Chapter Text
Perhaps it wasn't wise for the head of one of the largest upcoming criminal enterprises to be running the rooftops of New York by herself at 3am.
But fuck it, Karai needed this. No Shini, no turtles, no bodyguards. Just herself and the wind, and the witching hour feeling as the city got as quiet as it ever got.
Somewhere in the distance, police sirens wailed and a child cried. But that wasn't really any of her business. Perhaps if she were one of the turtles, she'd go and investigate, see what good she could do and be. But she wasn't them.
The city that never sleeps, indeed.
As a child, Karai had heard stories about New York. What child hadn't? The man she'd then thought of as her father had told her of the lights and her tutors had told her of the constantle busy-ness and the struggles, and she'd begged stories of the streets off of the soldiers who had traveled between the continents. She'd dreamed of herself here.
The reality was nothing like her dreams.
The lights were just as bright, but less of the enchanting reflections like she'd imagined them to be, and much more of a telling spotlight. The busy-ness, which she had imagined to feel so much like Tokyo's, was somehow still so foreign and unfriendly. The streets here were crueler than she had thought they would be, and half the time it seemed that it was her inflicting the danger upon them.
Her legs ached as she pumped them, running and jumping between roofs. Not going any particular place, but going for the sake of feeling them. Something about the reminder that she was here and alive and this wasn't some sort of twisted dream or fairytale.
Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard the roar of a giant mutant alligator or snapping turtle. Always was hard to tell.
By this time of night her... turtles... would have retired. Instead, the late night or extreme early morning shift was taken by the Mighty Mutanimals. Perhaps what you referred to the time as made you a glass half full or glass half empty person?
She mused on this absently, nearly missing the bright pink explosion of light below her. Nearly.
Instead, she paused for a moment, the hue itself registering in her mind as something frighteningly familiar. Kraang? Now? Again?
Quickly, she ducked down onto a fire escape, pulling out her phone and pulling up Leonardo's contact. Thankfully? Donatello had figured their shell phones to be compatible with the network her phone was on, as well as O'Neil's and Jones'. Just made it easier instead of having to carry around both a cell and a bulky shell phone.
There was a clattering in the alley.
"Ah, what the hell?" A small figure popped out from some trashbags, looking like they'd just been thrown there. Karai bit her tongue to hold back a sharp reprimand that instinctually came from her. No one had ever accused her of being particularly maternal, but the kid looked like they couldn't have been any older than fifteen at most. She was closer to thirty now than she'd like to admit, so that made her the 'Responsible Adult' here, right?
They were dressed somewhat garishly, if she were being honest. Like they were on their way home from an 80s themed party. Ripped black jeans were the only normal part of the outfit. If she squinted, she could make out what appeared to be a body suit of fishnet, covered by the jeans and a cropped white top. The worst offenders were the bright electric blue boots and matching jacket--completed with shoulder pads. Long blonde hair giving away to dark black roots was tied up in a ponytail, fastened in place by a blue wrapping and a metalic pin.
"Hey, guys?" The kid looked around, tone melting into audible distress. "Hello? Fuck, where's my odachi...?"
Karai's eyes narrowed and she silently lept down another two flights, putting her as low down as she could possible go. She watched as the kid turned back to where they'd come from, nudging at the trash with a blue boot before leaning down with a triumphant little aha and pulling out a (frankly ridiculously long) blade.
There was groan from somewhere else in the trash pile. Karai winced and felt something smolder in her chest as she watched the kid plonk the blade into the ground and lean forward on it to peer into the trash and the dark. "Dee?"
A bag was lanched from a couple feet from where the kid had been looking, revealing an equally disheveled kid. This one was dressed much more normally. Black jeans matching the first, but with a much more toned down dark purple pair of tennis shoes and a dark purple hoodie. Big glasses laid askew on their face and a purple bandana held back most of the kid's long curls.
Karai watched with interest as the kid leaned back and closed their eyes, before letting out a rather emphatic "Fuck."
What was up with that? She hadn't cursed so much at that age, had she?
Purple (because calling them by colors felt so much easier than just 'kid' and 'other kid' in her head) seemed to still a bit after that. She couldn't tell if they'd passed out or if they were just thinking. But apparently neither could Blue, as they looked around in a panic. Finally, she got a good enough look at Blue's face to register the bright red eye makeup and panicked look to their gaze.
For some reason she felt compelled to jump down.
The kid startled at the sound of her, even though she'd been quieter than most people knew to listen for. Karai raised her hands to show that she wasn't looking to cause problems before asking a quiet, "You ok kid?"
Blue squinted at her before nodding slowly. "Uhm. Yeah, maybe. I think so? So long as we're not in Jersey, anyways. Are we in Jersey?"
She snorted, "God, no. New York."
The kid's shoulder slumped in apparent relief as they nodded. "Huh. Ok. My twin and I, we uhm. I think we got separated from our family somehow? I don't really... I'm not really sure how."
That sounded believable. But... "You always carry that with you?"
She nodded at the odachi, backing up when the kid quickly yanked out of the ground and waved it around a bit.
"Ah, yeah. Never go anywhere without her," he grinned, large and toothy. "I'm Lee, by the way."
"Karai," she wasn't sure why she gave him her name. She shouldn't have, all things considered. And yet, there was something about him that struck a chord within her.
The boy looked at her, and for a moment the lights were reflected in eyes so blue they made her chest hurt. At one point, she'd known a pair of eyes like that, blue and wide with youth.
There was another groan, and the boy looked away to the other on the ground. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," The kid groaned, reaching up to briefly touch on the purple headband and then on the pair of glasses like they were checking they were still on.
