When Shadows Rise | I

Ch. 32 | Bite

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The happy trio made their way over to the drug lord's brownstone's rooftop. Nice and easy. Each member felt a different emotion flurrying inside of them— Raph felt determination; Talia felt anxious; April— as weird as it was— felt a little excited. Obviously, she had never done something like this before. However, now she could confidently scratch 'infiltrate criminal property' off her bucket list. If she could make it out without so much as a cut, that would be a bonus.

The deck flooring was made out of tiled wood, with a protective black railing that went all around. Other than the wooden table and chairs set in the middle, the tapered soft-slate potted plants scattered randomly through the area, and the glazed roof hatch, one could guess the drug lord had no care for such lavish details.

"At least Irina spruced up the place," Raph remarked. "To think she wasn't a plant person."

Talia touched one of the plants, observing its wilted state. "I would think again," she said. "These plants are just for show; it's hard to say how long they've been neglected."

"Maybe she put them up to add a sense of 'normalcy' to the building," April suggested. "The best way to make yourself less suspicious is to pretend there's nothing to see here and hope others buy it."

There was a drop of passive-aggressiveness in April's voice— something she added on purpose. She didn't know if it was meant for Talia or Raph or both, but the point was that it was there and Talia and Raph heard it loud and clear.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Are you still petty that Talia blew you off to go on this mission with me?"

"I'm more petty about you lying about the flash drive than anything for that matter."

"Well, my bad if my family cares too much about you and Talia's safety. Like, no offense, but why do you care so much? You don't see Talia getting on my ass about it."

"That's because she's a nice person. And if you want an answer as to why I'm annoyed, then it's because I don't like liars— and it's especially infuriating when one of them is your friend."

"By that logic, why don't you go rant off to Talia?!"

"Yeah, maybe I will!"

Raph and April scowled at each other. Talia felt like the ceiling was crumbling above them. This was certainly not the time or place to argue— not when they had a mission to follow through.

"We need to calm down," Talia said, trying to be the diplomat here. As much as she knew Raph and April each had a point, the last thing she wanted was to be caught in the middle of their argument. "The lies can't be taken back. Our objective is to figure out the connection between my mother and Irina and if that connection leads back to The Shredder. Is that not more important than you two bickering?"

Raph and April looked opposite of each other, which was their silent way of saying 'you're right.' Talia sighed, feeling relief that she pulled all the stops on their argument.

"I feel like now is the best time to bring this up," April murmured. "Talia, you know the theory I was going to share with you this morning?"

Talia nodded. "Yes. Is that something you want to share now?"

"I actually tried to tell you back at my apartment, but since you weren't kinda listening, I'll have to repeat it. Which, I guess isn't a bad thing since Raph's here and he has to hear this."