April O'Neil

She was running down her stairs, chasing after the "Asian guy". She was running so fast she nearly tripped, but she never caught up with him. She exited her building, searching him in the crowd of people going with their everyday life.

"I have feelings you know?"

She could still remember his tone, angry and lonely at the same time.

And she woke up.

She had dreams of that fateful evening for a month now. Since that day she never saw Shredder again, and she had to admit she was feeling lonely. Plus, it sure didn't help her get through with her dreams.

When she saw him in her living room, she really didn't know what to do. She still had the conversation with the turtles on her mind. She had decided that the benefits for that relationship couldn't compare with the sacrifices.

But he said the phrase, she understood what was going on. As if she had been on another planet while they had talked together. She understood that he obviously had feelings for her. More than she could have believed. But it was too late, he had run off and she hadn't been able to catch up with him.

It was still early in the morning but she chose to get up and go on with her life. She had an interview to do about a guy that had bought French car parts and then made a car out of it. She couldn't pinpoint why someone would do that, but at least the man seemed sympathetic.

After her last interview was done, she decided to go to the turtle hideout. She knew that Shredder was obviously avoiding her, making her and the turtles meet on rarer occasions. So now, instead of partying with them after her latest kidnapping, she would just stop by on her way back from work.

"April! You're just in time for Baywatch!"

"Mickey, hey! I'm not sure I'll watch it with you this time." She gently hugged him as he invited her in the lair.

Splinter straighten up to greet her: "April, it's nice to have you with us. Would you like some tea?"

"I'd prefer a coke if you don't mind."

"You're the guest here." He walked disappeared into the kitchen while the other turtles greeted her. Soon they were all eating chips and drinking coke, except for Splinter who drank tea, while they talked about their daily lives.

April wasn't dumb. She knew that Shredder's plan must involve some kidnapping at some point. But she never asked, and they never told her either. It was some kind of untold agreement between them.

The Turtles explained Shredder's latest plan to April. As always it was quite ridiculous. It implied a lot of gum to try to immobilize them. The turtles, especially Mickey who had stopped watching Baywatch to describe a fight. Everything was going smoothly until Raphael talked, his tone quite cutting and harsh.

"Guys, we should tell her."

"Tell her what? There's nothing to tell Raph!" Mickey quickly replied but his voice showed signs of nervousness.

The other turtles didn't say anything but exchanged looks between them. April prepared herself for the terrible news that was coming.

Leonardo turned to face her: "April, Shredder now kidnaps other girls."

Relief showed on her face: "I already knew that. How else could he have you get in a bubble gum factory?" She laughed lightly. She really thought that the news would be worst.

All the Turtles seemed to relax at her reaction. Except for Raphael who still had an angry look.

"Look April, I don't know what happened between you and Shredder and, really, I'm not sure I want to know. But he now kidnaps the weather girl. Just her. He replaced you."

Michelangelo seemed to want to add something but Leonardo shushed him with a "he's right, she deserves to know."

On her part, April got the impression she just got knocked off. Him kidnapping other people was a thing, but him kidnapping a specific girl again and again. The feeling was horrible. As if she was just expendable. And, to add salt to the wound, the weather girl was a bimbo, even more than her.

The group was now watching her intently. They all had a different emotion. Raphael looked angry, Leonardo looked uneased, Michelangelo seemed sad, Donatello looked thoughtful and Splinter had his poker face, as always.

"I had an argument with him… More of a fight. I guess he is fed up with me."

She felt the need to explain. She needed them as friends to support her, not as friends trying to put the missing pieces together.

"That makes sense. You must have a big fight to get this reaction from him." Leonardo answered what the others didn't say.

"If he hurt you, tell us. We'll kick his ass!" Michelangelo told why kicking the air with his fists.

"No, no don't worry. He never hurt me."

That was what he actually told her last time. And it was quite true. In fact, she was pretty sure she was the one that hurt him.

"If you want, next time we get a call from him you can come with us."

The group turned to Donatello that had just spoken.

"Why would she want to come with us?" Michelangelo innocently asked.

"Because, without the Shredder, she has to do a lot of stupid interviews. Even if she's not the centre of the attention she might like to get some footage."

"Yes, that's a great idea! Anything but those stupid interviews on the world records!"

