They started their search from the pet shop, spreading outwards, using the sewer lines as a cover; Turk downloaded maps of the area and used them to keep tabs on the areas they had already searched, which, after just a few days, was already quite large. The turtles kept searching, restless, but failing in finding their sibling after so much land covered was starting to affect their morale.

But there was more to it. After about two days keeping his word and going home earlier, Jack couldn't get to sleep; he picked up a comic book, tried to get drowsy, yet after what seemed just a while he heard the steps of his brothers on the outside; they emerged from the opening, tired, defeat stamped in their blackened eye-sockets; Artie was the first to talk: - Still awake, Jack?

- It's not my fault; couldn't get to sleep.

- Try taking some hot tea. – Turk suggested, yawning. – Or counting sheep; it always seems to work with earthlings.

- 'Kay, I'll warm up some milk; you guys want some?

- Nah, I'm good…

- Yeah, me too…

Both turtles went to their respective corners, now layered with, rather than their clothes, more comfy mattresses that they had scavenged; they fell in, and were sleeping before they hit the blankets. Jack had stood up, and then he went to another shaft neighboring theirs where they stored supplies and other things, like a small refrigerator and an electric camp heater/oven – all stuff Turk managed to fix from the junkyard –; Jack lit the oven, which was over a small table they built, and started to heat the milk; as he looked the milk starting to boil, he punched the table: - Damn you and yer promises, Art! He's out there, and I'm gonna find 'im, with or without you guys. – He turned and started to make for the exit, but he seemed to reconsider and turned back. Won't be cool if they get suspicious of me; better not giving them any reasons to. He swallowed the milk in a single gulp, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and made it back to the other shaft, where he made a dummy with his pillows under his blanket; then, he went to the lab and picked up the tracker.

And so, from that day, Jack started to make his secret excursions, which were way farther than the ones taken by his brothers, after they got to bed; deprived from his sleep, he was starting to feel the effects, and the others noticed it, too; he tried to make excuses, saying that he had had much work lately, but they were getting more and more suspicious of him; things were like that for almost a week, when, finally, it happened.

Jack was walking under a block filled with multicorporate buildings near downtown, when, all of a sudden, he heard a beep coming from the tracker; he lost his breath for a moment, then, slowly, he turned his incredulous sight down to the screen of the apparatus; there appeared a luminous dot, bleeping in and out, and which could mean only one thing: that his albino brother was nearby.

Elated by the discovery, his heart started to pound heavily; cold sweat accumulated on his forehead, before dripping to the sides of his head and of his neck. He was paralyzed, and remained so for several minutes; then he put himself together and decided to risk a look above. It was about three and a half in the morning, and the streets were quiet; the signal seemed to come from a large building that occupied half the block that was straight ahead of him, across the street. He looked at the building, at the security cameras and sturdy-looking ten-store-high light-brown concrete walls, and understood in a flash that he hadn't the slightest chance of breaking in that place and getting out in one piece; he had to call his brothers and tell them about it. He picked up his phone, and hurriedly made the call.

The sleepy voices of his brothers responded on the other side; they were agitated after noticing that Jack wasn't there with them, and Artie was starting to have a fit: - Jack, where the hell are you? Don't tell me you've really been moonlighting, 'cause if you did, I'm gonna…

- Art, I found him!

Artie's voice was immediately cut short; perplexed, he started: - You found – him?

- Yeah! I got his signal coming from a big building near downtown; place is at…

The others rushed to the place where Jack was after they processed the news; Turk brought along his bag, which, among other things, contained a pair of binoculars, and those turned out to be quite useful after they got there. They were so excited by the discovery that Artie even forgot that he was mad at Jack for not keeping his word.

- There's no question about it – Turk commented, after he inspected the readings from the DNA tracker –: he is inside that building.

- That's great news; but, now that we know where he is, how are we gonna get him out?

Artie looked at the place, and, just as Jack, recognized that breaking in was out of question. – We're not just walking in there; not even in a million years we'll manage to get in.

- Maybe we should find out more about this place – back at the lab, using my workstation. I only need to establish a connection to the web; that won't be too difficult.

- Yeah, I think that's probably the best we could do for now; but that will have to wait till later. I think we are in need of rest – and when I mean we, I mean all of us – just after he finished the phrase, Artie looked gravely to his twin brother, who nodded without a word.

- OK; just lemme lock on the signal, so we will know if it moves from the building. – Turk started to fiddle with the tracker, and wired it to his Turtlecom. Minutes later, they started their way back to the lair, fatigued yet feeling renewed.

After breakfast, Jack went to his meeting with the Purple Dragons, as usual, and left his brothers by themselves in the tunnels; however, that day he kept calling them, to hear what they had discovered about that place and its security; - The building is the headquarters of a company called TCRI, a giant in the spacecraft and cybernetic industry; I've tried to hack into their systems, and I managed to get a partial map of the lower sections – all underground, all restricted access; it seems that the signal is coming from one room at the laboratory sector.

