40 Hours Later
"Oh, not you guys too," Irma whined as the Grimm twins began sneaking off with April and Casey to meet up with the turtles.
"I'm sorry?" Kaitlyn responded.
"First April kept sneaking off, then Casey, and now you two," Irma clarified, pointing to the twins. "When do I get to meet these secret friends?"
"What secret friends?" Kris asked, raising his hands in defense.
"Yeah. Sure. Play dumb," Irma said.
"Oh, trust me. He's not playing," Kaitlyn told her. Kris gave his sister a light nudge and her smile grew.
"Sorry, Irma," April said. "We'll try to catch up with you later." The four teens slipped away before Irma could protest any further and went in search of a secure area where they could descend into the sewers. Irma sighed and headed home, once again alone. Casey, April and the Grimm twins walked down the street, keeping an eye out for a manhole that wasn't in a busy area. But as they were looking, a large figure leaped out of a nearby alley and into their path. "There you are," it growled. The teens stepped back in shock as they realized who it was.
"Dr. Finn?" April cried.
"Indeed," she replied. "Weren't expecting to see me back so soon, eh?"
"Not really," Casey muttered.
"Did … you catch the monster already?" April asked, trying to keep their cover intact.
"We both know I didn't," Abigail snarled. "My assistant discovered that fur we found was fake!" The teens took on fearful expressions at being caught in their lie by a crazy woman. Abigail continued, "You and your little friends set all this up to get me out of the city, so you could hunt the monster yourselves. Were you on your way to the sewers now? Possibly setting some traps before nightfall?" The teens were momentarily speechless.
"No," Kaitlyn spoke up. "We were heading home." She frowned at the hunter. Abigail looked over and noticed it was the Grimm twins. "Haven't you received our restraining order yet?" Kaitlyn asked, glaring harder at the large woman.
"Restraining order?" Abigail repeated. Kaitlyn pulled out the copy from her pocket and handed it to the hunter. "You're not allowed to come within 100 yards of us, or the Fantastic Four."
Abigail read the paper. "Hmmm. Then forgive my ignorance," she snarled. "I will take my leave, but I won't be giving up my hunt." She turned and stormed off. The teens waited until she disappeared around the corner before ducking into the alley Abigail had previously emerged from. They snuck down the manhole as quickly as they could and rushed over to the turtles' lair.
"Hey, guys!" Mikey greeted as the four teens arrived. "What's the rush?" The other turtles looked up to greet their friends as well.
"We have a new problem," April told them.
"More like a repeating problem," Kaitlyn corrected.
Don's eyes widened, "Please don't tell me it's –"
"Abigail Finn," Kaitlyn announced. The turtle brothers groaned in unison.
"How did she figure it out?" Leo asked.
"Apparently, you guys used fake fur," Kaitlyn answered, irritation evident in her voice.
"Oooh," the brothers moaned, shifting nervously.
"I didn't think she'd notice," Don said. "It was the best we could do on short notice."
"It was actually her assistant who noticed," April told them.
"Yeah, he seems a bit more stable than she is," Kaitlyn added.
"So, what do we do now?" Mikey asked.
"We know she'll be searching the sewers," Casey stated. "It's only a matter of time before she stumbles on your lair."
"She won't know it's here," Don assured them. "I whipped up some holographic projectors to disguise the entrance."
"Her sorties will see right through that, Don," Kaitlyn sighed. "She will find this place."
"Then I'll just build something else," Don countered.
"There's no time," April said.
"Then it would seem it is no longer safe to stay here," Master Splinter spoke calmly as he fully entered the room.
"But … where will we go?" Leo asked solemnly. The mutant family lowered their heads in sadness at the thought of having to leave their home.
"This is our home, sensei," Don told him. "Has been for 15 years."
"No, Donatello," Master Splinter said, placing a hand on his sons shoulder. "Home is with family, wherever we may be."
The room grew quiet for a long moment. "You could stay with us at the Baxter Building," Kaitlyn finally spoke up. "The Fantastic Four went on a mission this morning and won't be coming home for at least a week."
"They left you alone?" Casey asked. "What about the super villains who are always trying to kidnap you?"
"The Baxter Building has the best self defense system in the world and our Uncle asked some of his super hero friends to make sure we stay safe," Kaitlyn assured them. "Plus Alicia will be checking in daily, but she's blind like Mr. Murakami."
"Not to mention we have a restraining order against Dr. Finn," Kris added. "She can't legally come near our building."
"We accept the offer," Master Splinter told the twins before turning back to his sons. "Pack what you need. We leave as soon as we can." The turtle brothers went to their rooms. Don packed some tech, spare parts, a couple vials of mutagen and the picture of April in a heart decorated frame he kept on his desk. He also took pencils, pens and blue print paper. Leo took mainly spare weapons and throwing stars, along with some DVDs and memorabilia of his favourite show, Space Heroes. Raph packed spare weapons as well, of a different variety to what Leo was taking, and some of his favourite magazines. Mikey grabbed some pairs of underwear he had grown fond of wearing and as many of his comic books as he could. He also stopped by the freezer to transfer ice cream kitty to a portable cooler. Master Splinter only packed a couple spare robes, a few sets of chop sticks, and carried along his staff. Finally, the family stopped by the bathroom to grab their toothbrushes and returned to the living room to re-join the other waiting teens.
