My eyes popped open as the distant, silent, call finally came, not even knowing I had fallen asleep. I swiftly got to my feet from the recliner and slapped Casey on the shoulder who was sleeping on the couch. "Whowuzzit!" He mumbled as he almost fell out of it.

"Get up." I told him.

"They got them?"

"They do now."

"All righty then." He got up and started to gear up before I moved on to wake the others.

After a couple of soft knocks on the doors, they were answered and preparations began to be made. I now stood in front of the bundled up form sleeping on the floor in my in laws room. I didn't even try to be nice as I ripped the blanket off of him. "Get up." I snapped at him.

"What?" David mumbled as he blinked awake.

"You heard me, get your ass up." I stared down at him as he sat up and began to untangle himself from the blankets.

"Why? What's going on?"

I just rolled my eyes at him. Truthfully I still wanted to kick him in the mouth, and he was in the perfect spot for me to do it, but I couldn't. Leo had beat it in my head that he needed protection too, and I at least owed him that much. He was an idiot, but didn't deserve what would happen to him if I hadn't brought him here last night. So, reluctantly, he was brought into our protection fold. Didn't mean I had to tell him everything though, and I wasn't going to tell him anything if I didn't have too.

"Just get up and get dressed." I told him as I walked back out of the room, then grabbed my own things and went into the bathroom to change.

David happened to be coming down the hall, still looking bewildered at what was going on, when he saw me step back out, and his eyes grew wide. Gone were the jeans and T-shirt I was wearing and the hair just flowing down my back. Gone was the worried mother of his missing children. I came striding out of that bathroom in my tight black sweater, black cargo pants and boots. My asps were belted around my waist and my hair was now pulled back into a braid. The worry that had so filled me before was gone and I was filled with a calm determination. I wasn't the Vicky he knew as he stared wide eyed at me. They looked even more shocked as the others started to emerge, dressed very similar. "What is going on?" He asked as he looked at us in our battle garb. Peter and Ellen were looking on just as shocked at our transformation.

"It's time for you three to go hide." Cris told them. "We're expecting some company here very soon."

"You are?" David asked confused, but Peter and Ellen just nodded, already expecting what was about to happen.

"They don't have hostages anymore." I firmly told him. "And they might be looking for some new ones. We are going to deter them from that idea."

"Go." Marina added. "We don't know how much time we have."

"Please don't destroy my house." Peter mumbled as he led them to the attic.

"We'll try not too." I winked back at him.

"Why do I not feel comforted by that reassurance?" He sighed.

.

.

Leo led them on as quick as he could, but it was rough going in this terrain. Dennis and Amy were tired and hurting from their ordeal and Leo really couldn't find a way to carry either of them that wouldn't aggravate their raw skin more than it already was.

He held Amy's hand as he moved, guiding her and pushing her on, catching her when she stumbled on things she couldn't see or from just plain weariness. Dennis so far was keeping up, but he wasn't in much better condition. Not to mention neither one of them was dressed for this since they were both in pajamas. They didn't even have slippers on their feet. Again Leo cursed at the circumstances that caused this current ordeal as he guided them carefully through the trees.

Amy stumbled again and Leo carefully pulled her back to her feet as he paused, his eyes searching, his instincts kicking into high gear as a faint sound caught his attention. His eyes narrowed in the darkness and with a quick nod of his head, Raph split off from the group and disappeared out of his sight. Leo just gently guided his charges on.

"Leo? What's wrong?" Amy quietly asked him, her grip tightening on his hand.

"His sixth sense kicked in." Mikey grinned at her before Leo could reply. "And he just sent Raph to kick it back out again."

Amy looked around worriedly, her eyes trying to scan the darkness she couldn't see anything in besides the shadows of the trees.

"Not that way." Leo told her as he looked down. "Don't force your eyes to see what they can't."

"Then how do you do it?" Dennis asked as Leo got them moving again.

Leo's head kept scanning the area, even as he quietly spoke. "Get a feel for your surroundings. How they should feel, then let the disturbances that don't belong there jump out at you."

"That makes no sense." Amy mumbled.

"It does if you try to understand it."

Amy and Dennis exchanged a quick, doubting, look.

Leo caught it and smiled gently. "Your senses are used to the normal bustling of daily activities around you, so it's hard to comprehend right away. Think about it, this is a swamp in the night. What noises should you hear?"

"Crickets." Dennis offered, and only because they were so loud to him earlier when Jeremy was calling to his men and they wouldn't respond.

"Very good. What else?"

