642/Ninja Help Nosey Reporter

Ninja Help Nosey Reporter
Date of Scene:	28 May 2017
Location:	Manhattan, New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Raphael

---

April O'Neil has posed:
Almost June in Manhattan, 8:45pm on a Saturday.

The sun had set about ten minutes ago and April O'Neil was standing outside of a laundromat with her yellow jacket tied around her waist. She had her cell phone out and was dialing on it to try to reach any one of the turtles. She'd tied Donatello first, but she'd been sent straight to voice mail. She tried Mikey next but his phone was turned off, so she tried Raph then... making sure to leave Leo as a last resort since she figured he wouldn't want to do what she's going to do.

When she got Raph on the line, she'd explained that she needed his help. That she'd planned on doing it alone, but it turned out to be too much of a job. She wanted to bust into some place, and needed some literal leverage to do so... as the only entryway she could find was up the side of a brickwall. Surely Raph would help her with this right?

"I'll explain more when you get here." She'd told him.

And now, the young reporter was just pacing outside of a dark alley (probably a bad idea for a woman like her to do that, but she was kind of arrogantly stubborn like that).

Raphael has posed:
Raphael was having a bit of a tiff. But what else was new? After blowing up at Leonardo about "best tactics" and "fighting fair", he stormed out of the lair to clear his head, keeping to the rooftops and running from building to building. He was burning off the frustration, but also trying to figure out the best way to apologize for blowing up and also make it clear that he wasn't actually sorry. A hard line to walk, to be sure.

    And in the middle of all this he got the call. April. A friend. One of the few the Turtles have, and certainly the closest. Answering the phone, he took a moment to rest. The circumstances explained, he simply smiled and gave a quick "There in a flash," before hanging up.

    And true to his word, the moody turtle was there rather quickly, quietly landing in the shadows behind April and slowly revealing himself, though making sure not to startle her as he does so. "You always invite me to the fanciest places, A," he quips before glancing towards the entrance of the alley, making sure there aren't any prying eyes. He doesn't want a bad night to be made worse by a sighting from unknown sources. He glances back towards April, crossing his arms over his shelled chest. "So what's the deal?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April was standing beside her yellow/black bicycle, checking her phone, when she heard Raph's voice and it made her look up quickly. She rushed toward him and went right past him! "Come on, come!" She said to him then as she rushed past him in a flurry of motion and red hair flying around behind her head.

April's running shoes splashed through the thin puddles of water on the alleyway floor and she made her way to the far end of it, where there was a huge brickwall that had a painted sign on it saying something in faded-out Chinese lettering. It appeared to be an old food production plant of some kind.

April thrusted her right hand up toward the brick wall, over the faded art on it and she looked her blue eyes up at the lone window that was even OPEN all the way up there.

"I need to get up there." She said back to Raphael. Having yet to tell him why...

Raphael has posed:
"Whoa, slow down," Raphael says, effortlessly sliding out of the way so that the blur that is April can rush past him. Finding his footing again, he treads towards, walking a bit carefully (alleyways are also a hazard for those that have to walk barefoot), but moving swiftly especially given his mass.

He looks up towards the sign, the window and April insistent face. If he had eyebrows, they would be raised pretty high right about now, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Yeah, listen Red, I am all for giving you a hand in whatever it is you're sticking your nose in, but I need a little more information than that." He looks her full in the face, his weird lips curling in an amused grin. "After all, I like getting in trouble, but I like to know what brand of trouble I am getting into. So talk, and then I give you a boost."

April O'Neil has posed:
"Swords!" April said then, walking toward Raphael and places her hands on either of his shoulders, huge blue eyes looking at his. "Old old oooold swords! The kind that would make Leo's eyes ... POP RIGHT OUT OF HIS HEAD." She laughed a little maniacally then and took a step back once more, then put her hands onto her hips. It would seem April might be 'on something' right now, either that or she'd drank an entire truck load of Coffees?

April paced a bit and then pointed up at that window. "The guy that owns this place is as crooked as they come. He's smuggling antique weapons through this facility. I already HAD one in my possession, Raph... but he and his goons cornered me in an alley and they got it offa me. Said if I meddled in their affairs any more and they'd use it on me."

April sighed then and motioned to the fire escape ladder that was laying on the ground. "Damn old rusty thing is useless." She looked at her elbow then that was scuffed up, suggesting she may have tired to use the ladder and it fell down with her on it?

