For the few following days, April was at school by herself. Holly had figured going into school with two black eyes was just asking for trouble, so instead she had been going back over to the military base during the day to get some additional hours of surveillance under their collective belt. This time she used the drone and stayed well out of sight, hidden on the golf course and she had been sending the others some interesting stuff.
April was not allowed to go anywhere except school and back for the rest of the week, so Donnie had been sneaking over to her house after dark to talk with her. Every time he left the Lair to go, Raph, Mikey, and Leo made smoochy faces at him. This sort of behavior used to annoy him, but now that he actually was able to kiss her, it didn't really bother him anymore. They would often spend a couple of hours talking and a few more making out. The nights were getting colder again so often they would have to converse in little more than a whisper in her room.
"Have you been seeing this?" He whispered to her as they watched few of the videos that Holly had emailed to them. "The guard changes, but every time the person replacing the guy on duty looks exactly like the guy already there." He pulled up four different videos from four different days, at four different times of day.
"Either they only have one set of quadruplets who do guard duty, or they're clones". April whispered back.
"If they are clones it would be a scientific breakthrough," Donnie said.
"What if they're mutants?" April asked in an excited whisper.
"I suppose its a possibility." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It would be unlikely to produce identical results though, unless the original organism were identical." He began to ramble about what could cause identical mutations when he was interrupted by a text.
"Its from Holly, she wants to send us an audio file" He frowned at his phone.
"She just assumes you're here?" April asked in fake outrage, she had told Holly that he had been at her place every night, and they had squealed together about it over the phone.
Donnie just rolled his eyes at her, he knew they talked. "Come on, lets go up to the roof."
They climbed up together, April grabbed her comforter for warmth, and they both wrapped themselves up in it to keep off the chill.
April called Holly when they were settled and put her on speaker phone, "Hey, whats so important that you want to talk about it now?" She emphasized the 'now', so Holly knew she was interrupting.
"Just, listen to this and tell me what you think?" There were tapping keys and after a few moments, Donnie's T-Phone pinged. They opened the file and played it.
The audio was weak, but there was some conversation taking place. The same monotone voice that April had heard when they were all there at the beginning of the week. "Has Krang seen anything that Krang would call suspicious? No, Krang has seen nothing. Krang will continue the search for the suspicious activity."
Donnie and April looked at each other with confusion. "It sounds like the guy is loosing it and talking to himself." April offered.
"Are you sure?" Holly's voice came through a little tinny.
"I mean, the voice doesn't change It has to be one person speaking" Donnie said.
"Its two of them." Holly said simply. "They even have the same speech patterns."
"Could they be using voice modulators, not that I would know why they would do that?" Donnie asked feeling the mystery going deeper.
"No, I ran the audio through a voice signature analyzer, and the results were identical." Holly explained.
"What?" Donatello said and shifted to a more upright position.
"What does that mean?" April asked, she obviously was missing something.
"Two people can't have an identical speech pattern and voice signature. Its as distinct as a fingerprint." Donnie was both impressed and slightly freaked out.
"Even people with artificial voice boxes have a unique voice pattern, these two Krang people literally have identical vocal chords and cadence, or rather lack of cadence." She paused thinking for a moment. "I genuinely have no explanation for this."
"Have you sent this to the others?" Donnie asked.
"I didn't think they would quite grasp this like you guys would." Holly said trying to be delicate.
Donnie just nodded, he loved his brothers but they didn't have the patients for investigative research.
"Did you get any other audio?" Donnie asked.
"Nothing as clear as this. I can send it to you though. Maybe you can clean it up better than I could." Holly tapped on her keyboard some more and a few more dings came from Donnie's Phone.
"I'll check it out when I get home." Donnie said, although now he almost wanted to go so he could see what else they could find.
"Don't get into too much trouble now." Holly said mockingly.
"Not you too... I get enough of this at home." Donnie said slightly sulkily.
"Awe, poor baby." Holly said through pouted lips. "Talk to you later."
April laughed. "You know they just do it to wind you up?"
"Yeah, I know." He said and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I would say they're jealous, but Raph and Holly could be a little more understanding."
