— up to no good —

___________

ELOISE'S pupils dilated, and her face split into a wild grin. The sound of rapid footsteps fell closer, the sound of sirens steadily growing louder. She bit her lip, her head tilting to the heavens.

Of course, it was overcast, it is New York City, after all. Thankfully, overcast did not always mean rainfall. Blinking, Elle made up her mind.

Long live being wild and free.

Rolling her shoulders, she vaguely heard a pop before she launched herself at the tank. Leaping from the ground, her fingertips grazed the edge of the platform that led to a sort of door. Gripping onto the platform as tightly as possible, she let out a small laugh that turned into an awkward shriek as she almost fell.

"I really need to do more pull-ups," she groaned but used as much strength as she had in order to heave herself over the edge.

Standing on the edge, Eloise inspected the vehicle's door. Shrugging, she realized she had little time left as the sirens were growing closer and she decided to try her luck in twisting the door handle. Against all odds, the tank was left unlocked.

Wow, who would do something as careless as that?

Eloise was not going to complain though, she bounced inside and closed the door behind her. Her eyes blew wide upon what she was greeted with, her heart hammering against her chest in amazement, her breathing nearly stopped.

Eloise wanted to faint from the excitement on the spot.

The interior of the monster truck was comparable to a spaceship one might find in the Star Wars franchise, that is how Eloise perceived it at least. She stood in a large round console room, the console itself glowing brightly with the bio-lights.

The lights changed every few seconds from blue to purple to orange and finally red. It gave the place an even cooler vibe. Eloise slowly took a step forward, listening to the metallic floorboards groan.

She continued to take everything in while biting her lip. This is so fucking cool!

Is that an ice cream machine?

It certainly was, and it made Eloise dance over to it in examination. Without hesitation, she helped herself to the small cups stacked to the side—taking one in her grasp and placing it under the machine. Pulling the small nob, she laughed as sherbert rolled out of the machine and into the cup.

Once it was filled to her liking, Eloise gripped one of the many spoons sitting by the cups and dug in. She moaned at the flavor, she swore this had to be some of the best ice cream that she had ever tasted. She did not know who built this machine, but damn—they had some talent.

Armed with her cup of ice cream, Eloise started to walk around the console room again, taking in more of the details. She was careful not to spill the cup of ice cream anywhere or place any sticky fingers on anything.

A few chairs sat around the front, but four of them were very distinct in comparison to the others. The most distinct was the huge glowing red one in the center, it was obviously the "Captain" chair. Another, a mostly blue one sat close to a purple chair, but the blue one was obviously the driver while the purple one was placed in front of a bunch of different buttons and machinery.

As much as Eloise wondered what some of those buttons did, she did not dare touch any of them.

And finally, the orange chair sat in front of a bunch of holographic maps. Holographic maps! Holy shit, this thing had holograms? How advanced was this baby?

Eloise's rhetorical question was answered as she continued to take in the interior of the large tank. Very advanced.

After studying two trap doors on either side of the tank, she realized that they were actually leading to the huge wheels. And based on the small chair below the trap doors, she figured they must turn into motorcycles or something.

She shook her head in wonder while walking away, choosing to plant her butt into the purple chair directly in front of all the buttons. Again, as much as she wanted to hit all of them, she was very careful to not touch anything and keep her ice cream to herself.

Instead, she chose to read off some of the labels and examine the machinery from afar.

Night Vision. X-Ray Vision. Boom Canon. Sonic Blaster. Disintegrator...?

Eloise was slowly becoming more concerned as she read off some of the labels, momentarily stalling in eating her ice cream. What in the hell? Who the hell owned this thing?

She was seriously wondering because the only signs of someone actually owning it were the little knickknacks sitting around. Like the hula girl rocking on the console or the small artwork paintings along the walls.

Not to mention the three textbooks on a mathematics technique that Eloise could not even hope to pronounce strewn next to the purple chair she was sitting in. She shook her head looking at it. She absolutely hated math, and she was trash at it all the same.

