I Don't own TMNT or UY.

I haven't finished Chapter 27 yet but seeing as I'm writing it as we speak I thought it was ok to upload this one. Tehe 8D

Xxxxx

I used my staff to pole-vault across the gap between the buildings before I broke into a run again, trying to keep up with my brothers and Usagi. We were running along the rooftops, heading in the direction of Liberty State Park with the waterfront to our left. Usagi and Leo were in the lead once again followed closely by Raph. Mikey was more or less keeping pace with me.

After I had given Leo and Usagi my theory on what I thought Bishop might be up to, Leo had more or less dragged me to my room and ordered me to get some sleep. I felt humiliated but he insisted, saying that if we were going to scope out the base that very night then he wanted me to be in proper condition. Especially since, if all goes well tonight, he wanted to try and infiltrate the base tomorrow evening. I couldn't argue with that kind of logic so I did as I was told and got some sleep.

I just know I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight though. I've completely broken my rhythm and with the building anxiety of the mission that was coming, I knew I was gonna have a bad case of insomnia tonight. I made a mental note to take a sleeping pill before going to bed. I couldn't afford to be drowsy when we move in. They were gonna need me to hack into Bishop's computer and give them proper answers once we got inside. Answers to what Bishop's up to, where Jotaro is being kept and how to move around the base without getting caught. Not that the pressure is helping my chances of getting some sleep.

That was all in the future though, maybe not the very far off future but the future nonetheless. Right now I needed to focus on what this place looked like and what kind of entrance we could use. Seeing as it was next to the waterfront I had a hunch there would be some kind of underwater entrance, like the base Bishop had been using the first time we met him during the Triceratron invasion. But I didn't want to be presumptuous. Presumptions had led to our last failure, and I was cautious about guessing and speculate without having the proper facts. It was for this reason I had been wary of telling Leo that there was a chance Bishop might be trying to construct a larger portal of some kind. If it turned out I was wrong then I would've upset him and Usagi for nothing.

But I had checked again and again, making sure there was no other possibility before I had voiced my concerns to my eldest brother and his friend. Even if I wasn't sure, it made too much sense to ignore it all. Kidnapping a child from another dimension, taking.. ..samples to further something called, rather uncreatively, 'Project Gateway', a man who could portal jump himself already but was reporting to Bishop as well as a mysterious third person involved in all this, it all pointed to something sinister. But to add to all this, I had read over the minutes taken at various meetings in which this 'Tibalt' had been present. Although a large portion of them were cryptic and meant nothing to me unless I knew what they were talking about to begin with, words had kept surfacing in their discussions. Things like, 'temporal jump' and 'time and space' and of course, 'how is the construction of the gate going?'. It just fit together too well. I was convinced that Bishop was trying to engineer some kind of inter-dimensional doorway. What exactly he plans to do with it is beyond me.

Usagi had automatically assumed Bishop was going to try invade 2nd Earth, his home dimension, and to be honest I understood his logic. It was 2nd Earth which Tibalt had warped to to steal Jotaro and, if what I read was correct, it's Jotaro they're using to somehow further the project. However if Bishop had a portal he could travel anywhere he wanted to. Not merely between dimensions but also to anywhere in our own dimension's space to other planets and worlds. The mere magnitude of things he could do with such a machine were frightening.

But then even if Bishop didn't plan to use the gate himself and was merely manufacturing it for this other guy it didn't ease any of my concerns. If anything it made them worse. There was absolutely zero information on this benefactor apart from the facts that he was funding the project, and Tibalt was acting as Middle-man between whoever it was and Bishop. From what I had been able to make out, Bishop had never spoken to him and in some meetings it even seemed to suggest Bishop himself wasn't sure of who the person behind Tibalt was. However, typical Bishop, he didn't seem concerned as long as it didn't interfere with the project and didn't restrict him too harshly from what he wanted to do.

I felt a pang of sadness at the thought of Bishop operating without restrictions while Jotaro was still in his clutches. I hadn't told any-one, but I'd extracted the photo of the boy attached to his specimen file and had it permanently open behind the other windows of my computer; so that every time I felt overwhelmed or at a loss I would open it and take a good, long look at the defiant, rebellious brown eyes staring hard at whoever had taken the photo. He looked so very young. He was alone and lost among people he didn't only not know, but who were also a species he'd never seen before. And yet when they had stood him against the size chart to take his mugshot he still had the guts to glare at them angrily. Not showing any trace of being afraid. Every time I saw this I felt my determination recharged and I could dive right back into my work, hoping against logic and reality that when we find him he'd still have that expression on his face.

