Prepared
As Splinter surveyed the damage and chaos in the small apartment he couldn't help but wonder if he was being punished. Casting his mind back through the years Splinter thought that although he had made many mistakes he didn't think any of them warranted this punishment. He couldn't help but feel he spent most of his time these days apologising, handing out punishments and attempting to understand the reasoning behind the odd behaviour of his sons. At least it wasn't their home they had damaged today Splinter thought bitterly as a loud bang erupted from the kitchen followed by a low growl. Perhaps it would have been better if it had, it would certainly have saved Splinter from the indignity of apologising to April repeatedly and he was certain he would apologise again once he had heard this sorry tale.
Sitting in the thankfully undamaged armchair the rat turned his attention to the turtles seated around the area, all of them trying their best to look sorry but failing miserably. It was one thing to destroy your own home, but causing havoc in someone else's home was even worse. It reflected badly on the turtles and Splinter couldn't help but think it reflected poorly on him too. With this in mind, the rat turned a fiery gaze to his destructive sons, ensuring each felt his annoyance as they knelt around him in the small apartment. Each turtle displaying varying levels of guilt. From Leonardo's look of shame, to Donatello's detached expression hinting the turtle had no regrets for their actions tonight, with Michelangelo and Raphael falling somewhere between the two Splinter wasn't sure where to begin.
Another crash erupted from the kitchen followed by low level muttering that had his sons squirming, knowing they were the cause. Deciding it was now or never to get to the bottom of this, Splinter tried to clear his mind in preparation.
"So which one of you thought it would be a good idea to test April's level of Ninja skill and her reaction to dangerous situations?" the question startled the four turtles who dragged their eyes away from the kitchen and back to their Father.
Sharing a glance between them it was Michelangelo who timidly raised a hand, a sheepish smile on his face as he confessed his crimes.
"Michelangelo" started the rat zeroing in on his youngest "you will begin the explanation then I take it?" questioned Splinter although it really wasn't a question and the orange clad turtle would explain whether he liked it or not.
"We only did it because April asked us too!" blurted out the orange masked ninja to the collective surprise of his brothers and father.
"That's the best you can come up with? Bonehead!" groaned Raphael smacking a large green to his face in exasperation while Leonardo and Donatello let out heavy sighs.
"Michelangelo" snapped Splinter turning his focus back on the young turtle "you mean to tell me that Miss O'Neil asked you and your brothers to attack her apartment, causing the damage you see around us?"
"Yes! You thought it was a good idea too!" answered Michelangelo nodding enthusiastically to yet another collective groan from his brothers, as Splinters eyes blazed at the insinuation he had somehow condoned this madness. Michelangelo seemed oblivious to his Father's fury and continued staring at the rat as if the facts had been established.
Sensing that an explanation that made sense might take a long time to come from Michelangelo, the rat instead turned his gaze on Donatello. He was factual and to the point. With the mood April was in at the moment, time was of the essence in dealing with this.
"Enough Michelangelo. Donatello, explain what happened here tonight"
With a quick roll of his eyes that didn't go unnoticed by Splinter, Donatello began at the beginning of what would later be described by Leonardo as a good lesson in communication.
The day before…
"Stop stuffing your face Mike, it's time to get back to training" scolded Leonardo standing near the window in April's apartment.
"But Leo training takes energy, and food gives me energy!" reasoned the orange clad turtle from his position on the couch
"Like you need more of that" snorted Raphael as he moved to join his other brothers by the window
"So what are you guys doing tonight?" asked April as her visitors prepared to leave
"Ninja stuff" answered Michelangelo, finally moving from the couch
"I'd have never guessed" answered the red head dryly, before turning to the other turtles for what she hoped was an actual answer.
"We're meeting up with Master Splinter for some stealth training on the rooftops" explained Donatello
"Who we don't want to keep waiting" cut in the blue masked turtle glaring at his slow moving youngest brother
"Don't get your shell in a bunch Leo. I can run faster than you anyway so I'll meet up with him first and tell him you were slowing us down!" teased Michelangelo joining the others by the window as the leaders glare intensified
"Maybe I could go with you?" asked April, immediately followed by a stunned silence from the brothers
Feeling slightly embarrassed by the shocked looks on her turtle friends faces April continued "I've been training with Master Splinter too. It could be good for me to see how you guys train outside the Dojo"
Raphael was the first to break the awkward silence as he stepped towards April "No offense April but what you do with Master Splinter is tap dancing compared to what we do. He aint quite as understanding with us either"
"Yeah April, we're trained to the highest levels to deal with any situation. The training is intense, even to watch. We wouldn't want it to put you off" continued Leonardo with a sage nod of his head
"I can deal with any situation! I'm an actual adult, and I'm more mature than you four!" snapped April with annoyance
"Could you deal with a giant bat attack? What if the furniture started walking around? Alien invasion? April we're trained to deal with all of this and more! Unfortunately you're not" described Michelangelo as he threw his arm around April's shoulders sympathetically.
Feeling more than a little insulted at her friends insinuation her training was easy April couldn't help but retort "I can handle any of that, any day. With or without the ninja training"
"Sure you can April" agreed the blue clad turtle, keen to diffuse the suddenly tense situation "Let's go guys"
"See ya Ape!" called Raphael quickly following his brother through the window pulling his youngest sibling along by his mask tails "this way knucklehead!"
