It had been a couple weeks since the turtles met Shireen, Arslan, and his buddies. They were starting to miss their new friends, and thought of going to visit them again. Just as they were getting ready to start their evening patrol, Mikey heard his tPhone ring and looked to see who was calling him.

"Hey, it's Arslan!" Mikey said, his eyes lighting up. His brothers looked curiously at him. "I gave him my tPhone number before we left," he explained.

"Then answer it," Raph said. "It could be an emergency. Maybe stupid Gieve lost Shireen again."

Mikey answered the phone and said, "Yo, Ars! What's up?"

"Hey, Mikey," Arslan replied cheerfully. "My parents are out again, and I've got my friends over. We're gonna hang out and play some games. I was wondering if you and your brothers wanted to come over."

"You bet!" Mikey said. "We'll be right over after our patrol."

"'kay," said Arslan. "See ya."

After hanging up with Arslan, Mikey turned to his brothers and said, "Guys, after patrol, we're going over to Arslan's place. He's having a party, and we're invited! I can't wait to meet his friends!"

"Cool!" Donnie said enthusiastically. "Come on, guys, let's go. The sooner we get this patrol done, the sooner we can go to Arslan's party."

"Right," Leo and Raph said, then headed out into the evening with their brothers.

After about a couple hours, the turtles were finished with their patrol for the night. They headed to Ecbatana Apartments. Mikey was just about to head through the lobby doors, when his brothers stopped him.

"What?" Mikey asked, sort of whining.

"I just realized: Maybe we shouldn't go over when Arslan's other friends are present," Leo explained.

"Huh?" Mikey asked in a confused manner. "But why not? You were excited about it before."

"Because," Donnie said. "We just realized they might freak out if they see four giant talking turtles just walk into Arslan's apartment without knocking!"

"Come on, guys, don't you think you're being a bit too paranoid?" Mikey asked and laughed. "They're Ars' friends, so they're not gonna freak out, okay?"

"Really?" Raph asked. "Last time I checked, Arslan's other friends have never met us, Mikey!"

"That's why we're going to meet them. Let's just go," Mikey said exasperatedly. "I already told Ars we'd be there after our patrol. It's after patrol, so let's just go to his place, okay? I'm pretty sure everything'll be fine."

Leo shrugged. "Okay, Mikey. We trust you. Let's go, Donnie, Raph." With that, the four turtles headed through the lobby doors. They bid the doorman a quick hello and good night, then took the elevator up to Arslan's floor. After getting out, they headed to Arslan's apartment, where they heard a bunch of cheerful noises inside. Leo knocked and waited until someone answered the door: Shireen.

Shireen looked up and her eyes lit up after seeing who was at the door. "Guys, you made it! Yay!" She quickly dragged her friends into the apartment, where, along with Arslan and Daryun, other kids were having fun. "Ars! They're here, they're here!"

Upon hearing his sister's voice, Arslan quickly turned away from a blond girl he was laughing with and smiled when he saw the turtles standing in his apartment. "Guys! Good, you made it."

The girl Arslan had been talking to joined him and stared questioningly at the turtles. "Uh, Ars…just who are these, uh, people?"

"Yeah," a brown-haired boy said, joining Arslan as well. "And why are they wearing costumes? The Mellarks aren't having their next costume party for another month." Both the blond and the brunette were around Arslan's age.

"These aren't costumes," Mikey replied to the kids' questions.

"And we're technically not people," Donnie explained further. "We're turtles."

"Mutant turtles!" Mikey exclaimed proudly, much to the kids' surprise.

"Mutants?!" the girl exclaimed.

"Yeah," Arslan replied. "Estelle, Elam, these are my new friends: Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey," he continued, introducing the kids to his new friends. Then he said to the turtles, "Guys, these are my friends, Estelle St. Pierre, and Elam Becke. I go to school with them."

"Nice to meet you guys," Donnie said to Estelle and Elam.

"They don't eat people, do they?" Estelle asked.

"No way," Mikey said. "Our favorite food is pizza."

"Hey, cool!" Elam said and grinned. "I like pizza, too. Especially the one from Antonio's."

"Hey, me, too!" Mikey said.

Leo spoke to Elam. "So, you're this Elam that Arslan and Shireen were talking about."

"Of course," Elam replied. "What other Elam would they talk about?"

"Tell me something," Leo said. "Do you, by any chance, like Space Heroes?"

"Heck no!" Elam exclaimed, earning himself a few glances from Arslan, Shireen, and the others. "That show's for dorks."

Leo hung his head and groaned, "Oh, man!" He had been hoping that Elam only said he disliked Space Heroes just to avoid being laughed at by others.

"Come on, there are a couple other people I want you to meet," said Arslan. He guided the turtles further into the living room, where Daryun and a couple other boys his age were sitting and playing a video game. "Hey, guys, I want you to meet my-" He frowned when he saw the two boys with Daryun weren't even paying attention to him.

"Hey, Daryun!" Raph called and waved to his other new friend.

Daryun put down his controller and excused himself from the game, then went up to the turtles. "Guys, you came. Good."

