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Talia and Mikey found unoccupied seats in the center row bleachers, which provided a perfect view for the sequence of performances and presentations; not too high up where they couldn't enjoy the whole scene, but also not sitting too close where you had to look too far up or down and be closer to the noise. On the opposite end of the room, Talia saw the school newspaper crew setting up the backdrop and cameras for pictures. April was there, too, adjusting her digital camera while talking to her supervisor. She noticed Talia and waved back and smiled.

After the principal made a few opening remarks, the pep rally begun. First, the homecoming king & queen candidates entered through the south doors in pairs, the girls fitted in their best dresses and the guys in suit and ties. They waved to the crowd like they were celebrities walking down the red carpet. Overhead Talia heard her peers' discussing who was more worthy of their vote as king and queen; she knew that whoever won would be the talk of the town for weeks to come.

Then, the JROTC group came out, synchronized in every move they made as the entire gym recited the school's creed and Pledge of Allegiance. Having her right hand over her heart while saying America's patriotic oath, it brought back Talia a memory where she was studying for her citizenship test. She only had to answer one question— which seemed easy enough, as she was comfortable in her knowledge of U.S. culture, people, and history— but the question, in turn, asked her to write down the Pledge of Allegiance word per word. For a minute, Talia had felt her mind go blank; that was something she merely skimmed once or twice. No way would she be asked about it, right? At the last second she remembered, but her overconfidence nearly cost her her shot at having dual citizenship.

Finally, it was time for the team to make their entrance. Talia and Mikey stood up, ready to cheer Raph on. Mikey even unstrapped his megaphone and put the end of it close to his mouth.

Roosevelt Prep's band players went into full swing, executing a harmonious piece played by the percussionists, trumpeters, and wind instrumentalists. The soccer coach's voice boomed through the speakers as he introduced each athlete, each name provoking screaming fests and round of applauses. When Raph's name was called, Talia whooped and cheered while Mikey yelled into his megaphone: "YEAH! RIGHT THERE'S THE BEST SOCCER PLAYER, FOLKS!"

Much to Talia's prediction, Raph facepalmed and made a face— a face that wished a boulder would come tumbling from the sky and squish him. Talia could only smile watching his reaction.

In between the choreographed routines from the cheerleader and dance squads, Talia noticed two things: one, Mikey was acting more springy than usual. He was quite literally on the edge of his seat and wouldn't stop shaking his legs, staring back and forth at the confetti machines stationed at each corner of the gymnasium in close proximity to the bleachers; two, was that April had stopped recording— which according to her— was the biggest sin anyone could commit when on the newspaper crew during an event like this one. Her expressions kept changing from confusion to worry.

Needless to say, Talia had no idea for the reasoning behind her friends' behavior. Certainly it was odd, but it wasn't odd enough to stir her attention away from the rally.

That was where things got even stranger. It seemed like everything had gone in slow motion. Talia saw April hand her camera over to her supervisor and run in her direction, but it looked like she was running through slime. Mikey grinned big and wide in anticipation, still staring at the confetti machines. Even Raph sensed that something wasn't right— turning his head left and right as if he were on the lookout.

The cheerleaders fell into their last formation. A field runner holding Roosevelt Prep's banner like a cape ran around the gymnasium, hyping up every student of every grade to bring more school spirit to the table. When Talia caught his eye, he gave her an amused smile, as if he were waiting for what moves she might make.

And then— BOOM! That was one confetti machine. But except of exploding a shower of colorful paper, it retched out colorful gas that seemed to lose its pigment once it hit the crowd. Talia frowned.  Definitely weird. She never recalled gas machines as being part of the routine.

The other confetti machines followed in a rippled sequence, shooting out plumes of brightly pigmented gas over a good portion of the crowd. Talia thought she heard someone say next to her, "Where did my silly string go?!?"

Almost instantly, Talia felt her eyelids droop. She suddenly wanted to lay down and take a nap. She yawned, but not before she felt someone grab her by her shoulders and shake her.

"No, Taly! Stay awake!" It was April's voice, urging her to resist. But Talia's brain already felt so heavy. . . so sleepy. . .

"Damnit, Taly!" April resorted to a more 'extreme' method— slapping her best friend across the face with a rolled-up newspaper.

Fortunately, that seemed to the trick. "Ouch!" Talia rubbed her cheek slightly. "Was that really necessary?"

"Unless you wanted to be the next Sleeping Beauty, then, yeah." April tossed the newspaper. She had her nose and mouth covered with her sleeve. "Something's wrong!"

"It's more than that, April!" Mikey wailed, pointing at the confetti— well, actually gas— machines. "This is sabotage! What did they do with my silly string?!"

"We have other things to worry about than someone sabotaging your prank, Mikey." Raph teleported next to the trio. "This gym is under attack."

Talia finally noticed how the loud cheering and whooping shifted to quiet mumbling and yawning. She saw how once the gas hit you, you had no choice but to drop everything and fall into a deep slumber. She widened her eyes in horror. "Don't tell me—"

"Yeah, Doomsday is happening!" Raph said, snatching a nearby jacket to protect his face from the gas. "Come on!"

Talia and April nodded simultaneously. They grabbed anything from scarfs to sweaters for protection and dashed for the south doors. Only Mikey didn't catch up to them as fast as he should, kicking the wooden polished floor and grumbling, "How dare they. It was going to be the best prank of the year! When I find out who did this. . ."

Raph grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Move your ass, shellhead!"

