The Sewer Twins [PAUSED]

Chapter 12 - Keep out

Ever since the rooftop incident, the boys have been far more cautious and careful than ever before when they go topside, now, they have curfews and even "security protocols", they had to check the areas where they climb up before leaving the sewers in case someone was there, but in reality, they were just avoiding the ninja turtles in order to avoid trouble, specially Mikey, who got traumatized by their last encounter. he stopped going out of the sewers all together, he's too scared of getting hurt again, so that was the best way he found of protecting himself, that injury he had behind his tigh is already gone but the psychological pain is still around, since he never got hurt so badly before, so that experience was pretty shocking to him.

Raph has been on alert ever since Michelangelo told him about what happened, his guts tell him to search for the ninja maniacs and give them what they deserve after everything they made his baby brother go through, but he not only knows that this will be a fight he probably won't win, but also that if something happens to him, there will be no one to protect his brother, Raph doesn't care that those guys are apparently his brothers too, he lost any sympathy he had for them from the moment they threatened his family and friends, they better have a great reason for doing something like that, otherwise, he will absolutely not forgive them, and will probably kill them if given a chance to do so, but for now, Raph sneaks around town quietly, keeping his eyes on the rooftops and avoiding to be seen at all costs possible, he takes everything they need and leaves as soon as he can to go home and feed his brother and himself.

His burning fury accumulates in his heart and dissolves his brain, as much as he's trying to stay calm and collected about the issue, his anger and cravings for revenge are slowly eating away his reason, everytime he sees Mikey limping as he walks, the grudge gets a hold of his inside and squeezes them tight, the pain boils in his veins and the idea of snapping those idiots' necks seem just oh so tempting, thankfully, Mikey's love and comfort was able to keep him sane and calm, he was recovering well and fast but Raph was still watchful like a hawk and as cautious as if he was handling a delicate and fragile little egg, Michelangelo was a bit bothered by Raph's constant overprotectiveness over every meticulous thing, but he was glad to know his big bro cared that much about him, also because his bear mama mode would probably keep him too busy to be angry at anyone or to get in trouble.

Raph tried to push Casey and April away as much as possible, but they refused to leave them by themselves in such a critical situation, their visits made Raph worried, 'what if those guys see those idiots coming down here and try to follow them?' he thought, it was a possibility, but not a very likely one, but it was enough to put Raphael on the edge of his nerves, he felt like Mikey wasn't taking that seriously enough, he kept inviting them over all the time without considering the danger he could be putting them all in, April could be caught, Casey could be caught, THEY could be caught, Raph was acting likee if they were running away from the cops, it was urgent and nerve wrecking to even think about what those ninjas would do if they find them out in the open.

Raph was so anxious about the circumstances he was in that he was already having gruesome nightmares depicting the most cruel and terrifying they could be killed, it was driving him insane, it got to a point that not even Mikey knew how to help him, he tried everything he could to heal Raph from his pain, but nothing worked, one day, April thought about helping Raph, so she was decided to take him out for a walk in the next day so they could talk things out between the two of them, she thought this would both help him out of struggles and make them grow closer, kind of like to make it up to him for starting all of those problems.

In the next day, it was just like that, Arpil and Raph went out for a walk around the sewers, a few minutes passed, and April was getting visibly more disgusted with the place they were in, they were getting to an active part of the sewers, which meant that the strong smell of human waste was getting harder and harder to ignore, even Raph was getting annoyed, so they ended up having to leave the sewers, Raph was hesitant about going upside, but he felt like had to, as they climbed up to the city surface, Raph immediately wanted to put a hoodie on to hide his mutant body, but he realized he forgot it at home, so there was no going back now, he didn't felt like going home right now, he was working so hard back there that his emotions were making him overwhelmed, but going out with April was giving him time for his head chill down, so if he went home, he'd get stressed out again, and he didn't want that for now.

In the end, Raph and April ended up going to her appartment building, they were just planning on chilling at her place and not do much, but after April checked the time, she saw that, at least according to the patrol schedules she had picked up on, the turtles would have already passed by and left, which meant that they could go to the rooftop instead, it would be easier for no one to see Raph there, as long as they kept a low profile, it should be fine, again, Raph was not really sure but he knew he had to open up to someone soon before he loses his temper, so he goes with April's idea and follows her to the top of the building, they sit down near the edge and talk things out, but they were unaware that two infamous creepers happened to be lurking in the shadows of the neighbor building.