"Just give them as much crap as they give you. Its kind of all part of the game of being a teenager." She leaned back into his chest and he rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"April?!" Carols voice came floating up from her room.
"Shit," April whispered. "Up here! I just needed some air" She scrambled to the side of the building to see her aunts head poking out of her bedroom window.
"Get back in here, its freezing out and you could fall off the roof and kill yourself." Carol pulled her head back into the apartment.
"I should go." She winced at Donnie. He stood up and, after giving her a kiss, lowered her bedding down the ladder to her. She waved before ducking into the room.
Donnie sighed happily before taking off to go back home. When he did get back to the lair, he went straight to the lab to look at the files Holly had sent him.
April was finally free to leave the house the following day. She rushed to Holly's apartment after breakfast to see how she and her mom were doing. Holly opened the door looking almost normal, until April looked a little closer. "What is on your face?" She asked and pointed openly.
Holly swatted away her finger, "Its about two pounds of make-up."
"You look like a painted doll." April burst out laughing.
"Shut it, its the only way I can go outside. I look like one of those women on reality T.V. who spends all their money on plastic surgery."
April laughed harder, so Holly just pulled a face at her, but cracked her own smile soon after. "I have your assignment list from school." April handed over a sheet of paper and Holly looked it over quickly.
"Meh, I already turned most of this in." Holly threw the paper on the kitchen counter and walked over to the fridge.
"You would think getting the crap kicked out of you would get you some time off school?" April said.
Holly shrugged. "Its not like there's much else to do. Mom is still worried about everything, but at least I can now tell here where I'm going and what I'm doing."
"How is she?" April asked.
"Handling it better than I expected to be honest. She's still threatening to move to another city every other day, but she won't do it." Holly said.
"Are you sure? I can't loose you guys too." April was briefly panicked.
"No, I think she's worried about the guys too. They're only 15 after all." Holly said.
"16." April said suddenly remembering, "This week is their 16th, mutation day I think they call it".
"No way!" Holly was excited. "Lets get them something awesome to eat, and a cake!"
"Who needs cake?" Stacey said as she entered the apartment. She was carrying bags of groceries and both girls ran over to help her out.
"The Turtles!" Holly almost shouted, "Its their birthday, well... sort of."
"Oh, then they absolutely deserve a cake!" Stacey dropped the last bag on the counter and started putting away her shopping. "I'll call over to Queen of Cakes and see if they can whip you up something special for them."
April and Holly high-fived, and started to Google restaurants that they could get take out from that was on the way.
"I bet Mr. Murakami would be happy to make them something!" Holly offered.
"They can go there anytime!" April protested.
"But they love sushi." Holly rebutted.
"Raph loves sushi." April called her out on her favoritism.
"Fine" Holly said hushedly with a glance at her mom. Stacey was eyeing them slightly, but she was already on the phone so may have missed that particular jab.
After a half hour of arguing, the settled on getting Tapas since it would allow them to order a ton of stuff that they could try. Stacey waved her credit card at them and they placed an order for pickup a couple of hours later, that way they had plenty of time to get everything ready.
"The woman who runs the Bakery said she'll have your cake ready by one o'clock this afternoon." Stacey said.
"Amazing, you're the best mom" Holly said and ran over to give Stacey a hug.
"Just be careful while you're out." Stacey said holding her daughter at arms length. She still didn't like the idea that there was some grand scheme going on in the back alleys of the city. But, after getting the full account of what had happened the night of the attack, Holly and April were doing everything they could to stay out of trouble. Plus they were probably being looked after by the most capable people under the city. "Tell the boys they're welcome to come back over here too. I do still have questions."
"We will." Holly and April rushed off to her bedroom to find some stuff they could bring to make it a real celebration.
After spending a lot of time giggling in Holly's room, they emerged with a few things in a backpack that they were going to take with them. Holly had found her Bluetooth speaker and some party poppers that could be annoying. She also had dug out an old Polaroid camera that printed the images as soon as the pictures were taken. Stacey had even found some party hats and noise makers that were left over from a New Years party she had thrown years ago.
"Oh, I am making Raph wear one of these" Holly laughed.
"He's the quiet one, right?" Stacey asked.
"No, he just pretends to be tough" Holly said before she could sensor herself.
