Splinter walked into the dojo when he heard two of his sons arguing.

"She saved Mikey yesterday! Why can't you see that maybe she really is our ally!" Leo barked as he held his swords against Raph's sais.

"It's obvious that she's just trying to get close to us!"

"Then how come she hasn't tried to get information out of us?!"

"Yame!" Splinter said sternly and both boys stepped back from each other. "What is this about?"

"Leo won't listen to reason! He's trusting Shadow way to easily even after you told him to not trust her! What if she hurts us?!" Raph shouted.

"I never said not to trust this girl. I merely said to be cautious. Why is it that you think you can't trust her?" Splinter asked as he motioned for his sons to sit down.

"Well, she won't tell us her name," Raph said as he knelt down, resting his hands on his knees.

"Because she wants me to guess it," Leo spoke up. "It's a game to her. She's just trying to have fun."

"That's what you think," Raph grumbled.

"Now, Leonardo, why is it that you think you can trust her?" Splinter asked.

"Well, she wasn't looking for us when we first met. We actually joined her in the fight so it's not as if she was trying to find us. And she has helped us quite a bit. She even saved Mikey today even though she was hurt because of it. She doesn't pry for information either," Leo explained.

"And because you think she's pretty," Raph teased as he bat his eyes at his brother.

Leo rolled his eyes. "That's not why I trust her. Yeah, I think she's cute, but I wouldn't trust her because of that. I trust her because she's proven to be a useful ally and a good person. You seemed to trust her before, so what changed? What else do you want her to do to prove herself to you?"

Raph opened his mouth to speak before he growled. "You know what? Fine! But don't come to me when she betrays you!"

The red clad turtle stomped out of the room.

Splinter sighed as Leo stood up. "I trust your judgment. You are the leader of this team and there will always be decisions like this. If you feel that this Shadow is a useful ally, then follow your intuition."

"Hai, sensei."

🍕

"What you up to, Donnie?" Leo asked as he watched his brother draw on a large poster board, Mikey and Raph watching him too.

"Just putting the finishing touches on my master plan," Donnie answered as he looked at his brothers.

Raph quirked his lip as he looked at the diagram Donnie has designed. "Master plan?"

"Yeah, to get April to hang out with me," Donnie answered.

Leo chuckled as he shook his head. "Try this, 'April, do you want to hang out with me?'"

"Yeah, you see, it's not that simple. I have to prepare for every possible response to maximize my chances of success," Donnie replied as he waved off Leo's ridiculous suggestion.

"Aw, that's so romantic!" Mikey gushed.

"Yeah, for instance, if April says she can't because she has homework, then I will suggest an informal study session and serve healthy, brain-stimulating snacks," Donnie replied with a proud grin.

"Well, what if she says she can't because you're a total nerd?" Raph teased as he gave his little brother a smirk.

"Ah, that's this thread here," Donnie said as he pointed to the line. "I will list my many non-nerdy qualities and suggest activities that will highlight my coolness, such as skateboarding or shark wrestling."

"Guys!" April burst into the room which made Donnie jump, trying to hide his flowchart from the redhead.

"Hey, hey, Ap- hey, April," he stuttered out, trying to seem cool which made Leo facepalm.

"You guys gotta check this out," April said as she put her laptop down and pressed play on the video she had open.

"Renowned neurochemist Dr. Tyler Rockwell has been reported missing. I spoke with Rockwell's colleague, Dr. Victor Falco," the news reporter relayed.

"I hadn't heard from him in days, so I stopped by his lab. The place was a mess and he was gone. I fear the worst," the doctor, Falco, said in the news report.

"Police say they have-" April paused the video and looked up at Leo.

The blue clad turtle looked at April in confusion. "So?"

"So the Kraang have been kidnapping scientists from all over the city, including my Dad! Maybe that's what happened to this Rockwell guy," April explained as she closed her laptop.

"Or they may not be connected at all," Leo reasoned.

"There's only one way to find out. We should go to that lab and look around," April replied, standing up.

"April's right. We should go check it out. What's that? You guys are busy? Guess it's just the two of us, April," Donnie said quickly, not letting his brothers interject. He led April out of the lab and towards the exit of the lair.

Leo chuckled as he walked over to Donnie's poster. "I bet that wasn't on his flowchart." He looked at the diagram and his eyes widened. "Whoa. It is! That is spooky."

🍕

Donnie snuck into the building with April, ready to search Rockwell's lab.

"There isn't an electronic lock out there my digital lock pick can't crack," Donnie bragged as he unlocked the door to the lab.

April smiled as the door opened. "Smooth!"

