-Later-
"...in the dark as to where they came from. But whoever these mutants are, they saved us..."
"...and then this gorilla just jumped over my car carrying a truck! A friggin' truck!"
"I drew them all! Look, this one's the gorilla, and that's..."
"...the N.Y.P.D. have rounded up many of the mutated victims from the mall attack. They are currently being cared for at the T.C.R.I institute, where Manhattan's top scientists are working together to develop a cure for the afflicted individuals." Every news channel had a different take on the story, but as far as the mutants could tell, they were mostly positive.
The lair doors opened as they watched the news, and both April and Casey carried pizza boxes inside. "I brought dinner!" she called out.
"So this is the legendary pizza Mikey keeps going on about," Sirani commented. "I hope it's as 'heavenly' as he said it was."
"You won't be disappointed," Michelangelo assured her as he opened one pizza box, inhaling the scent of the melted cheese. All three of the zoo animals took a slice of the plain cheese pizza, and then bit it, and as promised, it tasted SO good. Sirani moaned at the flavor, and Artemisia wagged her tail strangely, since Mikey had never seen a fox wag their tail.
Paolo commented, "This isn't half bad."
"It shouldn't be. We've been ordering from this place for years," Casey replied before taking a bite from his slice.
"Do they know that you've been feeding a hungry turtle down here?" Sirani asked, smirking.
"They might think I have a serious problem," Casey said through a mouthful of cheese and sauce.
Artemisia chuckled as she took a second slice. "Sounds like Mikey has a serious pizza addiction."
"And yet I'm in excellent shape," the turtle replied with a smirk.
"Let's see how fit you are without that protective shell on." The fox kept smirking.
"I'm pretty sure that would kill me. Right?"
Paolo shrugged. "I dunno."
"Can we try it out at practice?" Sirani asked. "You'd look pretty naked without your shell." The rest of the group laughed, including Mikey.
-Meanwhile, at T.C.R.I.-
A woman in medical scrubs walked down a hallway, the wall to her left fitted with glass to view the contained victims of the first M-bomb. As she walked, she noted the status of each victim on her recording device. "#156: Present and stable," she said before moving to the next cell. "#157: Present and stable." She then reached the next cell, and paused briefly to view the victim inside. A look of worry lingered on her face before she got back to work. "#158: Present and stable." She turned away from the victim and continued down the hallway. At the back of chamber #158, a deformed porcupine-like creature sat in silence. Long metal blades pressed out of her back, like quills, scraping against the back wall. Unlike the other mutated victims, she did not roar or scratch at the glass of her chamber- she sat…
And waited.
