The turtles and April had managed to drag Casey, Brooke and Ellie down to the Lair without any more trouble. But to say they weren't surprised by where they had been brought to would have been the biggest lie.

In the sewers of New York, an underground burrow lay where the turtles had apparently lived their lives. Ellie and Brooke found themselves amazed by what they saw, but for vastly different reasons.

Brooke was astounded that the underbelly of New York City could house four mutant turtles without anyone suspecting anything. But then again, Brooke had seen first-hand that New Yorkers didn't pay attention to anything else happening around them.

Meanwhile, Ellie marvelled at how lively yet secluded the Lair felt. Concrete pipes flowed randomly throughout the entire Lair while many of the walls were half covered in classic New York style spray paint. Ellie had never found the art style appealing, but that didn't mean others didn't.

Neon lights in every colour were planted throughout the Lair, casting their hues against the wall they were plastered on. Following a small stream of water, Ellie found a slide that they had which seemed to connect with the sewer, most likely to make it easier for the turtles to arrive back to the Lair.

She stood just beneath a recycled chandelier. With balloon whisks and construction lights hanging above a pipe top that was surrounded by dozens of unlit candles, it had clearly been repurposed from what they could find within the sewer.

Ellie's face glowed as she stood underneath the chandelier. She was always able to see the beauty in something. Even though others may not see what she saw, beauty was always in the eye of the beholder.

While she was lost in her daze, Donnie had apparently discovered something about the purple ooze. "If this purple ooze was injected into Bebop and Rocksteady's bloodstream, it's feasible that were I to pinpoint a singular isotopic signature, I may be able to use it to track their location" He admitted.

"If we find them, we find Shredder. Put them all in shackles" Casey added.

Mikey then kicked the soccer play he had been playing with up to Raph, who was up on one of the pipes performing sit-ups on them. "And as long as we all have our hockey masks and bows, what could go wrong" He joked, popping the soccer ball whilst poking fun at Brooke and Casey.

Brooke laughed at his words. "That was a good one. You guys are funny, really funny" She jested, picking up on his tone.

"Seriously? Now I'm taking wardrobe advice from a bunch of swamp things, living in an underground amusement park, and have, forgive me, the most pretentious names ever" Casey proclaimed, clearly not finding Raph's teasing as funny as Brooke did.

April, jokingly, took offence to his words. "Excuse me, I named them" She avowed.

Casey raised a brow before turning to Brooke. "Brooke back me up on this" He insisted, causing her to chuckle. "Casey, you must be mistaking me for someone who would care about something like this" She quipped.

Realising he would receive no help from Brooke, Casey decided to try Ellie. "Ellie, come on, you're the rational one here" He tried again.

Hearing her name snapped Ellie out of her daze. Turning her head towards him, she realised once again that almost all eyes were on her. Despite the tiny fright that it gave her, she quickly pulled herself back into the unfolding scene.

"I'm sorry what are we talking about?" She asked, anxiously playing with her fingers.

"Casey wants to know what you think of their names" Brooke simply replied, nodding her head back to the four turtles.

Ellie shrugged. "I like them. I mean the Renaissance is one of my favourite times regarding artwork and I could go off on a rant about each one of the artists these four are named after any given day. But that's just me being an art geek" She rambled, whilst making her way over to where her sister stood, standing beside her.

Casey shook his head. "Really? I have no backup on this?"

"No" The two girls answered together as Brooke stuck out her hand for Ellie to high-five, which Ellie playfully slapped her sister's hand causing the two sisters to giggle together.

As Casey rolled his eyes, something else seemed to catch his attention. "Guys, nobody move" He spoke quietly. "Don't move!" He whispered, his gaze heavily focused on something. "There is a giant rat back there"

Everyone then moved their gaze to see what had caught Casey's attention, their eyes all landing on Master Splinter. The old rat was off in his own little area, attentively tending to a small cluster of Bonsai trees.

Brooke's jaw fell slack, more in amusement than shock. "Holy shit, that's a big rat" She whisper-yelled, on the brink of breaking out into laughter.

