— echoes of the past —

   SOMETIMES—okay, a lot of times, Eloise could see it. It mostly occurred in her dreams, the extremely realistic dreams that could nearly pass as memories. She dreamed about herself, except it was not her. Well, this version of her, at least.

It was difficult to explain, but in a nutshell, Eloise often dreamed of herself in different time periods living incredibly different lives. She was never able to tell what brought it on. Normally, it had to do with her previous day.

Perhaps she had encountered a familiar smell or a tune or even acquired the oddest sense of deja vu. She had simply touched someone before only to fall into a daydream that took her somewhere else.

Eloise wrote it off as her ADHD because that made it very easy for her attention to drift off. But even Eloise had to admit these sensations were far stronger than simple slips of focus. It was almost as though she would fall into weird flashbacks.

To the outside, not even a second would go by, but for Eloise—it felt like hours. Right now, she was actually sleeping—it was a dream.

Eloise was by no means supposed to be sleeping. It was the last class period of her school day, and she was snoring softly in the back of her math class. Her teacher was far too zoned into teaching a class full of minors who did not give the slightest fuck to even think about scolding Eloise.

Besides, she was not the only one sleeping, there were like five others doing it as well. Not to mention the few students whispering and gossiping to each other or the ones texting. Barely anyone was paying attention.

However, that was, unfortunately, the normalcy at Chief Hill.

This mattered not though, for as Eloise rested her head on her desk, her eyes closed peacefully—she was mentally somewhere else entirely.

This was no stable dream. She bounced around from scene to scene.

The balls were magnificent, a beauty that few were rarely ever able to behold. Satin gowns of every color, glamorous men and women laughing with tight and high updos. Everyone was happy, and they all danced in sync with each other.

Eloise wore such a light blue gown that it could near pass as white. The bottom flared out largely and the top was so tight it was squeezing the air out of her. It made it hard to move (and breathe!), but it did not take away from her happiness.

And was she a sight to behold, one of the prettiest women dancing—she caught the eye of all. Even if she were not so fetching, she would still be the apple of many's eyes—for she is a princess, after all.

The scene changed from the great ball just Eloise was lifted and twirled in the air by a fancy-looking man.

"Princess... please!"

Eloise laughed lightly, and she spun around to face the handmaiden chasing after her. Her long bouncy curls whipped, and a white smile was plastered over the princess's face. She was truly a gem, it was why many sought her out for marriage.

"I am quite sorry, Morgana!" The princess said in perfect French, before spinning and running off once more.

Eloise was unable to see where her doppelganger was heading, for the scene changed once again. Except for this time, it did not portray herself as an otherworldly princess. Just before the scene was completely gone, a number popped into her head for some reason.

[ 𝟏𝟏. ]

Eloise was unsure of why the number eleven popped into her head, but it was seared into her brain. The scene unraveled after that, and the previous princess was lost to the vast waves of Elle's mind.

Then, the dream changed course altogether.

Eloise fell to her knees, her body shuttering as she coughed. Soot covered once pretty face, and her being was being dragged down by a horribly heavy and uncomfortable dress. The dark ringlets fell over her shoulders and face.

It was chaos.

The scene kept changing to multiple things, but the girl stuck in the house on fire kept coming back.

She screamed as a burning hot iron was suddenly pressed into her stomach, her body chained onto a wall. Eloise was bound so tight she could not even wither, her screams echoing the barn.

"Where is the army attackin' next?!"

Eloise was suddenly back in the house, crawling desperately through the fire. Her vision was turning black and the heat of the flames was starting to get to her.

She reached out and she heard her own voice holler, "ETHAN!"

[ 13. ]

Another number, thirteen, was seared into her mind.

———————

Eloise sat up with a jerk and a gasp. Her heart racing and she placed a hand over her chest to calm down.

Looking up, Eloise thanked the stars that it had been the bell signaling the end of the school day to wake her. It meant everyone was far too occupied with getting out of class to notice her dilemma in the back.

Elle hurried to scrap all her school supplies into her swirling-colored backpack, quickly zipping it before leaping out the door. Her bag was haphazardously hanging over her shoulder as she jogged through the school hallways filled to the brim with teenage idiots.

Eloise had been having dreams, nightmares, daydreams, and other visions such as these all her life. While this was the first time she dreamed about that particular princess scene, it was not the first time she had dreamed of herself as that princess.