The conversation went on. The turtles planned to take her on their next mission without putting her in too much danger. Their little meeting went on and the finally bought pizzas. Even if Shredder seemed to have lost interest in her, she was glad to have her friends with her.

Tonight was the night. The turtles had called her and they would pick her up in ten minutes. She hurriedly put her jumpsuit on, packed her portative camera and additional tapes just in case there would be a lot to record.

When the turtles offered to take her on a mission she had directly agreed. It took her less than a second to understand that would be her chance to meet him. Shredder had threatened to destroy the city by mining under it if he didn't get a huge ransom. The turtles' plan was to get in the Technodrome to neutralize it. Her plan was to, first, record the encounter, second, get in the Technodrome after the battle to have a discussion with the damn man.

She had thought about it. About all of it. And she had decided that a real talk was necessary. A talk where she would be a bit less harsh with him. A talk to end it.

The trip to the Technodrome was silent. Everyone was focused on their task.

The fight was rougher than she what she recalled. Donatello was off to stop the Technodrome, Raphael was fighting BeeBop and Rocksteady, and Mickey and Leonardo fought against Shredder. And the two of them were having trouble to stop him. She had managed to record the fight while being discreetly hidden. At some point, it was obvious that the two turtles couldn't manage to stop Shredder but hopefully, that was not the point of the mission. Donatello had told them he needed fifteen minutes to hijack the Technodrome, so after more or less ten minutes April made a quick sign to Mickey to make him understand she was off to see Donatello. Which of course was not true. She was off to find a good hiding place.

Michelangelo gave her a thumb, which of course made Shredder realize someone was there. He turned his face just when she got out of her hiding place. The eye contact seemed to last a few minutes when in fact it only lasted a few seconds. She only had time to see him get a nasty punch in the face from Leonardo.

She heard a loud "thump" as he slumped to the ground but he must have still been able to fight as she heard Leonardo shout in pain.

She suddenly questioned her lack of realization. This was dangerous.

But it was still worth it.

She ran into a hallway too familiar. She tried the bedroom where all had begun, it was opened. She quickly hid in it and started her stopwatch. In less than twenty minutes she would have a proper conversation with Shredder and, hopefully, all could go back to what it used to be.

Bip Bip Bip Bip…

She stopped her stopwatch. It now dawned on her that she was more than probably alone with her enemies in their HQ. The best was to avoid Beebop and Rocksteady, try to get directly to Shredder.

She tiptoed out of the room, leaving the camera behind her to give her more chance of outrunning any possible threat.

Avoiding Beebop and Rocksteady was far easier than she had planned. They were making a fuss in the hall room. They even mentioned the fact that Shredder was in the control room, making all this too easy for her to enjoy.

Now, she had to quickly get to the control room before he spotted her with his cameras. She didn't think twice when she got into the room. She was here for a reason.

He was on the main computer. He didn't bother to turn as he shouted: "Beebop, Rocksteady, I already told you to leave me alone!"

His voice seemed angrier than usual but it didn't frighten her. She stopped a few feets behind him: "Well, sorry but it's not your two goofballs sidekicks."

When he heard her voice he stopped what he was doing.

"April?"

He turned to look at her, checking that she really was there. Even though he still had his mask he looked astonished for a few seconds before he glared at her.

"Out, now!"

She was prepared to have a fight with him but not to get kicked out before anything could be said.

"What? No, I'm not getting anywhere until things get solved!"

He didn't bother to listen to her as he already was calling his acolyte: "Beebop, Rocksteady, get in the control room. NOW."

"But boss…" He stopped the communication before Beebop finished his sentence and got back to what he was doing earlier.

"What do you think you are doing? I won't let you ignore me!"

"Well, I'm sorry Miss O'Neil but some people have an important task to tend to. Contrary to you."

"So, you are saying our issue isn't important?"

"What issue? I do not quite understand what you are talking about Miss."

"Don't play with me Shredder. You've been avoiding me."

"Wasn't it the point? Didn't you say there was nothing between us? I thought I was doing you a favour."

He was acting like he always was. Trying to be dramatic as if he was in a drama show.

She didn't answer as he went on typing furiously on his keyboard. The face of Beebop appeared on the screen.

"Beebop, when will you get here!"

"But Boss, we can't! Krang told us we had to do something with the machines."

