The next morning, Raphael woke up in an unusually good mood. He kept his eyes shut, just enjoying the feeling of Holly's breath on his plastron. He yawned and stretched, and opened his eyes, and his good mood was gone. Everyone else in the lair was watching him and he jumped at the sight of everyone's smug, self-satisfied smiles. Holly groaned her protest in her sleep at the movement, but she at least stayed asleep. He blinked a few times to clear the fog from his brain, then gently freed himself from underneath Holly.

"You guys are being really creepy, you know that" He hissed at them once Holly was lying prone on the couch.

"Awe, but you guys were so cute!" Mikey said in a hushed voice.

"The big tough Raph is a cuddle bug!" Leo mocked, but also kept his voice down.

"I'll cuddle your face with my fist" Raph retorted. He had turned bright red.

"Raph you don't have to be embarrassed," April said, although she knew that he would be just as merciless if it were her and Donnie who had been caught snuggling on the couch.

"Yeah, its not like you guys saw what was going on last night." Donnie said with a malicious twinkle in his eyes.
April, Leo, Mikey, and even Splinter looked at Donnie, then at Raph who was staring daggers at his brother. Raph shook his head at Donnie, his eye twitching slightly.

"What were they doing?" Mikey and April both asked in sing-songyvoices.

"We were making out, God you guys are loud." Holly yelled from the couch. She didn't even sit up, just covered her head and tried to go back to sleep. Raph turned around stiffly and went to his room.

Leo and Mikey burst out laughing.

"That's it? That's not even news." April said and turned back to getting some breakfast.

"Awe, I wanted to make him squirm." Donnie said disappointedly.

"Donatello, you wouldn't want your private business shared without your consent. It would not be wise to do it to others." Splinter said softly from behind a steaming cup of tea.

"Yeah, you jerk!" April said suddenly, "Holly never told them that we make out." Leo waved an arm at Leo and Mikey, whose eyes went wide and they immediately began laughing at Donnie's expense now.

"OK, fair point." Donnie admitted.

"He's going to kick your ass later." Holly said sitting up finally. She winced but pushed herself up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders before waddling into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

"Yeah he is." Mikey was delighted. Raph was humiliated and Donnie was going to get beaten up for once.

"Like he wouldn't do exactly the same in my position." Donnie tried to defend himself, but now the guilt had soured the thrill of having something over Raph.

"We didn't, actually." Holly said, her ears were a little pink from embarrassment also, but she knew that there really wasn't anything to be embarrassed by.

"You know." Donnie shouted in her face. "Sorry"

Holly blinked, "Of course I do, She tells me things." Holly nodded at April.

"Its called girl talk, sorry you guys can't do the same." April shrugged.

"I'm going to die now, aren't I?" Donnie said realizing that he had made a huge mistake.

"Quite possibly." Leo chimed in.

"Hmm," Holly swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee, "While you're all here I promised Raph I would tell you all something." She set down her cup and wrapped the blanked around her waist while she showed them the big purple bruise that covered her right side. "Fong actually got me pretty good the other day. He cracked 3 of my ribs and its been quite sore since then."
"Jesus," April said, "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I didn't know they were fractured for a few days, then once the doctor said there wasn't much they could do anyway, it seemed pointless. But Raph was mad that I could've been hurt worse, and I agreed, so I'm telling you now." Holly lowered her shirt and sat back at the table.

"Raphael was quite right to be concerned," Splinter said, "You are very fortunate you didn't do more damage to yourself climbing up and down that building yesterday." Holly just nodded, she knew she had been stupid. "Luckily you are fine, and I may have a salve that will help. Come with me." He stood, and Holly followed awkwardly behind him. Leo and Mikey grinned, they knew what was coming. Donnie was too busy worrying about what he could do to apologize to their other brother to know what was going on.

"Whats with the faces?" April asked when she saw what was going on.

"She's getting Kampo medicine." Leo said, but this did not clear things up for April.

"Its a smelly goop that helps with pain," Mickey said.

April pulled a face, "Yummy."

"I should go and say something, right?" Donnie was blathering on to himself. He turned to April, "will you come with me? He's less likely to kill me if you're there."

"No way. You made this bed, now lie in it." April said still a bit annoyed on behalf of her friends.

"Oh god." Donnie swallowed down his fear and headed to Raphs door.

"OH MY GOD!" Holly exclaimed and gagged violently in the training room.