"Is he caring for Bonsais?" Ellie asked rhetorically, a soft smile tugging on the corners of her lips. "Aw, that's cute" She cooed, finding the sight incredibly sweet.

Raph and Mikey slowly turned back to face the rest of the group. "Yeah, we've, uh... Seen him around here before" The larger red terrapin smirked as he glanced over to his brothers.

Donnie paid no attention to whatever his older brother was trying to signal to him, instead being more interested in the purple ooze sample he held in his hand. Meanwhile, Leo, and April, seemed to catch onto what Raph had in store for Casey. The oldest terrapin shook his head, mouthing the word No to his brother.

"You know, there's only one way to get rid of him" Raph began. "You gotta get low" He instructed.

"Low! Yeah" Mikey repeated his older brother's command which Casey followed. Getting into a crouched position, his knees bent slightly.

Sensing how this situation may turn out, Brooke nudged Ellie with her arm. "Do you have your phone?" She quizzed.

"Yes, why?" Ellie asked, apprehensively.

"Get it out and start filming" Brooke decreed, a grin beginning to tug on the corners of her lips. The older brunette wanted to question her sister further on it, but seeing Brooke's growing smile she decided to just go along with her sister's demand.

Pulling her phone from her jacket pocket, she reluctantly began recording Casey and the two terrapins who were continuing to mess with him.

"We believe in you, Casey Jones. It's all you, bro" Mikey asserted.

"Exactly. We need you to get him" Raph further egged Casey on.

Brooke held her hand up her mouth to hold back her snickering, finding it priceless that Casey was gullible enough to be played by the two terrapins.

Following Mikey's brief countdown, he sprinted towards Splinter. With his fast reflexes, Splinter used his tail to trip Casey up and flip him to the ground. The elderly rat flipped around a bit before landing just in front of Casey.

"Giant rat, 1. New guy, 0" Splinter declared, easily claiming victory.

Brooke instantly busted into laughter, clutching Ellie's shoulder she leaned on her sister as her body shook with ecstasy. "Please tell me you got that" She turned to her sister and reached for her phone, desperately wanting to see the video.

Viewing the footage that Ellie had taken, Brooke's laughter continued. "Send that to me later, please" She begged, handing Ellie back her phone.

Everyone then stood around Casey in a circle, looking down at him. "I can't believe it was that easy" Raph asserted, whilst chuckling. "I almost thought he wasn't gonna do it for a second" He admitted as he and Mikey fist-bumped each other.

"Good stuff. Good stuff" Mikey agreed. "We should really have people over more often" He jested.

Still laughing, Brooke offered her hand down to Casey. "Okay, Casey come on, get your ass up" She helped him up, struggling to calm her laughter.

Back on his feet, Casey stomped away from the group mumbling a string of curse words under his breath. Grabbing his hockey mask and stick he began to look for the exit. Seeing him grab his hockey equipment, Brooke's laughter quickly stopped.

She ran after Casey. "Are you leaving?" She asked.

"If I can find my way out here, I am" He declared.

Brooke scoffed. "Oh, come on Casey, it's all just a little fun I'm sure they don't mean anything by it" She claimed, trying to get him to see the harmless fun in their little prank.

He shook his head. "Brooke, you and I were doing just fine on our own, tracking Bebop and Rocksteady and then these guys just T-boned our existence" He ranted. "So now we're gonna find them or we're gonna go down swinging" He continued as he aimlessly tried to find a way out of the Lair.

Grabbing his wrist, Brooke brought his movements and ranting to a halt, forcing him to turn back to her. "Casey, we need to weigh our options. We're working outside of the law, only armed with our sports equipment" She reminded.

Casey, again, shook his head in disbelief. "So you actually wanna team up with these guys? Are you out of your mind?" He asked rhetorically.

"I'm just thinking rationally, we are going into this fight low on resources. And if April is right about Bebop and Rocksteady being turned into mutants, it could probably pay to have a few mutants on our side" She pointed out.