The group snuck up to the surface and because it was still day light, they had to be extra cautious. They got to the rooftops as quickly as they could, but even that was no guarantee of staying hidden from prying eyes. They made their way to the Baxter Building and returned to ground level.
"Now what?" Raph growled. "Walk right through the front door and let everyone in the building see us?"
"There's a private elevator in back, grumpy," Kaitlyn told him with a teasing tone. She understood he was upset at being forced from his home. She could only imagine exactly how upset he was. She continued, "My family and I use it to sneak into our penthouse when we really want to avoid the paparazzi." She led them to a back entrance that opened right to the elevator. It was very large, as it had to carry Kaitlyn's Uncle, the Thing, and was able to fit everyone inside. They rode it to the top after Kaitlyn punched in the code required.
"Here we are," she said, stepping into the penthouse and spreading her arms in a display motion. The others looked around, impressed.
"This is where you two live!?" Casey gawked. "Why have we not hung out here before?"
April elbowed Casey, and he let out a small grunt.
"Welcome home!" A peppy voice exclaimed. Everyone but Kris and Kaitlyn shot into defense mode at the unexpected greeting.
"You said no one would be here!" Leo panicked.
"Relax, everyone," Kaitlyn told them, holding up her hands. "That's just H.E.R.B.I.E., Reed's A.I. computer system that runs the penthouse."
"A.I.?" Mikey asked.
"Artificial intelligence," Donnie clarified. "He's a robot."
"You mean like the Kraangdroids!?" Mikey blurted.
"No, Mikey. This is different," Don said.
"For one, he's not an evil alien from another dimension," Raph added.
"Can he see us?" Leo asked.
"Yes, but he doesn't record anything inside the house unless an alarm is triggered or he's otherwise told to," Kaitlyn said, before bringing her voice down to a whisper. "And I can easily erase any memory files involving you guys from his hard drive after you leave. He won't remember ever meeting you."
"Who are your friends, Miss Kaitlyn?" the peppy voice spoke again. "And why do some of them have strange appearances like Mr. Grimm? Speaking of Mr. Grimm! Does he know you have friends over?"
"He'll be fine with it, Herb. This is Master Splinter and his four sons; Leo, Raph, Don and Mikey. They'll be staying here for a bit for safety. And this is April and Casey from school," Kaitlyn introduced.
The others hesitantly greeted the computer.
"All right," H.E.R.B.I.E. said, a slight un-sureness in his tone. "Just don't get into any trouble. And no going into Dr. Richards' lab. I don't want him getting mad at me."
"Lab?" Don repeated, perking up.
"My Uncle's best friend, Dr. Reed Richards, has a lab upstairs. We're not allowed in without supervision," Kaitlyn explained.
"You live with a doctor? Who has a lab?" Don continued, getting more excited.
"He's a professor type Doctor. Dubbed the smartest man in the world," Kaitlyn told them. "His lab can be very dangerous if you're not careful. We've already had plenty of mishaps. I can give you a tour of the rest of the place, though." The Grimm twins' friends got excited, as none of them had ever seen a penthouse before, especially one belonging to celebrities. Despite being only one floor, excluding the upper level dedicated to the lab alone, there were a lot of rooms. Even the tech on this level was impressive, and Don couldn't begin to imagine what Dr. Richards kept in his lab.
Kaitlyn showed them the living room, which had a large couch that wrapped around one side of the room in front of the large television. Several framed photos sat on the mantle above the TV that showed off the family that occupied the penthouse. There was even a picture that showed the young twins with their parents, when they were still alive. They continued down the hall to the dining room and kitchen. Both were very large, and the fridge was easily twice the size of the one the turtles had. There were large windows that made up most of the walls and made the mutant family nervous. Kaitlyn assured them that the building was so high no one could see into the room, but turned on the windows' full opacity to ease her friends. Don was impressed that the windows could be programmed to do that. Next, they went past all the bathrooms and bedrooms. There was a total of nine bedrooms; one for each member of the Fantastic Four family and three guest rooms.
"The other bedrooms are off limits while our family is away, so you five will have to share the three guest rooms," Kaitlyn told them.
"Your hospitality has been generous enough. My boys are more than capable of sharing," Master Splinter assured her. Master Splinter took one room and the turtle brothers split themselves between the remaining two; Raph with Donnie and Leo with Mikey. They left their bags in their new, temporary rooms, and Mikey quickly ran back to the kitchen to put Ice Cream Kitty in the freezer since he had forgotten to do so before. Kaitlyn continued the tour, showing her friends the Fantastic Four's workout room. It had various settings for different types of work outs and was also strictly off limits without adult supervision. She showed them the elevator that led up to Reed's lab even though they couldn't use it. It was even locked to prevent any curious teen from riding up and exploring the lab. Finally, Kaitlyn showed them the dangerous artefacts room. She told them how it made Susan, another close friend and member of the Four, nervous, especially since Kaitlyn and Kris moved in. This room was off limits, period, and had the highest security of the entire building.
"Definitely avoid this room," Kaitlyn told them.
"Indeed we shall," Master Splinter agreed. "Right, boys?" The turtle brothers nodded quickly with bright smiles.
Kaitlyn continued, "Well that's it for the tour. Who's up for a homework session?"
"But we don't do homework," Mikey stated before Raph smacked him.
"We'll keep them company while they do theirs," he said.
"Oh, right," Mikey realized as he and the other teens headed to the living room.