Raphael's door flew open, "Whats going on?"

"Kampo" Leo said from the kitchen.

"Oh," Raph said and shuddered at his memories of being slathered in the disgusting goo.

"Hey, while you're out here, and I am safely in the view of everyone else, can we talk?" Donnie rambled before Raph could leave.

"No." Raph said, and was about to go back into his room when Holly emerged from the training room. "Someone take this, before this stuff gets on it" She held the blanket at arms length and was trying not to breath.

Raph walked over and took it from her, "You get used to the smell." He said to her.

"How? I smell like the digested last meal of a dead whale." Holly's eyes were watering slightly.

The scent wafted over to the kitchen, and April caught a whiff. "Whoa, that is... that is strong." She stammered as she suppressed a cough.

"Please tell me this at least washes off?" Holly begged.

When all the turtles made various non-committal noises she knew the answer would be 'no'. "Great, I have to go to school in two days". She huffed and walked over to her bag of stuff.

"Raph, please can I apologize to you?" Donnie tried again.

"No, dude." Raph said.

"You should forgive him," Holly said and stood to face Donatello too, "at least he's your brother, siblings are supposed to be horrible to each other." Raph smiled to himself, she was pissed too.

April sucked some air between her teeth, "I don't think we should be here for this."

"I'm not going anywhere." Mikey said and crouched behind their counters, just in case anything became a projectile.

Donnie fidgeted uncomfortably. "Listen, I didn't mean to make you mad. Well, Raph I did, but..." he trailed off, feeling incredibly guilty.

"I didn't spill your dirty laundry, bro" Raph said genuinely hurt.

"OK, lets all just take a second here." Holly said knowing she would have to mediate a little here. "Look Donnie, I personally don't really care about you poking fun at me, I knew you were going to find out about all this anyway."

"No I wouldn't!" Donnie shouted in panic.

"I would have told April, who would have told you. Its all part of the teenage experience." She sighed, "and I won't go into your gory details, but he knows as much as I do about you guys, because this works both ways."

"I'm really sorry." Donnie said and hung his head in shame. "I genuinely didn't think you knew about us." He lifted his eyes to Raph and saw his brother chewing on his tongue in annoyance.

"Well, we're all on the same page now." Holly said looking over at Mikey, who was disappointing that there hadn't been any fighting.

"That's it!? No Shell-Wedgie or anything?" Mikey shouted at Raph.

"Oh, he's not off the hook yet." Raph said, and Donnie paled.

Holly started to walk past Donnie back to the kitchen to recover her forgotten coffee, when he gently touched her arm. "I am so sorry." He said softly.

"Its fine," She said and smiled genuinely at him. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, "But you're not off the hook until I get a hug!" She tried to grab him to get some of the nasty goo to stick to him.

"Eww, no! Get away from me!" Donnie yelled, but she had latched herself onto his arm and wouldn't let go.
"You know," Holly said after she was sure he stank too now, "That gross stuff really works. I feel great."

"Kampo" Said Splinter as he emerged from the training room, "It has been used for 1500 years and has never failed me yet."

"It's amazing" She agreed and stretched her sides out properly for the first time in a week.

"Now, my sons." Splinter announced, "I require you all to join me in the dojo for an important talk."

"Sure Sensi, what kind of talk?" Asked Leonardo Innocently.

"You are all becoming young men and its time we had an open discussion about what that means."
"Oh dear lord," April suddenly exclaimed, "I am out!"

"Right behind you!" Holly grabbed her bag of stuff and the girls practically sprinted from the lair.

"Where are they going?" Mikey asked.

Splinter sat in front of his tree and took a deep breath. He knew this day was coming, but had forgotten how quickly boys became men. The turtles were all kneeling before him with different expressions. Leonardo was trying to be serious, but the burning color in his cheeks gave away his apprehension. Donatello was staring wide eyed at the floor, breathing too quickly. Raphael was trying not to look at anything, or anyone, while Michelangelo was happily humming to himself completely oblivious to what was happening.

"My sons, you are at that age now where you are going to have very intense feelings about people, and I want you to remember that they're perfectly normal."

"Why do we have to be here?" Leo burst out in his squeaky voice, "They're the ones with girlfriends!" He shot a glare at Raph and Donnie, but they were intently focused on the floor or wall.