He focused his gaze on the floor, clearly letting her words sink in.

"She's got a point Casey" A voice then joined, April.

The reporter had sauntered over to the former cops, while Ellie stood a little farther away. April quickly continued. "You say you wanna go down swinging, well, these four hit harder than anyone" She stated.

Smirking, Brooke turned back to him. "Well, that's two votes for team mutant. Anymore?" She raised her eyebrows at Casey. Having both April and Brooke outweigh him in this argument, he sighed. "Only for you, Brooke" He consented.

She smiled. "Aw, I love when people do things for me" She teased.

As another conversation quickly started up, Ellie walked over to her sister and grabbed her arm, pulling her away.

"We need to talk" Ellie stated.

"Yeah, no kidding"

The two sisters stood near the entry and exit of the Lair. The same one they had entered from just before. "I have so many questions, so I'm just gonna start off with what was that back in the alley?" She questioned.

Brooke exhaled a deep breath before explaining. "Casey and I were following up on a lead we had on Bebop and Rocksteady when suddenly April came running out of TCRI being chased by those ninjas and we followed after them" She rattled off everything that had happened before running into each other in the alleyway.

More questions followed and Brooke answered each one meticulously, reiterating many details to ensure they were clear enough for Ellie to understand.

Until Ellie asked. "Well, why are you and Casey working alone on this? Where's the rest of the task force?"

That question made Brooke pause. She hadn't actually thought of how she would break the news to Ellie about her temporary, or permanent she honestly wasn't sure, termination from the NYPD. Knowing she couldn't lie to her sister, she just decided to be honest.

"Casey and I are discharged from the task force" She explained. Her response took Ellie aback. "What, why?" She asked, unable to think of any reason why Brooke would suddenly be let go considering she was one of the most promising recruits the task force had.

Brooke's lips formed a straight line. Her anger about the captain's decision was still very present, she had done her best to push down the anger, focusing on finding Bebop and Rocksteady with Casey had been a great distraction but she knew sooner or later she'd have to confront her emotions.

She had done pretty well with that. Until she had to explain the, in her eyes at least, unfair treatment to her sister. "Two words, Shredder's escape" She summarised, knowing that if she went fully into detail she might lose her cool.

Feeling her temper rise she began to take a few deep breaths. Ellie had seen Brooke do this many times. Their mother had recommended that she do this whenever she felt her anger build up and the action had proven to work incredibly well. Which was why she so regularly used it.

She sighed. "My career on the force is over" She bitterly concurred, still disgruntled from being unfairly laid off earlier in the day.

"Hey, come on, we don't know if that's the truth yet" Ellie then suggested, hoping to lighten her sister's mood. "They're looking for someone that they can blame for losing Shredder, and unfortunately you and Casey were simply collateral damage in their eyes" She affirmed.

Grabbing her sister's shoulders, Ellie continued. "Don't let this get you down, Brooke" She began. "You're incredible, you're the strongest, smartest person I know and if they can't see that, then that department is as blind as a group of bats" She concluded before pulling her sister into a hug.

Brooke eagerly returned the embrace, encasing her sister in a large bear hug. "I love you" She leaned in to whisper, earning herself a squeeze from Ellie in return. "I love you too" She repeated.

As they pulled out of their hug, Brooke's hazel eyes focused on something behind her sister.

Because of where they stood, Brooke was able to see a nook of the Lair she had previously rushed past. It seemed to be a garage, a few steps lead down to the lower platform of the garage and planted directly in the centre of the massive area was a large garbage truck.

The same one Brooke had seen the previous night.

Being mindful that she wasn't familiar with this place or the ones who lived down here, Brooke cautiously approached the truck. She kept a fair distance between herself and the van, but she was still able to take in its details.

The body of the truck was painted a Castleton green while the front was yellow. Rust covered a majority of the yellow-coated areas and some of the Castleton spots. On one of the sides of the base was a metal grate and above it, painted in a matching yellow, were the words Tartaruga Brothers.

