Author's note: "Hello there! My deepest apologies that my story has been in stall for several months now since the last time I updated. I've been a quite busy lately, not just with trying to come up with the story for the new chapter that focuses on my OC characters, which is both long and complicated process compared to writing the story based on the ready story already, but also with trying to focus on my own life as well as writing several other stories I've came up with lately but not yet published. Anyway, I finally got the first part of my original chapter ready, so enjoy.

My first original chapter is Lorenzo-focused & Angel-focused chapter.

Screen opens to the ground where we can see the bulky shadow, before the screen rises up and we can see that the shadow belongs to Lorenzo, who is seen wearing the ankle-length trench coat with high colar and standing in the middle of the dark alley, while the full moon behind the turtle in black casts its light down to the alley.

My name is Lorenzo and I have a tendency to get myself into trouble sometimes due to my desire for daring stuff.

Louie, as he clenches his teeth and glares at the camera with narrowed eyes, has his legs spread wide and arms held high as if he was bracing himself for something to come.

The screen switches to show us the back of Louie's head, until it moves to the right, revealing the group of eight mean-looking people standing in the opposite end of the alley. Nearly all of them wore a fine various-colored 1920s gangster-like suits and fedora hats. All of them are glaring at Louie with the ice-cold eyes, while holding the handguns in their hands and all aimed at Louie.

I usually don't even mind putting myself in harm's way.

The screen then switches right in front and closer of Louie's face, until it moves to the left, revealing two people standing behind Louie's head.

Except that this time, there's more than just my own life hanging in the balance.

Coincidentally, the two people behind Louie happen to be Angel Bridge and her grandmother Ellie Bridge.

Angel has discarded her street clothes long since her first met with the turtles, except for her pierced rings in her ears and right brown, and wore instead the turquoise hooded sweater and crimson pants.

You remember Angel Bridge? The human teen girl whom me and my fellas met a while back?

Angel and Ellie were huddling together. The older woman was looking over Louie's shoulder at the group of armed mobsters in the other side of the alley with uneasy look on her face, while the purple-haired teen had her eyes on Louie.

It was quite a coincidence that I met both her and her grandmother here in this alley at the same time...

Louie briefly turns arout to look over his right shoulder at Angel and gives her a wink with her right while while smiling assuredly. Angel nodes back at him, until she looks over Louie at the gang of thugs and points her finger at them while looking at Louie in alarm, prompting the turtle in black to whril around to see what she was looking at.

...as this gang of bozos decided to show up.

In front of the gang was standing two people: one was a short and thuggish guy with shaven face and wore an amber-colored pants, blue shirt, black jacket and greenish golf cap, while the other guy was tall and more sophisticated-looking guy with a bald head and a small moustache, dressed in a white shirt, red tie, and a fine silver-grey suit with a beautiful red rose attached to his right shoulder, and a shiny black bowler hat.

But these guys are not some slow-witted and clumsy low-life street punks like those Purple Dragon losers, but rather professional henchmen of some underworld criminal organization, who have no liking for anyone they view as "snoopers".

The tall guy then turns briefly to the shorter guy before pointing his finger at Louie as if ordering him to do something, which the latter did by drawing out the pair of Sawed-Off Double Barreled Shotguns, which he lifted up and took the aim at Louie's head.

Thug: "Take one more step, creature, and I'll blow first your head off and then your adorable friend's and the old wench's brains out."

Angel: "Louie!"

Angel tries to go to Louie to help him, fearing more for the turtle in black's safety rather than her own, but Ellie is quick to grab on her and to pull her back to her side, not willing to let Angel to get hurt and believing them to be better safe behind Louie's back/shell and a good distance away from the potential shooting scene.

Louie glares furiously at the thug with narrowed eyes, angered for him threatening to shoot Angel and her grandmother in the heads after he was done with him.

And they don't seem to be willing to let us out of here without blowing our brains out, if I do say so literally.

Louie then puts his hands inside his coat and pulls out his Butterfly Swords, which blades glint in the moonlight.

Well, who am I to say "no" to a challenge when one is offered right in front of my nose? Just one note to yourself: Don't die.

Louie then charges forward to attack the thugs, letting out the battle cry in the air and not minding about their guns being still aimed at him. Then Louie jumps into the air and dives towards the camera with arms outstretched forward, until his narrowed gaze fills the screen completely.

Louie: "LET'S TURTLEIZE THEM!"

The screen switches in front of the thug with the shotguns, who lifts his weapons up to re-aim at Louie as the barrels of the gun fills the screen, until the gun's bright yellowish-white muzzle flash covers the whole screen.

BLAM! BLAM!

(The screen pulls away from New York City as a pair of beams of light ripple above the buildings, illuminating the four towering green letters that form the word TMNT.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"

(The screen raises up and we see eight turtles standing on the edge of the building, who are individualized by the colors of their masks: Leonardo (Blue one), Marietta (Turquoise one), Raphael (Red one, who was bending down), Domenico (White one), Artemisia (Pink one), Lorenzo (Black one, who was crouching down), Donatello (Purple one) and Michelangelo (Orange one). Then, as the light beam passes them, all eight turtles leap off the edge.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen then splits from right to left into four narrow screens.)
"ONE, TWO"
(In the first, Michelangelo is holding his Nunchucks in the air and over his head. In the second, Raphael is holding one of his Sais above his head while pointing the other downwards.)
"THREE, FOUR"
(In the third, Donatello is holding Bo-staff in front of him. In the fourth, Leonardo has crossed his arms over his chest while wielding his swords.)
(TURTLES!)

(Leonardo is seen fighting two Foot Ninja. He slices both ninjas' staves in two with his swords before kicking the ninja on his right and then the one on his left away.)
"MUTANT CHAIN REACTION"
(TURTLES!)

(Donatello is seen driving a Sewer Slider down the sewer tunnel, before the turtle in purple smirks to the camera and holds a thumb up.)
"LIVIN' UNDERGROUND"
(TURTLES!)

(Raphael is seen jumping over the fence, landing on his hands. Then he flips towards the camera, landing crouched and arms spread, before he kicks the screen black for a second.)
"NINJUTSU ACTION"
(TURTLES!)

(Widely grinning Michalengelo is seen crouched on the roof of the Battle Shell as it speeds down the street, while spinning his Nucnhaku wildly in the air.)
"IT'S A SHELL OF THE TOWN!"

(The turtle in orange leaps off as the Battle Shell flies across the air before landing back to the ground. Then its back doors fly open and Raphael and Lorenzo jump out on the backs of red and avocado green bikes before skidding them sideways to a stop.)

