Chapter 1 - Surprise Visitor (Co-written with Poleepkwana/Suthnmeh)

April O'Neil was pulled from a peaceful sleep by the sound of the latch on her living room window being jiggled free. In the couple of years since they had met, she had been relatively successful in training the turtles to either call before an unexpected arrival, or at the very least give her a polite knock, so as not to scare her to death.

With a roll of her eyes she sat up and gave a tiny yawn. Climbing out of the comfort of her bed, an involuntary shiver ran over her as she broke free from her cocoon of warm blankets. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was quite late—so late it almost qualified as early—way later than the boys would dare to come by without a good reason.

After their return to the city, defeating the Kraang and Donatello successfully managing to create another retro-mutagen to cure the inhabitants of New York, their life had finally taken a turn for the normal. Sure her father, along with many of the New Yorkers who had been mutated were still dealing with some post-traumatic stress from their time captured by the Kraang. But the city was healing; damaged buildings were being repaired, families were being reunited, and life seemed to have picked up where it had left off. Splinter and the turtles had moved from the pizza shop, back into their lair, and April and her dad were finally home.

After their sabbatical at the farmhouse, both April and a somewhat reluctant Casey had even gone back to finish the school semester. The Hamato clan was supportive and understood how important their education was, and an agreement had been made that they were not to be disturbed after midnight on a school night. So when she had been awoken from a deep slumber by their arrival, she was instantly filled with annoyance.

"This better be an emergency." April muttered to herself, slipping into the dark hallway.

As she approached the curtain covered window, her bare feet quietly shuffling across the wooden floor, something halted her in her tracks; a man's voice she didn't recognize. Straining to listen, a muffled curse could barely be heard through the glass. "Ow. Damnit!"

The window wasn't locked, and with her father out of town, April was alone in the apartment. Despite her time training as a kunoichi, she felt her pulse quicken at the sudden feeling of vulnerability. She was unarmed and her weapon was in the next room, tucked away in the pocket of her backpack. She quickly weighed her options; she could make a run for it, but would have to move past the window and risk alerting the intruder to her presence even sooner. Scanning the room her eyes fell upon one of her dad's old college awards. It was a carved glass sphere on a stand. She grabbed it, finding it a little awkward to hold, but 'National Academic Decathlon - 1st Place' was heavy and acceptable as an impromptu weapon.

Just then, the window swung open and the long heavy curtains rippled in the cool breeze of the night air. April pressed herself up against the wall, blending into the shadows as much as her bright yellow pajamas would allow. The figure of a man ungracefully spilled in through the opening, making a surprising amount of noise for a burglar. He stood straight and turned to close the window.

A flash of moonlight and street lamps illuminated his face enough for April to positively conclude that this man was a stranger. His hair was dark and he was dressed all in black. He reached up to pull the curtains shut, and April took her chance and jumped forward, using her momentum to add to her swing. The man tried to react and duck, but she still managed to hit him hard enough to knock him to the side.

As soon as he hit the ground, April turned to run for her tessen, but was momentarily halted when she heard the man call her name.

"April wait!"

The brief moment of hesitation was all he needed to lunge forward and grab hold of her as she moved to dart again. His rough hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her scream before it could escape. His other arm wrapped around her middle, easily encircling her slight frame and arms. Holding her back against him, he immobilized her limbs as she frantically struggled to break free of his grasp. She squirmed and twisted, doing everything she could to make herself difficult to hold onto, desperate to get loose.

"April, please. I need you to calm down. I can explain." The man pleaded, sounding flustered.

Confused by his statement, April decided to play along, using the time to calculate escape routes. She calmed her squirming, but her nerves were still on high alert.

"Thank you, I didn't mean to scare you. Just let me explain everything before you scream and wake all of your neighbors."

April gave a slight nod and was immediately rewarded as the man loosened his arms just enough for her to swing her leg up and connect with his groin.

"Arrrrgghhuunnn!" The man howled out as he let go of her, bending over in pain.

"You're going to pay for this you creep!" April shouted as she dove across the room, and ran to her backpack leaning near the front door. Slipping her fan out, she darted to the kitchen to grab the phone off the counter. 9-1-1 had already been entered and her thumb was on send when she heard the man groan out again.

"April wait! It's me, Donnie!"

She spun around and cautiously stepped back into the living room, eyeing the intruder who was still half bent over, using his arms on his knees to hold himself mostly upright. He didn't look all that dangerous.

She fanned out her weapon and took a stance, an entire room between them. Who the hell was this guy, and why did he know the name of one of the turtles? She felt her heart rate quicken yet again as her mind whirled to thoughts of her best friend and worried about what could have happened to him. "You have exactly 5 seconds to tell me what the hell you are doing in my apartment before you'll be regretting it."

His hands immediately went up in a 'don't shoot' stance and she felt a snigger of satisfaction seeing him wince from her earlier blow. "April, please! It's me. It's Donatello! Remember that brain-switching Kraang device thing? I switched bodies with this… this thug." The man patted his own chest in emphasis. "I need your help!"

She didn't allow her expression to even twitch, she'd heard a lot of far-fetched and remarkable stories in her time, but she'd be crazy to take anything at face value.

