Leo almost choked on his desperate question, quaking slightly as he looked up at the large human. Both of his brothers were visibly agitated by Mikey's strangled breathing, and as their leader, Leo felt an almost visceral need to solve the problem.

Dean must have recognised the symptoms of eldest-brother syndrome, because his fierce expression softened slightly.

"We need to find the ghost, and torch it – salt the bones and burn them," he explained, his voice gentle. To his credit, Leo didn't bat an eyelid. Dealing with aliens and bloodthirsty mutants on a weekly basis tended to give one a wider perspective.

"We – me, Donnie, and Raph-"

"Donnie, Raph and I," came a petulant murmur from behind him.

"Donnie, Raph and I," Leo gritted, shooting Donnie an unpleasant look, "went to check out the place the teenagers died. There weren't any bones. The police would've taken anything that was there, and nothing was mentioned on the news."

The younger hunter spoke up. "We know. We read the files. But there must be something that the cops have missed." Sam inclined his head to acknowledge his big brother's snort. "Cops miss important paranormal evidence all the time. And if it's not bones, then there must be something tying the ghost to the sewers, and to your little brother."

Leo, his eyes glued to the two humans, jumped slightly as Raph's voice cut through the thick silence left by Sam's words.

"Well, what're we waiting for?! Let's go and take it down!" The sound of knuckles meeting palm was loud in the damp silence. "C'mon!"

"Easy, tiger," Dean said lowly. "You wanna drag your brother right to it?"

Raph's temper was rising. Leo knew the signs all too well; the clenched knuckles, the blazing eyes, the junkyard-dog snarl. The red-banded turtle leapt to his feet, forcing Donnie to pull Mikey further into his arms or risk him being trodden on.

"What do you know, pretty-boy? Don't pretend you know me, or my brothers!"

"Don't drag me into this," Donatello muttered, shifting his youngest brother's dead weight. Leo opened his mouth, but was interrupted before he could snap at Raph to stand down.

"I've been huntin' fuglies since I was half your age, kid," Dean snapped. "You take him anywhere near it like this, and you know what? You're gonna lose him. Ghost'll take him, that's it, no more little brother. Got it?"

"Dean," Sam murmured. "Go easy, huh?"

Leo's eyes flickered from the angry hunter, to his cowed brother, to his other siblings, one still trying to rouse the other with no success. A lump rose in his throat.

"Ain't nothin' easy about this, Sammy," Dean muttered crossly. He looked at the turtle in front of him, no longer squaring up and itching for a fight to ease his tension, but hunched, head bowed in either guilt or sadness. Dean huffed an impatient breath through his nose, and remembered that, however different they were, these vicious sewer-mutants were still just kids.

"Aw, hell." He clasped Raphael's warm, trembling shoulder. "It's okay, kid. We'll help him. We'll kick it in the ass, okay?"

Raphael's head dipped further in a brief nod. "'kay," he whispered. "…Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Dean said, and immediately scowled as he caught sight of his own little brother's wide grin.

"What?!" he barked.

"Softie." Sam smiled. Dean his grimace at the chill of the tunnels into an elegant sneer, just for Sammy.

It was decided that Mikey needed to be taken somewhere warmer before any serious investigation of his condition could begin. Donatello had done his best to explain to the two strangers the exact symptoms of Mikey's 'ghost sickness', but had found himself faltering at their stern expressions. The fact that they were all gathered in a tight huddle around their unconscious brother had produced the kind of stage-fright he usually only experienced around April.

Dean had picked up on his hesitancy, and the human had relented slightly.

"It's okay. You can tell us on the way. Now, do you guys have anywhere safe we can take him? He's pretty sick, and I don't wanna risk taking him straight to whatever it is making him that way."

Donnie inhaled sharply, and looked to Leo. His elder brother's brow was furrowed in thought, and he was worrying at his lower lip. Reveal the location of their home, their Sensei, or continue crouching in the foetid darkness of the sewer tunnel? It was a decision he didn't envy his brother having to make, and staring at him wouldn't make it any easier.

Instead, he glanced at the two humans, fixing his gaze on the older of the two. Dean's eyes were green, though not as vibrant as the vivid emerald of his own younger brother. No, this shade was softer, darker, flecked with old gold.