(In the alleyway, next to the blue truck, the eight turtles crouch down before they leap towards the camera weapons in hands, as Michelangelo kicks the screen black with his foot.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen splits into two horizontal screen.)
(The upper screen shows a blue-masked face with a narrowed gaze while lower screen shows all eight turtles standing lined up in front of Master Splinter.)
(Second one.)
(The lower screen shows a purple-masked face with lightly frowned gaze while upper screen shows Master Splinter swinging his staff down at two attacking Mousers.)
("ONE!")
"LIVE BY THE CODE OF THE MARTIAL ARTS"

(Third one)
(The upper screen shows a red-masked face with the deep frown, while the lower screen shows Hun leading a group of silhouetted Purple Dragons from the ablaze background.)
(Fourth one.)
(The lower screen shows a orange-masked face with the soft stare, while the upper screen shows Hun sneering at the camera before he throws a punch, blackening the screen for a second.)
("TWO!")
"NEVER FIGHT UNLESS SOMEONE ELSE STARTS"

(April O'Neil is seen winking at the camera as she pilots a helicopter past the Japanese palace atop a blue tower. There, Donatello and Domenico are fighting six Foot Ninja on the ledge until they are knocked off the building. falling down, Domenico grabs a rope hanging from the helicopter's undercarriage and breaks Donnie's fall by grabbing his arm before they're both lifted up.)
("THREE!")
"ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT"

(In the dark alley, the eight turtles are standing shell-to-shell under the bright spotlight as they're surrounded by a dozens of heavily armed Foot Ninja that emerge from the darkness and leap down from the rooftops. The turtles fearlessly demonstrate their skills with their weapons before taking their respective battle stances.)
("FOUR!")
"IF ALL ELSE FAILS, THEN IT'S TIME TO KICK BUTT!"

(Screen rises up to the tall buildings.)
(Artimesia jumps from the left with her legs hooked and falls down, spinning around, before slashing forward with her sharp Tessenes. Michelangelo then jumps from the right with the flip and smirks at the camera as he falls down, spinning his Nunchucks wildly.)

(Donatello jumps from the left, spinning his Bo-staff in his left hand while raising it over his head before he swings it down hard with both hands. Marietta then jumps from the right, spinning her Naginata in the right hand, before turning around and slashes horizontally forward.)

(Domenico jumps from the left, spinning his Tonfas in his hands before thrusting first his right and then his left Tonfa forward. Leonardo then jumps from the right with his Katanas crossed, before he pulls them aside and kicks his right foot down.)

(Raphael jumps from the left and crossed his arms in front of him before pulling them back, making his Sais flash. Lorenzo then jumps from the right and slashes his left Butterfly sword horizontally forward and swings his right Butterfly sword down, slicing the air in front of him.)

(Angel jumps from the left and throws a punch towards the screen with her left fist. Then Casey Jones, wearing the Hokey Mask, jumps from the right and whacks the screen with his hockey stick.)

(Leo, with swords in hands, is seen landing onto one ninja, knocking him down.)
(Donnie is seen whacking with his Bo the second ninja off his feet.)
(Raph is seen blocking the third ninja's kick with his left wrist while holding Sai in his hand.)
(Mikey is seen punching fourth in the face with his right fist while holding a Nunchaku.)
(Marietta is seen kicking the fifth in the chest while holding her Naginata up.)
(Domenico is seen back-handing the sixth with his left hand's Tonfa)
(Lorenzo is seen blocking seventh's sword with his left sword while thrusting his right towards the ninja to stab him.)
(Artemisia is seen with her arms crossed in front white holding her opened pink Tessens in her hands.)
(Raph is seen again, this time surrounded by several Foot Ninja, until he spins around with his hands clenched into fist around his Sais' hilts spread out, knocking all ninjas away.)

(Cut to the wide shot.)
(Seven silhouettes of the turtles are seen running, jumping and flipping along the rooftops as the camera follows them. One of the turtles swings over them by the chain like Tarzan.)
(Then two narrower screens appear above and beneath of the rooftop screen, showing the repeating line of Leonardo and Donatello's masked faces above and the line of Raphael and Michelangelo's masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"

(The turtles then land to the ground in front of the building. Leonardo in the middle, Donatello, Marietta and Domenico on his right and Michelangelo, Lorenzo and Artemisia on his left. All seven run towards the camera that moves through of Leo's legs.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"

(Then, Raphael races over the building on the back of the bike and jumps off towards and past the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"

(The screen splits into four narrow screens again, this time from left to right.)
"FIVE, SIX"
(In the first, Marietta is pointing her Naginata at the camera. In the second, Lorenzo is holding his Butterfly Swords both upside down in his hands and horizontally in front of him.)
"SEVEN, EIGHT"
(In the third, Domenico is thrusting his Tonfa towards the camera while holding his other behind him. In the fourth, Artemisia is holding her one Tessen in front of her face, partially covering it, while keeping her other Tessen closed.)
(TURTLES!)

(Marietta is seen in a dead end, spinning the Naginata in her hands before she pulls it behind her shell and holds her left hand forward and towards the two people, one with a knife and the other with a fire axe, standing in front of her.)
"AT NIGHTFALL, WE'RE COMING"
(TURTLES!)

(Lorenzo is seen riding on a subway train, anchored to the roof with his Butterfly Swords. As the subway brings him closer, the Turtle in Black smirks at the camera before his face fills the screen.)
"OUT OF MANHOLE"
(TURTLES!)

(Domenico is seen stabbing with his Tonfas at one dummy before he turns around and spin-kicks the other dummy on his left with his right foot. Then the turns around and whacks the camera with his left Tonfa, blackening it.)
"BEWARE, THE BADDIES!"
(TURTLES!)

(The screen pulls back to show Artemisia roller skating on the roof with a dozen Foot Ninja chasing her with swords. She looks at them over her shoulder, then smiles and picks up the pace by skating towards the camera.)
"MUTANTS NINJAS ARE ON THE MOVE!"

(Artemisia skates towards the Large Foot Ninja who holds his sword up and ready to strike. However, at the moment of strike, Artemisia grabs from his wrists before she turns around and pulls the ninja over her shoulder, throwing him face-first towards the camera.)

(Arcee then drops off the building, leaving the ninjas behind on the edge, while the screen pans down to a boarded doorway before the Battle Shell crashes through it, allowing the turtle in pink land on its roof.)

(The screen then pans to the back of the Battle Shell as it is chased by two Foot Ninja on the bikes until the back doors fly open and Lorenzo jumps out, landing on his shells to the street, somersaulting back to his feet and then diving towards the ninjas, knocking them both off the bike as he flies towards the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen splits into two horizontal screens again.)
(The upper screen shows a turquoise-masked face with lightly frowned glare, while lower screen shows Artemisia, Leonardo and Marietta in the snowy woods, standing opposite to five silhouetted canine-like humanoids with the face paints (dark purple, light blue, crimson, silver and green). They all put their hands together before bowing to each other.)
(Second one.)
(The lower screen shows a white-masked face with deep frown while upper screen shows the silhouetted canine-like humanoid with dark purple face-paint snarling ferally as it fights savagely two hunters armed with the hunting rifles by slashing them wildly with the single Kama, slicing their rifles in half and frightening the hunters to back off.)
("FIVE!")
"WE'LL ALWAYS FIGHT AGAINST THE EVIL!"

