"We're right on top of him! I don't understand, he should be right here!"

"Bro, it's cool, I got this. DONNIE!"

"Mikey! Shut up!"

Hope, Belle and their mutant friend all looked up to the roof. The sounds were right above them. Hope raised an eyebrow at the turtle. "Anyone you know?" she smirked.

At that moment, an air grate a few feet from them collapsed to the ground, and there figures descended from the ceiling. Hope's suspicions were confirmed; these three looked almost identical to their mutant.

"Uh… Dude?" asked the smallest one, donning an orange mask.

Hope turned back to the first turtle and said mockingly, "yeah, 'dude'?" and arched her eyebrows at him, expecting some form of explanation.

The turtle, now to be known as 'Donnie', looked hopelessly from his brothers to the two girls beside him. Hope and Belle both had triumphant grins on their faces, and he groaned, knowing that he had to face the wrath of his brothers for being caught in the company of two human girls. Belle turned her head to study the new arrivals. All of them were rather more muscular than Donnie was, but none of them quite as tall.

The one in red came closest to his height, but had a mean, thug-like appearance to him. Belle didn't think she had ever believed that anyone could be as ripped, or indeed, as large, as he was. Belle smiled at him shyly, and he responded with a contemptuous sneer.

She gulped and sidestepped to stand slightly behind Donnie. This mutant was everything she had ever feared about the male gender and more.

The turtle right next to him was the shortest of the lot. Aside from an orange mask, he was adorned with a number of beaded necklaces. He had wide, bright blue eyes. When he caught Belle staring, he smirked and winked as though expecting her to swoon at the sight of him. Belle grinned despite herself. This one was rather full of himself…

The apparent leader of the little group stepped forward on front of the others. He had a definite air of authority to him, one that Hope almost admired. "Donnie? What's going on, who are these women?" he demanded.

The smallest one piped up, "How did you manage to find two smoking hot girls anyway, Donnie?" He grinned mischievously at the girls, a smug expression on his face. "Leo…? What do we do…?"

The one called Leo hesitated. He looked to the girl on the right, and an unfathomable feeling washed over him. He took in her long, curly hair, shimmering and golden, like he could just drink it up. Her dazzling blue eyes, which, if he had to time, he would study every line, every fleck of colour. Her evident amusement with the situation, the small smirk poised on her lips… He took a deep breath. This girl was beautiful.

Shaking his head, ridding himself of the strange feeling in his chest, he composed himself. "Fall back. We need to get you all out of here."

Belle glanced up at the last of the turtles, only to do a double-take when she found herself being stared at right back. Before she could really react, 'Leo' snapped his head away to address Donnie. Belle blinked at the commanding ring of his words. Dimly thinking that he was most likely the leader of the group, Donnie spoke up. "An excellent plan! We'll show these two to the exits and be on our way! I saw some flash drives on a counter in one of the rooms back there…" As he rambled on, another thought suddenly came to Belles mind.

"Wait, that's it?" She asked, one elegant brow arched incredulously. "No 'you know too much, we must kill you now'? No death threats, no dire warnings? You're just…" Belle's heart grew heavy, it was like a cold block of metal was pressing, stationary and vacant, against the inside of her chest. "…Just going to let us leave?"

Belle gazed up at the mutants, first Donnie, who both she and Hope had rescued without any second thought, then around his siblings. The large, scary mutant with the red bandana, the shorter one, 'Mikey', who seemed so open and, charmingly, obnoxious. At last, she fixed her eyes on the one named Leo who, she noticed with an odd sort of wriggle in her stomach, had a very penetrating and somehow reassuring stare. Would she never have the chance to get to know these creatures who warped her entire reality? Was her adventure, the discovery of her newfound sense of self, coming to an end?

She looked imploringly at Hope, searching for some kind of back-up. Maybe she felt the same way Belle did…

Leo stared quizzically at the girl. That was what was on her mind? Not the fact that they needed to remove themselves from the situation as quickly as possible, before Donnie's captor raised an alarm? No, she was more worried about how they viewed her. He shook his head meticulously, hoping not to set her off. "No. At this moment, ma'am, we need to get everyone out. We can discuss other… details… later."

Hope was finding the entire situation very difficult to take in. However she knew this mutant was correct in his statement, so she placed her hand on Belle's shoulder. "We need to go. We can't stand around arguing forever," with that she began tapping furiously at the key pad of the metal door blocking their way, in a desperate attempt to clear a path.

Everyone crowded around the door. Belle kept her mouth shut, watching Hope at work, knowing when she wasn't needed. To her utmost surprise, she felt an enormous hand enclose around her shoulder. She flinched and looked up into the face of the largest turtle.

"Raph." He said gruffly. "And don' worry, there's no way we're lettin' you go that easy." His statement might have sounded foreboding, even threatening, if he had looked at her without the understanding smile that completely transformed his brutish face. Belle gave him the same little smile and nodded her head in thanks.

Over at the door, Donnie tapped Hope on the shoulder and she looked around at him. "Maybe, uh…" He began, "Maybe I should hack that. I mean, I know how."

A spark of rage set alight a fire in Hope's baby blue eyes. Her voice came out in an angered squeak, "You know how? Oh YOU know how?! Go on then, Mister Genius, go for it, you show me HOW to do it!" She snapped at him, stepping back.

If it weren't already obvious to the group, it was definitely now. Hope was ridiculously sensitive about her skills. Over the course of years, she'd been shot down constantly by Bishop, always outshining her on all of her projects. It irked her beyond all belief, and now this turtle was doing the exact same thing.

