Later on, Lee arrived back in the Crete Fortress. As she made her way home into the kitchen, she placed the grocery bags on the counter. In her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about meeting the Turtles, especially Leo.
Lee took out the soda cans out of the bags just as Ella, Ellie, and Donna came in.
"It's about time." Ellie said.
"Yeah, we've been waiting for you like an hour ago." Ella said.
Lee didn't pay attention to her sisters' complaints. She was off in her own world, thinking about Leo.
"Hey, Lee. Are you okay?" Donna asked. "You look a little spaced out."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Lee replied dreamily as she walked up to the pizza box.
Ellie grew suspicious. She caught up with Lee and looked deep into her eyes.
"Uh, Ellie? What are you doing?" Lee asked with confusion.
Then suddenly, Ellie figured it out.
"OMG! You met a boy!" Ellie declared, pointing her finger at Lee.
"She did?" Ella asked.
"She did?" Donna repeated.
Lee looked flustered.
"What? No! No, no, no! No way! No!" Lee cried with a blushed face. But she couldn't hold it any longer and decided to confess. "But it's true. I met a boy!"
"I knew it!" Ellie squealed.
Ellie, Ella, and Donna immediately ran up in front of Lee, shaking their oldest sister with excitement.
"We need details!" Ellie, Ella, and Donna cried with huge smiles.
"Is he totally cute?" Donna asked.
"Oh, totally." Lee gushed.
"Does he go to our school?" Ellie inquired.
"Well, not really." Lee replied. "More like homeschooled."
"And what type of guy is he?" Ella questioned.
Lee's eyes widened. She knows that her sisters won't believe her, but she had to tell them the whole truth.
"Oh, well..." Lee answered. "You know, I suppose, if you imagine it, you might say he is a…mutant turtle."
Ellie, Ella, and Donna traded silent faces and looked back at Lee for a moment. They then bursted out laughing.
"A mutant turtle?! Dang, Lee! I thought comedy was my thing!" Ellie chuckled.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." Lee said as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Oh, man! That's priceless!" Ella guffawed.
"Yeah, that was a good one." Donna giggled.
"Laugh all you want, but if you don't believe me, go ask April." Lee snapped.
Lee heard her phone vibrating. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen to see who was calling.
"And here's April right now." Lee said.
Then Lee answered it.
"Hey, April. What's sup?" Lee said.
"Lee, the Turtle fellas called me minutes ago with a proposal." April said with slight enthusiasm into her phone. She was riding on the subway, slightly squeezed with a crowd of people. "They want me to help them find Superfly and bring him to justice."
"Are you serious?" Lee asked in surprise. "Hold on. I'll put you on speaker."
Lee pressed the speaker button and held her phone to her sisters.
"Hey, April." Donna said. "We haven't told Lee yet because she just got here. The three of us talked and we decided to help you with your story."
"With your resources, we can track down Zelena and take her down." Ella explained. "You can document our but-kicking fight and publish your story to the world."
"This way, the school will bring back prom." Ellie finished.
"What about you, Lee?" April asked. "What do you think?"
Ellie, Ella, and Donna turned their heads to Lee.
"I agreed with my sisters. I'm in." Lee said. "We'll use our ninja skills to take out Zelena."
"But what about mom?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, she's gonna figure it out eventually." Ella said. "Mom's a lot of things, but clueless isn't one of them."
"They got a point." Donna agreed.
"Look, it pains me to say this, but she doesn't really need you to know about it." Lee said. "If we're going to do this, we're going to have to get April's help. Besides, she's done a lot of research on Superfly and Zelena. So, April, it's official. We're in."
"Really? Oh, Lee, thank you, thank you, thank you!" April said eagerly. "This is perfect. Meet me and the Turtle boys at Eastman High tomorrow night at 8pm. I'll have my research ready to show you in the school's darkroom."
"Sure thing, April. See you then." Lee said.
Lee hung up.
"Told you the Turtles are real." Lee grinned.
"We'll believe it when we see it." Ella said, crossing her arms.
The next evening, the Lotus Ninjas headed out of their Crete Fortress. Saldana watched them go as she washed the dishes towards the sink.
"So you four are having a study session with April?" Saldana asked, looking over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep!" Ellie and Ella fibbed.
