Apologies for the delay guys. I've been dealing with personal issues, plus my summer class and work. Thanks for your patience and please enjoy the chapter. (Also, Mikey is supposed to get a love interest in the next episode. I wonder how that's gonna work out.) : P

A Disturbing Hypothesis

She didn't know what time she'd fallen asleep, only that it had readily come to her after she let out all her agony and worry through muffled sobs. Her pillow had become drenched from soaking up each fallen tear like a sponge, causing the side of her face to become slick and hot with moisture. Eventually her body had succumbed to pure exhaustion, her eyelids heavy and fatigued. With a feeble attempt she wiped the water droplets from her cheeks and allowed herself to submerge into a deep slumber, hoping that tomorrow would bring alleviation and answers.

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Scarlet numbers glowed in a blurry mess as her eyes fluttered open in a passive manner. She blinked a few times to try and get her perception in order before she was finally able to make out the time of 8:32 on the bedside digital clock.

Noelle compelled herself into a sitting position and elongated her arms up, relaxing the muscles that had grown rigid from undisturbed sleep. As she lowered her arms, she was finally able to accommodate to the darkness of her temporary space, memories of the previous night playing out in her mind.

She was staying in an abandoned subway station in the sewers with four ninja turtles and their rat father.

Rather than reacting with disgust by the entire outcome, she found herself feeling gratified. Her saviors had not only clashed against abnormal and threatening beings to rescue her, but they also took her in after attentively accompanying her home to try and save her mom. Noelle didn't really understand anything about the turtles except for their names and that they were experienced fighters. She pondered about the story of their Sensei and why they called him father when they clearly weren't from the same species. She supposed that anybody could be a parental figure regardless of blood relations, but how did it all occur? Had they always possessed their current forms?

She decided to thrust the questions aside and not bring them to attention until the opportunity presented itself. She didn't want to be appear ignorant and intrusive.

Noelle kicked the blankets off and coursed her way over to the extensive dresser so she could brush her hair. As she gently dragged the bristles through meager knots she realized that at the moment she would customarily be in school. It felt strange, but she wasn't troubled in the slightest about it. Nobody would observe that she was absent except for when attendance was called, and even then the teachers doubtlessly wouldn't be keen enough to place a face with her name. The only one who might acknowledge her absence was her art professor, as today was art club and Noelle never skipped a meeting.

She protruded her head out of her room and peered around, listening for any sort of noise in case somebody else was awake. She heard the distant clanging of pots and pans, followed by boisterous humming and a dinging sound. Assuming that it was coming from the kitchen, Noelle followed the harmony across the lair, her eyes observing her surroundings and perceiving objects that she hadn't really acknowledged the night before.

She noticed a tire swing hanging above a modest basin of water, located near a broad pit that had an expanded bench concealed in pillows encompassing the inside of a square. Towards the rear of the pit was a hefty TV, with a navy blue bean bag chair arranged in front of it. She saw a spiraling ramp ascending upwards to a platform, and kitty corner from that was a punching dummy.

Their home was actually rather charming, but it made her sad that there weren't any windows for them to look out of, although it might have been callous to taunt them with the outside world when they couldn't really live among it.

The humming increased in volume as she passed the pool and came across a doorway with a deep violet curtain draped across the front of it. She lifted the delicate material up and proceeded through, where she encountered Mikey tapping his foot and serenading in front of a lit stove. As if anticipating her, the freckled turtle ceased his singing and turned around with a grin.

"Yo! Good morning!"

"Good morning," Noelle courteously countered. She stood there, dubious as to what to do. She wasn't accustomed to being a guest in somebody else's home, so she found herself divided on whether she should stand around and linger until given instructions, or perch herself at the table.

Mikey beamed and turned back around to face the stove. "Breakfast will be ready in a sec. My bros should be up soon, although I think Leo is already up meditating. I don't know how he does that so much, 'cause it's like boring, ya know?"

