Sorry I lowkey forgot about posting for like a month. I remember around Christmas I wanted to post and then I did not do that at all for some reason so my bad. I'll try to get back to posting weekly again. Hope ya'll had a nice winter break

Cori lied on her bed, staring at her phone in the dark. The bright light hurt her eyes, yet she continued to mindlessly scroll online. She could not fall asleep and decided to distract herself while staying up through the night. Her mind kept racing back to her talk with the turtles. She repeated the conversation over and over in her head as if it might turn out differently. Despite it being cold out, her room was sweltering. She had kicked off her black blanket and exiled it to the floor. The fan on the ceiling hummed loudly as it spun. She swiped at her phone and started watching another video.

Cori jolted at the sound of knocking. She paused the video and laid frozen in her bed. She strained her ears, hoping to hear nothing. The knocking occurred again, this time in a much more rapid succession of knocks. They were higher pitched and seemed to come from the window, not the door. This would not have been so unnerving if she was not a story high. Slowly, she crept out of bed and towards the window, clutching her phone in one hand. The carpet scrunched beneath her feet.

She stood in front of the window. Thick black curtains covered the glass panes, blocking any and all light from the city. She grabbed the fabric and quickly pulled them open. There was...nothing? She was sure she heard something. She unlocked the window and slid it open. There was no screen on the window, and she leaned her head out. It was hard to see the street below past the metal fire escape that climbed up the side of her apartment. She heard a lone car whizzing down the street; its engine revving loudly. There was no one on the sidewalks below. In the corner of her eye, Cori saw a shadowy figure sitting on the fire escape's railing.

"Hey Crow."

Cori yelled and jumped, hitting her head against the frame of the window. She stifled her scream with one hand over her mouth, and the other hand rubbing the sore spot on her head. An apologetic face peered through the open window. It was Mikey. "Sorry," he said as he climbed through the window. Cori took a few steps back. "What are you doing here?" she whispered loudly.

"I'm here to deliver you this!"

Mikey dramatically pulled out a small tube from his belt. "Donnie said to use this twice a day for your laser burn," he continued. He held it out for her to grab. Cori hesitantly reached her bare hand out. She was dressed in her pajamas, a simple tank top and shorts. But no gloves. She gingerly grabbed the tube, careful not to touch Mikey's skin. "Thanks," she said.

The two stood there, watching each other in the dark. Mikey stayed there, looking at her expectantly. "Is there something else you wanted?" Cori asked.

"Oh, no. Not really. Donnie just made a big deal about me making sure to give it to you."

"Um, okay…"

Mikey stepped off the window frame and started to walk around the room. He picked up a figurine and held it up in the dim light coming from the street lamps outside. "You know, I think Leo has this one too." He placed it down and continued examining the room. He looked over at Cori's mask that sat on top of her dresser.

"Yo, is this your mask? It's so cool!"

He picked it up and placed it over his face. He turned to Cori so that she could see it, not that she could see that well in the dark room. "Where did you get it?" he asked her. Cori fought the urge to rip the mask out of his hands.

"I got it from a friend. A couple years ago."

"So cool…" He set it back down after thoroughly examining it.

"Listen, Michelangelo. It's three am…"

"Yeah?"

Cori took a moment before continuing, "I want to go to sleep."

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll be going now."

Mikey walked over to the window and had a foot on the ledge before he stopped. "Wait! There's one thing I gotta do." He ran back over to Cori and grinned excitedly. He pulled out his t-phone, holding it out to Cori. "Here, you can have my phone number," he said beaming.

Cori was a bit surprised by Mikey's friendliness. Even though Raph had been the only turtle to be hostile towards her, she did not think any of the four mutants wanted to see her again. Much less be her friend.

"Oh, okay," she said quietly. She lifted her phone up and started to type in the number lit up on Mikey's screen. Mikey took his phone back and typed something in. "And here's Leo's. And Donnie's. And Raph's, although don't tell Raph I gave you his number. You probably already have April's number. Oh, here's Casey's…" Cori continued to type in the numbers, mostly out of politeness. Mikey watched her wide-eyed as she did so. She finally finished typing in the numbers.

"You can totally call us anytime you get into trouble with the Kraang. Or anytime, really. Although, I wouldn't call Donnie; he usually only responds to texts. Oh, and definitely don't call or text Raph like at all. But you could totally text me whenever."

"Thanks…?"

Mikey had finally made his way to the window. He crouched on the ledge and looked back at Cori before saying, "Hey, I know we kinda only met like a week ago but...we'll find who you're looking for. And take down the Kraang. They don't stand a chance against us." He smiled and gave her a thumbs up before climbing out the window. Cori was strangely inspired by his words. The way he said it… His confidence was almost infectious.

Cori stepped over to the window and checked outside again. Mikey was nowhere to be seen. The window pane squeaked as she shut it closed. She draped the curtains over the window and walked back to her bed. She placed her phone and the tube of medicine on the desk before laying back down in bed. Sleep came to her easily that night.