"We'll be back before you know it." Donna assured.
"Yeah, we'll text you when we get there." Lee said casually.
"Alright then. Have a good time." Saldana said.
"We will." The Lotus Ninjas smiled innocently.
The Lotus Ninjas fled out quickly.
Saldana narrowed her gaze suspiciously. She could sense that her daughters were lying to her.
"They are definitely up to something." Saldana muttered to herself.
Outside, the Lotus Ninjas sprinted across the buildings in their ninja attire. After hopping from the top of one building rooftop to the next, they finally reached a building rooftop next to Eastman High. They peered over to see April waiting for them from the high school's back doors in the dark alleyway. The Lotus Ninjas jumped and landed down on the ground.
"Hiya, April. We're here." Lee greeted as she and her sisters walked up to April.
"Great. Now, we're just waiting for the turtle boys to show up." April said.
"I'm sorry, April. But I still find it hard to believe you and Lee met a turtle mutant." Ella said, placing her hands on her hips.
"But it's true." Lee said as she rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry, Lee." April assured. "They'll know how wrong they are once the boys get here."
Lee let out a quiet gasp when she detected four familiar auras coming in the area.
"Heh, right on time." Lee smirked as she looked up at the roof.
April, Lee, Donna, Ellie, and Ella looked up with different expressions. April and Lee smiled while Donna, Ella, and Ellie's eyes widened in complete surprise. They all watched as the Turtles scrambled down the building's fire escape and landed across from the girls.
"Hey!" Leo greeted.
"Hey. You actually made it." April greeted back. "That seemed very dangerous."
"Oh, that? Ha! Not at all. I mean, we eat danger for breakfast." Leo boasted as he waved April's concern away.
"Actually, I eat pizza with bits of waffles on it." Mikey clarified.
Lee, Donna, Ellie, and Ella exchanged confused looks.
"It's better than it sounds." Donnie said.
"It actually sounds delicious, honestly." April admitted.
Then, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey's eyes moved to Donna, Ella, and Ellie, who also stared at them with wide eyes.
"Anyway, boys. Meet my sisters." Lee said. She gestured to the surprised sisters. "Ella. Donna. And Ellie." She looked back at her sisters. "Girls, meet Donnie, Mikey, Leo, and Raph."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Leo greeted with a wave.
But Donna, Ella, Ellie, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey silently walked up close to each other. Their gazing eyes were instantly connected and sparkled with a magenta shade as their hearts were picking up speed as if time had slowed down between them. They kept staring quietly at each other with flushed faces.
Lee and Leo traded mischievous smirks.
"Okay, now that the meet and greet is over, it's time for the main event." April said as she walked up to the back doors. "Uh, come on in."
The Lotus Ninjas walked up to April, but the Turtles looked terrified and hesitated for a moment.
"Really? We can just go in there?" Mikey asked.
"Yeah, of course." April said. She opened the back door wide open and ushered the Turtles inside. "Welcome to Eastman High."
The Turtles entered through an empty hallway filled with yellow lockers and a large white banner that read "PROM is CANCELLED" in blue font. They looked around and felt a mixture of admiration and excitement on their faces.
Raphael whistled in amazement.
"Wow." Donnie said with wide eyes.
The Lotus Ninjas scrolled into the hallway from behind. April closed the back doors and watched the awestruck Turtles taking in the school with wide eyes.
"It's very strange. I feel you guys actually want to go to high school." April said in amazement.
"Yeah, we do. We very much do." Raph said enthusiastically. "Why? Don't you love high school?"
April's eyes darted around a bit.
"Oh, yeah." April answered in a slight sheepish tone. "I mean, as a very popular and well-liked person, I love high school, yeah."
The Lotus Ninjas exchanged sideway glances just as April immediately changed the subject.
"But don't worry about me. Is this living up to your dreams?" April asked.
"No. It's even better!" Donnie said with an amazed face. He ran over to a locker and spotted a drawing sticker on it. "Attack on Titan?! Whoever's locker this is likes anime! I don't even know this person, and they get me more than anyone ever has!"
"I can't believe it. You like anime too?" Donna said with wide eyes. She ran up to her locker and unlocked it. "Check out my locker."