"Huh." Stacey said watching her daughter closely.
April shoved Holly to get her attention, "We had better go, don't want to be late." She indicated with her eyes that Stacey was paying close attention. Holly stuffed the hats in her bag and they hurried out the door.
April and Holly arrived at the Lair in the middle of the afternoon. The guys were up in a training session so they decorated the kitchen as best they could as quietly as possible to surprise them.
"Surprise!" They both yelled as Leo, Raph, Mikey, Donnie, and Splinter came out of the training room. They both threw streamers and blew noise makers as they revealed the spread of food they had arranged in the kitchen.
"You guys!" Mikey ran over and wrapped them both into a bone crushing hug. Holly sucked in air through her teeth and Mikey let go of her.
"I'm still a bit tender" She said, but patted Mikey on the shoulder to acknowledge his affection.
"You remembered our mutation day?" Leo asked a little surprised.
"Of course, it was the day we met." April said, but there was an undertone of misery in the statement. It had also been a year since her dad had been abducted.
Donnie wrapped her in a hug, and whispered something the others didn't catch. She nodded and smiled up at him.
Holly walked over and gave her a little side hug too, "We're getting closer to bringing him home." Aprils chin wobbled, and she nodded as a couple of tears slipped from her eyes. Everyone gathered around and gave her a group hug. Holly stepped back as she didn't really want to be squashed by everyone just yet. She and Splinter gathered plates and cutlery for everyone to start digging into the feast they had brought.
"We swear, we will get your dad back April." Leo said and gave her another tight smush for good measure.
"Yeah, we're getting closer to him every day" Donnie agreed.
"Thanks guys" She said and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek.
"OK enough gross emotions," Raph said and hurriedly detached himself from the others, "what is all this?"
April and Holly proceeded to point out all the options that they had brought, and everyone began devouring it before they had finished talking. Splinter tucked into some crispy duck wraps and even let out a little delighted sigh of satisfaction. "It has been a very long time since I had such delectable food".
"Good, that was sort of the point!" Holly said and loaded up her own plate with some wraps too.
They ate every scrap of food they had brought. Michelangelo had complained that it wasn't pizza, but it didn't stop him from eating as much as everyone else. When April unveiled the cake, all four of the Turtles visibly drooled.
"Is that, real cake?" Mikey asked in awe.
"Yeah, haven't you had it before?" Holly asked.
They all shook their heads, "The last 'cake' we got," Raph said with air quotes, "was the one Mikey made last year out of Algae and worms."
"Oh, well then we need to get some documentation of this." Holly pulled out her camera and waited for Mikey to take his first bite. She snapped a picture of his expression, his eyes had gone unfocused and his fork was hanging out of the side of his mouth. She pulled the film out of the slot at the bottom of the camera and waited for it to develop.
"Let me see that." April asked and Holly chucked her the camera. April turned the camera on all of them and took one big group selfie. Only Holly was ready, so when the picture came out, all the guys had faces full of cake. Splinter still managed to look dignified even in the middle of taking a sip of tea.
They all laughed, except Raph who was especially caught off guard and had frosting on his face too.
Once they had cleaned up, April put on some music and Michelangelo immediately broke into dance. He was really good, and had no qualms about getting into it. April joined in. She was perfectly happy to just wiggle along with the beat. Donatello nearly fainted when he saw her, but Leo gave him a shove as he too joined in with their little impromptu party. Donnie followed and tried to look cool for April.
Raphael, not wanting to be left out, launched himself into the middle of the group and busted out some old school disco moves. April roared with laughter and copied along with him. Holly was perfectly happy to sit and watch her friends being complete weirdos; she tapped and sang along with the music and snapped pictures every once in a while. Soon though, April was trying to drag her into the group too. Holly tried protesting, but April would not let her sit it out. April held Holly's hands and did the sawing motion most preschoolers do when they're dancing and Holly burst out laughing.