Brooke let out a quick breath. "This is the truck I saw last night" She mumbled to herself.

"What was that Brooke?" Ellie asked her sister, standing atop the steps.

Turning back to face her sister, Brooke pointed back at the garbage truck. "I-I saw this truck last night" She revealed. "It was them" She whispered, almost in disbelief.

Ellie stood puzzled for a moment until she remembered that in Brooke's retelling of last night's events, she had mentioned a strange garbage truck following behind the police van that was apparently attempting to assist the police force in stopping the Foot clan from freeing the Shredder.

The two sisters shared a look, both knowing they were on the same page as one another. Knowing that by absolute chance, they had stumbled into something strange but miraculous.

Eventually, the two girls met back up with April and Casey, who had made their way over to one of the far corners of the Lair. They sat next to one another, currently in the middle of a conversation when April noticed Brooke and Ellie making their way over to them.

"Hey, where'd you two disappear off to?" April queried. 

"Oh we went to Disney World" Brooke joked, causing everyone to lightly chuckle at her wisecrack. "Anyways, what are you two talking about?" She asked, throwing her bow and arrow-filled quiver onto the couch that April was currently sitting on.

As she stood next to Casey, resting her hand on the back of the chair he was sitting on, he shrugged. "Nothing really"

Brooke easily joined in their conversation, which seemed to consist of Casey asking April questions about what she saw in TCRI. Again, Ellie stood awkwardly near her sister. Since she wasn't familiar with anything they discussed, she felt as if she had nothing to offer to the conversation.

Being used to her silence, Brooke wasn't concerned about Ellie not joining in with them and didn't attempt to pull her into the discussion knowing it would be better if she joined in on her own accord.

Suddenly, in the mists of their conversation, Raph and Mikey approached the group claiming to have a plan that they needed to act on quickly. The group of four quickly moved to the kitchen, at the two turtles' request and as Raph began to discuss their important scheme Mikey chewed away at his pizza.

All four of them listened as Raph explained his and Mikey's plan. He was brief with his explanations and seemed to be almost rushing himself to get out as much as he could in such few sentences.

"So you wanna break into police headquarters" April affirmed what Raph had just explained.

"Uh, yeah" Raph answered. "Donnie said he needs more of the purple ooze to track Bebop and Rocksteady. And you said the cops would've logged it into Evidence Control Room by now" He added.

Brooke nodded at his statement, his logic seemed to make sense.

"Okay, and Leo is good with this plan?" April inquired.

Raph shrugged. "Actually, I'm in charge on this one"

His words seemed to throw April off guard, causing her to raise one of her sleek brows at him. Seeing her look of confusion, Raph turned to Mikey. "Ain't that right Mikey?"

"R-Right" Mikey turned to look at the four of them, his blue eyes wide. Ellie couldn't help but smile at his slightly odd but charming response.

Raph grabbed a blueprint of the police headquarters. He rolled the diagram out on the table prompting Ellie and Brooke to stand closer to the table to view the layout.

"So, we can take the elevator shafts and vents. We need you all to stay on the ground" Raph delineated as he pointed out his plan on the blueprint.

Casey interrupted. "Yeah, that's gonna be a problem, Brooke and I can't exactly walk into police headquarters" He stated.

Raph groaned at his words. "What are you, chicken?" He implied, irritating Casey. "Hey! Who are you calling chicken, turtle?" He stood from his seat, attempting to challenge the large red turtle.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Casey sit down, you won't win" She recited.

They continued their staring contest until Raph spoke again. "Look do you wanna find Bebop and Rocksteady or not?" He declared, raising his browbones at Casey.

"So we're breaking into police headquarters" He consented.

Ellie and Brooke snickered at how easily Casey had backed down for the large terrapin. "Casey you fucking bottom" Brooke teased him as he slumped back into his seat, while Ellie simply shook her head at him.

"We got one last boondoggle, we need someone to sneak you guys past the security checkpoint. Only plan I got so far may be a tad less than appetizing" Raph implied.

