New chapter! Sorry it took so long! From now on i'm going to be updating stories every Thursday! I've been looking for someone to beta this story, any takers?

Mikey was taken aback by the question; he thought no one else knew about the Kraang Conspiracy. Donnie looked up at him with wide eyes veiled thinly with had been said over the phone had clearly upset him. His lip was quivering and his temple shone with beads of sweat. Timothy awkwardly patted his shoulder in an effort to calm him.

"Donnie, deep breaths. Tell us what Baxter said, ok?" April said as she nudged Mikey over so she could be by Donnie.

Donnie seemed to calm down slightly when April spoke and after a moment of taking deep breaths, he spoke.

"Dad wanted to make sure I was ok. He…he said something about the men at the pizzeria. He called them…said they were…then there was a voice in the back ground and-and…" Donnie broke off before he finished. He ran his hands through his hair several times until the strands were standing up on their own.

"Come on Don-Boy," Casey said, "Take it easy now."

That was the wrong thing to say. Donnie stood up from his place on the couch and leaned over the coffee table, where Casey stood.

"Take it easy? Take it easy?! My dad has been detained by…by…I don't even know who! And you want me to take it easy?" Donnie had a few inches on Casey and was using those inches to his advantage. He loomed over Casey and glared at him. Casey glared back.

"Yeah, I want you to take it easy. You were beat up by Purple Dragons, hunted down by weird men, and now you're freaking out about something and won't even tell us what it is. So sit down, take it easy, and tell us just what the hell is wrong."

Donnie surprisingly complied with Casey's demands. He sank back down into the couch and closed his eyes tightly. He took several deep breaths before talking again.

"You're right." He said, "I'm just worried. Baxter said that the men weren't men at all; they were called Kraang or something like that. He thought they were coming after me but…that's all I know. The signal cut out after that."

"Wow dude, that's harsh. But, erm, wh-why would you think I would know anything about these crane people? Heh, kind of a weird question, you know?" Mikey said.

"They mentioned your name. I thought…never mind. It was a stupid thought. But who or what these guys are doesn't matter. We need to get down to my dad's lab and help him."

Everyone fought against Donnie going to his father's lab. They said that he was too hurt, too overstimulated. April tried to get him to lay down in his room and take a nap. For a moment it seemed as if he would actually listen to her but there was no such luck. As the four friends argued among each other, Mikey silently slipped out the front door and into the apartment hallway. He took out his phone and ran his fingers quickly over the numbers. There was a dull second of static before it started ringing. Someone picked up the phone almost immediately after the first ring.

"Hello Michelangelo, why are you calling?"

"Hey rad Brad! I have an update on my awesome mission. Ok, so check this out. Today I went out for pizza with D and we were attacked by these two twin guys. Weird right? Buy get this, man you are going to be so pumped, turns out those two guys we attacked us? They were Kraang! The Kraang Conspiracy isn't a terrorist plan. It's, like, a group of identical thingies! D got a call from his old man tellin' him that Kraang, get this, aren't human at all! Wicked weird right? I bet they're really an evil league of alien twins! Or super robots with lasers and death rays! Or mutant brain suckers from space! Or all three! Sweet, yeah?"

"Michelangelo, please be serious. That information is fascinating but until you discover more it is of no use to us. We need to know exactly what they are, not just vague guesses. And we need to know where to find them. Now, who is this 'D' you were talking about?"

"Oh, um he's my new friend. D is just short for Donnie."

"Donnie? Is that his full name? What's it short for? Donald? Dominic?"

Though the questions were simple Mikey detected a small hint of curiosity in his father's voice. This made him extremely happy; Brad never took any interest in his friends or social life.

"Nah, his name's Donatello. Donatello Stockman and he is so totally smart! He has this whole cute nerd thing going on and my other friends Ap-"

"Stockman? Donatello Stockman? Are you sure that's his name?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. Have you talked to him about the second part of your mission? You were sent there to search out new recruits as well."

"Well no, not yet. He tried applying to the school once so I was thinking about-"

"Listen to me, Michelangelo. It is very important that you recruit Donatello Stockman."

"Why's D so important? I've known him for, like two days. He's a pretty cool dude but I don't know a lot about him."

