Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A/N: In terms of timeline, this fic takes place in the summer of 2015 and is independent from the TMNT 2012 and Thundermans timelines. In terms of age, Phoebe and Max are 16, Billy is 12, Nora is 10, and the Turtles are 15 (same as in canon).

New York. The biggest city in America with over 8 million people living in it. In a city this big, crime is inevitable. It may not be the ideal vacation destination, but it does make for a relatively cheap holiday for a family of 5 kids whose parents are retired. But there is more to them than meets the eye…

In the early evening, as the sun was descending from the orange sky, two taxi cabs pulled up to the side of the street. A relatively common sight in New York City. The following sight was a relatively less common one: three people getting out of one cab and four from the other.

The tallest person, presumably the father, walked around to the trunk to collect his family’s belongings as they waited on the sidewalk.

“Mom, why did we have to come to New York for vacation,” the oldest, Phoebe, complained, “of all the places in the world?!”

“Now, Phoebe,” her mother answered patiently, “you know we don’t have a lot of money. It was this or nothing at all.”

“The latter of which I would’ve preferred,” Phoebe’s twin brother, Max pouted. 

“For once, I agree with Max,” Phoebe rolled her eyes. “I had plans with Cherry during the break!”

“Well, congratulations! You won’t have to look up from your books!” Max fired back.

“Will you two both shut up?!”

The two teenagers both flinched at the voice coming from behind them. But they weren’t too surprised to hear this coming from their younger sister, Nora, whose attitude did not impress her family. “Nora, be nice,” her father told her. “You’ll wake up Chloe!”

“You guys are so negative,” complained the middle child, Billy. “Although I wanted to go to Delaware, just think of all the fun we COULD have in New York!”

“You know, Hank, Billy’s right. There’s a lot to see and do in New York!”

“Absolutely, Barb!” Hank smiled before turning to his kids. “Phoebe, Max, Nora, I want you all to think positive, like Billy. Now, let’s get checked in and we can explore the city."

“Alright,” the kids groaned, except Billy, who was showing the most enthusiasm about their vacation. Either that, or he was just happy to stretch his arms and legs after the long taxi ride from the airport after the 1 and a half hour flight from Hiddenville. He began to run into the apartment building, but he didn’t get far before his father grabbed the collar of his shirt to stop him. 

“Whoa, slow down, speedy,” Hank chuckled. “We may be in a different city, but we still have to keep our powers secret. That means no using them in public, except in absolute emergencies.”

“And that goes for all of you,” Barb told the children. “You too, Hank. I don’t want to pay a damage bill for flying through the ceiling. Everybody understand?”

“Yes,” Barb’s husband and kids all nodded simultaneously before the family gathered up the last of their belongings and entered the lobby.

Meanwhile, three turtles, the size of humans, each wearing a distinctive eye mask, were watching the commotion from a building on the other side of the street. 

“Wow, that girl is pretty cute, not gonna lie,” remarked Raphael, the short, stocky turtle in red, swooning over Phoebe.

“Some body’s in looooveee,” teased Michelangelo, the youngest of the turtle brothers with an orange mask.

“Mikey, is this what I was like when I first saw April,” inquired Donatello, the tall, slim turtle in purple.

“Yeah, brah,” Mikey shrugged, to which Donnie hung his head low. So that’s what his crush on April was like. Except he was way more awkward around her.

“Guys, get a move on,” a voice whisper-shouted, coming from Leonardo, the oldest turtle in distinctive blue.

“Sorry, Leo,” the boys sheepishly apologised and went to follow their leader. “You heard him, guys,” Donnie said. “We better get back to patrol.”

“At least if we find some bad guys, we can bust heads,” Raph smirked as he and Mikey ran to catch up with Leo and Donnie, observing a familiar van driving in the direction that they had come from… towards the hotel that the Thundermans were checking into…

"Leo! We’ve got trouble!"

"Raph," Leo groaned, "are you really going on about that girl?"

"No... shut up!"

