Dagger From the Mirror (ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 Crossover Fic)

Adrenaline

"And so that's why we brought her home to the lair, Sensei," Leonardo said, after recounting the story to a very concerned Splinter. "Because the... situation required it. And I'm pretty sure she was gonna try and follow us anyways if we didn't let her down."

April nervously waved, smiling, "Yeah! Don't worry, you can trust me, I ain't a snitch!"

Leo nodded in agreement, hands at his sides and back as straight as possible. He knew that Splinter was probably more than simply tired of them bringing home strangers every other week, especially considering their lair was supposed to be secret. But in their line of work, what could they do? Sometimes people needed a place to stay, and sometimes they needed to come back to the turtles' base in order to plan.. Plus, Leo believed her on her earlier claim of "I'd have found you all eventually", so really, he had no choice! Mostly. Surely their father would understand why they had to bring her back to the lair.

"Hmmm..." Splinter mummered, before nodding his reluctant approval. "Very well. She may stay... for now. But you must confirm her story as soon as possible. Tomorrow night, understood?"

"Hai, Sensei," Leo immediately agreed, and his father retreated to the dojo to meditate. He visibly deflated, and breathed out a sigh of relief.

At least that was over.

"Dang, your Splinter is strict," April muttered, which stole Leo's attention. He frowned in confusion, and April shrugged. "The Splinter back home is a lot more laid back... literally. All he does is lay around all day and watch TV."

"Really?" To be honest, that surprised Leo even more than hearing that Raphael was the leader in her universe. If he wasn't the leader, he'd expect it to be Raph, so he honestly wasn't all that shocked at the news. But Master Splinter watching a screen all day? "I don't think I've ever seen Master Splinter watch TV. We only have one for us because Donnie found an old one and fixed it up a few years ago, I don't think Sensei has even touched it, besides to turn it off."

"Ha! My guys practically have to fight 'im if they wanna watch anything. Splints has pretty much got a claim on it 24/7," April said, seeming a lot more comfortable now that they were offering her a bit of trust. She had spoken a bit to Donnie and a lot to Mikey on the way back, though Raph still refused to do anything than keep a constant suspicious watch on her. She was funny and enjoyable to be around, and one of the few humans that didn't seem extremely uncomfortable being within five feet of them, so Leo really didn't even mind that she was there.

The situation surrounding it could be better, but hey, beggers can't be chosers.

"I think you should talk to Donnie," Leo said as the two walked further into the main room, where Mikey and Raph were already sitting in the pit. "He's been holding himself back but I can tell he's dying to ask about the other dimension. He's probably coming up with a dozen theories on the multiple dimensions and geeking out in his lab."

April laughed, "Yeah, he would be doing that if he's anything like my Donnie. I'll talk to him after we go save the guys." Leo frowned, and opened his mouth to object to this, but someone else beat him to it.

"It's daytime." Raphael deadpanned, speaking to her for the first time since the rooftop. "You're gonna have to wait until tonight."

"We're waiting twelve hours?!" She exclaimed, turning to Leo to confirm, "But- They're in trouble now, we gotta save them!"

"We can't risk being seen, April. We won't be any help to them getting our existence revealed or getting captured." Leonardo shook his head, "We need to take this time to plan and then rest, and we'll go get them back when it's dark again."