Author's Note: Here's our next chapter which is a past chapter. In this one you'll get a bit of an idea about what's happened in the three months since they started going into the city. I hope you enjoy. I'll be posting the next chapter- a 'Present Day' chapter- soon. I hope you enjoy.

Age 15- October

Michelangelo looked around the lair over his magazine from his spot hanging off the couch upside down. For once, they were all in the living room. Casey and Raphael were racing each other, having kicked him from the game when he kept beating them.

After Raphael had chased him around and tackled him to the ground, of course. No one commented when the side of his head had smashed into the cold stone floor with an audible crack. And while Raphael had left him after that, it was only because Casey had started the next round without the red banded teen being present. Otherwise, the red-banded hothead would have tried to give him a 'noogie' or smacked him around for another minute or two.

Michelangelo is about 90 percent positive Casey did that for his benefit. He really did appreciate the dark-haired human at times like this. Donatello was on his laptop, which had a candid of April eating some pizza as a background.

'Stalker much? Talk about being freaking creepy.' Michelangelo mused to himself as his eyes found Leonardo reading manga, which he insisted was just for the cultural learning of it. 'Not much cultural about schoolgirl romance Leonardo.' April herself was doing homework. He had gotten a glance at it.

And while 'Mikey' told the girl she was on her own, Michelangelo had perfectly understood the chemistry equations that decorated the paper.

As he continued to pretend to read the magazine upside down, he thought about the past three months since they had begun their adventures topside. They had already faced several enemies, including the Kraang, Baxter, the Purple Dragons, and multiple mutants, including ones who had become 'allies' to the Hamato clan.

Out of all of them, he feels the worst for Leatherhead. Not only is he a traumatized experiment with PTSD but he genuinely liked the alligator and the other liked who he thought Michelangelo was. Thankfully, Doctor Rockwell was there to help the other out both with his mental problems and his physical recovery. He wasn't sure how Rockwell hadn't picked up on the resentment he felt to those he supposedly called family, but so far it seemed he hadn't. Not that Michelangelo hung around the mind reader all that often.

Then there was that whole thing with Casey, which had come about from Raphael and Casey working together against the Purple Dragons and a couple of mutants in the city a little over a month ago. The two of them got along exceptionally well, kind of similar to how April and Donatello got along. He personally found Casey and Donatello fighting over April an amusing pass time, especially with how the girl seemed to switch her attention between the two of them like a game of tennis. He was routing for Casey, not that he would ever say that out loud.

It was after Casey had joined them that they had made 'allies' with Rockwell and Leatherhead. Then, just last week, they had met their first fanboy, who had seen their fight with Baxter two and half months before.

Then there was the newest enemy they had faced just the night before. Ninja. A whole new opponent to pit himself against if he could ever get them away from the others. Just him and them. None of the others. Kami, that would be a fun fight. Especially since he knows that the main guy was holding back. He had just been testing the four of them and it made him upset to know he couldn't be assessed properly so long as the others were present.

"Ugh!" he whined annoyed at that thought, unintentionally out loud, getting everyone's attention.

"Aw Mike, what's eating at you?" April asked, sounding concerned.

'Crap! Think of a way out of this!' Michelangelo thought before the reaction of that woman's husband came to him when he had been returning a cat. 'That's it!' he thinks. "I just want to make a human friend to hang out with!" he whined to her, sitting up and waiting for the light headedness of the blood rush to pass.

"You have me and Casey as human friends." April said with a soft smile. Michelangelo heaved a sad sigh.

"We saved your life, that means you have to like us." he pointed out in a very 'Mikey' way. "And Casey is awesome but he's more Raph's friend than ours." he whined.

"Too bad there isn't a place where freaks can meet and see how ugly they are." Raphael said to Michelangelo in a very obvious attempt to rile the other up.

'Okay, that was rude. I am not ugly, I know that.' Michelangelo thought annoyed. Which was true. Despite their statuses as 'mutants' they were more like those beast or cat people in games or cartoons. Mostly human but with some of their animalistic counterparts' traits. Tails, ears, scales, etc.

So, he wouldn't call himself ugly. He'd call himself exotic, thank you very much. And unfortunately, he knows from an online sight he had stumbled on that they were very highly sought after by certain types of people for experimentation and collection... and other things that had icked out the 15-year-old teen. Their scale patterns in particular would raise their prices.

Himself in particular, with his long platinum hair and baby blue eyes would make someone extremely wealthy- adding in the more gemlike quality of his skin and scales compared to the other threes' earthlier tones- possibly even more so. Leonardo with his own blue-black hair and dark blue eyes would be the next best seller followed by Raphael with his deep red hair and emerald, green eyes. Donatello, though, even with his short brown hair and reddish-brown eyes could still have a lot of money made off him... so long as he kept his mouth shut.

"Actually... Donnie, can I see your computer for a second?" April asked the olive-green toned boy who nodded, though he was quick to get rid of the background before handing it over. Michelangelo almost snorted. "Here, this is a social website called 'My Friends' it's a good place to meet people without ever having to actually meet." April told the youngest as she brought it up.

"Really?" 'Mikey' asked excitedly.

