The turtles were crouched behind a billboard on a roof top across from the recycling plant. Donatello was rummaging through his bag of goodies that may help them inside the Technodrome, while the others watched the streets to see who was around. They had dropped April off at her house and left once she waved out of her window to assure them that she was inside and safe, and made the drive to the outskirts of the city.
The streets were unusually quiet. They hadn't encountered many other vehicles in this area as they drove, which was highly unusual for New York.
"Something doesn't feel right." Leo announced after they had been watching the area for a while. "It's never this quiet, even all the way out here."
"Maybe its just a coincidence?" Mikey asked hopefully. "Is there, like, a national don't drive day, or something?"
"If only." Donnie said, as he grabbed a set of goggles and a customized mini drone. He launched it and flew around the perimeter of the buildings. With a flick of a switch, the camera feed clicked over to infrared, and started hunting for patrols of guards. "Hmm" he muttered to himself.
"What do you see?" Leo asked.
"Not much. Just a few guards on the outer doors." Donnie pulled off the goggles and gave his brothers a worried look, "I don't like it."
Leo sighed, "Neither do I. But something is going on, and we need to find out what." He looked directly at Donnie, "For Aprils sake."
Zip-lining over to the plant was the easy part, but getting inside was proving tougher. There were no widows accesses to allow the guys into the building. Not that they were worried about the few guards there were, but they wanted to stay undetected for as long as possible. Missing guards was always a dead giveaway that something was up. But after going over the exterior thoroughly, they were left with little option.
Leo chose the access that was furthest away from the others. There was a door that lead into the plant with only one Krang droid guarding it. He launched himself down and plunged his Katana all the way through the torso of the Droid. Disabling it in one strike. The Krang creature inside, tried to scuttle away, but Mikey cracked it between its eyes with his nun chuck and knocked it out before it could scurry away to alert anyone else. He gingerly picked it up, and trapped it in a garbage can. "Ewww" he whispered to himself and let a shudder creep over his skin.
They snuck in the door and crept around piles of old boxes, peeking out into the middle of an empty room. Donnie donned his goggles again and flicked another switch on the headset. He could now see the exterior of the Technodrome. He scanned the rest of the area, just to make sure that there was no other Krang Droids around, but they were clear. He ran to the side of the giant dome, the other skidded to his side to keep look out while he worked.
"Woah, this is surreal." Mikey commented, watching Donnie plug his hand held into thin air. The others hissed at him to be quiet. He rapped on the outside of the dome, sending a reverberation of sound through the empty warehouse.
"Would you quit it? I'm trying to concentrate." Donnie said without removing his goggles. Raph slapped Mikey's hand for good measure before a pneumatic hiss rang around the room, and a doorway into the Technodrome stood open before them.
Leonardo took a couple of tentative steps inside the enormous ball that opened up before them. He signaled silently to his brothers, eyes open, stick together. The others nodded their understanding and moved to take a step into the vast sphere, when Donnie's phone went off.
April sat at her aunts little dinner table with open boxes of take out in front of her. Unfortunately, her appetite had completely disappeared when Carol had started asking all the questions she had been dreading for the last year.
"I am responsible for your safety while your father is missing." Carol was repeating herself. "How can I do that if I don't know what is going on in your life?"
"Its complicated." April offered with a grimace of guilt.
"You know something about Kirby's disappearance, something that the cops don't know. Why won't you tell them?"
"They wouldn't believe me." April said.
"Can you tell me?" Carol pleaded.
"He was taken by aliens." April said flatly, she knew what Carol was about to say,
"Now you're just being ridiculous." Carol said exasperatedly.
"And that's exactly what the police will say." April muttered, all her suspicions confirmed.
Carol sighed, "April, I know you're growing up. You're in that awkward stage where you're not a kid, but you're not an adult either. How can I trust you when you don't seem to trust me?"
Before April could answer, a knock came from the front door, Carol got up to answer it and April could hear muffled talk as she pushed her broccoli around her plate with a fork.
Carols voice changed and became more audible from the door, "No you can't come in. Who are you?"
"Aunt Carol?" April stood and cautiously poked her head out into the hallway of the apartment.
"There is the one that is called April O'Neil." Said a Krang droid from the door. The weird looking female droid was also there, and she pushed past Carol into the apartment.
