how to get very good at juggling

🌻 chapter 6 🌻

Some things change, some things stay the same.

After the Caseys ran through the living room to regroup elsewhere, the mood in the lair was much more subdued. Draxum wandered back into the kitchen, and all four adults started swapping stories about the kids, obviously trying to cover up the tension in the air, with limited success. April stayed with them, scooting along the long bench until she was next to her mother and tucking into her side. The look on Casey's face…April felt bad. He'd been really supportive of her today, and they'd effectively blindsided him, even if that wasn't the intention. 

April's mother wrapped an arm around her, laughing softly at something Splinter said. April's gaze flicked back and forth between her parents. They were relaxed, having a good time, or at least as good of a time as they could with the whole Casey situation hanging over their heads. Maybe she hadn't needed to worry at all. Maybe this at least was going to turn out for the better, in the end. 

"April," Splinter said, and April suddenly realized he was looking at her. "Tell them about the time Red broke into your school." She jolted upright from where she'd been slouched over against her mother, before laughing sheepishly. 

"Didn't realize you knew about that one, Splints," she said through a forced smile. 

"Hah! You all talked too loud to hide it from me," Splinter grinned back, his ears flicking in demonstration. 

"I think Raph and I were…eleven or twelve maybe? We'd been watching basketball on TV, and I said about how there were basketball games at my school, but I hadn't been to one yet. Raph hadn't ever been to a basketball game either, obviously, so he snuck into the school and hid under the bleachers," April explained, running through the event in her head. 

"Oh, is that why you suddenly got into basketball in 6th grade?" her dad said. "We just thought you had a crush on someone on the team." 

Suddenly a lot of her parents prodding and wide smiles regarding her basketball-related activities made a lot more sense. Despite the fact that there had been no crush involved, April found her face heating up. "No! Raph just didn't want to go alone! He needed someone to buy him a soft pretzel from the concession stand." 

"That was the year you two got too tall," Splinter sighed remorsefully. "They put something in those soft pretzels." 

"Nonsense, Raphael was designed to be even ta–" Draxum started, cutting off when Splinter whacked him upside the head with his tail. "Ow!" He glared at Splinter, looking like he wanted to start an argument, but April started talking before that could happen. 

"But yeah, by the end of I guess 7th grade, Raph got too big to fit under the bleachers, so we had to call it quits. I mean, now they've all got mad ninja skills or whatever, so we can go to sports games, we just have to sit on top of the jumbotron usually," she explained. 

"Wait, can they get us into Citi Field?" April's dad asked. 

April blinked. "I mean, yeah, probbles." She paused, a sarcastic grin sliding onto her face. "Might have to owe them a favor for helping you sneak into such a garbage stadium, though. The Mets? Really, Dad?" 

"There's nothing wrong with the Mets!" The conversation devolved from there. Splinter even hauled out the scrapbook Mikey had painstakingly made when they were younger, thrown together with photos from disposable cameras that April had figured out how to get processed at the drugstore around the corner. They all had spent a couple afternoons helping Mikey pick out photos and design the different pages, decorated with shiny stickers, construction paper, and glitter glue. It was full of blurry photos of them all with missing teeth and limbs too long for their bodies. 

Eventually, the boys migrated back into the kitchen, standing around the table and pointing out different photos, recounting stories. April's mother whipped out her phone, showing everyone some of April's more embarrassing baby photos, and April put up a big show of embarrassment, even if she was secretly a little pleased. 

It took a few hours for Cassandra to reappear. She stood in the kitchen doorway in a way that made April think she'd been standing there for a while before she cleared her throat to announce her presence. "April, Junior wants to talk to you," she said, stony-faced. Despite how animated she was, April found that Cassandra could make herself very difficult to read when she wanted to. She really didn't know what to expect. 

A hush fell over the room, and April got to her feet. "He knows we're not kicking him out or anything, right?" she asked hesitantly, trying to read the minute changes in Cassandra's expression. 

"He…does," Cassandra said, though her mid-sentence pause left a lot to be desired. She didn't say anything further, leaving it at that. 

April grimaced. "I'll be back," she told the rest of the room, walking with Cassandra back through the lair. She had expected they'd go into Mikey's room, but instead Cass led her up the concrete stairs to the garage. 

They stopped in front of the door, and Cassandra took a step back. 