And that had definitely not been the first time she dreamed about the burning house in the 1800s'. Or at least, she thought it was the 1800s' period. Eloise had dreamed of other scenes revolving around this version herself, and from what she gathered—she was somehow involved in the Civil War.

The burning iron part of the dream made her shutter. She was relatively sure she was being tortured for not giving the Confederate answers about her side, the Union. But in the dream, Eloise would rather die than give up top-secret information about the Union. This war was tricky, and any leaked information could mean an immediate loss for the Union.

Eloise truly was not sure what the cause was for these dreams. But unless she wanted to go to counseling about this too (she was already suffering enough, thanks to her claiming that she was the one who started the fire that killed her family with her bare hands) then she had to mark these dreams off as her having too big of an imagination.

She never has and most likely never will open up about these visions to anyone. They were too weird even for her liking, even weirder than the mutated turtles she met in the sewers a few weeks back.

Eloise strolled out the doors of the school, being greeted by the rare New York sun.

Ah, yes—Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo. The turtles she met a few weeks ago. Eloise still remembered when she walked into her auntie's apartment after that whole situation. Aunt Taylor had been freaking the fuck out and Elle had thought up a lie on the spot to calm her down.

To be honest, Eloise was surprised that her aunt had not snapped. After everything that Eloise had done, Aunt Taylor's patience must have been running thin.

Dying her hair, getting a piercing, giving up figure skating, pretty much giving up school—hell, if Eloise was Aunt Taylor, Eloise would have whooped her own ass into next year.

Today Eloise did not have any plans. Normally, her plans consisted of messing around with Zeke, Martin, and Bridgette—but today all of them were kicking back and hitting the 420. While Eloise was not against it, she had learned the hard way that marijuana was not for her.

She was not sure what it was about her, maybe her ADHD had something to do with it, but when she got high, she was not calm like most people. No, she tended to have extreme freakouts and hallucinations, and if she was not having a bad trip, then she was rushing around as though she was on speed.

Overall, it was not a good feeling so Eloise tried staying away from weed and any other drugs. The only thing she would really participate in was alcohol at a party (even if it was technically worse for you than marijuana).

A part of Elle wanted to just go to her aunt's apartment and watch some mindless television. However, an even larger part of her wanted to avoid the place for as long as she could. It was not that she did not like her aunt Taylor and her fiancé, after all, they were being kind enough to house her.

But at the same time, things were very tense between them all. The issue was that Elle would obviously rather be back in California living with her grandparents, dog, and being able to visit her mother in a coma whenever she wished. Instead, she was trapped in some reform school in the Big Apple.

Eloise turned a corner, her eyes widening when she came across a whole courtyard full of people in costume. In a weird way, this was not odd for New York City. It was how a lot of people made extra pocket money.

Dressing as different people from television, movies, comics, or even books was a good way to draw people in for pictures. This particular street of New York was known for doing just that. Anyone could dress up as they please and lounge around this street to bring in tourists for photos.

Eloise's attention was not on any random people dressed up though. No, her gaze was deadset on the quartet of turtles in the midst of this. To the naked eye, they would simply seem like a color-coded band of humans with the best costumes. But Eloise knew better, for these were the very same people she had met weeks prior.

She knew that these were no costumes, no—that was their actual beings. Eloise froze and pondered how the people could not tell that they were not wearing costumes. Seriously, that was too realistic to be fake!

People said California was full of ditzy airheads, but it was New York that apparently had the real idiots.

"Oof!"

Elle grunted as someone harshly knocked into her from the side. Shaking her head, she turned to face the perpetrator only to see a familiar girl wearing cat-eyed glasses. It took a second for Elle to remember where she had seen this girl before, but it suddenly dawned on her that this was the girl in the picture with the turtles.

She was that human girl and Elle bet that she was also the "April O'Neil" the turtles had constantly been referring to.

In real life she was pretty (just as she had been in the photo), and she was around Eloise's height and age. Elle was especially dying for the two puffballs that April styled her natural hair into. Her bright yellow tanktop was covered by a green jacket and her black leggings were tucked into a pair of killer yellow boots.

April delivered a semi-apologetic look to Eloise.

"Sorry 'bout that," she muttered with a slight Brooklyn accent.