Donna opened the locker and revealed a neon purple and green circuit board wallpaper all around. Her locker contained two mirror pockets that stored pencils and pens on the door, six manga books on the bottom, and anime stickers and two anime notebooks on the top. Donnie stared at Donna's locker decor in awe.
"I have Attack on Titan, Cyberpunk Edgerunner, and My Hero Academia." Donna smiled. "And if you like MCU, I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth Olsen."
"It's official. I'm in love." Donnie smiled widely.
Donna looked away with a blushing face.
"So, what do you do?" Raph asked Ella.
"Nothing much. Sometimes, I watch the wrestling team to cure my boredom." Ella replied as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Wrestling? Hmm, me like." Raph replied with interest.
"What about you? Do you play sports or join school clubs?" Mikey asked Ellie with curious eyes.
"Of course. I'm in a track team and comic book club." Ellie replied with a smile.
"Guys, I have definitely met my match." Mikey said with a dreamy sigh.
Ellie giggled with pink blush.
"Guys, look! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Mikey cried, running over to a poster that read "IMPROV TEAM TRYOUTS!" on the board. "Improv team tryouts! I've got to sign up. This is amazing!"
"Mikey, what are you doing? We don't even go here." Leo said as he walked over to Mikey.
"Yet." Mikey countered. "The tryouts aren't for two weeks. We could be enrolled by then." He looked at the fine print at the bottom of the poster. "They need a last name. Wait, what's our last name?"
"I've never thought about that, actually." Leo replied with a puzzled face. "I don't know."
"Do we not have last names?" Raph asked.
"Who are we?" Donnie pondered.
"It's okay. I'll just break it up." Mikey said, grabbing the pencil attached to a string and writing on the sign-up sheet. "Michael Angelo." He spoke with an Italian accent. "Hey, I'm Michael Angelo. Perfecto."
"That makes you Leo Nardo!" Raph laughed as he nudged at Leo.
"Nardo!" Donnie said with a laugh.
The Turtles, Ella, Donna, and Ellie began laughing.
"It could be Leon Ardo." Leo insisted with annoyance. "That's a cool name."
"Guys, lay off of Nardo. He's sensitive." April said with a slight chuckle.
"Haha, she called him Nardo too." Mikey laughed.
"Nardo!" Donnie repeated.
"Guys, back off." Lee said, pushing everyone back. "Leave Leo alone."
Leo smiled as he appreciated Lee coming to his defense. His eyes then caught the sight of a locker that quickly changed the subject of his teasing nickname.
"Hey, well, at least I'm not Puke Girl." Leo pointed out as he pointed his finger at a locker. He started laughing. "That is a bad nickname!"
Everyone turned their heads to the locker that had "Puke Girl!" written on it.
"We don't know if that says Puke Girl." April said nervously. "It could be Poke Girl. Maybe this girl just likes tuna."
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas noticed the words "April O'Puke" written at the very top of the locker.
"Oh, my God. Are you Puke Girl?" Raph asked April.
"She's Puke Girl!" Mikey smiled.
"We all know that does not say poke." Donnie grinned.
Mikey, Raph, and Donnie laughed. Leo shook his head at his brothers' teasing. Ella, Lee, Donna, and Ellie gave angry looks at the Turtles, making three mutant brothers cease their laughter.
"Hey! Don't you dare make fun of our friend like that!" Ella snapped.
"It's alright, Ella. I'll explain it to them." April said calmly. "Listen, I told you, ever since I was young, I wanted to be a journalist, and so, I thought I could read the morning announcements, and, you know, well, it didn't go so well. I don't know. Maybe the cameras and the attention got to me, and the anxiety made me feel like I was gonna explode, and so, well..."
"You didn't." Leo gasped in shock.
"She did." Ellie, Lee, Ella, and Donna cringed.
April looked embarrassed, but she continued telling the story.
"I went viral. I was remixed. Memed." April continued as she showed the video footage to the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas.
"Oh, man. April." Lee said, placing a comforting hand on April's shoulder.
"If we would've known, I would…." Donna said with a sympathetic face.