Raphael has posed:
At first, Raphael is ready to write April off as off her gourd. Which is a shame because he generally liked her, so to see here snap at such a young age. A waste, really, of such promise. "Okay, very cool swords, I'm sure they are super impress--" he starts, only for her story to continue. He blinks behind his mask, and listens to her story.

"Weapon smuggling huh?" he murmurs, his beak scrunching slightly as he rub his chin. "That does sound fishy. And I hate fish." He glances back towards the window, fishing around in his handy-dandy ninja utility kit. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You got on the bad side of some sword runners, was threatened you'd get cut up like pepperoni and then decided to poke the bear again, but decided to call in your favorite turtle for some back-up?" He grins, pulling out a grappling hook, swinging it around in a perfect circle. "Gotta say, A, I like you're style," he compliment before shooting the hook up.

Catching on the edge of the window-sill, he gives it a good tug to make sure it will catch and then holds it out to her. "Hope you were good in gym class," he teases before adding, "And good thing you called me first, other bros would have definitely talked you out of this."

April O'Neil has posed:
April slapped her hands together when she saw him produce a grappling hook and start swinging it, a big smile showing up on her red painted lips. She watched him throw it up there and took a step back. "Nice shot, Jansen!" She said at the throw, quoting Star Wars becasue she was a nerd. She laughed a little more with her head tilted back so her throat was stretched making the laugh sound kind gutural and silly.

The reporter then nodded her head. "I've been going to the gym every day, doing weight training and kick boxing... I'm ready for this, Coach." She said at him with a grin.

"Oh, and yeah... I didn't even -consider- asking the others before you!" April said at him with a big grin, hoping that he never checked her phone call registry on her cell phone tonight.

"But yeah, I've put everything I've done online on my website and my youtube channel. If these guys even -touch- me then the Police will know where to look." She grinned at her turtle friend. Quite sure of herself...

Raphael has posed:
April certainly seems to be running at a high-octane speed. Maybe it is the thrill of tracing down a scoop, adrenaline pumping through her system and making her ready to go. The quote is not lost on Raphael, though goes without comment as he steps back and gives her room to climb. "Well show what all the time in the gym was worth, kid," he says before going to back to keeping an eye on the entrance of the alleyway

As she starts to climb, he reaches down with one massive foot to hold it down taut, giving her the least amount of resistance to climb, doubly so if she decides to use the wall for additional resistance. "And ninja-sneaking tip numero uno: if you're going to break into the bad guys super secret hideout, maybe keep your cracking wise at an inside voice level at least. Or maybe even a whisper." His own voice is getting more hushes, his hands idly running up to tighten his mask. It is about to be showtime. He can feel it in his bones.

April O'Neil has posed:
April wasn't the most experienced at this wall-scaling stuff, but she'd seen enough army movies to get the jist of it. Plus she'd grabbed some black leather bicycle gloves out of her pocket before ascending the rope. A few items fell out of her jacket down at Raphael, a menu from a chinese food restaurant, her wallet, and a little tiny flashlight... its like she was just raining personal posessions down onto poor Raph.

Once at the top of the rope though, April grabbed the window's sill and then went to hoist herself inside of it, she gave a few frantic leg kicks and then went head over heels into the blackness inside!

Raphael has posed:
The little rain of personal items (though thankfully not TOO personal) is mostly evaded by Raphael below (thanks ninja-dodging-skills!) as he is focused on primarily assisting her with holding the rope and then also making sure their little back-and-forth didn't attract any attention. The wallet in particular is pocketed in the utility belt. "Alright, not just wait up there for--"

That thought is never finished, as the next moment April disappears into the building, just as Raphael catches a falling flashlight. "Or just crash on in," he grumbles before wrapping the rope around himself and clamboring up as quickly as he can, massive turtle feet assisting in the climb. Before long, he finds himself level with the window and sneaking in, eyes narrowing down to slits and quickly scanning the room for any signs of his friend and partner in breaking-and-entering.

April O'Neil has posed:
Down in the alleyway, after Raphael had reached the top of the rope and gotten into the window, a door opened on the building and a guy stepped outside to fish his cigarettes out of his pockets and light up a smoke...

Once INSIDE, Raphael found the lights were off on the floor of the building, the room appeared to be a large cubicle office-level... the cubicles were visible and a few computers were in Screen Saver Mode with the company logo bouncing around slowly on their screens.

There was NO sign of April anywhere either!

