Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Fiction ❯ My Dear Denise ❯ 2 ( Chapter 2 )

“Hello, Vaughan Family Animal Retreat,” Denise recited into the phone.

“Hi, is this Denise?” an unfamiliar female voice asked.

“Yes, this is Denise, how may I help you?”

“Well, I have an injured animal and I need your help.” Denise grabbed a pen and pad of paper from her kitchen “junk drawer.”

“Okay what type of animal, and what is the extent of its injuries?” Denise waited, pen poised.

“Well, it's a large turtle, and he's been shot a couple of times.”

Denise raised an eyebrow at the phone.

“Did you say shot? A turtle? Um…ok, how soon can you be here?” Denise jotted a few notes.

Okay, weird. Never heard of someone shooting a turtle before, but, then again, people are strange sometimes.

“Well, we're in Bennington, so about ten maybe fifteen minutes.” Denise scribbled a few more notes.

“Okay, I'll be waiting for you, just drive up to the big house and honk.”

“Okay, but, you need to know something first. This isn't a regular, run-of-the-mill kind of turtle.”

“Well, what kind of turtle is it? Soft-shell? Leatherback? Is it endangered?” The voice paused and Denise heard garbled speech in the background.

“I guess you'll just have to see for yourself. If I explained it over the phone, I'd be put in a straight jacket.”

Hmmm…ok…

“Alright then, I guess I'll just have to see, I'll need your name though.”

“Oh, it's April, April O'Neal.”

“Thank you Miss. O'Neal and I look forward to helping out your hurt turtle. Just remember to keep pressure on the wounds until you can get here, and please be quick. Gunshot wounds are very serious.”

“Ok, I'll do that. See you in a few.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Click.

I wonder what she meant by not the run-of-the-mill kind of turtle? Maybe deformed or something? Better get the camera ready just in case it's a new species.

And with that Denise began to prepare for the turtle's arrival, rushing upstairs to sterilize her operating room.

 

 

Leonardo stared at the floor and rubbed his chin in thought. He had just finished telling his brothers of his meditating experiences. After his first vision with the girl at the farm, Leo had rushed to Splinter's room but the wise old rat had no answer for him, just a suggestion that Leo try meditating again, to see if he experienced something similar. Leo had tried again, three times, and every time he found himself back at the farm looking at the beautiful woman, no matter how he tried to avoid it. It seemed like he didn't have control of where his mind went, like it was being pulled to her, and Leo didn't understand one bit. He also didn't get how every time she seemed to sense him, and shoot him out of his meditation. So after the fourth time, Leo approached his brothers and hoped they had some kind of idea.

“Maybe you've seen her in a movie or TV show,” Donnie offered. Leo shook his head. They had all gathered in the kitchen while Mikey was making dinner.

“No, I know for certain I haven't seen her before.”

Mikey looked up from the pizza he was making. Raphael scratched his head and proposed another idea.

“Well, maybe she's some chick you just made up, ya know, like a fantasy girl or something.”

Leonardo contemplated, and then shrugged.

“Even if that were true, how did she send me flying onto the floor? Last time I checked fantasy couldn't interact with reality.” Raph shrugged.

“I don't know, Leo. If she is a real person then she's special, I mean, to be able to do somethin like that? There's somethin weird with a girl like that.” Mikey nodded.

“Yeah, dude, she must have some serious power or something.” Leo rubbed his chin some more.

This doesn't make any sense, I've never seen her before, so why am I finding her in the Void, when my mind is supposed to be blank? Hmmm…. Was there anything strange about her?

“Well, she lives on a farm with a white fence.” Leo announced. His three brothers looked at one another then back at him.

“Leo, there's plenty of farms with white fences,” Donnie stated.

“I know, I know. Just, something was different about it, like it wasn't a normal farm. I don't know…just…something.” Leo walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. He settled in front of the TV and turned it on. He began flipping through the channels, finally settling on the news.

Well, at least I can watch April. See what trouble she's been stirring up.

Donnie and Raph walked into the room and sat down. On the screen a woman appeared. She had long, blonde hair with deep blue eyes. Leo felt his breath catch in his throat.

Could it be? Am I that lucky?

Donnie looked over at his brother to see a strange expression across his green face.

“Hey, Leo, you ok?” Donnie asked.

“That's her, the girl,” he replied, a bit dazed. Donnie returned to the news program. The piece April introduced had been recorded the previous week; it had to do with animal cruelty. The young blonde woman on the screen was tending to an emaciated horse. The subtitle introduced her as Denise Vaughan, sole owner and operator of the Vaughan Family Animal Retreat. The interviewer went on about the animals at the retreat and what a typical day in Denise's life was like.

“Leo, that's her, isn't it?” Donnie asked. Leo nodded, shocked at his luck.

“Wow, that's a stroke of luck,” Raph announced, twirling one of his sai.

“Yeah, I'll say,” Mikey added from the kitchen doorway. Leo stared at the TV; still disbelieving the answers could've come so easily.

Denise Vaughan, Vaughan Family Animal Retreat.Vermont.Sole operator.

Leo now knew who she was and what she did, but he had yet to figure out why she was so important, but he had a deep feeling he would soon find out.