Cold sweat ran over Jack's face after hearing that. – You mean he's… he really is some kind of… experiment…

- I'm afraid so, Jack, but, don't lose hope; me, you and Artie are gonna take him outta there, no matter what.

- And those creeps are gonna pay dearly if they hurt a single scale of my little brother. – Jack hung up, almost breaking his phone; he couldn't wait till his shift was over and he could meet with his brothers – to help in the preparations for the battle.

- You guys figured out somethin'? – Jack was really nervous; he entered the lair in a hurry, not bothering to knock. Artie and Turk looked back at him, down-crest. – We thought about it over and over, but we couldn't come up with a way to break in.

Turk tried to brighten up the situation: - Maybe I could try to override the security systems, just long enough so you guys…

- No, Turk; it's too risky, they could use it to track us down here; you said it yourself.

Jack was quite nervous from all those developments, and shouted back at Artie: - I don't remember nobody putting you in charge or anythin'… oh, but I forgot: our great leader doesn't need to hear anybody else, 'cause anything he says is always right…

- Cut the crap, Jack; this is not the time to act like a dork.

- Well then, lemme tell ya're doing a lousy job at it.

- Huh, guys…

- And what do you know about it, anyway? While me and Turk here discussed things the whole day long, all you did was play around with your criminal friends, without a care in the world!...

- Without a care? I found the damn place! What did you do?

- Guys…

- It doesn't matter you found it first; you broke your promise, you betrayed our trust; we would find it sooner or later, but you insisted in moonlighting anyway!...

- I told ya once, and I tell ya again, smart-ass: you ain't the boss of me, and I'm takin' no orders from you…

- I wouldn't need to if you could simply follow common sense, dammit!

- No, ya wouldn't need to issue order me around if you were competent, ya piece a-

- Guys!...

The twins turned their heads to Turk. As much as he tried, the newcomer couldn't get used to these fights between Artie and Jack, which of late were getting more and more often. – Really, this is not the time for an argument; we've got a brother to rescue, remember? Each minute we waste here is another minute for him there, to suffer who knows what kind of treatment in the hands of those people. Don't you prefer saving your energy to break him free, instead of arguing with each other? – Artie turned his face away. – I guess you're right, Turk. – Jack put his knuckles over the desk, fuming; then, after he punched it in anger, chipping off a large splinter, he went outside the shaft, and returned a few seconds later holding one of the old explosives they had put outside. – Blow the damn place to hell! That's what we gonna do! Turk – he threw the stick to the baffled turtle –, do these things have any juice left?

- Well, no, but I suppose I could make them explosive again…

- Then do it. Tonight we're breaking inside TCRI, and we're only coming out with our brother.

The turtles came up with a daring plan: based on the data he got from TCRI's system, Turk selected the spots where they would plant the explosives; they would not be enough to blow asunder the entire building, but they would be enough to trigger the alarms at many points simultaneously, so they could break in the room where their brother's signal was coming from. Turk figured out a complex escape route, so they could manage to lose their followers far away from the shafts.

The turtles prepared themselves the best they could: Artie picked up a shovel, a lantern, a mining helmet, ropes and the explosives; Jack took a pickaxe, a flashlight, lockpicks, his switchblades and even a gun from a shipment he and the Dragons had smuggled in one occasion; Turk got his trustworthy bag of tricks, along with the tracker. – I'm also taking a few more explosives with me, in case we are in need of a plan B.

- I really hope we don't need a plan B, Turk – plan A is enough to get us killed already.

After they set up the explosives at the designated points, the turtles were breathing heavily, waiting for Turk's signal to set off the detonators; it came as fast as they expected: - Go!

A terrible, booming blast was heard all around the gallery from which they planted the explosives at the base of TCRI's building, and it quickly mixed with the sound of the fire and intruder alarms inside; following Artie's cue, they rushed into the smoky hole protected by junky goggles; they had to blow their entrance relatively far from their target, so they rushed inside in a kind of frenzy, hoping with all their might people would get attracted to the other spots before getting to the one they just went in.

A vain hope; shortly after Artie's head was inside the hole, he heard the sound of a bullet speeding slightly above his left eye; immediately, he picked up an explosive and threw it over the general area ahead of him. – Get behind me! – He held up the shovel, improvising a shield for his own head – and for his brothers', also –, before charging in, straight to the right and through the path that he meticulously memorized earlier, as he pressed the trigger that blew the charge he dropped, and that hopefully enough would buy them some time. Bullets were still coming after them, but Jack responded in kind and shot his pistol wildly through the blurred passageway, and, judging by a groan he heard, one of his shots hit the mark. – I can see the door dead ahead! Hurry up!