She really didn't know. "I've never meditated before, but it looks relaxing."

"I mean, I guess so. I just have a hard time concentrating on one thing because my mind wanders over to TV and comic books and pizza and ice cream kitty, and I just have to move. Sitting around is so boring." He discarded a jumble of steaming pancakes onto a platter and placed it on the table implanted directly in the center of the room.

"I can help set the table," Noelle proposed. "I can also clean up later if you'd like."

"Nah, I got it. Sit down, girl! Dr. Cookenstein has it all under control." Mikey winked and gestured over to one of the stools.

Just as she sat down the curtain was once again nudged open, this time by Donnie. He looked rather fatigued, especially with the way his posture hunched over and his feet dragged along the floor.

"Morning D!" Mikey sang out as he balanced a stack of plates and cups while drifting towards the table.

"Hi Mikey," Donnie drowsily responded with a yawn. He expressed a tired smile at Noelle. "Morning."

"Good morning." She watched as he picked a coffee pot up off of a coffee maker and began loading it with water.

"Do you drink coffee?"

"I don't every day. Sometimes I will have a cup after mom gets hers, but that is usually only on the weekends and when I feel like getting up early to work on my art." Noelle had never been a fan of the stuff, but she found out that with the right combination of sugar, cream and milk she was able to create a flavor that was drinkable and provided her a great deal of stamina.

"Want me to make you a cup?" Donnie offered as he shut the water off and placed the pot back in its primary location.

"If it's not too much trouble. Thank you Donatello." She gave a nod of her head to display gratitude. The purple-masked turtle grinned, unveiling a slim gap in his teeth.

"No problem. You can just call me Donnie if you want. Our names are kinda long."

"But they are also unique and wonderful," she radiated with sincerity in every word.

Mikey eyeballed Donnie as he switched the machine on, his tongue sticking out in revulsion. "Yuck dude. I don't know how you can drink that stuff."

"It's actually not that bad when you put the right amount of cream and sugar in," Noelle kindly pointed out.

"I happen to be a tea drinker myself," Master Splinter chimed as he entered into the kitchen, pursued closely by Leo. "Good morning my sons." He politely bobbed his head towards Noelle. "And good morning to you."

"O-oh. Good morning sir." Not wanting to appear impolite, Noelle promptly stood up and returned the gesture.

Raph tiredly walked in, hoisted up in a stretch as he yawned. "'Sup? Morning Sensei."

All of them took their seats at the table, waiting for Mikey to finish setting down the rest of the food. Donnie placed a steaming cup of coffee, along with a spoon and bowel of cream and sugar, down in front of Noelle, who thanked him and began stirring the contents in. Soon enough there was syrup, butter, and plates loaded with both bacon and pancakes.

"Breakfast is served, good lady and chaps," Mikey announced with a British accent. He took a seat between Splinter and Donnie, scarcely sitting down before he began shoveling food into his mouth.

"Michelangelo, have manners," Splinter admonished with a shake of his head. "Do not be rude in front of our guest."

"Oh, it's okay. Really." Noelle spread the syrup and butter over her pancakes when it was passed to her, relishing in the pleasant smell that wafted through the air.

Leo swallowed his food and set down his silverware for a moment, careful not to drip any remaining syrup onto the table. "So Noelle, how did you sleep last night?"

She allowed herself to properly swallow a piece of pancake before answering. "Very well, thank you. I went to sleep right away." She didn't seem to detect how Mikey cast his eyes downwards with a frown before he continued eating. It didn't go unnoticed by Splinter, who watched his youngest son's reaction from the corner of his eye but said nothing, only gave his beard a long stroke before he proceeded to take a sip of his tea. "Once again, thank you all so much for taking care of me."

"Again, it is not a problem, my child," the humanly rat assured her. "You are always welcome here."

Donnie wiped his mouth. "When we're done eating I'm going to do some research and see if I can come up with a theory about why the Kraang went after your mom. I'll probably need some information from you first, if that's okay."