"Raph's right, Leo," Donnie alerted him. "Look!" Right on cue, Leo averted his eyes to the street and immediately saw why Raph was concerned; a familiar van pulling over across the street from the hotel they had seen the mysterious family checking into.

"So can we go in there and bust some heads?!" Raph asked. He picked up his sai from their holders on the back of his shell and began twirling them, but was interrupted by a firm hand on his shoulder.

"No," Leo warned his impulsive brother, knowing that his hot-headedness could easily get them into trouble. "If we fight them now, we could be seen or put them at risk. We wait." 

Meanwhile, in the front of the van, two identical strangers in perfectly matching suits, completely devoid of any emotion on their faces, observe a family of seven entering a hotel.

"Kraang, why has the one called Kraang brought this Kraang to the location that is known as here?"

"Kraang is that which is known as oblivious. The ones called Kraang have identified what is known as a family of humans that have what is known as a level of power that is known as super."

"Ah. Kraang gets it now. Kraang wishes to use that power for Kraang."

“Affirmative, Kraang. The one called The Shredder could also have what is known as a use for the humans with the power level that is known as super. But the ones called Kraang cannot strike in the time period that is known as now, or risk becoming what is known as seen. Kraang has come to this place to do what is known as recon."

"Kraang has a plan. Kraang will wait for the ones called the super humans to exit the place that is a place where Kraang is not allowed to be in that place. Then Kraang will attack and capture the ones called the super humans."

"Kraang likes what is known as Kraang's plan. The ones called the super humans will be what is known as useful to Kraang. In the meantime, we will observe the ones called the super humans."

And with that, the Kraang in the passenger seat retrieved a mysterious looking device from their van's glove box and  pointed it at the hotel, moving it around until a purple light came on. "Kraang has what is known as a lock-on."

"Mom, can I go exploring the city? You know, seeing all the sights that New York has to offer?"

"Well, Phoebe, I'm impressed that you changed your mind so quickly," Barb smiled. "Of course you can go. But stay safe, call your father or myself if you run into trouble, only use your powers if you absolutely have to, and be back by 8."

"Yay! Thanks, Mom!" Phoebe beamed as she opened the door, and was blocked from leaving by her younger siblings.

"You're going out? Can I come too?" Billy pleaded with his oldest sister as Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Hey, if you're going sightseeing," came Nora's voice as she entered the room. "I wanna do something!"

"Not on your own," came Barb's stern motherly voice. "You two are too young to go out on y..." She stopped to think. "Alright, all three of you are going together," she relented, telling Billy and Nora the same things she told Phoebe. “No powers exc-”

"Mom, do I have to?” Phoebe complained, to which Barb shot her a sharp glare, instantly changing her tune. “I take it as a yes, I have to take them.”

"Stay together,” Barb continued. “Be back by 8, call me or your father if there’s any trouble, and no powers except in emergencies. Got it?”

“Yes!” Billy and Nora nodded enthusiastically. A few minutes later, the three of them stepped out of the hotel lobby and out onto the street.

"You know," Nora said as she took in her surroundings while she and her siblings walked down to the corner, "there's so much more to New York than we thought.”

"I know," Phoebe said in a low whisper. "I want to see New York too. Might as well, right?"

Then suddenly, as they were about to step into the crosswalk, a van turned into the street that the three kids were about to cross and stopped right in front of them as the back doors swung open and a number of men in identical suits began approaching them.

“Uh, Phoebe?”

“I don’t think this is what you had in mind when you wanted to see New York!”

Chapter Text

"What is this? Who are you?" Phoebe demanded of the matching strangers approaching her and her siblings

One of the Kraangdroids said, with a completely straight face, devoid of emotion, as he approached the kids, "The ones called Kraang will not identify to the ones called the super humans. The ones called the super humans have what is known as a high level of power that will be useful to the ones called Kraang."

"You make NO sense!" Nora retorted as she noticed that Phoebe put up her fists, ready to fight these unknown attackers. "What are you doing?"