"You are all going to have these feelings sooner or later, and I would rather you all at least get the basics from me in case you have any questions." Splinter said calmly. He knew they were not going to enjoy this, but it was all part of growing up. He vaguely remembered his own teenage years, although they were a long time ago now.

"Before you get too invested," Donnie said, and took a breath for courage, "We do have the internet down here." Donnie scrunched his eyes shut, hoping this would all end. "There are plenty of educational pages available."
Raph almost laughed out loud, but this was just too humiliating to even remotely be funny.

"Doesn't the internet just make the tv work?" Mikey asked innocently.

Splinter smiled, "I hope you never change, Michelangelo."

"You know those videos you watch of the guys on their skateboards?" Donnie explained, delighted at the prospect of changing the subject, "That is also the internet."
"Ohhh!" Mikey said, "I wonder what else I can see on the Internet!"

"My sons, I know you are resourceful and can figure things out on your own. But I just want to make sure you know that I am also here for you to talk to." Splinter said gently. "You are unique in ways that there may not be an explanation readily available to you, but we might be able to figure out some answers if we are able to have an open discussion."

Donatello understood. He sighed, "You're right, of course."

"I did have one child by traditional methods, after all." Splinter reminded them.

"Hai, sensei." Donnie said, but Splinter shook his head.

"In these matters I am, and will always be, 'father'," Splinter reassured them.

"Can we just start training now?" Leonardo begged.

"Very well, we can continue this later if you prefer." Splinter said and Donnie, Leo and, Raph all scrambled away to try to collect themselves.

April and Holly headed to Holly's apartment and were laughing the whole way about what on earth Splinter was going to talk to the guys about sex. Unfortunately, they soon realized that there may be some facts that they didn't know about since Donnie and Raph were not, in fact, entirely human. By the time they had arrived, they had more questions than they did answers, but they were instantly distracted by Stacey's packing to think about it much more.

"You're leaving?" Holly blurted out.

"I'm only going to be gone for a week." Stacey said. "I've been home for the last couple of months doing as much as I can from here. But the Paris fashion show starts on Monday and I have to be there in person."

"But, what about all your assistants? They can do all the tailoring and stuff." Holly protested. This was the longest her mom had been home in a long time, she didn't want to go back to only seeing her for a week at a time again.

Stacey smiled and hugged her daughter. "They can. But this is just part of the Job. I promise I will be home more than I am not from here on out." She sniffed Holly, "What is that smell?"

"Pain medicine." Holly said

"Hmm, just don't touch the clothes until you wash your hands" Stacey said with a slight frown, "Does it work at least?"

"Yes actually." Holly replied.

"Well, that's good. I know those pills they gave you can be dangerous." Stacey continued to gather her belongings for her flight the next day.

"At least I can stay with the guys now, I'll be safer there anyway." Holly pouted slightly.

"Oh, yes I suppose you can. Just make sure you go to school." Stacey said eyeing her daughter knowingly.

Holly feigned innocence, "How could you even think I wouldn't?"

"Yeah, OK." Stacey shook her head as Holly smirked. "Listen, my flight is early tomorrow, so I'll probably be gone before you wake up. Please, don't get in trouble this time."

"I mean, we can't promise anything." April said, "it's not our fault my dad was captured."
Stacey sighed, "I know, honey" She walked over and gave April a big hug. "Just be careful?"

"We will try." Holly replied and also gave April a squeeze.

The rest of the day, April and Holly spent with Stacey. They relayed all the information they had gotten from the last weeks worth of stake outs. Stacey couldn't quite believe the alien theory at first, but then she remembered the weird speech patterns they had been using, and that she had been saved by four giant mutant turtles, and had to admit that it was not the craziest thing to happen this week. Holly pulled up the files that she and Donnie had been sharing back and fourth, since she was not allowed to help pack the beautiful dresses that her mom had made for the Paris fashion week. April, who was enlisted to help Stacey, gasped every time she unfolded a dress to see the design.

After their training session, where Raphael completely made Donnie pay for his earlier digressions, the guys had split off to do their own things. Donatello was in his lab working on more of the data that kept coming in from TCRI. There was still a whole lot of data coming in, and it all needed translating. He started with a couple of random files that had some diagrams he might be able to guess the labels for. He labeled their schematics for their weapons with all the obvious parts he could think of. Then he moves onto the schematics for their mech-suits. He decided to create a quick program to check through all of the other documents and apply the translations to all the files. Donnie had a few almost complete sentences in one of the files, so he used his best judgment to fill in the gaps and apply the changes.
The others had poked their heads in every now and then to see if he needed anything, or wanted to join them in watching a show, or playing a game. But he declined, as he was starting to get somewhere with this. Even when April called, he was less engaged than usual as he was working through another set of files that had semi-complete sentences in them. The hours dragged on, and eventually he had to call it quite for the night. His back was aching from crouching over his keyboard and he realized he was starving.