"Hey!" Carol shouted as she was shoved backwards into her own home. "Get out of my house!" She grabbed the first thing she could to use as a weapon. She swung it at the man now crossing her threshold, but he didn't even flinch as the umbrella snapped in half over his back. "What the hell?"
April was grabbed by the female droid who lifted her bodily off the floor and held her at arms length.
No matter how much she struggled, April could not break free of the robots grip. "Let me go!" She shouted, knowing full well that it was no use reasoning with them.
The droid dragged April kicking and thrashing from the apartment. Carol was yelling useless threats at the Krang, who simply shoved her out of the way as they left. She tried to grab onto the Krang, but they pointed their laser gun at her chest.
"You will stop attempting to stop Krang from completing their mission."
"Like hell I will." Carol shouted at him and kicked him in the shin. The man didn't even flinch. Carol was starting to panic. "I'll call the police!"
"Call Holly!" April shouted at Carol as she was being forced out onto the street and stuffed into a van. "I promise she can help."
Holly was having a lovely dream about being on a beach in Florida with April and the turtles. They were playing volleyball, eating burgers and hot dogs off a grill, and just being teenagers for one blissful minute. Unfortunately, her dream was very rudely interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. She groaned, and rolled over to fish it out of her pocket. She realized as she was doing this, that she was no longer on the couch in the lair. She was in Raphs room. She sat up as she checked the called ID. Carol was calling her, and it was nearly midnight already.
"Hello?" She answered and peered around. Her glasses we set on the side table next to a stack of comics that Raph was currently reading. Beneath her glasses was a note.
"Holly! Some weird people just took April and for some reason she told me to call you." Carol was speaking very quickly, and there was a frantic edge to her voice.
"What did they look like?" Holly sat in Raphs bed and rubbed her eyes to try and clear some of the sleep deprivation out of her brain..
"I don't know, It was a man and a woman and they had a big gun." Carol sobbed to herself.
"Did the guy look like the most generic white dude you've ever seen? Black suit, black hair, with a big silver gun?" Holly stood, and snatched up the note reading it as she left the room to see if anyone was around.
"Yes! How do you know that?" Carol was breathless.
"Its the Krang again. The same guys who came after us at the school."
"I need to know what is happening Holly." Carol said dangerously. Holly felt herself shrink slightly, but knew that she didn't have time to explain things right now. Nor how much of it she could, or should, explain.
"I will try to explain it to you later," Holly said. "Right now, you should call the police, and I will make my own calls to some people who I know can help."
"I am not going to let it go this time." Carol said, and hung up the phone and Holly was left standing in the lair trying comprehend everything that had happened.
She didn't waste any more time, she pulled Donatello's number up in her phone as she ran to the training room to grab her bow.
Donnie's eyes went wide as he snatched his phone out of its pocket. He nearly dropped it a few times before he saw who was calling. "It's Holly" he whispered at his brothers.
"She should still be sleeping." Raph hissed irritably as Donnie answered the phone as quietly as possible.
"Holly? We're in the middle of something here." he whispered into the speaker.
"Yeah? Well I just got a call from Carol. The Krang have just abducted April from her apartment." It was quiet enough that all the turtles heard her.
"What!" Donatello yelled, forgetting where he was.
"I'm heading out right now to try and catch up, but they're heading one of two places." Holly was running, they could hear her footsteps reverberating off of the underground tunnels through the speakers.
"We can't just leave! We're in the middle of a mission." Leonardo objected.
"Are you serious?" Raph pipped up.
"April is in danger, and I am not going to hope that they bring her here." Donatello said more forcefully than he meant to.
"Someone should stay close to the Technodrome in case she does turn up there." Holly said between panting breaths.
"What are we supposed to do if they don't bring her here?" Mikey asked anxiously.
"We'll figure it out, We need to find her first." Leo admitted.
"I'll try to find her by TCRI," Holly said. She had finally reached the surface and had reached her van. She threw her bow and a set of arrows on the passengers seat. "I'm going to call my mom too, she's closer and might be able to help." She didn't wait for a reply and hung up.
"I'm going there too." Donnie said, and before he got the OK from his brothers, he was gone.
