Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 3: Replies

The scream of absolute glee that leaves Michelangelo's mouth nearly shakes the lair. Destiny's tail spikes as she nearly falls off the swirling platform hanging above the living room. Leonardo flinches noticeably, gasping and whimpering as his almost high score disappears with his pinball slipping between the levers.

Poor unsuspecting Donatello and Sarina, having just entered the lair with bags full of treasures from their scavenging date, jump in surprise. Sarina drops her things as she claps her hands over her ears and Donatello just manages to snag them from the air. He hands it back to her with a smile.

"Okay, who ate the last slice of pizza?" Raphael shouts, storming into the living room from the dojo.

Michelangelo barrels out of his bedroom, down the hall, and into the living room with a smile on his face that's wide enough that he could eat a banana sideways.

"She replied!" he shrieks, hopping up and down as he giggles with glee.

Donatello's forehead wrinkles. "She...as in—" he starts.

"Her! The apple of my eye! My muse! The donut cupcake to my pizza nunchucks!" he rambles, staring at his t-phone as if it's a precious treasure. "The most perfect girl in the world..."

Leonardo exhales and nods, eyes closing as he leans against the pinball machine. "Annalise. Definitely Annalise."

Destiny coughs. "Renet who?" She coughs again.

Michelangelo skips over to Raphael and shoves the phone in his face. "See? I called on senpai and senpai noticed me!"

The red-masked turtle wrinkles his nose, shoving his brother's device away. "For the love of pizza, she's just a YouTuber."

"Is she not younger than you? That would make you, ahem...senpai," Sarina states. "So she is—"

"Lisey-chan?" Michelangelo's eyes sparkle and he gasps. "That's so cute!"

"If we weren't at least partially Japanese, I'd find this entire conversation disgusting," Raphael growls. He pauses. "Oh, wait, it's disgusting anyway."

He huffs and turns away, starting back to the dojo with heavy, deliberate footsteps. Michelangelo wiggles his non-existent eyebrows as he watches Raphael's retreating shell.

"Aw Raph, don't be all broody just because you're still heartbroken over Taylor!" he calls.

A shuriken whistles through the air and Michelangelo squeaks as he retracts into his shell. He clatters to the floor and spins in lazy circles while the shuriken embeds itself in the punching dummy. Raphael's eyes blaze, fists clenched and knuckles white as he grinds his teeth.

"Shut. Up," he snarls. "Don't talk about her."

He turns back around and storms into the dojo, steam practically billowing from his nostrils. Michelangelo peeks his head out of his shell with a sheepish smile as the remaining four teens give him long, slightly tense looks.

"I...hehe...hit a chord, huh?" he guesses.

Destiny sighs and returns to her novel. "That's a sore spot for all of us, Mikey, not just Raph." She purses her lips. "You've got to be careful about what you say."

Leonardo purses his lips as he reaches a hand to rub his throat. The unmistakable sound of something shattering inside the dojo earns a few flinching expressions and the angry scream that follows just furthers the feeling of dread.

"I really hope that wasn't something important," Donatello says, a grimace stuck on his face.

Sarina frowns. "Is Splinter not...present?"

"He's out with April and Casey," Leonardo says. "Murakami's."

Michelangelo gets back to his feet at the pace of a non-mutant turtle, crestfallen. "I'll just...uh...fanboy to myself from now on," Michelangelo mumbles. His phone is forgotten in his hand.

Sarina wanders to his side, arms still laden with supplies. "Don't feel too discouraged, Michelangelo. You were just trying to lighten the mood." She smiles. "I think that it's wonderful that Annalise replied to your comment."

He grins and hugs her arm. "Thanks, Sari! I think it's awesome too!"

He skips off to the kitchen. The cyborg chuckles to herself and shifts her load, starting off towards their laboratory. Donatello joins her. As they leave, Leonardo moves away from the pinball machine and glances up at Destiny.

"I'm gonna talk to Raph," he calls. "Listen in for if it gets heated, okay?"

Destiny salutes with two fingers. "Aye aye, mi Capitane," she says. "I'm sure you can handle it though."

He smirks. "I'm sure I can."

He heads for the dojo.

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Annalise drags a few clips around, fighting back a yawn. It's getting late, although for some the night is just beginning. Annalise has school in the morning—seriously, Mondays are the worst—and as she edits her quick shoutout video, she runs through a list of things she has to do tomorrow.

Photography club at lunch, math test second period, during her spare she's going to study for a biology test coming up with her friend, James, then she's got to go home and prepare another video. She sighs and slumps against her hand, eyes itching. She's still got two years of high school ahead of her and if it's already exhausting, she can't imagine what it'll be like in college.

She lingers over the upload button, chewing on her bottom lip. She already uploaded a video this morning and posting another would be a little out of the ordinary, but it's so short. She wants to get the winners as soon as possible.

Her upload schedule is an attempt at one video per day, although school life brings that down more often than she'd like. To keep herself steady, she often records enough clips for multiple videos over the weekend so that in a pinch, she can reach into her archives and pick one. She goes so far as to make sure she changes her outfits for each video even if she's filming on the same day.

She shrugs. "Ah, what the heck," she says to herself. She moves her cursor to the upload button.

The back of her neck prickles and she stops. The apartment settles around her and she swivels her chair around, staring at her bedroom door. She can't explain it, but she feels eyes on her.

"Mom?" she calls. Nothing. "Pepper?"

The jingling of her dog's collar approaches and Annalise stands up to go and open the door. Pepper waits outside, ears perked in questioning, and Annalise bends down to pet her. The hallway is just as empty as ever and Annalise's mom is fast asleep in her bedroom. There's nothing out of the ordinary at all and Annalise laughs at her paranoia.

Pepper follows her back into the bedroom, finding a spot to rest on her collection of stuffed animals. Annalise sits back down at her computer, still smiling to herself, and it disappears all too quickly. Her cursor is roaming around the screen without her guidance, darting back and forth across the open tab.

Annalise frowns and wiggles the mouse. The cursor moves with it but fights against whatever force is working against her. She grits her teeth and smacks the mouse against her palm, eyebrows furrowed, and the cursor goes still.

She stares at the screen for a solid five seconds before rubbing her eyes and leaning back. She's too tired for this right now.

She presses the upload button and darkens the laptop screen, knowing that when she wakes up tomorrow, it'll be finished. Hopefully, nobody freaks out at her strange upload time and instead her viewers focus on the content of the video.

She leaves her computer for the night, heading off to the bathroom to start getting ready for bed.