Chapter 19

It couldn't be. No, it wasn't possible. Did I even hear Donnie right? I'm sure of it. I did hear him correctly. But...no...

"T-that's not possible. Only you and I knew about Midgar." I surmised.

"That's what I thought too." Donnie confirmed, "But in the dojo. Splinter explained everything to me. The real reason why Leo left."

Getting deeply intrigued, I got up on Donnie's desk and prepared myself to listen. My question was finally about to be answered. But before talking, Donnie took a deep breath in, implying that it was going to be a long story.

"Remember all those weeks when Leo seemed off, seemed bad tempered?"

"Yeah. Was that Midgar's doing?" I asked. That would make sense if it was, being the leader, Leo has learned to control his temper really well.

"No, that was all Leo, he was just so upset about Karai. He...he really loved her." Donnie explained, "Love has a tendency to drive people mad. Which is what happened to Leo. Knowing the fact that he could never be with Karai, pushed him to his limits. I couldn't imagine what it's like not having you. So, that's when Leo and Splinter started talking."

"Yeah I remember that. They would talk in the dojo for hours on end." I added in before Donnie continued.

"That's when things started getting weird. Leo would talk about his shadowed figure. Someone who would talk with him, listen to him, but drive him crazy. He described it as his inner voice."

"Midgar..." I whispered to myself. Remembering when I called Midgar my 'inner voice.' Little did I know that it's actually a demon like creature trying to get to Donnie. Death...it's complicated.

"Splinter also noticed a difference between my behaviour as well. So he asked me if I knew anything about it." Donnie stated. Raising the question...

"What did you tell him?"

"I told Splinter that I didn't know." Donnie confessed. If there was one thing you never do, it's lie to Splinter.

"So, when did Midgar 'control' Leo?" I pondered this question. Trying to think back at any super unusual non Leo factors.

"I'm not sure when it started, but remember when Leo and I were sparring?" Donnie recalled, "After I flipped him to the ground, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes. And when he kicked the back of my leg, I definitely knew something was up. So I think Midgar was possessing Leo then."

"Oh gosh. How did we not realize this before?" I questioned, rubbing my hands over my eyes. How could we have been so blind?

"I know! And you'll never believe this." Donnie continued. Just when I thought the bad news was done, there was about to be more, "Leo was the one who asked to be sent away."

"What?!" I completely flipped out. Why would Leo do that? I can't even begin to imagine what was going to Leo's head.

"Yeah. Leo thought he was going crazy, and needed to clear his head."

"So...Splinter lied to us?" I concluded. The more I thought about it, the weirder it got.

"Well not exactly. He did say that Leo's thoughts weren't in the right place. So it's technically not lying." Donnie acknowledged. He had a point. Splinter technically didn't lie, he just didn't tell the whole truth. Mostly likely because Leo convinced him not to.

"But...why? Why would Midgar haunt Leo?" I was still caught up in this shocking news, not able to let it go.

"Same reason he...uh, she, started haunting you. To get to me." Donnie explained then rolled himself in his chair over to his book shelf in the corner. He rolled back over to me a moment or two later with a mystical creature book in his hands.

Donnie flipped through the pages rather quickly, almost like he memorized the entire thing.

"What are you doing." I asked, leaning over so I could see the book better.

"Ha." Donnie spoke and stopped when he came to the page about demons, "It says here that a demon is not actually permitted to kill a person nor living thing in the human world. It'd be breaking their 'code.' But, possessing another body from the human world, can go against this rule."

"So, by possessing Leo, Midgar was able to harm you." I confirmed, but all of this was still was not making sense.

"Yes, but Midgar harmed you no problem. By touching your shoulder, remember?" Donnie pointed out, all this new information obviously confused him too.

"Yeah, I remember. M-maybe Midgar can't harm you because..." I had trouble finishing my sentence.

"Because I'm the one who she haunts originally?" Donnie guessed, and it made sense.

"Yeah. And that's why she's trying to either get someone to kill you, or you kill yourself. Or...at least was." I observed. We didn't have to fret about Midgar now, and I'm thankful for that, "But, is she still haunting Leo?"

" I don't know." Donnie sighed heavily, annoyed with himself, "If Midgar was still in my life, I might be able to get it out of her."

"Donnie, don't blame yourself." I comforted him, sensing that he thought it was his fault.

" How can I not? Midgar was in our life because of me."

"No." I corrected him, "Midgar was in our lives because of Shredder. You did nothing wrong. The only reason why Midgar possessed Leo in the first place was to get to you. But no that Leo is gone, there's no reason. Right?"

Donnie looked at me with a side smile, " Yeah. You're right, thanks Taylor."

