Good evening, readers! I am back with a new update! It's a bit shorter this time, but fear not! There is much more to come in due time. There isn't as much action in this chapter, so if you're trying to have a bit of a more relaxing day, then this is perfect for you! Without further ado, please enjoy!
The next day, Casey went to work at the pizzeria, and April went to work. After her morning shift, she pulled out her personal laptop, having collected William Denbrough's contact information. April settled in as she logged onto a secure face time session, placing in the call. She had what she was able to research beforehand next to her, stacked in a neat pile as she waited with anticipation. Her spine stiffened when there was an answer, mustering a smile. "Good morning, Mr. Denbrough... thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me."
"Of course, Ms. O'Neil." The older man smiled. "Though I'm a bit shocked that someone across the pond wants to interview me." He chuckled.
"With all due respect, sir... the questions I have don't have anything to do with your film work. This is why I set this up with heavy encryption codes... it's very important that you tell me everything you know."
He blinked, pursing his lip. "About what, Ms. O'Neil?"
Meanwhile, the turtles navigated their way towards Casey's old family home on the other side of the city, Raph leading the way as he gloated to the others.
"I'm tellin' you... I got him good." Raph bragged as he flexed a bicep.
"I still won't believe it until I see it." Leo replied as he shook his head a bit.
Donnie coughed lightly into his fist. "I mean, I could have done the same thing at April's apartment... but I thought I might, you know, accidentally hit her..."
"Whatever, Don, you were freaked out and you know it." Raph smirked. "You ladies need a lesson from the boss here." Leo shot a look at this.
"Can't blame him, though..." Mikey muttered. He was still a bit under the weather over what had happened. His brothers had told him that he could stay behind, but he insisted on coming. He needed to face this thing and be brave. Splinter had told him that fear was just another enemy he had to overcome- though difficult, it was part of embracing the way of the ninja.
Meanwhile, William was a little confused at first as to why she was asking him such strange questions.
"I'm not sure why you're asking me about... clowns, Miss O'Neil." Bill chuckled. "I mean... sure, I have featured one or two in my books, but I'm not an expert on the subject. Besides, I thought you stated you were not calling to ask me about my work?"
April bit her lip, not expecting such an abstract response from him. What was going on here? Was it possible he really couldn't remember anything? Or perhaps he was just avoiding the topic out of sheer displeasure. After all, who knows what sort of mental traumas he experienced from the happenings she researched.
"Mr. Denbrough, you used to live in a town called Derry, correct? In Maine?" She decided to ease in a bit slower.
"Yes, I did grow up there... I didn't live there very long though." He furrowed a brow. "Is this a part of some biography of sorts?"
"No." April cleared her throat. "You... had a brother, did you not?." She asked, feeling a spark of hope when he looked up at her with what seemed to be enlightenment. "Um, George, I believe his name was."
A pause. "... Yes... Georgie..." His eyes seemed to glaze over. He didn't speak further, almost apearing to be in a trance.
April felt a chill trickle down her spine when the previously cheerful man was reduced to silence. "Mr. Denbrough... sir?"
The man became more and more distraught by the moment, his voice trembling. "He th- thrusts h- his f- fists aga- ainst the posts and st- still insists he s- sees the g- ghosts..."
Alarmed, April shook her head worriedly. "Mr. Denbrough? Are you alright?"
The four approached the house, Leo and Donnie looking on with surprise. "I forgot that Casey had come from a well-off family." Leo said.
"It's really a shame. This looked like it was a very nice house at one point or another." Donnie commented.
"Look, we can muse over this dump later. Come on." Raph said, moving forward to head inside.
"Hey, Raph?" Mikey asked.
"What?" He glanced over his shoulder for a moment.
"I wish I was as brave and tough as you are." Mikey said, smiling a bit. Raph's expression softened for a moment.
"Hey. You're alright, kiddo." He smirked, patting his shell. "Just remember..." He said a bit lower. "... I'm looking out for you."
"G- Georgie... lost his arm... the b-boat, It... lured him with th- the paper boat I made him..." Bill stared at April through the screen as he began to stutter heavily. "H- He was taken... b- but I don't understand... we killed It. T- Twice, we faced It... a- and Eddie... it killed Eddie."
"Do you mean Edward Kaspbrak? And what is 'IT,' exactly? Mr. Denbrough, take a deep breath. No one is going to see this. This is heavily encrypted." April assured him.