"So, where's the pizza?" Mikey asked, looking around for any sign of Antonio's pizza boxes.

Daryun laughed and said, "Don't worry, Mikey, we didn't forget about the food. Actually, we're having KFC tonight."

"That sounds yummy!" Mikey said. "Uh, what does KFC stand for?"

"Kentucky Fried Chicken," a voice said from behind them. The turtles turned around and saw a red-haired girl standing before them. She looked about fifteen, and was wearing a bandanna over her short hair, some weird face makeup, bellbottoms, tan boots, and a long-sleeved red and white shirt. "Hey, nice costumes," she commented.

"Oh, they're not costumes, Alfreed," Shireen said excitedly. "These are my new friends: Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey. They're real turtles! Pretty cool, huh?" Then, remembering something, she continued, "Guys, this is one of Ars' other friends, Alfreed Stark."

"Nice to meet you, Alfreed," Raph said.

"You're…real turtles?" the girl known as Alfreed asked.

"Yup!" said Mikey.

"Uh, not to be rude, but…what are you doing at Ars' party?" Alfreed asked, still weirded out at the fact that there were four humanoid talking turtles standing in her friend's living room.

"He invited us, of course," Mikey replied.

"And how exactly do you know him?" Alfreed asked.

"We met him through his little sister a couple weeks ago," Leo said.

"How did you meet Shireen?" Alfreed asked, wondering how the turtles could possibly have met the little girl when she wouldn't have been out late at night.

"They brought me home from the Marvel and Cato show," Shireen said and took a swig from a can of Coca-Cola.

"The Marvel and Cato show? Please tell me Gieve went with you," Alfreed said.

"No, he didn't," Arslan said in response to Alfreed's comment. "Apparently, he was busy talking to some girl on my parents' phone. Luckily the turtles saw to it that Rena was brought home in one piece."

"That's so nice of you," Alfreed said to the turtles.

"Ah, it was nothing," Mikey said. "Just being a good friend." He patted Shireen's head.

"Hey, let's go in my room!" Arslan said excitedly. "We can play Slen—" He was interrupted when he heard Denis Leary's "Asshole" song playing on his phone. "Hold on, it's my dad. Be right back." He picked up his phone and answered it, saying, "Hey, Dad. What's up?"

"Oh, boy," Estelle and Elam muttered under their breath.

"What?" the turtles asked in unison.

"Ars' dad," Elam explained. "He's kind of an ass."

"'Kind of' is putting it mildly, Elam," Estelle said. "He's a royal butthole."

"Come on, Estelle," Daryun said and sighed. "Mr. Baris isn't that bad. He's just a pain in the butt most of the time."

"How so?" Leo asked after hearing Arslan say, "No, Dad! I'm not making a mess! I promise!"

"Well," Alfreed said. "Both of Ars' parents are kind of absent and barely notice what their kids are doing half the time. When they do, it's usually them nitpicking at a lot of stuff. Like, for example, nagging Ars about the stupid carpet. I mean, I suppose they actually do care about Ars and Rena, but still..."

"Oh," Raph said, annoyed and rolling his eyes. 'Poor Ars and Rena,' he thought. 'Why can't their parents be more like Splinter?'

"Yes, Dad, I made sure my friends wiped their feet," Arslan said in an exasperated tone. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay. Yes, I know about the carpet. I know it's expensive. I swear on the Holy Bible and Grandpa's grave, nobody's making a mess." He looked at the clock on the DVR in the living room. "Listen, I've gotta go. We're just about to eat. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye." He hung up and let out a deep breath. "Okay, I'm back. Sorry about that, guys. Now, let's go to my room."

"Hey, I'll go get dinner, okay?" Daryun said to the other kids. "Don't worry; someone will be here to watch you."

"Okay," Arslan said. "See you later, Daryun."

"Later," Daryun said in reply. He then went over to the two boys on the couch and said something, then left for KFC.

Shireen, Alfreed, Elam, Estelle, and the turtles all followed Arslan to his room, where his pet hawk, Azrael, was sitting on his bed. Arslan went over to the bird, smiled, and gave him a pet. "Hey, Azrael," he said gently as Estelle took the chair in front of the computer. "Sorry I haven't given you your snack yet, buddy." He rummaged through his nightstand and took out a small box of Froot Loops, then poured some out and fed them to a very happy Azrael. "There ya go."

"Okay, guys," Estelle said in an excited voice. "Ready to play a game?"

"Sure," said Donnie. "What kind of game?"

"This game," Estelle said as she logged onto Arslan's computer and clicked on an icon on the home screen. "It's called Slender."

"Ooh," Mikey said and shivered. "Sounds spooky."

"And spooky it is," Estelle replied in a low voice, trying to be scary as she turned around in the chair to face the others. Mikey held onto his brothers, while Shireen held onto Arslan. "Allow me to tell you a tale: The tale of…Slender Man!"

