A/N: So finished another chapter! Not too much happens in this one. It's just setting up for the next chapter. Be ready! Things will be getting crazier here on out!

A Hack Job

Kimberly clenched the thumb drive in her pocket like it was her one and only lifeline. The time was now. It had to be. The door to her boss's office lied just before her. She knew Doctor Cartwright was in a meeting with her benefactors, which could take hours. Now it was only a matter of crossing that threshold.

She clenched her free fist to ease the nervous tension. Her firmed chin pointed up as she forced her feet forward. She would prove her worth. She had to. Her friend was counting on her. She peeked her head inside the room, staring at the unadorned walls and a desk too neat to belong to anyone. The empty air brought a loneliness that hit Kimberly like a brick wall. There was just no personality to the small office before her; nothing to point to its owner. It felt…barren.

With a firm nod of her head, she stepped inside. She walked with purpose towards the lone computer, determined to complete her mission. A quick final check of the room later, she deemed it safe. She pulled out the thumb drive and quickly searched out a free USB port to plug it into.

"What are you doing?"

Kimberly jumped at the small voice and whirled around, stowing the drive back in her pocket. Standing behind her was Cleopatra Donavon. The twelve year old looked up at her with curious hazel eyes, her hands clapped behind her pink princess dress. Her straight blonde hair bounced where it was pinned back by a pink bow as she rocked on the balls of her feet.

"You're not supposed to be here." Cleopatra sing-songed as she tipped her head to the side.

"You're not either," Kimberly rushed out.

Cleopatra giggled. "Daddy doesn't mind." She shot her arms out beside her. "He let's me go anywhere I want!"

"Why don't you run along and play, then?"

"You're Splinter's friend, right?" Cleopatra nearly tiptoed around the desk in childish excitement. "So am I!" She grinned. "Daddy says I can have any pet I want!"

"He's not a pet." Kimberly said immediately, her expression darkening briefly.

She frowned with a finger pressed against her chin. "But he's my friend."

"Friend is okay, but it doesn't mean the same thing as a pet." Kimberly's shoulders relaxed at the sad look on the child's face. "He deserves more respect than that."

"Oh, okay." Cleopatra grinned before leaning to her right. "What do you have in your pocket?"

"Nothing!" Kimberly tensed again, taking a step back.

"Lemme see!" Cleopatra bounced up, her small fingers grasping at Kimberly's scrubs.

The redhead barely had time to grab one of the child's wrists; too late to stop the other hand from stealing away in her pocket. Cleopatra triumphantly held up her prize, snickering.

"Give that back!" Kimberly tried snatching the thumb drive back, but the little girl kept it just out of her reach.

"Ooh, daddy has a lot of these! He doesn't let me play with them though." Cleopatra pouted. "He says they're too important for his work."

"Cleo, please." Kimberly rung her hands, her eyes wide with her growing nerves. "It's to help Splinter. You want to help our friend, right? If we don't hurry..."

"Daddy told mean lady to kill him." She looked up at Kimberly. "But daddy wouldn't! Daddy knows he's my friend. He would never hurt my friends. Only mean Theo would do that. He's always taking away my friends. I hate him."

"This will make sure splinter will be alright." Kimberly finally caught both of the child's hands. "Okay? We can save him together."

Cleopatra's eyes went wide. "It can do all that?"

"Yeah, it can." Kimberly released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She turned towards the computer with a sigh. I hope it works. There's not much else I can do...

"You'll be my friend too after we save him?" Her big hazel eyes implored her.

"Of course." Kimberly smiled down at her before turning away again to plug the drive into its proper place. Cleopatra's little arms suddenly grabbed her legs.

"Thank you! I've never had a human friend before!"

Donatello appeared calm. He knew he did. Every fiber of his being demanded it of him. He could call up that calm demeanor whenever he needed it. All he had to do was concentrate on the computer monitor before him and block all other distractions.

"So are you ever gonna tell me?"

Donatello's fists clenched against his desk, the calm facade forgotten. "Mikey," he grounded out through his teeth.

"I wish I coulda met her." The wheels of the chair his brother occupied squealed against the floor as he moved, accompanied with the loud purring of its passenger. "She sounded fun online. I never imagined she would know sensei."

"I'm trying to concentrate."

"Then tell me what she was like." Michelangelo rolled into view with a grin.

Donatello looked fully at his brother only to realize his mistake immediately. It was those eyes again. Even in their twenties, Donatello struggled to resist that look on his little brother's face. The one that demanded his attention or suffer the unbearable torment of Michelangelo's near limitless energy. He sighed, "She wasn't anything special." He turned back to his computer. "Just scared."

"Oh," Michelangelo frowned. "But she's still a good person, right? I mean, she is going to help us?"

"We'll see." Truthfully, he didn't know what Kimberly Davis would do. She looked absolutely terrified, yet she never screamed. In fact, he had seen the determination clearly behind her frightened gaze. Still, he wouldn't know for sure until she made her move.

"Donny, what's that on the screen?"

Donatello looked up to his answer. Kimberly was in it for the long haul, as evidenced by the pop ups flashing on his screen. His hack was doing its job, starting with Doctor Cartwright's personal files. "She did it." He heard the surprise in his own voice and corrected it before continuing. "We're in."

"I knew we could trust her!" Michelangelo punched the air above him in his excitement, earning a disgruntled mew from the sleeping cat on his lap. Klunk flicked his ear as he gave his master an annoyed look.

