Mike emerged from Splinter's quarters with a shaky sigh. The testing was finally over with. As he trotted into the den, he saw Leo and Raph glued to the television set, and then instantly noticed a light flashing repetitively near the ceiling. Brow furrowed, he walked in front of them to get their attention.
"Guys? Is Donnie around?" He asked them.
"He stormed out of here earlier." Raph said, irritated that he was blocking their view.
"When?" Mike asked sharply.
Leo looked down at his watch. "Uh...wow. I guess it was around 4."
"How long has that light been flashing?" He demanded.
"I wasn't paying a lot of attention." Raph said honestly.
"I think I saw it...about an hour ago?" Leo guessed.
"An hour?" Mike said incredulously, fear causing his voice to get louder. "An hour, and you just sat there?" He turned angrily from them, and tried to dial Don's cell. He flipped his phone shut a moment later in utter frustration. "His phone is off! How could you guys be so STUPID?" He proclaimed, voice growing louder just as Splinter walked into the room.
"I'm sorry Sensei," He said instantly. "I think something's wrong with Donnie!"
"Slow down my son. What is this about?" He asked, glancing at Leo and Raph for an explanation.
Leo stood up somewhat sheepishly. "We um...were sort of giving Donnie a hard time, really made him mad. He walked out about...four hours ago. We hadn't heard from him, but we didn't think..."
"Darn right you didn't think! You honestly never listen to a word he says, do you?" Mike interjected. "Those watches he made us, they don't just tell time. They have an emergency setting - when you turn it on, THAT light starts flashing! " Mike paused to take a breath. "Sensei, I have to go look for him."
"You ALL need to go - and make haste."
Mike stopped by Donnie's lab to pick a tracker, and got strange looks from his brothers. "Yes, I can use it." He said quietly. "Donnie forced me to learn in case he ever...we had several practice runs with it. It should lead us directly to him."
They stepped out into the tunnel to pick up the largest of the Sewer Sliders, and Mike clipped the tracker directly into the computer the way Donnie had showed him. They traveled for several minutes without speaking, following the signal emitting from the onboard computer.
As they traveled further from their home, Mike was getting more and more nervous. He watched the beacon more than he even watched where they was going, only looking up briefly. He felt some relief when the signal got significantly stronger. They were getting close.
They were almost on top of the signal when the tunnel started narrowing out.
"Let's leave it." Mike said. "He's close." As he started around the corner, he stopped abruptly. The sound of quiet sobbing was echoing across the tunnel. He held up a hand for the others to be quiet, as he carefully glanced over.
There was a young woman with him, who looked thoroughly terrified. Overcome by emotion she spoke out loud, as though he could hear her. "Please. Please you have to live! " She cried desperately.
Mike pulled back sharply towards his brothers. "Okay, pow wow." He whispered.
"Can you see him?" Raph hissed.
"Not very well. She's asking him to live, so it's not exactly encouraging." Mike replied tightly. "Leo..."
"She already knows about him. There seems little point in the rest of us holding back. We can't leave Donnie...and she looks like she's in trouble too." Leonardo replied decisively.
"Alright - I'll go first. Let's try not to scare her more." Mike said. He moved slowly around the corner, and raised his voice as he did. "Hey - it's okay. We're just looking for our brother. We won't hurt you."
The woman jerked upright against the wall as the shadow took form.
"It's okay." He reassured again, holding out his hands in front of him. Walking into the beam of Donnie's powerful flashlight, he let her examine him closely for a few seconds. The resemblance was certain.
"Brother." She repeated, her accent surprising him. "He said you'd come."
Leo and Raph emerged then as Mike dropped to the ground beside Don. He sucked in a sharp gasp of alarm when he saw the blood his brother had lost.
"He was shot...helping me." The girl wavered. "He saved my life. I'm sorry."
"Mike is he–" Raph started anxiously, and he quickly cut him off.
"He's alive." He replied evenly. "We've got to get him back to Sensei."