"It is."

"Then I'm showing her around the lair!" Mikey excitedly exclaimed. "Wait until you meet Ice Cream Kitty and see all my cool action figures and-"

"Mikey, do you ever shutup?" Raph grumbled out.

"Aww, is Raph still sleepy?" Mikey smirked. "Eat up bro!" He shoved a piece of bacon into his hot-headed brother's mouth, causing the older turtle's eyes to glow with fiery anger.

"THAT'S IT!"

Raph chased the freckled turtle around the kitchen and eventually out into the den. Leo and Donnie carried on as if nothing unusual was taking place while Splinter sighed and shook his head. "Kids."

There was an eventual crashing noise followed by Mikey yelping and what sounded like Raph growling. Noelle worriedly glanced out towards the direction the sound came from. "Should we check on them and make sure they're alright?"

Leo shook his head. "Nah, they're always like this. Mikey seems to enjoy getting under our skin, especially Raph's."

She couldn't understand why somebody would try to purposefully get another person enraged enough to rush after them. "Why do you think that?"

"Almost every single day he is either pranking somebody, touching things he isn't supposed to, or annoying us until we give him attention." Donnie wiped the remnants of his breakfast off of his mouth with a napkin and gathered his dishware as he stood up from his stool. "He's a great fighter, and I like him as my brother, but sometimes his energy gets to be too much, and it can honestly get exhausting trying to keep him out of your area."

"Oh, you mean like bedrooms?"

"Each of my sons has a room or area where they spend a lot of their time at. For Donatello, it's in his lab. Raphael is usually fitness training with either the practice dummy or in our small exercise room, and sometimes he will be in the garage. Leonardo prefers meditating or practicing his skills in the dojo, which is where I will often spend my time as well. Michelangelo does not have a personal area. He either watches TV or drifts around trying to get somebody to pay attention to him." Splinter gently set down his cup of tea. "He is an excellent ninja and quite intelligent in certain aspects, but he has a hard time paying attention to something for too long."

"In other words, we love him, but he's obnoxious," Leo plainly stated as he gathered Noelle and Splinter's dishware along with his own and headed to the sink. Noelle thanked him and looked fixedly down at the table. Mikey seemed like an amiable and humorous person, and although his family seemed to love him, they certainly had a lot of criticism towards him and his conduct. They were pleasant people, but it made her rather somber that the young turtle was seen as an annoyance. Maybe he was just lonely sometimes, like her.

"I'm going to go do some research and see if I can figure out what happened to your mom," Donnie announced as he refilled his coffee cup. "You said her name was Savannah, right?"

She earnestly nodded her head, hoping that the tall turtle would discover something about her mother's situation. "Yes. Her name is Savannah Jackson and she is an author, divorced from my dad."

"Alright, I'll get on that right away." The purple-masked terrapin exited the kitchen with a determined glint in his eye, barely managing to get out of the way as Mikey and Raph ran back into the room.

"Sorry D!" The lime-green turtle was cheerfully laughing, apparently enjoying the chase. Raph glared, his muscular arms shooting forward and wrapping tightly around his younger brother's waist. Mikey squeaked as he was lifted into the air, his feet kicking forward helplessly.

Splinter stood up, and in one swift moment disconnected his sons and knocked their heads together, causing Noelle to cringe while Leo looked amused. "I hope you two are quite finished now," their father sternly said. "I would hate for our guest to be inconvenienced with your rude behavior." Noelle was about to insist that she really wasn't bothered, but Splinter looked over with a wink, and she relaxed.

"Hai sensei," the brothers mumbled with their heads bowed. Splinter walked off, a sly grin on his face that only she saw. When he had left the room, Mikey was met with a glare from Raph.

"What?"

"You're an idiot," Raph grumbled as he flicked his brother's forehead and followed after their father. Mikey rubbed his forehead before he broke into a grin and turned towards Noelle.

