"Miss Kaitlyn," H.E.R.B.I.E. called softly, trying to wake her gently. "Miss Kaitlyn."
She finally stirred into a semi-conscious state, and glanced at the clock. "Herb, it's barely eight o'clock on Saturday. Why are you waking me up?" she asked, still groggy.
"Your green friends are in the kitchen," H.E.R.B.I.E. told her. "I think they're attempting to make breakfast, but it's getting messy … and stressful!" Kaitlyn leaped out of bed and went straight for the kitchen. When she got there she saw Mikey making what she guessed was pancake batter and getting a lot of it on the floor during the stirring process. Raph was using his sai to make freshly squeezed orange juice, but the majority of it was dripping onto the counter instead of getting in the cup. Leo was attempting to make toast and was burning every last piece. Not to mention some of them had fallen to the floor by his feet. Don was frying up some eggs and bacon in two separate pans and was having some trouble keeping both of them under control at the same time. Just as he accidentally broke one of the egg yolks in the pan, the burner that the bacon was on caught fire. Don screamed and instinctively threw his hands in the air, forgetting to let go of the pan. The partially cooked eggs went flying through the air and hit Raph in the back of the head. Leo flailed his arms in panic, accidentally knocking over the toaster and cracking its frame. Mikey jumped at the sudden flames on the stove and spilled half of the batter on the floor and on his feet. When he tried to back away from the stove, Mikey slipped on the batter, falling on his shell and sending the bowl he was holding with the last remaining amount of batter into the air, only to have it come back down and land on his head. Raph was still screaming from the burning hot eggs on the back of his head, as Don looked for a lid he could use to smother the fire.
But before he could locate one, H.E.R.B.I.E. intervened, "Fire protocol initiated." A nozzle came down from the ceiling and shot white foam at the stove burner, putting out the flame. It then turned and did the same to Raph's head, cooling down the egg. Mikey sat up, lifted the bowl enough to see what had happened and began laughing at Raph, who instantly lunged at his younger brother and put him in a headlock.
Kaitlyn stared, dumbfounded, at the situation before her. Leo and Donnie finally noticed her standing there in her light blue, cloud pyjamas and attempted to talk their way out of their mess.
"Kitkat! You're awake!" Leo exclaimed in shock.
"Don't mind the mess! We'll clean everything," Don promised quickly.
"Of course," Leo agreed.
"We were just trying to make you breakfast to thank you for letting us stay here," Mikey explained, still in Raph's headlock. "Please don't throw us out."
Finally getting over the slight shock at what had just happened, Kaitlyn let out a small laugh. "I'm not going to throw you out," she told them. "It was a nice thought. But next time, let H.E.R.B.I.E. make breakfast," she gestured to the ceiling as a series of robotic arms came down from above. Some were holding rags and other cleaning supplies. H.E.R.B.I.E. began cleaning up the kitchen and even washed the mess off Raph and Mikey, causing Raph to release his hold on Mikey.
"That is so cool," Don marveled.
"Just tell him what you want and he'll make it for you," Kaitlyn continued.
Kris and Master Splinter entered the kitchen just as H.E.R.B.I.E. was finishing. Kris was still in his sleep wear, like his sister, and had on a sleeveless white shirt and red boxer shorts one size too large.
"What was that racket I heard?" Master Splinter asked.
"We were trying to make breakfast," Raph explained. Master Splinter looked over to H.E.R.B.I.E.'s robotic limbs that were now preparing food in a clean kitchen.
"It sounded like you were making quite the mess," Splinter stated, confused.
"We did," Mikey said. "But H.E.R.B.I.E. cleaned it up."
"We offered to help," Leo added. "But he had it under control and clean in no time."
"Hmm," Master Splinter said, stroking his beard. "Then perhaps, next time, you should ask before utilizing someone else's kitchen."
"Hai, Sensei," the boys said in unison. Kris rubbed his eyes, clearly not a morning person. "Do I smell burnt bacon?" he asked.
"Yeah. I set it on fire. Accidentally," Donnie confessed.
"Heh. Good thing we have that Anti-fire system," Kris commented.
"You mean that foam that your robot attacked me with?" Raph growled.
"I wasn't attacking you!" H.E.R.B.I.E. cried sadly, clearly upset that his actions were being misread in such negativity. "I was trying to prevent the hot egg from burning you!"
"Well, you could have given me a little warning!"
"I thought I did," H.E.R.B.I.E. whined quietly.
"I'm really sorry about that, Raph," Kaitlyn apologized. "He meant well."
Raph's frown slowly lifted and his fists unclenched. "Yeah, it's fine," he told her.
This surprised Leo and Don, who had never seen Raph let go of his anger so quickly. Kaitlyn smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well then," Master Splinter interrupted. "What is our plan for the rest of the day?"
"I wanna check out their DVD collection!" Mikey exclaimed.
"I was hoping to examine some of their tech," Don requested. "Not from the lab, obviously. Although it would be really cool if I could."
"I was wondering if there is any way I could use the workout room to train?" Leo asked.
"Enough!" Master Splinter demanded. "We are not on vacation. These accommodations are only temporary and we need to come up with a more permanent solution."
"Eggs?" H.E.R.B.I.E. offered loudly, holding a plate in front of Master Splinter, who politely declined. The turtle boys snickered at the robot's strange behaviour.