April started at the motion, turning around to look at her. Cassandra remained impassive though, gesturing at the door ahead of them. April opened her mouth, about to protest that she didn't want to go in there alone, but well, she wasn't really going to be there alone, was she? Casey was there. They had the same goal in the end, to do what was best for everyone. He wasn't the enemy, and this wasn't a solo mission. She clicked her jaw together, turning around and walking into the garage. 

The lights were on this time, which April was grateful for. The busted punching bag had been cleaned up, but the garage still wasn't necessarily neat by any means. Casey had tucked himself under the workbench, surrounded by a bunch of blankets and pillows that looked suspiciously like what Leo had on his bed. He looked up as she came in, his dark eyes red-rimmed, but he wasn't crying. 

April crawled under the workbench with him, and he extended his arm offering to let her under the blanket with him. She scooted next to him, wrapping the shared blanket around her shoulders as well. 

"Casey said Splinter isn't mad at me," Casey said after a moment, his voice a little raspy. 

"She's right," April hummed. 

"...Then why does he want me to leave?" 

"That's not–" April started, but she quickly cut herself off, falling silent again. "You know Splints used to be human, right? For like, a long time." Casey nodded. "The boys, they don't remember what it was like, being a turtle, but Splinter spent most of his life as a human. He remembers it. He loves the boys, don't get me wrong, but I think…he worries a lot about what he can offer them. How they couldn't go to school, or see a doctor. How they couldn't go above ground, or play with other kids and make friends." 

April hesitated, tucking her knees tighter against her chest. "So, I think he sees you, and I mean, you're his kid, too. Or grandson. Something. I dunno, doesn't matter. But he sees you, and thinks 'at least I can do right by this one'. He wants what's best for you, and this is what he thinks is best. Doesn't mean he's right, but like…I dunno if there is a right answer here." 

Casey hummed in response, though he didn't say anything else. He just leaned against April, his eyes closing. 

"For what it's worth," April started again, pulling the blanket a little tighter around the two of them, "I think it could be good to try living with us. I don't think it'd be easy, necessarily, and I definitely see how it'd be scary, but I'd be with you the whole way. And so would everyone else. Sometimes it's hard to do what'll be good for you, even if you do think it'll be good for you." 

The room lapsed into a thoughtful silence as Casey mulled her words over. "After my mom died," he started, his voice quiet, "Commander O'Neil was the first person to start training me. My mom handled all of it before, y'know." Not for the first time, April was struck by the fact that Casey was the only person left from his world. April had no way to know that his mother had trained him for combat before she died, but it was apparently an integral fact of Casey's life. A whole world of lives, of hopes and dreams, wishes and wants, and Casey was the only person left to carry them all. It sounded heavy. It sounded lonely. "Master Leonardo wanted to give me more time, it had only been a few days. I don't think they knew I could hear them." 

He grimaced, shifting away just enough that he could look at April. "The Commander said that the world wasn't gonna wait for me, that someday they wouldn't– they wouldn't be there to protect me, and I needed to be strong enough to keep going." He morosely laughed a little to himself, turning his gaze back out to the garage floor. "Master Leonardo didn't talk to you for like three days, he was so mad. You got me a spear and made me start training, though. I was real grumpy about it at first, but I'm glad you made me get up again." 

Silence hung in the air, Casey's eyes a little hazy and unfocused as he got stuck in a memory. April fought the urge to say something, and Casey eventually started speaking again. "A couple years later, when Master Leonardo wanted to start putting me on missions, Commander O'Neil got all mad at him. I thought they were gonna duke it out, right in the middle of the war room. She said I wasn't ready, he said I was wiping the floor with recruits that had been on the mission roster for months. I'd passed all the requirements. She still said I wasn't ready. Then he said, what was the point of all that training if we're never gonna send Casey out?" 

Oh god, April and Leo had become their parents in the future. Her parents had spent her whole life fostering her capabilities but freaked out when they realized she was actually using them. Splints had put off training the boys for as long as possible, but once he realized they were capable, he was actually quite good about trusting their abilities. She was going to have to unpack that one at a later time; preferably make Leo unpack it with her. 

Casey started talking again, unaware of the bomb he'd just dropped in April's psyche. "I had to do the stuff that was hard and scary in order to get to the bit that I really wanted. And I want to be happy here, April, I really do. I mean, I've been thinking about it a lot a-and, me coming here and saving this world? It didn't save mine. The Krang still won there, I think. And…I think Master Leonardo and Master Michelangelo knew that too. I don't know how long they were planning the time portal, and maybe they thought it would work in a way that would save my world, but…" he trailed off, blinking back tears again. "So I wanna be happy. For them. For everyone. 'Cuz if I'm not, then everything…it was all for nothing." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm gonna stop you right there," April jumped in. 

