CHAPTER SEVEN
As the Turtles made their way over to her location, April did her best to do the young girl's bidding and pushed through the barriers placed in her mind that divided one reality from another.
It was a herculean task, but she was strong in will, she was a determined spirit.
Observing her was Rocksteady and Bebop, who were irritated.
"What's with the babe talking to herself?" Bebop asked.
"Sounds like she's cracking up all cooped up in here; maybe we should give her some fresh air"
"You still got feelings for her or something?" Bebop asked
"Hey, that was all love potions" snapped Rocksteady.
April drowned out the chatter to concentrate on what she could see beyond what was around her.
"What do you see?" the girl asked.
"I see someone sleeping, I can't quite place the face, but he's exhausted, drained, he's been through a lot today, he and...his...brothers...yes, yes his brothers, I'm sure this is a family I'm surrounded by. I'm reading those bedtime stories, something so simple, I feel responsible for them, and at first it feels like mothering, but...no, it's something else"
"Did you know then?" The girl said,
"I-I must have, oh but I suppressed it, I didn't want to be considered a freak by my peers, I thought I'd lose my job, my reputation, prior to this I had a gig in daycare, I didn't know what the parents of all those kids would have thought of me. I told myself it couldn't work, it mustn't work, but...but..."
"...But one of them was that important to you, wasn't he? What was his name? How did it all begin?"
"With...with...him, with..."
And then it happened, reality for April O'Neil snapped right back into place with the utterance of one name.
"MICHELANGELO" she said.
"April, I heard April" Mikey said as the Turtles reached a garage door to the right of them.
"Why did she yell for you specifically?" Leonardo said
"Hey, that sounded like she was longing for you" noted Donatello.
Michelangelo honed in on April's cry for help and pinpointed where she was
"There, she's in there guys" he said, pointing to the garage up ahead.
The Turtles raced towards it, only for the door to open and for Rocksteady and Bebop to emerge.
Bebop fired his weapon, a string of circular sonic vibrations projected out of it, slamming into the Turtles, Leonardo leapt out of the way of them and dropped Bebop with a swift kick, he got up again and rammed Leonardo as Rocksteady began firing wildly into the air with his own gun trying to strike a hit on the Turtles as they leapt about the place.
Rocksteady and Bebop regrouped and combined their firepower, rattling the Turtles as they came down from another leap.
"Keep scattering, that way they won't be able to pin us down except on moments of sheer luck" instructed Leonardo.
"All it takes is one lucky hit, we have to hit the jackpot first" said Raphael.
After a few more well co-ordinated leaps and kicks, Donatello noticed Bebop was glowing bright red.
"I think Bebop's literally losing his grip on the world around him"
Leonardo took a few swings at Rocksteady too and he too began glowing a sort of crimson orange, just like before at April's apartment.
Eventually, the battle wore down Bebop to such a degree it faded from existence, or at the very least this plain of existence, in short order, leaving Rocksteady all on his own.
With only one of the mutants left, the Turtles pulled it together and, near exhaustion, relentlessly pushed on with their assault until Rocksteady too was bested, thrown to the ground, and vanished from view.
"Let's hope wherever they ended up, they stay there this time" remarked Leonardo.
Michelangelo rushed over to April and untied her; April wrapped her arms around him loving and kissed the top of his forehead.
"How could I ever have forgotten how good that feels?" she said.
The Turtles looked at April dumb-struck, all except Michelangelo, who reacted like he was in seventh heaven.
"Wow, that's even warmer than the pizza I made for that kid Joey when he was in a jam, guess you know everything now babe?"
"Every detail, including how late we are for our wedding"
"Wedding? Alright, now I know I prefer this reality to whatever awaits us at the other end of this, at least this one doesn't scare me" said Raphael.
"Wow, I've never seen April look so radiant" remarked Donatello.
"If this is where it all begins again babe, I'm good to go" said Michelangelo.
"I heard Rocksteady and Bebop discuss a hidden factory where Shredder's been developing weapons" April said.
"Then let's get to that secret factory" said Leonardo.
"We don't even know where it is" Raphael noted
"I memorised the co-ordinates when Shredder let them slip during his conversation with the two"
"You better head back over to Channel Six and cover this story April" suggested Leonardo.
"Guys, you need me on this, I'm coming too. I know everything you know now, this isn't even our reality, what's the point of heading back to warn people it's the end of the world when chances are it'll end if you guys succeed anyway?"
"If the factory is miles away, I don't think my toes could handle another trek" said Raphael.
The Turtle Van suddenly drove up, the doors automatically opening.
"Hey, who summoned the van?" said Leonardo.
April looked up at the sky; she could picture a face forming in the clouds above her.
"You're very welcome April" the little girl replied.
Within the Technodrome, Shreeka observed the activities of the Turtles as they made their way across the open highway.
Krang soon entered the room,
"Status?" he said.
"They're on the road, heading to the factory" Shreeka confirmed
She noticed Krang had a mischievous smirk etched across his face, he was pleased with something.
"What's the good news?" she asked.
"The fifteenth legion is ready to pass through" Krang announced proudly.
"Then you shall sweep what little resistance that is left away" said Shreeka
Krang breezed past her and observed the antics on the motorway, two of the Turtles were atop the roof of their van swatting away several Foot Soldiers that were attempting to board the vehicle. Those that succeeded were swiftly kicked and thrown into the waters below the bridge, where they exploded on impact with the water.
"I thought I'd locked up their entire inventory in warehouses, I padlocked every door, how did they get their mitts on that van?" Krang asked.
"Someone is assisting them" said Shreeka.
"Who could possibly be on their side? Their whole history helping out humans was erased with the reality reboot" said Krang.
"I've been scanning the cerebral bio-rhythms of the human reporter the Turtles liberated, her mind is steadily recollecting every trace of history from before the reboot was initiated, something paved the way forward for that"
"Impossible, there is but only one being capable of such a feat, and she's on our side"
"In all fairness Krang, I've had a hunch for a while that she hasn't been on anyone's side, this is a game to her, and she's changing the rules to make it more interesting"
"Have her brought to me at once" Krang responded.
Shreeka despatched a few rock soldiers to the room of their intended target, but they found it vacant.
Shredder stepped into the room to start up a conversation.
"Ah Shreeka, Krang, I see you still have an insidiously amphibious problem to deal with"
"I don't have time to deal with you Saki; I have a legion in Dimension X awaiting my command"
"By all means give the command. My experiment depends on the success of the transfer"
"You finally have a functioning battery?" Shreeka asked.
"I replaced it with something far more lively, and delicate, if you would follow me" Shredder responded, taking the two of them to the chamber housing the dimensional portal.
To Krang's shock, Shredder presented to them the tiny girl, the nucleus of the reality reboot, the weapon they had used to shift the paradigms to their liking, chained up to the portal.
"I used what juice I had in the previous battery to convert the portal into a faraday cage for our little friend here, I homed in on her energy signal and transferred her to the centre of the portal, she won't cause much trouble for us now, except for the Turtles, and the world"
"Saki, you've outdone yourself, I'll see to it you have dibs on this accursed planet once we're done conquering it" Krang replied gleefully.
Celebrate while you can, yours is a party I'm eager to poop on thought Shredder treacherously, For when the child's power has fulfilled my needs, your game will be most assuredly up. There can only be room for one absolute in this conquered realm, and that absolute shall be The Shredder.