"Ready for the tour?"

His blue orbs seemed to glimmer with excitement. She found herself unable to say no.

"Okay."

He pumped a bulky fist into the air triumphantly, the corners of her mouth turned slightly upwards at his excitement. "Sweet! Let's go!" He bounded towards the refrigerator and yanked the freezer door open. "Meet Ice Cream Kitty!"

Confused as to what he was talking about, she scooted over to the frigid compartment, unsure what to expect. Her eyes widened when she saw cat made of ice cream wiggling around and meowing.

He literally had meant a cat constructed of frozen dairy.

"Isn't she so cute?! You can pet her!" Mikey tickled the cat's chin, causing her to purr and shimmy around even more. "Ice Cream Kitty, meet Noelle!"

The cat seemed to be studying Noelle as she hesitantly lifted her hand up and held it out in front of the feline's nose. Ice Cream Kitty leaned forward and sniffed the teen's fingers before lovingly licking her fingertips. A little pile of ice cream was left behind, sending a crisp chill down to Noelle's hand.

"Is this normal?"

"Yeah! You can eat it! It means she loves you," Mikey cooed as he rubbed noses with the cat and licked the remnants off. It was one of the most unusual things she had ever witnessed, but she trusted his opinion and stuck the digit in her mouth. Strawberry deliciously infiltrated her taste buds.

"This is really good!" she exclaimed, surprise evident in her tone.

A look of pride crossed the turtle's face. "See!" He nuzzled the cat's nose again before stepping back. "We're gonna go, Ice Cream Kitty. See you later!"

Noelle waved at the cat, still in disbelief. "Bye Ice Cream Kitty. It was nice to meet you."

The cat meowed happily as the door was closed over her. Mikey's eyes shrank as his dimples showed up. "You like her?"

"I do. She seems very sweet," she sincerely admitted, blushing at the unintended pun. "I'm surprised that there is a cat made of ice cream in your freezer though."

Mikey guiltily rubbed the side of his face. "My fault; it was an accident. If Donnie knew, well, he'd have my shell. She used to be a real cat but some stuff happened and she turned into ice cream."

"I won't tell him," she reassured him, wanting to prove she was trustworthy, although she was rather curious over how a cat had transformed into food. "Accidents happen."

"Exactly! Nobody else seems to get it!" He revealed a set of teeth. "Thanks! Now on with the tour!" He grabbed her arm and tugged her out the room and into the main one located near the entrance. She nearly stumbled as he unexpectedly yanked her forward.

"This is our TV! It's so beautiful!" Mikey bolted forward and enveloped his arms lovingly around the television before planting kisses all over the side of it. "Good TV."

"I don't really watch TV at home," she shyly admitted. "I've always read or drawn instead. Sometimes I watch game shows with my grandma, but that's it. I've just never had an interest in it."

A sly grin crossed his features as he stood up. "That's because you're not watching the right stuff. Later on we can watch this awesome anime called Super Robo Mecha Force Five, which has a giant robot and a monkey and it's just so cool!" Stars flickered in his eyes.

"I've never really watched anime before, but it seems to be popular. I haven't heard of that one though." Many times while she sat in class, conversations between her classmates encircled her head like a toxic bubble. Most of the time the topic didn't hold her attention, but periodically she'd heard a few people discussing a show with an irregular title, and every so often she'd feel slightly intrigued with the phenomenon and imagination of it all. She was actually looking forward to watching this so-called robot anime.

He dragged her all over. She was shown all the restrooms, the garage, the impressive Shellraiser, the dojo (where she attempted to be silent as Leo looked like he was meditating), and Donnie's lab, where Mikey caused them to leave when he started touching random bottles. Just before he took her upstairs to their rooms, she implied that she should perhaps change so she wasn't promenading all over the place in her pajamas, not to mention she really wanted to shower.