Next to April stood a slightly shorter girl, her hair in a style that was just a bit shorter than Eloise's. She wore a red hairband with a colorful dress and white tights under it. Her face split into a bright grin, and she tilted her head curiously at Elle.

"It's..." Elle paused, still examining April who rose a brow at her, "...fine," she ended almost unsurely.

Her gaze was cast to the quartet of turtles once more. They were not too far away, but still a good distance.

April nodded, and just as she was about to walk off, Elle reached out and grasped her wrist. April jumped and whipped around, her eyes now giving off an expression of annoyance and suspicion. Hastily, Eloise retracted her hand and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

"So sorry, didn't mean to startle you," she explained politely, "but you wouldn't happen to be April O'Neil, would you?"

April did not lighten up, crossing her arms and popping her hip out in a sassy manner.

"And who's askin'...?"

The girl next to April nudged her. April only waved her off.

"Oh, uhm, I'm Elle—sorry, I think I just might've met your uhm..." Eloise was stumbling over her words, "...friends a few weeks ago?"

Eloise was not sure if the turtles had told April about that whole encounter, but she assumed they must have for a few seconds passed and April's eyes lit up with recognition. She pointed to Elle with a small smile.

"Oh! You that girl they was talkin' to me 'bout! You got into their lair, right?"

"Yeah!" Elle chirped, thankful that April had opened up.

"Cool! Well, I'm April and this is my friend, Sunita!" April motioned to the girl next to her.

Sunita waved happily, "Aloha!" She cheered in greeted.

Surprisingly, and again—Elle did not know why she said this, but instead of "hello" she spoke a sweet, "Bonjour!"

"I'm assumin' you already noticed the guys over there," April nodded her head in the direction of them.

"Yeah, I'm kinda surprised no one realizes that they're not wearing costumes," Elle said causing April to scoff.

"You're tellin' me. I think this city honestly has some of the most gullible idiots in the world..."

Elle and Sunita both laughed at April's words. However, before another word could be spoken, Sunita gasped and cried out.

"Oh no! Apes, the boys are going to win!"

Elle and April turned to see where Sunita was pointing only to see the quartet scheming and nudging themselves closer to some guy cosplaying as Luke Skywalker. He held up a relatively realistic-looking lightsaber, but Elle was willing to bet he bought it from the Walmart down the block.

April growled a sigh but made no further move.

"Going to win what?" Elle finally gave in and asked.

April briefly made eye contact with her.

"Basically, we were all bored, so we made this bet. Whoever gets that lightsaber from Mr. Luke Skywalker wins—even though the boys refuse to watch Star Wars, apparently they're Jupiter Jim fans till the end," April said sourly.

"Yep," Sunita piped in, "and Donnie was actually on our team originally, but since Mayhem is a technical member, Leo pulled him back on their side..."

"Mayhem...?" Elle trailed off, only for an odd noise to come from down below.

Peering down, Elle jumped about five feet in the air at the oddest looking creature.

"Holy shit!"

It looked like a cross between a cat or dog and was obviously mutant by nature.

Definitely not something you can find in a pet store.

To her shock, the small animal teleported into April's awaiting arms. She cooed and scratched its head. Mayhem purred in response, nudging itself closer to April.

"Huh..." Elle nodded, "cool!"

April smiled in response, glad that she did not need to deal with someone being freaked out over her pet. As chill as Elle seemed so far, April would not hesitate in taking her beloved pet's side if it came down to it.

"Yeah, but since he can teleport, the boys did not think it to be fair to have Donnie and Mayhem..." April said while hugging Mayhem closer, "isn't that right, buddy," she cooed at the end.

Shaking her head, Elle looked back to Luke Skywalker who was crouched down for a photo with a kid. The guys were still in the background, getting closer ever-so-often. But at the moment, they appeared to be in a heated debate. Probably over how to go about this.

"So, basically," Elle folded her hands together, "you two need to get that fake lightsaber," she pointed to the lit-up glowing blue thing, "before them?"

"Precisely!" April smiled with a head nod from Sunita.

"Gotcha," Eloise hummed, "give me a second..."

Sunita and April glance at each other confused, but their eyes widened at what Elle was doing.

Eloise was suddenly glad she decided to wear make-up that day. The cat-eyed liner would make her eyes all the more entrancing—just what she needed to finesse that cosplayer.

