Dirksen Federal Building - Chicago, IL, USA
Finn sat alone in a holding cell, his head hanging low and his hands folded in defeat. How the hell was he supposed to get the Enchiridion back now? How was he supposed to keep it away from Dr. Gross now?
Just as all hope was lost, though, the metal bars slid open. Finn looked up and saw the officer standing in front of him.
"You're free to go," the officer told him. "Bail's been paid."
Finn's face suddenly lit up. "Really? By who?"
"Surprisingly, by the man whose house we found you in," the officer told him. "Danny Fenton."
South Dearborn Street - Chicago, IL, USA
Finn slowly limped out of the building and saw a Prius parked out front with Danny standing right beside it.
"You mind telling me why I was arrested today?" Finn asked furiously. "Where did they take Jake and my stuff?"
Jake then stuck his head out an open window and waved his stretched out arm. "It's okay, Finn! Danny bailed me out of dog jail!" he called.
"I don't know why he calls the pound that," Danny muttered to himself, "but I was just about to ask you the same thing," Danny told Finn. "Well, about why they arrested you, not about where they took Jake." Then Danny realized he was rambling. "Anyway, why were you arrested today? The news said that you two were arrested for espionage. You're lucky I already got off of work to bail you guys out."
"Well, I don't know what they're talking about, but I swear we weren't trying to spy on anyone," Finn explained. "Jake and I were trying to get away from this crazy lady from the future and wound up here in the past."
"Future? You guys time traveled from the future?" Finn nodded his head as if the answer was obvious, to which Danny responded, "No way! Well, how're you guys gonna get back?"
"Same way we got here in the first place," Finn explained. "With the Enchiridion."
"So, once you guys take down this Dr. Weird--"
"Dr. Gross," Finn corrected.
"Right. That's what I said. Once you guys defeat Dr. Gross, you and your dog will just head back to the future?"
"Pretty much," Finn told Danny. "We just need to get Jake and find Dr. Gross."
"Well, that shouldn't be too hard, should it?"
Earth Protection Force - New York, NY, USA
April, Casey, Karai, and Shinigami were all visibly exhausted from fighting Dr. Gross for so long. The blasts from Bishop's laser gun constantly missed, while April and her friends tried constantly to strike Dr. Gross down with one of their weapons, but to no avail. April especially seemed to be out of it mentally, having exerted her telekinetic powers to levitate her tessen around for so long as she lunged towards Dr. Gross with her tantō. Dr. Gross, meanwhile, dodged every single attack with ease, mostly due to her limb extensions.
"Aw, man. Who knew defeating this Dr. Psycho chick would be this hard?" Casey asked rhetorically.
"I told you already, it's Dr. Gross!"
"Whatever." Casey continued to skate along and hit his puck grenades in Dr. Gross' general direction. One of them managed to hit the cybernetic scientist and blow up in her face. As she recoiled, everyone else surrounded and closed in on her.
"Dr. Henrietta Gross, you are under arrest for trespassing on government property and attacking government agents," Bishop said as he and the others got closer. Dr. Gross retracted her limb extensions and put her arms up in the air. Just as the group had her trapped in a tight space, however, a bright light materialized from the palms of her hands. Everyone else in the room immediately ducked for cover.
"Not today, suckers!" Dr. Gross exclaimed as she got back up and ran for the door. Just as she reached the doorway, though, she froze in her tracks. Her whole body seemed to be locked in place. She struggled to move forward, but just couldn't bring herself to do so. "Why can't I move?" she muttered to herself.
The answer was standing right behind her. April had her arm extended outward, mentally exerting herself to keep Dr. Gross' limbs frozen. All of a sudden, April contorted some of her fingers, willing Dr. Gross to turn around and walk back towards the group.
"You're not going anywhere, Dr. Gross!" April commanded. "Not until we get answers!"
Dr. Gross started laughing to herself. "Do you really think I'm gonna tell you guys shit? I didn't come all the way from the future to be stopped now."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
"Future? No way," Karai doubted. "If you're from the future, then I'm from Kansas."
"Funny," Dr. Gross remarked. "I like this one."
"Cut the crap, Gross! Tell us what you're doing here or else!"
A few ceiling lights blew out after April's outburst.
"Damn, Red," Casey commented. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I am," April responded aggressively. "What makes you think I'm not okay?"
"Maybe because you've been a little bit mouthy lately," Karai commented. "I know I'm usually not one to discourage it, but I think you might wanna sit this one out."
April gave Karai an upset look. "Why, though? I can get Dr. Gross to talk!"
"It's not about getting her to talk. This is about you overstepping your bounds and pushing your luck."
"I am not!"
"Oh yeah? Then where's Dr. Gross?"
April then looked back and was shocked to see that Dr. Gross was suddenly gone.
"What the hell?" she whispered to herself.
"So much for getting her to talk," Karai commented. She and everyone except April left the room to go after Dr. Gross. April, meanwhile, stayed behind, her head hanging low. She then threw her fists in the air in frustration, yelling obscenities before leaving the room to join her friends in their search for the escaped scientist.
First Avenue - New York, NY, USA
Dr. Gross ran out of the building as quickly as she could. A wide grin was clearly visible on her face.
"Haha! Yes!" she cheered as she got farther from the building. Just as she made it to the curb, however, she was immediately blasted out of nowhere. The cause of the attack: Nora Wakeman.
"I'm guessing you're the threat to EPF's security?" Nora asked rhetorically. Soon enough, Bishop, Casey, Karai, and Shinigami all rushed out, ready to fight. Little did they know that the situation was already taken care of.
