Runaways

Chapter 1: Escape

A/N: Here's an idea that came into my head yesterday as I was working on one of my other stories. It contains OCs, so if you're not into that, I'd suggest you not read this. This story begins during The Invasion and will go from there, following into season three. I hope that you enjoy this.

Disclaimer: TMNT and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon. I only own the plot and my OCs.

Summary: After the Kraang invade New York, five girls flee to Northampton only to encounter four mutant Turtles they never thought they'd ever see again. Together, they deal with the loss of family and are bonded by the things they have lost. But they have to wonder if things will ever be the same again.

Kelly Donnelly studied her friend's face. "That looks really good on you," she commented. "The eye shadow brings out your eyes."

"I don't think I like it too much," Leah Finnigan said. "You know how I feel about makeup."

"Hey, it's a sleepover," Kelly laughed. "You have to try it at least once."

"Yeah, Lee, at least we aren't forcing you to keep it on," Bae Morrison said. She looked at her hair and studied the ends that were dyed red. "I'm still thinking about changing my hair color, but I kind of like the red."

"If you want to change, I say go with green," Natalie Harrison piped up. "It would look so good on you."

"Just don't do purple," Hallie Meehan said. "You don't want to look like that dork, Irma Langenstein."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "That girl is such a freak," she said. "I had to partner with her for science class and it was just so lame. She wouldn't shut up about her fascination with rats."

Hallie shuddered. "I don't know how anyone could like rats," she said. "They're just so gross."

"I prefer turtles myself," Leah said. "At least they aren't creepy."

"Unless you count those mutant ones we saw," Bae interjected. "I can't believe we haven't seen them since."

"They weren't mutants, Bae," Natalie corrected. "They were just guys in costumes pretending to be mutants."

"And they didn't seem freaky to me," Leah answered. "I thought it was nice of them to help us out with that canister. Who knows what would have happened if we'd kept it?"

"Probably something weird," Kelly replied.

Suddenly, the girls heard a noise. Kelly hurried to the window and looked out, the others huddled behind her. The sky was a weird color and portals were opening up all over the place, dislodging weird alien creatures.

"Holy shit!" gasped Bae. "What the hell is going on?"

"Are those the aliens who invaded last year?" asked Natalie.

"It looks like it," answered Kelly. "I wonder what they're doing here."

"Who cares?" yelled Hallie. "We have to get the hell out of here!"

"Hallie's right," said Kelly, taking charge. "We can't stay here if these guys are invading again." She ran to her room and began packing what she could into a bag. She couldn't take much, but she figured it would be enough. Once that was done, she ran back out and led the girls to the side of the building where her car was parked. She got in the driver's side, and the girls followed her.

"What are we doing?" asked Bae.

"All of you go to your apartments and pack as much as you can," instructed Kelly. "Then we're going to my family's summer home in Northampton. We should be safe there."

"But what about our families?" whimpered Leah. "We don't know what happened to them."

"There's no time for that," answered Kelly. "Let's just hurry up and get this done. Go and meet back here when you're done."

The girls nodded and immediately left the car. Kelly was worried about everything that was happening. Why did it have to happen now of all times? She sat in the car and just hoped that her friends would be okay.

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Bae ran into her apartment, her heart pounding. Her mom was at an art show, and her brother was at a friend's house. Bae fervently hoped they were okay during all of this. Her thoughts turned to her dad even though they didn't want to. Was he okay, too? Was he thinking about her, or was he too busy with the student he loved more than her mom? Shaking the thought away, she packed as much as she could fit into her duffel bag. The last two things she brought with her were a doll her dad had gotten for her and a picture of her family before everything fell apart.

"I hope you guys are safe," she whispered. She looked around her home one last time before leaving and going back to where Kelly was waiting.

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Leah ran into her apartment and quickly started packing things. She was worried for her parents and her sister, Lorena, but she had no time to call them. She looked at all of the trophies and medals she'd won for her swimming competitions. She knew she couldn't take all of it, but she did take one that meant a lot to her because it was her most recent award. She was about to leave when she remembered her stuffed walrus, Wally. She couldn't leave him behind, so she packed him away, too.

"Goodbye," she whispered as she fled her home. She wasn't sure if she'd ever see it again.