"Raph, Mikey, you stay here. Get out of sight, we'll call if we find anything." Leo barker, and chased after Donnie.
"Great, more waiting around" Mikey groaned, and he and Raph made for somewhere more discrete.
Holly was driving as fast as she felt comfortable through the streets. Her phone was paired to the Bluetooth in the van and her mom's line was ringing though the speakers.
"C'mon, C'mon" she muttered to the call, as she swerved around a delivery truck.
"Hello?" Stacey's groggy voice came through the crackly speakers.
"Mom, I need your help." Holly was wide awake again now. She could feel her heart racing as she tried to think of what she needed to do.
"Whats the matter?" Stacey sounded more alert and there was shuffling sounds coming through the call.
"April has been taken by the Krang, we need to find her so the guys can rescue her."
"What do you need me to do?" Stacey asked. Without hesitation.
"I just need you to get to the TCRI building and see if any suspicions vehicles drive up."
"What about Carol? Is she alright?" Stacey, snatched up her car keys and slid into a set of shoes before heading for her car.
"Uhh, not really." Holly answered "Move people!" She shouted at a particularly slow moving car.
"Are... Are you driving?" Stacey asked her daughter.
"Yes, but that is not important right now. I'm going to add Donatello to the call and we'll be able to cover more ground together." Holly waited until she was at a red light to add Donnie to the call. He answered almost immediately
"Did you find her?" He almost shouted at them.
"No, but mom is going to help us too."
"Hello" Came Stacey's voice.
"Hi Mrs. McCallister," Donnie said, "Where are you guys right now? We should coordinate our efforts." Donnie started typing as Holly told him what streets she was passing, and Stacey got herself connected to her car.
"OK," Donnie announced as he pulled up a map of the areas they were in. "If the Krang take April from her house to TCRI, the most direct route would be going up 10th until they hit Broadway. If they're coming to the Technodrome, it would be easier to get on the highway."
"If we take the highway, they should pass right by us if they're coming this way." Leo said from the drivers seat.
"Are you all there?" Holly asked
"Whats this about a 'Techno-dome'?" Stacey asked.
"No, we left Raph and Mikey in case we miss her on the road." Leo answered.
"The Techodrome is the Krangs space ship." Donnie clarified for Stacey.
"Oh,"
"Where do you want us to go Donnie?" Holly asked now that she was closer to Aprils apartment.
Donnie took the lead, directing Holly and Stacey to take certain streets that would be the most likely routs for the Krang to go. They all stayed on the call together, letting Donnie take charge so that they could cover the most ground possible. Holly drove between Aprils apartment and TCRI without seeing anything suspicious. Stacey on the other hand, was driving towards Donnie and Leo, and had found one vehicle that looked out of place. She had been relaying the directions this truck was going and it seemed to be going in the right direction.
"Can you get next to them and see what the driver looks like?" Donnie asked.
"That doesn't seem very safe." Stacey protested. She was at least a dozen car lengths behind them, but they were on a single lane road in New York. The streets were always busy, no matter what time of night it was.
"Please, If you can catch a look at them and confirm what they look like, we'll know if its them." Donnie was getting frantic.
They heard Stacey sigh through the microphone and the engine of her small car rev up. Donnie held his breath as he waited for her to tell him if it was the Krang.
"I can't just stare at these people as I go by." Stacey complained.
"Flip them the bird, this is New York after all." Holly said half jokingly.
"I wouldn't dream of it, and if I catch you making such vulgar gestures I will not let you drive until you're Thirty." Stacey was flustered. "OK, I'm coming up along side them now."
The sounds of sensible driving could be heard through the line. Stacey accelerated and pulled along side the van, she glanced over, "The driver and passenger look like twins."
"Creepy, unblinking, plastic hair having twins?" Holly clarified quickly.
"Yeah," Said Stacey, unable to look away. A horn blared through the call, followed by the squealing of breaks and some muffled obscenities.
"Mom!?" Holly yelled.
"I'm fine," Stacey said, "A truck was coming the other way so I had to swerve to avoid being hit."
"Oh my gosh, don't do that!" Holly said.
"Are you still behind them?" Leo asked, getting back to the task at hand.
"Yes, although they're much further ahead of me now." Stacey confirmed.
"Stay on them mom, I'm going to head that way too." Holly said.
