Chapter Text
Life was going on as normal in the Hamato's lair. Splinter and Mikey were cooking breakfast while Leo was wrapped up in a blanket watching his favorite cartoon of the month, some old space show from the 90's. Raph was just getting out of bed, walking to the kitchen table like a zombie, grumbling a less-than-verbal good morning to his family.
"Enjoy your beauty sleep?" Mikey teased, knowing that Raph was too tired to do anything about it. Raph swatted at him halfheartedly, but since Mikey was feeling nice, he had already poured a cup of coffee for his grouchy brother and handed it to him promptly.
Begrudgingly, Raph accepted the cup with a mumbled thank-you, downing the cup instantly.
"Can I have coffee?" Leo asked, seemingly materializing in the kitchen after the end of his show. The kid had that hopeful look in his eye, that maybe this time would be different.
"No, Leonardo. You are too young for coffee." Master Splinter spoke, nursing his #1 Dad mug full of tea while he watched the toaster, waiting for it to pop so he could butter the toast fast enough that it fully melts in.
"Oh." Despite happening several times before, the response was always the same. "Tea then?"
"The only correct option, my son." Splinter had always been biased when it came to drinks, preferring tea to almost any other liquid.
"How do you want your eggs, kid?" Mikey asked, even though the answer would be scrambled, like always.
"Scrambled!" Leo answered, exactly as predicted.
Raph's phone chimed. "April texted, said she'd be here in 15." Raph spoke, in his first actual sentence of the day.
"I'll make sure to save some for her, then."
This was how every morning had started since the the attack on Oroku Tower, and Mikey wouldn't have it any other way. As much as he loved the adventures and battles they went through, the amount of times he lost sleep because he was worried for his family was a major downside. He would take his family's safety over glitz and glamour any day.
Minutes pass, food is cooked, plates are set, and Leo devours his food immediately.
"Y'know," Leo said as soon as he finished eating. "I really like these mornings. It's nice when you cook, Mikey."
"First of all, thank you. Second of all, what do you want?"
"Coffee." Leo said, without missing a beat.
"Tough luck, micro-dude. Dad already said no." Mikey wouldn't have given him coffee anyway.
"How come Raph gets coffee?"
"Because I earned it."
This sparked what Raph and Leo call a 'small disagreement'.
"What did you do to earn it?"
"I saved the city. What have you done?"
"All of my chores and I practice my katas all the time."
"Yeah, except for when your show's on."
As the two bickered, Mikey and Master Spliner shared an annoyed glance, though Splinter was slightly more at peace with his family. But before either of them could do anything about it, Raph's phone chimed again and he picked it up.
"It's April, she sent us her location and said to meet her there."
"Did she say why?" Mikey asked
"She doesn't need to say why, come on!" Raph exclaimed as he practically dragged Mikey out of his seat.
Raph and Mikey rushed out of the lair, hoping that whatever it was, they weren't too late.
Left behind were Splinter and Leo, the latter of which stared at his father pleadingly.
"You're still not getting coffee."
"Aw man."
-
Purple had only been out of the labs for a few days at most, and thing's were already overwhelming. It was big, loud, and smelly, and way too bright at night. He would have gone back if it wasn't for the nightmares and still aching scars on his chest and arms.
He had been tring to sleep for a while now, but the sounds were to loud and kept scaring him awake. One sound in particular had caught his attention: a pair of footsteps.
"Yes, dad, I'm perfectly safe. This is the turtles we're talking about, they wouldn't let anything bad happen to me." Someone, presumably the owner of the footsteps spoke. "I love you too, bye." They then sighed, the footsteps stopping with it. "Now to get this thing off."
Despite being incredibly scared about his new environment, and the cold air, Purple was very curious. The human said something about turtles. The only turtles he knew were the other turtles at the lab. Maybe this human knew them? He carefully peeked his head out of the box he had been hiding in to look at the person. They were a human, dressed in pants and a yellow coat of the non-lab variety, with a bag hung by their shoulders, trying to lift up a metal circle embedded in the ground.
"Why'd they have to make these so heavy?" The human asked, voice strained.
Purple peeked further for a better look at the human, neck now fully extended. The human now had the circle a little bit off of the ground.
"How does Raph do this?" The human hissed, shifting the circle over and setting it down. They sighed again, letting their muscles relax. They then turned their head around, likely watching out for other people. Instead, they spotted him. "What the-" They reached behind themselves.
Purple lurched his head back into the box, neck poised to attack should the human try anything. He heard a faint clicking sound, then footsteps getting closer. He hissed in warning, and the footsteps stopped.
"Hey there, you wanna get out of that box?" They spoke, directly to him. He hissed again. He's wasn't getting out of the box, not with that human out there. "All right. I've got some friends on their way here, so don't be surprised when they show up." Friends? The other turtles? Purple slowly peeked out again. The human was much closer now, and she was sitting on the ground next to him, staring.
He chirped inquisitively as he looked around. Not a turtle in sight. He turned his head back to the human with a frown.