"Hey, what are girlfriends for?" I shrugged happily as I sat down on Donnie's lap and kissed his cheek.

After a moment of silence, Donnie and I decided to start working on the inventions. He said that I could help him and that I was handy to have in the lab. We needed to rebuild a lot of stuff. Donnie is still working on the stealth bike, but he also wants to rebuild the Shellraser and Metalhead. Plus Donnie also wants to upgrade the wings he built. On top of all of that, Donnie needs to make lots of his healing cream.

"So if we start with the cream, it should be ready in two days. Once we finish that, we can continue working on the stealth bike." Donnie noted as he began searching through his shoulder bag for all the ingredients we got from the junkyard.

I, on the other hand, was searching through Donnie's big cabinet for all the empty containers he has. So we have things to put the healing gel in. I also got out a few beakers, stirring sticks, and paper towel to clean up any mess.

"Ready?" I asked as I set the stuff I had on Donnie's lab table. Donnie has a corner desk in his lab, half of it is where he usually does all his research and collect data. But the other half, is where he does all of his experiments.

"Yup. I got all the ingredients." Donnie informed and laid the ingredients neatly on the table.

First, we set up a few pieces of paper towel in case we spill anything. Next, Donnie opened each jar that held an ingredient in them, he set them in order of which we'll use them. Next he took a beaker and a stirring stick and set them in front of him. I pulled up a chair and sat next to Donnie. I would have sat on the desk, but that's dangerous when doing the experiment since some of these substances can burn flesh.

"Okay, hand me the Polymyxin B please." Donnie asked politely as he stuck out his hand. I got the jar labelled Polymyxin B and gave it to the purple clad turtle beside me. Donnie took a teaspoon and dunk it in the jar. Being careful not to spill the delicate liquid, Donnie carefully poured it into the glass beaker, "Okay now hand me the sulfate."

"Here you go." I picked up the jar with the white-ish powder in it. Donnie then picked up a spoon labelled 'a pinch' and put it in the sulfate. He tapped the spoon against the side of the jar before putting the continent in the beaker. He quickly picked up the glass stirring stick and swished it in the beaker before the sulfate could set.

For the next two hours, this is what Donnie and I did. Once we finished putting all the ingredients in one beaker and pouring it out into a jar, we would start with a second and a third one. Donnie would name the ingredients he needed and I would hand him them. But he even let me make a small jar of healing cream all by myself. And in the end, we made about five jars of healing gel.

Donnie and I were about to get started on another project, that was until we heard the lab doors slide open. We turned around to see who it was and found Raph standing in the door way peaking half his body inside the lab.

"Yo Donnie, Taylor! Bed time!" Raph called from across the room.

"Aww." Donnie and I complained simultaneously. Neither one of us wanted to leave the lab. Now I understand why Donnie spends so much time in here, and in the junkyard. It's really fun, and you loose track of time really easily.

"Can we finish what we're working on?" I asked, lying. Donnie and I were going to start a new project, but if I told Raph that, he would never let us stay.

"No. Bed, now." Raph grumbled sternly. It's usually Leo who comes to get Donnie out of his lab, but it never really works. Donnie usually asked for a few more minutes and Leo grants him some, then hours later Leo comes back and finds Donnie asleep in his lab. That's when Leo picks up Donnie and carries him to his room. But Raph was not budging.

"C'mon Raph. I just need a little more time." Donnie begged, his brown eyes growing round.

"No, it's almost 11' O'clock. You need to go to bed." Raph repeated more crossly this time. But I could still see softness in his bright green eyes. While always acting mean and tough, Raph always leaves a soft spot for his brothers.

"Fine." Donnie huffed, "I'll be out soon."

Raph nodded his head in satisfaction and left the lab. Closing the doors behind him.

"You're not gonna be out soon, are you?" I wondered, cocking an eyebrow at Donnie.

"Hehe, nope." Donnie chuckled mischievously, "But, you're gonna go to bed."

"What? Why? How come you get to stay up?" I argued. I wanted to keep working here, not go to sleep.

"Because all I'm going to do is clean up. Now bed." This time Donnie was being the stern one. Feeling like a little kid, I sighed and marched out of the lab. I seen Raph cleaning up the living room, but other then that, no one was awake.

Not saying a word, I walked to my room and got into bed. It took a little while, but I finally dozed off to sleep.

I blinked open my eyes. I was surprised that no harsh daylight blinded them, instead, they were met with darkness. I rolled over in my bed and glanced at my clock. Turns out it's three in the morning.

"Ugghhh." I growled and tried to go back to sleep. But what felt like hours of tossing and turning, but only being minutes, I decided to get up and get a glass of water.