"Once we catch sight of them, you can head back home," Leo offered,
"I don't think so. I'm not letting you deal with this on your own," Stacey said indignantly.
"I wonder where Holly gets it from?" Donnie said with a smirk.
"Hey!" Came two identical responses through the call.
"You guys stay connected, I'll call Raph and let him and Mikey know whats going on. I can pick them up if they go anywhere other than the Technodrome." Holly hung up.
"Alright, you just tell us where you're going. We'll try to cut them off." Donnie said, and Stacey hung back from the van and gave directions.
April was being thrown around in the back of the van every time the Krang took a corner. She had been shoved into the back of the vehicle and was surprised to find the interior significantly more technologically sophisticated that the exterior would have her assume. The walls were a smooth shiny silver metal, punctuated with the Krangs signature purple lighting. She had tried to find any purchase on the material that she could hold onto, but it didn't have a single crease that she could even get a nail under. Even the back door didn't seem to have a seam. Occasionally a little window would open up that would allow one of the Krang to peek back at her from the front cab, and she would shout at them to take it easy, not that they even listened to her.
After what felt like an hour, April was finally starting to get her feet under her, when the van slammed on its breaks and she was thrown to the front of her little box. The little window opened, she rubbed her head and started to complain, when she saw what had caused the prompt end to their journey. They were held up in traffic caused by an over turned box truck. Packages were strewn all over the street. There wasn't as much traffic at this time of night, but there were still a few people getting out of their cars to yell at the commotion.
The Krang looked at each other, before choosing to turn off down a one way street to their left. They had not closed the little window, so April watched at they ran into another issue, that forced them to turn right this time. She smiled to herself. This had "Donatello" written all over it.
Donnie had been plotting all the likely routes the Krang could take to get to the Technodrome, and as soon as Stacey had told them they were heading onto the Madison Avenue bridge, Donne had a plan. They were going to force the Krang to come to them. He had directed Leo to drive past a box truck that was making deliveries, they had grappled onto it as they passed and dragged it into the road, and tipped it over. They then proceeded to place a few more obstructions, that should force the Krang into a dead end.
Holly was on her way to meet Raph and Mikey already, and Stacey was still tailing the van from a safe distance, confirming the route they were taking.
"You're sure this is going to work?" Leo asked Donnie once they had set the last road block.
"It should," Donnie replied, "hopefully we get this all taken care of long before the others get here."
"And if we don't?" Leo asked.
"Then we go onto plan B." Donnie said without looking too long at his brother.
"What exactly is plan B?" Stacey asked over the line.
"Still working on that" Donnie whispered more to himself than anyone in particular.
"Loop Holly back in on this call, she should also be on the road in case this goes pear shaped." Stacey said, "If we all know what is going on, we can coordinate much more effectively."
"That's true." Donnie admitted, and added Holly, Raph, and Mikey into the conference call. "Hey, are you all there."
"Yes," Came a short reply from Holly.
"We're here Donnie, Whats going on?" Raph asked.
Donnie filled them in very briefly as Stacey continued to tell them where April was.
"I'm still on my way to the Recycling plant" Holly said sounding stressed, "I still need to get back to you guys."
"We'll start heading that way across the rooftops, just let us know where you are coming from. Lets go Mikey"
"Finally!" Mikey chimed in, and the sounds of the two of them running became a constant back ground noise over the call.
"They're coming past the Medical center now." Stacey announced.
"Good, provided they are following the fastest path, they should be nearly here." Donnie said.
Sure enough, the Krang were following the path laid out for them by Donnie and Leo, and before too long they could see the van coming towards them.
"OK, lets try and get this over with quickly so we can get back to disabling the Technodrome." Leo said, with an annoyed tone.
"Oh, I'm sure April did this intentionally to disrupt your plans" Holly snapped back, having no patients left for Leo's sulking. "She's probably having the time of her life right now!"
"I didn't mean that." Leo hissed, defensively.
"Holly, be nice." Stacey warned her daughter, "but, perhaps there are more important things to be focused on right now".
"Ha ha, you got told off!" Mikey sang through the line to Leo's absolute shame.
"Alright, they've stopped, Lets go Leo." Donnie said, and he immediately melted into the shadows to try and get behind the Krang Van.
