"Raph, you're kinda scaring me." Donnie trudged toward his computers , fumbling to get his glasses on right. "Where are you getting all of these techno terms?"

"A very reliable source."

"So not Casey." Donnie pulled his chair up behind him. "Have you even been home tonight?"

"No." Raph stated simply. "And don't wait up. Look, I just need you to get me the dirt on the Russian mob outta Brighton Beach. Specifically, a guy named Anthony Palvolv."

Don paused his fingers over the keyboard. "Pause for crazy question… why?"

"Those rumors we been chasing." Raph explained. "About the Purple Dragons breaking bread with the mob? They're true. And they're gonna make a move against Shredder. Tonight."

Donnie had started leafing through his flies, coming to the copies of police paperwork he'd stored. "Let me guess. You're gonna watch the show."

"No!" Raph grunted his annoyance. "All I got right now is it involves computers, but I gotta find out what it is… so I can stop it."

"Stop-" Donnie couldn't finish. "Raph, you're the one who's always saying we should let the bad guys destroy each other."

"I know."

"You sure you're ok? You didn't travel to Jersey next to the flue of a steam ferry again did you?"

"Donnie." Raph warned. "It's too much to explain, ok. But I'm applying some pressure that'll get them to make their move tonight. What I need you to do is get a lock on Palvolv's phone when he leaves his place. Wherever he goes, we're gonna leak that info to the Purple Dragons, make 'em think they're getting double-crossed. They'll go charging to that location, where me, Leo, and Mikey will serve up some butt-whopping."

"What about me?" Donnie wondering why he was still listening to this foolhardy plan.

"The mob's got cops on their payroll." Raph blew out his breath. "Detectives that scout Brooklyn or Queens. I need you to find them. And place in a 911 call that'll get the mob and the Dragons arrested."

I don't know whether to encourage this or not. Donnie looked behind him, where his family still slept. But Raph wasn't planning on keeping it secret from them anyway, so… "Anything else?"

"Yeah." Raph said. "An address. An old lady, Barbara Tyler, from Connecticut."

Now Donnie was completely lost. "What?"

"Just do it." Raph ordered him. "A little boy's happiness depends on it."

}{}{}{}{}{

Raph kept himself low on the roof, but his position was awfully tempting to his sleep-deprived brain. He'd read about trained snipers who created a dream space to keep them awake for seventy-two hours straight. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to wait that long. If Jasper had done his job and planted the seed of doubt in Palvolv's mind. Raph had never met this whack-job, but he'd be like any other bad guy. Not keen on betrayal or patience.

Raph squinted at the lights and shadows moving through Palvolv's house, despite the late hour. The two-car garage had lit up a minute ago; time to find out why. Raph slinked to the edge, where the townhouse rammed up against the next house. Seriously, there was maybe three feet between the chipped brick walls! He had to move forward, to the front corner, where he could shimmy down the rain gutter. His shell scrapped the neighboring brick, reminding him of the tight fit. But he had spotted a vent halfway down when he was scoping the place out. He reached it now and pressed his ear to the slotted metal. Everything came to him in a warble.

Ugh! Raph hissed. He closed his eyes, isolating the sounds, compartmentalizing one from the other.

"Schzek ti kovick!" a heated Russian accent hit came through first. "You want to know, you ask him."

"But he has us hauling this out at three in the morning!" another Russian complained.

"Something about a double cross." The first strained his voice, like he was lifting something heavy. "You know how Anthony gets if someone tries to best him."

Something else in Russian and the two voices laughed. Raph about laughed with them. Just like I knew he would.

A sudden commotion took over and the voices hushed. Did they drop a part of their load? Raph pushed his ear closer to the vent. He was only rewarded with the vibrating of his shell cell. Raph readjusted his grip on the drain pipe before answering. "Don?"

"Get out!" Donnie shouted in his ear. "A security cam is looking at you right now! Hence, I'm looking at you right now, hence they're looking at you right now!"

Raph's body stilled. "I- I found all the cameras-"

"Wrong! There's one linked to the front gate that alternates between the street and the front of the house. This's what happens when you try to do things yourself! Now GET OUT!"

I can't. Raph thought about Jasper and knew it wasn't an option. But Raph also couldn't afford to get caught. He hung up on Donnie and started pulling himself back up the drain pipe. His shell caught twice, making Raph madder and sweatier each time. He was mere inches from the roof, when sudden brightness overcame him from above.

"WHAT is that!?" a man gasped.

Raph yanked a shuriken from his belt and sent it whizzing upward before anyone could answer. There was a clank, and then a flashlight hitting Raph on the head. He reached up into the returned darkness and found an ankle. Raph jerked on it and came up on the roof as the Russian fell over.

Someone else was coming at him from the left, but Raph didn't need to see to block his wild swing and send him back with a crooked jaw. Raph blinked, forcing his eyes to adjust; hard with only one eye operational. He caught the footsteps running at him and Raph spun out with a round-the-world kick. He only hit air.

That's where Raph heard the laughter. Before he was barreled into from the side and pushed back until he tittered on the edge of the townhouse. His good eye caught a smirked face. "Shoulda kept out of it, freak."

Hun? What? But-

Hun did little more then smack Raph to send him over the roof's edge. Raph's palms scrapped against the bricks as he fell, jerking to a stop when he became too big between the houses. Raph ignored the stinging and looked back up. Hun stood glowering over him, joined by the two Russians. One of which was screwing a silencer onto his gun!

Aw, man! Raph shook himself this way and that, anyway to un-wedge himself. He was not going out in a surprise attack! That'd be like admitting that the bad guys were smarter then him! No freakin' way!

C'mon! Raph strained, his shell scooting a scant inch to the right. C'mon!

The Russian was taking aim, Hun still grinning. Raph's chest pounded tightly.

PHMM! went three bullets through the silencer.