"I didn't mean to upset you!" Though he sounded sincere enough, the purple-masked turtle still got down on one knee in front of the lock and began twitching through the exposed wires Hope had already been tweaking. Through the sounds of tiny sparks of electricity he muttered under his breath, "No need to get snappish…"

Belle could tell just by looking at the back of Hope's head that she had heard what he said, and wasn't happy about it. Her blonde hair, up in an untidy bun, bristled, and before her very eyes Hope seemed to swell with anger. Mikey, who had been leaning casually against the metal doorframe and had a clear view of Hope's face, gave a low whistle, his eyes sparkling with joy at the situation.

A loud click from the huge door broke the uncomfortable silence and when Donnie looked up at Hope, the hint of smugness in his smile, she glared at him, "Don't," she stated firmly pushing her way through the door.

Here was yet another male asserting his intelligence showing that he was just plain better than her. It set a fuse alight within her that would eventually make her explode in anger.

For now, they all bustled through the door, eyes darting around the hallway searching for a way out.

Leo took charge and pointed forward, "That way, come on," he gestured towards a green exit sign, and they all followed his lead. Hope walked a little ahead of the rest, silently cursing herself for letting Donnie get into her head.

Excitement and curiosity mounted as Belle walked speedily to keep up with the striding footsteps of the mutants. If what Raph said was anything to go by, she and Hope might be held for questioning. They might make them take a vow not to tell anyone of their existence. Belle had never felt so creatively fulfilled. This was just like living in movie! The years she had spent studying to be an animator and storyboard writer told her to expect the unexpected. As the group made their way to the exit door, Belle assured herself that there was nothing that lay beyond that door that she could be certain of. The mystery thrilled her.

Leo pushed down the bar and the door swung open to reveal, not the foggy night of the city, but a stairwell, leading downwards.

"Of course!" Donnie leaned over his brother's shoulder to peer down the stairs as fluorescent lights flickered along the walls. "If Bishop was so secretive, and was as close to the government as he said he was, there's no way he'd undergo all his research in just this old lab… This must lead to a secret government facility. Who knows how far down it goes!"

He looked like he had every bit the mind of going down there to check it out. Mikey looked equally interested. Sirens went off in Belles head. "Now hold on one moment!" Everyone's heads swivelled towards her. "We can't get too excited about this. If a branch of government in genetic research really is down there then guess how lucky they'd be if a bunch of full-grown mutants came wandering into their lab?"

Hope stepped forward, "Belle is right. Our main priority at this moment is to get out of here." As curious as she was about the veil of secrecy coating the stairwell and beyond, she was settled on leaving this place. There was plenty of time to investigate on her own, at a later date.

Much to her infuriation, the others all looked to Leo for guidance, and she shot him a knowing look. Slowly, he nodded, "Alright, let's find another way out."

Who put him in charge? she thought to herself, fists balling up at her sides. She'd sought out this mission alone and now she was lumped with four mutant turtles. Belle, she'd decided, wasn't too bad, at least the girl had some spunk about her.

Grumbling inwardly she shoved her way in front of Leo and muttered, "Come on."

Feeling wary knowing that they were walking in what was probably a cesspool of government research, Belle inconspicuously hung back to linger at the groups' rear with Mikey and Raph. As they passed each door, she glanced inside, and she continuously looked behind her.

"Freakin' calm down!" Raph cried out eventually, prodding her between the shoulder blades so that she moved ahead of him. "If ya' so scared o' the place than move ta the front!"

Belle walked obediently in front of him, too used to avoiding men on the streets to risk falling back again. Still, she immediately retaliated. "I'm not scared…" His silence sounded utterly disbelieving, and Belle turned to face him, walking sideways to keep up. "I'm serious, okay?" She continued calmly. "If some government official or researcher comes walking out of one of these doors, who do you think is gonna be in more trouble?"

"She has a point, there." Donnie spoke up from just ahead of her. "I mean… I was seen by some loon just a couple days ago, and look where that got me!"

"You mean you didn't have enough smarts to outwit him," Hope mumbled inwardly, stomping ahead of the group. She wasn't sure what it was about this turtle that wound her up. Perhaps it was that she knew deep down that he was more intelligent than she, or maybe it was because she'd been the one to rescue him, with Belle's help, but he didn't seem at all grateful. Either way, her ego was bruised.

Leo was curiously watched the taller girl shuffle down the hall. He couldn't understand why she had such a large chip on her shoulder. Glancing back over his own, he clocked Belle and Raph in a heated discussion. His faced contorted into a grimace, and he scolded himself for even thinking in that way. Of course she'd find Raph more interesting, he was the burly one, the muscle. Charm could only go so far.

He scolded himself again when he almost walked straight into the other girl. Pay attention, you idiot! his inner voice snapped.

"Here," Hope pointed at large square door, "it's a disposal unit. I'm betting it will take us outside. I'll go first." She began to unhook the latch when she felt a hand in her shoulder, firmly pulling her back.

"No," Leo stated with authority, "we can't risk you running away. Mikey goes first," he raised an eye ridge at his youngest brother, who whooped with delight.

"Aww yeah, bruh! I got this!" He swung himself from the frame of the door and disappeared down the chute.

Belle giggled as Mikey whooped and cheered his way downwards. Raph stepped forward and followed his brother's lead with significantly less enthusiasm. Everyone who remained could vaguely hear his gruff voice calling out, "I'm comin' down! Move your shell!"

Since only Donnie and Leo remained, they ushered her and Hope forward to climb in after the first two. Donnie opened the shaft for them.

He gazed pointedly at Hope. "Any objections?"

Hope scowled at him and begrudgingly stepped inside. Belle could hear the back of her clothes against the slide all during her descent.