Turtles' Big Sister

A Foot Too Big

It'd been a couple weeks since the Creep incident, and things had returned to mostly normal. Or, whatever the hell even counted for normal anymore. Pepper had gotten a lot better; she could actually get around on her own two feet without collapsing, but she still needed to use her staff fairly often, and avoided putting too much weight on her bad leg when she could.

Currently, it was late in the evening, and everyone was off doing their own thing. Pepper was on the porch with Lucian, talking.

"It's just annoying that I can't help out," Pepper said. She chuckled lightly. "Now I know how Raya felt when Shredder injured her."

"Well, you have everyone here to help you recover," Lucian pointed out.

Pepper flashed him a grin, about to make some smart remark when a distant explosion echoed from the forest. She straightened from where she leaned against the railing, staring toward the trees. There was a flash of bright orange that briefly lit up the treetops, followed by a dark plume of smoke.

"You see that?" Pepper asked her twin.

He gazed out toward the forest, amber eyes wide. "Yeah. Heard it, too. What the heck was that?"

Pepper shook her head. "Sounds like someone's messing around with explosives out there." She glanced back into the living room through the window. No one had come running down the stairs, meaning no one else had probably heard it. She looked back at her twin. "Think we should investigate?"

He hesitated, looking toward the forest, then shook his head. "No. If someone's out there blowing crap up, they could be dangerous. And you know us; everyone we encounter seems to want to kill us."

"Hm. Fair point." She glanced back at the woods. The dark cloud of smoke had faded, and even though she strained her ears, she didn't hear another explosion. The thing was, though, April had told her no one was around for miles, right?

So who the heck had made that explosion?

----------

It was a quiet morning. Astra was in the living room with April, Raph, and Leo. Nyx was outside sparring with Samirah and Raya. Pepper and Lucian were out for a walk; Astra had suggested that Pepper talk a walk every morning to start getting her strength back, and the older kunoichi had gladly taken her suggestion. Astra figured she was happy to be doing something other than sitting around and resting, even if she couldn't train yet. Casey was...somewhere, Astra wasn't entirely sure where. And Mikey was in the barn with Donnie, doing who knew what.

Speak of the devil. The two of them walked into the living room. Donnie had a smile on his face, holding a small box. He handed it to April, asking her to open it.

She did so to reveal it was a music box with a photo of him on the lid. She gave Donnie an uneasy smile. "Wow, that is just super neat. Thanks so much, Donnie!" He smiled, and April set the box on the table. "Well, got to go! Got some, uh, training to do. Thanks again, Donnie!"

With that, she left hurriedly.

Mikey peeked up from behind the couch. "I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now."

"Devastated," Donnie answered.

Mikey snapped his fingers. "Aw, man! I was totally gonna say 'devastated'!" He leaned over and shook Donnie's shoulders. "I should've just went for it. I got to learn to trust my instincts!" Donnie pushed him back. "I mean... That's rough, bro."

Donnie let go of him and Mikey fell off the couch with a faceplant.

"Smooth move, genius," Raph said from the doorway. "It's never gonna happen, Donnie. We're mutants. She's a girl. You're a giant talking turtle." He entered the room. "The sooner you get used to it, the better."