To Raphael's left was a exit that opened into what looked to be a stairwell and there was was a pale white light shining in it. To Raph's right wwere private office doorways or meeting rooms doors, all closed.

Raphael has posed:
First order of business, Raph quickly zips up the grapple line behind him, hopefully not catching the attention of the smoker that is behind in, and quickly putting the rope away. And then he goes into ninja-sneak mode. Thanks to turtle's natural night vision, the darkness isn't that disorienting, though it does take a second for his eyes to adjust.

Fighting the urge to call out for April, he lays low and moves quickly but silently. His first order of business is to clear this floor, first by making his way around the cubicles to make sure that no one is here late-night doing some overtime. Once he's convinced that he is alone in the room, he inches his way towards the far wall with the office doors. Pressing his head against each door, he listens for any sign of April. Or thugs. Or really anything. All the while, his hands slide down and silently pull out his sai, gripping it offensively. His friend is missing, and if someone did anything to her they are going to swiftly regret it.

April O'Neil has posed:
At first, Raph wouldn't hear much of anything up until he was going to grab for a sai and then he happened upon a room tha thad a window next to the door but the window had slats on the inside that were turned to block anything inside from being seen. Thats the room that Raph would suddenly hear voices... though it was hard to make them out...

Just then, the lights in the Cubicle Area all came on at once, flooding the room with a wealth of neon-white glow!

Two men in suits entered from the stairwell and they started to walk across the room toward the area that Raph was at, but they hadn't seen him yet!

"Its that reporter." One of them said. "We just dealt with her a couple nights ago, but she's back." He was talking into a walkie-talkie cause the static cut-offs could be heard.

"Nah." He said to the person the other end. "We're gonna off her tonight, some how, not sure." He paused as he rounded the cubicles with his friend, heading toward the room Raph had heard voices in.

"Its a shame, she's damn easy on the eyes." He said further into the radio then.

Raphael has posed:
Pressing his head against the door, Raphael tries to make out as much of the mystery conversation as he can, hand slowly reaching up to sneak the door open. But then the lights flood the room, and the mathematics change.

Quickly, Raph presses himself against one of the cubicle walls. The layout of the room made it hard to see where the two chit-chatters are, but the sound of their voices gave them away. And what they are talking about? Raph ain't a big fan.

Tightening his grip on his sai, he slinks around, checking around the corner to make sure he is not about to expose himself before slinking along to the next size. Hours of playing covered base shooters prepared him for this moment.

Finally catching a glimpse of the two suited sleazeballs, he does some quick mental calculations.

Taking a deep breathe, counting down and generally pumping Eye of the Tiger in his own head, he waits for his moment, then makes his move. Silently rushing, he takes uses one sai to the back of one knee and then the other; he would typically hold back (okay maybe not) but his friend was in danger and he wanted these creeps to know he meant business, so some light legiment damage for you. The next moment, the other sai was bashed against his head, hopefully knocking him out. Assuming that one was taken care of, his attention would swiftly turn to the other suited gentleman. Attempting to catch him in a choke hold, his sai lightly grazing his temple. He isn't going to brain this guy, but he doesn't have to know that, as the pissed off turtle growls out, "You scream and I hope you have funeral plans lined up. You wanna live, better tell me where the reporter is."

April O'Neil has posed:
Raphael's actions completely eilminate the first guy and then he disables the second and holds him up to interrogate him. The man is SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND at what he sees in front of his face! "Whhhhhaaaat the hell are you?!" He shouts back at Raphael, apparently ignoring the request not to scream... but it doesn't matter because...

GUNSHOT! A bullet rings out from the staircase as a 3rd man stepped into the cubicle room and discharged a handgun gripped between his fists!

The bullet slammed right into Raph's shell and thankfully was rebounded in a random direction with a ricochette sound echoing through the office floor!

Whomever was in that meeting room likely knew something was Up now...

Raphael has posed:
"Well crap," Raph sighs before twisting his wrist, moving the sai carefully away from the crooks brain before swiftly bringing his head down to serve a crushing headbutt. And just then is when the shot ricochets off his shell, causing him to flinch. "Double crap," he groans before rolling away, with his suit friend into one of the cubicles. These dudes are scum, but if he can keep them from being shot, even in friendly fire, it would be preferable.

Reaching into the tool belt again, he pulls out a handful of smoke pellets, tossing them to create a large puff (little need for discretion now), sneaking through the fog. He starts to look for exit, but then realizes he still doesn't know where April is. "Crapaton," he growls to himself before ducking back into the fog, looking for the sign of his shooter, both sai held in an defensive position.