(Third one.)
(The upper screen shows a black-masked face with the wide eyes, while the lower screen shows Lorenzo and Angel standing back-to-shell and holding up their fists in middle of the ring of the silhouetted enemies.)
(Fourth one.)
The lower screen shows a pink-masked face with the soft stare, while the upper screen shows Lorenzo and Angel turning to each other and grabbing from each others hands, before the turtle in black swings the girl around him and towards the camera, before Angel kicks the screen black with her foot.)
("SIX!")
"WE COME, STRIKE HARD, AND VANISH INTO NIGHT"

(In the next shot, Donatello and Marietta are running on the roofs of two adjacent buildings, with the former jumping and the latter pole-vaulting with her Naginata across the gap between them. Then we see Leonardo leading Raphael, Artemisia and Domenico forward on the street-level, all with weapons in hands. Michelangelo and Lorenzo are seen following them right behind: the former by zipping along the line with his Nunchaku and the latter swinging by the chain like Tarzan while spinning the chain's end wildly in his free hand.)
("SEVEN!")
"AS A TEAM, WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE EACH OTHERS' SHELLS."

(In the next shot, we see all eight turtles standing under a light in a dark space with their shells to the camera as it pulls away. They then turn to face the camera, drawing out their weapons and taking their individual fighting stances, ready to face whoever is standing before them.)
("EIGHT!")
"AND WE'LL NEVER LEAVE OUR BUDDIES BEHIND!"

(Out of darkness steps Baxter Stockman, with missing right eye, while being surrounded by the dozens of Mousers, snapping their jaws. With the glare, Stockman points at the camera with his finger and the Mousers lunge forward, snarling menacingly.)

(Camera pans to the right, showing Tatsu backed up by the group of Foot Ninja. The ninja draws out a sword and raises it with both hands up next to the scarred side of his face, pointing its tip at the camera with the dark glare.)

(Camera pans to the right again, this time showing a strange and ugly goblin-like female creature dressed all black, floating in the air while grinning mischievously and maliciously at the camera. The creature raises its clawed hands over, until they start twinkling like stars until they get surrounded by the glowing aura of crimson and golden lights like the blazing aurora borealis, as if it was the magic.)

(Camera pans to the right once more, this time showing a mobster-like barrel-chested man dressed in the olive green suit with the golden lines and dandelion attached to it. He had red black-spotted cravat and a grayish-brown fedora hat and a cigar in his mouth. Backed up by several tough-looking guys, the man takes the cigar out of his mouth and, with the nasty sneer, points his finger at the camera.)

(The screen turns back to the turtles, showing Donatello whacking several robots away with his staff.)
(Raphael lands onto one, crushing it, and stabs his Sais through the heads of other two robots.)
(Domenico strikes one ninja in the guts with his left Tonfa, before he turns around to whack the second ninja down with his right Tonfa.)
(Artemisia slices the third ninja's staff in half with her Tessens before spin-kicking him away with her left foot.)
(The pointy-eared goblin-creature flies over and strikes the turtles with the magical lightning bolts, until Marietta pole-vaults upwards and kicks the creature off the sky.)
(Three mobsters, two slender and one large one with the big nose, charges at the turtles. However, one mobster on the left is kicked away by Michelangelo while the another one on the right is knocked down by Lorenzo, before the big one is kicked away by Leonardo, who spins around before crossing his swords in front of his face.)

(Cut to the wide three-leveled shot. The sever level.)
(The silhouettes of two turtles are first seen running along the pipe: One turtle on foot while another one skating along the pipe's rounded walls.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."

(Screen pans up to the street level.)
(The silhouettes of three turtles are moving down the street: One running on foot, the second one riding on the bike and third one hopping along the driving and parked cars.)
(Then two narrower screens appear above and beneath of the street screen, showing the repeating line of Marietta and Domenico's masked faces above and the line of Artimesia and Lorenzo's masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."

(Screen pans up to the rooftop level.)
(The silhouettes of two turtles are running and either jumping or pole-vaulting along the rooftops.)
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"

(Three turtles, Raphael, Leonardo and Domenico run on the street level, before Artemisia and Michelangelo jump out of the manholes and join the run in between Raphael and Leonardo, while Marietta and Donatello land down from the roof in between of Domenico and Leonardo. All seven run towards the camera that goes through of Leo's legs again.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"

(The camera then pans upwards, showing Lorenzo jumping off the rooftop, spinning the chain over his head before throwing it away and then swings by it over the camera in Spiderman-style.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"

(A small square screen then appears from the left, showing Leonardo's shadowy yet calm face. Another appears next to it from above, showing Donatello's shadowy yet determined face.)
"ONE! TWO!"

(Third appears from beneath, showing Michelangelo's shadowy goofy face. Then the fourth appears from the right, showing Raphael's shadowy yet fierce face with the gritted teeth.)
"THREE! FOUR!"

(A fifth square then screen then appears from the left, showing Marietta's shadowy calm face. Sixth then appears next to it from above, showing Domenico's shadowy yet deeply frowning face.)
"FIVE! SIX!"

(Seventh appears from beneath, showing Lorenzo's shadowy wildly hilarious face. Then eighth appears from the right, showing Artemisia's shadowy yet determined face with the smile.)
"SEVEN! EIGHT!"
(TURTLES!)

(All eight turtles are seen jumping down from the tall blue tower with the red Japanese palace atop of it, which towers over all the other buildings. The weapons in hands, the turtles spin in a circle (First Leonardo, then Marietta, then Raphael, then Lorenzo, then Donatello, then Domenico, then Michelangelo and finally Artemisia) as they fall towards the camera)
"THERE'S NO ONE BETTER"
(TURTLES!)

(In the ledge of the same tower, that is above of the Foot symbol, the Shredder is seen staring down after them, as his black cape blows in the wind and the lightning flashes in the sky behind him. The camera moves closer his face, before the Shredder turns towards the camera and raises his left arm with the gauntlet armed with two sharp claws.)
"WATCH OUT FOR THE SHREDDER"
(TURTLES!)

(The turtles are seen standing in middle of the rooftop, with the weapons in hand. They briefly demonstrate their weapons-skills before taking their individual fighting poses: Donatello is seen standing in the middle, pointing his staff at the camera, while Raphael and Lorenzo are standing on his right, Marietta and Michelangelo on his left and Domenico, Artemisia and Leonardo behind of them.)
"THEY'RE LIKE NO OTHERS!"
(TURTLES!)