At this, Bill forced a chuckle. "It sees everything, April... I- It... knows the thing you fear the most... and then becomes that thing."
Raph opened up the closet door with a dramatic flourish, looking rather pleased with himself. "Go ahead. Look inside, if you dare." His brothers cautiously peered in simultaneously, keeping their guard up. Raph stood to the side as he did so, smirking to himself. A moment later, they drew back, glaring at Raph.
"Is this a sick joke, Raphael?" Leo growled. "We don't have time to deal with YOU clowning around too!"
"What?" Raph asked as he did a double take, his smug expression melting into one of confusion. He shoved them aside, his eyes widening in shock.
The cellar closet was empty. The body was gone.
Everything he and Casey had used to bind him was torn to shreds on the floor, as if it had been made of paper. He shook his head, his brain scrambling madly in a desperate attempt to come up with some form of explanation, but he could only look back at the others wordlessly, a rarity for the normally arrogant, formidable turtle.
"Mr. Denbrough, please, what are you trying to-"
"P- P- Pen-... Pen-..." Bill Denbrough was finding it increasingly difficult to speak, becoming more tense by the moment. "P- Pennywise."
The only other trace left in the cellar closet was a message sprayed in red paint; 'Pennywise Lives.' All four turtles looked on in silent confusion, dreading what this ominous message could mean.
April furrowed a brow. "Pennywise? Is that the clown? Is that his name?" Bill trembled as he nodded, April swallowing thickly as her spine became rigid. "Mr. Denbrough? Are you going to be alright?"
He finally calmed after a few moments. "Please... forgive me, Ms. O'Neil." He finally spoke. "You must understand something. This... creature... is not what it seems. It... has the ability to imitate your greatest fears, as well as lure you with a sense of false trust. Its manipulative and deceiving nature is what makes it the most dangerous. It doesn't just instill fear in its victims... it feeds upon the fear it evokes. If, in fact... it has returned... you are in terrible danger. I- I can send you all the information I can give you that may help, but... Ms. O'Neil... that is all I can do. I've lost far too much. I have to protect the people I love." He then looked at her through the screen. "As long as fear exists... it may very well exist too. We were able to defeat him in the past, but if it has arisen again... then perhaps it's impossible to kill, after all..."
"Mr. Denbrough, my friend encountered it last night, he told me he managed to kill the creature. I need this information to clear their names." She replied. "See... I'm going to try to do the same think you're doing... protecting the people I love."
"I hope to God you're right, April. I truly hope you're right." He shifted in his chair. "I will send you a secure email with some materials that may help you. But... Ms. O'Neil?"
"Yes?" She replied.
"... Please... never speak to me of this again. G- Goodbye." The call was disconnected then, April slowly leaning back in her chair as she tried to process what she had just heard. A few minutes later, she received an email, opening the file. She bit her lip, printing out the materials, quickly sticking them in a manila folder before closing her laptop, hurriedly heading out of the office.
The turtles burst into their lair, the four of them chattering away anxiously.
"This is bullshit, Casey and I stuffed him in there and made that place like Fort Knox!" Raph exclaimed.
Donnie adjusted his glasses. "In that case, we have one of two scenarios, one, some vandals must have broken in, or two, that thing wasn't really dead, and managed to escape somehow-"
"I broke that bastard's spine clean in half." Raph jabbed a finger at Donnie's chest. "You could have heard the sound of it breaking from halfway across the city."
"Donnie, pull up any surveillance systems in that area, scope them for the duration of the night and see if you can come up with anything. I'm going to contact Casey and let him in on what we found... or rather, what we didn't find." Leo said. "Raph, go and patrol, I want all eyes everywhere!"
As his siblings took to action, Mikey furrowed his brows, watching his brothers as they got down to business. He slowly turned, tightening his lips as he felt something akin to cautious determination. He marched toward the tunnel entrance, nunchukus in hand.
He wasn't going to hide behind his fear anymore. Just as Splinter had told him, he needed to confront it, head on.
April hurried up the steps of the prestigious office building, the manila folder tucked under her arm as she weaved past people in suits and professional uniforms. She approached the front desk, placing the folder down as the receptionist looked up at her.
"I need to see Grayson Roberts. It's urgent." April said, the receptionist blinking before telling her to hold on for one moment, making an internal phone call.