She turned toward Casey, placing her palms on either side of his face. There was a moment of strong deja vu, and Raph's surprised teary face overlined with Casey's for just a second. "They wanted you to be happy, and that's a good thing for sure, don't get me wrong. But that's not a weight you should carry, that if you're not happy you're letting them all down. You gotta be happy for you, CJ. 'Cuz you deserve it. You got that?" There was a beat of silence, and April squeezed his face a little harder, squishing his cheeks. "Casey Jones, do you copy?" 

"Yes, ma'am," he squeaked out. 

April let go of him, patting his cheek for good measure, before crawling out from under the workbench and searching around for Donnie's notepad. Casey poked his head out from under the workbench, staring up at her. 

"Okay, action item!" she said, swiping the notepad and pencil from off the cluttered surface and crawling back under the workbench with Casey. At the top of the page, she wrote "List of Things That Make CJ Happy", before underlining it. Casey peered over her shoulder, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"Alright, so we're gonna make a list. It doesn't have to be a big thing that makes you happy, small things count too. Like I always get happy when I see a dog while I'm out," April explained, handing the notepad over to Casey. 

"Huh," he murmured, tapping the tip of the pencil against the paper, before scratching down "seeing dogs outside". "I like that too," he explained quietly. 

"You like seeing the sky, too, right?" April prodded, and Casey nodded, writing that down as well. 

List of Things That Make CJ Happy

• seeing dogs outside
• seeing the sky
• eating deep fried food (NOT COOKING THEM)
• cooking food with Mikey
• going to that cafe with the crassont croissants
• fuzzy socks
• how my hair smells after I use that shampoo you got me
• when I can hear Donnie's music from the lab
• Stardew Valley

"Alright," April said once they got about halfway down the page. "Now we just gotta figure out how to do these things more often. And when something happens that makes you happy, you can add it to the list." 

Casey stared down at the notepad, tightening his grip on it and crinkling the paper under his fingers. 

"What if…you start going out with Cassandra and Raph when they go knock heads? I know Raph's been inviting you, and I bet Cass would really like having you around, too," April suggested. 

"You think I should?" Casey asked, chewing on his bottom lip for a brief second. 

"Why not? I'd be going if I didn't have homework or work-work half the time," April said, shrugging. "And then…maybe you can come over to my place for dinner like once a week?" 

Casey made an uncertain noise. 

"You saved the world, Case, you should get to see it," April said gently. "It's a real big one, I get that it's scary to start. So maybe, my parents can be step one of that? Hang out with some people you never met?" 

"Never met Raph or Splinter," Casey murmured in a tone that indicated he was purposefully being difficult. 

"Alright, my parents can be step two, then, 'cuz you're doing great about Raph and Splints. Or, you've got my class schedule, you can venture above ground to meet me somewhere, and I'll buy you whatever food you want." 

Casey huffed a laugh, glancing at April from the corner of his eyes. "Commander, that's bribery."

"Did I stutter, Jones?" April shot back, her mouth curving into a grin. 

Casey's gaze turned back to the list in his hands, eyes scanning up and and down the page. He nodded, not taking his eyes off the paper. "You didn't change much, y'know," he said softly, his eyes getting wet again. "You're still making me get back up, even when I don't want to." 

April wrapped an arm around Casey, pulling him against her chest. He leaned into the motion, tucking up against her. "Yeah, I'm cool like that," she responded, and Casey barked out a wet laugh, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight. 

Casey didn't come home with the O'Neils that night. He and April did eventually make it out of the garage and back into the kitchen, April gripping Casey's hand tightly as he announced that he was going to think about their offer, but he'd rather stay in the lair for the time being. April said that they were working on a plan to get Casey a little more surface-bound, and the adults all seemed to accept that as an answer. 

It wasn't too late by the time they got home, but April worked the opening shift at a cafe on Saturdays and Sundays, so she knew she'd want to get to bed before too long. Draxum bid them farewell as they exited the stairwell, and the sounds of his hooves could be heard continuing on up to the fifth floor. 

"Lou Jitsu making a mean green bean casserole was not what I expected," April's mother admitted as she closed the front door behind her family. 

April snorted. "Gonna be honest, Momma, I gave Splints your recipe the first year I knew them. Mikey wanted to do Thanksgiving dinner, 'cuz he'd seen it on TV but Splints didn't know how to cook most a'the stuff," she recounted, kicking off her shoes. "Dinner was mostly a bust, but the green bean casserole was the only way they could get Dee to eat veggies for a while. I think Splints lost all the recipes after the first year so his version is just him playing Telephone with his memory of it for the past decade." 

