"Leo, we have to go search their place." Raph said in a hushed voice to his brother.
Leo looked over at the sisters, who had fallen asleep on the couch an hour earlier. Who could blame them? They'd been through a lot in the past few hours.
"C'mon man, we gotta figure out why the Kraang are after them! There's gotta be some clue at their house!" Raph insisted. "This is the perfect chance to do it, when they're down here and can't stop us."
"I don't know Raph, maybe we should wait till Donnie wakes up," Leo said, uncertainty in his voice. "We don't even know where they live! Besides, we wouldn't know what we'd be looking for anyway."
"We should still at least try!" Raph pressed, glancing over at the sisters to make sure they were all still asleep. "We can ask April and Casey for help to find their place. Mikey can keep them busy down here if they wake up while we're gone."
Leo sighed in defeat. "Alright, let's go."
The two snuck up to the surface and made their way to April's apartment. It was early evening, the sky turning a dark purple as stars began to become visible. Leo quickly explained the situation to April, hoping she could help them.
"Wait—what?!" April exclaimed, trying to understand what they had just told her. "So the Kraang are after these girls, why?"
"That's what we need to find out." Raph said.
"Will you help us?" Leo asked.
April nodded. "Lemme call Casey, he can help too."
"Alright, but make it quick, I don't know how long those girls will stay asleep." Raph told her.
"Hey Casey, we need your help." April said quickly as she climbed out her window. "I don't have time to explain the whole story but Leo and Raph need our help. The Kraang are after three girls and went after them when they were visiting their mother in the hospital." No response came from her phone. "Casey? Casey you there?"
"I think I know who they are. Meet me on the roof of my building, I'll explain when you get here." Casey said quickly before hanging up.
"I wonder what that was all about." April wondered as she put her phone away.
The trio quickly made their way towards Casey's apartment building. They knew it was only a matter of time before the sisters woke up and realized Leo and Raph had left. When they finally reached Casey's apartment, he was waiting for them on the roof, pacing back and forth.
"Casey, what's the matter? You look worried about something." April said rushing over to him.
"This doesn't make any sense! Why would the Kraang be after them? Of all people, why them?" Casey said, as if he didn't hear April's question. He turned to her and she could see his eyes were full of fear and confusion. "They've been through so much already, and now this?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there Casey." Raph said walking over to his friend. "Calm down and tell us what you're talking about."
"The Sawyers!" Casey shouted suddenly. "I've known them for years and they're a nice family and—and now you're telling me that the Kraang are after them?! Why?!"
"You know those girls?" Raph yelled in disbelief. "You know that one of them is a total nutcase, right?!"
"Ariel isn't a nutcase! You don't know what she's been through!"
"Guys, we don't have time for this, we gotta go search for clues as to why the Kraang are after those girls." Leo said stepping between Casey and Raph.
Casey and Raph took a step back from each other. "C'mon, their house is this way." Casey said before leading them down the street.
It wasn't long before they reached the Sawyer's townhouse. It looked just like the others on either side, but Leo and Raph knew that inside there had to be some sort of explanation as to why the Kraang were after the three girls.
The inside was quite typical of a home of three teenage girls. Dishes from breakfast sitting in the sink. A small stack of school books on the kitchen table. Shoes scattered in the front hallway. Everything seemed normal.
"Alright, let's split up and see if we can find anything that'll point to why the Kraang want these girls." Leo said.
The others nodded and he headed into the living room. He scanned the room, looking for any hint of a clue, when his eyes stumbled upon a broken picture frame on the floor. He picked it up and saw that it was a family photo. The girls were very young, but they looked happy sitting there with their mother and father. Leo placed the picture on the coffee table and continued to search the room for clues.
click
"Mommy, Lulu wanna pway too!"
Leo spun around, drawing his katana, prepared to defend himself. He relaxed when he realized he had just stepped on the remote and turned on the TV.
"Alright, come here baby," The woman on the TV picked up a young Lulu and swung her around. They were both laughing.
There was the sound of a little girl crying in the background. The camera turned to show a young Ariel chasing a young boy around the yard with a baseball bat.
"Hey—Ariel, don't hit him with—give me that!" a man's voice said as whoever was holding the camera chased after Ariel.
"Daddy he made Char cry!" Ariel told him as she continued to chase the boy. "He called her a dork and said her only friends are books! Get back here Casey! I'm gonna make you apologize to Char!"
"Casey Jones don't apologize to no one!" the boy shouted back.
There was a few moments of static and then the video came back, but now it's a different scene. The girls were a little older and they were sitting together on the couch. A young Casey and another little boy and girl were standing behind the couch talking to the girls.