I walked out of my room groggily. Each step I took felt like my feet were getting heavier and heavier. When I managed to get to the living room, I felt wide awake when I seen Raph sitting on the couch. I immediately forgot about the glass of water and walked over to him.

"Raph? What are you doing up?" I asked with a whisper.

"He's not gonna come out of there is he?" Raph almost laughed at his response. I knew exactly what he meant. Raph stayed up all night, waiting for Donnie to come out of his lab. Raph stayed awake to make sure that Donnie was going to go to bed.

"Most likely not." I told him with a slight smile. Knowing Donnie, he be in there all night long.

"C'mon, let's go get him." Raph sighed, but I could detect slight happiness in his voice.

I followed Raph to Donnie's lab and into it as he opened the doors. Inside, I seen Donnie asleep on the floor. His head was rested on the seat of the stealth bike and he held a wrench in his hand.

"Donnie." Raph called to his younger brother as he made his way over to him and knelt down.

Donnie shakily lifted up his head, his eyes were only half open and he was still half asleep.

"Huh?" Donnie managed to mumble.

"C'mon, bed time." Raph spoke harshly but his eyes were caring, "You were suppose to be in bed hours ago."

"But... I finished...stealth...bike." Donnie murmured, unable to form whole sentences.

"You could of finished the stealth bike tomorrow. So no lab, okay?" Raph told Donnie and picked him up in his arms. This moment reminded me a lot of Donnie and Leo. I thought it was sweet how Raph was trying to fill in for their oldest brother.

"hmm, okay." Donnie responded sleepily, not realizing that Raph just told him that he wasn't aloud in the lab tomorrow. Instead, Donnie just let Raph hold him, sleeping in the comfort of a big brother's grasp.

I smiled and opened the lab door for Raph. As he passed by me, Raph whispered a thanks and I closed the door behind us. He carried Donnie to his room and as we passed by my room, I hushed a goodnight to Donnie and Raph before walking in and going back to sleep.

It was Saturday morning, and our day off from the constant training. Everyone was up except for Donnie, even Lily, John and Garret were here. Mikey shifted around constantly on the couch with his tongue out as he swished his controller around. He, Garret, John and Lily were all playing a video game. And so far Lily was winning, even with her hair hanging over one of her eyes.

Raph sat next to Lily as always, with Roger on his lap. He was feeding his pet turtle a cabbage leaf for breakfast. Karai was on the other side of Raph, she was staring at the video game intensely, to involved in watching the action going on to care about anything around her.

I sat beside John, who was next to Garret, who sat in between John and Lily. His shaggy red hair shook back and forth as he continuously tried to flip it out of his face. I laughed a little at his failed attempts. Garret, over the past weeks, almost a month that we've known him, became close friends with each one of us. But mostly Mikey, he and the orange masked turtle had a lot in common.

I was quietly reading one of my books, only glancing up a few times to see what was going on. I would often get distracted by the constant sound of the clicking buttons of the controllers or the gun sounds coming from the television where the video game was displayed.

"Well look who's up." Raph noted sarcastically as Donnie walked into and rubbed the sleep from his reddish-brown eyes.

"What time is it?" Donnie spoke through his yawn and stretched his arms high in the air.

"9:32." I responded with a quick glance at my Harley-Davidson themed watch.

"Whoa." Donnie gasped as his eyes went wide. Donnie never, ever sleeps in. No matter how late he stays up, the genius turtle is usually the first one up.

"Yeah, guess you should'a listened to me when I told you to go to bed." Raph huffed, but with a hint of amusement.

"Oh yeah! My lab!" Donnie exclaimed as he ran towards his sanctuary.

"Donnie, wait!" Raph shouted and Donnie stopped dead in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder in curiosity, wondering what his big brother could possibly want, "No lab. Remember?"

"What are you talking about?" Donnie, now fully facing Raph from a distances away, stared at him in disbelief.

"You over stayed your lab time, that means no lab for the next day. That's the rules." Raph reminded his second youngest brother of Sensei's rules.

"Yeah but-" Donnie began but got interrupted my Splinter who just emerged from the dojo and into the living area.

"Donatello, I believe Raphael is correct. Those are the rules."

"But Sensei, I need to work on my inventions. So they'll be ready for battle." Donnie whined, though he did have a point.

"Your inventions can wait for one day." Splinter's tone grew a bit more stern, warning Donnie not to argue.

"Fine." Donnie sighed, "But can I at least go back to the old lair and get Metalhead? I want to recreate him."

"You may." Splinter nodded as he gave his approval.