He trusted those eyes. He felt Leo's gaze rest on him for a moment, and without breaking his stare, nodded shortly. Leo inhaled sharply, and made his decision on a breathy exhale.

"We can take him back home. Sam, do you think you can carry him?"

Donatello's heart lurched, and his gaze, along with that of Raphael and the two humans, flicked to Leonardo in surprise. His leader's head was bowed, and his hand was already resting pre-emptively on Raph's plastron.

"He's the only one big enough to hold Mikey safely. We'll be there the whole time," Leo said. He looked at Raphael in supplication.

"They're warm, Raph," Leo said, sounding more defeated than Donatello had ever heard his brave big brother before.

Raphael looked mutinous, but ran his hand over Mikey's plastron almost unconsciously. Michelangelo chose that moment to twitch in a full-body shiver, and let out a plaintive whine of protest that made his elder brothers' stomachs drop. However, to Donnie's surprise, Raph blinked once and stood up, moving back to allow the taller human access. Donnie could tell from the way his younger brother's hands hovered indecisively over his weapons that he was not happy with Leo's decision, but it was the best capitulation that they were going to get.

Meanwhile, Leo and Sam were locked in a stare-off.

"You…had better keep him safe," Leo murmured, his voice lowering into something approaching a growl. The big human's posture was tense, but his eyes were soft as he lowered himself slowly into a crouch next to their baby brother. Sam put out a large hand and rested it for a moment on Mikey's plastron. Donatello could see sympathy warring with natural curiosity on his face, but when Sam looked back at Leo, his resolve was clear.

"You can trust me," he said.

It hadn't taken long to load his baby brother onto the back of the taller human, but the run through the sewers seemed to last an age to Leonardo. He knew that most of his restless need to get Mikey back home stemmed from his littlest brother's constant shivering and clear distress, but, honestly, were all humans so slow? The journey back to the lair that usually would have taken he and his brothers five minutes, tops, had taken triple that time so far.

Leo had taken his position at the rear of the group, with Raph at the front leading the way. Dean, after donating his leather jacket to drape over Mikey's shell, had fallen in next to Leo, to "cover their six."

Leo wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

His immediate-younger brother had taken his place at Sam's side, ostensibly to monitor Mikey's condition, but the snippets of conversation between Donnie and Sam that occasionally reached Leo's ears seemed to be, as Raphael would put it, a "smart-guy pissing contest." Leo would have barked an order to concentrate to Donatello, if it weren't for the way his purple-banded brother's hands were constantly supporting his baby brother on the human's back as he ran, moving only to run his fingers over Mikey's face or hold his hand when he reached out. Donnie's face was more animated than it had been in days as he described his scientific achievements and preened over Sam's praise and understanding. Leo heard Dean snort quietly from next to him, and caught a glint of emerald green from far ahead as Raph turned without breaking stride. His younger brother gave him a look that screamed "Donnie Has Another Crush!" in flashing neon letters, and Leo was about to grin back when three things happened all at once;

Dean raised his shotgun.

Donnie stopped babbling and whipped his staff in front of Sam to halt his movement.

Raph's sai gleamed dangerously as he unsheathed them.

Leo was at the front of the group and brandishing his katana in a protective position before he even registered the sound of footsteps in the tunnel ahead. Not now, he found himself pleading. Not when we're so close.

"Guys!"

"My sons!"

Leonardo's shoulders sagged in relief; his weapons suddenly feeling like ten ton weights as he recognised the voices of April and Sensei. Their father and honorary big sister came into view almost immediately, with April miraculously matching the speed of their father running on all fours. Master Splinter stopped and drew himself to his full, impressive height as he noticed the two strangers in their midst, and April bumped into his yukata-clad back as she registered his abrupt halt a little too late.

Leo winced as his father steadied a wide-eyed and gasping April, resting a comforting paw on her shoulder. He recognised Sensei's expression; the stern, fierce glare and flattened ears spoke of his distrust of the two humans. However, he had not yet attacked, so maybe his father was giving him a chance to explain?