"Frogs?" Amy asked. "Seem to hear a lot of frogs."

"Thought I heard a racoon chattering earlier." Dennis added.

"Exactly. Just because it is night, doesn't mean the animals all go quiet. So if there is a sudden stillness in one part of the forest, what would that tell you?"

They thought about that a minute as Leo kept moving them on. "That they are trying to hide maybe?" Dennis finally hesitantly threw out there.

"From what?" Leo asked calmly as he lifted Amy over a large puddle, then did the same for Dennis.

"Something bigger than them." Amy said confidently as he took her hand again. "Something they know could eat them."

"And what could be big enough to make everything go quiet?"

"Gators." Dennis shrugged. "Caimen. Bears I guess if there are any here."

"Or humans." Amy added and their eyes grew wide as they both suddenly understood. "Especially if they move in groups. So if everything goes quiet, then there is something out there all species have learned to fear...we are being followed."

"Consider that today's lesson." Leo winked at them as Mikey chuckled quietly. "There is a bit more that goes with it, but it's a start." He sighed then. "This isn't how I wanted to teach it to you though."

Amy squeezed his hand. "I'd rather learn from you while being chased than get ambushed down the line because you didn't take the time to teach us, Leo." She told him quietly.

"Nothing like learning as you go." Donnie agreed. "Father did that to us a few times if I remember right."

"True, but we weren't in a swamp with two worn out teenagers and have who knows how many men with guns behind us." Leo said ruefully.

"No, but we did have one loud mouthed Mikey. That was just as bad."

"Hey! I was the fun of those boring training sessions."

"And ruined every stealth lesson he tried to teach us in the process." Leo mumbled, but had a small fond smile on his face as he did.

It didn't take Raph long to catch up with them since they weren't really going fast. "They sent out scout parties." He quietly murmured. "That was one of them."

"Was?" Leo asked him.

Raph just shrugged as an evil grin found it's way to his face. "I gave them that thank you I promised to give them earlier. Don't think they appreciated it though."

"I would imagine not." Leo replied, once again guiding the teens around some terrain that wouldn't tear their feet up. He looked again at them, noticing how tired they were as they stumbled along. This was no good, they wouldn't be able to keep up like this, and to be honest, he was starting feel himself starting to lag. He sighed as he realized that he really didn't have a choice. "We need to find a place to rest." He told his brothers.

"Not really anything here Leo." Raph replied him as he looked around and saw nothing but swamp and trees.

"Then we need to improvise." Donnie said. The purple banded turtle scanned the trees for a moment before he settled on one that seemed to fit his needs. He quickly scurried up it and vanished in the leaves and vines above them. after about fifteen minutes or so he popped his head out of the canopy. "Bring them up." He softly called down.

"Hold onto me." Leo told Amy before he began his own trek up the tree, Mikey with Dennis right behind him and Raph bringing up the rear. Once they reached the top, Leo was pleasantly surprised to find a sturdy basket that Donnie had woven out of the tree branches, the hard wood was covered in piles of leaves and vines.

"It's not the Hilton, but it will get us through the night." Donnie told them as he took a very tired Amy's hand and guided her into the nest he made before guiding Dennis in next. He helped them get settled down, and soon both were fast asleep despite their pain. He then began to look them over a bit more thoroughly, but being very careful not to wake them back up.

Leo looked out over the horizon, seeing nothing but more trees and swamp in the dim, starlight night. They still had a long way to go. He let his gaze wander to the thunderstorm that seemed to be brewing in the distance, the flashes it let out illuminating the landscape below it as the dull rumbles traveled across the sky. "Donnie?"

"Yes?"

"Will that cause us any problems tonight?" His worried gaze still locked onto that storm.

"I don't really see why it should." He replied as he looked it over. "It's blowing in the wrong direction. It'll go south of us. We should be ok up here for tonight."

Leo just nodded as he still tiredly looked out. "I'm impressed Donnie. Didn't think you would be able to come up with something like this."

His younger brother's quiet chuckles met his ears. "Let just say that after the unintentional side trip we took to Usagi's world had me seriously studying ways to make life easier if we ran across the same situation again."

"And I thank you now for having done that." Leo told him gratefully.

"Get some sleep Leo." Mikey told him as he settled down next to his older brother. "I'll take first watch."

Leo just nodded in reply. He knew his brother would indeed do just that, and do it very well. When it came to his family, he could indeed be counted on to play a part besides the endless annoying prankster. He laid a hand on his brother's shoulder in thanks before he settled down, knowing that the next day would bring more challenges.