After eating lunch, Raph arranged a meeting with Mikey and Donnie, so they could discuss how they were going to navigate this new chapter in their lives.
"Alright guys, what are we going to do?" asked Raph.
"What can we do? Humans know about us now. That kind of changes everything, bro.," said Mikey.
"If I knew about this sooner, I could've deleted any evidence of our existence online. But it's too late to do that," said Donnie.
"Well, since people out there do like us, maybe we can go back to crime fighting," said Raph.
"Crime fighting? Dude, it's been ages since we've done anything like that. Like, I'm so rusty it's not even funny." said Mikey.
"No can do, Raph. I have a job now. I have income to make. I can't just push that to the side to punch criminals." said Donnie.
"Donnie, that job is killing you. Just take some time off," said Raph.
"Time off?! You don't even have a REAL job, Mr. Nightwatcher," said Donnie.
Mikey's eyes widened in shock, as Raph looked at Donnie in surprise.
"Raph, I'm the genius of the family. You think I couldn't connect the dots," said Donnie.
"Well, what's your evidence?" asked Raph.
"I don't know, the fact that you're not in the lair when the Nightwatcher is out on the streets. Or the fact that you have so many bruises on you that you don't even try to cover up. Or the fact that I looked at a picture some took of the Nightwatcher and I noticed that Nightwatcher's glove only had THREE FINGERS." said Donnie.
Knowing he couldn't make an excuse, Raph simply said, "Shit."
"Dude, you were Nightwatcher the whole time?! That's so awesome! You looked so badass! Where'd you get the outfit?" asked Mikey.
"From the original Nightwatcher. He died in my arms, and I made a promise to continue his legacy," said Raph.
"Woah. That's sad but cool at the same time. You're like a real-life comic book character, Raph." said Mikey.
"Thanks, Mikey. But Donnie, you NEED a break. You gotta admit that." said Raph.
"I know I do but…we need money, Raph. I don't want to go back to when Casey and April had to spend their money on us all the time. You know how guilty I feel about that?" said Donnie.
"Yeah, but you and Mikey have saved up enough, don't you think? It's not like we're gonna go broke anytime soon. So how about you stop letting that job make you miserable and let's be the ass-kicking team we once were!" said Raph.
Donnie thought about his family's finances and concluded that even if he and Mikey didn't work for a few weeks, they would still be in a solid position. And it would be nice to not have someone shout about a dumb problem in his headset for a while.
"Well, you do have a point. I guess taking a few days off work wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But if you want this to be a reality, then we need to cut back on luxury expenses." said Donnie.
Raph and Donnie then looked at Mikey, who asked, "Why are you guys looking at me?"
"I don't know, Mikey. Maybe it's because of all the useless crap you buy to entertain yourself," said Raph.
"Video games ARE NOT useless. And neither are my movies or CDs. They're good for me. They take my mind off things." said Mikey.
"Well, what about all that garbage you get on the shopping channel," said Raph.
"Yeah, well…they have good deals." Mikey tried to argue.
"Mikey, you can live without buying new games or movies or CDs. You can stick to what you have for right now," said Donnie.
"Can I at least buy new comics? They're not that expensive. Please?" Mikey practically begged.
Donnie sighed and said, "Fine. I'll make an exception for comics but that's it. Does anyone object to these conditions?"
Neither Raph nor Mikey objected.
"Then it's settled. I'll let my job know that I'll be unavailable for certain days of the week," said Donnie.
"Same here, dude," said Mikey.
"Cool, but once you're done, you two gotta start training immediately," said Raph.
Mikey whined before asking, "Do we have to?"
"Unless you want to get your ass handed to you, then yeah," said Raph.
"We got our asses handed to us when we were doing this full-time," Mikey grumbled.
"But where are we going to train? You know Splinter is going to shoot down any chance of us using the dojo," said Donnie.
"That's why we have friends," Raph said before taking out his phone to call April.
"Hey April, it's Raph. Listen, my bros and I need a place to start training again and I thought your place would be our best bet. Why? It's important. I'll give you more information when we get there. Oh, and Splinter can't know about this. If he asks, tell him we're helping you and Casey with furniture or something. And can you tell Casey I said hi? Great, we'll be there soon. Bye, April." Raph said before hanging up.
"So, we're training at April and Casey's place?" asked Mikey.
"Yep. And we're leaving as soon as tell your jobs about wanting time off," said Raph.
Raph waited impatiently as Donnie and Mikey called their respective bosses. Mikey was done first and after a few more minutes of waiting, Donnie was done as well.
"It's done," said Donnie.
"Great. Let's go." Raph said as he, Donnie, and Mikey left the lair to go to April and Casey's apartment.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Almost 9 months since I last updated this story. Yikes. Sorry. At least, it seems like my drive for writing stories in a timely manner is coming back, so that's nice. The next chapter will revolve around Raph, Donnie, and Mikey training at April and Casey's apartment and letting them know about their situation. Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Bye for now and stay safe.