Both her parents smiled, and her mom let out a laugh. "...I'm glad we finally got to meet them," she said after a moment. 

"While we were in his lab, Donatello let slip that he's fixed most of the appliances in our apartment," April's dad said. "So…how often were you having unauthorized sleepovers?" 

April laughed, a bit too high pitched. She quickly averted her gaze from her parents. "Oh, you know. Not often," she said, like a liar. "Anyway, uh, I gotta go to bed. Work tomorrow and all!" She pushed up onto her tiptoes, kissing both her parents on the cheek. "Love you guys! Good night!" she said, running off before they could recover. Even from behind her bedroom door, she could still hear the faint sounds of laughter and good-natured conversation. Maybe everything was going to be alright after all. 

April needed to graduate college, if only so she never had to work food service ever again. She didn't mind customer service, not really, and it was fun to see all the people that came in, but if she had to explain to one more person that the vegan cafe she worked at did not have cow's milk as a milk option, she was going to choke someone out. She trudged up the four flights of stairs to her apartment, fumbling with her keys for a moment before finally managing to jam them into the lock. Her mom was sitting on the couch, her book of crossword puzzles tucked in her lap, though she looked up when April walked in through the door. 

"Hi Momma," April yawned, closing the door behind her and shuffling off her shoes and jacket. 

"Did you have fun at work?" her mom asked. April involuntarily grimaced and her mom chuckled sympathetically. 

"Where's Dad?" 

"Oh, he and Draxum are bonding. I think your dad is showing him that secondhand bookstore he likes so much," April's mother answered, not seeming concerned in the slightest. 

April stared at her, slowly turning her gaze up toward the ceiling. Sure enough, it was quiet. "I…don't know how to feel about that," she said. It was half a lie, she was pretty sure she felt negatively about it. She was going to have to threaten Draxum a little bit next time she saw him. 

"I think it's funny," April's mom offered, swinging her legs off the couch and making room for April to sit down. "Your dad needs more friends that aren't his coworkers. I think Draxum just needs friends, period." 

April couldn't argue with that. She sat down on the couch next to her mother, pulling out her phone to text Mikey. 

mike-n-ike 🍊

drax and my dad are hanging out

if ur dad mutates my dad were gonna have beef Michael

Exclamation point ! ! Don't worry draxim has been very good 100% reformed

"I'm sorry I yelled at you on Wednesday," her mother said suddenly, jolting April's attention away from her phone. She looked over toward her mother, who had a very uncomfortable look on her face. 

"I get it Mom, it's alright, we were both kinda–" April started, her mother cutting her off. 

"It's not alright. I shouldn't have yelled. I'm the adult here. I don't want you to be scared of me," August said sternly, her voice not leaving much room for argument. She paused, before continuing in a much softer tone. "I don't want you to feel like you need to hide things from me." 

"I don't–" April started, cutting herself off this time when she realized she would be lying if she said she didn't feel like she needed to hide things from her mother. She was still hiding things, and sure she'd probably end up telling her parents about Karai, the Shredder, and the full story of the Krang invasion, but…not now. Maybe not even soon. 

Her mom gave her a sad smile, seemingly knowing exactly what her train of thought was. There was a beat of silence as April's mother wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tugging her a little closer. "Your dad told me what you told him about Leo," she said, rubbing circles with her thumb against April's arm. 

That fact alone wasn't surprising to April, her parents tended to be a very unified force and she'd never exactly told her father to keep it a secret. She still couldn't help the small, pained noise that slipped from her throat. 

Her mom continued, "I know it doesn't change what happened, but…I'm pretty sure he knows you love him. I think they all do. It's pretty obvious that they all adore you, too." 

"I know they do," April mumbled in response, leaning against her mom's side. 

August exhaled through her nose, pursing her lips together as she looked at April. "You can go over there whenever you want, just let us know, okay? You thought you lost them, it's more than okay to want to be around them," she said, giving April's arm a small squeeze. "Just…your dad and I thought we lost you. I thought I lost you. I'm sorry if I'm being clingy, or crowding you too much, but…it's the same thing, right? I want to be around you." 