Grabbing the front of her shirt, she gripped the edges and quickly tied it up above her belly button. She pulled her shorts up a bit as well, giving all who looked a nice view of her legs. Bending down, Eloise did not hesitate in folded her long socks so they appeared as thick ankle socks.

Standing back up, she saw both April and Sunita gaping in shock. Elle was not exactly sure what her own ethnicity was—she realized that she was not white, but at the same time she was not sure if she could be considered POC.

She desperately hoped that was the case though, as her natural skin tone was dark enough to not be completely white. However, her records from wherever the hell she was born and whoever the hell her birth parents are were scrambled.

She was left on the doorstep of a fire department in the dead of winter when she was a few weeks old with a note that only had a date and name scribbled across it.

Eloise Noelle Thomas: December 26—they assumed this was her birthday.

Nobody knew where she came from, who her parents were, or anything about her.

It was odd, to say the least.

Eloise rarely pondered on it for that was the beginning of her life and much had happened since then.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Elle ran her hands through her hair before handing her backpack to Sunita.

April and Sunita were still staring at her wide-eyed, they had an idea of what she was up to, but they could not believe it.

"Hold this for me real quick," she hummed as Sunita took it, but paused at their looks, "What? Might as well use the shallow, sexually frustrated, testosterone-induced mind of the male species against that loser..." and Eloise ended her small speech with a dazzling smile.

She may have rebirthed herself as Elle, but Eloise was still kicking under the surface. That perky, confident, Californian queen who used to be as popular as they came back in the hallways of her old school. All it took was a flutter of her eyelashes and that oh-so endearing look, and she was able to have nearly any guy she wanted wrapped around her finger.

Even if her hair was more interesting, not as bouncy but more colorful, and she had that badass piercing—Eloise knew she still had it in her. Besides, who doesn't love the teen rocker look?

Eloise only wished her hair was long enough to do her signature hair flip as she turned away from the girls and strutted over to Luke Skywalker.

Like usual when she took over this persona, eyes were drawn to her. It was a born talent as Eloise's grandmother used to tell her.

Eloise was a magnet, she was electric, whenever she walked into a room—people would race over to greet her. Men drool and fall to their knees for just a smile. And it was all in the way that Eloise held herself when she wanted to—then that was the reaction she would elicit from a crowd.

And that was how she held herself at the moment.

Nobody argued, all moving out of her way as she walked up to the cosplayer. The line was basically non-existent, and nobody in line dared to say anything to her. However, out of everyone's gaze, Eloise only felt a few.

The turtle teenagers, she knew they were staring at her, but she did her best not to so much as spare them a glance. If she gave her attention to anyone, then she would not be as powerful.

"You are only as powerful as you make yourself..."

Eloise did not flinch, she recognized the saying and the voice. And yet, she simply could not put her finger as to where she had heard it from.

Luke Skywalker or the young man dressed as him delivered a small nervous smile her way. Eloise was used to this kind of treatment, and she could not help but compare him to a lot of the boys in the hallways of her old school.

Eloise finally stopped, she had passed inches away from the Luke Skywalker lookalike. He was not all that much taller than herself, and so she was easily able to look him in the eyes. He swallowed thickly at the sight of those piercing eyes glaring so fiercely into his own.

But she was not glaring in a mean way, rather in that alluring manner she recently turned on.

Eloise tilted her head, carefully choosing the best path of action. Suddenly, she smiled innocently and put her hand on his shoulder in a teasing manner.

"Well, it has been a hell of a day..." she sighed, ignoring all of the gazes.

Everyone in her general vicinity was watching, many whispers breaking out. A girl feet away dressed as Princess Leia let out a huff, her fists clenching in irritation. However, it was still New York, so while Elle had caught the gaze of those around, there were still plenty more outside of this little bubble going on with their daily lives.

"You can say that again," Luke breathed hoarsely and it made Eloise smile.

"Hey, so..." she decided, "I am sure you paid good money for that old thing and all—"

"What?" Luke spat with a chuckle, holding his lightsaber up, "This? Oh, not at all, did not even make a dent in my bank account!" He explained, trying to show off.

Eloise internally smirked. Perfect, he was playing right into the palm of her hands.

"Then you wouldn't mind if..." Elle paused almost shyly, forcing herself to blush and look up through her lashes. It made the guy's heart stutter and pound, "if I borrowed it? I'm sorry, I'm just such a huge fan of Star Wars and my financial situation isn't the best at the moment..." Elle breathed at the end in a mock cute way.