(The turtles are seen riding/skating on the various human equipment along the tunnel. Donatello is in the lead, wheeling past the camera with his purple-gray foldaway bike.)
(Leonardo follows him on foldaway kick scooter with the blue board, hopping over the handlebar with his hands.)
(Marietta follows right behind on her turquoise-tuned dirt-bike, waving at the camera.)
(Domenico then makes the high backward flip over the camera with the white-tuned road bicycle.)
(Raphael and Artemisia roller-skate along the wall of the tunnel with their red roller blades and pink roller-skates.)
(Lorenzo skates after them with his oversized avocado green and black skateboard with the pair of rocket boosters.)
(Last but not least, Michelangelo skates higher and higher along the wall with his orange skateboard, before he jumps off it and lands in front of the camera with the smirk before skating away.)
"THOSE TEENAGE SIBLINGS!"

(First Donatello, then Domenico, then Leonardo, then Marietta, then Raphael, then Lorenzo, then Michelangelo, and finally Artemisia land onto the rooftop, weapons in hands.)
"ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"
"FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT!"

(Either spinning or waving their weapons, the turtles then charge towards the camera, with Leonardo taking the lead and slashing his swords forward.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"

Then the logo of "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" appears, with the silhouetted figures of the eight turtles with the glowing eyes behind of it.
"TURTLES! TURTLES!"

= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE=

Week after Mikey's and Arcee's wild goose chase after the former's superhero career, the turtles had all gathered to the common area to watch TVs. Leo was sitting on the armchair, Raph was leaning against the column next to Mary, who was sitting in the foot of the column. Arcee, Mikey and Louie were sitting on the couch (with the turtle in black sitting on it upside down) while Dom was leaning on his arms to the couch's back. And finally, Donnie was lying on the sun lounger.

Today, the TV screens showed the front of the New York's Police Department building, where had been cathering a large number of people: both civilians and the news reporters, who were held back by the number of police officers.

The chief of police department was standing on top of the stairs the NYPD building along with several other officers, and he didn't look pleased at all.

Reporter Alex Carlin was seen in every screen looking at the camera while holding the mike near his mouth.

"This is Alex Carlin from the Channel Six News. We're today here at New York's Police Department, where there is quite a lot of commotion going on, and for good reason." Alex reported, before he turned towards the doors of the police department.

The doors were flung open as small group of people stepped outside, consisting of trio of 1920s gangster-alike people,

The guy in the middle of the trio was a quite striking guy with his aristocratic appearance, snobbish pose, variegated clothing but otherwise with his intimidating presence or notorious reputation.

He was a barrel-chested man with the thick eyebrows, small mustache, double chin and tidy haircut. He was dressed in the blue shirt and a red black-spotted cravat, over which he wore an olive green suit with the golden stripes and had a dandelion flower attached to the left side of the suit. He had a same style pants and the shiny black-tipped brown shoes. And finally, he wore on his head a grayish-brown fedora hat, which too had some dandelion flowers attached to. He looked head to toe like a gangster boss, a shady businessman and the runer of multiple businesses (some of which were illegal no doubt) and the underworld criminal mastermind. Definitely the guy no one would like to come across and least to be in his bad side.

The other guy walking on his right was Japanese-African man with shaven face and in the blue suit with dark purplish-blue stripes and brown fedora hat. He walked the middle-guy out of the building while holding his right hand under his suit as if he had something hidden in there. Whatever it was, he didn't want it to be seen in the public, and definitely not this close of the police department.

Third guy on his left was a slender and half-bald elderly man with long hooked nose, long white hair, light pale greenish skin and circular eyebags under his eyes and he looked pretty crooked. He was dressed into a black lawyer-suit with greenish edges, along with the small glasses on, and was carrying the black suitcase with him. He was possibly this guy's personal lawyer.

"As you can see..." Carlin continued as he turned back to the camera. "There comes William Dandelion, the infamous mob boss of New York and the owner and head of the city-wide laundry company. He was arrested last year after an anonymous caller claimed having found the evidence of Mr. Dandelion committing felony counterfeiting of money, with a wad of counterfeit money having found in his possession. However, he's been released from pre-trial detention today as no evidence has been found to support the charges against him, not even after the police has searched his company and properties twice for the further evidence. Here we see him now being walked out of the police department by one of his bodyguards as well as his personal well-known lawyer and cousin, Dimitri Dandelion, who has been present in the several previous trials, defending Mr. Dandelion in this case."

As the big guy, William Dandelion, was about to walk past the displeased police chief, he stopped in front of him and turned to him as if to say something close as a goodbye.

"Thank you for your hospitality, chief. " Dandelion wished with sarcastic accent that sounded British, before he took an offered (or ordered) cigar from his bodyguard's hand, put it in his mouth and lit it. To add the insult to injury, Dandelion blew the first smokes in the chief's face, making him cough a little.

"Though next time I hope you have arranged for me a luxury cell, along with the first class amenities and service." Dandelion said snidely.

"Just get out of here, Dandelion, before I'll take the pleasure to throw you back into your cell myself." the chief demanded as he waved the smoke off his face.

"With the pleasure, chief. Do say "hello" to your wife and kids from me?" Dandelion requested before he kept walking with his companions.

Dandelion and his companions walked down the stairs until they were standing right next to Alex, who was standing at the feet of the stairs facing the camera. Dandelion then walked slightly away from his companions to the reporter and gently tapped him on his right shoulder to get his attention, making Alex turn to him.

"Mind if I borrow the mike for a moment?" Dandelion requested politely, before he suddenly snatched the mike from Alex's hand before he could've said anything and pushed him out of his way so that he could speak to the camera and lifted the mike closer of his mouth.

"Good afternoon, New York. This is William Dandelion, CEO of DLC (Dandelions' Laundries Company) on live TV. I would like to say that although I know many of you may not agree on my release due to the false charges against me for counterfeiting money under the nose of the law...just because I was caught with dirty money I was not even aware of. But I want you all to understand that I am an honest businessman, the pride of the Dandelion family, who just wants to do your laundry for you and nothing more. The Dandelion family has always earned its vast fortune through hard, honest and law-abiding work, and not through shady businesses that could involve something as dirty and outrageous like what the charges against me were based on. If so, that would've not only ruin my family's name and reputation, but also lead my company into the bankrup and to be shut down. If so, where were you going to do your laundry? Anyway, I am grateful for my good fortune that my release came just this week so I can return home to celebrate my birthday with my beloved family. And finally, next time if such baseless scenarios arise again in the future, I hope that those little snoopers and wanna-be detectives either learned something from their rashness or look further into the case to find out the truth before jumping to conclusions without proper information or evidence as to whether the allegations of me as some immoral good-for-nothing dirty scoundrel are true or false.. You can try if you want, but remember this motto in my family: The Dandelions always win the case. Now, have a good day, New York."

With that, Dandelion handed the mike back to Alex before he and his companions kept moving through of the crowd and all the way on the street standing pitch-black limousine.