The highest grade she had ever achieved in the class was a C, which was honestly embarrassing. School and education had never come easy to Eloise in the slightest, she was always a slow learner and much more behind than her classmates. It was why she tried so hard in athletics, because if she excelled in that department, then she could rely on her physical skills to get her into and hopefully through university.

But, with the accident, obviously, that plan was a bust.

Eloise's shoulders slumped, it seemed even something as cool as finding a literal vehicle straight out of a comic book was not enough to keep her distracted from what was on her mind. Her despair and pain had been lurking in the depths of her being for the past few weeks.

She wished it would go away, but the only way to do that was to keep her mind off of it. Eloise's plan was to keep herself distracted and mentally away from the pain until it eventually faded to nothing.

She prayed that her methods started working soon because even after two months, it still hurt like hell. Her attention was thankfully taken from her sad thoughts to loud chirping voices coming from outside the vehicle.

Jumping, she shoveled one last spoonful of ice cream in her mouth before leaping into the air and looking around. She panicked momentarily before catching sight of the small trap doors. Rushing over, she placed her ice cream bowl on the handles of the orange chair and crouched down to open the doors.

Thankfully, the hatches were not complicated and lifted easily—she slipped inside, closing the hatch door just as the main entrance started opening and the platform lifted down. Eloise prayed that she did not accidentally hit a lever or set-off anything off that might make the motorcycle dropdown.

The loud voices, each distinct in their own manner got louder. Heavy footsteps thudded, and suddenly...

"That was awesome! We are so awesome guys!"

"Yeah! Nice job with those chain skills, Mikey!"

"Aw, but Donnie, since when could your tech-bo do that?!"

There was a small laugh, "since last night, my dear brother. But I think the real applause should go to Leo, I did not know someone could get their ass kicked like that—"

"Oh, shove it up your—" Leo was unable to finish what no doubt would have been a curse, for Raphael wrapped one of his large arms around his shoulders.

"Seriously though, the Mad Dogs are on fire! Villains are gonna be trembling at just the thought of us!"

The others cheered along with him.

Standing in their "turtle tank" were none other than the turtle teens themselves. Raphael, the oldest and definitely strongest of the bunch had nothing but a kind heart. Leonardo, was a smooth-talking, blue-loving, quirky teen with a love for one-liners.

His self-proclaimed twin crouched down a few feet away, examining some of the machinery in the tank. The purple-banded turtle had his goggles pulled over his face, and a hand resting on his chin in thought. Donatello was the brains behind most of their operations.

And the youngest of the quartet, Michelangelo, a goofy teen with a love for the fine arts. Cooking and painting were what he was most passionate about, but crime-fighting came as a close second.

"More importantly, which Lou Jitsu movie do we watch when we get home?" Mikey sprawled on his orange-clad chair.

"Hey, I thought we agreed to watch Jupiter Jim tonight!" Leo complained.

Raph crossed his arms, "we just watched Jupiter Jim last night, Leo,"

"And the night before that, and before that, and before that..." Donnie drawled before the sight of the ice cream cup caught his attention.

He lifted his goggles back over his head and delivered a sour glare to his younger brother.

"Miguel, I thought we agreed to throw our ice cream cups away..." he tapped his foot impatiently.

Mikey looked more than confused, "but it's not mine...?"

"Oh, and whose is it then?"

"Not mine!"

Raph rolled his eyes, sitting on the Captain's chair. He smirked at the nice feel the padding had on his butt. He made a show of getting comfortable before cutting into the conversation, stopping his younger brothers from full-blown argument.

"Who cares, let's just get home! Leo, are you ready?"

Leo nodded absentmindedly, typing away on his phone for a few more seconds before putting it away and buckling his seatbelt. Donatello rolled his eyes, taking the cup of ice cream away from Mikey's chair handles and tossing it in the trash.

He then got settled into his own chair which was placed in front of all the mechanisms of the turtle tank ranging from weapons to the pure wiring. Thankfully, his seat was able to be moved to the driver's side if needed—which when in battle he normally was in charge of driving.

