Katherine felt like an eternity passed before she could take a real breath; not until Timothy released a grateful sigh of his own. "What's going on in there?"

Tim shook his head. "They detonated more than one section that time! I was afraid we'd lost him."

"Let's hurry up and shut the bastards down before they manage to finish them off!" she declared.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Kat! Greg, where are we with the charges?"

The sandy-haired man darted up the stairs. "Jazz decided three would be enough! Charges are placed. We should move everyone back farther just to be safe."

As Kat backpedaled, she nearly ran over Luke. The man grabbed her by the hand to pull her behind the Avalanche where the others were huddling, and an unexpected smile came to her face. "This is nice. We should work together more often." He couldn't manage a grin in response, and it made the woman feel guilty for even half-joking. "We're going to get to them, Luke."

He nodded, squeezing her hand tighter. "Do you want me to check your Oxi?"

"I know how to use it, Hon, but if it'd make you feel better…"

"All right, everybody," Greg spoke up. "I'm detonating: in three, two…one."

Katherine braced herself for an impact, though she knew the charges had a limited range. Her stomach twisted in knots while they lingered on the ground after the explosion, left wondering if the "door" had been successfully reinvented. When she saw Greg and Tim edge around the left side of the Avalanche, the woman quickly gained her feet too.

She heard Luke breathing a little hard behind her, along with the unmistakable footsteps of her younger brother. Anticipation soared as they closed in on the staircase and the sound of Greg's laughter rang out.

"Not bad," her old partner declared. "That's one way to make an entrance."

"No time to be corny, Heffernan!" Katherine shot back. "Rescue now, celebrate later!"

Timothy nodded. "She's right. Whatever process needs to be done with the disruptor, get it started so we can move in."

Greg held up the device. "I'm already locked on. I can have everything but the lowest frequency we're using shut down in two seconds!"

"Then do it!" Luke barked. "Everyone else needs to get the rest of your gear on."

Katherine accepted her Oxi mask back from her husband, and twisted the ring on her helmet to turn on her head lamp. Luke held out another bag toward her, and she shrugged both arms through the straps.

"Is this all you need to me to carry?"

"The rest of the supplies are broken up over the others. No one has to be too weighed down that way."

"What about stretchers?"

"Everything can be assembled quickly on the spot. The poles are the most awkward thing to carry, and I stuck your brother with those. He's the one who likes sticks."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Show some respect, Luke. What's the difference between Brandon's Bahng Mahng Ee and Donny's bo?"

"His weapons are a lot harder to pronounce."

She groaned, but left the argument to be picked up at a more appropriate time. Kat joined the half circle that Tim, Sayuri, and Kouhei had created, and imagined she was shaking her remaining nerves out with a flick of her wrists. She looked back at the nervous faces of their "medics", and tried to be reassuring for their sakes. "I'd just like to remind all of you that I survived the United Nations, and my brother here survived Javits…so there's no reason this Gym will be any different."

"We'll be back in a few minutes," Tim said firmly. "Hold your positions here, unless safety dictates that you abandon the building."

Marcus snorted. "No offense, but I don't think anyone's 'abandoning' the goal of this mission. We'll stay put, and I've already got a radio on. Let us know when you reach the guys, and take care of yourselves in there."

"We'll be in contact," Tim returned. "Greg?"

"We're good," the sandy-haired man replied. "Full speed ahead. Try to refrain from jinxing us, Brandon."

Brandon took a couple of steps forward to meet him. "As if I'm the biggest danger to this mission."

"I know you're not calling me a liability. I was pretty darn helpful to the guys when it came to getting you out of Javits."

"All right, all right," Tim inserted. "Let's have a little less buzz from the peanut gallery until we get our footing inside."

As the dark-haired man strode forward, Kat's light caught the outline of the rifle strapped to his back. I didn't realize Tim was packing the big gun. Guess I'm not the only one who believes in being prepared.

Timothy moved with purpose, leading the way down the steps and through the opening without another second's hesitation. Greg and Brandon followed him immediately, and Katherine motioned for Sayuri to go next with Kouhei. She knew she'd feel better about her having her own husband inside the danger zone if he was in arm's reach at all times.

Katherine had so much adrenaline coursing through her system that she was ready to run, but there was an annoying delay the moment the entire group finished descending the stairs into the basement. By the way their lights bobbed she could tell Tim and Greg were discussing something at the front, and instantly regretted choosing to bring up the rear.

"Do we know where we're going?" she asked loudly.

"I need to get my bearings, Kat!" Greg retorted. "Hold your horses for a minute!"

A few possible replies occurred to the woman, but she chose to keep her mouth shut. For a few minutes anyway, she thought inwardly. If he starts taking us in circles, then I'm going to rip control away from him. She was pleasantly surprised when the Greg started moving again not thirty-seconds later, and relieved to see Tim doubling back to talk to them.

"Greg can't use a normal scanner to help us track their location, so Jazz is walking us through this," the man explained. "I don't know what she did exactly, but she nailed the turtles' signal down in connection with the schematics."

"How are we going to get to the turtles?" Sayuri asked.

