"𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓸𝓬𝓮𝓪𝓷 𝓫𝓵𝓾𝓮. 𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓽𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓻𝔂. 𝓨𝓸𝓾'𝓵𝓵 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓱𝓼."

"I'm outside, open up." You whispered into the phone, looking up at the apartment building. You waited until the light to your room flipped on, and in succession it flickered 3 more times before you saw a shadow by your window. Someone waved another two times and the window opened. Waiting 3 minutes, you climbed up the fire escape and slipped into your bedroom window.

"Thanks." You muttered as you stumbled through the windowsill.

You looked up to look at Alaric, but were only met with him roughly shoving you backwards so that you stumbled onto your bed.

"What the hell!?" You whisper yelled.

"I said a full explanation was required. I want it now." Alaric locked the door behind him and pulled up the chair from your desk. Placing it in front of you, he sat on it backwards, facing you as he gave you a hard glare. "Well?"

You shifted back and forth on your bed as you avoided eye contact. It was 12 in the morning and you had school tomorrow, so you thought it was best to make this quick.

"Look, I'll be honest, I don't know how to explain this. I found out my internship makes me do research for morally questionable goals, so I... I was taken by a few friends who work against them, right in front of the only person in my work place that doesn't hate me." You took a deep breath. "I've been working with them for a little while now... We've been trying to clean up the streets and stuff like that, but I didn't expect that I would have to..."

"Betray someone you respect?" Alaric finished your sentence for you with a clouded look in his eyes.

"Yeah." You said in a whisper, swallowing your nervousness, you spoke again. "Last I checked, they still think I'm on their side... They think I'm kidnapped."

"So why not stay with your friends?" He asked, leaning against the back of the chair, raising an eyebrow.

"Because one of them hates me. My friend's brother really really hates me." You muttered, rubbing the back of you neck. "I don't want to cause them any more trouble than I have already."

"Oh, so you think that causing me trouble is just fine though?" He asked sarcastically.

"Difference is that I've actually bailed you out before." You snapped back at him. "Remember the time you came home looking like you were run over by a truck?"

"Funny thing, I was actually hit by a truck." He gave a humorless chuckle.

"God, seriously?!" You asked as he shushed you.

"Quiet, you idiot! Are you trying to wake my parents?"

"Sorry." You grumbled. "But I don't have anyone else to turn to."

You shifted your gaze elsewhere, and Alaric simply stared at you, examining your behavior before he let out a sigh. "Go on then." He muttered, pointing to the door.

"What?" You asked, looking up at him wide eyed.

"Go." He ordered. "Go to my room. I told you, I'll sleep here. If my parents suddenly walk in here and see you here when you're supposed to be 'kidnapped', it's not gonna end well."

"And what if they find me in your room instead?"

"They won't." He said confidently. "They know better than to go into my room without permission. They'll knock, so hide under my desk or jump out the window, but don't touch anything. And don't go looking through my closet or something."

"Well, obviously. It's not like I want to find your drugs and pocket knives." You rolled your eyes and stood, walking to the door.

"Oh, and (Y/N)." Alaric spoke up, causing you to widen your eyes, as he's hardly used your name before. "I'll tell you about the truck incident some other day."

Your hand was on the doorknob, but a smile began to grace your features, despite the hectic day you'd had. "I hope its an exciting story."

.

.

.

You'd been pretending to be kidnapped for a few days now, to which you felt terrible every time that Alaric reminded you his parents were basically crying over your disappearance. You apologized whenever you saw him because it made him feel like he was unloved - again.

For the time being though, you were walked to the Lair after school by Leonardo again, this time the walk there was even more somber than before.

"Leonardo?" You asked as you noticed that he seemed upset and distracted.

He turned to look back to you with a hum of acknowledgment.

"What happened with Karai?" You knew that was the reason he was so spacey lately, and that it was a sensitive topic for him, but you wanted to help.

There was a pause in his reply. "She was captured by Shredder..." His expression turned pained. "And turned into a snake mutant."

Your eyes went wide, your mouth slightly ajar. "I'm so sorry." You offered your condolences, to which he said nothing, only continuing to lead you into the Lair.

Entering the Lair, you saw all the other turtle brothers acting as normal as before. If anything, it was Splinter, who was holed up in the dojo, and Leonardo who took the hardest hits.

You made your way to Donatello's lab this time. "Donatello?"

"Hello, (Y/N)." Donatello didn't even look up from his work as he sketched in his notebook.

"What are you working on?" You asked, looking over his shoulder.

"The turtle mech." He replied quickly.

"A giant turtle themed robot?" Your eyes widened and began to sparkle. "That's so cool!"

Donatello immediately perked up when you complimented his work. "Thanks! Although this is just a prototype design, it should work extremely well against the Kraang, and it looks amazing. I took the idea from the Super Force Five show that we were watching, but this time it's realistic." He gushed before remembering the reason as to why he called you here. "Oh, right! I'm supposed to teach you how to begin synthesizing the Retro-Mutagen."

"It's alright, Donatello. I'm ready to learn when you are."

"Right. Now, how much do you know about Mutagen so far? And your understanding of organic chemistry?" He closed his notebook and moved aside papers and blueprints as he pulled out the Retro-Mutagen information.

You took a seat beside him. "I've been working with Mutagen for a few months now. I have information from my internship on it as well, but I don't know much about Retro-Mutagen. I remember working with Stockman to try and make it (although I didn't know it was Retro-Mutagen), but we didn't get very far. I also have a fairly good understanding of organic chemistry."

"Good, that will make this a lot easier to explain then."