Leo slowly approached the young woman, trying to appear non-threatening. "Miss...how did you get down here?"
"I...he brought me. I was kidnapped...they drove me to Central Park, they were arguing over whether to kill me there or later. Your brother intervened. He protected me, he brought me down here to keep them from finding me. He was shot in the shoulder...and he got hit by a tranquilizer too." She finished, showing the needle to Mike.
"Human drugs?" Mike said tightly. "That's not good."
"What do you mean?" Leo asked him.
"I don't know why. He just...he's told me they're not our friend." Mike responded, and then looked at him pointedly. "Call Sensei will you? Ask him what we should do?"
Leo caught his concern about the girl without him being forced to voice it. "Okay. I'll be right back." He returned to the Slider and had quiet brief conversation with their Master before returning. When he came back, everyone looked him expectantly.
"We need to get Donnie home pronto. Miss...I don't know if you need our help, I don't know if you're willing to trust us...but we're taking an incredible risk right now. You can come with us....if you want to."
"Donnie." She said wistfully. "He would have given his life to save me, and I didn't even know his name. If I can't trust that, what can I trust?"
"Alright then." Leo said swiftly. "We have a ways to go, but we have transportation. It might not be the best way to move him, but we don't exactly have a choice."
"We're going to have to go slower, but it's all we've got. Let's move!" Mike agreed, and they set into action.
*****
They rode as quickly and carefully as they could manage, but it still took longer to get back to their lair than it had to find Donnie in the first place. As they pulled up near the entrance and dropped off the Slider, Leo turned swiftly to the young woman.
"Before you go in there, you should know that our Sensei is just as different as we are, okay?"
"Okay. I'm ready." She said bravely. Leo led her down wordlessly, while Mike and Raph followed carefully with Donnie in-between them. Splinter met them downstairs, bowing lightly as she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Welcome. Are you alright child?"
She nodded slowly. "I'm very sorry about Donnie...and now I'm putting all of you at risk, aren't I?"
"Don't worry about it. You should call your parents - we have secure lines that you can use, but please don't tell them where you are. Do you have anything on your person that could lead them here?"
"No...my phone had G.P.S...but the men who kidnaped me took that. I won't tell them where I am...I don't even really know."
"Just tell them you're alright...and that we will make arrangements concerning your return. I must now attend to my son, but you ought at least know that I am Splinter. Please make yourself at home."
"I'm Jenna...thank you."
Leo gave her a cell-phone as Splinter motioned the other two into another adjacent room with Donatello. "The number is blocked and untraceable. Just dial normally."
"Stay and be my witness if you want - I won't say a word about you." Jenna promised, and dialed a number. Leo sat down across from her, watching in silence as she waited for someone to answer.
"Mom! " She said suddenly. "Yes, it's me. Yes...I'm alright. No, no that isn't...five men abducted me, in broad daylight! Somebody saved me, and now he's....Dad! Dad calm down, I can't understand you. I'm alive, in one piece, that's all I can tell you for now. I'm safe, that's all you need to know. That's right. Those men wanted me dead!" She paused for a long moment. "I can't tell you that. I don't have my phone anymore either, so I will have to call you. I love you. I have to go, I'm sorry."
*****
Splinter was visibly troubled as he probed Donatello for several minutes.
"Sensei?" Mike finally said softly. "Um...you should know..."
"What is it Michelangelo?"
"Don had this theory that sedatives and our bodies don't mix very well."
"He has told me the same. His current condition is not a result of that bullet in his shoulder, though it will have to be removed. I've been performing some routine tests, and he is completely unresponsive."
"What does that mean?" Raph asked anxiously.
"He has slipped into a coma. He thought that something like this could happen, if the wrong sort of drug was introduced into your blood stream." Splinter replied simply.
"He'll wake up, right?" Raph followed.
"We need help." Their Sensei said, sounding unsure and suddenly very weary. "I cannot fight this. I have to reach April."
