Summary: As the niece of a reporter, Pandora O'Neill knew there was much more underlying the surface than most wanted to believe. When reports come in about "a silent crime wave", she decides to investigate herself and winds up finding much more than she could have ever expected.
Intro: I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good
TheProfessor-Are you saying Magneto's doctrine was wrong?
Sitting cross-legged in the window seat of her room, Pandora munched on a bowl of chocolate-covered pretzels. She was fully relaxed for the night, dressed down in a baggy green t-shirt and pink red heart-covered pajama shorts that April had gotten her as a joke for Valentines Day.
XMarksTheSpot-In my opinion, yes. I understand his caution as unfortunately, most people can't handle what is different from them. But his approach to humanity was all wrong. It's better to be prepared for the worst outcome, yes, but one should expect the best anyway. Magneto had given up on humanity on that point and expected the worst, actively seeking war before it could come to him.
She winced, reading the long paragraph. It had been a simple question and she had slipped into a rant. More than likely, Donnie wouldn't mind but their short talks always turned into long debates, each combatting the other's point of view.
That was one of the things that Pandora loved most about their friendship. He was the only online friend she had that wasn't afraid to challenge her.
Over the past two years since she had met him on a random discussion forum, he had never stopped challenging her views.
XMarksTheSpot-Sorry for the paragraph, didn't mean to slip into a rant there. What do you think of his doctrine?
TheProfessor-No apology necessary. I understand his caution but I agree that his methods were rather drastic. With his traumatic childhood, his mind had to be affected.
Pandora snickered, agreeing with that assessment whole-heartedly.
XMarksTheSpot-So...he was crazy then.
TheProfessor-Pretty much. Oh, I just realized the time. Isn't it late? Don't you have school tomorrow?
Glancing over at the clock, she cringed upon realizing that it was much later than she had originally thought.
XMarksTheSpot-I've gotta go, Donnie. My Aunt is going to kill me if I oversleep again. Talk to you later!
TheProfessor-Talk to you later, Pan! Sweet dreams!
-Skip-
School was as underwhelming as it always was.
Classes didn't interest her as much as her peers themselves. Most of the material didn't give her any trouble, skimming by with a B or A minus in most of her classes.
Her peers and the teachers were her true focus.
With a news reporter as an Aunt, she was always taught to ask questions and to look underneath the surface. She applied this method of thinking to her peers, wanting to know what made them tick.
Fortunately, she was fairly unremarkable appearance wise. Tall and thin with pale freckled skin, wavy dark blonde hair usually tucked under a beanie or up in a ponytail, and grey eyes hidden behind simple black glasses, she was hardly the apple of anyone's eye, compared to the blue and green eyed brunettes and dark-haired girls who inhabited her school.
Pandora was perfectly alright with this. She was grateful for it, as it allowed her to sink into the background, to be forgettable. This advantage was what enabled her to observe her peers.
For example, Marci Newman, a rather pretty brunette with dark eyes, was more ambitious than she seemed. She was the second in command to Heather Michaels, the most popular girl in the whole school. Heather believed her groupies to be naïve and dumb. She was oblivious to the growing influence of her second in command. Marci was slowly climbing the social ladder, making friends in unexpected places.
Pandora watched it all, intrigued at the initiative the girl was taking. She was impressed with some of the social maneuvers Marci did, even having a brief, pleasant conversation once. Pandora was a loner as she preferred her own company over people who didn't even try to understand her.
Needless to say, she considered school to be an interesting, if slightly boring, time as she paid more attention to the people than information she already knew.
After school, absently noting that Marci had gained another follower in a transfer student, Pandora immediately launched into her newest investigation. For the past three weeks, there had been a wave of crime, dubbed the "silent crime wave" by the media, as there were no violent attacks. Various material items were stolen, televisions, radios, arcade games, and more, but no one saw the thief.
The only evidence Pandora managed to scrounge up was from witness statements.
Mrs. Perry, an older woman who had way too many cats in her apartment, spent an hour complaining about the hooligans she spotted running away with her television. Pandora managed to escape after giving a few pets to her star of the litter, Snowball, and promising to visit again soon.
Several other witnesses she talked to said the same things. They all said they saw young men stealing, around high school age.
After talking to three witnesses in different parts of the city, Pandora decided it was time to go home for the night. Her Aunt would be furious if she knew that she was on the riskier side of the city in the dark. Especially after yesterday, when a group of the Foot clan attacked her when she was leaving work.
As if summoned by her thoughts, her phone went off and she answered it absently, one hand clicking the chin strap of her helmet on.
"Hey Aunt April," she greeted as she laced up her roller skates, starting to skate down the sidewalk.
"Pan! Listen, I need you to make sure all the windows and doors are locked, okay? The Foot just attacked me again at the subway," her Aunt rambled, panic making her voice higher than usual.