"Thanks Sensei!" Donnie cheered then faced me, "Wanna come?"

"Sure." I shrugged and set my book aside. I had nothing better to do this morning. Plus, I always love spending quality time with Donnie, "Bye guys." I waved goodbye as I followed Donnie out of the lair.

"So, when did Raph tell me no lab?" Donnie asked curiously, starting the conversation immediately.

"When you stayed up till 3:00am." I told flatly yet with a joking tone to my voice. Donnie always has a tendency to stay up late working on his latest inventions.

Donnie chuckled nervously in response, "Hehe, whoops."

"Whoops is right." I agreed and nudged Donnie affectionately.

After a good 20 minute walk, Donnie and I finally reached the old lair. It was just as we left it all those years ago. Smashed bricks and glass were still scattered over the floor. The couch was torn and TV broken. It was really damp in here so there was mold growing along the walls and a few sewer rats scurried across the floor.

"Never thought I'd see the lair like this." Donnie huffed as he stared at the sight before him. There was still that big whole in the wall where Shredder and the krang had burst through. But my eyes kept resting on the couch. I still remember the exact spot where Donnie and myself were sitting. I remember my head throbbing yet, I couldn't help but think how cute Donnie was when he slept. And that was when I just barely met the turtles. Donnie had stayed up all night with me because I got a concussion.

I remember my eyes slowly drifting off to sleep, even though I wasn't suppose to sleep. Then, I remember that loud bang that made my ears ring. I remember the bricks flying through the air and scattering debris. But most of all, I remember Donnie and I standing up with a jolt and Donnie flung his arm over me, protecting me. Even back then Donnie was my protector.

I got snapped out of my thoughts when I seen Donnie start to walk towards his old lab. I quickly followed right behind him. In the old lair, Donnie had a different lab. The room was smaller and to the right of the lair and down a small hallway. Actually, Donnie's old lab, is my new room.

There was no need to open the door, since there was none. It got blown right off. So it was easy access as we walked in. The room was dark, all the lights were smashed and broken glass was everywhere. In the back corner, there was a pile of broken BO-staffs laid up against the wall. I once used one of those broken staffs to fight off a krang.

I walked towards the back of the room, near the BO-staffs. I rang my fingers against the splintering wood, savouring the memory. But something had caught my eye. Just a few feet away, on the floor was a very faint stain. I crouched down and seen that the faint stain was blood. That's when I recalled that I got injured fighting that krang bot. I got a piece of glass stuck in my leg as I fell to the floor. This must of been where I fell.

"Hey Taylor?" Donnie called out to me and I jumped up from the ground like a meerkat.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna give me a hand with this?" Donnie wondered and pointed to a dented robot by his lab desk. That dented robot was Donnie's old invention Metalhead.

"Sure." I nodded and rushed towards him. On the count of three, both Donnie and I began to lift up metalhead. He was heavier then I expected him to be. For about a four foot high piece of metal, he sure weighed a lot.

We got as far as the living room before we had to put metalhead down. Within a few steps, Donnie and I were already tired out.

"T-this, isn't...working." Donnie panted, his back arched with his hands on his knees.

"I've...noticed..." I breathed back, exhaling as I spoke. Making my voice soft and winded. Donnie and I began looking around the lair for something to help us. That's when I seen something out of the corner of my eye. I glanced back at Donnie and he noticed it too. We gave each other a smile, knowing that we were thinking the exact same thing.

"Shopping cart?" Donnie questioned, just to make sure our ideas were similar.

"Yup." I nodded in satisfaction and went to get the cart. Don't ask me how, but sometimes broken down old shopping carts end up in the sewers. And inside the lair.

I brought it over to Donnie within a few seconds and we picked up metalhead with a mighty heave. We set the little damaged robot inside the cart and started heading back towards the lair, our new lair. Donnie and I were racing down the tunnels; I sat inside the cart, holding metalhead up. Donnie was pushing the cart, one foot was placed on the bar that connected to the wheels, and the other was pushing off the ground. We were zooming around corners, going as fast as we could possibly go with a robot and a girl in the cart.

I glanced back at Donnie, his gaze was fixed on the road ahead. Donnie wore a big goofy smile upon his face that showed is missing tooth. I could see adrenaline and amusement glowing in his chestnut eyes. His mouth was parted in laughter. I giggled at Donnie's laugh, he had the cutest laugh I've ever heard. I started to laugh with Donnie and turned my head back around to focus on the path in front of me. I had one arm on metalhead and the other griped to the front of the cart. The wind whipped through my hair, and the cool breeze felt nice. And I laughed with Donnie and rode in the cart all the way back to the lair.