Donnie giggled a little, his cheeks dusting a light pink.

The two looked around with a flashlight to see papers strewn across the floor, everything misaligned and messy.

"Wow, this place is a wreck," Donnie commented.

April saw the cage that had a busted door and her face twisted in disgust. "Ugh, he must have been experimenting on animals."

"Either someone was up to some secret research, or they were renting space to one freaky dentist!" Donnie said as he looked at the lab chair.

He walked over to the desk in the room and opened some of the drawers. He saw a flashdrive that he quickly swiped before a green glow caught his attention. He pulled up the false bottom of the drawer and his brown eyes widened at what he saw.

"Mutagen!"

Donnie picked up the cannister to look it over.

"Donnie, look out!" April warned and the turtle quickly grabbed his staff, flinging his attacker to the ground, pinning him.

April quickly turned the lights one when she saw the switch and the man on the ground groaned. "Dr. Falco!"

The doctor yelped when he finally opened his eyes, seeing Donnie above him. "What are you?!"

Donnie stood up and put his staff back in it's sheath. "Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You already hurt me!" Falco accused with a narrowed look.

"I mean any more," Donnie clarified as he rolled his eyes.

"We're here to help," April assured as she walked over with a kind smile. "We heard what happened on the news. A while back my father was kidnapped by some people. He's a scientist too. These people were taking scientists all over the city so when we heard what happened to your friend, I thought maybe it was connected. Those guys still have my father so I was hoping maybe you knew something that could lead us to him."

"I'm sorry. I wish I knew something about your father, but I don't," Falco replied and April slumped.

"So what can you tell us about this?" Donnie asked as he held up the canister of mutagen.

"Some shady corporate goon paid Rockwell a lot of money to experiment with it," Falco explained.

April hummed and pulled a picture of one of the human looking Kraang droids. "This the guy?"

"That's him." Falco nodded.

"The Kraang," Donnie muttered as he put his knuckle to his chin in thought.

"Well, I wanted no part of that stuff. Who knows what kind of monstrosities could result? No offense," Falco replied as he looked up at Donnie.

"Some taken."

"Is that what was in that cage over there? One of his monstrosities?" April asked curiously.

"Can we ease up on the m-word, please?" Donnie requested with a frown on his face.

"That's where he kept the monkey he was experimenting on," Falco said as he motioned to the cage that was in pretty bad shape.

"It sure didn't like being locked up in there," the turtle said, keeping the conversation flowing.

"Rockwell didn't treat it very well," Falco admitted.

"Maybe the Kraang didn't take Rockwell. Maybe the monkey went berserk, busted out of the cage, and dragged him off or worse," April suggested and Falco slumped with a sigh.

"I really don't know anymore that can help you guys," Falco replied.

"That's alright. Thank you for the information. We'll try and find Doctor Rockwell," April assured with her usual warm smile gracing her features.

"Thank you," Falco said with a nod of gratitude.

🍕

"So how do you suppose we're gonna find Rockwell without any leads?" April asked as she walked down an alley with Donnie at her side.

"Well, maybe we'll know more once we have a look at his flash drive," Donnie said with a grin.

"What flash drive?"

"The one I swiped off his desk," Donnie answered.

April's face lit up. "Nice!"

Donnie chuckled as he threw his jands behind his head while they walked. "Yeah. Well, keeping cool under pressure is the hallmark of a-"

Out of nowhere, a giant monkey jumped down in front of them and April let out a cry of fright.

Donnie immediately pulled out his staff and got ready to fight.

"Careful, Donnie! That's a dangerous mutant!"

Donnie grimaced. "That makes two of us!"

🍕

"I thought you were going out tonight?" Luca said as he walked into the living room to see Sofia curled up on the couch.

"No..." Sofia mumbled as she pulled her afghan around her.

"What happened?" Luca asked as he sat down on the other side of the couch.

"It's nothing important..."

"Well, it's obviously important to you, therefore it is to me as well," Luca said, holding his arm open so she could move to cuddle into his arms.

"You know those boys I told you about? And April?" Sofia spoke up quietly after a moment.

"Of course. Leo and April are all you ever talk about these days. Or sorry, Blue and April," Luca replied as he gave her a little smile.

Sofia's cheeks burned a little as she thought about how much she would talk about the blue clad turtle. "Yeah, well, Raph doesn't want me around them anymore. He said that they can't trust me."

"Oh, tesoro. Mi dispiace," Luca said quietly, kissing her head gently. "Did you do something wrong?"

"That's the thing! I don't think I did anything wrong, but he said that they had no reason to trust me and that I ass probably working for some guy called the Shredder!"