"It's alright. Besides, I guess since you girls became my friends, I was too embarrassed to show you this video." April replied. "I thought if I use the paper to find Superfly and Zelena, and get prom uncanceled, I can remain firmly off camera, but also maybe be known for something cool instead of—"
"What? Being Puke Girl? Hmm?" Raph said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't want that anymore? No?"
Ella growled. She punched Raph in the face, sending him straight to the floor.
"Great. Laugh. Whatever." April said. "But maybe you're not the only ones who want to be heroes so people like them, okay? Can we go?"
April walked off. Ellie, Lee, and Donna followed their friend.
"Jerk." Ella muttered as she followed her sisters and her friend.
Mikey, Leo, and Donnie looked down at their brother.
"I like her already." Raph said as he raised a thumb up from the floor.
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas followed April, who led them into a small, dark room. April switched on a light, revealing the room as a newspaper office. The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas watched as April carried a heavy corkboard clothed in a black sheet on top of the table against the wall.
"All right, here's what I got." April said.
April pulled the sheet off the corkboard that showed pictures, mug shots, and newspaper article clippings related to Superfly, Zelena, and their crimes. In the middle of the board was a paper that read "WHO IS SUPERFLY AND ZELENA?" connected by several red strings on the corkboard.
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas gasped at April's detailed board.
"Whoa!" The Lotus Ninjas exclaimed.
"Someone's been doing their homework." Donna commented with a smile.
"Yes, yes, it's incredibly impressive." April said. "Okay, listen. Superfly seems to be building something. I mean, we're talking Gru/Megamind-type stuff. He's knocking off insanely highly technical shipments. State of the art. Incredibly expensive. And he pays off thugs to do his dirty work so he can stay completely under the radar. Nobody's ever seen his face."
"Why?" Mikey asked.
"Because he kills everyone who does." April replied.
"Whoa!" The Turtles said altogether.
"Cool." Raph said.
"No, not cool." April said, shaking her head.
"So how are we gonna find him?" Leo asked.
Lee studied April's board, but she didn't see any information about Superfly's nor Zelena's whereabouts.
"You know the ice cream truck heist last week, right? They stole a radioactive storage unit." April said as she held up a small blueprint paper of a radioactive storage unit. "And look. I found this at the chop shop where they took my scooter." She pinned the blueprint on the board. "They must be doing business with Superfly. That chop shop is run by these guys and their crew. Short Sharon, Bald Bronson, Toupee Tom and Normal Nate. They are the ones who can lead us to Superfly."
April turned to the Lotus Ninjas.
"See that picture?" April said as she joined Lee at her case board and pointed to a picture of a broken glass case inside the museum. "The names of the thieves are unknown, but they stole a rare gemstone at the museum last week."
"Hey, that's the museum heist we saw on the news earlier back home." Ellie said.
"No doubt those thieves are connected to Zelena. They have stolen five talismans." April explained. "It said that each of them grants different unique powers and abilities."
April held up a diagram of six talismans on her phone screen to the Lotus Ninjas. The six talismans are shiny gemstones in shapes of a red star, a pink heart, a blue flower, a yellow diamond, a purple crescent moon, and a green clover. Ellie, Lee, Donna, and Ella studied the gemstones carefully.
"Interesting." Donna commented. "So you think there's a connection between Zelena and those six talismans that her crew have stolen."
"Exactly." April said. She gestured toward the pictures of different locations that each talisman was stolen on her case board. "One by one, Zelena's crew snatched the gems and vanished without a trace." She pointed at the five photos one by one. "If they can find them, we can find Zelena."
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas looked at the big board.
"That's tough, but maybe I can invent a scanner to find her." Donna suggested.
"Uh, do you realize that you have to scan everyone in New York City?" Ellie pointed out.
"Ellie has a point." Ella agreed. "And that's gonna take, oh I dunno, forever?"
"That's true, but I just have to upgrade it, so that way it can scan mystical activities around the whole city at the same time." Donna explained. "And once I find any clues, I'll send them to April."
"That might work." Lee said.
"That's a lot of leads." Leo smiled confidently.
"And a lot of terrible nicknames." Mikey added.
"Still better than Nardo." Raph said as he stood up from the chair.
"We agreed on Leon Ardo." Leo said annoyedly.
"Let's start chasing them down." April said.
Enjoy and review.