𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 (ʳᵒᵗᵗᵐⁿᵗ; ᵈᵒⁿᵃᵗᵉˡˡᵒ)

𝔮𝔲𝔞𝔱𝔯𝔢.

— Arrivederci & Au Revoir —

     IF she was being completely honest, then Eloise would admit to feeling like a part of the loser's club. She swears that Pennywise was chasing her down the sewer tunnels. However, there were many other factors that should concern her far more than a fictional demon-clown chasing her through the sewers.

She should be more concerned about the possible aspect of alligators actually living in the sewers like urban legends say. And more likely, the turtle mutations catching up to her just as they said they would.

Eloise decided she worry about actually getting out of the sewers first. Then she could worry about them finding her again when she was surrounded by the millions of New Yorkers. She squinted—the sewers were far too dark for her human eyes. Therefore, she was forced to pull out her phone and use the flashlight.

She was thankful that cellphones could also be used as a flashlight, otherwise, she would have been hella screwed. To be fair, she kind of already was. Eloise cursed when the jangling of her backpack did not let up amidst her running.

However, if she were to slow down then they would definitely catch her. And if she were to put her hands behind her to hold the bag still, she would not be able to see in front of her.

The moist ground splashed with every step she took, and the smell of the sewers was starting to get to her head. She had not realized it before, but somehow the home of the turtles did not smell bad at all, nothing like the sewers. Instead, it smelled of pizza and other hot foods.

She was surprised and wondered how they managed that, but after catching sight of the lab and the many impossible things in it—the smell was not all that much of a shock. Eloise was so unfocused that she almost missed it.

Thankfully, she caught it just in time and reeled to a heavy stop. It was her golden ticket out of this place, a long ladder leading up to a manhole. Or at least, she thought it was a manhole cover. She could not be too sure since it was so far, but what else could it be?

Smiling, Eloise quickly put her phone in her mouth before beginning her climb up. Suck on that, Donatello! 10% chance her ass!

She was already starting to climb and there was still no sight of those turtles. Eloise was halfway up when she heard it. It was a cough—from down below.

Her heart had never stopped so fast—she jumped slightly before allowing her head to tilt down. Eloise's palms turned sweaty and she started having a much harder time holding onto the ladder grails.

Because down below, standing as casual as ever were four mutant turtles. They all had their heads tilted up to her, dumb little smiles painted across all their faces. It had been the blue one—Leo—who coughed.

"So..." he started, bouncing on his feet, "you from Jersey?" He snickered at the end, and Raph did the same.

It must have been some inside joke, but it made Eloise shutter and she started climbing much more desperately as well as quicker. Oddly enough, the turtles were not following, and they were making no moves to even touch the laddering.

Donnie was not even looking at her, but rather he was clicking a few buttons on his wrist touchpad. The screen illuminated his face ever so slightly giving him an almost mystical glow.

It was Mikey who tilted his head.

"Whatcha doing?" He hummed, as though truly not understanding why this girl was climbing up that ladder.

He was messing with her. He had to be. Obviously, he knew why...

And Eloise's thoughts came to a standstill, for when she made it to the top (and the turtles still made no move to follow her) she realized why they had been so calm. It was why Eloise should have looked harder when she started climbing, and it was why Eloise was about to cry.