I adjusted the strap of my duffle-bag before I made another jump between two of the buildings. I looked around the area as I ran, referring to my mental map of where the second base was located according to the files I'd stolen. Every now and then Leo would slow and turn to me. When he did I would indicate to him with a hand which direction to go in and we would continue.

It wasn't that long before we reached the address that matched the map back at the lair and we stopped, looking around. Nothing suggested it was any different to the other neighbourhoods and buildings we'd passed getting here. The water from the Upper New York Bay stretched out on our left sides, the high buildings and skyscrapers of Manhattan on the other side of it. Liberty State Park was still ahead of us, but not too far off, it was within easy walking distance. The buildings around this area where really nothing extra special. Just normal buildings in a normal part of town. The building we were looking at specifically was the one that matched the location of Bishop's 2nd base.

It looked even less suspicious than the last base had. Just a few storeys tall, painted a drab ochre with dull, boring windows with dirty glass in them. Through these I could just make out desks laden with mounds of paper and tired, middle-aged looking men sipping from mugs as they typed on computer keyboards in a way that clearly said they weren't getting paid enough to do this. The window-sills had long streaks running down from them against the building's walls from pigeons that no-one had bothered to chase away. The fire-escape along the side of it was still mostly black, but the reddish brown of rust was starting to take its toll. I doubted that it was still safe to use. The building had a very modest parking lot with only a handful of cars actually parked in it.

I turned my attention to the street leading to it. It was small and narrow, not a main-road and not used as often as the highways or main streets of the city. I quickly noticed something that probably would've meant nothing to normal people, but was a dead give-away this was the place we were looking for. The street leading to the building, all the way from next to the waterfront up to its doorstep, didn't have one single manhole on it. Not even drains cut into the sidewalk. I couldn't see any circular lids in the parking lot either, or the surrounding alleys. I frowned, turning and trotting to the other edge of the roof we were standing on, checking the narrow alley between it and the neighbouring structure. No sign of any sewers here either.

"What's up Don?" Leo asked, coming closer and leaning down to peer into the alley as well with a curious frown.

I turned to look at him, "There's no sign of any sewers being under that place."

I got up and trotted back to the side facing the depressing looking building, half-turned to look at Leo as he followed.

"No Manholes, no drains, nothing!" I crouched down on the edge of the roof, peering at the ochre structure in front of us. I half saw Raph crouch down next to me as well, frowning deeply to himself as he tried to see what I saw. Usagi came closer and did the same on my other side.

"There's no sign of any sewer system being under this whole block." I said, turning to see if they were following me.

Leo made a thoughtful noise, standing next to Usagi as he put a hand to his chin, frowning at the building across from us in the slowly dimming light.

"Which means," He said after a short pause. "That there's probably something else taking up that space."

I nodded, glad to see he understood what I was getting at. "This is definitely the place we're looking for."

"Yeah." Raph grunted with an an amused smirk. "No way a place lookin' that normal ain't hidin' somethin'."

I nodded again, turning to look at him.

He was staring hard at the building, his brows furrowed in a frown as he tried to take note of every tiny detail. There was a band-aid stuck rather comically on one of his cheeks. Somehow the effect it gave off was to make him look younger than he was. Other than that his lip still bore a cut from his fight with Mikey yesterday and he had a bruise along the top of his snout. But it was nothing serious and all it accomplished was to make him look like a high-school kid who took his soccer a little too seriously. Mikey hadn't done much damage to him. At least not physically.

I hadn't seen much of Raph after the initial fight happened apart from at dinner. He'd kept to himself the rest of the day. This morning he'd stumbled out of his room and joined us for breakfast but didn't say very much. However by the time it started becoming noon he got more vocal, saying how he was anxious to get outside and do something physical instead of sitting around. He seemed to quickly slip back into his regular behaviour after that and by now was acting more or less normal again. The only hint that something was still not right was the fact that when Mikey was in the room Raph acted, well, a little odd. He'd suddenly go quiet, keeping his eyes on our little brother with an expression I couldn't quite place. It looked something between hopeful, nervous and pleading. He wasn't being obvious about it, and I'm pretty sure he was trying to hide it with his usual tough guy routine, but I could see he really wanted to talk to Mikey and put the fight behind them, even if he wasn't daring to say anything.