However, he put Leonardo in charge of driving because there was no way he was letting his twin even close to the weapons and other important machinery of the tank. As much as Donnie also did not want to face Leo's driving, he was still a better choice than Mikey and admittedly Raph. Raphael may have had a kind heart, but he also had serious road rage issues.

Giving a quick check, Donatello's fast-paced mind easily found no issues with the tank at the moment. Leo, who had just buckled up, put his foot on the brake before reaching down to the lever and putting the huge tank in reverse.

From the trap door, Eloise sat in stunned silence. She was not sure what to think of this whole situation. Considering the angle of the trap door and the bars it was made out of, she had a clear view of just exactly who entered.

Four color-themed humanoid frogs? Or maybe talking toads? No, definitely turtles, their shells were the giveaway.

Okay, Eloise won't lie, she had heard about the crazy stuff going on around the city. The News channels reported it every single day and delivered warnings about the monstrous mutants that tended to come out at night.

Some dude, Rupert Swaggart, a television personality, and world-renowned chef, had his own show that had been based in New York City. It was one of the crazy reality shows where the chef screamed at the cooks until they left crying. Rupert Swaggart was basically a worse version of Gordan Ramsay, and that was saying something.

But, back on point, a few weeks ago on live television (and yes, Eloise had been watching) Rupert was mutated into this horrid and huge pigman thing. As it would turn out, his love and specialty in pork-based foods was his downfall.

He now apparently runs around the city as some crazy pigman. He along with a few others (including some humanoid hippo magician) was what the News warned civilians about. Watching it had made the hairs on Eloise's arms stand, and she had only found herself wanting to go back to California that much more.

There had been no creepy mutated people there as far as she was concerned. Although, a large part of Eloise had to admit that she was curious about it.

Mutated people? That was something straight from a movie. So yeah, a part of her really was wondering if she would ever cross paths with any of those mutations. From afar, of course, she may have been wild, but she did not have any want to be pummeled into nothingness.

And so, she simply sat quietly watching as the apparent turtle brothers spoke to themselves while driving home. Wherever "home" was. She suddenly wondered if this idea had been worth it. She may just be in a worse situation than before. After all, the News reported mutants to be highly dangerous and volatile creatures, what if they found her and killed her?

Oh, who was she kidding? As scary as this was, this was also pretty freaking awesome. A small grin split across her face, and she made sure to be quiet as she eavesdropped on them. They teased each other a lot, not unlike most teen boys.

She was already able to tell them apart based on their very distinct personalities. Leonardo was the wise-cracking trickster in blue. Raphael was the huge ripped one who was actually just a huge softie on the inside. Michelangelo was the starry-eyed dreamer full of positivity.

And Donatello, he was the sarcastic smart-ass who was hands down the most intelligent creature that Eloise had ever come across.

From where she was laying in the hatch, she was unable to see exactly where they were going. The windows of the tank were far too high up for her to even hope to peek through, and so her view was limited to the inside of the tank.

And that was only when she craned her neck in order to see, if she just remained in a natural position then she could see nothing.

"So I heard Jupiter Jim?" Leo asked with a smile, turning the tank down a familiar alley.

His brothers chorused a loud "NO!" which made him snicker. Donatello rolled his eyes before pressing a particular glowing green button. Immediately, within the alley the turtle tank had traveled, the ground opened up to reveal a secret roadway leading under the Earth.

Realistically, something like this should have cost thousands and took quite a few months to build. However, Donatello constructed and finished it within three weeks' time on a budget of what he could scrape from the junkyard.

It was a shame, really. Donatello had the brains of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein combined, and he had engineering skills along with countless other skills beyond anyone's wildest imagination. So yes, it was a shame that the teenager who was no doubt the world's greatest prodigy is confined to hiding for matters out of his control.

All the turtle's barely even blinked as one of the secret hatches they had lined around the city opened. Leonardo quickly drove the tank through, and Donatello pressed the same button making sure the secret passage closed behind them.