"We can hopefully stick to the basement, up till the last hundred feet or so. The plans include a major cable installation, and a kind of trap door for ease of a technician's access."

Luke frowned. "That will be tricky to get a stretcher through."

"Not as tricky as possibly being blown up because we dared to use the regular hallways and doors, Luke. We don't know that all their traps have been taken out."

The blond man relented with a sigh. "If that's all we've got to go on, then I suppose we'll make it work."

The last of the detonations left Donatello much more shaken than he wanted to admit to himself. Since the arrival of the rescue team, his fear had increased, instead of diminishing. In spite of the activation of a new disruptor, he couldn't find real peace. I should feel better about things, but knocking out their frequencies doesn't change the damage that's already been done to the building, and it won't put out any fires.

Donny bleakly gazed at the circle of his brothers. The smoke filtering through the rubble and filling up the Atrium was already irritating his air way, and he hated to think of the effect that it could have on the others. At the moment he was more worried for Michelangelo than anyone else, but he was well aware that all of their lives were hanging in the balance.

In the silence, he couldn't help questioning his decision again. If our places were exchanged, and it was one of them who might have been able to escape, I wouldn't have wanted them to hesitate or stay behind just for me. What's done is done now.

The others are already here, putting themselves at great risk in order to get to us. We're lucky we have them. Our friends, our family has been there for us through so many things…and I'd be shocked if they had agreed to let us fade quietly into the night. I knew this would happen when I called Doc, but there was no other choice. Not if I want my brothers to have the chance to see another sunrise. Not if we want to the opportunity to raise our kids.

Raphael's hoarse coughing alerted Donatello, and the purple-masked turtle shifted on the ground. He didn't waste the energy to rise completely, trading off the chance to save his strength for the greater pain of being forced to drag his leg painfully behind him. One look at his brother's bare face had him feeling around on the floor, searching for the fabric "mask" he'd improvised to help shield them a little from the incoming smoke. Wish I had some water to soak it with, he lamented. I wish I had a lot of things.

Donatello found the material under Raphael's shoulder, and lifted his brother's arm to retrieve it. I wish he'd stop trying to move. Of all the times I've needed to drug someone, this has to be one of the worst.

"Raph? Can you hear me?"

The red-masked turtle grunted softly in response.

"You need to stay still. Do you understand? You might have sustained worse injuries than you think."

His eyes flickered, but never grew wider than a narrow slit. "Donny…? Why'd y' stay?"

Donatello replaced the fabric over his face, but gripped his arm so that his brother would be able to feet him. "Well…for one thing, I'm not in much condition to go very far. And who would you fight with if I'd left you here on your own?" he finished, intentionally light.

"That's not what I wanted," he murmured.

"I know it isn't. You're probably not going to like what I did do either."

"Wha—y' mean?" his brother slurred.

"I called for help, Raph."

"Help?"

"That's right. I got on the phone, and I told Doc everything."

Raphael's breathing faltered. "But…it's too far."

Don wasn't entirely sure his brother knew what they were talking about, but decided to continue. "No, Raph. They're already here. They're coming to get us out."

"That's…crazy. They can't."

"They are," he insisted. "So all you've got to do is hang on a little while longer, and Doc will be here to rip you a new shell for being the hero."

A half chuckle escaped the red-masked turtle, and it ended in a gasp.

"Sorry, Raph," Donny said quietly. "I'll try to be more careful."

His brother sniffed. "What's the smell?"

Donatello carefully considered lying to him. "It's only smoke."

"Fire?"

"Yeah."

"Shoulda gone, Donny."

"You wouldn't have."

"Mmhm."

"I know you better than that, Raph."

Raphael mumbled something else that was inaudible. When his eyes closed the rest of the way, Donatello shook his arm gently.

"Stay with me, okay? I'm not kidding. Help is really close by. Doc only gave me one job…well, two jobs. Keep myself alive, and try to make sure you were awake. I promise you can sleep later, Raph, but right now you've got to open your eyes."

"Too heavy," he grumbled.

"For you?" Donatello made a scoffing sound. "You once beat the stuffing out of six bikers with a broken wrist. This can't be any harder than that."

Raphael's lip curled slightly. "Was a good night."

"Better than this one, but tonight is almost over." Don fully believed the words he told his brother. The evening was closing in on them, and it would either end in a successful rescue or a combination of asphyxiation and being crushed.

"Y'tired?"

Donatello couldn't believe his older brother sounded sympathetic. "Yeah, but like I said, it's almost over. Then I'll be able to leave you alone so you can rest."

"Yer a good brother…"

"So are you, Raph. If there was a chance…" A click sounded in Donny's ear, causing him to trail off without finishing. He reached for the radio pack on his belt and clicked the button to respond. "Go ahead."

"Don, we're extremely close," Tim's voice greeted him. "But we may have hit a…snag."

The purple-masked turtle shut his eyes briefly. "What kind of snag?"

"Jazz led us to the trap door from the schematics…and we've been fighting with it for the last five minutes or so. It won't even lift a couple of inches. There may be something blocking it."

Donny resisted the urge to take a deep breath. "Well, of course there is."