She only wished she had those long luscious curls to twirl around her fingers. As can be interpreted, Elle was still extremely upset about losing her hair. She had been incredibly attached to it—hell, it was her signature look.

Luke actually thrust the lightsaber in her hands, "Of course not!" He proclaimed, and Eloise could just barely hear the scoffs and booing coming from the turtles. "I can just get another one!"

"Why," Eloise held onto the lightsaber tightly, bringing her other hand up to her chest with a smile, "thank you so much," she gushed, leaning even closer making the guy blush.

Slowly, she started walking backward, delivering one last long and siren-like look at him before spinning around and swaggering back to April and Sunita. All of the sudden, the previous persona was dropped.

Eyes casually left her form and the girls were staring at her in disbelief as she approached.

"Boom," Elle handed April the lightsaber, Mayhem having crawled onto April's shoulders, "this is a peace offering for a girl's day out...?" She ended nervously, taking her bag back from Sunita.

She untied her shirt allowing it to cover her mid-drift once more and tugged down her shorts. Reaching into her backpack, she was quick to pull out the dark beanie she had recently taken a liking to in the time since she had arrived in New York.

Throwing it on her head, she zipped her bag back up and wore it over her shoulders.

"Girl..." April trailed off before her eyes lit up and a beaming smile was placed over her lips.

"You like totally earned more than a girl's day out!" Sunita cheered, equally as happy as April.

"More like a spot as our new best friend!" April finished.

"Girl crew!" All three of them suddenly shouted, seemingly on the same wavelength while high-fiving each other.

"What the hell was that!?" They all turned to see the four boys approaching with upset looks.

"That was so cheating!" Mikey cried, the four of them stopping by the girls.

"Yeah!" Leo yelled while flinging his arm up toward Eloise dramatically. "And not to mention—ELLE! You're back and you know April and Sunita!?"

Eloise crossed her arms and rose a brow at the turtle in blue.

"Actually..." she started only for April to finish her sentence.

"We just met," April and Sunita both smirked, the three handing each other fist bumps.

Donatello shook his head from where he stood next to April, keeping up that horribly complacent and bored look he strived to constantly adorn.

"Yay, the crazy chick is back—he said sarcastically," Donnie said with his normal attitude, adding on the last part somewhat quietly.

Eloise pouted, but before she could retort, Leo surprisingly came to her rescue. He slid up next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. Elle let out a shocked wheeze, but Leo chuckled while patting her head.

"You know what, Donnie's right!" He chirped.

Everyone looked at Leo in confusion, and Elle scowled. Wild, maybe, but she was not crazy.

...Well, maybe a little...

"I am?" Donnie asked incredulously.

"He is?" Raph, Mikey, Sunita, and April all echoed after Donnie.

Donnie immediately crossed his arms. He was unsure of how he felt. When it was only him with the attitude picking on the pretty girl named Elle, then it was fine. After all, there were six others to come to her defense and it made the situation less tense.

However, when one of his brothers actually agreed with him, then that is when it became an issue. That was when it became them ganging up on the new girl, and Donnie did not like that. It was one thing when his brothers jokingly did it to each other, but it was a whole other thing to do to someone else they did not know well.

In that case, it just becomes mean, and while Donnie may have an attitude and keep up that "emotionless bad boy" persona, he did not like to go full mean. Donnie was smart enough to know that if things were different and if he and his brothers were human, then he would no doubt be the kid picked on by others.

Even if he was strikingly cool and handsome, others would not see that. They would see a know-it-all nerd and Donnie could easily become a victim to their harassment. This was something he was more than aware of, so he treaded carefully when Leon suddenly agreed with him. Because if Leo backed him up then Donnie would quickly stop with his smart-ass comments. The Disaster Twins were a lot of things, but bullies were not one of them.

"Yeah, of course, you are!" Leo exclaimed, his arm tightening around Elle's shoulder. Donnie's right eye twitched and he was watching Leon mindfully. "Elle, you are totally crazy and I dig crazy, let's hang..." Leo smoothly said.

Donnie let out a breath that he did not know he was holding as did the other six, but then Leo's words caught up to them all.

"Wait, what?!" Donatello exclaimed while Mikey and Raph stared at Leo in shock.