He was awaited there by two other henchmen: one was the short and slender guy with small thin mustache, blue pants, black suit and wide-brimmed black fedora hat on his head, and the other guy was tall, muscular and broad-shouldered guy with the bald top, black pants, reddish-brown suit and small dark-brown defora hat.

The red-suited henchmen then opened the door to let Dandelion, his lawyer cousin and bodyguard in the vehicle before he and his partner get in themselves, and then the limousine hit to the street and drove off.

After watching the news, the turtles had mixed thoughts about this whole thing.

""Dandelions' Laundries Company", right! As if we haven't already been through this same too-good-to-be-true crap before." Raph scoffed, remembering how things had turned out with Baxter Stockman few months ago.

"I agree with you, Raph." Louie said, while he turned to sit upright on the couch. "Baxter Stockman too claimed similiarly his Mousers to be meant for the good thing, and how did that ended up?"

"Yeah. Those nasty little rat-exterminators turned out ot be the super-nasty turtle-exterminators." Mikey said, recalling all their nearly life-costing encounters with the Mousers.

"Uh... Mikey? I think you're forgetting something here" Mary called, getting Mikey's attention. "Remember what purpose that whacko scientist even build those robo-cockroaches in the first place? Hmm?"

"Hmm...?" Mikey muttered, as if he had forgotten that, until it quickly hit him. "Oh, yeah! And they also turned out to be super-nasty and illegal cleaners of the bank vaults."

"And don't forget the Garbageman!" Louie reminded. "Remember how he used to run that Landfill company on that island? That too was supposed to be good not just for this city but also for this country."

"Only to turn out that fat madman used the human slave labor to keep his business' running." Raph recalled. "Not to mention of threatening to expand his twisted image of the "empire" to the rest of the world."

"I wish I could forget that creep." Mary added angrily as she hadn't forgotten the horrors the Garbageman had put many people through, especially her friends: Jack, Ann and little Olivia.

"Well, at least we got that Stinky Pete's desk cleaned and office sacked." Mikey reminded. "So not need to worry about such of stinky empire he boasted so much about."(1)

"And speaking of "cleaning..."" Dom spoke up. "Just like Stockman, this Dandelion guy might be hiding something... something he doesn't want the public know. I can feel it under my shell that there is something fishy going on with his whole laundries company."

"As the old saying says: There's more in that than meets the eye." Arcee said, nodding her head in agreement.

"True, but you guys heard Alex, didn't you?" Donnie said from the sun lounger. "The police hadn't found anything, even after two searches through of Dandelion's property, that could prove with one hundred precent of his direct involvemet in the alleged counterfeit despite the charges against him. So technically, with the lack of evidence, they cannot put him behind bars, at least not for long time."

"Even if he was caught with dirty money like the anonymous caller Alex mentioned said?" Mikey questioned. "Shouldn't that be enough to send him straight to the jail, Donnie?"

"And where did that led in the end, Mikey?" Louie asked as he gestured at the TVs. "Dandelion walking away with it like nothing had ever happened."

"Well, that can lead to an arrest, but it requires a lot of things to be cleared up first before the case can lead to immediate jail time." Donnie said.

"Such as?" Raph inquired.

"Such as whether the holder of the counterfeit money had dubious intentions, a criminal background, or connections to such illegal activity, or whether the holder was even aware that the money in his possession was counterfeit." Donnie explained.

"Sounds kinda dope to me." Mikey responded as he collapsed to the couch.

"You read my mind, bro." Dom told to his little brother, before turning to Donnie: "I found out somewhere, Donnie, that possession of counterfeit money means two to ten or even twenty years in a cage. And yet Dandelion got out of the jail after one year as if for the good behavior."

"Like I just said. That sounds dope." Mikey added.

"Maybe so, guys, but that's just how the federal law works. Besides, you saw that cousin of his, right? He is Dimitri Dandelion, and he is the best amongst the most best lawyers in the whole country, a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, who has never lost any criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney." Donnie explained to his siblings. "Dandelion was found innocent because Dimitri acted as his defender in court and - if I say so myself - ingeniously convinced both judge and jury that surely one of the customers must have paid his laundry bill with the wrong money and that the payee had something wrong with his eyesight, just like Dandelion, whose own eyesight isn't so great either, that he needs the glasses to read, which made him unable to distinguish real money from the fake."

"Well, take this guy to an eye doctor to get his vision fixed, or get him better glasses so he can see better than even the blindest bat." Louie suggested.

"Or how about giving some slack and compassion for the people with the poor eyesight, bro?" Dom demanded with the scowl, before he turned back to Donnie. "But what if all is not as it seems, Donnie, even in Dandelion's trials. You know that people have become very suspicious of William Dandelion and his so-called "honest" business after all of this?"

"Yeah, how do we know if the whole company is just a cover story for the shady dealing out of the public's eyes." Mikey said, agreeing with Dom's suspicions. "All the money with which he build his company is most likely made by preying on the unsuspecting customers or desperate entrepreneurs to make them to make him money."

"And think what he may have done to all those who owed him a considerable sum of money but could not repay? They might have gone through exactly what happened to Casey's Old Man in Dandelion's name." Louie added, remembering Casey's story of how Hun and the Purple Dragons had set Casey's family store on fire for his father's unwillingness to pay, before eventually killing him for telling the police about it.

"And what about this Dimitri Dandelion. He's this guy's cousin, his family. That's the only reason why he would act as Dandelion's defender in court. And how do we know if he hasn't secretly bribed both the judge and jury behind the scenes to ensure he's not found guilty or sent to jail?" Raph added, showing a great deal of suspicion at the court's decision to acquit Dandelion of the charges because they were played into the Dandelion cousins' hands.

"And I say, who cares?!" Louie exclaimed, before the turtle in black flipped onto the table, knocking over everything on it.

Louie then turned around in the slightly hunched pose, with his legs spread wide on the table, looking at his siblings with confidence on his face, before starting to speak with the dramatic tone.

"New York City's Underworld is a dangerous place for the unwary, people who are constantly preyed on by the dangerous criminals. There is a ruthless wolf-eat-sheep and nature-weed-out-the-weak law when the criminal underworld is on the hunt. But even lower is an even more dangerous place that shares space with the criminal underworld. There dwells the only one who dares to stand in the way of the criminal underworld. The one who strikes terror into the black hearts of criminals, no matter how hardened they are. And when they don't see it... when they least expect it... BAM! Lorenzo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle charges out of the darkness, blades flashing in the moonlight, and destroys them without mercy!"

As Louie continued to brag like the narrator of the ghost story at campfire, his siblings, save for Raph and Mikey, gave him unimpressed looks.

"And I say that when mine and this William Dandelion's paths cross out there, I will destroy him for simply being the bad guy behind the scenes! I'll shave his mustache away! I will leave the sweet mark of my foot into his bottom! I will wreck every last piece of his evil company to the level of the ground! I will..."