"Both of you," Phoebe commanded, "get somewhere safe. I'll keep them busy," to which both of her younger siblings shook their heads as the Kraangdroids moved in to attack and they both yelled, "LOOK OUT!"

Phoebe turned her head too late and saw a Kraangdroid fist mere inches from her face before the impact knocked her down, much to Billy and Nora's horror.

"That's it," Nora yelled, "You're going down!" Her eyes started to glow orange before she unleashed laser blast after laser blast at the Kraangdroids that were foolish enough to hurt her big sister, while Billy rushed to check on Phoebe, as the Turtles watched the fight from a nearby rooftop, having heard the commotion.

"Whoaaaa," Mikey thought out loud watching Nora shoot lasers from her eyes at the Kraang, "that kid's got SKILLS!"

"Who cares," Raph cried out, pointing to the knocked-out Phoebe on the ground. "The Kraang can NOT get away with hurting a cutie like her! I'm going and kicking their butts!" Before he could do so, he was once again stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.

"No way, Raph," came Leo's strict leader voice. "One, you know we can't be seen. Two, this will only end up like the first time we met April, with everyone getting in each others way and those kids getting captured anyway. And three, the kid with the lasers looks like she's handling them."

"Leo, I really think we should intervene," Donnie interjected. "If the Kraang want those kids, there must be a reason for it. And Splinter trained us to better fight as a team since we met April, and we've handled every Kraang threat since then!"

"Uh, dudes?" Mikey interrupted, "things are going downhill!" He pointed to the battle below on street level as a Kraangdroid shoved Nora to the ground. Billy ran to attack said Kraangdroid only for it to step aside, leaving Billy to run into a wall, knocking himself out.

Leo pondered to himself on whether it would be wise to assist the Thundermans. One one hand, like he said, they're supposed to stay in the shadows and keep their existence secret. On the other hand, Donnie had a good point on their improvement since their first adventure to the surface. With months of training under their belts, they had grown to be highly skilled and capable warriors who could handle almost anything that came their way.

"Alright," Leo decided. "We'll take out the Kraang, then get out of there. No fooling around. We cannot be seen. Everybody follow my lea-"

And just like that, before the leader in blue could even finish his speech, his brothers had vanished from his side. He looked down to see that a few Kraangdroids were dragging Billy and Nora towards their van, and that his brothers were already making their way to street level. "Seriously?" Leo rolled his eyes and thought to himself as he followed his brothers into the heat of battle.

Meanwhile, down on the streets, Phoebe started coming to her senses. Even though her face was seriously hurting, the last thing she remembered was being attacked, which had her looking up only to see her siblings being thrown into the back of the Kraang's van. She climbed to her feet, fuelled by determination and instinct to protect her siblings, and held out her hands, and two of the Kraangdroids stopped moving. With a few flicks of her wrists, they smashed into each other repeatedly before being sent flying across the street.

At that point, the four Turtles landed in front of her. "Just what I need," Phoebe rolled her eyes and groaned sarcastically. Four giant turtles joining the attack.

"Don't worry," Raph turned back to her and smiled, "we're here to help you!" And with that, the Turtles charged at the Kraang with Mikey's signature battle cry of "BOOYAKASHAAAA!"

"It is the ones called the Turtles!" "Stop the ones that need to be stopped that are called The Turtles!"

Phoebe watched in awe as these mysterious warriors effortlessly sliced through the Kraangdroids and wrestled their laser guns away from them as she snuck over to the Kraang Van and held up her hands, telekinetically lifting her little brother and sister off the floor and moving them around the corner, as they stirred to their senses.

"Phoebe?" Billy looked around saw his big sister helping him to his feet, as Nora glanced around the corner to observe the battle. "Giant turtles now?"

"Hey, don't judge, they helped us," Phoebe told her. "Now's our chance to escape!" She took her phone out of her pocket and typed in the address for the hotel her family was staying at, and called, "The hotel's this way! Stay with me!" And so, the three of them ran off into the night.

