Chapter 3

-Academy-

April rested her chin against her hand while she scrolled through the tablet that had been assigned to her by the Academy. She'd gotten it a few days after joining, it was loaded with her scheduled classes, the books for said classes and a calendar app that let her know what and when work needed to be done.

She'd been at it for weeks and was finally caught up with her extra workload and was able to keep with her training, which was a bit tougher than before because she felt blind.

After taking some time to cool down about her lost power she figured that keeping up her fighting ability was key. She asked Leonardo for special training lessons in addition to training with Splinter. There was no way she'd be left behind and no way she'd put any of them in danger now.

"Hey, April." April lifted her head at the familiar voice and turned to meet Casey.

"Hey." April pulled out a seat for her former school mate, it felt really good to see him.

"It's been a while. Seems like whenever I want to hang out with you, you are busy with school work or training." He said, his eyes fell on the tablet April was scrolling through

"What the heck is that, Red?" Casey asked, noticing just how packed the calendar was and his eyes widened. All of April's classes seemed to be AP classes and there didn't seem to be a black spot on her calendar at all.

"It's a tablet computer." She said.

Casey clicked his tongue, he knew what a tablet was. "I MEAN; how do you have time for all of that?"

"It's a delicate balance but I've got the hang of it." She said. "Don't worry about it."

"We'll there is one thing that might upset that balance." He said, "Maybe a little thing called fighting crime. You think criminals can stick to your schedule?"

"There's no need. I know where my priorities are, the city comes first."

"I guess." He said then face-palmed, remembering why he was there. "I was looking for you and because SOMEONE won't answer my texts I had to go all over the city looking for you."

"You should know I can be found at one of four places, my house, Springhill Academy, the lair and Murakami-san's. And look where you found me." April spread out her arms to reveal the Murakami's restaurant.

"Okay, so I spent a few minutes at the arcade. Sue me." He said. "Geez, you're as grumpy as Raph these days."

"I've noticed that too, I'm sorry." She said, taking a breath. "So what did you need me for?"

"Leo wants us all to meet up tonight. Donnie managed to get some info from the part of the supercomputer we got two months ago."

"It took that long for him to find something?" April blinked, she assumed that the mystery of the stolen Sphere would never be solved.

"He said it was hard to hack into because the guys we're up against are really good or something like that, I spaced out while he was talking." Casey said.

"Where do we meet?" April asked.

"The abandoned TCRI chemical plant." He said

"All this time and TCRI is still a ruining my life." April grimaced, "what about TCRI?"

"Donnie was saying something about a left over power supply." Casey said.

"I'll be there." She said. "Thanks."

"Well, as long as we are waiting around, let's hang out until we meet up with the Turtles."

"Can't, I have a ten-page essay due tomorrow and then some work to do for the Clairvoyance Program." She said.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later." Casey said, making his way to the door he couldn't help but get a bad feeling.

April met up with the Turtles and Casey just outside the chain-link fence of the abandoned chemical plant and was surprised to see the small wall of armed humanoid robot guards watching the door. "What's up with that?" April said through a yawn. Casey gave her a knowing look and she waved him off.

"Looks like whoever's behind all this is catching on to us." Leonardo said. "They came prepared."

"I think that's over kill." Casey said. "Look at those automatic weapons, we don't stand a chance." He said. "What's the plan for getting past those guys?"

"Stealth." Leonardo said. "Donnie and April and Mikey, try to find information on what exactly they plan to do with the stuff they've stolen. Raph, Casey and I will stop them from getting the power supply. We can't fail this time; this could be their last mission before they drop off the radar. We got lucky that Donnie was able to find out about this heist."

"Okay, enough talk, Leo." Raph said and charged through the gate, Casey at his heels.

"Guys wait! That's not stealth." Leonardo let out a sigh before hurrying after them.

"Let's go then." Donatello said. "While the others distract the robot army we'll sneak in through the back."

Donatello, followed by April and Michelangelo, hurried up the steps to an unguarded door with an old keypad attached, he knew that it had power because of the light it emitted. "Simple, I'll have us in in two minutes." He said and set to work on unlocking the door.

"Uh, Donnie?" Michelangelo said after a few moments, "This place was shut down right?"

"Yes, after the TCRI, Kraang conspiracy the government shut it down." Donatello said.

"So, if say a rocket launcher shot at one of the silos we'd be okay, right?"

"Yes, IF the silos were empty but these silos are still full, the government hasn't gotten around to safely getting rid of the chemical inside because it is from dimension X and they don't know how to handle it." Donatello said. "No if a rocket hit one of these silos they'd definitely explode."

"Then uh, I really think we should run." Michelangelo said and pointed toward a robot with a rocket launcher over its shoulder.

April gasped as the robot came closer to them, ready to fire. "Oh no, if we fight here that robot could end up hitting one of the silos." She said, "We'll lead it away."

