The next day, the turtles woke up, had cereal, and made a reunion to decide what they should do next.

- Guys, what are we going to do now? If it was only a matter of scavenging food and having a place to stay, we'd be okay bringing you in, Turk; but knowing about a missing brother changes everything.

- Yeah, he should be our priority now. There's no question about it: we search for him.

- I agree, but how are we going to look for a giant albino turtle in New York City? The city is huge, and we don't have a clue where to start looking for.

- I think we should start examining the pet shop and see if we can retrace our brother's steps from there.

Artie turned to Turk. – Do you know the address of that place, Turk?

- Of course I know; I thought I'd best start looking there, as soon as I got here.

Artie had a little start. – Which reminds me; you said that those gadgets of yours were connected to the Telemat. – Turk nodded. – Can't the Utrom use them to track us down, and, I don't know, drag you back to their planet or something?

Turk looked down at his wrist device. – About that, guys… I forgot to tell you something. This thing is also a communicator; I used it to relay a message to the Utrom yesterday before sleeping: I told them I was fine, explained why I used the Telemat without permission, and told them I found you two guys. They seemed a little ticked off, but they were glad I was OK and you guys too, and agreed on me staying here till we find our missing brother; they told me to keep the tracker on and that they were going to help us with intel and personnel from NYC. I told them about my thoughts on the pet shop, and they told me they'd send someone to meet me there this evening.

Jack beamed: - Great; now we got a lead to go on! Where's the pet shop, and when we gotta meet the Utrom guy?

- I will write it down for you; do you have paper and a pen?

Artie handed him over a news clip and a piece of pencil. He then looked seriously to Jack: - Okay, sounds like a plan, but we still got one problem: the Dragons.

- What about 'em?

- Jack, have you ever considered how are you going to help look for our brother if you have to go on patrol with the Dragons?

- No problemo, amigo; I can ask for lookout duty near the shop place.

- Won't they think it weird of you asking that for no reason, out of the blue?

- Tchh, hell no. – He seemed to reconsider. – Well, maybe there's a teensy-weensy chance…

- We're taking no chances – Artie looked sternly at his brother. – Those guys know too much already about us: they know who we are, what we do, where we live… They don't know about Turk yet, but they might end up finding about him, if we start acting suspicious.

- What's your point, fearless leader?

- My point is, this place isn't safe any longer; we can't keep you here, Turk. – The black turtle looked a little down-crested; Artie tried to rephrase himself: – It's not like we don't want you around, or anything; is just that it isn't safe for you to stay here. We need to find a spot for you to stay, and fast, before we make our move; also, we need to find you some clothes that don't draw so much attention, and we need to figure a way to communicate with one another. Artie looked back at Jack: - That okay with you? – Jack just nodded and grunted.

Turk walked in the direction of Artie's radio, and tapped it gently. – I don't know how we are going to find a place for me to stay on, but, about the communication problem, I think I can do something about it if you bring me to your local junkyard.

Jack walked over next to them. – Good! Now that all is settled, we can start making turtle tracks; so where's that address?

- Oh, here you go.

Jack looked over the scrap of paper, squinting. – Huh, Turk, could you try again, this time in English?

Artie and Turk looked furtively around the corner; behind their backs was the fence of the junkyard that they had just entered a few minutes before, and where Turk picked up some electronic parts he thought would turn out useful. Artie managed to find him a disguise, which Turk put over his Utronian garments – he insisted on keeping them –, before leaving the lair, and they went separate ways from Jack.

- Now that we got your stuff, we should find somewhere for you to stay before we meet with the Utrom.

- Do you have any idea where to start looking? I'm not much of a help, since I'm new in town.

Artie's face concentrated; there weren't many abandoned houses, working sites or isolated places that he knew of in the neighborhood besides his own – that is, places that weren't too dangerous to stay at. He even thought about asking Angel if she couldn't help them out, but he thought better and decided he didn't want any Dragon to know about his new brother for as long as he could. – There has to be somewhere… C'mon, Turk, let's keep searching; we're bound to stumble on something. – Turk nodded and they sneaked their way across the alleyways, always in the dark.

After searching for some time, Artie got interested in an old subway entrance they stumbled by, that looked as if it was made in the 1920's. - Hey Turk, let's check out the old subway.

- You mean there? – He looked warily at the entrance; there were many notices over, like "WARNING: DANGER OF COLLAPSE", "DO NOT TRESPASS", "PUBLIC HAZARD"… The place was dusty, and pieces of the entrance were falling down. – Are you nuts?

- I know it's dangerous, but so far is all we've got; maybe inside we can find a safe…ish spot where you can stay for now. Do you have a flashlight or something?

Turk took out a pocket knife from his sweatshirt and turned on the small light it produced; he thought it would be safer to keep his Utrom devices hidden back in the lair, at least for now. With the light in their aid, they both went down the stairs, after making sure no one was looking.

- What if somebody else had your idea first and is living in this place? Not that anyone the least bit smart really would do that…

- Well, I think we will just have to hope not.