"Yeah, you know the machines in the hall room." Piped Rocksteady.

"Goddamnit, they are useless as always."

Shredder then turned to April, he was about to close the distance between them when Krang's horrible face was displayed.

"Shhhrederr! Don't you dare stop your task!" The alien-brain face suddenly contorted into a terrible mix between anger and surprise. "What is she doing here Shhhredder? I thought we wouldn't kidnap here anymore!"

"She entered on her own. I'm getting her out now." As Shredder said that he grasped April's wrists painfully.

"Ouch, you're hurting me!" April gave her some kicks which, of course, didn't lend. "I'm not getting out of her until things get back to normal!"

"Shhhredderr, back to the computer. NOW! We'll get rid of her later on."

With that, Krang's face disappeared from the screen, leaving only diagrams, numbers and flashing lights.

Shredder looked at April for an instant, not sure of what he should do. He then got her on his shoulder, like he used to do.

"I'm getting you out."

"What? No! I want to speak with you."

"There's nothing to say!"

She couldn't see his face but she felt the pain in his words. She really hurt him last time.

Shredder began to run to the exit. He was obviously in a hurry to finish whatever he had begun on his computer.

"Gosh, could you be a little gentler?"

"No, there's no time for that. You need to get out now."

At those words, it dawned on her that something wasn't right. At that moment, sirens blared and the lights went red. He didn't have time to react as he lost his balance and fell on the floor with April.

At first, April thought something had gone terribly wrong. But she then realized that the terrific sound she heard was just Shredder's helmet hitting the ground next to her. They were now a mangled mess on the floor. She didn't hurt that much but he, obviously, must have hit his head severely.

She detangled herself and got up while he sat on the floor, holding his head.

"Wait, I'll take it off for you."

"No, I don't need your help."

"Stop being difficult already."

As she said that, she proceeded to take off his helmet, with or without his approval. He was so disoriented that he didn't have time to stop her. She looked carefully at his scalp, finding a little bump but nothing too serious.

"It's okay, just a little bump. I think you're disoriented because of the sound it made more than anything."

Already getting his sense back, Shredder stood up: "Again, I don't need your help."

He wasn't facing her but it didn't stop her from noticing the slight blush he had on his ears.

"Give me my helmet."

"No."

He gave her a stern look.

"Why not?"

"Because it's dented." She said vehemently, but the truth was she just wanted to mess with him. And this was really the easiest way to do so.

He sighed and then took the path to the control room.

"Hey dummy, I thought you wanted to get me out of her."

He snorted: "I'm pretty sure that it's too late for that."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"That you probably don't want to get out right now."

Defeated she stopped talking. He was being as difficult as her little nephew, and that was something. But she also knew that, if Shredder changed his plans, it wasn't an insignificant choice.

They made their way back to the great hall. April didn't see Beebop and Rocksteady but she could hear them, they weren't far away. Shredder opened a door that lead them to an even bigger room. It was full of electronic devices and at the end of the room was a throne. On that throne, a little-animated bubblegum like brain was shouting at his subordinate. It was Krang.

"Boss, we promis' it wasn't our fault." Whined Beebop.

"Yeah, we did everything you told us." Added Rocksteady.

"I know, it wasn't your fault for once. Here is the troublemaker: Shredder!"

"Where are we?"

At those words, Krang, who obviously had been waiting for excuses, changed colour. Passing from a light pink to a deep red.

"Where are we? Is this really your question? Where do you think we are?!"

"Dimension X?"

"Yes! Yes, yes and yes! All by your fault!"

Their bickering went on but April didn't listen anymore. Dimension X. She had never been to Dimension X and now she was stuck in here.

"Wait! How do we get back!"

She spoke without thinking, cutting Krang's lecture short. Shredder just looked at her, Krang answered directly.

"Well little reporter. How do you think we'll get back hum?"

"You always get back! Isn't this thing teleporting?"

Shredder gave her a simple answer: "Yes. But the Turtles damaged some circuits and obviously introduced a bug that I couldn't have stopped one way or another." Shredder glared at Krang while he said those last words.

"What does it mean?" She knew what it meant, she wasn't stupid but she couldn't help it. She had to hear it.

"It means we are all stuck here until we found a way out." Shredder told her gravely.