Once they had all satisfied their need to act like complete idiots and their faces and sides hurt from laughing and smiling. The group of teenagers sat and relaxed for a while before they needed to get back to work. The sun would be going down earlier every day so they could get top side sooner. Donnie was eager to get more audio of the Krang guards for analysis. They had been going back to the military base at night too, but Mikey would get bored and distract him from doing much actual work. A vehicle being driven by one of the Krang had left the facility, but when they had tried to follow it, it had gotten away from them. They loaded up Donnie's van with their supplies this time.
"What happened to blending in?" Leo asked Holly when she suggested it.
"It may be good to remind certain groups that you're around" Holly said thinking back to the beating she had gotten. She wasn't in a hurry to get jumped again.
"I was thinking, we should call this thing 'The Shell-raiser'" Mikey said dramatically.
Donnie blinked at his brother, "I love it".
"Really?" Mikey beamed.
"Yeah, its perfect". Raph agreed.
They all piled in and drove to the base.
"I'm boooored" Mikey whined a few hours later.
"We know" Raph yelled at his brother his eye twitching in frustration.
"Would you both knock it off" Leo said for the fourth time. "We're going to leave you behind next time."
Holly and April rolled their eyes at each other. They were lying on a roof top with the guys watching the gate through binoculars.
"Can I fly the drone?" Mikey asked.
"Not just yet, I only have a couple of batteries and there's nothing going worth recording." Holly said, she stuck the binoculars back on her face before he could complain to her anymore about how bored he was.
"Awe." Mikey said, and flopped himself dramatically back to sulk.
"Mikey," April said to him as sweetly as she could, "I love you very much, but could you please just try to focus for like ten minutes?"
"But it's so boring just watching nothing" He pouted.
"Why don't you..." started Donatello when April interrupted him.
"Whats that?" She said pointing at a garage door that was opening near the back of the building.
"Have at it Mikey." Holly said and threw the drone controller at him.
He whooped at finally having something to do, and after a few moments he had expertly flown the drone over so the camera could see inside the dark garage.
April, Donnie, Leo and Raph were all squished together to see over Mike's shoulder to see the little screen. Holly remained on her stomach.
"Whats going on in there?" April asked.
"I see some movement, but I can't tell what it is." Donatello confirmed.
"Switch to the infrared filter." Holly said not taking her eyes off the scene through the binoculars.
"Infrared? You have been busy" Donatello commented.
"What? I was bored this week." Holly said and looked back to see everyone staring at her. She shrugged and turned back to her binoculars.
Mikey, tried a few of the buttons until he found the correct one that switched the image to the correct spectrum. Most of the building was various shades of blue with a few green and yellow spots. The inside of the garage was warmer and the vehicle that was running inside was bright red around the hood with pink showing through out the rest of the vehicle. There were a few people standing around, their exposed skin was a deep red, but there were some figures moving around that were almost as cold as the building. The only thing that showed up on them was a slightly warmer oblong that they were carrying.
"Well, that's different." Donnie said as he took the controls from Mikey to get a better look.
"What is it?" April asked.
"These people aren't producing any heat." Donnie pointed to the few moving figures.
"That's impossible." Holly said turning back to look at him.
"I don't know what to tell you, unless the filter is not working correctly?" He shrugged and handed the hand held device to her as she stood up and dusted off her shirt.
Holly studied the image for herself. "Its working, look here you can see that something is giving off heat. Whatever those things are they're carrying."
They were all silent for a moment. "What does that mean?" Leo finally asked.
Holly and Donatello looked at each other and shrugged at the same time.
"Take it in for a closer look." Leo said, and handed the controls back to Mikey. Holly went back to her binoculars, and handed a second pair to Raph who joined her at the edge of the building.
The drone swooped lower, but the image didn't change a whole lot. The people got a little clearer as the infrared image was able to detect more detail in the area.
One of the people inside the garage perked up and strode out to look for something. He looked up, searching for the noise he could hear.
"Um, guys," Mikey said, "I think we've been spotted." The man in the image pointed directly at the drone.
"OK, get it out of there." Leo ordered.
Mikey nodded and started to fly the drone to a building top a few blocks away for recovery later.
Before he got it out of the area though, the other men came rushing out. Holly and Raph saw them pointing something silver at the drone and fire a barrage of purple projectiles at the drone.
"What the hell?" Raph said out loud, he gripped the binoculars a little tighter to keep them still.
