Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 7: PizzaNunchucker

"What the shell, Destiny?!" Raphael exclaims.

Destiny sheathes her uchigatana as she glances down at the human lying sprawled at her feet. The other turtles and Sarina stare at her in stunned horror, and she looks up at them, face scrunching with defensiveness.

"She saw us. I had to do something," she retorts, ruffling her wings.

"You knocked out a small girl!" Raphael shouts.

"She's probably, like, fifteen. That's not exactly small. Calm down."

"YOU KNOCKED HER OUT!"

"She saw us, I reacted, and now it's done." Her ears pull back. "I wouldn't expect you to care that much..."

"Maybe I don't want to get arrested if she calls about an assault from a bunch of fucking mutants once she wakes up!"

Michelangelo breaks from the group and approaches the girl, his eyes growing impossibly wider. He'd know this face anywhere. When she first poked her head around the tree, he thought it was his imagination, but no. Her blonde hair is the same, her lightly freckled cheeks are the same, and her mouth is the same. It's her.

"Dudes, it's Annalise," he mumbles. Pepper barks at him, and he looks up at her with a childlike glee. "And that's Pepper! Peppy Pep!"

Leonardo gapes as the dog leaps into Michelangelo's arms and starts licking his face, entire body wiggling with glee. "Wait, she's Annalise Hughes?" Leonardo asks. His eyes widen, and he breathes out a disbelieving, "She lives in New York. Of all places..."

"Is no one worried that we just knocked out a moderately famous YouTuber?" Donatello asks.

"I am!" Raphael snaps. "And for the record, we didn't knock her out. Destiny did."

"He's right," Destiny says.

Michelangelo's happiness fades as he tenses up, unresponsive to Pepper's nudging. "Dudes, what if she doesn't wake up? What if she doesn't make any more videos and I never get to see them again?" His eyes widen as Pepper sniffs his bicep and licks at the freckles dotting it. "Oh no...what if we get arrested for kidnapping?!"

"Calm down, Michelangelo," Sarina murmurs, eyes flashing. "We haven't kidnapped her. Someone just made a very rash decision."

She gives Destiny a pointed look, to which she flicks her tail and crosses her arms over her chest. "In my defence, we didn't have a whole lot of time before she went screaming to the authorities," she says.

"You could've thrown a smoke bomb," Leonardo suggests.

"But...I didn't. Zoom into the air, land behind her, hilt of sword meets forehead, done and done."

"Either way," Donatello says, severing the argument before it gets more heated. He moves towards Michelangelo and Annalise, concerned. "We can't leave her here. We'll have to find a way to get her home."

"I'll do it!" Michelangelo volunteers, shooting his hand up so fast that he nearly punches Donatello in the jaw.

"And how will you do that? You don't know where she lives," Raphael says.

Michelangelo frowns, forehead wrinkling in thought. Raphael has a point. After all, Michelangelo didn't even know that Annalise lived in New York until this moment. He looks down at the blonde as a soft groan passes her lips, making Pepper whine. The dog nuzzles Michelangelo again.

His eyes light up. "Pepper can lead me!" he suggests, but his smile falls in a second at the looks of his brothers. "Or...no, that's silly."

"It really doesn't have to be this difficult," Sarina says. "After all, Annalise came here for a walk. Thus, we are undoubtedly in the general area of her home. That narrows it down quite a bit." She smiles. "Also, we can do this."