"So what's next on our list?" I asked Donnie as I finished washing the last dish. It was just after lunch and it was mine and Donnie's turn to do the dishes, and Raph and Lily's turn to tidy up the kitchen. Which they were doing so right now.

"I want to go to the old subway station." Donnie told me as he passed the towel over the wet plate that I handed him.

Like where Leather head use to live?" Raph piped up from behind us. He had the dust pan in his hand and waited for us to move away from the sink, so he could dump the dirt in the garbage, which were situated underneath the sink.

"Yeah. There was a bunch of old subway carts there." Donnie spoke and put the last plate away before wiping his hands off on the towel. I was wiping down the dinner table with the dish cloth.

"Oh, to rebuild the Shellracer thingy right?" Lily wondering. She was drying off the table as I washed it. And her broken nose was no longer swollen, just a little red. But it still had a stripe of bandage on it.

"Shellraser. And yes." Donnie corrected.

"Cool! Can we come?" Lily asked and wrapped her arms around Raph's neck, who had made his way over to his girlfriend.

"Sure." Donnie shrugged, "Why not?"

"Yeah! I'll be fun." I declared. I was happy that Raph and Lily would tag along, I find since now that they're together, I don't spend as much time with Lily as I use too. Or Raph. But now I can spend time with them together.

"Uh..." Raph groaned. I could tell all he wanted to do was relax, Saturday is his only day off after all.

"C'mon, pwease Raphie?" Lily begged and did her 'puppy' eyes. Lily was now the only one who was allowed to call Raph, Raphie.

"...fine." Raph agreed and gave in. He could never resist Lily's big blue puppy eyes.

Lily smiled ear to ear at the red masked turtle and cheered, "Yay! This works out perfectly, since John and Garret went off training with Splinter."

"Why aren't you training?" Donnie wondered, leaning up against the counter.

"Cause Splinter wanted to work on John and Garret's back flips, he said mine were already perfect." Lily explained with pride practically dripping from her mouth.

"Really?" Raph cocked an eyebrow, "Show me."

"Okay! Stand back." Lily backed away a few steps so she had room to flip. With a quick jump and sweep over her legs, Lily flipped backwards in the air and landed perfectly on her feet.

"Nice!" Raph congratulated her with a hug. Lily thanked him bashfully and hugged back.

Once we were all done with cleaning the kitchen, we decided to head out right away. Before we left, we asked Mikey and Karai if they wanted to join us, but they denied the offer since they were in the middle of a board game. So it was going to be just Donnie, Lily, Raph and myself on the subway car mission.

"So, anyone remember how to get there?" Raph asked flatly, his face was unamused.

"Uh... I think it's to the right..." Donnie hesitated before pointing to the right of the lair entrance.

"You...think?" Raph questioned bitterly.

"Yeah...if I remember correctly, the tunnel numbers increase to the right of the sewers and gradually decreases to the left." Donnie thought aloud and rubbed his chin in deep concentration.

"How 'bout we just pick a direction and hope for the best?" Lily suggested happily. Nothing could really get the blonde haired girl down in the dumps, she just goes with the flow and sees what happens. In a way, Lily is more like Mikey then Raph.

"Sounds good, now let's go." Raph replied impatiently and walked out of the lair and to the left. He only got about a few steps before Donnie piped up.

"Uh, Raph. It's to the right."

Raph stared narrowed eyed at his younger brother, "Right." He spat and walked back towards us. With those final words, we final started heading out.

We walked for a good hour before coming to tunnel number 180. Along the way, Donnie and Raph explained to me and Lily who Leatherhead is and how he sacrificed himself to go to dimensionX to save the turtles. Before that happened, Leatherhead was closest to Mikey and had a secret hideout in tunnel number 180, an abandoned subway station to be exact. That's where we were gonna get the body for the new Shellraser.

"Awesome! This is so cool!" Lily exclaimed and her voice echoed through the empty sewers. The station in front of us was dark. It had no light what's so ever, and barely any traces that it use to be a subway station other then the fact that it was a bunch of subway cars. There was, however, small candles around the tracks, all of them were worn down and burnt out. Clearly well used.

"Wow." Donnie breathed in awe, "The things I could make with these."

"Just pick one and let's get out of here." Raph complained and shivered as a cockroach rang past his feet, "This place gives me the creeps."

"S-sure." Donnie's voice lacked interest in what Raph was saying, he was too caught up in the scene around him, "But which one do we pick?"

"What's the difference?" Raph wondered, though he didn't really care.

From around a corner of a car, Donnie peeked around, a gasped. His mouth hung open slightly in shock.