However, Louie was cut short when Donnie stood up and put his hand over the turtle in black's mouth to shut him up.

"Alright, alright, alright, Louie. Thank you for making up your point but that's enough." Donnie pleaded.

"Party pooper." Louie's muffled voice said, before he shoved Don's hand away and hopped off the table.

"Oh, come on, Donnie! He was just getting to the best part here!" Raph groaned. "Of beating the crap out of William Dandelion and bringing his evil company down."

Donnie turned to his hot-headed brother with his hands on his hips and smacked him. "You guys are way over your heads with this "William Dandelion is a bad guy" thing. You're almost addicted of wanting to be right about this, so I'll say it one last time: There's no evidence that the counterfeiting charges against this guy are true, and it has already been made clear in the court that this guy is innocent and is just trying to run his family's company. So get finally over it, guys!"

"Innocent until gets kicked in the butt and gets thrown into jail, says I!" Louie countered.

"Isn't that said more correctly "Guilty until proven otherwise", bro?" Arcee corrected. "

"Whatever, sis." Louie said with the shrug. "I only care about kicking this bad guy in his sorry bottom."

Donnie facepalmed himself in irritation. "Oh, please, guys! You're all acting like taking candy from a baby is such a serious crime, as rude as it is, that it carries a hundred years in prison."

"Hey...!" Raph suddenly said, getting everybody's attention. "Then that means that some homicidal whacko, who goes on crazy shooting spree in a crowded place and kills a pretty number of people without any apparent or sensible reason, gets only ten days jail time."

Raph chuckled humorously at his own joke, earning some laughter from Louie too.

However, the other turtles, particularly Dom, Donnie, Mikey and especially Arcee shot a visibly disturbed and wide-eyed looks at their brother, not liking the dark humor in Raph's joke at all.

"RAPH!" Arcee chided, jumping up from the couch and scowling at her brother in disbelief and disgust. "That's a nasty thing to say about!"

"HELLO-OOOO! Where or when did my dear sis lost her sense of humor?!" Raph shot back sarcastically.

"Probably got it flushed down the toiled." Louie joked with the smirk.

Both Raph and Louie bursted into another fit og laughter, making Arcee to scowl at the two of them darkly.

"Knock it off, you guys!" Leo said firmly from his armchair, staring warningly at both Raph and Louie with his narrowed eyes. "That was really dry joke, Louie. And there was definitely nothing to laugh about in yours, Raph."

"And that wasn't even what I tried to tell you, Raph!" Donnie said, annoyed by Raph's sarcastic responde.

"Whatever, Donnie! I don't care 'cause I'm not even interested to hear!" Raph exclaimed, already irritated with the whole point of this argument.

"WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE SHUT YOUR TRAPS?!" Mary exclaimed, as the turtle in turquoise lifted up the remote control. "I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING FROM TV IF YOU KEEP HAVING A QUARREL OVER THIS WHOLE SILLY THING! There's something on TV I want to watch now, SO I WOULD KINDLY ASK YOU GUYS TO BE...?

However, Mary couldn't finish her sentence when Master Splinter's staff all of the sudden flew over her head like a javelin and hit directly the remote, knocking it out of her hand - but also hitting a button that caused all the television screens to turn off - before the remote landed on the table as if it had never even been picked up.

"HEY!" Mary gasped, surprised.

"Hey, what happened?!" Donnie asked as he turned to the TVs

"What's going on?!" Arcee questioned.

"Where did the screens go?!" Louie whined.

"Did the TVs go fried again?" Dom questioned.

"AAGGHHHH! Somebody killed the TVs!" Mikey screamed girly.

"Relax, goofball." Raph said before smacking Mikey in the top of the head.

"Ow! Hey!" Mikey cried, scowling at Raph while rubbing his head with his hand.

"Someone just knocked the remote out of Mary's hand with the staff...which was actually a pretty neat throw and perfect aim for the on/off button, I must admit. That was a pretty cool move." Raph said almost admiring the staff's direct hit on that button on the remote.

"No wonder, Raph. There's only one capable of such a well-aimed throw." Leo said seriously as he got up from the armchair and looked over his siblings' head, causing the other turtles to turn one by one to look in the same direction.

They saw Master Splinter standing at the Lair's Dōjō site, staring towards his children with rather disapproval look on his face while his hands were resting on his hips.

"Children!" Splinter called. "I think it's time for you to take a break from television and focus more on your today's training."

Aww, man!" Mikey, Louie, Raph and even Mary groaned/whined in unision.

"But Sensei! You said that we can have the morning for free!" Raph reminded.

"There was just this one TV-show that I wanted to watch! Can't I watch it before the training, Master?" Mary pleaded.

"Pleaaaaaaaaaase! Just a little more free TV-time, Sensei! Pleaaaaaaaaaase!" Mikey pleaded pitifully with puppy dog eyes act, kneeling on his seat on the couch, leaning against the back, resting his head on top of the back and his interlocked hands hanging out in the air.

"You've spent all morning with the televisions. Too much television has a negative effect on your mind and can impair concentration. And both a weakened mind and degraded concentration can prove to be treacherous enemies." Splinter said, waving a finger up deniably, before gesturing the Dōjō with his thumb. "So I suggest you children pull yourself up from the couch and get over here, so that we can begin."

Mary closed her eyes and let out the defeated sigh. Usually she relished of training just like Leo did, but she really wanted to watch that TV-show of hers right after the news.

Obediently, Leo headed towards the Lair's Dōjō site, followed closely behind by Donnie, Arcee, Dom and lastly Mary.

Only Raph, Louie and Mikey lounged behind for a moment.

"Oh, man!" Raph groaned, face-palming himself. "Is the morning over already?"

"And we didn't even notice." Louie said as he stood up from the couch, followed by Raph.

"ARGH!" Mikey groaned in defeat and collapsed limply off the couch to the floor.

"Get up, you slowpoke!" Raph growled, annoyed. "Don't make me kick you up from the floor again."

"Then go ahead and leave me here to die!" Mikey whined, not wanting to move the muscle to get up.

"No way, Mikey!" Louie said. "You'll come along even if we have to drag you there."

With that, Louie grabbed from Mikey's right leg while Raph grabbed from his left and then began to drag their lazy brother by his legs along the floor, going first around the pillar in the common area's left corner and then walking down the ramp to the middle part of the floor.

Though Mikey offered no resistance by grabbing on anything available or kicking at them, all the turtle in orange did all the way to the Dōjō was to "torture" his brothers' ears and try their patience further with him by whining like the baby.

"Whine, groan, moan, cry and complain all you want, but we're not gonna let you go, Mikey. If the rest of us have to endure all the sweat drops and muscle aches from the training, so do you." Louie declared.

"Sure you can endure a few hours without TV, shell-for-brains?" Raph deadpanned.

"I can't live without TV even for few seconds!" Mikey whined.

