Weeeeee! I'm getting back into the swing of things after doing nothing for two years! It's about time!
Chapter 3: Feeling Welcome
Mikey was right about the timing. The oven timer went off soon after Casey and April got settled back into April's apartment.
The family was all seated at the table, Master Splinter at the head. April, Casey, and Don were all sat on one side, and Leo, Raph, and Mikey sat on the other side, with April and Leo sitting closest to Splinter, and the couple sitting next to each other.
As Mikey served everyone their food, April shook her head. "Guys, you really didn't have to do all this," she said.
Leo smiled warmly. "That's exactly why we did it. We wanted to do this."
"We were plannin' this since Casey proposed," Raph added. "Especially Mikey. He went nuts tryin' ta decide what to cook for ya." He pointed at the turtle in question.
Mikey grinned. "Donnie of all turtles had to pull me away, instead of me pulling him away from his lab. I started wondering if we switched bodies."
Don chuckled, "I think we'd know if Mikey was in someone else's body.
Casey leaned on the table. "This isn't the conversation I was expecting when we back. I was all prepared for questions. Like, 'How was California?'"
Mikey beamed at the topic. "Yeah! How was California?" He looked at April. "Did you tell your sister 'hi' for us?"
April shook her head. "Sorry, Mikey. Robin still doesn't know about you guys yet." She sighed. "I just don't know how to tell her."
Master Splinter nodded. "She could have known by now, had she been able to attend your wedding."
April buried her face in her hands. "I wasn't looking forward to that conversation either." She perked up in feigned enthusiasm. "'Hey, Robin. Meet my extended family that I've known for years!'"
Don cocked an eye ridge. "Is that the issue you're worried about? Not the fact that we're four giant, talking turtles and a giant, talking rat?"
April sighed and rolled her eyes. "That freak-out is also something I don't look forward to. If I know my sister, she'd respond as well as I did when I first met you guys, complete with passing out."
"Does that run in the family?" Raph joked, earning him lighthearted kick beneath the table from Casey.
"Only when mutant turtles are involved," April quipped back. "But anyway, California was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time hiking and on the beaches after we visited Robin."
"It was nice of her to let you stay the first night," Leo commented.
April nodded. "She said it was the least she could do for not making it to our wedding."
Casey swallowed a bite of food. "I wish we coulda told her more about how the wedding actually happened, but we had to shave off a lot of the big details."
"Details such as us," Master Splinter deduced.
"And any other mutant, superpowered, extraterrestrial, or interdimensional guests," Don listed off.
"And the giant robot from the future," Mikey added.
"And the ninja wedding crashers," Raph growled.
April nodded again. "All we could tell Robin was how Casey put the wrong date on a few of the invitations. And I'm actually kind of glad she didn't make it so she didn't have to get dragged into my crazy life full of Foot ninjas and evil alien conquerors in mechanized armor." She set her fork down. "Although now that we're finally done with Shredder, I think I could tell her the truth sometime soon."
"Yeah," Casey agreed. "I sure hope we don't find any more Shredders that we don't know about, right guys?"
The Hamato clan looked at each other uneasily.
Donnie shrugged. "That's a good a segue as any."
Leonardo sighed. "About that… while you were gone, something weird happened," he began.
*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*
High in Foot Headquarters, the headmistress of the Foot clan meditated in the garden outside the throne room.
Footsteps approached her from behind.
"Karai, there you are!"
Karai opened her eyes and smiled, but did not turn or move from her position. "Good evening, Dr. Chaplin. Casey and April return tonight, do they not?"
The scientist stammered, "Um, yes they do."
"I wish to visit them sometime soon, then, to welcome them back. Perhaps I shall make a purchase at April's shop as well."
"Uh, sure," Chaplin answered.
Karai frowned and stood up from her lotus position. "You sound anxious. Is something troubling you, Robert?" She took her friend's hand and looked at him.
Chaplin nodded. "The Foot astronomers monitoring the ice asteroid Mor Gal Tal detected a change — Ch'rell is gone!"
Karai's eyes widened. "Gone? But how? Where?" This cannot be. Can it? Might our horrid dream come to pass?
Dr. Chaplin shook his head. "They're working to find out as we speak. I thought you should see for yourself."
"I shall." Karai released his hand and led him to the door. "Thank you for alerting me, Robert.
Once in the elevator, she gasped. "I must warn Leonardo!"
"Don't worry, Karai," Robert Chaplin replied. "I already sent a messenger to Casey and April's apartment, where they told us they'd be."
Karai's shoulders fell in relief. "Good. Who did you send?"
"Your apprentice," the doctor answered, "Inoue Naomi."
*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*
J lay flat on the lowest platform of the fire escape. He dared not make a sound as he peaked over the edge at the commotion below.
A big, rough looking man in a sleeveless leather jacket — Probably a Purple Dragon, J guessed — was harassing a small, short-haired woman in green scrubs. Definitely a medical professional, but J didn't know what type.
To her credit, the woman was attempting to ward off the thug with what appeared to be a scalpel.
Do they let her take those home, or does she just keep a spare one on her person? J wondered.
Despite the situation and the scalpel in her hand, the woman spoke calmly in an older-sounding voice, "Please, it's been a long day at work. I just want to get home to my husband and my…" She trailed off. "I don't want trouble." She didn't finish the sentence.
"I don't think so," the man sneered. "Why don't ya put that knife down and I can see if I can do better than your husband?" He kicked low, bringing the woman to the ground and knocking the scalpel from her hand. "There, see? Was that so hard?"
The woman brought a hand to her chest and bowed her head. She didn't speak as the man approached her, at least not that J could hear. But he had seen and heard enough. The teenager slowly and carefully stood, trying not to make a sound. The thug was just beneath the ladder.
J knelt on the edge, feeling the weight of his backpack and his plan. God help me, he prayed silently. He steeled himself, hard pounding, and jumped off the fire escape, holding his stainless-steel water bottle high.
Dr. Chaplin doesn't have a given name in canon, but I went with Robert for the sake of this fic series. My reasoning is to switch Baxter Stockman's initials around (BS to SB) and then having both initials jump one letter towards the middle of the alphabet (C for Chaplin, and R for any guy name, but I went with Robert). I figured that while Chaplin works for Karai, she's close enough to him by now in-universe to be on a first-name basis with him.
As for Naomi, I have plans for her in the future…
A fire escape was probably a weird transition from where we left my section of chapter 2, but I like it that way. Also, Sarah Cannon will also show up in later in the series.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, critiques, or snide/funny remarks, you can post them below.