April O'Neil has posed:
When the smokebomb went off the man that fired the shot at the Turtle assumed that he'd at least hurt the 'creature' since he'd seen it go down. He didn't realize it was a 'ninja' by any means, he just assumed it was some thug off the street...

The door to the meeting room flung open and a 4th man stepped into the playfield seeing al the smoke. "What the hell is going on out here!" He shouted across the space.

The 3rd guy shouted back. "There's an intruder in here! Looked like a guy in armor, or some kind of Mutant freak!" He shouted back. Raph was caught somewhere between the two of them.

The 4th guy looked back into the meeting room. "Grab the girl. Lets go to the vans." He said.

A second later and a 5TH! guy came out, he was clutching April by her elbow, she was fine, but had tape over her mouth... struggling but complying with them. She was blinking in the smoke, trying to look for Raphael.

Raphael has posed:
I thought these guys were supposed to be into swords, Raph thinks to himself as he plots out his next move. Guns always complicate things, but he has to move fast. Finally getting eyes on April, and seeing that she is still breathing but not exactly in the best of shape is a serious good-news-bad-news situation. And then he hears the word.

Freak. His hands tighten around his sai, as he crouches low, sneaking around cubicles as the fog bombs start to clear out. He slides forward and is able to get close to the one who shot at him. Freak. The word reverberates around his head, keeping an eye on the door. He has one go at this, or else April is going to be toast. So he focuses on that word. Freak.

No one likes being called a freak. Especially if you come from rather complicated backgrounds. And Raphael is no different. But the difference being...he is a freak. He knows that. He has internalized that. By all rights of nature and God he shouldn't exist. So to hear, to be reminded of it? That fill him with a rage that certain needs to be let go. If he's going to be a freak, he might as well live into it.

"Who you calling a freak?" Raph yells before sliding around the corner just as the smoke clear, using his sai in one hand to nimbly disarm the weapon from the thugs hand, using the momentum of that move to push his body forward into a sidekick aimed directly into the solar-plexes of this very bad man who used a very mean word. As he does, his other sai goes flying, aimed at the light socket in the wall, hoping to cause a short and give himself at least a tactical advantage (and some anonymity) in the dark.

April O'Neil has posed:
The lights didn't go ENTIRELY out, but they did dim down to a dark-grey hue across the entire office-plex!

The man who said 'freak' was launched back into the stairwell and he collided with a cold set of cement steps that left him beaten and crumped to his hands and knees. The guy holding April, however, turned around and brandished a handgun... But rather than aiming at Raph...

"Hold it right there." He said. He was in his 50s at least, he had white hair and an aged face. And he had his gun aimed, shoved, pressed right into April's temple. April's blue eyes were strained, her face was sweaty and she was looking over at the man holding the gun, then over to Raphael... she looked freaked out, angry and sad at the same time.

"I don't know... who, or what... you are." The man said to Raph. "But we have no beef with you. Just with the girl."

The man leveled his gaze at the shadowy-covered Raphael.

"Let us go, and we have no more problems here."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael can't help but crack a smile as he sees the impact of his well-placed kick, sending the jerk flying. In the dark, he adjusts a few items for his belt, before he hears a voice calling out to him. Slowly turning around, his raises his hands and keeps his head down; he recognizes that the lights aren't all the way out but he hopes the dark will keep the very specific nature of his appearance a mystery.

"Okay, okay, got me dead to rights," he says, head down, hands up. "But see, there's one thing you got wrong. You might not think we have beef, but you're so wrong buster," he explains, squeezing his fingers together and silently counting down in his head. "Ya'see, that 'girl' you got? She's my friend. And unfortunately for you, I don't gots a lot of those. So gotta protect the ones I got. So you want some beef? Call me your butcher."

The next seconds are crucial as Raph actually closes his eyes, as he rolls down and yells out "Duck!" to April. Flinging his hand forward, he tosses the flash bang he was holding in his hand forward; if he got the timing right it should flash mid-air, blinding anyone who is looking in it's general direction. Betting between the disorientation and the general chaos of the situation, the last sai Raph has on him is flung forward, aimed at the gunhand of the crook holding April hostage; if it hits its target, the next move is a Turtle-punch aimed straight for his kisser.

