Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 12: Work to be Done

Annalise could have been doing homework. She could have been tidying her room. She could have been doing anything even remotely helpful to herself, her mother, or anyone else but instead, she has spent her evening perusing news stories from the past few years.

She can't help it. She knows who's saved her city over and over again and so she's taken to reminding herself of just how weird this city can be. She's read articles about not one, but two Kraang invasions, instances of kidnapping from giant weed monsters, the infamous Muckman story, and more. Honestly, she can't quite wrap her head around the idea that Michelangelo has been around her this entire time, saving her from threats that she didn't even notice.

She clicks out of a running blog post on alien conspiracies within New York and returns to YouTube, where she's waiting for her latest video to upload. With this video, the date for her Minecraft live-stream game will be set and she'll have one less thing to worry about. She's not worried about possible conflicts with the whole virus thing since there's absolutely no way that Donatello and Sarina will be ready by the time her game time comes.

With everything that has happened lately, YouTube has been the last thing on her mind, and as much as she hates to think it, she wishes it would just go away so that she can breathe and feel even a little bit more relaxed. What a pipe dream. If it would go away, she wouldn't have to worry about that stupid virus reappearing.

She digs out a sketchbook and flips it open to where she's already started writing out descriptions and ideas for the cyberverse outfits. She tried drawing them, but they're super shabby and she hates looking at them for more than a few seconds. She hopes that Raphael is as good of an artist as the others say he is.

"Hey...psst! Annalise!"

She looks up from her desk to see Michelangelo standing outside her window. He waves and smiles at her, making her heart jump as she too grins. She hurries to the window and shoves it open, allowing him to slip inside.

"Sorry, I'm late," he says. "You wouldn't believe the stuff going on in the lair. It's crazy!"

She bobs her head from side to side. "You're trying to save the world. I'd expect nothing less from such noble heroes," she says with a faux sense of regality.

He bows deep. "My lady, your understanding is totally appreciated," he returns, making her laugh. He straightens up. "Ready to go? Work to be done and pizza to eat, y'know?"

Her ice blue eyes light up. "Pizza? Sign me up!"

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"You weren't kidding," Annalise murmurs.

Michelangelo nods. "Told you."

The lair is buzzing with energy. Every teenager is busy with something, be it planning or building or sorting. The laboratory doors are wide open, allowing Annalise to see that Sarina and Donatello are working away at their workstations, blowtorches in hand. Leonardo, Raphael, and Destiny are gathered around a small table in the living room, talking amongst themselves.

Annalise's gaze travels to the only people in the room that she hasn't met yet and to her surprise, she recognizes them. One of them is the hockey player who's constantly getting in trouble, some say he's been held back while others say he just looks mature for his age. The other is the girl that Annalise has only ever seen in passing moments, her nose buried in textbooks, earbuds in, drowning out the world.

"April and Casey?" she asks, nudging Michelangelo. He arches an eye-ridge at her as her expression floods with further shock. "You know them? They know you?"

Michelangelo glances over at them as he nods. "Yup, known them since we were fifteen!"

She shakes her head. "They go to my school. I thought they were just...the weirdos." Her cheeks flush. "Oh, that's so mean..."