Mikey would have none of it though and flat out ignored him when he was in the room, getting what he came looking for and leaving without a word or sitting himself down and focusing on something else like the TV or a comic book. He was acting as if Raph didn't even exist. It didn't take a psychiatrist to see this was really bothering Raphael but he didn't do anything to try and force Mikey into a conversation.

I felt bad for Raph, but I was hoping this was just Mikey sulking about whatever Raph had said or done to anger him yesterday. I knew Mikey better than to be scared he was gonna keep it up.

I shook my head lightly, realising I had once again slipped into my own dreamworld when I should be focusing. I turned back to the building.

"Any signs of an entrance?" Leo asked, leaning forward to look at me.

I frowned, looking over the area again.

"This place doesn't have an air-vent like the last one did, and I don't see any rooftop entrance. I mean there's the fire-escape but that'll just take us to a window and we'd probably need a tetnus shot just from touching that thing." I scanned the building over again. "The floors all seem to be in use so there doesn't seem to be a chance of breaking a window and not setting off an alarm of some kind."

I unslung my bag from my shoulders and zipped it open, digging around inside till I found my turtle-vision goggles and put them on, inputting some commands into it. "The windows all appear locked from the inside, I don't see any that are open for ventilation or anything like that."

I adjusted the goggles again, turning my gaze to ground-level. "No sign of any hidden shafts or holes we could slip through either."

"A formidable fortress." Usagi commented, pulling a face.

I remove my goggles. "Yeah, but there's gotta be another entrance besides the front door through which they can transport their less public projects."

I stood up again, this time turning to look in the direction of the Bay. "Hmm."

"You thinking underwater entrance?" Raph said, getting up as well, following my gaze.

I gave a nod. "It would make sense." I waved my hand at the waterfront. "With submersibles Bishop can carry and transport creatures, machinery, weapons, anything he wanted in and out of the base without being spotted. But I wanna be sure."

"We breaking out the yellow submarine?" Mikey asked, coming closer himself, purposefully standing on the side of me opposite from Raph.

I shook my head. "No, the shell-sub's too risky. We don't know where the entrance is yet and I don't want them spotting us before we find it. No, best to free-dive and have a look around first."

"Yes, but some of us are not as aquatic as others." Usagi spoke up, turning to give me a sideways glance.

I turned and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"I can hold my breath the longest." Raph interrupted. "I'll go check it out unless some-one else feels like gettin' wet."

"I dunno." Leo said, turning to look back at the building.

Raph grumbled and crossed his arms. "Oh come on Leo, don' chicken out now! I'll be fine."

Leo made a small noise, thinking it over. He then nodded. "Alright. But you're not doing it alone. I'll act as back-up. Don. You, Mikey and Usagi wait for us on the banks and keep a sharp lookout. If we take longer than an hour don't come looking for us. Head back for the lair and wait there."

"And if you still do not return after that?" Usagi asked, a little too bluntly for my liking.

Leo turned to look at him. "...Then... do what you you think is best."

Usagi's face twitched but he gave nod. It was clear he was unhappy with this answer. I gotta say, I agreed with him

----

We waited on the banks of the waterfront for Leo and Raph to get back. I was sitting on my haunches, peering out over the black expanse of the water. It was properly dark by now, and the tall buildings on the other side of the bay cast long, dark shadows on the its surface, broken into pieces by the millions of small gleaming windows, street-lamps and various other lights reflecting the city back at itself. The night air was cool and clear. There was a light breeze but other than that it felt calm. It had an almost lulling effect. However that could just be due to the fact that the crisp air was cooling my blood, causing me to feel almost as if I was being sedated. I gave my head a hard shake, trying to wake myself up.

I turned to look at Usagi, wanting to start a conversation to keep myself active. However I noticed he had wandered off slightly and was keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the water. Every now and then I saw him turn to face the dark buildings behind us, making sure nothing was sneaking up on us from behind. When he was sure we were still safe he'd turn back to the water. If I looked very hard I noticed he'd sometimes stand stock still and I'd see him twitch an ear slightly, listening.

