The sun had slipped into a thick bank of clouds by the time Donatello arrived at the Second Time Around store, and a thin grey rain was falling over the entire street. He peered from under the wide-brimmed hat he had donned for the occasion, pulled the collar of his coat higher, and made his way to April's apartment door.

He could hear her voice even before he raised his hand to knock — she was speaking to someone inside. Don slowed down, pressing the side of his face to the door and listening intently.

"… not a safe thing to do right now."

"All I'm sayin' is that we're gonna bust some heads when we find out who poisoned our friend."

Don relaxed. Casey Jones. He didn't have to worry about being seen by anyone in the apartment, then. He knocked twice, and the door opened a few seconds later.

April looked disheveled, a few strands of her red hair hanging in front of her eyes. She looked as though she hadn't slept. "Don!" she exclaimed, ushering him in. "What happened? Is—has something happened to Leo?"

"He's fine now," Don said, removing his hat. "He's resting back at the lair, and he seems to have flushed all the poison out of his system."

"You mean he ain't dying?" Casey said, sounding incredulous.

"No, Casey, he's not dying. Most poisons are only lethal in certain quantities, and Leo got a lower dose. He's going to be fine once he's rested up and healed from his injuries."

"Well, that's a relief," April said, tucking one of the stray strands behind her ear. "We were really starting to worry about him. And how are you? The last time I saw you, you were so tired you could barely stand up."

"A little sleep took care of that," Don said, smiling. "Actually I came by to ask for your help on something… a little strange."

"My life is full of strange things," April said philosophically. "What is it this time?"

He handed her the sheet of paper that Leo had sketched on, and folded his arms as she looked at it. "Master Splinter tried a technique on Leo to make him remember what happened to him during those two days."

"Did it work?" Casey asked eagerly.

"Not exactly. He remembered a few things, but nothing too useful. But he did remember this symbol." Don tapped the paper with a finger, making it tremble in April's hand. "We just have no idea what it could be — there are a lot of possibilities, but most of them are pretty remote."

"Looks like a flying saucer or somethin'," Casey said, peering over April's shoulder. "Think Leo was abducted by aliens?"

"I'm pretty sure the answer is no," Don said dryly.

But then he caught a glimpse of April's face. She had been silent throughout their conversation, and now he could see her eyes intently fixed on the image. Her face bore a puzzled expression, as though she were trying to figure out a complicated problem.

"I think I've seen this before," she said at last.

"You have?" Don said, startled.

"Or at least something very similar," April said, folding the paper and handing it back. "Come with me."

She swiftly moved into her bedroom, and hauled a large cardboard box out of her closet. Don frowned as she set it on her bed, and began rooting through the contents — which seemed to be mostly jumbled, disorganized papers.

"Fortunately I had this stuff in storage when the Shredder burned down my store," she said breathlessly, pulling handfuls of paper out and scattering them across her bedspread. "Otherwise it would have burned with everything else. I should have it in here with my other old files from before I worked with Baxter Stockman…"

"That far back?" Don asked.

"It isn't that far back, Don. I didn't work for Stockman for that long before he tried to kill me," April said, sounding a little offended. She upended the box on her bed, and began pushing heaps of papers and old receipts around, searching for something in their depths. "I really need to spend a weekend organizing all this stuff," she muttered.

Finally her hand closed around a large plastic envelope, which she brandished like a flag. "Found it," she exulted.

"What is 'it,' exactly?" Don asked hesitantly.

"Old job-hunting papers from after college." She opened the envelope and slid out a few sheets of paper, before handing one to Don.

Don's eyes widened. The letter itself was not of interest to him — only the symbol in the letterhead. It showed a simple reproduction of the globe, pale to the point of being almost white, which was surrounded by two metallic rings, one gold and one silver. Except for the coloration, it was almost exactly like Leo's drawing.

"Who sent you this?" he breathed.

"The Spartan Conglomerate."

"Who?"

"They're a collection of corporations that are headquartered here in New York. I'm not surprised you don't know about them — they have very limited contact with the public, focusing mostly on contracts with other corporations and the government. Basically, you probably only know about them if you have some particular reason to hire them."

"Why did they contact you?"

"They wanted me to work for their computer science division when I got out of college. I turned them down."

"Why?"

"Honestly, I'd heard some unsavory things about Spartan — mostly about one of their divisions being into weapons development. I didn't want to be involved with anything like that, so…" She shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I decided to take a job with Baxter Stockman instead, because I thought it would be the better choice. I have pretty lousy judgement, don't I?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Don said, frowning down at the letter. "If they had something to do with Leo's disappearance, it may have been just a choice between two bad options."

"So now that we know who poisoned Leo," Casey spoke up, "does that mean we can start poundin' 'em?"

"Not just yet, Casey," Don said, folding the letter and slipping it into the pocket of his coat. "First we need to see if this is actually what Leo saw, and we have to wait for him to wake up for that to happen. I'm not going to disturb him. Plus, Mikey and Raph are out in the Battleshell, looking for clues. We have to wait until they come back before we can start planning anything."

"There's one other thing," April said, wrapping her arms around herself, as if she were cold. "If these Spartan people were the ones who kidnapped Leo, then they must have people working for them that could capture a ninja as skilled as he is."

Don nodded. "That too," he said quietly. That was the part that bothered him the most.