"What's the difference?!" Donnie repeated Raph's word but with much more expression, "Well first-" He began.

"Donnie!" Raph interrupted him, "I don't really care."

At that, Donnie closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. Raph would always do this, lead him up, thinking that someone actually took interest in what he was saying, but then always shot him down. Donnie continued his search, going in and out of each car. Lily and I began helping, searching for the right subway car. We searched for a good hour or so before Donnie finally made up his mind.

"This one." Donnie pointed to a run down old subway car, but it was the best one here.

"Seriously? This one?" Raph asked. The sight of this old car was unpleasant, and it kinda smelled. But living in a sewer for so long, I didn't really mind the smell. However I couldn't say the same for Raph.

"Yup." Donnie announced proudly and put his hands on his hips, staring admirably at the new to-be Shellraser.

"Hey, how we gonna get this back to the lair?" I wondered, I've come to realize that I had no clue. Surely we can't drive it back? By the looks of it, these tracks been dead for years.

"We're gonna push it." Donnie huffed as he shoved the subway car all by himself, it didn't budge.

"Seriously?!" Raph shouted, "Can't we just drive it back?"

"No, that's impossible." Donnie answered then continued, "The tracks are dead, there's no electricity."

"Can't you hot-wire it or something?" Lily suggested.

"No...not a subway car." Donnie answered oddly, like he didn't quite believe Lily would ask that question. It was pretty obvious that nobody could hot-wire a subway car, just sometimes the obvious blinds Lily.

"Oh, well I guess we better get pushing." She smiled and walked over to help Donnie, I followed close behind her. I heard Raph sigh heavily before he came around back and began helping us. Luckily, it was the closest subway car to the entrance, so it didn't take too long to push it out and get it going.

"This...is...gonna take...forever!" Raph growled through huffs of breath.

"Well...we...managed to...push the...Shellraser...before. So...we can do...it...again...right?" Donnie tried to encourage, though it was a bit hard to understand what he was saying. Only about ten minutes of pushing, and we were all already out of breath.

"Why is...this...so...heavy!" I complained and gave another big push. The contact of the wheels against the tracks make a horrible squealing sound. Like a cross between a baby human and a mouse that was screaming and crying. Not only that, but a few sparks would fly from time to time.

"That's it..." Lily gave one more heave before collapsing on the ground in exhaustion. The rest of us joined her within seconds.

"There has to...be a better...way." I stated, trying to regain my breath and leaned my head up against the car.

"I'm opened to ideas." Donnie announced, throwing his hands in the air.

Silence fell over us, no one spoke. We were all trying to think, think of some easier way to push this giant hunk of metal all the way back to the lair. It was gonna take at least double the time it took to get here. But in the end, no one came up with anything.

"Should we get back to it?" I wondered dreadfully. Pushing a subway car was exhausting. But, it had to be done.

"Sure." They all replied simultaneously, and with a hated tone to their voice. Like me, no one wanted to get back to pushing and heaving. But we did anyway. And I was right to say that it would take us at least double the time it took us to get there, to get back. We pushed for what felt like forever, but ended up being two hours and forty five minutes. Either way, by time we got back to the lair and placed the car in Donnie's lab, we were all worn out.

We all emerged from Donnie's lab and gave into gravity as it pulled us to the couch. Each one of us slumped down and breathed out a sigh of relief, finally we could relax.

"What took you guys so long?" Mikey wondered as he looked up from his comic book. He and Karai had finished their board game long ago and now Karai was in the kitchen cooking supper.

"You try pushing a thousand pounds worth of metal!" Raph spat and folded his arms.

"Actually Subway cars are made out of a reverently light metal." Donnie corrected then shrunk down in his seat as Raph death glared him.

It all went quiet after that, except for the sound the TV was making. The news constantly played on this television now, though it happened weeks ago, we still listened for any news on the Paris bombing. We never heard from Leo yet. No letters, no nothing. So it can be assumed that he was caught in the bombing. Hopefully he wasn't too hurt.

We couldn't go after Leo because Sensei wouldn't allow us. Besides, by time we would get to Paris, if Leo was hurt enough to need our help, he'd probably already be dead. So we decided that sitting here and hoping was the best thing we could do for him.

"You guys wanna watch a movie or something?" Lily wondered, not able to handle the silence anymore. It was after supper and all was dying down.

"I'm up for a movie." I shrugged my shoulders along with Lily's idea and everyone else nodded their heads, "Should I even bother asking what movie?"

"Nope!" Lily grinned and hoped off the couch to put Avatar in. Avatar was Lily's all time favourite movie, and anytime we wanted to watch a film, Avatar would be one of the first one's to be nominated.