Suddenly, the lights went off, and everyone screamed. Laughter was heard as the lights came back on. The two boys Daryun had been hanging out with earlier were standing in Arslan's doorway, their hands holding their sides as they gasped for air. One of the boys had messy brown hair and green eyes, and was wearing jeans, sneakers, and an Avengers long-sleeved T-shirt. The other one had short brown hair and brown eyes, and wore gray sweats, including a matching gray hooded sweatshirt, and dark blue sneakers.

Arslan turned to glare at the two boys. "Hermes! Xandes! What the heck?!"

The first boy, Hermes, continued laughing and said, "Man, you should've seen your faces!"

"Yeah!" the second boy, Xandes, added, also laughing. "You were all, 'AAAAAHHHH!'"

Arslan sighed and pointed at the boys, then addressed the turtles. "Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, this is my cousin, Hermes, and his friend, Xandes Burakgazi."

"Wait…you look familiar," Leo remarked to Hermes.

"You may know me as Lord Silvermask," Hermes replied and grinned.

"Uh, no," Raph said. "I think we'd know if you were that Lord Silvermask guy."

"Wait a minute," Mikey said. "If you're Lord Silvermask, where's your silver mask?"

"Right here," Hermes replied and pulled out a silver mask. He put it over his face and said, "Recognize me now?"

"Whoa!" Donnie said. "You are that Silvermask guy! I knew you looked familiar! You're the one who beat up Chris Bradford and Xever!"

"Is that who was with that Bradford ass?" Hermes said, then became surprised at Donnie's comment. "Did I just hear you correctly? You were there the night I took down Bradford and his annoying pal?"

"Yes," said Donnie. "So were my brothers." He indicated Raph, Leo, and Mikey. "We were the kids Bradford and Xever were bullying."

"And I was there, too, Hermes!" Shireen happily told her cousin. "I saw the whole thing!"

"You were there, too?!" Hermes exclaimed, eyes wide as he took in what his youngest cousin had just said. "What—How?! I thought you were with Gieve!"

"She wasn't," Arslan explained. "Gieve wasn't watching her, so she went to see Marvel and Cato by herself, at Madison Square Garden."

Hermes looked at Shireen. "Rena, why didn't you just bug Gieve until he agreed to take you? You could've been hurt, or kidnapped, or-"

"I didn't wanna be rude," Shireen said. "And I was safe; the turtles brought me home."

Hermes sighed, then addressed the turtles. "Well, thanks for making sure my cousin got home safely, guys."

"No problem," said Leo. "Say, do you—"

"No, Leo, I'm pretty sure Hermes doesn't like Space Heroes," Raph interrupted his older brother.

"Sorry, I don't," Hermes told a disappointed Leo.

"Darn it!" Leo muttered.

"We're just about to play Slender," Arslan told Hermes. "You and Xandes want to play?"

"Uh, no," Hermes replied, and he and Xandes chuckled.

"Yeah, that game's stupid," Xandes said in agreement.

"We're going back to the living room," Hermes told the kids. "We're playing Gods of War." He and Xandes left Arslan's room.

Once Hermes and Xandes were out of sight, Estelle continued telling the turtles about the game. "Okay, the object of the game is to get out of this forest here," she explained and showed the turtles the computer screen, which had an image of a spooky-looking forest on it.

"How are you supposed to get out?" Mikey asked, still holding onto his brothers.

"You have to gather eight notebook pages," Estelle said. "Once you do, you're safe, and you'll be able to get out of Slender Man's forest." Then her voice lowered again as she spoke next. She turned around to face everyone else. "But I must warn you: Do not, under any circumstances, look at Slender Man. If you do, he'll get closer to you. The more you stare at him, the closer he gets!"

Raph gulped, which surprised his brothers. Normally, Raphael wasn't the type to get scared of ghost stories, or scary computer games, so easily. "What happens if he gets right up in your face?"

"He kills you," Estelle said with a straight face and even lower voice. Everybody screamed once again as the lights went out a second time. The kids heard laughter again as the lights came back on, revealing, once more, Hermes and Xandes in the doorway, laughing hysterically.

"Dammit, Hermes, Xandes!" Arslan yelled angrily, while Azrael screeched in an angry manner as well. Arslan was, once again, hugging Shireen, who was now crying into his shirt. "Look what you did, jerks!"

"Yeah, you made Shireen and Mikey cry!" Alfreed-who had been holding onto Elam just a few seconds ago-yelled and gestured to Shireen and a crying Mikey. Leo and Donnie said gently, "It's alright, Hermes and Xandes are just being instigators."

"Do it again!" Estelle and Raph said angrily.

"Yeah, we dare you!" Arslan and Alfreed yelled in agreement.

"Geez, guys, lighten up," Xandes said.

"Yeah," said Hermes.

"No!" Arslan replied. "You scared Rena and Mikey! They're crying now! This isn't funny, you know."

"One more time, guys, and I'll kick you where it really hurts!" Estelle yelled at the teens in the doorway. "Don't think I won't!"

"Yeah!" Elam said in agreement. "She'll do it, you know." He glared at Hermes and Xandes.

"Okay, okay, we're sorry," Hermes said. He and Xandes left the room, leaving the kids to calm down enough to start playing their game.