"She's definitely made this easier for us, but that doesn't mean we can trust her completely just yet. You may have spoken with her for over a month, but she's still a stranger to us."

"You sound like Leo. I bet he'd say the same thing."

Donatello gave his brother a look for his forlorn tone. "Good, 'cause you should know better. You're too trusting sometimes. That girl could be stringing us along. She knows too much as it is."

"But what if she's not? She's my friend, Donny. She'll get us in. You should see her play SuperQuest. She really knows her way around a battlefield, specializing in stealth with this upgraded magic bow and arrow set that I didn't even know existed in game until I met her. Our enemies don't even see her shot coming. It's just WHAM and they're down!" The more he talked, the more animated his movements became. Finally, Klunk had enough and hopped off Michelangelo's lap with a flick of his tail.

"That's a game, though. I don't think she's like that in real life. She's not a fighter." He tried concentrating on the stream of information pouring in from the interwebs. "Now stop distracting me. I have to get through all this information before we can bring Leo up to speed. With April's help, it shouldn't take too long."

"Why not now? He's bound to have Raph with him at this point."

"Leo said to wait and, honestly, I don't blame him. We've had too many false alarms already. Now go back to bed and rest."

"But I'm so done with resting! It's boring!" Michelangelo pouted. "It's not like I'm walking or anything. This office chair makes a prefect wheelchair as long as I use my good leg to move it. Which I have been. I'm totally obeying the rules."

"You're still bugging me. I can revoke your privileges at any time. Just try me." He glared over at his incorrigible little brother.

"That's not cool, bro."

Before another word was spoken, Donatello's shell cell buzzed against the desk. He answered with a quick glance at the caller ID. "Hey, Kimberly."

"I did it." Her breathless voice shook in his ear.

"Yes. Yes, you did." He smiled. "I admit I'm a bit surprised."

"Hey, hey!" Michelangelo squawked behind him. "You can't talk to my friend in my presence without at least putting it on speakerphone!"

"Well, I said I was going to help this time. I want to help." Kimberly paused in her speech. "Is that...M-Mikey's voice?" She stumbled over the name with hope in her small voice.

Donatello sighed and laid the phone down on his desk. He pressed the speakerphone button with a look at his brother. "Yes, it is. You're on speakerphone now."

Michelangelo grinned as he moved closer to the phone. "Heh, don't worry about Donny, Kimi. He's just bitter that I knew you longer than him."

That's not it at all! Donatello turned his gaze skyward in exasperation.

"Oh, well, sorry. If I'd known before..." She paused, briefly. "But I totally understand. Splinter didn't say much about himself or anyone else and I don't blame him at all. It had to be hard for you guys. I can't even imagine it."

"We live with it; some better than others." Donatello gave his brother a look. "We understand the consequences if we don't keep our secret. If the whole world were to find out...?"

"There'd be more Bishops." Michelangelo made a disgruntled face. "That dude prides himself on dissecting us for the 'greater good'. He could be doing that to Raph right now. That's where our brothers are."

"We don't need to tell her everything." Donatello admonished.

"That's horrible! I hope they're okay." Kimberly sounded truly disgusted at the thought. "It's just not right. Why do people enjoy hurting others?"

"That's just how the world is." Donatello shrugged off her concern, still not fully trusting. "Did you find out where they're holding Splinter?"

"No, I'm sorry. Not even Doctor Cartwright knows. The last she saw him was when she handed him over to her benefactor. His name's Laurence Donavon. The guy basically runs this place from out of state. I haven't met him, but as his daughter has had the run of the place for the past few months, he has to be around somewhere. I don't know why he's taken such a sudden interest…"

"I could hazard a guess…"

A childish voice spoke up on Kimberly's end, but the words were muffled by the distance.

"Do you have a kid with you?" Michelangelo asked.

"Huh? Well, yeah…" Kimberly cleared her throat. "It's kinda that Donavon guy's daughter I told you about. She's been hanging around since she caught me with the drive. But don't worry! Apparently she's friends with Splinter too. She kept him company while I was at LARP."

Donatello frowned at the phone.

"It's just a kid." Michelangelo placed his hand on his brother's shoulder in a failed attempt to reassure him. "How could she be of any harm?"

"Donavon's kid." He glanced back at his brother. "With Master Splinter in her father's custody, that makes this a problem."

"Well…she might be helpful. She keeps blabbering about knowing where Splinter might be. Is there anything else you need me to do? Because I'm going to follow her and call or text with any new information."

"No, there's nothing right now." Donatello sighed. "Just keep in touch."

"Be careful, Kimi!" Michelangelo added. "You still have to take me to my first LARP like you promised!"

Kimberly laughed, unable to see the narrowed look Donatello gave his little brother. "Of course! We can take your brothers too!"

"Totally!" Michelangelo joined in her laughter.

"Mikey, we're having a talk later." Donatello returned his attention to the phone as he continued. "Contact me as soon as you see him. We need to be precise if we want to avoid any complications."

"I will, promise." With that, the call was ended. The brothers turned to each other in the new silence.

"…What?" Michelangelo asked, but Donatello only shook his head. He could never understand how his brother could be so trusting after everything they've been through.

A/N: First true look at Cleo! She loves dressing like a princess. XD. Now you all know the drill! Feed that review box for more!