splinter.” explained Venus, walking lightly into Splinter’s room. “I have made every effort to make it the way you like it.”
Splinter sat slumped in his seat. As Venus drew close he slowly opened his eyes to gaze up at her.
“Thank you, my child.” he whispered. “You are most kind. Sit for a while Venus. Tell me what has been happening.”
Venus did as the old rat had bidden and sat cross-legged on the floor by his feet. “What is it you wish to know, sensei?” she asked, placing her hands in her lap.
“Tell me, tell me of your paintings.” he decided.
“Uh, they are coming along fine, Master. Michaelangelo spilt paint down one earlier but I have fixed it now.”
A smile spread slowly across Splinter’s face. “Ahhh. Michaelangelo. He has always been the trouble maker. Ever since they were very young. What of Donatello? Has he succeeded in what he was attempting on the computer yet?”
“Um, I believe he has nearly finished it. He has not emerged for a few days though so I do not really know.”
“And need I even ask what Raphael has been up to.” he queried, seeming to almost smirk in
the gloom.
“Tooling?” suggested Splinter.
“Yes. Tooling around the streets as is normal.”
Splinter chuckled to himself. “Ahh, Raphael. And Leonardo, Andrea. I trust they are well.”
Venus nodded. “They are fine Master.”
“And how are their children?”
“Oh, um. They are fine too. There are no problems.” lied Venus. She didn’t want to upset
Splinter. And besides, everything was going to be fine. They would find Lilac in no-time.
Splinter slowly shut his eyes again. “April and Casey. They also are fine?” he murmured.
“Yes, Master Splinter. April has been on television a lot recently with this report on the
strange youths that appear to be patrolling the streets. She has been attempting to pin-point
down their location. She believed it was somewhere not to far from here as there are a large
number of the youths in this area. And she...” Venus stopped reciting what she had heard
from the news earlier as she realised she could hear the whistle of the old rat snoring.
Venus picked up the tray and backed out towards the door. “Good-night Master Splinter.” she
whispered.
Raphael stalked down the alley way, glancing around as he tried to catch sight of the run
away teenager. This wasn’t the first time she’d done something like this and it sure as hell
wouldn’t be the last. Raph had to subdue a smile as he though how similar Lilac was to
himself. He wouldn’t have stood about for some of the crap Leonardo spouted either.
Lilac would be fine. She had a head on her shoulders and she was both a strong and
independent fighter. Raphael just pitied anyone who came up against her!
He turned sharply as he heard as rustling in a pile of junk about 20 metres to his right. It was
mostly a pile of rotting food with some clothes and furniture scattered about. It was probably
just rats or something crawling about in it, but still, he’d better check. Last time he’d ignored
what he thought was a rat had actually been Andrea in the alleyway before her mutation, 17
years ago. If he’d have spotted her then, he would have saved her 6 months of starvation...
“Hello, is anyone there?” he asked the junk pile, inwardly knowing that no-one was going to
reply. He wasn’t disappointed. But as he turned to leave it rustled again, louder this time.
Curious, Raphael limped closer. The wound he’d received when rescuing Leonardo,
Michaelangelo and Andrea from Shredder’s evil plans still bothering him. Fortunately
Shredder was dead now. Killed for the last time by Venus, who revealed Shredder to Oruku
Saki, his former self.
“Hello?” he asked again, wondering why the hell he was bothering. There as another rustle
and this time Raphael actually saw some of the junk move. Leaning over where the
movement had been, he started to sift the rubbish aside so he could get at whatever was
making the noise to satisfy his curiosity.
The stillness was interrupted by a tall and slender figure diving out under Raphael’s fingers
and knocking him backwards onto his shell.
“What the - ?” he exclaimed, raising his arms to push the thing off. He glanced up into it’s
face, gaping in amazement at the sight of a small pink nose, emerald green eyes and very
sharp fangs.
The mutant cat woman hissed as Raph tried to prise her off him. “Get off, you stupid moggy.”
he added as he raised his knees underneath her to gain some leverage.
The fur on the back of the cats neck raised and she growled in the back of her throat. Raising
her left paw, Raph watched in horror as she drew all her claws. He grunted in both surprise
and pain as she viciously slashed his face.