"Yeah sure! I'll probably be playing the Space Heroes pinball machine or something. Maybe I'll even go bug Donnie or Raph."

The thought of him riling up Raph again caused her to uneasily shuffle her feet. She wanted to advise him against purposefully picking a fight, but decided it wasn't her place to do so, so she nodded in acknowledgement and proceeded to the restroom next to her room.

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The bathroom wasn't elegant, just a typical subway restroom. However, two shower stalls had been installed in, placed kitty corner from three toilet stalls and three sinks with a large mirror running across, which was very convenient. Fresh towels and washcloths hung up on a horizontal silver bar near the bathing area. She grabbed one of each and placed it just outside her shower stall before laying her fresh clothes on the sink's counter.

The hot water was welcoming, but she didn't want to waste too much time. Within 10 minutes she was completely clean and emerging from the stall with her towel wrapped tightly around her. She rapidly dried off, wrapped the towel around her soaked hair and proceeded to get dressed and brush her teeth. She brushed through thick strands of platinum blonde hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. Satisfied with her cleaned-up appearance, she retreated from the bathroom and went to find Mikey.

Luckily, it appeared he hadn't really gotten into any trouble, as he was deeply involved in a game of pinball. The dinging and clanking sounds grew louder as she curiously made her way over to see how good he was. The last time she'd played the game was when she was about 7 and had been taken to an arcade by her grandmother and parents as a treat for doing so well in school. She hadn't been marvelous at it, but she'd enjoyed herself and the challenge of it.

It was one of the few fond memories she had.

"Hey, you're done!" Mikey exclaimed, his eyes quickly flicking to her and then back to the machine. "You wanna play?"

Did she? She looked at the machine nervously and then back at the turtle, whose score was climbing higher. "I, uh-perhaps later."

"Yeah sure, no sweat. Almost done." He slapped a button on the side of the machine, expecting one of the flappers up front to block the small ball from escaping. Unfortunately, he was a second too late, as the ball slid right past and into the hole. "Awww no! I was so close to beating Casey's high score!" He fell onto his knees in defeat, his voice dropping down to almost a whisper. "You are a cruel game."

She had never seen anybody react like that towards a game before. She also noticed he had said Casey, which was the name of guy hanging out with April. Both names had been mentioned by the turtles, and she wondered just who these people were. "I'm sorry." It was all she could think of to say towards such abnormal behavior.

To her surprise he hopped back onto his feet and grinned. "Nah, don't worry about it. I can play this any day. You have to come see my room though!" He ran up towards some stairs and she quickened her pace to try to keep up. Four doors, two on each side of the wall, was the sight she was met with when she had reached the last step. She assumed that each door led to one of the brother's rooms. Sure enough, Mikey began pointing towards each one and naming the brother the door belonged to. The one farthest from the stairs on the right hand side was his.

"Ready to see my-"he looked around, his voice taking on a mystical tone, "-secret lair?"

She smiled, wondering just what kind of a room he really had. "Sure."

Mikey mocked an evil laugh and pushed his door open, stepping aside so Noelle could enter.

She blinked in disbelief.

Honestly, the room was a mess. For the most part, she assumed it was a typical teenage boy's room, with a radio, surfboard, and a shelf of comic books and action figures, but were boys really this messy? A pair of stained underwear (why would a turtle need underwear?) lay wrinkled on his unmade bed, the sheets draped sloppily over a spotted turtle rug. Pizza boxes were strewn on a dresser, table, and desk, along with half eaten slices of pizza and crushed cans of pop. The smell of the room was tolerable, but not very pleasant. The area was interesting though, and definitely seemed suited to his tastes.

"Ta-dah!" he happily stretched out his arms. "What do ya think?"

She bit her lower lip, trying to think of the right words to describe that chaotic room. "Well, it's uh…very you?" Immediately she felt a sting of guilt, hoping that she didn't sound insulting. Perhaps a few more words could be added. "I like the interesting atmosphere."