I sighed slightly and turned the other way to look at Mikey instead. He was sitting next to me, staring at the scenery as well. His feet were dangling over the edge of the bank, just short of touching the water. He was swinging his legs very slightly and seemed lost in thought. It was a strange expression to see on Mikey's face, but not overly so. Mikey's 'I'm thinking' face is still very much his own. He tended to frown lightly to himself and pull a slight pout when he was running something through his brain.

I couldn't help but smile to myself.

"Still ok Mikey?" I asked.

He blinked, shaken from his thoughts before he turned to look at me. He nodded. "Yeah."

I smiled at him warmly before I turned back to the water, wrapping my arms around myself with a slight shudder. "Good. Because I'm freezing my tail off here."

He tilted his head at me slightly before turning to look back at the bay. "It is kinda cold huh?"

I gave a nod, rubbing my arms.

We said nothing for a few moments, watching the surface for any signs of Leo and Raph coming back.

"...How long's it been?" Mikey asked.

I unfolded my arms and pulled down a wrist strap, checking my watch.

"They've still got 15 minutes." I said, replacing the strap before crossing my arms again.

Mikey pulled a slight face and gave a bit of a whine. I had to stop myself from grinning at this. I hadn't heard whiny Mikey for a while now. Usually it annoyed me, but for some reason hearing it now amused me slightly. However there was a small feeling of sadness to the emotion.

"D'you think they're ok?" He asked, turning back to look at me.

I nodded. "Sure they are. Don't worry so much."

Mikey made a noise but nodded, turning to the front again. He drew up his legs and rested his arms on his knees with a sigh.

I watched him for a few moments. "Why? D'you think something might've happened?"

He shook his head hurriedly, turning back to me. "Nu uh." He exhaled, looking away. "This place just gives me the creeps."

I said nothing for a few moments, staring at him. "Because of Tibalt?" I asked very cautiously.

Mikey pulled a face at the name and turned to the front again, saying nothing.

I kept quiet for a few moments before I shook my head and looked ahead again myself. "Nevermind. Forget I asked ok?"

I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.

Inwardly I sighed sadly to myself. I hadn't expected Mikey to respond to the question, but I had still hoped he would've let me in, if just a little bit. It wasn't to satisfy my own curiosity or to make me feel more at ease or anything, I just wanted him to break out of this continuous slump he was in. It wasn't good for him, and I was afraid it would start taking its toll on him physically as well as mentally. I had no idea what the cause was apart from that it had something to do with Tibalt. But I was hoping that, if tomorrow's mission goes well, he'd be cured of his depression and move past it. To be honest if that doesn't do it, then I seriously don't know what will. I felt my pulse speed up by a fraction at the thought. It was strange, but I'm finding myself anxious for tomorrow's big mission because of this. I had a childish fantasy in my head of how we were gonna break in and rescue Jotaro before we destroy Bishop's evil plans. And that once we've done so we'll arrive home victorious, and Jotaro and Usagi will be reunited and safe and Mikey will be happy and we'll all be one big family again. The truth is we would be lucky if we achieve only half of these things. But please. At least let Mikey start to feel better.

"How long do they have now?" He asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I checked my watch again. "five minutes less than the last time you asked." I said

Mikey gave a slight groan at this, getting his leg into a restless twitch.

"They'll be fine Mikey." I said, dangling my feet over the side of the bank the same as he had done.

Mikey nodded but he didn't look fully convinced.

I blinked at him before I spoke again. "Don't worry, we're leaving soon."

He whined again. "Yeah but.. I don't wanna leave without them."

I nodded in understanding. "They'll be back in time. You'll see."

"Yeah." He nodded again, dropping his gaze.

I sighed, turning my head to see where Usagi was.

The samurai had sat down not too far off, staring intently out over the water, his arms folded and his legs crossed, I could see his ears twitch every now and then. I frowned lightly, a little confused as to why he didn't sit closer to us. I wasn't sure whether to take offence or not. I shook it off though and turned back to the front. He probably heard me and Mikey were talking and didn't want to interrupt or something. After all he was perfectly aware that Mikey had a problem he wasn't talking about. Maybe he figured if we were talking he didn't want to interrupt. I gave a slight sigh. Too bad there was nothing to interrupt.

"....He likes messing with people." Mikey said suddenly.

I frowned, heavily confused as I turned to him. "Huh?"