Master Splinter continued, "So! I suggest you boys work on problem solving."
"Hai, Sensei," the turtle brothers once again said in unison.
"But there's no harm in having a little breakfast first," Kaitlyn told them, gesturing to the now fully set table, filled with a large variety of breakfast food.
After breakfast, the brothers helped with the dishes to make up for the mess from earlier. Then they called April and Casey to invite them over for a problem solving brain storm.
"Alright," Donnie began. "What went wrong with our first plan?"
"Mikey," Raph mumbled.
"Hey!" Mikey cried in protest.
"Not exactly, Raph, but you do have a point," Don agreed.
"What?" Mikey blurted as Raph smirked.
"It was the fake fur Mikey was leaving behind," Don clarified. "I didn't think she would keep any for further examination."
"So, it's your fault," Raph said.
"Maybe we should stop pointing fingers and assigning blame," Leo suggested, sounding more like an order. "The plan didn't work because we were rushed and got sloppy."
"We need to brainstorm more ideas. And this time come up with contingency plans for if anything goes wrong," Don told them, setting up his easel and paper.
"And knowing us, something probably will," Raph commented. Leo shot him a quick glare, but Raph simply shrugged it off.
"My shape shifting could come in handy," Kris suggested, raising his hand instinctively as if in his classroom.
"Yes, it definitely could," Don agreed, writing down a note.
"What if the problem was trying to get her to leave willingly?" Kaitlyn wondered. "What if we tried getting her kicked out of the city? That way she couldn't come back even if she wanted to."
"But how do we turn an entire city against one psycho?" Casey asked.
"I don't think New York cares about her kind of crazy enough for banishment," April said with a sigh. "But she is a very proud woman, who cares a lot about her reputation. If we tarnish it enough, she may never want to show her face here again." April smiled wide, feeling good about the way the brainstorm was going.
"It seems like we keep circling back to the same idea; getting her to leave on her own accord," Donnie realized. "We need to force her out of town and get rid of any possibility of her returning."
April's expression dropped; a little upset that Don shot down her idea. He noticed her change in mood and realized exactly what he had said. He began to apologize, "Sorry, April. I didn't mean to …"
"It's okay, Donnie. I understand," she assured him, giving a light smile.
The group continued to come up with ideas for several hours, but every time they thought they were getting close, someone would point out a flaw that could break the mission. The teens were getting restless and losing hope. Numerous crumpled sheets of note paper littered the floor at Donnie's feet. He was currently staring at the blank sheet on his easel with the closed marker fidgeting between his teeth as he continued to think.
"This is hopeless," Raph mumbled, as he lied on the floor staring at the ceiling. Kaitlyn stood and went over to where Rah was lying, leaning into his line of sight.
"We can't afford to think like that, Raphie boy," she told him, before standing up straight and placing her hands on her hips. She gave him a playful smile. Mikey began to snicker at what Kaitlyn had called his brother, and Raph sat up on his elbows to shoot him a glare.
"Can we at least take a break?" April asked. "We've been at this for hours."
"I'm sure Master Splinter wouldn't mind if we took a movie break," Kaitlyn said.
"But we have nothing to show from our hours long brainstorm if he asks about it," Don said with a sigh.
"Sure we do," Kaitlyn told him, pointing to the floor at his feet. "We have all our failed ideas."
"And what good do those do?" Don asked.
"With every failure, we get closer to success," Kaitlyn said with a smile. She gave Don a friendly tap on his bicep before moving to the wall beside the TV. "H.E.R.B.I.E., open the DVD library, please," she requested. The wall slid out and up to reveal a couple shelves of movies behind it. Mikey leapt off the couch and was beside Kaitlyn in seconds. "Whoa … so many!"
"There's more in back," Kaitlyn explained. "The shelves rotate."
Mikey's jaw dropped as the shelves began shifting to reveal more DVDs.
"Impressive," Don commented, referring to the technology.
"Any movie requests?" Kaitlyn asked.
"Do you have any Space Heroes?" Leo asked, hopeful.
"No!" Raph barked, standing up and taking a far seat on the couch.
"Sorry, Leo. We don't," Kaitlyn told him.
Leo shrugged, smile fading slightly. After a few moments the gang finally decided on a movie; a typical action/adventure flick. Kaitlyn popped the disc into the player and took a seat beside Raph. He looked over to her as he thought that she leaned into him slightly. But he quickly pushed that ridiculous thought aside, as just his imagination playing tricks on him.
...
Master Splinter walked in a couple hours later to check on the teens and saw the crumpled papers lying beneath Don's easel, the television rolling the credits of some movie, and his sons and their friends sleeping on the large couch. Raph was on the far right, with Kaitlyn leaning up against him, arms crossed over her stomach. Her legs were resting over Mikey's thighs, who sat beside her. His head rested on April's shoulder as she gently leaned against Donnie's arm. Leo sat on the other side of Don and was leaning over on the couch's far left side, one leg hanging from the couch with the other resting slightly against Don's thigh. Kris was flopped out on his stomach on the small section of the couch that jutted out on the right side of Raph, and Casey, who had been sitting between Mikey and Kaitlyn, was now sleeping on the floor in front of Raph's feet. Master Splinter smiled at the scene before him and turned off the television, leaving the kids to rest.