Commander O'Neil never got to have this moment. She probably never got to sit next to her mother and hear her say that it was okay that she was scared, that her mom had been scared too, that it was okay if they all needed each other a little more now. No, Commander O'Neil lived in a world where a child's mother died and you had to make sure he got up and didn't stop fighting. There was no stopping to mourn, no stopping to grieve, no stopping to recover or heal. 

It was only because of Commander O'Neil and her family that April got to sit here, next to her mother, and be loved. April didn't know her, could never know her. There were surely secrets she and the others kept from Casey, things he didn't know, things they'd never bothered to tell him. Commander O'Neil would never be the only thing pushing April to strive for her own happiness, but she could cherish these little moments just a little bit extra for her future counterpart. 

"I do like it better that you guys are home more," April admitted, feeling a bit childish for saying so. 

"We like being home more too," August replied, a smile settling on her face. "Horrible as the whole thing has been, I do think things are gonna change for the better." 

Maybe they were. April's parents were around more now, they knew the Hamatos now. Casey was here, he was safe, and was making more progress on pulling Cassandra out of her isolative tendencies in just a few weeks than April and Raph had made in months. They all hugged each other a little tighter now, savored every moment just a little bit more. They'd all been hurt, of course they'd all been hurt, but they'd be okay in the end. They all had each other, after all. They had time to heal. 

.

.

.

.

"Wait, so they only have this class with one session, once per year, and only twenty people can take it? But it's required for the Journalism major? How many Journalism majors are there?" Casey asked as the two of them walked back from April's first day as a sophomore at Eastlaird, toward the O'Neils' apartment. 

"Like three hundred," April answered, shaking her iced coffee. It was a hot day, even for the beginning of September. Casey had shown up bearing iced coffees for the two of them when he came to pick her up from campus, and April was very proud of him. He was adjusting! Learning the joys of spending $5 on ultimately mediocre coffee! Her little temporal anomaly, all grown up. 

"There's no way everyone would be able to take the class then!" he exclaimed, sounding affronted. 

"Bingo," April said, raising an eyebrow. "Bottleneck the number of journalism majors, and you've got less journalists poking around Eastlaird. Less journalists means more room for nefarious dealings." 

Casey sputtered. "Wait, so what're we gonna do?" 

April's heart warmed at that. He already knew she was going to do something, and he wanted to be included. He had an eye for justice; him, Raph, and Cassandra certainly made quite the trio. Once Casey had started joining Raph and Cass on their little extracurricular missions, Splinter had essentially given up on restricting them. He said something about Casey keeping the other two from getting carried away. 

"Well, it's offered in the spring semester, so I'm gonna get Donnie to hack into their class registration system and open the class limit to like, a hundred people. But first, I'm gonna break into the registrar's office, see what dirt I can find. I'm gonna scope it out this weekend, you wanna come?" she offered, taking a sip of her coffee. 

Casey's eyes widened. "Yeah! I never get to do B&E with Raph and Casey!" 

"Hell yeah, I'll send you a text, we can hash out the details," April laughed. 

Casey chuckled as well, his eyes growing distant for a second. Just as fast as he was gone, he came back, his gaze shifting to April. "Master Donatello and I were the best espionage team the resistance had, y'know," he said, sounding a bit prideful. "He would get into their tech, keep the security systems from noticing me, and I was so small I could fit right through all their air vents, get right to wherever I needed to be." 

"I bet if you ask Donnie nicely, he'll be our guy in the chair," April suggested, not sure if that would be too close to the future for Casey or simply nostalgic. 

"We can see if we'll need one after we case the joint this weekend. Don't wanna add too many variables," Casey responded, taking a long sip of his iced coffee. 

They reached the front door of the O'Neils' apartment building, and April stood there, fumbling with her keys. The lock was tricky, but it'd been tricky for years and she was pretty sure it was never getting replaced. She nearly dropped her coffee, but Casey nimbly plucked it out of her hand. "Thanks," she grunted, finally getting the door open, and holding it open with her foot for Casey. 

Casey handed her back her coffee, stepping inside and starting up the steps to the fourth floor. He briefly glanced over his shoulder to make sure April was following him, before continuing up the stairs. "Is Barry coming over for dinner tonight?" he asked. 

"I'm not sure, he was over on Saturday, since Dad's making him watch Lord of the Rings. They really need to start telling me when they're having their little cultural exchange broments, because I cannot keep walking into my own home and seeing Baron Draxum on my couch," April complained, keeping pace behind Casey. 

"Okay, but would you rather Barry hang out alone with your parents or Splinter?" Casey shot back. 