Donnie left his lab to see the rest of his family siting around in the living area. He grabbed a snack and joined them for a while.

"How is it going?" Asked Leo not tearing his eyes away from Space Captain, his favorite show.

"Long, there is so much data to get through." Donnie admitted.

"We could help you!" Mikey offered.

"Can you label all the parts on a Krang droid?" Donnie asked,

"No,"

"There you go."

"We could help." Raph said indignantly.

"You are incredibly intelligent, my son," Splinter said, "but you should not under estimate your brothers."

"Even Mikey?" Donnie said skeptically.

"Hey, Just because I'm not smart like you, doesn't mean I'm not smart!" Mikey protested.

"You have your own special talents" Splinter offered.

"See." Mikey said, and Donnie decided against pointing out that their father had not actually agreed with him.

"It's just the sheer quantity of data, and it has to be translated by hand." Donnie said. "Its not like Google has a 'Krang' option in their settings."

"Well, then you will have to just tackle it as you can." Splinter summarized.

"I know." Donnie agreed.

"Then quit whining." Raph shook his comic and went back to reading.

Donnie hung around with his brothers for a little while longer, but he was soon itching to get back to his lab to try and see if he could get any further through the translations.

The next few days passed in much the same manner. Holly had asked if Splinter minded if she stayed with them while her mom was out of town. April had been over pretty much daily also, but had been going home in the evenings to see her aunt. Donnie had asked Holly if she was willing to help with the translations since she was just about the only person he believed had the attention span to be able to help him. She agreed, and any down time she had was spent with her laptop open working on the files.

Donnie himself spent just about every spare waking minute working on the files, and finally after innumerable hours of work, they had some complete information about what the Krang were doing.

"Guys!" Donnie yelled as he came rushing out of his lab. April and Holly were working on a report and had a pile of text books spread out on the floor. Raph and Mikey were playing one of the fighting games they had, while Leo was cheering them on. They all looked up in unison. "We finally have some answers about the Krang."
"Awesome, so what is going on?" April asked.

"Well, from what we have been able to translate," Donnie gave a little nod of acknowledgment to Holly, "the Krang aren't just aliens. They're from another dimension." He paused, expecting more of a reaction than he got. "They come from a place they refer to as Dimension X, and they came here hoping to find a new home."
"They want to live here?" Leo asked surprised.

"Yeah, they have basically used up all the resources that are available in their realm and came here looking to find more. The problem is though, they can't breath our atmosphere, so they created the mutagen to help them make the environment more tolerable."

"Wait, what exactly does that mean?" Leo asked.

"It means they want to terraform this planet into something that they can survive on. Which also means it would be uninhabitable for every life form already living here." Donnie said.

"And you're not freaking out about this, why?" Leo followed up with,

"Because the mutagen hasn't worked the way they thought it would." Donnie replied. "Its why they're taking all the scientists to try and help them to fix their mistakes."

"But, why would they take my dad? He's not that kind of scientist?" April asked.

"I haven't figured that one out yet." Donnie admitted. "But there is still more than enough stuff to work through, maybe its in there?"
"Did you find anything about that big sphere we saw yet?" April asked and looked between Holly and Donnie.
"Not a ton," Holly said.

"We know that its a spaceship. Its how they originally got here." Finished Donnie.
"A spaceship? Cool!" Mikey chimed in, he hadn't been paying a ton of attention until he heard that word.

"Oh, I did find the specs on it though, and it is as big as we suspected." Donnie directed this comment at Holly, who he knew had been looking for that file in particular.

"Damn," Holly muttered and shook her head. "How did they get it under the recycling center? I'm going to do some digging into that place." She said to herself and pulled up her laptop again.

"So, they're trying to take over the world? So unoriginal" Mikey complained.

"You're mad because one of the bad guys we have to fight are evil space aliens who want to overthrow the planet?" Raph asked.

Mikey just shrugged in response. "All the aliens in your comics always want to take over the planet?"

