Book 2: HomeFront

Hey Family

"Hey family." The two voices sang in unison on the other side of the line. Michelangelo put the phone away from his mouth and called.

"Yo! It's Venus and Leo!" Quickly, footsteps of the other mutants came bumbling into the livingroom where Mikey and his newly acquired friend, Angel, were playing an old Motorcross 2 game on the Playstation 1.

"Put them on speaker!" Mona Lisa asked as she jumped over the couch. She landed slightly onto Angel. She silently apologized with a single look, but the cool Latina didn't mind. Next, the two brothers huddled in around the orange-cracked phone. Angel leaned herself towards Mona, trying to keep her mouth away from the speaker of the phone.

"Who's Venus and Leo?" She whispered.

"Shh!" Mona spoke softly, hoping that they couldn't hear her on the other side.

"Who's that?" Shoot!

"Uh," Mona thought fast. Just then, April was trotting into the room. The brunette came just in time to hear Venus ask whose voice it was. The female mutant's hand rotated quickly, urging the brunette to move quickly. "it's April." April rushed herself to the phone. She tried to catch her breath to talk without any suspicion.

"Hey guys!" She almost blurted. April put a hand other her mouth to muffle out her breaths.

"Why'd you ask who we were?" Venus replied, confused.

"No. I said..." The woman looked around at the faces staring at her nervously, hoping she could find herself a way out of it. "Who's Venus and Leo staying with?" The group nodded in approval. Hopefully, they'll buy it.

"We're by ourselves at my old home." Venus answered.

"How is it over there?" Mona was most interested. Venus was lucky to see their old home once more, but again, Mona didn't have the heart to revisit. With that, Mona made Venus her informer.

"Not sure. The candles had been put away so we can't see anything. So far, it seems like no ones touched it out here." She paused. They could hear her take a breath. She must have done so to take in the faint yet familiar smells that created their home. "It's a great monument to pay their respects."

"And a cool place to crash while we're out here." Leonardo added lightheartedly.

"That's my dad's home. Don't crash anything!" Mona played along somewhat.

"Yes, m'am." He couldn't say so without emitting a chuckle on the line. Instead of further warning him, the lizard lady brushed him off and smiled in the phone with her sister's dorky face on the I.D.

"What are you guys doing?" An older voice was faint on the other end. The clan turned around to their father. Their faces lit up in excitement, which made Splinter feel much better for asking.

"Sensei! It's Leo and Venus!" Mona cried. Without hesitation, that cane moved fast as the older rat descended down and into the room.

"Did they land alright?" He asked as he joined them. Mona Lisa cleared a spot for him on the couch, inbetween her and Angel. The older rat got good and comfy as he, too, huddled around the phone.

"It's 10 o'clock right now, at night." The sound of his eldest son's voice felt great. For him, it had been too long since he's had his big helper leave to better himself.

"What!?" Even on speaker, Venus had to distance the phone away to calm the amount of soundwaves hitting their ears at the high decibels Michelangelo assaulted them with. The family back home faired no better by cringing and clenching their teeth. Before they could try to do a little assault work to him first, the young one squeezed the phone. "It's barely morning out here!" he wailed in amazement.