Karai shook her head, ridding it of ghosts. "Well. Now that we've established that, mind telling me where the two of you came from?"
Purple-twin shook their head, frowning up at her as they lifted themselves out of the trash. "We're just... a long way from home. I don't know how far, exactly."
Lee looked concerned, circling his twin and brushing things off the kid. "Dee."
Interesting. Dee, assuming that was their name, fidgeted awkwardly before staring at Lee. They just stared for a moment, long enough to make Karai feel fidgety when Dee sighed and stepped back to fall into Lee's left flank. It was like the two had had a conversation beyond what she could hear or understand.
The twin in blue took the lead. "So. Karai, right? You haven't seen three other kids, right? One's huge n red n a little bit older than us. One's tiny and orange and doesn't shut up. And one's a girl dressed in a yellow jacket."
She thought briefly of O'Neil, dressed in that eyesore jacket that always managed to make her skin look sallow.
"Can't say that I have."
The kids looked deflated.
And that shouldn't have bothered her. Two kids alone in NYC. It happened. All the time. She remembered from her time as the snake-outside-her-control, slithering through the darkened corners of the city, seeing the encampments. Some mixed bags, but some comprised entirely of youths. They would be fine on their own, or if they made their way to a shelter.
Instead, what came out of her mouth was "So, you're far from home, right? Need a place to stay for the night?"
They looked at her with narrowed eyes. And that was fair. What normal adult just offered to take in strange teens? Not many with good intentions, that was for sure. But even as Dee began to bite at their bottom lip and worry it between their teeth, Lee nodded up at her. "I'm gonna trust you. Because slider-stripe solidarity."
Here, he pointed to the red stripes that mirrored her own. And wasn't that an odd thing to call them? Slider stripes. What did that even mean?
"But! If you try to take advantage of us, Dee will probably hunt you down for sport. And I won't stop them." Lee puffed his chest out as he motioned to the twin quiet behind him.
The purple teen was all lanky limbs, and he'd maybe said five words total. But the whole time, he'd been fixedly staring at Karai with an intense gaze. And so, for not a single moment did she doubt Lee. "Yeah, that's fair. C'mon, I'm a few blocks away."
Her... business'... headquarters were the remains of some of the Foot Clan's former enterprises. Her own group was differentiated from Saki's, but she'd be a fool not to take advantage of what the man had left behind. They owned the whole building. Some of which she used to house offices for various purposes, some offices she rented to other businesses (of the more legitimate variety) and the upper floors of which had been converted into specialty lofts.
Of these, she had given some to especially important or endearing friends or employees, like Shini.
Two were split amongst the turtles and their friends, although they never occupied more than one at a time. She suspected that they'd elected to use them as defusion-zones, a safe space for any one brother to escape to when the others became too much. Point in case, their most frequent occupant was Raphael.
Her own was the largest, spanning the two top floors of the high rise building, equipped with a generous kitchen and two guest rooms, as well as other lovely ammenities.
Both boys seemed transfixed by the windows more than anything, almost holding their breath as the sun began to make an appearance over the horizon.
The additional light didn't do either of them any favors. Karai frowned as she noticed bruises that the dark had hidden previously, and hideously dark eyebags sported by both teens.
They elected to share a room, but took her up on the offer to use both room's showers simultaneously to freshen up. This had been more of a demand than a request, admittedly, as they'd both reeked of garbage and her sense of smell was many times more delicate than a regular human's. Not that she would be telling them that.
While they did that, she ran down to Shini's to grab some spare clothes that she knew would likely fit both kids. Her second in command fussed at her, annoyed both at the request and at the early time before following her upstairs to start some coffee, resigned to the fact that the whims of her best friend would keep her from going back to sleep.
Both boys changed into the new clothes without fuss.
Now, Karai could see that the makeup on previously had been hiding (or perhaps, accentuating?) twin scars down Lee's face, and she could see areas where cosmetics had been playing a similar (if not much more subtle) role on Dee. It made her stomach clench unhappily. Lee's eyes were so similar to how Leonardo's had been, all those years ago when they'd first met. They were almost identicle in hue, and had the same little tilt to them. The same shape. And the turtle had been so young back then. So had she. They'd both just been kids, really.
Shini helped her whip up some quick snacks before both teens were shoved back into their guest bedroom to get some rest.
"This is unlike you," her second in command lifted a brow as she fixed her with a Look over a steaming mug of coffee.
"Yeah," Karai admitted lowly. "I couldn't leave them, but I don't know why."
A smile flitted across her best friend's face. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone that you're going soft. So, what's their deal?"
"Soft my ass, I'll take you any time, any day," she sniped quickly back. "Just, found them last night. There was a weird light, reminded me of the Kraang. And then them. Don't think they knew where they were at first, and certainly didn't remember how they got there or seemed to know how to get home. I'll send them on their way when they're up again. And don't let me forget to tell Leo know about the light, he'll probably have Donatello check out the alley or something to be safe."
"You got it boss," Shini chirped with an easy smile. "You gonna get some rest too? Still a few hours before your first meeting of the day."
Karai nodded. "You'll stay up here to make sure they don't need anything?"
She barely waited for a nod before letting herself shift.
Feeling herself become the serpent was like stretching a muscle in all the best ways. Often, the only safe place she had to shift forms was here, or down in the sewers with the turtles. With Shini here to play interference if the twins wandered out, she would be able to at least get some rest and time to stretch out before she needed to tackle the day as her human self.
The master bedroom took up most of the second floor of her loft, and featured some absolutely perfect heat lamps for basking, which she didn't hesitate to flick on before pulling herself onto the bed for a well-needed nap.