The human laughed, like Dr. Baxter used to do when he thought Purple did something funny. "They aren't here yet, give them some time."
Purple huffed, before eyeing the human's bag.
"You like my bag?" She asked. Purple nodded.
"I show you what's in it if you come out of the box." She offered
Purple thought for a while. The bag was very interesting, but being out of the box meant vulnerabilty. The human could grab him the second he left, or she could make him lower his guard while her friends attack him from behind. At the same time, he could just bite her and run away. He was pretty sure he could outrun her, and he could bite very hard. Once he bit one of the lab coat guys, and that guy had to have stitches for weeks. They put a muzzle on him for operations after that.
He would also like to be out of the box for when her friends got here to see if he knew them from the labs. It had been a while since he had seen the others, and he was missing them. Not Tokka though. He'd miss Spike and Blue, but not Tokka.
Purple crawled out of the box, cautious of whatever could be out there. Surprisingly, nothing happened. No one jumped out of the shadows and grabbed him. The human was still sat on the ground, only having moved one of her arms to rest her head on.
"So you're some kind of turtle?" The human asked, puzzled. Strange for someone who was apparently friends with turtles.
Purple nodded. "Softshell" he spoke, now that he was comfortable.
"You can speak" She whispered. Once again, strange for a friend of turtles
He nodded.
"Ok, ok, sorry for assuming you couldn't."
"It's ok." A lot of the people in the lab though that he couldn't talk, but he just didn't like them. "Bag?" He asked, pointing to the object.
"Right, here you go." She handed over the bag. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Purple." He answered as he dug through the bag. It had a lot of things in it, even granola bars. Dr. Baxter had shared one with him once, before he went crazy. And it had been a while since he ate. He grabbed one of the bars and tore the wrapping off, swallowing it whole like he would with the fish given to him in the lab. It made his throat feel scratchy, but it was food.
"Dang, kid. When's the last time you ate?" The human asked, bewildered
"Yesterday. When it was bright. Morning, I think?" He answered before digging out another granola bar.
"Ok... How old are you?"
"The lab coats say I'm eight, but I've only been mutated for two months. What's your name?" He ate the other granola bar.
The human stilled in shock, having to blink herself out of it before she answered. "April. April O'Neil. And y'know, I think it might be a good idea for you to meet my friends."
"Why?"
"Because.... They're turtles! Like you. Yeah, that's why."
Purple started to question her answer, but a loud, metal clang interrupted him. He let out an involuntary hiss and ducked back into his box.
It was silent for a second, then a new voice spoke. "Did you... text us about a stray cat?" They called out, a hopeful tint to their voice.
"No, guys." He heard April say. "It's a mutant, a turtle mutant. I was talking to him before you showed up." Her voice got softer and closer. "Hey, Purple, buddy. It's alright, these are the friends I told you about."
Purple was scared, but he trusted April. He slowly crawled out of the cramped box. April was still there, this time joined by two turtle mutants he didn't recognize, with orange and red bands around their heads.
"Why's he looking at us like that?" The red banded turtle asked.
"I don't know, Raph. Maybe because you scared him?" April offered snarkily.
"Alright, geez, not like I knew the little guy was there, I thought you were getting attacked." The turtle, Raph, defended himself.
As the two whispered back and forth, the other turtle crouched down next to April, staring at Purple. They stretched out a three-fingered, non-clawed hand. "Hey, micro-dude! My name's Michelangelo, Mikey for short."
Purple grabbed the hand and pulled it closer to inspect it. It was dark green, with even darker green spots. Infact, Mikey was completely covered in spots, especially on his face, where they seemed to group together on his nose and under his eyes.
The turtle, Mikey, stifled a laugh. "Oh, are you looking at my freckles? Pretty cool, huh?" He smiled proudly.
Purple nodded. He had never seen spots on a turtle before.
Raph crouched down with April and Mikey. "What are we going to do?"
"Take him home, of course!" Mikey exclaimed as he let Purple poke at his face. "What else would we do?"
"We've got to go to the lair anyways, I still haven't eaten." April chimed in.
Raph carefully looked around the alley, like April had, searching for something, before his eyes finally settled back on Purple "You've got me there." He sighed, defeated by the power of an enthusiastic twin brother and an adorable kid. Now that Raph was closer, Purple could see that he had spots like Mikey, except the were more on his shoulders than his face. "But it's the kid's decision, not ours."
Purple thought hard. He didn't exactly know these people, but they hadn't hurt him so far. Infact, April had let him eat her granola bars. And this 'lair' held promise of more food. He was definitely still hungry, and at this point, any place with food was better than here.
On another note, these turtles did kinda remind him of his family.
Purple nodded, wanting the safety of a home more than any thing. That's what he told himself, anyway.
"Alright, micro-dude!" Mikey stood, did a little fist pump, and pointed at where the metal circle had been.. "We just have to go down into the sewers, take a few turns, and presto, we're home!"
"I guess we're doing this." Raph spoke.
"Yeah we are, big guy!" April exclaimed. "Now lets go before someone spots us, we've been out too long."
Destination set, the four climbed down into the sewers.