"Again?" Karai questioned with annoyance, "We've seen it hundreds of times!"

"Yes, again." Lily glared at Karai and spoke firmly. She then turned her head back towards the DVD player and happily put the movie in. She made her way back over to the couch and snuggled up with Raph. Who put his arm around her.

All was going well. I was cuddling close with Donnie, and Lily to Raph. John and Garret returned form the dojo and watched the movie with us. It was a nice moment, having all of us together...well...almost all of us. Everyone could almost feel Leo's presence missing, this family wasn't complete without our leader. But other then that, every thing was going good, that was until Donnie asked...

"Hey guys. Did you hear that?"

We all turned our heads curiously in Donnie's direction.

"Hear...what?" Mikey wondered, looking at his brother like he was insane.

"That...that creaking noise." Donnie answered and shut his eyes to concentrate. We all did the same, trying to hear what Donnie was hearing.

Creek.

"Hey, I heard it!" I announced, opening my eyes and looking around the room frantically. Where did that noise come from?

"Yeah...yeah I heard it too." Raph mumbled, deep in concentration.

Creek.

"There!" Donnie hoped up off the couch and pointed towards the lair's entrance. But nothing was there.

"Hm, what's going on?" Karai thought out loud, she too had stood up along with Raph and myself.

"I don't hear any-" John began but stopped mid sentence when a foot bot jumped down from the ceiling's pipes and landed in front of us. Then another and another jumped down. More and more foot bots just kept coming.

"These guys again!" Donnie complained and took out his BO-staff.

"I haven't seen foot bots in months!" Raph, though was frustrated, spoke rather fondly. Like he was glad to have a little action in his life. By feeling so, Raph took out his twin sai's and spun them around in his hands. Mikey did the same but with his nun-chucks and Karai drew out her single katana.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled and was the first to jump into battle. With the constant threat of Shredder and the krang, they're always trying to find out where the secret lair is. So we have to be ready for any thing, even a surprise foot bot attack.

There was a foot bot for everyone. Even Lily, Garret and John, but they weren't to good at fighting yet. So Lily stuck by Raph's side, helping him whenever she can, and John and Garret did the same thing but with everyone.

Once I took down my foot bot with a few punches and a neat sweep of my leg. It was down on the floor and that's when I ran to my room. I quickly got my Hanbo and ran back to the living room, where the fighting was going on. By time I got there, even more foot bots arrived and now even Splinter was fighting with us.

I didn't get more then three steps into the living room when I seen a foot bot about to attack Mikey from behind. Taking the first chance I got, I threw my weapon half way across the room, knocking the foot bot down.

Mikey turned around and smiled at me, "Thanks Tay-tot!" Mikey used one of the many nicknames he's given me.

I ran towards the fight scene with a smile back to Mikey. I yanked my Hanbo out of the foot's head, causing it to spark. With a few more hits, the foot bot was out and broken. I immediately started fighting another one.

"Don't let them escape guys!" Donnie shouted from some where within this fighting mess, "They're probably taking mental photographs of our lair! If one of them escapes, Shredder will know where we live!"

"Bash the bots and don't let them escape, got it!" Raph noted and stabbed a bot directly in the eyes with his sai.

The fighting didn't last to long after that. Normally the foot are a little bit of a challenge, especially foot bots since they can detect your fighting style. But this almost seemed too easy. I don't know if it's all the extract training we've been doing or what, but what ever it is, it seems to be working.

After a few more minutes, the foot bots were defeated. Only Karai and Mikey were finishing up the last of them. With a swift blow of his nun-chuck, Mikey had defeated his bot.

"Karai! Look out!" John yelled for another foot bot had appeared and was about to land a forceful blow on the kunoichi. But acting quickly, John jumped on the bot. He wrapped his legs around the bots waist, causing it to lose it's focus and stumble a little. Acting out of rage, John grabbed a hold of the foot bot's head and viciously snapped it's neck. The bot sparked like crazy, sending little bits of white flames flying, but John didn't budge. He death gripped that head and used all of his force to break it's neck even more and eventually, tore it's head clean off it's body. The foot bot's body collapsed on the ground and John landed neatly on his feet.

"John!" Karai screamed the name of her saviour and wrapped her arms around his neck. This was so unlike Karai, usually she's hard and cold. Rarely ever shows emotion. But, could she possibly have feelings for John?

"Mr. Walker." Splinter spoke as Karai stopped hugging John, "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"Oh uh.." John blushed, "it...it was nothing."

"Nothing! You ripped it's head straight off it's body!" Garret exclaimed, hands waving frantically.