But Phoebe couldn't shake the feeling that these robots, no, aliens… were after her and her family because they had superpowers. She feared telling her parents of their encounter and cutting their vacation short. But her family's safety was more important.

As the Turtles defeated the last of the Kraangdroids and sheathed their weapons, Raph looked around, dejected that Phoebe had disappeared. "Guys, what happened to that girl?"

"Not in the van," came Mikey's voice. "She must have ran off to safety while we were crushing the Kraang."

"I'm sorry, Raph," said Leo in the most comforting tone of voice. "Some things just aren't meant to be," then Donnie interjected, "I have a feeling we'll see them again," to which Raph perked up and Leo looked at him confused.

"I saw her brother and sister floating out of the van as she moved her hands. I think she's… psychic!"

"Like April?"

"Yes, Mikey. Like April. Also, as we saw on the roof, her brother was moving way faster than the average human can, and her sister was shooting lasers from her eyes. I think they're superheroes!"

Mikey's face immediately lit up as soon as Donnie mentioned the word "superheroes" as Leo asked who they were.

"I don't know," Donnie answered. "But it's obvious that the Kraang want them for their superpowers, so we might end up with them as our allies… maybe."

Chapter Text

WHOOSH!

Billy was used to super speed travel. What he wasn’t used to, was dragging two people at super speed with him. And Phoebe and Nora were definitely not used to running faster than they ever could on their own. They just held on to Billy and ran, their legs working overtime to keep up, feeling like they would spontaneously combust. Their surroundings were a blur as they looked around, running too fast for their brains to process.

But that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered to their adrenaline-fuelled minds was getting away from the Kraang.

In literal seconds, they were right outside the hotel. Billy had no problem stopping, but his sisters, unaccostmed to super speed travel, couldn’t stop as quickly and kept going, taking him with them until the three siblings tripped and collapsed in a heap. Phoebe groaned as she stood up and helped Billy and Nora to their feet. “Everyone okay?”

“I’ve been better,” Nora shrugged, as Billy spoke up, “Sorry, guys. Super speed travel
Phoebe looked around, clutching her head. “There’s no sign of them… I think we’re safe. But my head really hurts.”

Her siblings looked up and Nora pointed out, “That robot punched you pretty hard, Pheebs. Your eye doesn’t look so good.” Phoebe opened her phone’s camera and saw that a black eye was already starting to form. “Ooooh. That’s… not good. Mom’s gonna freak.”

Sure enough, as soon as the kids walked back into the room, Barb looked up from a magazine at the sound of the door opening, and immediately noticed Phoebe’s eye. “Ohmigosh!” She shrieked, running over. “What happened to you guys?!?!”

Before Phoebe could even explain, “Mom, we-” her over-adrenalined siblings cut her off, “These scary alien robots attacked us!” “Then some giant turtles helped Phoebe save us!” Naturally, Barb was a little bit skeptical of their claims, knowing how her kids were with their imaginations, having once thought their local restaurant owner was an alien before.

“Alien robots? Giant turtles? Seriously?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Mom, it’s true,” Phoebe spoke up. “We got ambushed by those robots. I tried to fight them off, and then these turtle guys showed up and started busting them up, so I got Billy and Nora out of there. So now what do we do? Cancel the vacation?”

Hank, who was having a nap on the couch, jolted awake. “No! No no no, we are not going home on the first night! We spent so much money on this trip!”

“Hank, the kids’ safety is more important! Just look at Phoebe!” Barb countered, gesturing to Phoebe’s eye, to which the teen stated, “Mom, seriously, I’m fine. I just need an ice pack.”

“I’ll get them!” Billy ran off and returned seconds later with an ice pack, applying it to Phoebe’s face before she could even blink. “Thanks, Billy,” she smiled, giving him a quick pat on the head. “But Dad’s right. We can’t let one bad experience ruin our whole vacation.”