 

 

 

Denise paced up and down her front porch, waiting for an injured turtle. Doc sat on one of the wicker rocking chairs and eyed her as she walked back and forth, his tail twitching slightly. Denise halted in front of the orange cat and looked down at him.

“Doc, they said fifteen minutes and it's been over a half hour now, where are they?” Doc cocked his head to the right slightly and mewed at his mistress, his bright green eyes glinting in the afternoon sun. Denise chuckled at her fat feline.

“Yeah I think I am worrying too much.” She began pacing again, hands interlaced behind her back.

If the injuries were as serious as she said, then surely she would've been hauling butt to get down here. I hope she didn't wreck or anything, that would be horrible. Suddenly she heard a car horn. Denise looked up to see a rickety van bouncing up her driveway. She straightened and walked down the porch steps. The van quickly pulled up next to her and a woman with bright red hair hopped out to greet her.

Wow, what a head of hair.

“Hi, I'm April, and you must be Denise,” The woman stated as she extended a hand to Denise. Denise shook her hand.

“Yes, I'm Denise, where's the turtle?” Denise watched as April visibly tensed. April looked to the van and then to the ground. Denise felt her nervousness, it was almost palpable.

What kind of turtle is this exactly?

“Miss. O' Neal, if I'm going to help the turtle we need to get it into the house and taken care of as quickly as possible.” April locked eyes with Denise. Denise could clearly see the combination of worry and fear behind her hazel orbs, and April quickly looked to the van again. Almost reluctantly, April walked to the back of her van, Denise following hastily behind. April opened the door, but Denise couldn't readily see inside the darkened vehicle. Denise heard whispers as April stepped out of the way to let Denise by. Concerned that it wasn't a turtle in the van, Denise asked April to hand it to her.

“Well, I can't. He's too big for one person to carry.” Denise quickly ran through her mental list of turtles too big to be able to just pick up.

Oh, I hope it's not a snapping turtle, those things are vicious.

Denise cautiously stepped toward the van. She peered inside, and gasped.

There's no way, it was a dream….wasn't it?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

April watched as the young woman peered inside the van, and gave a start at Denise's gasp.

Oh man, please don't scream, April thought. Instead Denise surprised April by running from the van, up her front porch and inside her house. The screen door slammed behind her and April felt a migraine coming on.

Oh great.Just great.

“I hate to say I told you so,” a heavily Brooklynesque-accented voice called from inside the van.

“Shut up, Raph,” another voice stated.

“Well, what are we gonna do now, April? He's getting worse.” April placed a hand to her forehead. Denise was probably already on the phone with the cops. They needed to leave, and quick, but to where? They needed help, but were quickly running out of options. Abruptly a loud bang and a cat's startled cry interrupted April's thoughts. She looked to the source of the sound and saw Denise running toward her with something large in her hands. She reached the vehicle and April recognized the object as a simple folding stretcher. She internally jumped for joy as Denise raced to the back of the van and unfolded the stretcher.

“I'm gonna need some help, guys,” She stated to the shrouded occupants of the van. Hurriedly they jumped out of the van and Denise instructed them how to hold the stretcher as she had the remaining brother help her get the injured passenger out and onto the cloth and metal transport. April stood in a state of shock.

She's acting like there's not a thing wrong, like they're the most normal creatures in the world.

The turtles were also obviously fazed by her reaction, as they looked confusedly to April and each other.

“Ok, let's go inside the house now, but don't jar him,” Denise barked at the two brothers holding the stretcher, Denise held a small hand to the wound in the injured turtle's side and jogged alongside the transport. April quickly followed as they made their way inside Denise's farmhouse.

 

X0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0xx0x0x0x

 

Leonardo paced around the lair, thinking about the girl on the news.

Denise, his mind corrected him. Yes, that certainly answered the who, but not the how and the why of the situation. Suddenly Mikey's voice rang out from the kitchen announcing dinner. Leo made his way to the table and sat down as Donnie and Raphael joined him. Mikey waltzed in, steaming pizza in hand. Splinter slowly came to the table and settled into his chair as Mikey served the piping-hot pie. The family dug in and after a few moments, Mikey broke the silence.

“So Leo, you sure you haven't seen that dudette before? I mean, she's definitely got a face worth remembering. Maybe she did some show on TV before or something. Ya know, maybe she was on Animal Planet.”

Leo nodded, still munching on a cheesy slice of homemade pizza. Donnie noticed his brother's brooding mood, and decided to change the subject, telling the family about his latest invention. Splinter's eyes suddenly snapped up from his plate, and signaled Donatello to be silent. The turtle's looked at their sensei. After a few moments' silence, they heard a tiny sound, like a ticking coming from the lair's den. Such sounds were normal for the area around Donnie's room, what with the various electronics about, but this ticking had a strange quality, and it had seemed odd that they hadn't noticed it before. Leo replaced his slice of pizza and quietly walked into the den. Something didn't seem quite right, something ominous hung in the air as Leo made his way around the various furniture and junk in the room. A twinkling caught his eye, and that was when Leo realized his enemy had the jump on him. He had realized too late what was happening and drew his katanas as the enemy came upon