"Oh, hey Leo," Akila greeted when she noticed his presence.

Leo, hoping she hadn't noticed him staring, smiled and entered the room with a nervous laugh. "H-hey." There was a small pause before he spoke again, "have you been training this whole time?"

Akila panted and sipped on her bottle of water before answering breathily, "yeah, why?"

"Akila," he began and frowned slightly, "you should be careful; you don't want to overwork yourself."

But Akila didn't feel overworked; she felt fantastic. "Oh, I'm fine," she assured the leader in blue with a sweet grin, "maybe it's my crazy genetic or something, but I feel like I could go on for hours longer still."

Leo smiled in amusement. "Well, how about you take a break for a bit? You could draw more."

His suggestion sparked a new interest in Akila and her eyes brightened. "That's right! I haven't sketched in so long," she spoke longingly.

Leo chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, you could even draw more heroic pictures of me," Leo joked with an overly dramatic bow.

"Maybe I will," Akila replied with a sly look.

Leo suddenly stopped laughing and blushed slightly. "I-I was just joking.." He admitted in embarrassment.

Akila laughed shortly before assuring him, "oh I know, but it is a good idea."

Leo looked over at Akila's confident, rosey smile and deep blue eyes. How did she hold such a power over his heart? He seemed to melt as he replied in a dreamy tone, "okay."

Now giddy with the excitement of drawing Leo, Akila grabbed him by the hand and ran out of the training room with him. Leo chuckled and let her lead him to the living room. "Okay, sit here and look to your left," she ordered with a smile, positioning him the way she wanted.

Akila then sat on the couch with her pencils and sketch pad and got ready to drew, but when she looked up, Leo was looking at her instead of to the left. "I like this view better," he explained slyly.

"O-oh. Okay, that works," Akila accepted with raised eyebrows, trying desperatly not to stutter too much. In her mind, she thought, damn, that was smooth. She blinked a few times, surprised by his forward statement, yet she couldn't help but feel a spark of happiness in her heart. And so, she began to draw him. Every time she looked up, Leo's ocean eyes met hers. She knew there was no going back now; Akila could no longer deny that she was falling in love with her handsome hero.

• • •

Akila and the turtles had just left the sewers for their night patrol. Almost immediately, they spotted a small group of Foot soldiers walking down the road. They quickly readied themselves, and attacked. Akila, not having gained a weapon yet, used her hands and feet to fight. However, this wasn't a problem for her. In fact, Akila rather enjoyed being about to feel the wind get knocked out of her opponents as she punched and kicked.

"More are coming..!" Donnie yelled in warning as more Foot soldiers came out of the shadows. 

Akila and the others watched as more and more Foot Clan flooded the streets and surrounded them. "They just keep coming..!" Raph shouted in surprise and fear.

Akila looked around for a way to escape, but there was none. But just as she began to panic, everything went black.

Akila found herself in a cramped, concrete room. Before her, a doctor stood over an unconscious child. She knew it was another memory of her past. Soon, the child woke. She sat up and yawned. "..who are you?" She questioned the doctor. But he didn't answer. The younger Akila looked to see Edward come into the room hesitantly, a guilty look on his face. "Daddy!" She shouted joyously before running over to hug him. Edward's eyes went wide and he hugged the child back fiercely.

The memory had ended, but as Akila opened her eyes, she found herself in a very similar concrete room. Except this one had a darker feel to it. What had happened? Where were the turtles? The Foot soldiers? Her dream-memory had felt like a few seconds, but it had to have been much longer than Akila had realized."You're awake," a snake like voice remarked, echoing in the room, "good."

Akila turned to see a mutant staring over at her from across the room, with slimmy magenta skin and long pointed teeth. But she wasn't even afraid. She just looked down and rubbed her forehead and muttered, "Jesus.." while wondering how her life had gotten so weird.

"Do not worry, human girl," the fish mutant spoke calmly, "I'm not going to hurt you; boss's orders....I'm Xever."

Akila was still nowhere near ready to put up with this mutant, but she figured she'd get the most answers if she cooperated. So she responded confidently, "and I'm Akila."

"Akila," Xever repeated, seeming proud, "that's what I thought. I've heard many things about you."

Akila squinted her eyes suspiciously. "..What do you mean?" She demanded.

Xever smiled deviously as he spoke. "You and I, we are not so different as you might think," he explained with a horrific grin of needle-like teeth.

"I know; I'm some genetic freak and so are you," Akila retorted.

"True...but that is not what I meant," Xever corrected with the same sly, toothy grin.

Before Xever could say anymore, a large tiger on hind legs walked into the room, glaring menacingly at Akila. "She's awake now," his deep Russian accent spoke observantly.

"Tiger Claw," Xever greeted with forced respect, "yes, Akila has just awoken."

Tiger Claw made his way over to Akila, who was now frozen in surprise. Two mutants? She thought to herself, where the hell am I? "He wishes to see her now," he reported.

Akila felt her jaw lock. But through her tense jaw, Akila managed to squeeze out a curious, "'he'..?"

Xever stepped closer to Akila and spoke almost in a whisper that just about froze the blood in her veins, "your father."