"If you were green and had a shell April, you could take my place at training tonight" offered Donatello as he moved to leave "I'd rather be working on my projects to be honest"
"I think Master Splinter might notice it wasn't you" retorted April, still clearly annoyed
"Probably not. Just throw out some science terms every now and then that he won't understand. He'll be too preoccupied scolding Mikey and praising Leo to pay too much attention to what I'm doing. It could work" explained Donatello with a strange, distant look in his eyes. As if he'd suddenly been struck by inspiration.
"Donatello! Move your shell" called Leonardo from outside
"As you command!" answered Donatello with sarcasm. The purple turtle flashed a quick smile at the still grumpy red head before disappearing after his brothers.
Present
"So this is why Michelangelo believes April asked for her skills to be tested?" questioned Splinter
"Yes" answered Donatello simply
Steeling himself for what he was certain would be the worst part Splinter asked the question he dreaded the answer to "What happened then, to cause such chaos?"
"Well Mikey had asked April if she was prepared for a giant bat attack, walking furniture and an alien invasion and she said yes. So we decided to test her claims. Mikey's right she practically asked us to."
Ignoring his purple masked sons' defence of their actions, Splinter pushed on "How did you test the claims, Donatello?"
Breathing a heavy sigh, Donatello continued on with his explanation as his brothers sat in silence next to him "So we rigged April's apartment one night when we knew she would be out late. When she stepped into her apartment everything seemed normal, she put her keys down and went to get a snack. I'd set up her furniture to move by adding tiny, motorised wheels to the bottom of the furniture. It was a simple matter of creating a small hollow in the base of the wood and adding in the wheels so they were undetectable. So every time April turned her back I was hiding in the apartment and used a remote control to make the furniture move. At first April though she was tired but then she started to freak out a bit. I even set up her pots and toaster to move as well. Did you know April talks to herself? She kept telling herself this wasn't real and the apartment couldn't really be haunted. I beg to differ."
"Her coping skills weren't great, she doubted then panicked. Panic can get you killed" interrupted Leonardo to deliver his analysis of their test, to a chorus of murmured agreement from his brothers.
Already feeling exhausted and horrified of the way this story was developing, Splinter felt compelled to hear it out to the bitter end. So when the furniture freaked April out, she ran to hide in her bathroom but when the door opened she walked straight into Raph dressed as an Alien. We gave him big eyes, antennae's and everything. We also covered the room in glow in the dark green paint of threats, dissections and fun stuff like that. Raph even glowed in the dark."
"If she'd just turned the light on she'd have noticed it was me in a costume. She just ran straight back out screaming" reasoned Raphael with a sad shake of his head
"Yes she ran straight from the bathroom into her bedroom. Where Leo was waiting outside her window, also dressed an alien. He was writing 'come with us' on her window in what appeared to be blood but was really ketchup. She jumped on to her bed and started hugging a pillow. Don't know what kind of self-defence tactic that is to be honest Sensei, maybe you taught it to her? Anyway it was at that point Mikey jumped down from the ceiling where he'd been hanging from dressed as a giant bat. She was pretty hysterical at that point and ran out of the bedroom back to the main room. At this point I had all the furniture moving back and forth in the room, so she panicked and grabbed Casey's hockey's stick he left here and started bashing the furniture up. Such a waste really. She'd have never known it was us if Mikey hadn't come out of the bedroom, doing a batman impression"
"I just couldn't waste the opportunity dudes!" said Michelangelo in his own defence
"Then she went mad, called you and here we are" finished Donatello with a slight wave of his hand
Splinter couldn't help but stare at his four sons. What on Earth possessed them to traumatise one of their few human friends? At this point Splinter wasn't sure whether he should offer April an apology or therapy. There was one thing that still bothered him though.
"At what point did I condone any of this?" questioned Splinter
"When we met up with you for training, I said April thinks she's Ninja enough to handle anything and maybe we should test her on it! You said 'Perhaps, my son' so we did. You totally gave us permission" exclaimed Michelangelo with hopeful eyes.
Attempting to ignore Michelangelo's poor imitation of him, Splinter cast his mind back to the night in question. Michelangelo had the tendency to talk a lot, with the vast majority of it being babble to Splinter so he did at times switch off to what his son was actually saying. It was then another crash erupted from the bedroom this time as April continued to clean up after his sons mess.
"You four are in big trouble for what you have caused but I feel April may not be the most receptive to an explanation right now."
"So what do we do?" questioned Leonardo
"For now an apology will do" answered Splinter
April emerged from the bedroom where she had cleaned most of the mess away, only to find that her five 'friends' were gone. Instead only a note remained, which rolled towards April on her newly remote controlled table.
April,
Sorry about the mess we made. Guess you weren't as prepared as you thought! We'll clean up and fix everything, Master Splinter promises! You seemed like you needed some space so we'll come back when you have your emotions under control again.
Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael & Michelangelo
Staring at the note a moment longer April slumped down on the couch in defeat. She couldn't help but think she needed a vacation.
A/N - Sorry about the delay but I've been busy with uni. Please review and have a nice Christmas!