"Alright, girls, tell your father your big news."
Ariel giggled and nudged Charlotte, who adjusted her glasses and smiled to the camera. "Hi Daddy, um, Heather and I entered in the talent show at school last week. We did that dance you helped us with a few months ago. And um… well…"
The girl lifted up a big trophy and held it out towards the camera. "We won Mr. Sawyer! Can you believe it!? We actually won!"
"Lulu told Lottie she could do it, but Lottie didn't believe Lulu!" Lulu added with a smile.
"We miss you Daddy." Ariel said. "Derek and Casey are helping out around the house while you're gone, but it's still lonely without you here." Leo realized that she had started crying. "I'm sorry… I told myself I wouldn't cry—"
"Oh here baby, lemme get you a tissue." The camera jerked around and finally settled on the table in front of the girls. The mother handed Ariel a tissue and she wiped her eyes.
"It's alright sweetie, daddy will be home before you know it."
"But what if he's not? He promised to take me to my first day of school and then they call him away! It's not fair!" Ariel sobbed.
The screen turned to static. Leo lifted the remote and turned the TV off.
"The same day we filmed that they found out their dad died."
Leo jumped at Casey's sudden appearance in the archway to the living room. He had his hands in his pockets and a troubled look on his face.
"Ariel was right. It wasn't fair." Casey said leaning against the wall. "Not to mention that their mother had been sick. When she heard the news about her husband… she hasn't been out of the hospital much since then."
"You seemed really close on that tape." Leo commented as he sheathed his katana. "How come you never said anything about them?"
"Because it wasn't any of your business, that's why." Casey snapped. "They've had it really rough and I don't like talkin' about them to people who don't get it."
"Guys! Come here, I think I've found something!" April called from upstairs.
Everyone rushed up the stairs and saw April standing in the hall trying to open a door at the end of the hall.
"All of the doors in this house are unlocked except this one," she told them. "There's gotta be a clue or something inside."
"Step aside April." Raph said cracking his knuckles. April stepped to the side and Raph rammed the door down. "There we go, that wasn't so hard."
"Uh, Raph?" Leo said walking up to him. "You do realize you're gonna have to explain this to the sisters, right?"
Raph opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he noticed the room was plastered in articles and photographs of strange phenomena all around the world.
"Whoa… this is so bizarre…" April said as she began to read the titles of the articles. "Mutants in New York, Tenth missing person found a week after disappearance, what is all this?"
"Hey guys, look at this," Raph said pointing to an article that was outlined in red marker. "It says, 'The reports of missing persons had all those in upstate New York afraid to leave their homes at night for months before the strange kidnappings suddenly stopped. The last victim, Melinda Wilder, agreed to sit down and talk with us about the incident. 'I have no recollection of what happened to me.' She told us as she rocked her two year old daughter Samantha to sleep. 'All I remember is one night I was taking Samantha for a walk outside when I saw a white van pull in front of us. The next thing I remember after that was waking up in a field in the woods. I am just glad that my daughter was unharmed.'"
"Their grandmother's name is Melinda, this could be related to why the Kraang are after them." Casey thought aloud.
"April, it mentions your dad in here too." Leo said shocked.
"What? My dad?" April rushed over to read the article. "Kirby O'Neil was too distraught after the disappearance of his wife that he refused to comment. His wife is the third victim to be snatched up in the middle of the night with no evidence as to who is the culprit. Hopefully whoever the culprit is will follow his pattern and Mrs. O'Neil will be found in a week's time."
"None of this makes any sense." Casey said as he began to pace. "Why would there be all these articles about missing people turning up a week after their kidnapped in their house? What's going on?"
"Maybe this can explain it." Leo said lifting a video tape off the table in the center of the room. The label on the tape said 'FOR MY GIRLS – GIOVANNI'.
"I think we should bring this back and show it to them. It might have some clues on it." Leo said. He turned to Casey and handed him the tape. "You better give it to them, it might be better for you to watch it with them, since you know them so well and all."
Meanwhile in the sewers, Ariel had woken up and was thinking about what she and her sisters were going to do now. Mikey had been sitting in the living room playing some video game on the TV. Every once in a while he would glance over at Ariel, turning back to his game whenever she caught him.
"What?" Ariel asked finally.
Mikey paused his game. "What?" he echoed.
"You keep staring at me, so—what is it?"
"Oh, um, yeah, well… I was just thinking, you look really pretty, that's all." Mikey said, a blush creeping upon his freckled cheeks.