"You've been reading my comics?" Raph asked.

"Uhh, no?" Mikey smiled innocently at his brother, Raph sprang at him and they wrestled on the floor until Mikey tapped out.

"Boys," said April and Holly at the same time with matching eye rolls.

"Anyway," Interrupted Donnie, "this is at lease a fantastic start. We'll just have to keep plugging away at it until we either run out of files, or until we know everything we want to."

"Is the transmitter still pulling information?" Holly asked.

"It seems to be." Donnie replied with a shrug.

"We'll just keep sending me stuff and I'll do what I can." Holly offered.

"I can help too, you know." April said.

A chorus of "Oooooh"'s came from the other Turtles.

"I didn't think you'd want to spend hours looking over files?" Donnie said.

"My dad is missing, and the people who took him are not actually people." April said a little coldly, "Of course I want to help."

"Alright, I'll add you to the collaborative files we have going so far and you can take a look too." Donnie said sweating slightly,

"Thank you." April said, "I'm sure I can help."

"This is so tedious" April complained at school a couple of days later. She had been working on the files with Donnie and Holly and couldn't understand how they were still working on this without their brains exploding.
"Yeah, its not the most fun. But it needs doing," Holly said, they were sat in their last class for the day and she had her laptop open and was still working on the files.

"I would much rather be out looking for clues." April said.

"OK, Velma." Holly said with a chuckle, "This kind of work is still finding clues, they're just better hidden than your Scooby-Doo version."

The bell rang to signal the end of the period, and April and Holly packed up their books and stuff to get ready to go to the lair.

Suddenly over the intercom for the school came their principals voice. "Could Miss O'Neil please come to the office?"

"At the end of the day?" April asked.

Holly shrugged. "Do you want me to come with?"

"Nah, wait by the lockers, I need to grab some stuff out of there before we leave."

April left the room alone and made her was through the deserted corridors to the office.

When she arrived, there was a strange woman standing in the office with the principal, who seemed to be a little uncomfortable.

"Ahh, here she is. April, this woman is with the police and she says they have some information about your father." The principal said.

"That's great, but why didn't you contact my aunt?" April asked the large, stern looking woman.

"We tried, but she didn't answer her door." The woman responded.

"Can I see some credentials?" April asked, there was something wrong with this woman.

"Of course." The woman pulled out an official looking badge and handed it over to April.

"So, what information do you have for me?" She handed the badge back, but was still not convinced.

"We have located your father and I would be happy to take you to him." The woman said, her inflections sounded too manufactured to be a real person.

"You found him? Where is he now?" April asked feeling apprehension creeping up her back. Something was very wrong here.

"He is with us, I would be happy to take you to him." Repeated the woman.

"I'm afraid I can't let you take Miss O'Neil from the school grounds without her guardians permission." The principal said with a nervous little chuckle.

"I will take April O'Neil to her father." Said the woman, and she rounded on the principal with alarming speed. The woman slammed her hand into his chest and he was propelled back over the office furniture and crumpled in a heap on the ground.

April dropped her books and ran.

Holly placed a call to Donatello since he kept on sending her more and more files to look at, and she didn't have her laptop out in front of her to see everything he was trying to tell her about. He answered and immediately leapt into a rant about one of the files he was looking at.

"It just doesn't quite make sense," He said without so much as a 'Hello'. "Did you take a look at the files I sent? They seem to be talking about some test subjects but I have no idea what pronouns they use or how to figure out which ones need to go where."
"Hello Donatello," Holly sighed, "I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, we just got out of class and we'll be heading over there in a few."

"Is April coming?" Donnie perked up

"Yes, of course she is." Holly shook her head in amusement.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you too, of course, its just...Ah hem" He coughed so he didn't have to finish the sentence.

"I know, I know, I'm chopped liver compared to April." Holly put on a breathy voice to say her friends name.

"No! That's not it at all" Donnie went into panic mode, he didn't want to hurt anyone feelings.

"Relax, I'm teasing you." Holly said, but before she could poke any more fun, a familiar noise caught her attention from further down the hall. Someone was running at full speed towards her and there were purple flashes of light coming from around one of the corners. "Um, Donnie, somethings going on at the school."

"What is it?" Donnie asked, he didn't like the tone in Holly's voice.

"I'm not sure," Holly trailed off. A few laser bursts hit the wall in front of her, and April came skidding around the corner,

"RUN!" April shouted when she saw Holly in the hall.