Luca stiffened immediately. "What? They think you're working with the Shredder? Does that mean the foot are in New York?"

"The foot? What are you talking about? So you know who this Shredder guy is?" Sofia asked, not understanding why her uncle had such a frightened look in his eyes.

"A man that I hope you never have to meet. The foot are the only known surviving ninja clan in Japan. The clan that your mother and father were trying to take down when they died. Oroku Saki was the one who killed them. He's the Shredder," Luca explained and Sofia fell silent.

She knew that her parents had been killed in Japan, but her uncle had said that she didn't need to know their killers because they wouldn't want her to become vengeful. She respected that because she knew that her mother would never want for her to life her life in agony over their deaths.

However, knowing now that this man was the man who had killed her mother and killed her father, she couldn't help but want to kill him.

"But if he's here... then what does he want?" Sofia spoke after a moment, trying to rid the violent thoughts from her mind.

"I don't know, but I want you to stay away from anyone you may suspect of being a foot soldier. And I trust that you won't go after Shredder recklessly."

"You know I won't. That's a promise," Sofia said and Luca hugged her close.

"I'm sorry that this is happening. We all wanted so much better for you. I'll start making moving preparations as soon as possible," Luca replied to which she quickly shook her head.

"No! I don't want to move again. I've never been somewhere as long as New York and I actually made friends! I want to stay. We shouldn't run just because of this Shredder guy. That's not what mom would do," Sofia argued.

Luca looked down and let out a sigh. "You're right... she wouldn't want to run..."

"I'll be careful. Plus, I'm sure I can get the boys to trust me again. There's no reason for them not to! So no running away!"

"Right! And plus we can't run away! Long distance relationships are hard. I would never do that to you and Leo," Luca teased with a grin.

"Really?!" Sofia smacked her uncle's arm as her face burned. "And you wonder why I won't let you meet him!"

🍕

"Come on," April said gently as she helped Donnie into the lair.

The other three turtles looked over and immediately jumped up.

"Whoa, what happened?" Leo asked as he took Donnie's arm over his shoulder.

"Donnie got beat up by a lab monkey," April explained.

"April, can you get an ice pack?" Leo requested as he and Raph helped Donnie onto the couch, laying him down carefully.

"Donnie, you gonna be okay?" Leo asked with worry as he looked over his little brother.

Donnie groaned but gave a tiny nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine."

"In that case..."

His brothers all burst out laughing which made Donnie freeze as his face flared up in pure embarrassment.

"You got beaten up by a monkey? In front of your girlfriend?!" Raph teased as he held his stomach while laughing.

"She's not my girlfriend! And that monkey was a vicious mutant!"

"Yeah, I'm sure he went bananas!" Leo joked which made Raph and Mikey laugh harder. "No, no, no, no, no. He went ape!"

"Monkey!" Mikey giggled.

April walked back into the living room with the ice pack in her hands and Raph stopped his laughing.

"No more monkey puns," Raph said as he gave a straight face.

Donnie gave a tiny laugh as April lofted his head, setting it in her lap after she sat down.

"Are you laughing at him because he's hurt?" April accused as she put the ice pack on Donnie's head gently.

"No, we were laughing at him because he was hurt by a monkey!" Mikey clarified before they all started laughing again.

Then a ping on April's phone. Aught her attention.

She pulled her phone out and Mikey looked over her shoulder.

"You have Shadow's number?! Awesome! You should see if she wants to hang out sometime!" Mikey said excitedly.

Raph's face turned down into a frown. "We can't lead hee to our home! What if she tells Shredder right where we are?!"

"What?" April looked at the red clad turtle in confusion.

Leo rolled his eyes as he sat down. "He's stuck on the thought that Shadow is a spy or something."

"But she's helped you guys so many times!" April reasoned.

"She won't even tell us her name!" Raph defended his reasoning.

"She told me her name," April revealed with a grimace.

"Really?! Give me a hint!" Leo said as he leaned forward quickly.

April laughed lightly. "She specifically told me not to tell you. That would be cheating."

Leo groaned as he slumped. "No fair."

"She's not a spy, Raph. She's just having fun and it's obvious that she likes being around us. Leo especially," April said which made Leo chuckle sheepishly.

Raph scoffed. "Fine, if you're certain that she's not against us, then I'll trust you."

"But you won't trust me when I say it?" Leo quirked his lip up.

"It's hard to trust your judgment on her when every time you see her you get all googly eyes. It's gross," Raph replied with a grimace.

"Whatever," Leo huffed.