"Woah!" Mikey was watching the show in front of him, not paying attention to the controller in his hand, and the little drone was hit and exploded into a cloud of smoke.
Holly physically jumped back. April and Leo were stood with open mouths while Donnie's brain was racing. "Was that a laser? Who has the technology to make laser weapons?"
"That truck is pulling out of the garage and those guys are getting into it." Raph said since he was the only one focused on the courtyard.
Holly jammed her binoculars back on her face, she winced a little, but saw that Raph was correct.
The big white box truck was pulling around to the gate and halted while the slow mechanics pried open the doors.
"Quick, lets see where they're going" Leo said, and they all scrambled to get back to the Shell-raiser
April and Holly climbed as fast as they could down the ladders to the street. The guys were waiting for them as they had the luxury of being able to jump from more than one story and not die, and as they slid the door closed they saw the box truck pass their alley way ahead of them. In both the drivers and passengers seat was two identical looking men. Black hair, black suits, just like the guys who sat at the front gate.
"Something is up with these guys." Donnie said as they drove.
"What are we going to do here?" Raph asked impatiently. "Are we just going to keep sneaking around these guys, or are we actually going to get some answers for once?"
"Why don't we do both." Leo said and swung the van onto the highway after the truck.
"They shot down my drone." Holly reminded them, "I don't think we're going to fair well against guys with laser guns."
"You guys," Leo emphasized, "Will stay in here. We will deal with them."
"Oh, I am 100% on board with not going anywhere near those guys." Holly said and April had to agree with her.
"Donnie, where are we going?" Leo asked as they crossed the bridge into the city.
"Well, if I had to guess, it looks like we heading towards that building." He pointed at a tall glass covered building that towered over the surrounding area. Huge letters indicated that the building belonged to a company called TCRI.
"Alright then, lets find out some answers for once." Leo said. He floored the accelerator and the Shell-raiser lurched forwards sending April pinwheeling back. Donatello caught her mid flight and pulled her onto his seat.
"You have to put more seats in this thing" April suggested.
"Some seat belts would be nice." Holly seconded, she had hooked her elbow through a pipe and was hanging on for dear life.
Leo cranked the wheel and the back end of the Shell-raiser swung out and blocked off the whole road. April and Holly hung on to anything they could find and squealed sightly as they came to an abrupt halt.
"Next time, I drive." Holly said and detangled herself from the pipe.
The Turtles leapt out of the roof hatch and stared down the truck as it screeched to a halt.
"Come out with your hands up!" Shouted Leonardo, and Raph audibly groaned at his brother.
"We're not cops, Leo" Raph said.
The passenger door opened and one of the black haired men stepped out. "You are in the place we wish to drive through this place." He said in his weird manner.
"Well were not moving until you give us some answers." Leo said, and April and Holly both face-palmed them selves at his bravado.
This time the drivers side door opened and another of the black haired, black suit men stepped out. "We must request that you leave this place." This time they both pulled out some pretty sophisticated silver cased guns. A few more identical guys climbed out of the back of the truck and came to stand with their
doppelgangers.
"If you will not leave this place, we will remove you from this place." Said the passenger side guy.
Holly and April looked at each other and scrambled out of the far side of the van, better to have two layers of sheet metal than one to protect against shots.
"I would like to see you try" Raph shouted and launched himself at the men.
They opened fire and the same purple lasers suddenly filled the air. The Turtles scrambled, some went high, others went low swiping at anything that might send these guys off balance. These strange men didn't seem to feel anything that hit them. They had no reaction, not pain, not surprise, they weren't smug, nothing. They just swung their strange guns around and kept firing.
April and Holly were crouched behind the tires of the Shell-raiser The laser projectiles did not seem to pass through inanimate objects, the few lasers that did fly past them left little singe marks on the concrete and buildings, but the damage was minimal.
"Lets see what is going on here." Holly said, and pulled a mini drone out of her pocket.
"You have another one?" April asked slightly shocked.
"Yeah, after how unprepared we have seemed to be from the start of all of this, I decided it was time for a back up plan." She launched the mini drone using an app on her phone and April scurried over to her. They sat with their backs to the Shell-raiser and watched the screen as a low quality video stream came to life.