"Mrs. Wakeman," Bishop greeted. "Nice to see you received our distress signal."
"Don't flatter yourself, Director. I'm only here because I don't want any of you getting your hands on my robot."
"Another robot?" Casey sighed. "How many are there?"
"Not enough...for my purposes," Dr. Gross groaned, still half unconscious from the blast from earlier, "but...I think...I think I'll make do."
Just as April joined the group, Dr. Gross managed to press a button on her right arm. All of a sudden, what seemed to be a giant rat burst through a nearby manhole. It charged towards Nora and Bishop, who suddenly found themselves wrapped by the rat's tail. Dr. Gross then hopped onto the giant rodent's back and ran off with the two of them. April and Karai ran after them, but to no avail.
Wakeman Residence - Tremorton, PA, USA
Jenny sat in her mother's lab, completely bored. As relieved as she was to take a break from crime-fighting every once in a while, she was often reminded of how boring things got with all this time on her hands. This was one of those moments where she was reminded of that.
And as if her prayers were answered, a flashing light suddenly came from the computer monitor.
"The distress alarm?" Jenny spoke to herself. "That can't be good."
She opened the alert, disabling the alarm. She was shocked to find out that the distress call was from her mother.
"Oh no! Mom's in trouble! I gotta go!"
She activated her rocket boosters and took off, determined as ever to save her mom.
Earth Protection Force - New York, NY, USA
The sun had set hours ago, but April, Casey, Karai, and Shinigami were all still at EPF headquarters, all looking defeated from their battle with Dr. Gross.
"So, what do we do now?" Casey asked. "Some giant rat's got Bishop, the Turtles are in Illinois probably kicking butt right now, and we have no idea how to help."
All of a sudden, one of the monitors picked up something on the security feed. April and Karai took a quick look. What they saw surprised them both. Two men and a dog were initially seen on-screen, and a moment later, it's as if they vanished.
"Woah! Did you see that?" Karai cried. "Where'd they go?"
"I have no idea," April responded as she pulled out her tessen and tantō, "but I'm certainly not waiting to find out."
Before April could even leave the room, Karai placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Karai asked. "You seemed pretty steamed when we fought Dr. Gross. I just don't want the same thing happening this time."
April sighed. "Fine," she ultimately conceded. "I'll just sit in the sidelines as usual."
"Alright then," Karai said, watching as April walked back to one of the computers. "Casey, you're coming with me."
"Nice!" Casey exclaimed as he and Karai left the room. Meanwhile, April slouched in one of the chairs.
"Well, at least you get to take a break from the fighting you did take part in," Shinigami commented.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Shini thought about it for a moment, then continued. "Look. I understand you want to help out as much as you can, but you shouldn't do so at the expense of your common sense," she explained.
"I know," April confessed, "but it still hurts that I don't get to do some of the bigger stuff like the turtles do. Don't get me wrong, it's great fighting alongside you guys, but it just kinda feels like we're always sidelined. It feels like I'm always sidelined."
"Well, I'm sure you'll eventually get to do something," Shini told her. "Life always seems to find a way to work things out."
Moments later, Karai and Casey came back with the two guys held tightly in their arms and the dog hanging from Karai's forearm as if he were melting.
"Looks like catching these guys was easier than we thought," Karai commented. "Now, let's find out where their friend took Bishop."
"I swear, we don't want any trouble," Finn told them. "Jake and I just wanna get back to the future."
"Then why did that Dr. Weird chick run off with our friend?" Casey asked.
Dr. Weird? Finn thought. Then it occurred to him.
"Hold on. Dr. Gross ran off with someone?" His free hand then smacked his forehead in frustration. "Oh no! Who knows how far she's gotten by now?"
"So you do know her?"
"Yes, but not in the way you think," Finn tried to explain. Before he could continue, however, the quartet took out their weapons and pointed them at the three captives. "Woah!"
Jake then inflated himself and managed to escape Karai's grip. Likewise, Danny's arm seemed to just disappear and slip right through Casey's grip.
"What the...?" Casey exclaimed.
"Now listen," Danny started. "I'm sure it's been a long day for all of us. We're looking for some deranged scientist that you guys apparently fought today. But we can all just work together to find her, we can all get out of each other's hair sooner."
"So you're not working with Dr. Gross?" April inquired.
"Of course not!" Finn told everyone. "We were just trying to get the Enchiridion away from her."
"The what?"
Finn pulled a large leather-bound book out from his backpack.
"This," Finn explained. "It's one of the most powerful items from my time, and Dr. Gross is trying to get her hands on it to try and turn all life into cyborgs."
"And now she's followed you here from--I'm sorry. Did you say 'your time'?"
"Yeah. Finn and I are from the future," Jake said.
"Well, that would explain why the portal was acting up this morning," April theorized. "So now, we've just gotta help you find Dr. Gross in order to get back our director."
"And my mom," came a voice from the P.A. system. The alarms suddenly went off.
"Again with the break-in?" Casey cried.
"Uh, technically, we didn't break in," Danny explained. "We intentionally got captured so you could let us in and hear us out."
"Whatever!"
Before anyone could react to the break-in, however, the alarms suddenly shut themselves off. Everyone currently in the room was visibly confused. Just then, a white and blue gynoid came jetting into the room. Everyone then readied their weapons, with Danny transforming into a ghost and Jake transforming his hands into maces.
"Hold on! I'm not here to attack!" the robot said.
"Then why are you here?" April asked. "And just who are you anyway?"
"The name's XJ-9, but you can call me Jenny."