Moments later, April's heels clicked on the tiled floor as she made her way to his office, exhaling the breath she had been holding when she approached his door. She held up her hand, hesitating a moment before knocking on the solid wood door.
"Come in." A voice from within spoke, April opening the door and shutting it behind her. Upon seeing his visitor, Grayson looked up, blinking in surprise. "Well... Ms. O'Neil, this is certainly an unexpected surprise. Please, sit."
She cleared her throat, walking over to take a seat in one of the black leather chairs. "Mr. Roberts... forgive me for not scheduling an appointment ahead of time, but I'm afraid this is-"
"Ms. O'Neil, please." He held up a hand. "I can tell from your body language that you're in distress. We may not be particularly fond of each other, but if there is something I can be of assistance with, I would be more than happy to address any fears you have."
She swallowed, her mouth dry as she placed the folder on the desk. She took a moment to compose herself. "You're right, Mr. Roberts... we aren't particularly fond of one another. But we have one thing in common."
"What's that, Ms. O'Neil?" He tilted his head.
"Our actions... now and going forward... will have a huge impact on this city." She said, and he smiled lightly.
"That, my dear... is correct." He said.
She opened the folder, taking out some papers. "You are running for governor. We may not agree on every subject, you say you are looking out for the people of this city, right? Well, I'm doing the same. There was a threat among us, a catastrophic threat... one which was thankfully eliminated last night. This is something the people need to know about, and I need your help to share this information and vindicate the innocent victims that perished at its hands."
"It?" Grayson rose a brow. "Not... 'he?'"
"No." April sifted through the paperwork, placing down a map. "This is a town in Maine, named Derry. This creature supposedly settled there after a meteorite made contact with Earth at this location. Since that time, several centuries ago..." She placed down another paper, a centuries old artist's rendition of the bustling people of Derry- among them however, was a sinister-looking clown. "... there have been countless tragedies. Reports of a murderous clown stealing and killing the town's children, among countless other freak accidents." She looked up. "This creature was thought to have been eliminated several times, but it somehow showed up here. I think it went into its usual hibernation period, which is a duration of approximately twenty-seven years according to the frequency of the time lapse of these major freak accidents- but upon awakening, perhaps there wasn't enough of a 'food source' due to much of the town being leveled by that major storm in the 80s. It had to move in order to find more people to feed on."
Grayson silently looked over the papers, raising a brow as he nodded slowly. "This is... extensive research, Ms. O'Neil. If you would have told me this without the documentation you provided, I would have thought you were certified insane. However, it seems even prior 'insane' claims of yours turned out to be true, so I have no reason to doubt you now, do I?"
"So... you believe me, then?" April asked.
"Yes." He shifted a bit in his chair, wincing a bit as a hand went to his back.
"Are you alright?" April asked.
"Forgive me, yes... just a bit of back pain." He tightened his lips for a moment. "Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Anyhow..." He cleared his throat, pursing his lip. "This is extremely disturbing, Ms. O'Neil. It would without question clear your mutant friends of the late increase in child abductions... and I would be willing to work with you on finding out more about this creature. There is no place for it in this city. I'll keep in touch with you on this matter, but I need time to look this all over."
April sighed with relief. "I... appreciate this, sir."
He smirked a bit. "You never cease to impress me, Ms. O'Neil. And... I am glad that despite any past animosity between us, you have sought me out. Together..." He leaned forward a bit. "We will bring our enemies to their knees."
April nodded. "I'm only concerned about the people, Mr. Roberts."
He chuckled lightly. "Believe me, Ms. O'Neil... so am I." He extended a hand, April hesitating for a moment before shaking it. She was about to head out, looking over at a vase sitting on his desk.
"Those are nice roses." She commented. "I love when family and friends send me things to my office."
He glanced over at them for a moment. "Ah, yes... these were a gift. I received them this morning." He glanced back at her. "Red is my favorite color." He gave her a nod. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Ms. O'Neil."
"Thank you... you too." She replied, exiting the office. When she did, Grayson sifted through the papers, stopping to stare at the one showing the illustration.
And that's all for today, readers! So, what do you think? How will April react when she learns of the turtles' discovery? Are they all in greater danger? Find out more in the next update! In the meantime, leave a review with your thoughts, and stay tuned for the next chapter!