"That's so awesome." April said and watched the drone whiz off over the top of the van.
"Why wont these guys go down?" Raph yelled at his brothers.
"They're uncommonly tough?" Donnie agreed as he smacked one of the freaky clone guys in the head. The guy didn't even blink.
"Guys, I don't think they're human." Mikey shouted with a hint of panic.
"Well then what the hell are they?" Raph shouted back.
"I don't know," Shouted Leo, then directing his question to the guy he was slicing at "What are you?"
"We are the ones known as the Krang" said the Krang guy as he continued shooting his laser gun.
"What is the Krang?" Donatello continued the questioning.
"The Krang is what we are known as." Answered another Krang.
"This is going nowhere" Raph shouted again, and lunged with full force at one of the guys, they crashed to the ground and the Krang simply got back up and continued the assault.
A whizzing sound overhead caught the attention of some of the Krang and they looked up for just a moment. Long enough for Leonardo to slice clean through one of the guys arms.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry." He said without thinking.
"Don't apologize!" Shouted Raph, but the Krang didn't shout or cry out. There was no blood, just sparks fizzing from the arm on the floor and the shoulder of the krang.
"Krang is no longer able to hold Krangs weapon." Was all he could say.
"They're robots?" Leo shrieked, his voice cracked a little in surprise.
"Good, then I don't have to hold back" Raph shouted, and really went after these guys now.
"That would explain a few things, but not the lack of heat on the infrared camera." Donnie commented as he sliced down on one of the guys with the hidden blade in his bo staff.
"Does it really matter?" Mikey asked and vaulted over one of the Krang who charged at him.
"It does from a scientific stand point." Donnie replied.
"Lets just finish this." Leo said, and sliced the arm less Krang through the torso this time. The robot split in two, and fell to the floor. But instead of just the fizzing he had been expecting, a pink blob rolled out of it. The Turtles just looked at it for a moment, before the pink blob grew six scrawny legs and opened its eyes and mouth. The Turtles all yelled out in surprise and horror. April and Holly were watching on the camera, and both had grossed out looks on their faces. The little pink blob then scurried away under the Shell-raiser and out the other side right by the girls. They looked down and the pink blob just looked at them for a second before shrieking a horrible shrill noise at them. They screamed and scrambled to their feet. April, who was closer to the brain-blob thing, pulled her leg back and kicked the thing as hard as she could. It flew up and onto the roof of a nearby building and they stood panting in sheer disbelief at what they had just seen.
"What the fuck was that?" April asked with wide eyes.
"I don't know, but if its bad enough to make you swear, I don't think I want to know." Holly likewise was shaken, they remained on their feet and scrambled to peek around the front of the Shell-raiser to make sure no more of those gross things were coming near them.
The turtles were thoroughly done with these guys now, and dismantled the rest of the Krang without too much hesitation. Each and every one of the Krang had the same little monster thing inside of it, and they all abandoned their exoskeleton once they were no longer functional. They squiged off as fast as their little tentacles could carry them, scurrying into dark corners and out of sight.
They all stood around looking at the damage they had done.
"OK, so we all agree that was really weird, right?" Mikey asked.
Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement.
"What are those things?" April asked stepping a little closer to one of the downed mechanical bodies. She poked a dismembered arm gingerly with her toes.
Donnie squatted down and began examining the parts scattered around them. "It looks like those little, brain things, were controlling these mechanical exoskeletons." He picked up a few pieces and began pulling it apart. "This technology is so advanced. I have don't know of anything else like it being produced at this time."
"Except for Baxter Stockman's mousers." Holly said as she took an exterior panel from Donnie. "This is the same material."
"We need to find out what these things are." Leo summarized. "And why they're providing Stockman with this technology."
"Well, they were heading to TCRI right? Lets go see what is going on over there." April said.
"We can't just leave this here," Holly said, gesturing around them. "These weapons could do some serious damage in the wrong hands."
"Hide it in the sewers, we can come back for it later." Leo suggested, and they quickly gathered up the bigger chunks of debris and dropped it down a man hole cover.
Then all then hopped back into the Shell-raiser, and continued on to the looming building of TCRI.