The question alone sent a shiver down April's spine. "Barry, hands down. Splints has dirt on me and you know it. Plus my mom's on the People Not To Leave Splinter Alone With list." 

"See, it could always be worse," Casey said, stopping on the fourth floor landing. 

They walked down the hall, stopping in front of the O'Neils' apartment. April unlocked the door, shuffling inside with Casey close behind. Her parents were both sitting in the living room, with– speak of the devil– Baron Draxum. April kicked off her shoes, squinting at the sheepman. "You gonna start paying rent, Barry?" 

"I already pay rent," Draxum responded, boredly flipping through the tome he was in the middle of reading. "But also, I brought mjuk pepparkaka as tribute." 

"Those spiced cakes you brought to the lair the other week?" Casey asked excitedly, doing a little happy dance when Draxum nodded. 

They were pretty good, April had to admit. "Well, I guess you can stay then." 

Casey and April took up their place on the floor, laying side by side on their stomachs in front of Casey's (very own!) laptop. April watched him play Stardew Valley out of the corner of her eye, though her attention was mainly on entering all the major due dates on her syllabi into her phone's calendar. The atmosphere of the apartment was quiet and cozy overall. At some point, her dad ventured into the kitchen to start to prepare dinner, her mother would occasionally call out hints from her crossword puzzle, though it was very rare that anyone knew the answer. The only sound coming from Draxum was the crinkle of paper whenever he flipped a page in the incredibly old looking book he was reading. 

April and Casey had only been home for maybe an hour, when a flash of blue light appeared smack dab on top of the coffee table. Leo came stumbling out of the portal, looking around wildly, before his gaze settled on the two teens. "Sorry to interrupt– Draxxy what the hell are you doing here– Ceej, Apes, Cassandra's got a competitor to her brownie empire, you guys gotta–" Leo got cut off when August's book of crossword puzzles whacked him in the face. 

August stared at him with wide eyes, pointing with her now empty hand. "Leonardo, wh– how–?" she stammered, gesturing frantically at the glowing blue portal. 

"Leo, you moron!" April screeched, leaping to her feet and stepping on top of the coffee table to push him back through. 

Leo struggled to stand his ground, getting shoved halfway back through the portal. "It's important, Casey Sr is literally flattening Manhattan trying to get these bozos!" he whined. 

Kirby poked his head out of the kitchen, immediately dropping the wooden spoon he was holding. Casey sighed, already slipping on his shoes, before he grabbed his hockey stick and mask, plus April's baseball bat from where they were propped up by the front door. 

"Oh, are we talking about mystics now?" Draxum asked, looking up from his book to glance around the living room. 

"No! We have not talked about mystics yet!" April cried out, getting Leo back through the portal with one final shove. She reached her hand out, catching her baseball bat as Casey threw it to her. 

Casey unmuted his communicator, Cassandra's cackling coming through, over some very large sounds of collapsing metal and crumbling cement. "Die, pig!" she screamed, overwhelming the small speakers built into the arm band. Mikey's voice quickly followed, "Casey, of course Meatsweats' brownies were going to be better than yours, he's literally Rupert Sw–" his voice shifted into a scream, before cutting into static. 

Casey muted his communicator again, muttering an "eugh boy" to himself before looking up at April. "Uh…we should probably go," he said, picking up April's sneakers and tossing those to her as well. 

"Urgh!" April groaned, catching her shoes before looking toward the ceiling for a moment and asking the Pizza Supreme for mercy. None came. "I'll explain when we get back. Or Barry can. Whatever. C'mon Case, before Leo closes the stupid portal," she said, hurriedly shoving her feet into her sneakers. 

Casey hopped up on the coffee table, giving the O'Neils an awkward wave goodbye before pulling his mask over his face. "Don't worry, we know what we're doing," he said, the mask modulating his voice, before he hopped through the portal. 

"Love you, we'll be back ASAP!" April called out, tapping her bat against her shoulder, her ninpo lighting it up with green flames. She took one last look at her parents' shocked (horrified? confused?) faces, before she jumped through the portal, the familiar chill rushing over her skin as she traveled through it. 

The sensation of just cresting the top of a rollercoaster filled her stomach, signaling that the portal was getting ready to spit her out– presumably somewhere in Manhattan. She reeled back her bat, adjusting her grip and preparing to strike as soon as she hit the ground. Maybe she'd hit Meatsweats, maybe she'd whack Leo in his stupid face and squash what was surely his last remaining braincell, only time would tell. She inhaled, letting loose a battlecry to announce her arrival, "APRIIIIIILLLLL O–"