"C'mon," Leo ignored his brothers, suddenly unsheathing his Odāchi with his other hand, "I'll show you my comic book collection!"

Leo was excited at the prospect of making another human friend that was not April. And admittedly, he may or may not have wanted to earn an invite to that girl's day he overheard the three talking about.

Raph started panicking with Mikey and Donnie as Leo swung his sword hazardously muttering a few made-up incantations. Leo had recently started doing that when trying to open a portal, he claimed it made his "inner zen" stronger and the portal more effective.

Personally, none of them saw a difference. Especially Donnie who claimed Leon still had a 20/80 success rate in his portals. After the whole Tahiti incident, he was not letting up on it.

Eloise, on the other hand, was simply confused. However, she did not fight away from Leo's friendly grasp, and instead, her eyes lit up in amazement when a bright blue portal opened.

What was this? Magic? It must have been for the magical incantations Leo had been spouting before doing that. What did it mean? Elle did not recognize the phrases from anywhere, maybe it was Latin?

Elle did not realize it was simply Leo butchering Spanish and English phrases together to make it sound cooler.

These turtles certainly had a great many surprises up their sleeves. Seriously, a magic portal? And Leo was being so nice, offering to hang out and show her his comic book collection! Way better than getting high in some parking garage if you asked Eloise.

Eloise would be lying if she said she had not been curious about the turtles since she had met them. Who would not though? Teenage mutant ninja turtles living in the sewers with a rat for a father? Of course, Elle wanted to get to know them more!

Especially after having a couple of days to allow it to sink in.

And so, with no hesitation, she and Leo jumped through the portal. She vaguely heard the others shouting for her and Leo to "stop!" and "wait!" or "no!"

But neither she nor Leon listened, instead when they came out the other end of the portal, they appeared in the middle of the skate ramp in the atrium. It was the same as Eloise could remember, nothing has changed about it. Still the colorful skateboards on the wall and fun little trinkets adorning the lair.

Leo suddenly tugged her out of the way of the portal just as three other turtles came barreling through. They groaned while falling on top of each other, April and Sunita hopping through not even a second later.

Mikey groaned as Sunita landed atop his shell, and Donnie screeched as April landed feet first on his plastron—the only part of his shell not covered by his battle armor. Raph, who was at the bottom of the pile only released a sigh, not at all affected by the weight.

This guy could bench press almost a thousand pounds—this little weight was not going to affect him. Eloise watched as the blue portal zapped out of existence, hearing Leonardo snickering at his brother's situation.

Donatello lifted his head with a glare, "wow, one of Leo's portals worked—no one expected..."

"Hey!" Leo barked at Donnie's sarcastic words.

Donnie only shrugged while gently pushing April off of him and standing with a dramatic dust to his plastron.

"What the heck, Leo?" Raph scolded as he and the others picked themselves up. "You can't just bring people to the lair randomly!"

"Oh come onnnnn!" Leo drawled with a whine. "It was bound to happen soon, I mean this is literally the second time we've seen her! Plus how often do we get human friends? Literally never, bro!"

"As your human friend," April sassed with a hand resting on her hip, "I take offense to that,"

"Yeah, and only human friend!" Leo exclaimed before his eyes slid to Sunita. "Sorry, Sunita..."

"It's cool," she shrugged, "I ain't human, after all..."

"Wait," Elle looked to Sunita in confusion, "whatchu mean you aren't—"

Elle was not able to finish her sentence for Leonardo was suddenly pulling her in the direction of his room. "C'mon new friend! I want to show you my comics!"

Elle stumbled after him and Mikey was close to their heels. "Hey, I want to spend time with our new friend too!"

Raph and Donnie watched the two go with slight jealousy in their eyes. Even Donnie who was the hermit out of his brothers had to admit that getting to know a new human friend did not sound too bad. And hey, Raph wanted a chance to show Elle his teddy bear collection!

Sunita and April both cast glances at each other before shrugging.

"Can we watch tv with you in your lab, D?" April called, catching sight of Donnie ready to scamper away to his lab.

Donnie paused before nodding, "sure, just don't touch anything!"

Raphael had already vacated the area to his room, he was about ready to bench press a new set for the day. Plus, it was a good way to get out any aggression he had bottled up.

"Wouldn't dream of it," April laughed as she and Sunita followed after the scientist.