April faced the robot and fanned out her Tessen she'd been training for days and this was her first real fight in a while. She was eager to test out her skills, April took a step and nearly tripped over her own feet. Michelangelo reached out to help her regain her balance.

"You okay, April."

"Yeah, fine." She said, turning to face the robot once more, her vision blurred for a moment but that didn't stop her. "Hey, you…"

"Overkill!" Michelangelo said suddenly. "That's what its name is."

"Hey, Overkill! If you want to stop us then you'll have to get through me." April turned and hurried toward the chain-link fence so that when the robot fired at her he wouldn't hit one of the silos.

The robot aimed for her and wasted no time in firing, April moved to the side thinking that the rocket would zip past her and hit something else. She was wrong. The rocket wheeled around and came at her again.

"Heat seeking rocket!" Michelangelo tried to come to April's aid, not that he knew what he'd do, he was good at making stuff up on the fly. The huge robot fired a laser gun at Michelangelo distracting him from April. "I'll take care of this guy. Run April!"

April didn't need to be told twice, she ran as fast as she could trying to come up with a plan to stop the rocket. She had to think of something soon, she couldn't keep running forever.

Running toward the darkness Raphael picked up speed only to roll to a stop when a laser came zipping past his head. He snarled and turned around to face his attacker, why was every villain's answer, robots with guns? He had his answer when the robot leapt into the air with lightning quickness only to come down on Raphael, pinning him to the ground.

Staring down the barrel, or rather up the barrel of an automatic laser gun had Raphael wondering how he'd gotten into this situation in the first place. Right, he had to be the hero and lead the last remaining robot of the army away while Casey and Leonardo retrieved the power supply.

"You've caused us enough trouble over these past two months." The robot said, this form of robot didn't seem like any they had encountered before and it left Raphael feeling a little creeped out.

"What can I say?" He shrugged, the rest of what he was going to say was left unsaid since "I'm a trouble maker" was too lame.

"Not much in a few seconds." The robot said.

At that moment April bounded through the darkness and spotted the robot hovering over Raphael, that was it. April ran faster and planted her hands on the robots shoulders and leapt over it. While the robot was distracted she pulled Raphael free. "Run."

Raphael didn't need to be told twice when he saw a rocked headed for them, he peeled himself off the ground and started running. April was still within the blast radius so Raphael scooped her up and jumped into a ditch at the side of the road. The Explosion that followed disintegrated the robot and warmed the November air.

"Yes! I did it." April said and tried to stand but her legs gave out and she noticed her world slanting, the ground coming closer.

"Woah. Got you." Raphael caught April in his arms and winced at how much weight she had seemingly lost. He studied her face, she had dark circles under her eyes and her face had thinned out some. Was she sleeping? Raphael carried April back to the chemical plant where he met up with his brothers and Casey.

"What happened?" Donatello asked, being the first to hurry to his brother's side. "Is she…"

"No. She just passed out." He said. "She doesn't look too good either."

"Let's get back to the lair, we have the power supply."

"Carlos Chang O'Brian Gambe here with Channel Six News, tonight's headline is the continued coverage of the missing teens. Another teen disappeared today but police say they have a lead that ties the teens together, they all attend Springhill Academy. More on this as it develops"

"That's the third disappearance in two weeks." Leonardo said. "They started after the Sphere and Supercomputer were stolen, I wonder if the disappearances have something to do with the heists."

"Springhill Academy?" Casey tapped a finger to his chin in thought, where had he heard that before?

"What's up, Casey?" Leonardo asked.

"I think that's April's school."

"I thought your school was April's school?" Michelangelo said.

"It was." He paused, "Wait, she didn't tell you?"

"No." Leonardo looked toward Donatello, if she would have told anyone anything it would be him but Donatello only shook his head. "What's going on?"

"Ah, geez," Casey rubbed the back of his head, being put on the spot was something he hated. "She transferred like a month ago. She transferred to join this clairancey class so she could get her power back."

"Do you mean clairvoyance?" Donatello corrected.

"Yeah, that."

"What is clairvoyance?" Michelangelo asked.

"It's just another term for telepathy." Leonardo said. "She must really desperate without her power."

"Well, wouldn't you be upset of you lost your katana?" Raphael said.

"Point taken." He said, "I guess if it works then there's no harm."

"No harm? Look at her, she hasn't been eating or sleeping right. I'd say there's a significant amount of harm." Donatello said. "How much work are they giving her at that school?"

"Even if it's not much, knowing April, she's overworking herself anyway." Leonardo said. "We'll investigate the school without getting her involved."

"Why not get her help, I mean she's our in." Raphael said, "Besides I think she'll be upset that we left her out."

"I don't want to add more to her plate by asking her to do this." Leonardo said. "It should be fine, it's a just a prep school filled with kids who rely on their rich parents."