"I am giving you a chance to explain," Master Splinter rumbled, sending a shiver through Leonardo as he seemed to read his thoughts. He looked into the burning copper of his Master's eyes and had no idea how to begin.

Fortunately, April displayed no such reluctance to speak.

"Who the heck are these guys?" she demanded, shaking herself free of Master Splinter's hold and marching straight up to a highly incredulous Dean. "Who do you think you are, tough guy? You think you can just kidnap my friends and get away with it, huh?!"

Dean's mouth hung open slightly as he was berated by a fiery sixteen year-old girl, and Leo decided to come to the poor guy's rescue.

"April, this is Dean. He and his brother are gonna help us with-"

"And you," April seethed, turning her scalding rage upon Leonardo. "Do you have any idea what Master Splinter and I have been going through? You promised me you weren't going to do anything stupid!"

Leo faltered in the face of her rage, then rallied slightly. "Yeah, well…you said you were gonna watch Mikey!"

He realised how stupid that had been as soon as her face crumpled from the anger she had been using as a smokescreen into an expression of pure misery.

"He…he said he felt a little better," she said, her voice almost a whisper. "He asked me for some water, so I went to get it, and when I came back…"

April trailed off. Leo was about to put a hand on her shoulder when she stiffened, looking past him with an expression of pure venom. She bolted towards Sam and the bundle on his back, her arms tensed to strike.

"Let. Him. GO!" She shrieked, lashing out at the taller human. Only Donnie's quick intervention stopped her from landing a blow, and April thrashed in the purple-banded turtle's arms as Donnie attempted to explain the situation. The two human brothers stepped towards each other as Raph zoomed past them in an attempt to restrain the furious red-head. Leonardo could only watch, wishing wholeheartedly that his mask could do more to protect his ears from the myriad of shouts and screeches bouncing off of the narrow walls. Suddenly, one more voice entered the cacophony, uttering a single word with crisp authority.

"Yame."

Instantly, his siblings and the two hunters stopped squabbling and turned their attention to the ninja master staring at them with barely-controlled fury. Leonardo could see from the rat's bristling fur and lashing tail that Sensei was pissed, and he immediately dropped to one knee in the muck.

"Sensei…we can expl-"

"Yes, Leonardo," his father interrupted, switching from anger to weariness in an instant. "I'm sure you have a highly convincing explanation for why you found it necessary to disobey my direct orders. I look forward to hearing it. However, for the meantime, you will take your brother back to the lair. I, on the other hand…"

Here, his copper eyes narrowed, searching the faces of the two strange humans, who looked back with equal curiosity and wariness. Master Splinter sighed, the fight draining from him slightly.

"…I will speak with these young men."

April ignored her honorary brothers' pleas to sit down, instead choosing to pace restlessly in front of the shoji screens that concealed her Sensei and the two strangers. Occasionally, she threw a glance towards the sunken couches when she thought that the turtles weren't looking. The sight that greeted her made her heart sink.

The only visible part of Michelangelo was the top of his head. The rest of him was cocooned inside a nest of blankets and surrounded by Donatello's arms. Leonardo and Raphael had each taken a side and nudged up close. The hot water bottles that April had supplied were placed inside the blankets, and yet the littlest turtles was still shivering violently, his skin almost grey. The elder turtles looked exhausted, their heads nodding near constantly.

April sighed, rubbing her own burning eyes. Listening at the door was giving her no clues as to what their next move would be; she could hear only murmured voices and the occasional word. Yawning until her jaw crunched, she limped over to her mutant brothers and draped herself over Raph's shell. He cracked a bleary green eye in response, and bumped his head gently against hers. There, the five of them rested fitfully, occasionally falling into fractured dreams which merged with the terrible reality of the situation they found themselves in.

April was jolted from a bumpy dream in which Mikey was giving her a Mother's Day present of a bouquet of worms by the sound of the shoji screens sliding open, and three shadows falling over their group. She looked up to see Sensei staring intently at his youngest son, snapping closed a dusty book of some kind. Through her sleep-blurred vision, she saw him beckon the two men forward, and mumble something to them. As sleep dragged her reluctant self back down into the dark, five words echoed in her head as her Sensei begged in a broken tone:

"Can you save my son?"