The girls and Casey all exchanged looks, April appeared to be the only one who somewhat knew what Raph was hinting at.

"Are we going somewhere?" Mikey then asked, his face covered in pizza sauce.

Twenty minutes later, the six of them were now in Brooklyn. April had gone inside Jane's Carousel to retrieve Vern, as Raph had explained earlier, while everyone waited just down the street from the glass building for her to return.

Casey, Brooke and Ellie stood together against one of the structures while Raph and Mikey were up on the rooftop of the building for the time being.

Before they had arrived at Jane's Carousel, Brooke had quickly retrieved her checkered jacket from Casey's car which was still parked just below TCRI.

Soon enough April came out with Vern in tow, who seemed less than thrilled about being pulled from his event. "We need your help," April said as she and Vern rounded the corner to where everyone else was waiting.

"We? Who's we?" Vern asked.

Raph suddenly jumped down from the roof of the building he and Mikey were waiting on, landing next to April. "Well, well, well, if it ain't the prince of the city" He taunted Vern.

"You know what? Give me a break, Raph" Vern spoke. "You're the one who told me to take credit for Shredder in the first place" He pointed out. "And in light of the fact that he is who knows where, I am starting to have profound regrets about our arrangement"

Vern ranted whilst April and Raph slowly walked up to him, figuratively backing him into a corner.

"So are we just gonna stand around and talk or..." Casey trailed off, bringing Vern's attention away from April and Raph and onto him, Brooke and Ellie.

Turning back to April and Raph, Vern held a vivid look of confusion on his face. "Who's this guy?" He pointed over at Casey. Having to do a double take at the twins, his brows raised in even more confusion. "And whose kids are these?"

Brooke and Ellie shared a glance between themselves. "Uh, pretty sure we're our parents' kids" Brooke jested.

Mikey then jumped down from the rooftop. "The girls are chill Vern" He acknowledged. "On the other hand, total loser, bro" He then spoke pointing at Casey. "I mean, nice enough fella, if you like guys who can't even bench press" Mikey joked.

"Or fill out a t-shirt" Vern clumsily added before he and Mikey shared a quick fist bump. April then drew their attention back to her. "Vern they're a part of the plan" She stated on their behalf. "What plan is that?" He asked, eyeing the reporter curiously.

She hesitated for a second to respond. "The plan to break into police headquarters" April answered, shifting her heels slightly.

"What?"

"We need to find Shredder" April simply replied.

After that statement, it became blatantly obvious that Vern was reluctant to assist them with their plan. He began throwing out excuses for why he couldn't help, everything from having to attend a concert or having a lunch date to go to.

Casey. "Vern, as one of the new kids in this band of freaky misfits, do yourself a favour and just roll with it" He advised.

"New guy, all I do is roll with it. I've been rolling with it since you three were wearing baby t-shirts because you were babies-" Vern rambled before he was interrupted by Raph. "Police headquarters. Thirty minutes" He instructed before walking off in the direction of the police stationhouse.

"See you there" Casey replied, following after Raph with Brooke trailing behind him.

Mikey inched closer to Vern. "See you there" He repeated.

Vern shrugged. "He just said that"

As the group made the journey to police headquarters, April filled Vern in on what exactly his role would be.

Vern and Ellie had been assigned to distract the security while April, Brooke and Casey snuck past them and made their way through headquarters to evidence control to take back the canister of purple ooze. All the while Raph and Mikey are above them in the vents, out of sight of the other officers while also offering the three of them support.

Ellie was slightly apprehensive about being separated from Brooke, but she was reassured by both April and Mikey that as long as everything went according to plan nothing bad would happen to anyone.

"So, how'd you three get involved with this circus?" Vern then asked the three newest members.

Brooke's lips formed a tight line before she answered. "Pure luck, buddy"

He nodded but he did still seem curious to know the full extent of how all three of them were now involved with April and the turtles. So he turned to Ellie hoping maybe she would fill him in more than Brooke had.