"Oh yeah, cause people with lots of money are never a problem." Raphael said sarcastically.

April and the Turtles stood on the roof of a building and looked on in horror as a huge black tsunami blasted through their beloved city. The eerie silence that was left after everyone had drowned was worse than the screams of their deaths.

Once they were sure the water level had peaked at about thirty feet deep, everyone looked to Donatello for an answer to what was going on. "It seems to be a giant glob monster rather than water." He said. "I think if we find its heart, down there somewhere, we can kill it."

"Not so fast, Turtles." The group of six wheeled around to see who or what had spoken and what they found surprised them. The inky water loomed over them like a wave and a face formed in the seafoam. It spoke again, "You will drown with the rest of them."

"No way, Tidal Wave." Michelangelo said, quickly coming up with a name for their newest foe. Giving no more time for them to talk than that, Tidal Wave lifted two drill like pillars of water, which he used as arms, and brought them down onto the group.

Everyone sprung out of the way, landing safely on the rooftops of adjacent buildings. All except for April who had slipped from her ledge and was holding on tightly. She tried pulling herself up but she wasn't strong enough, it was almost as if her entire body had become paralyzed.

Ignoring the strain in her arms she held on tightly, one of the guys would surely help her up. She was right, suddenly, standing on the ledge was Leonardo but instead of offering his hand he glared down at her with malice in his eyes.

"Where's April?" April heard Donatello ask, he seemed to be a bit of a distance away and she tried to answer but her voice wouldn't respond.

"I thought she fell down here but I guess I was mistaken." Leonardo said. "We have to keep moving no matter what. Nothing will hold us back." He said.

April struggled so hard she managed to find the strength to grab Leonardo's leg as he turned to leave. "Wait, don't leave me behind."

"Sorry April, You're dead weight." Leonardo said and with that left April hanging from the ledge.

April opened her eyes, the tablet screaming in her ear, she recognized the ringtone as the one she set for her training with Leonardo. "Grr. LEO." April stomped her way to the dojo, the other turtles watching her.

"What's got April so mad?" Raphael watched, it was like looking at a work of art. "Glad I'm not going to be on the receiving end of that."

"I had a dream where you straight up ditched me." April said, entering the dojo to find Leonardo. She crossed the room and wheeled back before punching Leonardo full force in the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Leonardo rubbed his forearm.

"For ditching me." April said.

"I'm not responsible for what I do in your dreams." Leonardo said and watched as April took a stance across the room. "Uh, actually I thought we'd take a break from training today."

"Why? You don't think I can keep up? Watch me." She said, her form was slightly off, Leonardo noted, he suspected that it was due to her lack of sleep and food.

"No, that's not it." He said. "I was just thinking of taking a break myself, it's been a while since I've had Pizza Gyoza. I feel like I haven't seen Murakami-san in ages."

"I don't feel like doing anything but training." She said.

"Okay, how about this. I treat you to dinner and then we come back here and train twice as hard."

"Fine." April said, she was hungry after all and it had been a while since she'd Murakami-san as well. "It'll give me a chance to catch up on my homework anyway."

"You don't hold back." Leonardo said, still rubbing his arm, he and April were the only ones at the restaurant.

"Don't be such a baby." April said, devouring her noodles with gusto. Leonardo was just happy she was eating. Part of being a leader is making sure his team was healthy too.

"Do you want to talk about that dream?" Leonardo asked, "I used to get really bad nightmares, maybe I can help." He paused, "I ditched you, in what context?"

"We were fighting against a mutant tidal wave and I was holding everyone back. It was just a dream, I overreacted." April signed into her noodles, the look of defeat made Leonardo want to hold her tightly.

"You know that I think you are pretty amazing even if you don't have your power anymore." Leonardo said, taking a bite of his dinner, unaware of how his comment made her flush with pride.

"I've just got to figure something out." She said and placed a dainty hand on Leonardo's arm, where she'd punched him. "Sorry I punched you."

"It's okay, I mean it wasn't as hard as Raph hits me sometimes." Leonardo said.

April pushed her hand away from him and stood up. "That right there, that's what I'm talking about." She said. "You think I'm weak."

"Whoa, calm down, April. That's not what I said." Leonardo said.

"It's true though, ever since I've lost my powers you guys have been trying to protect me in missions."

"I'm sorry that it seems that way to you but we are just trying to support you. I mean that's what a team is supposed to do."

"Yeah, and do teams leave team members out of important missions?" she asked. "I heard you guys. You don't think I can handle it. I'll prove you wrong. I'll investigate the school myself." She said, grabbing her order of Pizza Gyoza before leaving.

"That could have gone better." Leonardo said.

"April-chan's voice has more bite to it than usual." Murakami said. "Is she okay?"

"I hope so."