***

Talia and her friends took refuge in the band room, throwing chairs and instruments and music sheet stands in front of the double doors should anyone try to break in. Everyone stared at the doors and waited excruciatingly, but seconds later everything remained dormant. Talia checked her phone. Approximately two minutes had passed. Nothing.

"I think we're safe," Talia said.

Mikey shushed Talia by putting a finger to her lips. "Have you never watched or read horror media? The number one rule is to never ever say something like that! You're practically jinxing yourself!"

"What the hell is going on?" April threw down the scarf she was using as her mask. She was trying to control the panic in her voice. "Who would—"

"Take a guess." Raph frowned. "They're trying to find you-know-who."

Mikey chuckled. "Wow, I'd hate to be that person."

Raph groaned and whacked Mikey's arm. "Us, you peanutbrain! They're looking for the ones who raided the drug lab!"

"But wouldn't that be you three?" Mikey pointed to the others.

"They don't know it was me," Raph stated. "However, I can't say for certain about these two. . ." He nudged his head at Talia and April.

"Wow, you two are cooked."

"Thanks, Mikey," April said.

Talia glanced at the barricaded doors. For anyone else it might hold up, but against Shredder's personal henchmen? "What do we do now?" She asked worriedly.

"They'll be coming, that's for sure," Raph said. "You and April need to hide."

April rolled her eyes. "Right. And hide where exactly? Behind the banjo over there?"

Raph scowled. "Mikey and I will fight them off as long as we can. Hopefully we can buy you guys some time to escape."

"You're going to use your super-secret ninja-fighting skills? That's basically giving away you and Mikey's identities!"

"We're obstacles in the way of what they want. They want you and Talia."

"That's such a shit plan."

Raph shrugged. "Shitty plan or not, that's all we have. He spotted a door leading to the band teacher's office. "In there!" He grabbed ahold of the handle and swung it open, dropping open his jaw when he looked inside.

"You again?" Raph sputtered. "You're seriously everywhere!"

Only when Talia peeked inside as well did she find out why Raph reacted the way he did.

"Hi there!" Talia waved with a big smile at the boy crouched down in a ball and having his hands in front of him like he was defending himself. "You never gave me a chance to apologize to you on the first day."

April and Mikey also came over to see what the fuss was about. April's surprised face relaxed into one of almost relief. "Mak! How did you get here?"

Talia spun her head to look at April in bewilderment. April quickly whispered to her, "He's the new guy who joined the newspaper crew I told you about."

"Uh. . . by walking?" Mak replied sheepishly.

"No—no I mean, like, how did you escape from all that sleeping gas?"

Mak's coal-colored eyes shone with his fear. His glossy hair reminded Talia of a black silky blanket ready to shroud someone in darkness. "I-I saw what it was doing to the others and that's when I ran to the closest room. I thought you were going to hurt me."

"You just can't keep away from me, can you?" Raph suggested sarcastically. Mak almost shrunk twice his size as he tried to explain while stammering and turning pink.

Mikey looked at everybody back and forth like he was trying to figure out which pieces go where. After being 'ignored' for the fourth time when Talia and the rest were talking amongst themselves, he finally shouted, "HELLO!" Everyone turned their eyes to him. "Are you guys going to explain how you four know each other or are you going to have me play guessing games?"

Raph waved him off dismissively. "I'll give you the scoop later," he said.

Then, Talia noticed how April stood like a statute and peered intently at the double doors. The redhead was expressing the same behavior from the gymnasium— nose twitching, tightened jaw, tilting her head quizzically— as if she were acting on instinct.

Talia stepped toward her friend, but April blocked her using her arm. "You can't hear it?" April said.

"Hear what?" Talia said.

"Listen."

Talia did just that. She tried to listen as hard as she could, but she didn't pick up any noise. No footsteps or any noise that would indicate someone was approaching their hideout spot.

"I don't hear anything." Talia shook her head.

April looked gobsmacked. She muttered lines of inaudible dialogue to herself, focusing her eyes past Talia. Then, like flipping a switch, April's body tensed. Her eyes were shot wide.

"Get back!" She yelled.

Before anyone had time to react, a beeping sound was heard from outside the double doors, the seconds ticking like a time bomb. Then a sharp, yet sudden noise roared in Talia's ears, followed by a semi-powerful blast that caused the instruments that were used as a second barrier to fly away like pieces of shrapnel. When Talia retracted her arms used to shield her face, there was now a cloud of smoke pouring from where the double doors stood— which were now reduced to pieces of metal and wood.

Talia coughed and tried to clear the smoke. Through her lens, she could make out three figures— two boys and a girl, she thought. When they advanced, she stumbled a little backwards, reaching for April's hand and clutching it.

As the silhouettes began to emerge, Talia got her first look at the assailants' features. The trio was the same one she briefly saw a while back: the girl was one of Roosevelt Prep's cheerleaders, but rather instead of donning pom-poms to go with her cheerleading outfit, she had a bow in her hand and a back quiver of arrows; her comrade, who Talia recognized was also the field runner, had a buzzcut and a piercing that ran straight through one of his brows. He wore his trench coat like a cape, allowing the sleeves to hang loose and having his hands shoved in his pockets; and last but not least, the boy in the middle. He looked normal enough then and now, with his icy blue eyes and his sandy blonde voluminous hair, but there— the same wicked glint that was present in a lion's eye when it locked its sights on a deer— Talia could not miss it.

Mikey was right: she was cooked. They all were.