"The reason is none of your concern. You must recruit Stockman. Only Donatello Stockman. Understood?"

"Yeah but what about-"

"Understood?"

Mikey jumped slightly at the harsh tone in Bradford's voice. He wanted to ask about recruiting his other new friends. In the end he decided that it wasn't worth Bradford's anger."

"Yeah, I got it Brad. But what if…what if I can't get him to come back to the school with me?"

There was a deafening silence on the other line. Bradford cleared his throat and Mikey bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Then you would fail your mission. You know the penalty for that. Bring Donatello Stockman to the school or don't come back at all."

The line clicked dead. Mikey was left standing in the hallway, his blue eyes wide with fear. His father had just told him that he couldn't come home if he failed. Mikey leaned against the wall and started to slide down slowly. As he did so the door to the apartment swung open. April stuck her head out and looked at Mikey strangely.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked.

"Oh, just got a call from my dad. Nothin' else. So, how's D feeling?"

"Well," April started, "We talked him out of rushing to his dad's lab but he's still a little restless. We're going back to the pizzeria to see if we can sneak past the cops and find anymore tech-y stuff. You in?"

Mikey nodded his head. April popped back inside for a second and then reemerged with Donnie, Casey, and Timothy behind.

"Come on guys! This is going to be so cool, sneaking past cops like spies or something. We don't even have to walk, we can take my car!" Timothy declared excitingly. Behind him, Casey let out a groan. He was promptly elbowed in the side by Donnie.

"What's wrong with the dude's ride?" Mikey asked April.

April proceeded to hop down the stairs and stoop at the building's exit.

"Nothing much." She said

April gave the old doors hard push and opened them up to the cool air. The sky had turned darker, on the verge of twilight. In front of the building there was a large, clumpy, cartoonish looking vehicle with a giant waffle cone painted on its side. April gave a humorous look to Mikey.

"Except the fact that he drives an ice cream truck."

Raph had made if five feet out the door when he heard Leo walk up behind him. The older brother didn't say anything so Raph decided to ignore him. Leo tailed behind a few feet; Raph thought about out running him but knew that Leo was faster and would soon catch up. They walked quietly, every so often Raph would stop, causing Leo to run into him or hit something in an attempt not to run into him. This went on for several minutes until Raph got bored.

"Leo, what the hell are you doing?" Raph asked, spinning around on his heal to glare at his brother.

"Nothing, just thought that I'd join you for your walk. That's all."

"Whatever, I don't need a babysitter. What are you gonna do? Follow me around until I do something that you can snitch about?"

"Hey," Leo started defensively, "I didn't tell father about last night so you owe me. Besides, I thought it would be cool to just, you know, hang out."

Raph didn't say anything but his body language shifted slightly. His shoulders dropped and he stood less rigidly. He turned around and kept walking, which Leo took as a sign of acceptance of his presence.

"So where are we going?" Leo asked.

"You know that creep of a chemistry teacher, Mr. Stockboy?"

"Mr. Stockman." Leo corrected.

"Yeah, well his nerd kid Dildotello and some other dude were trapped in a pizza joint earlier today. Some dudes shot the place up, I thought I'd go check out the scene for myself."

"His name's Donatello. And why do you want to go see a destroyed restaurant?"

"I know what I said. Plus, I figure there's gonna be a lot of people hanging around this place, checking out the scene-"Raph was interrupted mid-sentence as Leo grasped his shoulder.

"You are not seriously going to a crime scene to pick-pocket people are you? We've talked about this Raph! We're not broke Raph, you could just ask father for money."

Raph shoved Leo's hand off of his shoulder, possibly a little harder than necessary.

"Piss of Daddy's Boy. It ain't for me. Slash is getting a little low on dough so-"

"Slash. Of course Slash is a part of this. Look, father disapproves of him. I disapprove of him. And if you were to open your eyes to all this stuff he does, you'd disapprove of him too!" Leo said.

"So what? Are you gonna run home and snitch?" Raph growled as he turned around and walked off.

Leo considered going home. He considered telling his father what Raphael was doing. He considered what would happen if he did do that. After a second more of consideration, Leo ended up chasing after his brother.

Next chapter brings us to the moment you've all been waiting for: The characters meeting!