"Look at this!" Skunk roared, waving the magazine for all of his followers to see. "Aliens Skulking in the Sewers!', 'Probing at Midnight', 'Lights Over Times Square'… What do all of these have in common?"

The group thought for a moment. Then Axel raised his hand. "Aliens?"

"No!" Skunk pointed down from the hay bales he stood on. "I mean, yeah, but… what else do they have in common?"

Dumbed silence; which was why he was the leader. "NYC, gentlemen! The Big Apple! That's their stronghold, I guarantee it."

They all muttered and Skunk's peripheral caught Mole sidling in the side door. There were two on either side of the giant barn that was their HQ. The farmer was owned it was loyal to their cause. Only too old to take up the fight. Skunk nodded at Mole to wait before he continued. "The government says they all went home, but we know the truth! The aliens are still here and still planning to exterminate us all! And we're not going to take that.'

'Humans Against the Extra Terrestrials doesn't wait for the aliens to strike; WE STRIKE FIRST! It started in New York and we will end it in New York!"

They all hooped and hollered and Skunk backed down off of the hay bales. Mole stood waiting for him. "Got something to report?"

"Do I ever!" Mole rubbed his hands together. "You know that abandoned farm, about ten miles out?"

Skunk thought and nodded. "Across the lake, yeah."

"Some grandson of the owner's been shacking up there since the invasion," Mole told him. "Probably got bombed out of his home. No big deal, right? Only I saw him in town today. Guess who he had in the passenger seat?"

Did he expect him to guess? Mole looked ready to burst. "April O'Neil."

Skunk let that sink in. "No way. You sure, man?"

"Only one reporter with lips like that." Mole grinned. "And eyes, and legs…"

Skunk pinched Mole's shoulder. "Focus! This could work… with our big plans only a few days away."

"I knew you'd think so." Mole continued to grin.

"Well, let me think some more." Skunk warned him. "And nobody makes a move until I say so."

}{}{}{}{}{

"Make yer move, Mikey." Raph cracked his neck on both sides. "I ain't got all day."

"Actually, we do." Donnie corrected his brother though a mouthful of wildberry poptart. There had been a full box when they'd started out this morning, but between him, Emma, and Casey, there was only one left. April stretched back on the checkered blanket, taking a slow inhale of sweet spring air. Everything was in full bloom with the scent of last night's rain over everything. The sun was out, the sky was blue…

"Michelangelo!" Raph roared out from their wrestling ring.

"Not so tough now are you, brah." Mikey laughed.

"I'll show you tough!" Raph yelled back. Then there was a howl. "OW!"

"Raph!" Leo broke off of the blanket. "You're gonna break his arm!"

"I'm not setting it!" Emma warned them.

So much for it being peaceful. April closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the leaves in the wind, the birds in the trees…

"Yo, Channel 6!"

Oh, forget it!

"What'd you want, Jones?" April didn't bother opening her eyes. They'd gone on this picnic because April was heading back into the city with Casey on Sunday and she saw no better use of her time then catching some rays until then. Yet, Casey Jones came to stand over her, grin in his voice. "What'd you think about blackberry pie?"

"What pie?" Mikey and Emma's voice suddenly called out. April had to laugh.

"We're talking here!" Casey yelled back. "It just so happens that the best berries to pick them from are less then ten yards away from us."

April opened one eye. Picking berries in the country, to be baked into a pie later? How simplistic! And the guys were getting louder by the second. She sat up. "I'll probably need a tour guide; so that I don't get lost."

Casey's smile could've broken his jaw. They both waved to Splinter and made their way through the tree line and into the shaded path. Casey explained some about coming through here all the time with his cousins. They'd gone for a few minutes, when April saw a promising clump of bushes. Casey pumped the air in triumph. "Here we go!"

"How do we get them back to the house?" April thought aloud.

"Easy." Casey unbuttoned his flannel shirt and stripped to his wife-beater underneath. April wrinkled her nose. "You've been sweating in that."

"We'll wash the blackberries before we cook them."

April reached out to the first plump berry. "So you pick berries and cook them too?"

"I know a lot of things." Casey protested.

"You know about the current political climate in Belgium?' April quizzed him. Casey stared at her, hurt. "You like reminding me that you're smarter."

"I think most people are smarter then they realize." April stared back at him intently. "They just need to tap into it and not bury it."

Casey sighed. "We've had this conversation before, O'Neil. I'm perfectly comfortable with my station in life."

"If that were true, you wouldn't go out playing Revenge of the NHL every night." April mounted a few more berries into his shirt. Casey's shoulders had stiffened against his skin. "This is not what I had in mind for berry-picking."

"What did you have in mind, then?"

Casey paused with his hand in the bush. He was blushing. "Well, a couple…"

He stopped. Then his whole body jerked. April jumped back as the blackberries popped into the air. "Casey? What-"

Casey dropped to the ground, teeth clenched in pain. April tensed at the man who suddenly appeared farther up the path. Her thought to run and scream was blocked by a hand clapping over her mouth.