He blinked owlishly at her before his lips turned up. "I have no idea what that means but I knew you would like it!" He flopped onto his bed and pointed at one of his shelves. "You can borrow one of my comics if you want. Those things are amazing!" Noelle wasn't a big comic reader, but she was a tad bit fascinated by the art confined within the pages. Curiously, she picked one out and began thumbing through it. The story appeared to be about aliens.

"Oh, that's a real good one! Actually, I was reading that when these weird mutant squirrels popped out of a homeless man and entered Raph's mouth and he ended up throwing them up, and then they multiplied!" Just as Mikey finished speaking, she turned to a page showing what looked like a man throwing up the creepiest looking creatures she had ever seen. She shuddered and quickly closed the magazine before placing it back on the shelf.

He sat up and patted the bed. "You can sit down if you want."

"Are you sure?"

He studied her nervous expression, wondering what she could be worried about. "Of course! We're friends!"

Noelle felt a burst of happiness in her chest. A friend.

She had a friend.

She sat down next to him, allowing her weight to sink into the bed. Her cheeks flushed with elated joy, ecstatic that for the first time in many years she had somebody she could actually call a friend. It was almost overwhelming.

Mikey wondered if she didn't have many friends, but that was a surprising thought to him, as she seemed like a cool person. He was just glad he could make a friend feel cheerful. "Hey, are you just really shy or something?"

Noelle stared down at the floor, suddenly feeling too bashful to meet his curious gaze. "I…I suppose I am. I don't really talk to a lot of people, or have a lot of friends." She wistfully sighed. "It's a long story."

"Well we just gotta get you to come out of your shell then!"

She immediately looked back up at him, only to be met with a grin and determined glint in his eye.

Mikey was excited. To him, this was like playing a video game on the hardest difficulty mode. He had already accepted the challenge in making her able to have more fun and be more talkative, and nothing she said could make him change his mind.

"Thank you Mikey," Noelle uncertainly voiced, though she appreciated his attempt. "I'll try."

A knock on the door delayed the conversation, prompting both teens to turn towards the sound.

"What's the password?" Mikey hollered with a sly simper, amused by his behavior.

The door pushed open, revealing a grim-looking Donnie. Noelle felt the sinking feeling return to her stomach when she realized that the news couldn't be good.

"Aww, dude, you didn't even try and guess!" The youngest brother pouted, disappointed that the genius brother hadn't even bothered to play along.

Donnie ignored him and closed the door. "Your mom is a science-fiction writer, right?"

Noelle nodded, curious as to what was on his mind. "Yes. She is really well known for her science-fiction series 'Hello Earth', which is about aliens successfully invading Earth while moving about in disguises. They hack into the government's computers to gain information about the human race and what has been gathered about themselves".

"Sweet! She writes about aliens!" Mikey exclaimed, clearly fascinated. "You think she'd like my comic books?"

"I'm not sure. My mom doesn't read comics either."

The lanky turtle appeared concerned. "I think I know why the Kraang took your mom."

"To write a book for them?" Mikey chirped, silencing himself when Donnie glared at him. "What? It would be cool."

"No." He looked back at Noelle with pity in his eyes. "The Kraang are aliens that have been on Earth for a long time, trying to make our world inhabitable for them. They want to remove all humans and over run our planet." He began pacing. "We've fought them before, and although they seem adept at times, they have made significant progress. The trouble is, I can't seem to discern where they are, which means we will have to track them down somehow by luring them out or following a clone back to the hideaway." He paused, as if he was contemplating how to voice the next few words carefully."I have a hunch your mom will be there working for them."

Noelle's eyes widened in shocked horror when she realized what he was saying. "That means-"

"I think you can see the connection now. The Kraang do a lot of research, and probably came across your mom's book, which is a full on instruction booklet for invading. In other words,I think they are planning to forcefully use your mother to take over Earth."