The tank continued on the path, going lower and lower until it evened out and the brothers were driving through the dry sewer tunnels. Eloise furrowed her brows upon feeling the dip.

Even if she could not see, the dip of the tank was so dramatic that she could tell they were driving down something. But seeing as New York City had no hill, she could only suspect they were going underground. It was worrying because the only places built underground that you could drive down were generally parking garages.

And they had gone downward for a small while meaning wherever the hell they went was far deeper underground than any parking garage. She swallowed, this tank was obviously something very special and no normal person would own it.

The mutated teenage boys who drove it were living proof. It would make sense that their base or wherever the hell they lived would not be easy to find.

The tank bounced for a few moments, and the speed noticeably slowed down. Leonardo was forced to drive slower for the pathways of the sewers were long and windy—it would be easy to take a turn too fast and hit a wall. He almost did that once and Donnie all but bit his head off for it.

A familiar sewer tunnel engulfed the tank, and Leonardo was pulling into the lair garage before any of them could blink. The garage leads straight into Donatello's lab. Leo wasted no time in putting the tank in park and switching it off before tugging the keys out of the ignition.

He wordlessly tossed the keys to Donnie who was not expecting it and so the keys hit him straight in the head.

"Ouch," he whined half-heartedly, throwing a glare to his snickering brother.

Mikey jumped up, rubbing his hands together excitedly, "I am starved," he got a murmur of agreement in response, "what should it be tonight boys? Pizza? Pizza rolls? Pizza dumplings? Pizza tots? Or, change it up a bit, Pizza puffs?"

There was a long pause, all of the boys putting their hands on their chin in thought. Now, this was a very difficult decision. Eloise's stomach growled lowly, the girl practically drooling at all the options. She may have not been all that crazy about pizza, but this all just sounded delicious. Especially when she had not eaten since lunch earlier at school and it was now almost seven.

She cringed at the thought, no doubt her aunt was starting to worry.

Suddenly, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo looked at each other with similar sparkles in their eye and near-identical grins. They all thrust their arms in the air.

"All of it!"

Their voices chorused together, and they were practically tripping over each other in an attempt to leave. Within seconds, they were all out of the tank and racing out of the garage, their voices eagerly talking about dinner and which Lou Jitsu movie they were going to watch.

Lou Jitsu?

It suddenly occurred to Eloise that she recognized the name. The popular Lou Jitsu franchise had been a straight hit in the late 90s' and early 2000s'. Her grandpa was crazy over the movies, and her brother had been as well.

Eloise could not even remember how many Lou Jitsu marathons her grandfather and late brother, Heath, binged together. She had seen one or two of the movies as well, and she had to admit they were badass and pretty cool.

That sounded really nice right about now. To sit by the television and watch Lou Jitsu while stuffing your face with everything pizza-related one could imagine. Eloise sighed at the thought, but she quickly rolled her shoulder before hesitantly popping her head out of the hatch.

Just as she had suspected, the turtle brothers were nowhere in sight. Eloise smiled brightly and took one last glance around the tank. She noticed her ice cream cup in the trash. She shrugged with a small "oops" before heading to the door that was conveniently left open.

It was different from the one she entered in, this one was toward the back and was similar to the unloading dock of a semi-truck. The walkway was down, and as Eloise skipped to it, her eyes widened at the sight of the garage.

Firstly, it was huge! Secondly, it was filled to the brim with projects that looked like something out of a futuristic sci-fi movie. Half-finished machinery that Eloise could only imagine what it did. Purple bio lights lit up the entire place, and tools and gadgets were strewn around at random.

Eloise slowly made her way down the platform, she knew to be very careful as she did not want to be seen. To be fair, based on the turtle brothers' conversation, they did not seem like the type to hurt anyone at all. In fact, if she was reading the situation right, they were actually crime-fighting mutants.

They were the ones to go up against the monstrosities that were constantly playing on the News.