Chapter 2

-Secret-

April walked through the streets of New York staring at a letter in her hand, Casey walking beside her. They had just finished watching the newest fall horror, "Conquest of the Human Switchers" and though Casey was eager to talk about it April was a little too preoccupied.

"What's the big deal about that piece of junk mail, red?" he asked, frustration flowing through every word. He wanted to talk about the movie.

"It's not junk." She said. "I could really help me."

"Wait, so you are actually thinking about joining that school?" he asked, "It's filled with stuck up little rich kids." The look of disgust on his face almost made April laugh. "Besides our school year has already started."

"Yeah but not that long ago, I could transfer now and not miss too much." She said, plus it would totally erase the D minus she'd gotten because of her late night at the museum.

"You don't know anything about that place." He said. "Plus, why would they randomly invite you to join after school's just started. Seems fishy."

"I've been trying to find a way to get my power back, sometimes life helps you out." It had been a week since she'd lost her power and she felt handicapped, she hated it.

Casey, already aware of April's missing power and the fact that it was killing her only nodded. Still, he wasn't so sure that a school could really help anyone with psychic abilities achieve anything.

"Besides, if it is a trap, which I don't think it is, don't you think I could handle a bunch of rich kids?" she said.

"I mean, I guess." He really didn't like the feeling he was getting deep in his stomach, could it have been the nachos he had during the movie? No, this was different, this was intuition. If he wanted to keep her from going he'd have to use a different tactic. Friendship.

"I was sort hoping we would graduate together, Red. You can't do this to me." Casey pouted.

"I'm sorry Casey but, not only could this school bring by my power back, it could help me improve my technique. Ever since I lost the Aeon crystal I've had to work three times as hard to keep my power up. I want to be able to keep up with the Turtles." She said.

"Is that what this is really about?" he asked, "You don't need your power to keep up with them. You do know that you're a pretty good fighter, right?" He said.

"You don't get it." She said. "I'm going to transfer, this is the right move."

"Well, I guess you know what you're doing." Casey said, it was obvious he wasn't going to change her mind, he'd just have to be on the lookout.

"I do." She smiled triumphantly.

"Now, for the really important question. How dope was that movie. Ha, I like the part where Nix pretended to be an alien to infiltrate their base and then BAM!" he said and for emphasis jumped in the air and brought down his hand in a chopping motion. "Right in its stupid alien head."

"Come on Casey that movie was all cheese." April said, teasing Casey. "But seriously, are you going to be okay if I transfer?"

"Huh? Yeah of course, it's not like you'll be leaving the city, we can still hang out and stuff, and then there's going on patrol."

"No, I mean, are you going to make it through your classes okay?"

"Hey, you're the one who got a D minus on your chemistry test." He said.

"Shut up." She flushed red with embarrassment, "And what did you get?"

"A D plus." He grinned widely.

The pair came around a familiar corner and reached for the manhole cover in the alley and just as Casey's fingers were upon it, it lifted up into the air. Michelangelo grinned up at them and stepped out onto the street followed by his brothers.

"What's going on guys?" April asked, on high alert. She hadn't sensed any danger, then again, why would she have?

"We have a lead on the guys who stole the Sphere." Leonardo said. "You guys can wait for us at the lair if you want."

"No way, we can put our Professor Whom marathon on hold for now, we're gonna come with you, right, Red?" Casey asked.

"Right." April said, she was unsure, not being able to use her power filled her with such anxiety that she felt like she'd only be a hindrance. "But, I thought the trail went cold how did you get a lead?"

"Leatherhead overheard some guys talking about the museum heist and talking about how "this next score" was going to be just as easy." Michelangelo explained.

"So where is the "next score"?" Casey asked, punching a fist into his hand, "it's been a while since I got to punch someone in the face."

"What are you talking about? You punched Isaac in the face for stealing some girl's backpack, just this afternoon." April said.

"Nah, this is different. Isaac is just a douc bag. These are real criminals." Casey said.

"Okay, can we focus?" Leonardo said, pulling his team back together. "First off, April, can you sense anything?" he asked her, of course she let the Turtles believe that her power had come back days ago. She didn't want them worrying about her, but lies always had a way of coming back.

"Well, I…"

"Who cares," Casey said, not wanting the Turtles to press April any further. She made him promise not to tell the others that her power was gone. She must believe that the guys wouldn't accept her as part of the team with her greatest asset gone. Even though Casey tried to tell her that the guys wouldn't ever do that, it was April's decision. "Let's just go." He said and hurried out into the street.

"Casey, Wait, you don't even know where to go." Leonardo said, trailing off into silence near the end since Casey could no longer hear him anyway. "Mikey go with Casey."

"I'm on it." He said and hurried after his partner.

"The Heist is happening at a warehouse two blocks from here." Leonardo said for April's benefit since he'd briefed his brothers on the location earlier. "Donnie, you and April go around the east side while Raph and I take the west." Leonardo said.

"You really don't sense anything, April?" Donatello asked as they jumped from building to building looking for anything suspicious.