"Well, then you better think of a backup plan if Master Splinter comes up with an idea to forbid TV from you for next few months or the rest of the year." Louie said, with the mischievious smirk on his lips. "You definitely can't live without TV that long now, can you?"

All of the sudden, Mikey swiftly drew out his Nunchucks and swung them around his brothers' legs before pulling them from under, catching Louie and Raph by surprise and sending them flying onto their shells to the floor, but not before letting go of Mikey's feet and tossing them alobg with his lower body upwards.

With the help of that, Mikey put his hands to the floor before pushing himself up and hopping onto his feet in between of his downed brothers.

"Not if I can do something about it." Mikey declared smugly as he put his Nucnhucks away. "Now get up, you slowpokes! I'm not gonna drag you to the Dōjō 'cause I don't wanna be late." the turtle in orange added as he walked away, leaving his brothers behind.

Both turtles in red and black groaned slightly as they got ip from the floor, with Raph glaring daggers at Mikey.

"One day I'm gonna get that goofball. And when I do, I'm gonna..." Raph growled, banging his fist against the floor.

"You better save some piece of him to me, bro." Louie growled as well.

###

Meanwhile, up in the surface at Angel's grandmother's house, Angel was sitting on the couch of the living room, watching from TV the live broadcast of Dandelion's release with her grandmother, Ellie Bridge, who was sitting right next to her granddaughter.

When the broadcast ended, the look on Angel's gaze hardening slightly and she clenched her hands into fists. Even she was suspicious of Dandelion's sincere innocence to the alleged charges of counterfeiting money.

"Dandelions always win the case, indeed." Angel scoffed. "Just buy your time all you want, jackass. But you'll end up behind bars again sooner or later."

Angel then stood up from the couch and walked towards the window and looked outside to the empty streets... which hadn't been the first nor the last time she had done so.

For weeks since her desertion of the Dragons after her betrayal, Angel has been quite wary and constantly on guard due to knowing that they might be out there looking for her, so she kept constant watch over the street in case they might one day find their way here. She wasn't too keen on just sitting around and wait for the Dragons to all of the sudden storm into their home to get their revenge on her and get rid of her and her grandmother, possibly deeming them both as the "witnesses" due to her previous connections with them and their affairs.

But while on the lookout, Angel still couldn't stop thinking about Dandelion's recent release.

"Under that whole "Dandelion's Laundries Company" bullshit and all that "honest citizen" act with the charming and charismatic tone before all those cameras might be just another bad guy who plays the people for a fools." she added almost spitefully.

"Maybe so, dear. But there's nothing we can do about it?" Ellie said, turning to her.

"Maybe not, grandma. But there are always someone out there to put such of jackasses like Dandelion back to their rightful places." Angel said in matter of fact, not looking away from the window.

"I know, dear. But you heard what they said in the news." Ellie reasoned. "They have no evidence to find him guilty for the charges he was arrested in the first place. So the police have no authority to detain him for a long time."

"I'm not talking about police, grandma, and I'm definitely not talking about trying to find any evidence of bring him down. That led straight to the big heap of wasted time and resources, and now Dandelion is on the loose." Angel gently argued, briefly glancing back at her. "I'm talking about someone else who may try to - and will - look further into this with their own right, of course."

Ellie looked at her granddaughter with the quirked eyebrow, briefly confused of what she was talking about, until it quickly dawned to her.

"You mean those new "friends" of yours you just met lately?"

For the past weeks after she was returned back home by Casey, Ellie had been trying to fish for information about where Angel had been or what she had been up to while being away from home. Of course, Angel couldn't tell her, or her brother Ryan, the truth that she had considered joining the Purple Dragons' street gang, which had resulted in Casey getting into a really bad mess. And she couldn't tell her about the turtles because of her promise to keep their existence a secret.

And so, Angel had modified the course of events a bit, telling her grandmother that after she ran away from home, she met and befriended a group of vigilantes acting as crime-fighters in their own right, and had joined them in their campaign for the time being after learning that they were friends with Casey.

She had also merged the Dragons 'failed heist - her first informal meeting with the turtles - and Casey's capture while trying to save her from the Dragons' boxing match into another made-up story, that Casey was caught during their attempt to stop the Dragons from robbing the store, hence his bruises and injuries, forcing her and her new friends to go into the Dragons' Lair to rescue him.

Of course, Angel's made-up story had caused Ellie to scold her not only for running away from home without saying a word, but for hanging out with some reckless kids who think they're above the law, and especially for recklessly risking her life by going to wrestle with the worst known street gang on the Eastern Side.

Angel, however, had defended the turtles, though without revealing their true identity, by telling her grandmother that they weren't some hooligans like the Dragons but really good guys who hated the law-breakers as much as anyone else... and that if it wasn't for them, she and Casey wouldn't have ever came back home.

Although Ellie was still upset about the things Angel had been involved with, and still felt a slight disapproval towards these mysterious "friends" of hers campaign against the criminal underworld outside of the law and authority, she couldn't help but feel at least some degree of gratitude for them for at least taking care of her dear Angel.

"Yeah. My friends and..." Angel confirmed, until she quickly held herself back from mentioning herself as part of "someone else".

In fact, Angel would have liked to go after Dandelion with the turtles as soon as any suspicious activity of his caught their attention and provoked them to interfere in his affairs.

In the end, she and them made a good team then when they rescued Casey from the Dragons, although her role was merely as the sidekick while the turtles did most of the work. Not that they underestimated her confidence that she could take care of herself, but they kept her out of most of the action only because they didn't want her to get hurt or worse. While their concern for her safety is touching, Angel was a little annoyed at being treated like a damsel in distress in some fairytale story.

However, Angel quickly decided against it, as that would only bring more reprimands from her grandmother, who had already gone through a long "talk" about her getting involved in the affairs of her friends' vigilante stuff voluntarily. She really didn't want to go through the same talk again...if ever again.

"If someone can stop Dandelion whatever he is up to, that's them, alright." Angel said proudly, before finally turning away from the window and leaning against the wall.

Once again, Ellie took on that same familiar disapproval frown Angel had seen a few weeks ago after telling her grandmother certain details about the turtles.

"Don't you think that to be absurd from them to take the law into their own hands, even if there is the real law enforcement officers to ensure the peace and order?" Ellie questioned, the frown never leaving her face.

"Yeah. So?" Angel said, giving gave an indifferent shrug.

"So... how I can trust that you weren't planning on doing something like that yourself?" Ellie added.

Angel was taken aback by her grandmother's words. How could she have known that she had planned to go after Dandelion with the turtles if she never even said it out loud. However, she quickly tried to save herself from the situation by faking oblivious and hurt by Ellie's words.

"Grandma? What are you talking about? You'd think something like that about me?" Angel said, holding her hand over her heart.

Ellie, however, gave Angel a firm but certain look that only told her one thing.

Don't even think about trying to fool me.