April's eyes narrowed as she considered what he had said. "And why on Earth would I believe that preposterous story? The Kraang aren't even around anymore!"

"I don't know how it happened!" He burst out before taking a large breath to calm himself. "You've got to believe me. I know it doesn't look like it, but it's me, it's Donnie, your best friend! You know, the tall, adorably geeky, mutated turtle?" He gave a light chuckle at his own remark, but she did not find it amusing.

"Prove it." She all but spat.

"Um… I met you two years ago…" He rattled off. "You had been captured by the Kraang and I rescued you when you fell from a helicopter. They kidnapped your father and my brothers and I helped you find him."

"How do I know this isn't some kind of 'Kraang trick'? There's lots of ways you could have gotten that information." April frowned, was this really the best this guy had?

The man paused for a minute, he seemed to be considering what she'd said.

The example he just tossed out happened under the close watch of the Kraang, which is why she doubted it. They'd seen the Kraang pull off all kinds of sneaky tricks; impersonating her missing mother, befriending her as an undercover Kraang disguised as a nice girl in the hopes to find their lair. They thought the alien monsters had been defeated, but then again, they thought that the first time too. She knew she had to be cautious, after all a total stranger just barged into her place demanding that she listen to his far-fetched story.

"Ask me anything." He finally responded in a plea, his hands held out in front of him, palm up.

Taking in his body language the man looked so distraught that it almost got to her. He no longer appeared intimidating and did not attempt to shift any closer to her. In fact, had taken a tiny step back after he had fully righted himself from her earlier blow. He could be trying to look less menacing, or maybe he truly wasn't someone to fear.

Honing in on the glimmer of control she had over her mental abilities, she tried to sense the intentions of this man in front of her. But found herself too riled up to really focus. And while her skills were anything but accurate, she did not have the feeling of dread that usually washed over her when something bad was about to happen.

She looked him over again, and took a deep breath before deciding on a question. It would need to be something intimate, something only Donnie would be able to answer. Immediately she was struck with the perfect memory. And she inwardly smirked as she adjusted her posture, feeling confident in her ability to stump any imposter.

"This summer, where were we when you and I talked about Bigfoot?"

She left it vague, aware that if he was the real deal, he'd know exactly which conversation about Bigfoot she'd be referring to.

He nodded, apparently satisfied with her question. "At the farmhouse. You were chopping firewood."

She took a step back to look him over again, but did not lower her weapon. Was this for real? He hadn't even flinched before answering. But she needed more proof and carried on with her questioning. "What did you come out there to tell me?"

"Oh." The man chuckled nervously to himself, and she noted the way he shifted his feet and looked down at this hands. Either this guy was stalling or the real Donnie was feeling embarrassed about her choice of questions.

"Well, that… it was a little… well, I kinda…" He stammered, and much to her surprise, the guy actually seemed to be blushing as he averted his gaze. Unable to interpret this behavior, April shot him a severe look that said she was losing her patience. She saw the man shrink under her gaze until eventually he sighed before continuing on.

"After Bigfoot left, I wanted to talk to you alone. You see, she had brought to my attention how awkward I must have been making you feel, in my attempts to gain your affection…" He paused to swallow a nervous lump. "...and then I said, that I would never bother you again with my… music boxes." He grinned timidly while nervously fidgeting, looking vulnerable to expose such details.

April found that her breath had caught in her chest at his last statement; he certainly had her attention now. She lowered her arm with the tessen just slightly, how could he have possibly known those details if it wasn't him? He even managed to word it in such as way that his description of music boxes held more than one meaning.

"I told you that I understood, that I was 'just a mutant' to you." He added, the face of a stranger looking up at her with a soft smile that somehow seemed familiar.

The memory of that sunny afternoon came back to her in vivid clarity. Donatello looked so downtrodden when he had approached her that day, as though he had given up hope on something. And as he had stood before her, his olive green complexion looking so bright and healthy in the natural light, he spoke softly and avoided her eye contact and she realized that she had been the cause of his sadness. Without warning she had been overcome with the need to make sure that he didn't give up on her that day, and out of nowhere she had done something surprising.

"And what did I reply to that?" April urged from him, hoping for the last piece of evidence that this was indeed her friend.

"You corrected me, and said that I was 'your mutant'." He looked into her eyes and she could see the way he seemed to recollect the memory, the soft smile that tugged at the corner of his lips making her cheeks feel warm. "And then you kissed me."

April gasped and let her arm which was poised to strike, fall slack to her side. "Oh my God, it is you." She muttered aloud.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm still a little out of sorts." He raised an arm to scratch behind his neck, a familiar gesture that the young girl had seen the boy do many times. Even in another body it was recognizable the way he moved, now that she was willing to look for it.

With a shocked hand over her own heart, April moved closer to the body that her friend was currently trapped inside. Laying a gently hand on his wrist, she looked up into his relieved eyes. "What happened to you?!"

"That's a great question."

End Chapter 1 - Surprise Visitor

A/N: We sure hope that this little teaser got you interested! There's plenty of more to come! And with Suthnmeh as a co-author, you better believe we already have some gorgeous art to go with this puppy too!

Let us know what you thought and if there's anything you are hoping to see!

Thanks for reading,
Quee and Poleepkwana/Suthnmeh