April O'Neil has posed:
The old man holding April hostage was about to say something else when Raphael shouted DUCK and April did just that while going to deliver a hard elbow right into the older man's crotch!

When the flashbang went off the man holding April was sent down by her elbow to his junk, then sent reeling BACKWARD clutching his eyes as he just got a faceful of BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT. He screamed and fired his gun! but the bullet just shot up into the ceiling.

Right Raph went to Turtle-punch the guy to finish him off an OFFICE CHAIR was slammed down onto Raph from behind, by the 2nd guy who'd screamed a-loud and set all of this into motion. Naturally though, the chair just bounces off of hard shell!

"Lets get out of here!" April shouted at Raphael as she went for the door to the stairwell, having yanked the tape off of her mouth a moment earlier.

Raphael has posed:
The chaos plan worked wonders, and Raph's smile cracks a bit wider as he gives a turtle thumbs up to April. But just as he starts to relax, a chair is smashed against his back. The shell takes most of the impact, but it still hurts and staggers Raph. He nods as April starts to run off, jetting himself as he retrieves both of his sai, keeping one eye over his shell before looking towards the stairwell. He looks down towards the exit and then back behind them. "Not sure if down is our best bet, expect more goons were waiting down there for the escape route." He glances towards her. "How well you know this building? Any other good exits? I'll follow your lead, but we need to get fast. Think I may have pissed these dudes off."

April O'Neil has posed:
April paused when she heard Raphael's words and she winced when she saw the chair 'bounce' off of him.... it looked very painful, to her at least. She looked down the staircase and then back at him. Then she suddenly pointed up!

"The Roof?" She asked him then. "We could maybe jump to the next building over, that Laundromat? I don't think they were that far apart height-wise, the other was a little shorter maybe?"

The man that had been kicked into the stairwell by Raph was starting to get up and April quickly ran forward and kicked him RIHGT IN THE FACE! BRUTAL! But also effective, as he dropped back into the ground, with his nose broken and bleeding.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael nods his head. "Sounds like a plan," he says before stepping aside just as April proves her own ability with a rather expertly placed kick in the face. Raph looks impressed, offering his hand for a high-five before moving. "Nice moves, girl; we'll have to spar sometime if we don't get shot first." Heading up the stairwell, he unsheaths his sai again and prepares it. As soon as they get to the top, he ducks down and starts using it as a short arm crowbar to jimmy the door open.

Some forceful crunches and soon the door splinters enough to be forced wide. Stepping aside, he gestures for ladies first. "Safe to say, I think this story is one that has legs. Want to head back to the lair to debrief? I think Mikey has some new pizza recipes he wanted to guinea pigs for," he offers, because of course he does.

April O'Neil has posed:
April returned the High-Five to her friend and she cast him a big grin. "Thanks." She said. "Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My trainer's name is 'Sven'." She grinned and then moved with him up the stairwell to the Roof Exit.

Once up there, April looked around, twirling in a full circle with her yellow jacket tied around her waist swirling around her. She moved over to where Raph was, heard what he said and she suddenly looked conflicted. "The swords, Raph." She said to him them, now looking at him in the eyes.

"There's two specific ones. The Light and the Dark." She was talking crazy again. "They want to combine them, some how, some old ritual.... they think it'll make a super weapon. We gotta stop it."

April knew they were outgunned on this tonight though, quite literally... they'd need the other turtles, at LEAST in order to win here and now...

Raphael has posed:
Raphael doesn't know a lot about a lot, but the talk of ancient rituals and magic swords certainly catches his attention, his cocky grin transitioning into a thoughtful frown as he nods, already preparing a shoot line for them with the grappling hook. "Yeah, that sounds like an all-hands-on-deck kind of deal," Raphael says as he ties off the end of the grappling hook and swings it across the way, creating a nice zipline for them to take. "For now I say regroup and plan. Tell us what you know, maybe Donny and Leo can do some research into Dark and Light swords. The more we know, the more we can hopefully do to stop it." He grins and shrugs. "But good work. You mighta just saved NYC. Now." He gestures towards the line. "Shall we vamos before we get shot up?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April continued to look conflicted on the path to choose, she'd been that kind of person since she was a little girl... it was really hard fo rher to stop doing what she was doing until it was finished.

But Raph was right.

"Fine." She said in a defeated tone, following it up with an exhale. She was grateful for his help tonight, she needed to make that evident and go along with what he was saying.

"Lets go." She said to him then and moved to depart the roof to the OTHER roof.