- …

- Let's try and find some place to hide you in. I think it would be better to look for it in the tunnels, because people are less likely to go down there.

- Huh, can't see why…

They walked for quite a bit down in the tunnels, but first they searched the central office for a map, and ended up picking many of them because Turk felt it would be worthwhile studying them. They used one to navigate the intricate maze of tunnels, to find a new hideout. Once, when they were examining a wall, they saw a large crevice on the concrete; this gave Artie an idea.

- Turk, the maps say if there's anything on the other side of the tunnel walls?

Turk browsed over a handful of blueprints, till he picked up the one he was looking for: - Actually, it looks like there was something: some construction shafts that they used to store explosives and tools.

- Let's see if we can find one large enough to fit in. Then, we'll tidy it up a bit and cover the hole in the wall with something.

- But we're going to take out the explosives inside before staying there, right? I know those things lost their explosive properties a long time ago, but I have this superstition about not sleeping with a stick of dynamite under my pillow…

They crossed the tunnels till they found it; after sliding in, they picked up the explosives, stuck them under a pile of rocks outside the shaft, and then cleaned up the place so as to make it reasonably comfortable.

- There you are, Turk; you'll be staying here for a while, until we figure out a better place.

Before answering, Turk turned around and gave a good, long look to the place; he sighed, then answered: - Uh, I guess it'll do: it's well ventilated and cool. But what about food, and, how will we come and go as we need?

Artie hadn't thought about those details before. He turned a worried look to his brother, then to the bundle of papers under his arms. He then picked up a few crates and made a makeshift table so they could spread the maps over and shower them with the light.

- … Wait, look at this here: it seems that the tunnels are somehow connected to the sewer lines; maybe we could figure out a way to access them from this side of the tunnels and then get to the surface by there?

- Maybe; I'll be needing to study these things a little closer. – He pointed to the small pile of electronic objects at his feet. - However, I still have my job to do; that'll have to wait for later. Say, why don't you explore the tunnels on your own, while I build? You could find something interesting out there.

- It's not a bad idea… but will you be safe here all by yourself?

- What, now you're having a conscience crisis? I thought that was the plane from the start.

Artie sighed. – Okay. Just try not to make much noise; I'll be back in an hour.

He picked up an old oil lantern that was piled up with the other tools and, after many failed attempts to light up the ancient wick, left the crevice; he raised the light, so he could see the pencil marks on the map he was carrying.

The sewer lines were extensive, a very intricate maze; even with the map, Artie had to concentrate very much not to get lost, as every turn and corridor looked much the same to him. After walking a while, he found a manhole, near the end of an unfinished tunnel; he raised the lid and climbed down the stairs. There, he found a rusty grate that led to the old maintenance section of that part of the sewers. He started to explore it.

After half an hour, he had tested all the exits he could find, and had a good idea where each of them ended up, so he started to make his way back to where he left Turk. After getting at the crevice, he knocked a sign that they combined earlier so Turk would know it was him.

- I think I figured out a couple of ways of getting in and out, bro… so, you had any luck with the electronics stuff?

- I think I had… - He rose his head to where Artie was, smiling, as he held up a kind of walkie-talkie and threw it at him. – What do you think? Not too shabby, eh?

- Wow, that's amazing! You did this thing using that garbage we picked up? – Turk nodded, smiling triumphantly. – How does it work?

- Just turn down the switch near the top.

Artie did like he said; the screen of the device lit up, but then it started to fizz and shake, and Artie threw it away just before it exploded at his face in a cloud of black smoke.

- Of course, it might need a few liiittle adjustments before we can start mass production…

- *cough* Lucky we still got a lot of time before evening. I think I'll go out and get us some grub; you want anything?

- Whatever you'll have… ow, by the way, when you get at the grocery store could you get me some semiconductor wafers? I think I'm running low on them.

It was almost the time of the meeting; both Artie and Turk were waiting for Jack at the spot they agreed earlier, some two blocks from the shop. Then, Jack showed up and raised his hand.

- Yo, dudes! What's ticking?

- Our new means of communication – Turk reached inside a bag and pulled out another walkie-talkie. –: I present to you the Turtlecom, version 2.0; patent pending.

Jack was as impressed as Artie was by the device; after they briefly explained to him how to use it, they started to make way for the shop, when suddenly Turk held both twins by their arms. – Wait! – they turned and looked at him. – I think it would be better if only one of us went over there. – The turtles looked confused at each other. – Why should we? Didn't you say they were friends?

- I know what I said… I just got this feeling it would be wiser not to expose ourselves if we can avoid it, and get an upper hand… just in case.

- Just in case of what? – the turtles were starting to get suspicious. – Turk, is there something you'd like to tell us? – Turk sighed. – No, it's nothing… just, okay, just listen to me: wait for me back at the corner, and if everything goes okay, I'll wave an OK. Deal? – the turtles didn't like it, but anyway, their answer was: - Deal.