Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Fiction ❯ A New Lease on Life ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own, or make any money from the characters or various plot devices of TMNT or any songs or various media referenced in this story. I claim only ownership of my original characters.

Hey, Folks! Ghost here. Welcome to ANLoL! Just a couple things I want to cover before we get the dinky prologue out of the way:

In the years since I began this story, my writing has improved and my style changed. That's not bragging, just the honest truth. In response, while getting the story caught up on AFF, I went back and edited and improved previous chapters. By now, the entire published story from prologue to the in-progress Part III has been gone over and the updated chapters are uploaded to AFF and FFnet, and (mostly) AO3. That means fixed errors, expanded scenes (including some improved/expanded smut, holy cow it gets raunchy) and improvements to wording and flow. I can't get everything updated in one sitting, but MM readers can count on getting the most recent version as it's uploaded. If you're impatient for new chapters, I'd suggest going back and rereading updated chapters on AO3 to pass the time. Some of the improvements are definitely worth it.

Con-crit is very much welcome for the entire story, especially if you're polite and tell me how to improve rather than just saying "ur awsum hav mai baybees!" or "dis story sux." If ya think it sucks, please at least tell me WHY you think it sucks so I can improve, 'kay? Fair warning: jerks get yeeted.

There are elements herein from most TMNT incarnations here but the strongest influences come from the Paramount-verse (2014 / 2016 OotS) and the '03 series. Casey aside, appearances are all Paramount...because turtle pants. I include content warnings as needed for convenience.

I hope y'all enjoy the story and I hope it can twang a few heartstrings on the way, and I hope to hear from y'all!

CONTENT WARNING: Panic attacks and references to addiction

Suggested Listening: The Rasmus "In the Shadows"

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I am near you,
You don't see me.
Can you feel me?
I'm closer than close. 🎵

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Prologue

New York City, January 27th, 2016

"Don't even think about it, Mikey." Right on cue, a loud splash sounded some distance down the tunnel, followed by Raphael sputtering in rage. Donatello smiled despite himself, certain water balloons were involved.

As the two troublemakers wrestled in the gravel and debris lining the empty rail bed, Leonardo approached the brother silently studying a map projected over his arm. "Where does he hide those, anyway?" Leo joked as he fell into step beside Donnie. "I would have sworn he used the last one three tunnels back."

"Apparently not," Donnie replied, scanning the walls for telltale signs that they were on the right path. Familiar graffiti and discreet markings in the concrete were as useful as any map when you knew the tunnels like they did. "At least he's occupied, right? We're almost there anyway."

The night before had been interrupted by a sudden blaring alarm from the security system indicating that movement was detected in an abandoned subway station about not far from the lair. Though nothing was ever visible on the cameras, that alarm sounded several more times that night and throughout the morning. By the time noon rolled around everyone was quite fed up with it and Donatello, frustrated at what was likely a bug in the systems, packed up to lead the team out in search of the problem.

"This is it," he said as they reached their turnoff. The City Hall subway station had been long abandoned but was always a sight to see. As his brothers crept along silently behind him, he inched up the corridor, scouting for heat sources with his goggles. As he'd expected, it was completely vacant.

"So," Mikey asked with a bright smile, "if the coast is clear, can we go home now? I don't wanna miss Glee." With a wary cringe, Raph edged away mumbling under his breath about something being contagious.

"Not yet, Mikey," Leo answered. "Not 'til Donnie figures out what set the systems off." With a mumbled bummer, Mikey slumped over to the breaker-box on a nearby wall and switched on the lights. Dim yellowed light flooded the once beautiful room and made the green and ivory tile gleam beneath years of filth.

Donatello approached a bronze placard to inspect the hidden security camera he installed there years before; with a loose brick removed and a panel unscrewed, a piece of frayed wire tumbled out. "Mystery solved, I guess." Damaged, disconnected output wires couldn't transmit video. He trimmed and stripped the rat-chewed wires, spliced the ends, then sealed them with practiced ease; if the camera picked up anything, he should be able to see it when they returned.

"Uh...guys?" Leo ground out, backing away from a rubbish heap in the corner. "We've got company!" Three pairs of eyes snapped to the shifting garbage, and Donatello realized his heat sensors missed something. A body lay curled up in the pile, shivering; he shoved his goggles back down. His brothers hung back as he hurried to the person's side running health diagnostics on them the whole way. The woman was wearing far too little, only a few degrees above hypothermic, and from the looks of it, halfway unconscious...and she looked familiar, though he shoved that thought away. There were more important things to worry about.

"Not good—" Donnie dug through his pack for his medkit and a foiled emergency blanket. "Not good at all. She must've wandered in last night. With so little clothing, she's lucky she didn't freeze to death!" The telltale rumble of a passing train sounded nearby as he wrapped the foil-lined blanket around her, and everything went to Heck in a handbasket. Without warning, her eyes flew wide open and terrified screams shattered the air; unseeing moss green eyes stared up at the intricately tiled ceiling as she scrambled out of the blanket and back to her corner. Still shrieking and sobbing she fell to her side in a fetal position, clutching her hands over her neck, shaking, and rocking in place.

"Well, dere ya go, Donnie," Raph grumbled. "Junkie on a bad trip set off ya sensors." He cringed as yet another terrified wail ripped from her lungs.

Donatello jammed a couple of buttons on his goggles then shook his head as he yanked them back up. "No, she's clean!" He dug through his bag again. "I'm not picking up even traces of anything—alcohol, heroin, marijuana, not even tobacco—her heartrate's through the roof and her adrenaline levels are spiking. Leo, hold her down!" While Leo and Mikey restrained the thrashing woman screeching unintelligibly, Don injected a sedative into her bare arm. Bit by bit her cries turned to groans and sobs; bit by bit, she fell limp in their grip.

Finally, all was still. A quick scan told Don her vitals were returning to normal, and the fit had raised her core temperature a little. If the sensors were set off by that, he supposed, it would explain how she survived the cold night. Despite himself he brushed a lock of bright red hair away from her closed eyes. It was dyed, of course—fruit punch red couldn't be caused by anything else—and he couldn't help wondering what the natural color was. Silently reminding himself of his task he wrapped her up again and hoisted her into his arms.

Across the chamber, Raph startled. "Wait a sec. I seen her before…she—"

"—needs help," Leo cut him off, retrieving her glasses from the rubbish heap. "Regardless of who or what she is, we can't just leave her down here. It's January—she'll freeze to death!" As the two butted heads, Don shifted her to his shoulder in a fireman's carry and dug out his phone. After all, April had never refused to help them, yet.

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🎵 The Rasmus, "Ghost of love" 

FYI: The short-ass prologue is intentional and is NOT indicative of future chapter lengths. Those get a bit lengthy pretty soon.

 UP NEXT: the new face gets a name in Amber or Kimber?