When they reached the door, Turk put on the digital lock a virus he had previously made while Jack covered their backs from the guards that were starting to appear from the corner they had just crossed a moment earlier; it took a split second, but after that the turtles desperately rushed inside, and the thick metal door closed behind them. – Okay, we're in, so what now?

Artie looked quickly around; there were about three people in white aprons inside, along with two uniformed men wielding assault rifles. – Jack, take 'em out, now! – Since their unusual appearance startled the guards, the turtles had the upper hand: Jack flipped out one of his switchblades and threw it at the man closest to him, while Artie jumped and pummeled his shovel in the face of the other one. The scientists were running around in terror, and one of them rushed to a computer and started typing something in it. – Oh no, you won't! – Turk leaped out and knocked the woman unconscious, then turned around swiftly and asked the remaining scientists: - The mutant turtle – where do you keep him? – They wouldn't answer, though; one of them fainted, and the other was too scared to answer; Turk knocked him unconscious, too, then turned to see how his brothers were doing: they had restrained their foes, using the ropes Artie brought along. – Guys, search this place – if my calculations are correct, we got about 7 minutes before they break in!

He himself pulled out the tracker; several minor dots lined the screen – residua, no doubt, coming from mutagen samples taken from their unwilling sibling –, but there was a great spot indicated at the other end of the room, a signal that could only come from the vital pulse of a living creature – which, he hoped, would be his brother.

Turk braced himself, and rushed to the place the device indicated, which was behind a pile of sturdy steel cages connected to a mainframe computer; right beside it, there was a great cylinder of glass, from which emanated an eerie green glow. Turk tightened his eyes, trying to look at the interior of the cylinder, and then realized, with horror, that inside it there was a monster – a white-scaled, vicious-fanged beast, that, though in stasis, still gazed threateningly at him through the glass, with cold, unmoving jet-red eyes.

- Oh no… We are too late… - Turk put his hands on the computer's keyboard, too weakened by the vision; then, suddenly, he got his wits back in place, and started to think how he could take his brothers out of that place alive. He started to frantically hack the computer, trying to break the stasis his brother was submitted to – if he couldn't reason with him, at least he could free him from his captors. After a few minutes, a siren started to make a loud noise indicating a warning; the twins rushed back to where Turk was working: - Turk, what's going on? –; then, they noticed the cylinder – What the-? What is that thing? – But they had noticed the white skin, and the reddened eyes; as Turk nodded a sad yes, they didn't need anything more to understand.

Turk closed his eyes, as he prepared to hit the final button – the one that would finish the revitalization sequence. After that, they heard a gurgling sound, as the level of the liquid within the beast's chamber started to lower. – Time to leave, guys!

- What about him? We can't just abandon him like that!

- We don't have a choice; in the state he is now, I don't believe he can recognize us as friends! He'll just rip us to shreds!

- He's right, Jack; let him go. We still need to escape this place before the guards are all over us.

- But…

Artie didn't let Jack finish his phrase; he pushed him in the direction Turk ran off to.

- Hurry, guys, help me set this explosive here; the blast will close the way to the ventilation ducts, after we pass through them.

Just as the turtles finished installing the explosive, they heard an inhuman growl on their backs, and watched as the thing that slept inside the cylinder stood up, looking wildly around itself, until it noticed them.

- C'mon, climb up! He won't be able to follow us up here!

But they didn't need to worry about the reptile going after them, because at that exact moment the locked door burst open and an army of guards flooded in; this attracted the beast's attention, which started off in their direction. The turtles took a last look at the scene, then detonated the explosive and ran off to the exit escape.

After many tense minutes of crawling, climbing and sliding, they managed to get to an exit at surface level, just as Turk predicted; they breathed in the air in great doses, the adrenalin still rushing through their systems.

- I can't believe we came out in one piece!

- Yeah, but you can't say our mission was exactly a success, you know…

- Think on the bright side, guys – at least, we were able to free him.

- And a lotta good it was, since he has probably turned into a leather sieve by now.

- Jack, we did our best; it's not our fault things turned out the way they did.

- It doesn't matter! At least, we should have stayed and fought by his side!

- Will you two stop bickering and be a little quieter? We're not exactly back at home, yet.

The twins knew the whiz turtle was right; they readied themselves for the long journey back home, where they could mourn their loss. – Well, at least, before we go, could you see if he is still down there? If he is okay?

Turk couldn't turn down that request; he turned on the DNA tracker for what he knew would be the last time. Then, the twins saw his eyes spread wide open. – What's the matter, Turk? Is he still alive?

- Yeah, he is; but his is not the only signal the tracker is picking up.

- What do you mean?

- I mean there's something right behind that dumpster.

The turtles then noticed a faint sound coming from the direction Turk had pointed to; they came closer to it, and looked at the back corner of the dumpster, where it met with the solid light-brown wall of the TCRI building.

Cowing there and shaking in fear was an albino mutant turtle, looking back at them with terror stamped in his blood-red eyes.

- My name… is… No. 20538/709…