Michelangelo can die happy.

The rest of his family is focused on patrol but Michelangelo can't stop staring at his phone. Annalise said his screen name. Annalise smiled and announced his screen name while trumpets blared and fake confetti rained down around it. She has fully acknowledged his existence not once, but twice.

Hence, he can die happy.

He wants to laugh at anyone who says that lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice. He is on top of the world and if it weren't for something he noticed in the video, he'd be sailing straight up into space.

She didn't seem happy. He watched her announce the names with her normal smile, and yet he couldn't help but notice that her eyes weren't sparkling and her voice was almost too perky to be genuine. Maybe it was the stress of getting the names out so soon, but if his little cupcake isn't happy, then that's something that he can't ignore.

He scrolls into the comments and starts typing.

PizzaNunchucker: Thank you so much! This is so amazing! :DDD

He pauses, frowns, and deletes it before trying again.

PizzaNunchucker: Can't believe I won!!! AHHH!!! :D But...idk if it's just me, but are you okay? This video contest thing must have been super stressful ;-;

He sends it and pockets his phone, wandering after his family as they enter Washington Square Park. It's easy enough for them to avoid any late night stragglers and the trees provide nice shadows for them to linger in if the need be.

They come to a stop near some picnic tables, Destiny climbing onto it while she turns in slow circles and searches their surroundings for spectators. The park is empty.

"Man, I almost wish there was something to pound," Raphael complains as he spins one sai. He flops down on the picnic table and huffs.

"Almost?" Destiny echoes as she steps off the table.

He rolls his eyes. "Okay, I definitely wish there was something to pound."

Donatello takes a seat next to his brother, elbows perched on his knees, chin on his hands. "Who would've thought that this city could actually be peaceful," he murmurs.

"Not even a bank robbery to stop," Sarina agrees as she flops down and rests her head on Donatello's shoulder. "Tragic, yet not."

"There could be something out here," Leonardo insists, standing with his shell turned to them. He stares at their surroundings with a noticeable intensity. "We're ninjas. We need to have something to battle or else our art will go extinct!"

"Woah there, drama queen," Raphael says. "We're just saying it's peaceful for once."

"Nothing here about ninjutsu dying out," Destiny adds.

Leonardo turns to his team, shoulders sagging. "But...you get what I'm saying, right? If there's no one for the ninjas to fight, the need for ninjas is..."

"Non-existent," Sarina finishes.

"Obsolete," Donatello adds.

"Mythical."

"Chimerical."

"Oh-kay, thank you for solidifying the fact that you are both brainiacs," Leonardo sighs.

The couple smacks their hands together lightly as they share a grin. Michelangelo finally looks up from his t-phone, shifting on his feet.

"So, if someone was in trouble but you don't know where they live, how could you find out?" he asks with a forced, casual smile.

Raphael glances at him, eye-ridge arched. "Why? Is someone in trouble?"

Michelangelo fiddles with his hands. "Uh...maybe?"

"Yes or no?" Donatello presses.

"Okay, I won this really quick contest on Annalise's channel but now I'm worried that she isn't actually okay so I want to find her and comfort her but I don't know where she is," he blurts.

His brothers stare at him in disbelief while Sarina and Destiny stifle giggles. Raphael rolls his eyes and looks away from the orange-masked turtle, lips falling into a sulking scowl as he snorts. Leonardo and Donatello share a brief look.

"Didn't you say she's never revealed where she lives?" Leonardo asks. "She could be in England for all we know."

"She said she's in America," Michelangelo corrects with a huff. "And I know it's crazy but I have to try. She could be really hurting!"

Donatello shakes his head. "Right, and you know this because she seems stressed, but there's no evidence to support your claim."

Michelangelo's phone dings and he hurries to check it. A reply from Annalise appears in his notifications and his heart does jumping jacks when he reads it, sinking and leaping repeatedly.

DeepFriedDonutLisey: Of course, congrats to you! And...ah...yeah, it's been a little fast-paced, plus school is just getting busier. Thank you so much for caring, haha.

"See?" he demands, shoving the phone towards his family. "She's not okay! She needs my help!"

"As if she'd want help from someone like you," Raphael snorts, turning his burning glare to his little brother. "In fact, why would she want help from anyone like us?"

Destiny's fur stands on end as Sarina's eyes flash. "Raphael..." Sarina warns, tone low.

"I don't care how much you love her videos," Raphael continues, moving towards Michelangelo and jabbing a finger in his face. "We can't trust humans. We can't trust anyone but our own. We're a bunch of freaks that no normal person will ever need help from, and—"

"Raphael!" Leonardo snaps, stepping between the two of them as Michelangelo's eyes glisten with unshed tears. "That's enough."

"It's true, Leo!" Raphael shouts, baring his teeth. "He needs to get out of his fantasy world and get a good dose of reality because no human will ever give a crap about us. No one will ever truly love—"

"Raph, stop," Destiny orders, moving closer to him as she unsheathes her claws. "We all know that this isn't about Annalise."

Michelangelo inhales hard, shoulders quivering, and Raphael spins around to face Destiny. He's shaking too, although from an entirely different emotion, and the wolf-raven meets his glare head-on with her own.

Absorbed in their own quarrels, they don't notice the lone teenager wandering into the park. Annalise finishes replying to other excited winners, thanking them and congratulating them, but what's shaken her most is PizzaNunchucker's response. How is he so perceptive of her moods even through a video camera? It astounds her.

Pepper makes little noises low in her throat and starts tugging against her harness. Annalise pockets her phone and looks up at where Pepper is trying to go. Without the phone to distract her, she catches the sound of yelling.

"It's really late," she mutters, her curiosity pulling her almost as much as her dog is. "Who could be out here now...other than me?"

She follows after Pepper's eager paws. The voices get louder.

"And you know what else—"

"That has nothing to do with this! Just because you're still hurt—"

"If we could just calm down for a second..."

"Oh stuff it in your shell, Donnie. You're not in this."

"He is in this as much as you are, Raphael. You are acting very foolishly."

"I'm sorry I said anything, okay, dudes? Please, can we stop?"

"Maybe if you turned on your brain for once, we wouldn't be in this mess right now, you idiot!"

"RAPH!"

Annalise's utter confusion grows. What kind of person uses "stuff it in your shell" as a regular expression? She's certainly never heard it before.

Pepper whines and Annalise peeks out from behind a tree, eyes widening in shock. There are six beings standing near the picnic tables and only two of them seem even remotely human. Four of them are giant turtles in coloured masks, one of them is a girl with bright blue eyes that seem to radiate light, and the last is a winged girl with dark scars marring half her face. They're all quarrelling at top volume with the turtle in red creating the most noise as he alternates between the blue and orange turtles.

Annalise starts to back away, head spinning. I'm going nuts, she thinks. She inhaled something during chemistry or something and now she's imagining giant freaky creatures that speak English. If she turns around and goes home, no one will be the wiser and she can wake up from whatever kooky dream she's having.

Pepper has other ideas. She barks and scuffles her paws against the dirt in a vain attempt to go and greet the creatures, making the shouting stop in an instant as twelve wide eyes fall on Annalise. She lets out a squeak of fright and tugs desperately on her terrier's leash, still backing away.

"I...I...uh..." she stammers, starting to shake.

The expression on the orange-masked turtle's face slackens, his watery eyes brightening for a moment. Something snaps behind her and she spins around just in time to see two fierce green eyes glaring back at her. Annalise startles. How did they move so fast?

A blinding pain goes through Annalise's skull and she collapses into an unconscious heap.