Author's Note: Just to clarify, in the last chapter, I separated the more grisly section from the brief summary using a bunch of 'a's because I couldn't get blank spaces to work. The 'a's were just there to provide a visual barrier so that someone wishing to avoid the unpleasant part wouldn't have to see any of it when he or she scrolled to the bottom of the page.

And now, the tale continues…

"Donnie! Donnie! Donatello!"

Donnie was completely unaware of his brothers shouting his name as he ran across the rooftops. He was hardly even aware of the obstacles in his path—he leapt past them without thinking. All he could think about was April. All he saw was the digital map on his phone that would lead him to her. It wasn't until Mikey flung his kusurigama chain around Donnie's ankles, tripping him, that he regained awareness of his present surroundings.

"MIKEY!" Donnie yelled. "What the heck was that?!"

"Leo made me do it!" Mikey replied.

In a moment, Leo was at Donnie's side, helping him up. "Donnie, if you don't slow down and think, you're going to get yourself killed."

"But April—"

"You're not going to be much help to her if you're dead, bro," Mikey said.

"We're just as determined to help her as you are," Raph added.

"But you need to slow down!" Leo reiterated.

Donnie knew they were right. Though all of his being protested, he took a deep breath and tried to slow down his thought processes. He looked at the map on his phone. "The location is in a district that's pretty notorious for abandoned warehouses and such."

"Okay," Leo said. "Good. Now, let's stay together. Donnie, you lead with the map. When we are close enough to see the building, you have to promise me you'll wait for my orders, okay?"

Donnie swallowed. "Okay, Leo."

"Let's go."

They ran in formation—swiftly, and now silently. All of them, even Raph, seemed to understand how crucial this mission was.

As Donnie ran, his breathing was to the rhythm of I'm coming, April.

Finally, they were nearly on top of the location indicated on his t-phone. "I think this is the place," Donnie said, stopping short. He gestured to an abandoned, crumbling office building up ahead. He could hardly hear Leo over the pounding of his own heart.

"Good. Let's take a minute to stake it out before we charge in."

Donnie forced himself to be still while Leo took a pair of binoculars and surveyed the building. When Donnie glanced over at Raphael, he could see that his hot-headed brother was on the verge of ignoring Leo's instructions.

Their eyes met briefly; Raph nodded as if to say, We're together on this, bro.

Leo handed Donnie the binoculars. "I count at least twenty—and there are probably some concealed. My guess is that they're Footbots. I haven't fought a human Foot soldier in months."

"Let's go through the roof," Raph suggested impatiently.

Donnie did a visual sweep of the roof. "There seem to be quite a few up there, too."

"Oh! What if three of us draw out some of their guards? Then one of us can infiltrate!" Mikey said, as he bounced up and down.

Donnie turned and stared at his brother. "One-man infiltration. Completely counter-intuitive…brilliant!"

"Of course it is, bro! Besides, I knew I was gonna end up being bait eventually anyway."

"Actually," Leo said, "We'll be the bait, Mikey. You were the one who did best in training."

"You can't be serious!" Donnie and Raph shouted at the same time.

"You were right, Donnie. Mikey succeeded because we were compromised. You're too emotionally wound up to go in. Raph lacks the patience."

"Then you go!" Donnie said. "We can't trust Mikey with April's fate!"

"Thanks a lot, dude," Mikey muttered.

Leo folded his arms. "I'm the leader. I make the calls—and my instincts are telling me this is the right one. We'll draw them out. Mikey, as soon as you find an opening, you're going in. And for heaven's sake—don't screw it up."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Raph muttered.

"Shut it, Raph," Leo said. He turned to face Mikey. "I know you can do this, Michelangelo. Just like we practiced. Once you find April, call us. We'll try to cover your retreat."

Mikey drew a deep breath. For the first time in his life, something like seriousness filled his eyes. He turned to look at Donnie. "Dude—I'm gonna make sure she's safe. I promise."

This is insane, Donnie thought. Nevertheless, he handed his t-phone to Mikey. "This should help you find her inside the building a little more easily. Well, at least her tessen."