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Natalie made it to her apartment in record time. She expected to see her older sister, Melanie, there, but she was nowhere in sight. Melanie had been staying with the family while her apartment was being renovated. Natalie couldn't stand her sister most of the time, but now all of that faded as she thought about the invasion. What if Melanie was killed? What would that do to Natalie to know that the last time they spoke to each other was another fight? Shaking that thought away, Natalie packed as much as she could. She tried to think of a logical explanation for all of this, but there wasn't one. They were being invaded, and she didn't think that this time would just be short-lived.

She looked around her apartment one last time and whispered, "Stay safe" before returning to her friends.

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Hallie reached her apartment and looked around. Her mom was out, but that wasn't a big surprise as her mother was rarely home. Normally, Hallie never cared about that, but this time was different. She wished her mom was here so that they could escape together. It seemed wrong to not have at least one of her parents with her. Her thoughts turned to her dad, who lived in New Jersey now with another family. Was he seeing this on the news? Was he worried about her? Or did he just care about his new family and was glad that she was out of his life forever? Pushing that thought away, Hallie ran to her room and began packing as much as she could take with her. After picking up a picture of herself and her parents before they got divorced, she turned to leave until she heard a soft whine. She turned back and saw her teacup Yorkie staring at her with pleading eyes.

"Oh, I almost forgot you, Toby," she said. "I could never leave you." She scooped up the dog and put him in his doggie carrier, making sure to pack a few of his things as well. Then she left the house and ran back to the meeting place.

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Kelly was a bit impatient, but she didn't have long to wait as all of her friends came back and entered the car. She gasped as she saw Hallie coming in with her Yorkie.

"You're bringing a dog?" she asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I couldn't just leave him," Hallie said defensively. "He's my baby."

Rolling her eyes, Kelly backed out of the alley and drove away from the city. She had to swerve to avoid a few robots, but she managed to do so until she reached the road that would take them to Northampton. As she drove away, she had to wonder if the invasion now had anything to do with those mysterious canisters that had fallen over the city and if the Turtles they'd met had anything to do with this, too. She remembered what had happened right after they found the canister.

It had happened on a Saturday. They had just gotten back from the mall and were walking around when Bae spotted a weird canister lying on the ground and picked it up.

"What do you think this is?" she'd asked her friends.

"I don't know, but maybe you shouldn't mess with it," Natalie replied. "It could be dangerous."

"It looks cool," Bae commented. "Maybe I could use it in a painting."

"Okay, drop the canister and no one gets hurt," said a voice above them.

The girls looked up to see a turtle with a red mask glaring down at them. He was holding some sort of fork-like weapon and had it pointed at them.

"Way to stay concealed, Raph," said the one wearing a blue mask, rolling his eyes.

"Why do you want this thing?" asked Bae.

"We need it so no one else gets mutated," replied the one wearing purple.

"So this stuff is mutagen?" Leah asked.

"Yep," the turtle wearing orange said. "It's the stuff that turned us from ordinary pet turtles into the awesome dudes we are now."

"Okay, enough," the one in blue commanded. "Just give us the canister."

Bae complied and gave it to the Turtle in red. "Here you go," she said. "Have fun."

"Whatever," he muttered. "Let's get out of here, guys."

After they left, the girls promised not to tell anyone else about the mutants they'd seen because they didn't want scientists to find them and capture them. But looking back on it, Kelly wondered if these Turtles were working for the aliens and if they'd summoned the aliens to New York. If that was the case, then it was best to steer clear of them if they ever did get back to the city.

When they arrived at the farmhouse, they immediately got settled in. It was weird how things had changed so drastically, but everything seemed to be in order. They claimed beds and immediately went to sleep, thinking about all they had lost and what was to happen next.

Little did they know that they would see the mutants they had encountered before and that the things they thought they knew weren't what they seemed.

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At the farmhouse on the other side of the woods, the Turtles, April, and Casey got out of the van and settled inside, making sure Leo was safe first. They had lost everything, and now they had to adjust to what was going to happen next. They had no idea that three months later they'd encounter five girls who were in the same situation as them and that girls April and Casey thought of as enemies would soon become their closest allies as they adjusted to life without their families.

A/N: So that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll continue to stick around. You'll learn more about the girls as the story progresses. Feel free to leave a review and have a shelltastic day.