"Yeah dude, that was sick!" Mikey agreed and began praising John, "But uh...I think the bot got you or something." Mikey pointed to his own cheek.

"Uh?" John passed his fingers over his cheek then flinched away. Turns out the sparks had burned John's face. But luckily it wasn't anything to serious.

"What are we gonna do we all these foot bot bodies?" Raph questioned and looked around the room. Broken robots was spread out through out the living area. Disembodied arms, legs, and heads were every where. It was gonna take forever to clean up.

"I could use the parts." Donnie piped up. He was more then happy to volunteer to take care of the robot bodies. Knowing Donnie, he would turn them into neat gadgets.

"Well that's one problem solved." Mikey noted, "But how did they get here in the first place?"

We all exchanged a glance and a shrug. That is, all except Donnie.

"Well it's not the first time foot bots found their way into our lair." Donnie reminded us, "But it does seem odd on how easy they were to defeat."

So I'm not the only one who noticed it! I thought to myself. Did anyone else?

"Yeah bro. Usually their all like 'bang bang bang!' But today they were only like, 'pew pew pew.' It was weird." Mikey exasperated, using sound effects and everything.

The room erupted in deep conversations. We were all talking about how and what the foot bots were doing here. Naturally we could all assume that they wanted to find our location and report back to Shredder.

"This could only mean that he's planning to strike soon." Donnie confirmed.

"But that doesn't make sense." Garret countered, all eyes turned on him, "From what I over heard, we still have a few months."

"Is there any chance that Shredder saw you and lied?" Lily suggested kindly.

"No way." This time is was Karai arguing back, "I've seen Garret, and he's really good."

"Look, whatever the reason may be, Shredder is going to attack no matter what. And there's no telling how much time we have left. So we need to get our act together and get something done." Raph encouraged. He was right, we would need to attack first.

"But what about Leo?" Mikey piped up, "We're not really gonna attack Shredder without him, right?"

"We may not have a choice, Mikey." Donnie told his little brother sadly.

"My students." Splinter joined in on the conversation, "Raphael is right in saying we need to 'get things done' but in order to do so, we need a good night's rest."

We all nodded in agreement to our Sensei. It's been a long day, and I know Donnie, Raph, Lily and myself are all tired. Pushing a giant subway car is exhausting. So, with a few goodbyes to Lily, John and Garret, we all decided to get some rest and head off to bed.

"John wait." Karai called out and rang up to John before he left the lair, "I'll walk you home."

John's face went bright as he stuttered his response, "Uh, sh-sure."

Karai smiled in return and walked out of the lair. I exchanged glances with everyone in the room. Do they all know about John and Karai? I thought to myself before shrugging it off and heading off to bed with everyone else.

I got my PJ's on and slipped myself under my covers. But, like usual, sleep didn't come easy to me. My mind was buzzing with all my thoughts and worries.

Everything is gonna change tomorrow. I began to think, But it's not like we're actually attacking Shredder tomorrow. We're just, 'getting started.'...what does that even mean? We already starting training for the fight, what else can we do? Well...I guess Donnie was lots of work to do in his lab, and we still need to find more info on Shredder and his plans. Garret's already given us valid information, he's really useful to this team.

What's gonna happen after? After Shredder's...gone. Is this a fight to the death? Sure sounds like one. We did decide that Shredder needs to be taken care of once and for all. It's either our lives or his right?

At this point, I rolled over in my bed. Getting uncomfortable from my previous position. Then I continued to wonder,

What if we don't make it out alive? What if one of us dies?...what if Donnie dies? I can't lose him again. No. I won't let that happen, I promised him I would protect him. I promised him forever. I will keep him safe, no matter what.

I side in frustration and rolled on my back, But what can I do? Donnie's the better ninja. He has 17 years of experience, or in turtle years,15. But me? I have what? Two, three years now? Not even. How can I protect Donnie? What if I can't? I would, but what if I can't?

I shook my head, trying to think of something else. I hope Leo's gonna be back soon. Even though he's been gone for only a month now. I hope he's alright. I mean, what are the odds of him being caught in that Paris bombing? Not very high...right? C'mon Taylor, think happy thoughts.

We're finally gonna end our Shredder problem. Oh great...back to this. But, tomorrow is when it all changes. Tomorrow is when we really start planning what to do. We're gonna get all the gear, we're gonna find out Shredder's plans and beat him ahead of time. Tomorrow, is when we make a change. Tomorrow is when we're finally gonna get started.

Uhhh, yeah. This is only a filler chapter...sorta. Everything will make more sense later on, in the next chapter or so. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it and please review! :)

Ps: Sorry for the late update. ^/^