"No." April closed her eyes and legitimately tried to tap into her power but nothing came back to her, as expected.

"That's odd." Donatello said.

"What?"

"I've noticed that the last few times any of us have asked you, you've said no or that you were too far away." He paused for a moment to make sure he was remembering correctly, then nodded. "Is there something going on?" he pressed.

April looked at him in surprise, how could he tell? Was she doing a bad job of hiding it? No that couldn't be it because not even Leo couldn't seem to tell. "Something going on? What? Of course not." She said. She couldn't let herself become a liability.

"I guess it is possible that these guys aren't human and you can't read them." He said. "It doesn't matter anyway, look." He pointed down at the street where an unmarked semi was parked. It was pulled up to a loading dock on the east side of the warehouse.

"Can't be good." April said. "Not if they have a truck that big."

"True, I guess they don't care about not being seen. Let's get a closer look." Donatello scooped April up in his arms and used his grappling hook to swing them down to the ground quietly.

They made their way around to the back of the truck and were shocked to see a few guys in ski masks rolling dolly carts with huge black boxes on them.

"That's a supercomputer." Donatello exclaimed a little too loudly, which drew unwanted attention their way.

Leonardo and Raphael slipped into the building quietly, they had spotted a few men inside trying to move, what looked like, a part of a supercomputer away from a wall. By the look of the room they were "collecting" the last part.

Leonardo was close enough to grab one guy but as he was about to strike, something came through on his walky-talky. "Looks like we have two visitors, a girl and some sort of…turtle?"

"Crap." Raphael said and before either man could react he grabbed one of them and quickly dispatched him while Leonardo took down his original target.

The pair made their way to the loading dock, on the way they encountered Casey and Michelangelo beating the crap out of a group of thugs, they must've heard the warning as well.

"April behind you!" Donatello's voice cut through the air and the rest of the team hurried toward his voice. Raphael and Leonardo came bursting through the door first and a man with a gun fired at April.

The world stood still for a moment as the team looked on in horror, the bullet headed straight for April. Donatello hesitated for a moment, at any moment April would use her power to stop the bullet in midair, right?

After a beat, when I was apparent that she wouldn't Donatello hurried to cover her. The bullet missed his arm by a millimeter and hit his shell ricocheting away into the distance.

Then, while the turtles were distracted he rest of the thugs including the man with the gun sped off with most of the supercomputer and were gone.

"Damn it, they got away." Raphael said, eager to teach the man with a gun a lesson.

"What was that, April?" Donatello was livid, why hadn't she tried to stop the bullet? Did she want to die? "What's going on?" Donatello's outburst caused the others to turn their attention away from the escaping truck and back at April and Donatello.

"I-I um." April took a breath. That was a close call.

"Start talking, April." Donatello said, his tone still drenched in anger.

"I don't have my powers anymore." She said finally. Donatello took a step back, the anger melted away and was replaced by guilt.

"What?" Leonardo said. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? You could have been hurt."

"I just don't want to hold you guys back."

"But you ARE holding us back by not telling us when something is wrong. We can tailor our plans better if we know everything." Leonardo said.

"I don't want you to have to do that."

"The only reason I didn't save you earlier was because I thought that you would stop the bullet." Donatello looked down at his hands, seemingly lost in his own world of shock. "I almost let you die." The realization of the fact that she could easily be dead on the ground at this moment caused his anger to rise again. Raphael placed a gentle hand on his brother's back to calm him a bit.

"Not to mention you have one heck of a scratch on your shell now." Raphael pointed out. "Lucky it was just your shell."

"You see, April. Someone can get hurt if we aren't all honest with each other. We are a team and knowing when one of us is in trouble can help a lot."

"Okay. I get it." April turned to leave the alley.

"Hey, wait, what about the T.V. marathon?" Michelangelo asked.

"I'm not in the mood." April hurried off into the darkness.

A few days later April sat in the office of her new school and waited for the headmaster to call her in. After that night with the supercomputer, April knew she had to do something to remain a valid part of the team. Joining the Academy and entering into the psychic program was just what the doctor ordered.

"April O'Neal." The sweet voice of the lady at the front desk said, causing April to stand. "The headmaster will see you now."

April opened the door to the headmaster's office and was surprised that his office wasn't filled with dark wood walls and a presidential feel. No it was more like an imitation of the Apple store, sleek sliver walls, high tech sensors, Donatello would kill to have an office like this.

"April O'Neal." The headmaster spoke, his voice just as sweet as the lady up front. "Welcome. I understand that you are joining our Clairvoyants Program."

"That's right." She said. "So I'm here to pick up my class schedule."

"Right, of course." The headmaster grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and handed it to her. "I hope that you come to enjoy life, here at the Academy." He said. "By the way, the head of the Clairvoyants Program wanted to introduce themselves properly."

There was a knock at the door, the person behind it didn't wait to be welcomed, and instead they just walked in. In April's opinion this person was too handsome to be a faculty member of a stuck up prep school.

"Welcome, April O'Neal." He said, offering his hand to her. She took it. "I wanted to personally welcome you into the program. My name is Evixus."