Ariel felt her own cheeks turn red at his comment. She found herself at a loss of words as well, which was not something that happened often with her. She played with her necklace between her fingers, her eyes purposefully avoiding Mikey.
"You okay?" Mikey asked curious. "Did I say something wrong?"
Ariel shook her head, still unable to find words. He walked over and sat beside her on the couch, causing Ariel to quickly avert her gaze to her hands.
"Okay, now I know something's wrong, why are you not looking at me?"
Ariel looked up at Mikey after hearing the hurt in his voice. She looked into his blue eyes and saw that he was genuinely worried about her. When was the last time she saw anyone look at her with such immense concern for her? It had to have been years. He reached up his hand toward her and Ariel for some reason quickly shut her eyes. She didn't know why she felt scared, but she did.
Mikey's finger wiped her cheek and she opened her eyes. Without realizing it, she had started crying. Ariel blinked away her tears the best she could and wiped the rest away, turning away from Mikey.
"It's okay to be scared, y'know." Mikey told her.
"I'm not scared!" Ariel snapped, holding her arms close to her chest. She looked over at her sisters. "Who said I'm scared? I'm not scared of anything."
Mikey moved in front of her. "You're lying."
Ariel turned away from him. "No I'm not."
"Yes you are." Mikey insisted.
"Why do you want me to say I'm scared? Think I'll be able to rely on you if I am? Forget it greenie, I don't rely on anyone."
Now it was Mikey who was at a loss of words. But the silence was short lived as the others returned.
"Casey? What are you doing here?" Ariel asked jumping up and rushing over to him. "How do you know these… um… whatever they are?"
"I'll explain later Ariel, but right now, you need to see this." Casey hands her the tape.
"'For my girls'… this is from my dad?"
Ariel ran over to her sisters and shook them awake.
"Wha—what's wrong Ariel?" Charlotte asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"Lulu was dreaming about giant talking turtles!" Lulu whined.
"We need to see this, together." Ariel said showing them the tape.
Ariel put it into the TV's VCR and pressed play.
"Gir—SCRHZ—Girls—SCRHZZ—It's me, dad. Listen, I don't know what's going on but I promised your mother I'd tell you when you were old enough. There's not much time to explain, but some alien creatures calling themselves the Kraang are going to be coming for you when they are ready to start their invasion of Earth. I don't know all the details but promise that you'll look after each other and keep each other safe!" there was a commotion off screen and the man looked away from the camera before turning back. "I'm out of time, listen to me girls, whatever happens, this wasn't anyone's fault. Not your mother's, not your step-father's, and most certainly not yours. I love you girls, and Ariel, I'm sorry I can't keep my promise, I really did try. Goodbye,"
Silence filled the lair. Ariel was startled by the sudden sound of her cellphone ringing. She gingerly stands up and steps away from her sisters before answering the phone.
"H-H-Hello? Oh, Dr. Williamson, hi. Yes I am with my sisters. Nothing at the moment, why?" Ariel's hand began to shake. "O-Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can." She hung up the phone and turned back to her sisters.
"Ariel? What's wrong?" Charlotte asked, worried by the expression on her older sister's face.
"Something happen with mommy?" Lulu asked.
Ariel forced a smile on her face. "Dr. Williamson just said that mom needs to see us right now. She has something important to tell us, that's all."
Lulu and Charlotte shared a concerned look before getting up and walking over to their sister.
"I'll go with you." Casey said. "In case the Kraang come back. I'll make sure you get to talk to your mom."
"I'll go too," April volunteered. "It'll be safer this way."
"Alright, fine, let's go."
They quickly made their way to the hospital, Casey and April keeping an eye out for any Kraang that might be nearby. When they reached the hospital, the sisters went into their mother's room and Casey and April waited outside.
"Dr. Williamson?" Ariel asked taking a step forward.
The doctor turned around and gave the girls an apologetic look. Ariel felt her heart stop, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"No…" she ran past him and saw her mother lying motionless in her bed.
All three sisters gathered around the bed, tears streaming down their faces. Lulu leaned over to Charlotte who held her sister comfortingly.
"I'm so sorry, she had a heart attack right after we called you." Dr. Williamson said. "We did everything we could. I'm sorry for your loss."
Casey and April heard the crying from outside in the hall and knew what had happened.
"Those poor girls… Casey, do you think we should—" Casey fell to the floor, hiding his face in his knees. April can hear that he's crying, though she knows he is trying to hide it from her. She sits on the floor next to him and leans her head on his shoulder. Before she knows it, she finds tears rolling down her cheeks as well.