"I'm a tag-along, believe me, I wouldn't be here if she wasn't" Ellie replied, pointing over to her sister.

Hearing that, Brooke briefly turned around and playfully stuck her tongue out at Ellie. Her face also scrunched up slightly following her action before she turned back to walk beside Casey.

Ellie chuckled at her sister before turning back to Vern. "She is right though, it was pure luck" She recited.

Eventually, Vern and Ellie walked into the station house. Despite the nerves, she felt in her stomach, Ellie pushed aside her anxiety for the moment knowing that this would help Brooke and Casey's cause.

Immediately, the officers recognised Vern, or as he referred to himself the Falcon. He made small talk with them, secretly plugging a small USB into their computer to help Raph and Mikey sneak the others past security.

Seeing April, Brooke and Casey about to enter, Ellie sprang into action. Offering for Vern to take a picture with the guards which they seemed very eager to accept.

While Ellie stalled on taking the picture as long as she could to buy the others time to bypass security, Mikey had managed to upload the false data files that allowed the trio to get through security without any trouble.

Brooke turned back for a second to look at her sister, seeing the anxious expression she wore Brooke smiled back at Ellie. Her way of telling her sister not to worry and that things would be okay.

Making their way through the station house, Brooke and Casey kept their heads down, not wanting anyone to recognise them or notice that they were there.

From her peripheral vision, Brooke saw Chief Vincent coming down from the second story of HQ. Tapping Casey on his arm, he too realised and quickly he stepping in front of April blocking her from walking any further and instead made her take a few steps back to keep Brooke and Casey out of Chief Vincent's line of sight.

Thankfully, Chief Vincent walked right on by the three of them, not noticing the former two cops that stood five feet from her.

Continuing through headquarters, they rounded a corner reaching the entry to the evidence control room. From the vent above them, Mikey dropped down the access card that he and Raph had secured which April caught.

"Cowabunga" She smiled before tapping the card against the sensor, unlocking the door.

The doors opened and instantly two ninjas rushed out of the evidence room, one of them having the canister of purple ooze in their hand. Their sudden presence surprised April, Brooke and Casey.

The two ninjas then ran at the three of them, expertly flipping over them before continuing to sprint for the headquarters exit in order to complete their mission.

While Casey and Brooke instantly began to trail them, April thinking quickly sounded the alarm in an attempt to alert the officers inside the building as to what was happening.

Rushing through the hallways of the precinct, Brooke bumped into many of her former colleagues, who were of course confused as to why she was in the station house and why she was running as if her life depended on it.

Meanwhile, still in the lobby, Ellie and Vern were suddenly rushed out of the station when the alarm started to blare. Leaving the both of them utterly confused.

Just as April, Casey and Brooke finally managed to catch up to Raph and Mikey, they all almost froze at what they saw just up ahead. Raph and Mikey were cornered by officers who were now aiming their firearms at the large terrapins. Unknown to any of them, Leo and Donnie were also now in the building, having received an emergency call from Mikey.

Not stopping, all three of them quickly ran into the situation. "No! Stop! Don't shoot!" They all yelled at once, placing themselves in front of Raph and Mikey with their hands raised.

"Go" April spoke, turning slightly to see the four turtles. "Go now!" She instructed.

Leo and Donnie deflect away the guns that were currently aimed at them, while Raph and Mikey quickly made a break for it. All of them swiftly left through one of the large broken windows.

Chief Vincent's gaze wandered over to the former officers that now stood in front of her, protecting the four mutants.

"Get to the ground slowly" One of the male officers then instructed and they followed his orders, all three of them placing their hands on the back of their heads.

Vincent shook her head. "Jones, Miller, you've gotta be kidding me" She spoke almost in disbelief. While half of the officers jumped through the windows and began to chase after the turtles, others remained with Chief Vincent inside the now frantic station house. "Put these three in holding" She then ordered.

At her command, April, Brooke and Casey were all escorted to one of the headquarters interrogation rooms. Now having to face the repercussions of the plan, which now felt like it was all in vain.