Mikey wasn't looking at me, staring ahead of himself, his arms crossed over the top of his knees and his chin resting on them.

"....He finds something he knows will bug ya and then he messes with you." He said quietly.

I gaped at him. I quickly hid my surprise with a very slight head shake, not taking my eyes off of him.

"Is that what he did to you?" I asked, almost afraid to do so.

Mikey didn't move for a few moments, as if he didn't hear me. He then gave a soft nod. "Yeah."

I swallowed dryly. "What did he say?" I asked carefully.

Again Mikey said nothing. He didn't move but I saw his eyes narrow painfully by just a small fraction, I also heard the very small breath he drew in.

I dropped my shoulders, keeping my eyes on him caringly. "It's ok Mikey. You don't have to tell me."

He still didn't say anything but I saw him relax and I heard him breathe out.

I put a hand on his shoulder gently. I was half surprised when he responded by leaning against me a little more, looking for comfort. I couldn't help but smile at his childish behaviour and gave him a squeeze.

I heard movement and turned to look in Usagi's direction.

He'd gotten to his feet and was walking towards us, but he was keeping his eyes on the bay.

"I hear the ripple of water." He said once he was close enough to do so and not raise his voice. "Some-one approaches."

I let Mikey go and got to my feet, drawing my Bo staff just in case. Mikey followed suit, putting his hands on his nun-chucks but he didn't pull them free just yet, waiting to see what it was. Something broke the surface nearby and I heard Leo's voice take a breath. Raph was close behind. I sighed in relief and replaced my staff behind my back. I was aware of both Mikey and Usagi relaxing as well. We waited till Leo and Raph came closer before we leant down and helped them out the water. Raph grumbled with a shudder, rubbing his arms.

"Everything ok here?" Leo asked, reaching back and rinsing out his bandanna tails.

Usagi nodded. "No sign of any-one being aware of our presence. But tell us, what have you found?"

Raph gave a wicked cackled, grinning widely at us. "We got us a back door folks!"

I felt myself smile widely, turning to Leo. "Are you sure?"

Leo smiled back and nodded. "They've got an underwater entrance a little to the south of here. We didn't go in but it doesn't seem too heavily guarded. What's even better is there appears to be more than one way to get inside. Apart from an entranceway for subs there's also some smaller tunnels that appear to be used as a drainage system of some kind."

I nodded happily. "That's great! So, We should be able to get inside ok?"

"Provided ya do your stuff right Don." Raph said, turning to me with a toothy smile.

"Wait a moment." Usagi interrupted, still frowning worriedly. He didn't seem any more relieved by the news.

Leo turned to him with concern. "What's wrong Usagi?"

"This entrance is underwater; correct?" He asked, his frown staying. He wasn't annoyed with us though, he just seemed concerned about something.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. So what?"

Usagi made a slight noise. "So how are we to enter this fortress unnoticed? Or for that matter, how are we to leave once we have rescued Jotaro-kun?"

This time Leo Frowned. "I don't understand. That's why we were looking for the entrance in the first place Usagi-san; to find a way inside."

Usagi nodded impatiently. "Yes, but you have failed to take into account that I can not swim as swiftly as you and your brothers. Nor am I able to hold my breath for as long. Also, I am clothed and will be weighed down easily. To add to this, Jotaru-kun can most certainly not swim that great a distance or hold his breath for that long a period of time. Also we..." He hesitated before carrying on. "..We do not know what sort of condition Jotaro-kun will be in when we find him."

Leo listened patiently. Once Usagi finished he gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Usagi. We won't need to hold our breaths or swim very far. We'll use the Shell-sub to get as close as we can before we get in the water ourselves." He said kindly.

Usagi blinked at him for a moment before he frowned, but he wasn't angry. At the most he looked slightly annoyed. There was something almost light-hearted to it.

"Leonardo, you are purposefully using words you know I do not understand." He said pulling a slight face at my brother.

Leo's smile perked very slightly. "Let's get home and I'll show you instead. It'll be a lot easier than trying to explain it."

He turned, motioning for us to follow and our group started to make its way back home.

"What exactly is this... what did you call it? A 'Shell-something'?" Usagi asked, turning to me instead.

I chuckled lightly. "Basically, it's a boat that travels underwater."

"..... That is the worst logic I have ever heard." Usagi replied.

Behind me, I heard Raph laugh.

Xxxxx

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