“Alright,” Barb conceded as she took her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call the Hero League and tell them to keep an eye out for these alien robots. “But from now on, if anyone sees them, do not engage them. Get out of there as soon as you can and get somewhere safe. And I’d also be careful about those giant turtles.”

BZZAP! BZAAP! BZAAP!

The Thundermans looked at the door, and there were scorch marks on. Everyone turned to look at Nora, who shrugged, “It wasn’t me! This time!”

Then more blaster sound was heard from the direction of the door, which got everyone’s attention. More and more scorch marks were appearing on the doors, growing bigger and darker until lasers started blasting through the door from the other side as everyone gasped, “We believe you now, Nora!”

The blasts on the door continued until the damage built up and eventually the door fell to pieces revealing a squad of men dressed in the same suit. Phoebe and the kids gasped, “That’s them!”

“Hey! You’re paying for that door,” Hank stood up and stepped toward the Kraangdroids, who drew their laser blasters as one of them responded, “Kraang is not in possession of what is known as the Earth currency that is known as dollars. Kraang needs to be in possession of the ones known as the Thundermans for what is known as experimentation~”

Without even thinking, Barb raised her hand and a jolt of bluish-purple lightning shot out from her palm, striking one Kraangdroid and chain-jumping between the rest, short-circuiting their disguises and revealing their robotic exoskeletons.

“What ARE those?”

“The alien robots!” On instinct, Phoebe raised her hand and flicked her fingers to the side, launching the Kraang’s blasters out of their hands. “Now it’s a fair fight.”
“No, it’s not,” Nora smirked as her eyes glowed orange and she fired laser burst after laser burst at each Kraangdroid that ran into the room. From there, it was pandemonium.

One droid threw a punch at Hank, which he effortlessly caught in his hand and threw over the balcony all the way from the other side of the room. Phoebe followed suit with her telekinesis, raising her arms and sending more droids flying with one arm swing, Barb and Nora firing lasers and lightning bolts at them, and Billy ran to the other rooms to check on Max and Chloe.

“Kraang! Summon the reinforcements that are known as reinforcements!” Then, purple triangular portals appeared throughout the room and more silver and blue Kraangdroids marched through, to the Thundermans’ collective “Uh-oh.”

The kids scrambled for whatever cover they could find behind counters, couches, under tables, as more purple lasers started flying around the room, as Hank and Barb geared up to face the Kraang, grabbing and throwing them into each other and blasting them with lightning bolts, but the droids kept coming, and Hank knew they wouldn’t be able to sustain this defence for much longer… “Kids! Grab Max and Chloe and get out of here!”

“No, we’re not leaving you!” Nora called out as she fired more laser blasts at the droids from behind the kitchen counter.

“We can handle ourselves! You need to escape! GO!”

Phoebe hesitated for a moment before Billy pulled her and Nora towards the fire escape by the kitchen, and two seconds later, returned with Max and Chloe, looking confused, “What’s going on?”

Then they looked up at how their parents were faring against the Kraang. Their sheer numbers were starting to overwhelm Hank and Barb, but they weren’t giving up. They fighting with everything they had to protect the kids.
“That,” Max said deadpan.

Then more Kraangdroids burst through the fire escape. All five kids knew what they needed to do.

“Adios,” Chloe teased before she and her siblings disappeared in a small flash of light, and reappeared in an alleyway outside the hotel, adrenaline racing.

“Phoebe, what do we do now?”

She turned her head to the sound of Max’s voice, giving her concerned looks, especially Chloe’s tear-filled eyes and wobbling lip, too young to understand the gravity of the situation. “Those robots are clearly after US, for our powers. They’re going to keep coming and looking for us.” She looked around the alleyway for anything that could help. Weapon, escape route, hiding spot… the only thing that stood out was a manhole cover. Holding out her hand, she lifted it off the hole and moved it to the side, and held her nose. “Everyone in! Now!”

Max rolled his eyes, “You can NOT be serious,” then his jaw dropped as watched Phoebe jump in. “Oh, you ARE serious.”