Mikey nodded.

"Okay, guys. Let's go," Leo said.

They left Mikey behind and stealthily moved toward the most heavily guarded entrance.

"Leo," Donnie said, "are you sure that we can trust Mikey with this?"

"I need you and Raph here," Leo said. "Mikey is faster than all of us—and his weapons are better for infiltration. Think about it logically, Donnie. You're letting your feelings mess with your head."

"I'd rather stop talking and mess with those Footbots' heads," Raph growled.

"On three, guys."

As the Shredder started to remove his armor, April knew that the moment of escape she had been waiting for would never come. There was nothing she could do to save herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as if by doing so, she could escape the horror she was about to suffer.

There was a sudden banging on the door. "Master Shredder! We are under attack!"

"I told you in no uncertain terms to leave me alone!" Shredder growled.

"It's the turtles! They've already wiped out half the guards."

The turtles. April opened her eyes; her heart had nearly stopped beating her relief was so intense.

Shredder hadn't even fully taken off all of his armor. He glared angrily at her, as if it were her fault that the turtles had managed to find this place. He took several steps forward, and put his mouth next to her ear. "Don't think you've found a reprieve," he hissed. "Once I've defeated Hamato Yoshi's disciples, I'll ensure that your suffering is twice what it would have been."

With that, he replaced his helmet on his head and put back on the few pieces of armor he had removed. He turned out the light and left, locking the door behind him, leaving April alone in the darkness.

She barely even heard Shredder yelling at Fishface—all she knew was that she had been spared for the moment.

But she also knew that if she was still in this room when Shredder returned, she would not be so lucky.

For several minutes, she tried twisting her wrists and ankles free from the restraints. However, it did no more good this time than it had the first several hundred.

She thought she heard crashing in the distance.

Come on, April, she thought. There's got to be a way out of this.

Suddenly, she heard a soft voice on the other side of the door. "April? It's Michelangelo. Are you in there?"

"Yes," she nearly shouted. "Help!"

"Keep it down, dudette," Mikey said. However, a moment later, the door was kicked in with a loud slam. "Booyakasha! Oh, yeah!"

"You told me to be quiet?" April hissed.

"Chillax. It's time to get out of here now," Mikey said, as he fumbled for the light switch.

"Don't look at me!" squealed April when the light came on.

Mikey yelped and dropped his nunchuks in his haste to cover his eyes. "Naked," he whimpered.

"I'm chained to the table, Mikey. Get me out of here."

"Uh, gonna be kind of hard to do that without looking at you."

"Well then—just don't look too closely!"

Mikey picked up his nunchuks again. He popped out the blade that was hidden in the handle on his kusurigama and clumsily started picking the locks.

"Hurry up!" April urged.

"Look, I'm not exactly a genius at picking locks, okay?"

One lock undone.

"Come on, Mikey…"

"I'm trying!"

Two locks.

There was the sound of crashing and shouting down the hall. Mikey made a whimpering sound.

Three locks.

"Almost there," he said, fidgeting with the last one.

"Hurry!"

"I'm already said I'm trying!"

Just as the lock clicked and the manacle opened, two Footbots charged into the room.

"Mikey! Look out!"

Mikey ducked and April rolled off of the table onto the floor. While Mikey held off the Footbots, April tried to see if any of the cut-up scraps of her clothing would be big enough to provide her with any modicum of modesty.

After taking down the two intruders, Mikey stood at the door keeping watch. "This isn't the best time to do your makeup, April," he muttered.

"I am not leaving here naked!" April countered, tying a scrap of her ruined shirt around her chest. It hardly covered anything, but April fleetingly thought that she had seen more revealing swimsuits at the pool.

While she tied a few more scraps together around her waist, Mikey shouted, "We have to go now, dude!"

April scrambled to grab her tessens. "Let's go then!"

They ran out into the hall—only to see nearly thirty Footbots coming toward them.

Shredder stood at their head.

"Destroy the turtle. Leave the girl."