"Whats going on?" Holly asked.

"Guys? Hello? Whats is it?" Donnie's voice came through the speaker.

The Krang droid woman appeared in the hallway behind April, her arms were bent at strange angles and it looked like the shots she was firing were coming out of her elbows.
April grabbed Holly by the arm as she ran by, spinning her friend around and dragging her further away from the pursuing Krang. Holly squeaked as she nearly dropped her phone, but managed to hold onto it and cram it back to her ear as she pelted after April.

"Krang, in the school." She relayed to Donnie.

"What!?" Donnie yelled at her. "What are they doing there?"

"April, care to take this one?" Holly said as a laser bolt flew over her shoulder. She grabbed a nearby garbage can and over turned it as she ran past.

"She was looking for me." April said, getting short on breath. The girls ducked around a corner and into one of the darkened classrooms. They closed the door and tried to steady their breathing as the footsteps got louder on the other side of the wall. When the Krang droid rounded the corner, the shots ceased, and the footfall slowed to a walk.

"April O'Neil, I will not leave without taking you to your father." The droid said.

'Your Father?' Holly mouthed at April using the light from her cell phone screen.

April just shrugged as the footfalls passed their door and continued off down the hall way.

"Donnie," Holly whispered into her phone, "There is a Krang here looking specifically for April. We need help."

"We can't come above ground during daylight hours." He sounded stressed.

"Get in the Shell-raiser and get to the school. We will get out of here, but we're going to need a fast escape." Holly told him. They could already hear him yelling for his brothers to get to his lab immediately. "You're 100% sure they're after you?" She asked April.
"Yeah, otherwise we both would have been called to the office." April looked worried.

"OK then, swap shirts with me, and tuck your hair up into the hood of my sweater." Holly instructed her already wriggling out of her hoodie.

"No way, I am not letting you use yourself as bait." April hissed back at her friend.

"Not bait, just a distraction." Holly said trying to sound more confident than she felt. "There's one of her, and two of us. Donnie, I need to hang up now, Get here as fast as you can."
"We're already on the way." Donnie shouted over the revving of the Shell-raisers engine.

"This might not work, so just keep running" Holly admitted.

"What if she catches you?" April asked

"I'll just tell her she has the wrong girl." Holly shrugged, and gestured at April with her sweater.

"This is a terrible idea." April moaned, but pulled off her yellow shirt and traded it with Holly. She pulled on the gray hoodie Holly handed to her and pulled the hood up to cover her hair. "This isn't going to fool her, she's a robot, she has super vision, or something." April protested.

"Still, she might not. Are you ready, Give me a few minutes head start." Holly took a deep breath, then snuck out into the hallway.

April was left alone in the dark room, she could hear her breath coming in ragged gasps. She was afraid, but she hadn't realized it until Holly left her to try to help her get away from that crazy droid. She called Donnie on his phone.

"April!" He shouted into the phone, it had barely rang so he was waiting for her call. "We're not far, just getting to street level."
"OK," She whispered into the phone, just glad to hear a familiar voice. April listened to Holly's footsteps fading into the distance, she waited a full five minutes once all the noises had disappeared before she left the safety of the dark room. She tried to be as quiet as possible, but it seemed like her shoes were being extra loud on the linoleum, squeaking with every step.

"Ten minutes out" Donnie's voice came through her phone. She didn't reply, her throat was dry and she was worried that she would be heard. Ten minutes wasn't that long, right? So why did each second seem to be dragging on for an eternity.

A few halls away, Holly was creeping along the Art corridor chasing the sounds of footsteps from that Krang woman. Her high heels were clicking along the floor and echoing off the walls in a disturbing way. If the Krang was still walking, hopefully that meant she had not found April, and they could get out of here in one piece. Holly peeked around the end of one hall and saw the Krang woman looking into the classrooms for signs of them. She pulled her head back, and just listened to what was going on. The Krang droid had stopped moving all together. Across from Holly was a darkened classroom, the glass in the door was perfectly reflecting the woman at the other end of the hall, and it looked like she was just staring at a door, until she rounded and fired a bolt at the wall right where Holly was hiding.

"Shit," Holly muttered and took off down the hall, away from where she hoped April would be going.