"Angel, what have your parents told you about lying to your old grandmother?" Ellie reminded firmly before continuing. "I may be old, but I'm not fool. I did see you cutting yourself off before you could've finished your line after mentioning your friends being the ones who may and will try to stop Dandelion with their own right."

After the short break, Ellie's next words hit right and true.

"You were going to run from home again and join with those friends of yours to hunt down Dandelion whenever he gives the reason to that, right?"

Angel let out a sigh, knowing that she'd been caught. Without saying the word, she stared at her grandmother with the defeated frown on her face... which Ellie took as a "yes".

"Honey. I'm seriously worried about you for wanting to spend time with these people. Of course I'm happy if you finally have friends, but you should be careful about what the kind of people you associate with." Ellie added, as her frown turned into worry.

"They're just vigilanties, not some low-life street gangs, drug addicts or criminals. Why are you so against them, grandma?" Angel questioned.

"Because I'm worried about your safety, honey, and the possible fact that you might get a bad impression from these people, vigilantes or not." Ellie said. "You were truly lucky to be able to return home safely and most importantly, alive after your hunt of the Dragons."

"Actually, it was only thanks to my friends that I was able to return home, Grandma, not luck." Angel argued. "And they did most of the work last time while keeping me out of the way. I merely acted as a sidekick while helping them to take down the Dragons."

"Actually, it was only thanks to my friends that I was able to return home, Grandma, not luck." Angel argued. "And they did most of the work last time while keeping me out of the way. I merely acted as a sidekick while helping them to take them down."

Ellie gave her granddaughter unconvinced look after those words. "You sure put a quite worrying amount of faith in these strange friends of yours, dear."

"You have no idea, grandma." Angel said, as she walked back to the couch and sat next to her and looked her in the eyes. "You don't know these guys the way I do. They have done so much for this city without asking for anything in return, long before I even met them."

"I don't know, sweetie." Ellie sighed, still uncomfortable with her granddaughter hanging out with people who willingly throw themselves in danger just like that and take the matters into their own hands.

"They are the good guys down to the core. And as much as I hate to be left into sidelines like some helpless sidekick, I do value their noble intentions and great deal of care for the wellbeing of mine and the innocent people, yours included. I trust these guys with my life, and I'm asking you to do the same thing with me, grandma. Do you trust me?" Angel asked with a hopeful expression that her grandmother would trust her words that the turtles don't give her a bad impression and they aren't the bad guys here.

Ellie looked at Angel, but wasn't still entirely sure if she could trust her sincere words about her friends. But Angel's firm reassurance of the matter her begging to trust her - and that if it was true that her precious Angel was safe thanks to her friends - made Ellie, after a moment's hesitation, somewhat soften towards them.

"Well, if you say so, sweetie, but..." Ellie said, until something just came up into her mind.

She immediately recalled Angel saying that she didn't know these mysterious friends the way she did. In fact, Angel was more than right about that one, since she's never even seen or met them in person yet. This fact aroused a certain curiosity in her.

"Why have I never gotten a chance to meet these friends of yours?" Ellie finally asked. "You never talk much about them outside of their actions in front of me or your brother. You haven't even told me who they are, where they're from, what they do, and so on."

Angel looked at her grandmother with a neutral expression on her face...though little surprised that she suddenly changed the subject and started asking about turtles. Luckily she'd prepared for the moment when her grandmother would bring that matter up.

"Have you ever thought about inviting them over one day, honey? If they really are who you've said they are, I think I'd at least like to meet them… to thank them for keeping you safe, of course." Ellie said.

Angel cleared her throat, so that she could say what she'd planned for few weeks to tell her grandmother without revealing too much about the turtles to keep her promise to them.

"Well, not really, Grandma." Angel began with a neutral voice. "You see, my friends, they're a pretty concealed bunch and don't trust strangers easily. It took me a while to earn their trust too. They told me that they know very well the risks of their vigilance campaign and therefore prefer to operate in secret and in the shadows and refuse to reveal themselves except very rarely for their own safety. They also told me that they don't wish to involve anyone else to the risks they were taking, which is why they kept me out of most of the action."

"Ohh. So your friends are so secretive?" Ellie inquired.

"Yes." Angel confirmed. "But I'm not supposed to say much or anything about them at all, because they made me to give my word that I wouldn't tell anyone about them, even to the people closest to me, like you and Ryan."

Angel then let out a sigh, turning away from Ellie and leaned her elbows on her knees. She then bowed her head down and fixed her gaze on the floor.

"But something tells me that maybe I've already told a little too much about them... even if I shouldn't have." she added with the low voice.

Ellie looked at her and began to feel a little guilty for making Angel to tell her even a little bit about her mysterious friends to whom she had promised not to tell anyone about them and who, despite their secrecy and distrust towards the strangers as Angel had said, had probably placed as much faith and trust in her as Angel had placed in them. And now Angel seemed in her eyes very worried about the possibility of having betrayed her friends' trust, thus deeply afraid of losing them as her only friends in a really long time - because she never really had any good friends before - after her and Ryan's parents died.

Not wanting her granddaughter to lose her only good friends because of her, Ellie decided to play along with Angel and her friends' secret games for the sake of their friendship, before the older woman gently placed her hand on Angel's shoulder, making her turn back to her.

"If you're worried that this will ruin your friendship with them, don't be, my dear. You can trust that your secret will be safe with me." Ellie said with reassurance. "And you don't have to tell your friends that you told me a little about them. I say we keep this whole thing as our little secret. What do you say?"

It didn't take long from Angel to smile warmly and then give her grandmother the nod of agreement.

But you know, my earlier offer of you inviting them over sometime still stands, whenever you're ready to tell them." Ellie was quick to remind. "Just tell them that they don't need to fear for their secrets because I'm your family and worthy of their trust. And that I'd just like to meet them and thank them personally for keeping you safe out there."

"Well, I can't promise anything yet, Grandma, but maybe with a little convincing, maybe I can." Angel said with the assuring smile.

However, Angel felt a little guilty for lying to her grandmother about that, because for her to meet the turtles in person face to face would be both unlikely and inadvisable. They'd hardly agree to meet her due to their secrecy- and stealth-based lifestyle, and neither would her grandmother react very well if she ever found out that her friends were actually a giant mutant turtles.

Though she wasn't planning to arrange their visit over to meet her grandmother right now... and possibly not for the very long time... but maybe one day, who knows.

Ellie then looked at the wall clock and took the note of the time.

"Well, I think it's time to go shopping at the store." she said before getting up from the couch and headed for the door, but not before turning back to Angel. "Would you like to come along honey? It would be nice to have help carrying shopping bags."

"Sure, grandma." Angel said, not minding about accompanying her to the shopping trip at all, before she got up from the couch and followed Ellie towards the door.

TO BE CONTINUED...

TRIVIA

1) = Reference to the Stinky Pete, the antagonistic character from Toy Story 2