"Yup. All we have to do is put in your information, what you want to add about yourself, then you're all set to talk to others." April said with a smile, 'helping' him put in his information. Michelangelo made a reminder to fix it all later if he had a chance.

"Just be careful Mike." Casey cautioned. "There can be some real creeps out there." Michelangelo nodded absently. He knew that already, but props to the only one who actually seemed to care every now and then.

"Oh my gosh! Chris Bradford's on here!" Michelangelo squealed. And it was Michelangelo who was genuinely thrilled about that. He knew exactly who that man was and who he worked for. "I have to send him a friend request!"

He remembers the story of how Splinter had arrived at his home when he was still Yoshi nearly 16 years ago. Only to find his wife, Tang Shen, dead. And the Shredder, someone who he had been practically brothers with, standing over her body. This was told to them when they were ten.

When they had begun to go topside three months ago, he had found an internet cafe that was only open between 11 PM and 4 AM. He had snuck out for a couple weeks to get some information about the place. And he was 100 percent certain that it was a front for some kind of criminal group. Not the Purple Dragons or Kraang. But some other criminal group or gang.

And because of this, they and their other 'customers' didn't pay any mind to the random kid in a dark hoodie, medical face mask, and gloves- no matter the weather- who walked in around two or three in the morning and stayed at a computer for an hour or so before leaving. Most mornings. In fact, the mornings Michelangelo wasn't there usually indicated to the criminals running the place that the police were bound to be a little more active. Thanks to, usually Leonardo or Donatello and later April, phoning the police with anonymous tips of beaten-up criminals ready for jail. These were the nights they patrolled until past one or two in the morning. It wasn't a common occurrence as they usually left at eight or nine and returned by midnight.

As for how Michelangelo paid for the services... sometimes he would stop a mugging or two on his way to the cafe, and he would merely lift some cash off the thugs, though he didn't call the police. Either way, it worked, and he had begun to save up quite a bit of money doing this as well.

But during his time at the cafe, he did research on whatever he found interesting or that he needed to know. Donatello wasn't the only one who was curious about things, after all. He had remembered that story Splinter told them and while it had taken weeks, he had learned who the Shredder really was. Lord Oroku Saki.

A well-known and respected businessman in Japan who adopted Chris Bradford when the other was 14, ten years before. The man also had a daughter, though the public knew very little about her. His wife had died the same night Splinter claimed Shredder had killed Tang Shen. He also learned that the man might be coming to New York City to begin a new work venture. And as a billboard had mentioned the night before when they fought the ninjas- whose leader Michelangelo is about 80 percent sure was Bradford- Bradford was also in New York City.

Which is why Michelangelo was so excited to find Bradford on the site. He knew he was a member of the Foot Clan, which Shredder was the leader of. Finding out that information had required a working knowledge on data encryption and hacking. Michelangelo had spent several weeks teaching himself at the cafe. He also knew that while Shredder- or more appropriately, Oroku Saki- was there on genuine business, he was also probably there because he had caught wind that the man who he thought was dead was still in alive, and in New York City. Training up his own ninjas to boot.

He was sure he knew what Bradford's assignment behind the expo was, and ensuring the name Hamato was used, as much as he despised those with it, would guarantee him a meeting. Then he could at least attempt to put his plans in motion. He really was hoping the Shredder would hear him out.

But first, he would need to get Bradford's attention if he had any hopes of getting the Shredder's. And without the other three present who would tell April and Casey to leave it so he 'learned his lesson', that meant he could drop the masks and be free, even if it was just for an hour or two while meeting with Bradford.

Of course, for any of this to work, he had to befriend the man. So, he sent Chris Bradford a friend request from Michelangelo 'Mikey' Hamato. Then, knowing they would all be watching him, he stared intently at the screen. Like he was expecting the man to accept the request immediately, which even if the man did, was most likely a computer that automated the acceptances.

April laughed while the others rolled their eyes at his 'childish hopes'. "Mikey, people don't respond immediately." she told him gently. She blinked in surprise at the ding indicating that the friend request had been accepted. Again, probably automated bots. "Then again, sometimes they do." she added, apparently, she had never gotten such an immediate reply when she sent her own requests.

"Oh my gosh, he is here in New York right now! We totally have to meet up!" he exclaimed excitedly. Sending a message and getting a reply once more. Then he placed the computer aside, making sure he had exited out of the app. He would be changing the passwords and everything later, he hugged April- as much as it made his skin crawl to touch anyone even in a friendly manner- who laughed and hugged back.

He was pretty sure Donatello was glaring at him, but it didn't matter. He might be able to put his plans into action! Casey at least saw it as the 'friendly' act 'Mikey' intended it to be. Which meant he would still sometimes have an ally when it came to Raphael. Then he was out the door.

And as he had guessed it, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello all three told April and Casey that 'The little guy has got to learn one way or another.' This was perfect. He could always rely on those three to be predictable.

And with their words ringing in his ears, he raced out of the sewer tunnel that Donatello had somehow managed to purify and have cleaned thanks to its unused status. Because of that, he at least wasn't going to smell like sewage when he met Chris Bradford, one of the Shredder's students. Small blessings for a cursed existence he supposed.

Author's Note: There we go! I hope you enjoyed! The next chapter is coming right up and will be much longer with a lot more information to it. Until then.