April was starting to feel a little calmer. She had been going along towards the main entrance of the school as that would be the easiest place for the Shell-raiser to get into the grounds. She hadn't heard any more sets of footfalls, nor had she heard any laser bolt fire. She picked up her pace a little, desperate to get outside where someone might be able to help if she needed it. Although this was New York, most people ignored gunshots unless the gun was pointed at them. She paused as she thought she heard something off in the distance, but this was a large school and theoretically there could still be teachers here. She took a few more paces before she was certain she could hear laser fire coming from somewhere behind her.

"Crap, where are you guys?" She whispered into the phone.

"We're close, just keep moving" Donnie urged her.

Suddenly, the sound of running could be heard along with a faint pew-pew of laser fire. April started to move faster now, still not quite ready to run as that would for sure give away her location. But soon the sounds were getting closer, and she had no choice. She ran past the school trophy case and through the lunch room. As she was crossing over to the science block, a bolt struck the wall in front of her and she turned instinctively. Holly was running at the far end of the lunchroom ducking behind the large trash cans that they had lined up for all the students. She grabbed a metal lunch tray and was deflecting the shots back at the droid, but aiming with a lunch tray was not ideal. April gasped, loud enough from both Holly and the droid to hear it. They both looked in her direction.

The Krang droid looked back at Holly, then back at April, and immediate switched targets.
"Run April!" Holly shouted, and threw the lunch tray at the droid as hard as she could. It caught the Krang on the back of the shoulder, and the droid did stumble slightly, but barely broke its stride. Holly ran after it. She snatched up another tray and hurled herself after April. They were heading for the doors, April could see the Shell-raiser pulling into the School lot. It was kicking up dirt as it drove over the lawn and right up to the door of the school.
The side door opened and the Turtles were there, they launched themselves out of the van and through the school doors. April almost laughed with relief. Leo and Raph dove straight past her and started swinging at the droid. Mikey followed them, but positioned himself between Holly and the droid while Donnie kept April behind him.

"Here," Holly shouted and threw Mikey a tray, "These bounce the lasers back at her."

"Awesome," Mikey yelled and immediately began bouncing shots back at the droid narrowly avoiding his brothers.

Leo and Raph beat the droid against a wall and pinned her there. "Get them out of here!" Leo shouted and Mikey and Donnie ushered Holly and April out to the van. "Lets go!" Leo and Raph worked together to drove the droid back into the school. They saw an athletics banned dangling from the ceiling and used it to tie her up. It was made of cheap polyester so they knew it wouldn't hold her for long. They sprinted back to the Shell-raiser, where everyone was waving them into the side. A few bolts sailed over their heads.

"That didn't last long" Raph commented.

"Lets just get out of here." Leo yelled, and they burst through the doors.
Holly and Mikey were ready with their trays, and bounced any lasers back that might have caused any damage. Once Leo and Raph dove into the van, Holly slammed the door shut and Donnie floored it.

The Krang droid burst out of the school a few moments later, and fired some shots in their direction, but it was already too late.

"Yeah!" Shouted Holly enthusiastically, "This is our house." She and Michelangelo did a little dance in what little space there was in the Shell-raiser.

"Yeah girl! Get it!" Mikey shouted back.

"That's great and all, but why the hell are then in 'our house' anyway?" April asked still worried.

"Something has happened. Lets get back to the lair and see if we can figure it out." Donnie said scratching his chin.

"I won't have my laptop to help though. Maybe I should head home to work on my desktop." Holly realized.

"I need to check on my aunt. What if they did something to her?" April thought suddenly.

"Call her, but you need to stay with them." Holly pointed at the guys.

"You're not going on your own either." Leo said to Holly. "Not until we know what is going on."

"Then drop me off and I'll stay there until tonight." Holly said.
"I could stay with you and bring you back here later?" Raph offered.

Everyone side eyed him, "oh yeah, so you two can kiss some more?" Mikey said what everyone was thinking.

"NO!" Raph yelled a little too loudly. "Shut up!"

"It won't be much fun, I will be working mostly." Holly said with a wink. Raph blushed, and turned away from the snickers of his brothers.

"Fine, its only a few hours anyway, but be careful." Leo said, and he turned in the direction of Holly's apartment complex. He pulled the Shell-raiser into a nearby alley way so Raph could use the shadows to climb up to the roof. Once they were away, Leo drove the rest of the group back to the lair.

"If that's what High School is like, I love it!" Mikey said once he had calmed down from all the excitement.

"Its not usually like that." April admitted and called her aunt to make sure she was unharmed.