“BAD kitty!” he cried, kicking out with his feet so the cat was forced to leap over his head.
She landed on all fours but rose to two legs to sprint away from the turtle.
Raphael jumped to his feet and made to follow her, but he gave up after just a couple of
blocks. The lithe cat was much quicker than him, especially with his limp. He growled in
annoyance and raised his hand to touch the sticky blood that was oozing out of the wounds.
“Damn animal!” he cursed.
“Raph! Raphael!!”
Raph turned to see Leonardo and Casey rounding the corner. Leonardo had April’s portable
video-phone clutched in his hand. “Mike’s found her. She’s back at the... Geeze Raph! What
happened to your face?!”
“Stupid cat attacked me.” Raphael glowered, deciding not to disclose the whole truth as
Leonardo would undoubtedly make them go and hunt for the mutant, which he was in no
mood to do.
“That must have been one hell of a cat!” Casey added. “Those scratches look deep, Raph-
ster.”
“They’re fine. Let’s get outta here.” muttered Raphael, moving in the direction of Leonardo’s
apartment.
Leonardo and Casey exchanged looks before following.
“What did you think you were doing?! Do you realise how worried we’ve all been!?!”
Leonardo yelled. He had arrived back at the house just a few minutes previously to find his
daughter slumped in front of the TV like nothing had ever happened. Now Lilac stood and
calmly watched him after rising from her seat when he raised his voice.
“Yes Dad. I’m sorry, okay. I just needed sometime to cool off. It will never happen again and
now I’m going straight to my room without supper. Is that all right?” Lilac placed a hand on
her hip and looked coolly at Leo who looked fit to explode. Without letting him say anything,
she turned heel and walked smartly into her bedroom, letting the door click shut behind her.
“Argh!” howled Leonardo. “God, she is SO frustrating.” He slouched across to the exercise
room, grabbing his Katana’s on the way.
Andrea was trying hard not to smirk. True Lilac had gone a little too far, but it wasn’t actually
that hard to get Leonardo wound up. She wandered into the kitchen and poured out a glass of
milk before following Leo into the teeny exercise room they’d set up.
“I brought you a drink.” she offered, leaning against the side of the door and watching as
Leonardo finished the move he was performing with his usual skill. Once done, he walked to
the edge of the mat, sheathed his Katana’s and walked over to take the glass from her
hands.
Before drinking, he put his arm around Andrea, giving her a hug and a small kiss. “I love the
way you always know exactly what I want.” he murmured, running one of his hands through
her hair and raising the glass to his mouth with the other.
Andrea reached her arms around his waist and rested her head on his plastron. “You don’t
think I’ve raised four children with you over sixteen years and learnt nothing, do you?” she
smirked, tickling the back of his neck with her hand.
Leonardo grinned a white mustached smile. Putting the glass down and hastily wiping his
face, he put both his arms around his wife. “I always get so annoyed when Lilac does
something like this because I can see it upsets you. Your daughter is such a pain
sometimes.” he smiled, absently brushing a strand of hair from Andrea’s face.
A look of mock surprise and annoyment crossed Andy’s face. “My daughter? MY daughter?
Excuse me, but you had something to do with it as well, you know!” she playfully punched
Leonardo’s plastron.
He chuckled and caught her hand, pushing it down to her side and leaning over to kiss her
solidly on the lips. “And I’m so glad I did.” he whispered.
The romantic moment was cut short by the unmistakable sound of an infant crying, that
quickly doubled into two infants.
Both parents groaned. Andrea rested her head on Leo’s plastron and sighed. “Come on,
Daddy. Time to do your duties. You sort one out and I’ll do the other.” she gently took his
hand and they walked along to the children’s room. Andrea entered first and Leo was just
about to follow her when something laying on the hall table caught his eye. It was a strip of
red, slightly muddied, material.
‘Where on earth could this have come from?’ Leo wondered, picking it up. He turned it over
to examine the other side. There was some sort of symbol, but it was covered in mud.
Picking the mud off with his fingernails, Leonardo soon revealed the whole symbol. He
gasped in shock as he realised it was a symbol he knew all to well. It was the symbol of the
Foot Clan!
End of part 1.
Part 2 coming soon!