"But I'm not at home yet…" Pandora trailed off, eyes catching on a dark van as it slowly crept along the road behind her. Muscles tensing, she gripped the phone tight as she watched suspiciously.
Her mind raced, trying to figure a way out.
It was dark outside and the area she was in was practically empty as everyone was settling in for the night. She wouldn't get much help from any of the residents in the apartments, as everyone around there knew to stay off the streets at night.
Her Aunt's apartment was half an hour away. Thirty minutes was cutting it close, ample time for them to catch her.
Casting a quick glance up at the bright street light above her, Pandora decided she'd just have to make it hard for them to catch her.
"Pandora O'Neill, get your butt home as fast as you can! I'll meet you there. Where are you now?"
Keeping her eyes on the van, she answered her Aunt. "Near the docks. Gotta go, creeper van following."
She hung up on her Aunt's protests and tucked the phone into the pocket of her jacket before finally taking her eyes off the van as she took off.
An engine revved behind her as the van took off after her, sticking to the road.
Staying on the sidewalk, she pumped her legs, putting on as much speed as she could.
She fell into the comforting rhythm, her mind racing ten steps ahead as she planned out her route to make it the most inconvenient for the van.
Hitting a more populated street, Pandora grinned as she left the sidewalk for the road. The traffic didn't stop her as she weaved in and out, ignoring the angry honks of startled drivers.
As the traffic light hit red, the van had to stop to avoid crashing into the back of a car.
It bought her a minute and fifteen seconds, as seventy-five seconds was the average time for a light to remain red.
She put that minute and fifteen seconds to good use as she swerved sharply into an alley.
It took thirty seconds to pull off her rollerblades and stuff them in her bag as she jumped up to grasp onto the bottom rung of the stairs, still pulled up above her head, and climbed up the fire escape.
With ten seconds left, she made it to the roof and threw herself out of view, laying flat on her back as she froze, listening intently.
There was the low rumbling of an engine as the van pulled into the mouth of the alley, then the slam of doors as two people got out.
Holding her breath, Pandora focused entirely on listening.
"Dang it, she's gone. She must have doubled back," a voice cursed, irritated.
Male, voice not too deep, around her age, her mind catalogued, concentrating.
Clearly, the fact that the ladder to the fire escape wasn't pulled down made them dismiss the possibility that she had gone that way.
"Shredder's gonna be ticked," another voice groaned, also male, yet slightly deeper than the first, possibly slightly older than her.
There was the sound of footsteps and doors opening as they got back into the van, slamming the doors closed. The engine started up and they drove away, heading down the street back the way they came.
Pandora stayed still, waiting until the sound of the engine had faded from her hearing.
Waiting another ten seconds, she breathed out deeply, slumping in relief.
She allowed herself a few seconds of relief before sitting up and slipping on her sneakers.
Leaving her helmet on, Pandora decided to take the rooftops for the rest of the way. She didn't want to risk them spotting her again if she went back to the ground.
It only took fifteen minutes for her to make it back to their apartment building.
Moving carefully, she climbed down the fire escape until she reached the apartment to their kitchen.
She climbed through, turning to look around for any more suspicious vans before closing and locking the window.
Turning, Pandora froze as she found herself being stared at by three humanoid turtles in masks.
"Pan, you're okay!" Her Aunt April exclaimed as she practically tackled her niece, snapping the teenager out of her surprise. "What were you doing by the docks?!"
"Investigating the crime wave," she answered absently, eyes focusing on her Aunt as she put her curiosity aside for the moment. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me," April scoffed, pulling away. Her eyes caught on her sparkly purple helmet and her eyebrows rose, unimpressed. "You were rollerblading again?"
"Hey, it's how I got away from the creeper van so be grateful I had my rollerblades on me," Pandora defended, taking off the helmet and tucking it under her arm as she let her eyes drift over to the visitors who had caught her attention. "Mind explaining who our visitors are?"
"Oh right!" she turned and waved a hand at the three. "Pan, this is Leonardo, the one in blue, Michelangelo, the one in orange, and Donatello, the one in purple. Guys, this is Pan, my niece."
"Wassup, beautiful?" Michelangelo greeted, winking behind his mask.
Pandora grinned back, finding her spirits lifting.
"Nice to meet you, Pan," Leonardo stated politely.
She nodded back, offering a smile, before her eyes drifted to the one in purple, Donatello. He smiled sheepishly, one hand coming up to rub the back of his head.
"Hey, Pan," he spoke in a voice that she recognized instantly. There was no way she couldn't, seeing as she spent hours on the phone and online with him.
The pieces clicked into place like a finished puzzle. He had always denied meeting in person because of this, because he was afraid of her reaction.
Pandora grinned at him brightly, grey eyes lightening. "Nice to finally meet you face to face, Donnie."