I'm only updating this fast cause I'm sick, guys. I can't keep this pace up. Except I REALLY want to get to the final battle, which is actually great incentive...

(I owe the training scene to metaraymek, who had me thinking Splinter-y thoughts this week)

History Bites: Act One, Part 2

They stood in stunned silence for a moment as the implications of Donnie's words sank in. Then, all eyes were on Leo. Shoving his fear for April aside, he snapped, "Where?"

"The museum," Donnie answered.

"Raph, Mikey, gear up." Nodding, the other two sprinted for the dojo. Leo turned back to Donnie. "Go. Get what you need; security's gonna be tight." Leo watched the fear drain from Donnie's face, replaced by a firm resolve. As Donnie ran for his lab, Leo raced to the dojo after the others.

It took only seconds to retrieve his katana and slide them home, the move as familiar and easy as breathing. Raph and Mikey were already heading out, Donnie's bō in Raph's hand, and Leo moved to follow them.

"Leonardo."

He paused in the doorway, turning back to face his sensei. Splinter stood beneath the tree, hands clasped behind his back, seeming for all the world his usual stoic self. But Leo knew better, and could see the tension and the worry beneath Splinter's steady gaze. Splinter locked eyes with Leo, and the rat's expression hardened. "Bring her home."

Leo's eyes narrowed, and he bowed to his sensei before running after his brothers.

Donnie met them at the turnstiles, his bag slung over his shoulder, catching his bō as Raph tossed it to him. They cleared the turnstiles at a leap, and plunged into the darkness of the tunnels.

"Donnie, did you tell her to stay put?"

"I sent the message," Donnie said, Tphone in hand. "Whether or not she got it, I don't know. If she's still underground, it might not have reached her yet." He did something to his display, and frowned. "The GPS in her phone says she's already at the museum."

"Seriously?" Raph pulled up alongside Donnie as they left the subways, vaulting along a network of interconnected sewer pipes. "You put a tracker in your girlfriend's phone?"

Leo drew up on their other side. "Does she know about that?"

Donnie shot them a disgusted look. "First, she's not my girlfriend, and second, of course she knows. She thought it was a good idea in case she ever got grabbed again." He kicked off against the wall to bring him up to the upper level of piping as the others followed not far behind. "Jeez, you guys, give me some credit. I do have boundaries."

Leo snorted. "Didn't you hack into a government computer so you could postpone a military training flight because it was going to interfere with your stargazing time with April?"

Donnie blinked at him. "Okay, so they're flexible boundaries."

They ran out of piping as the sewers opened up into a swirling catchment basin. Donnie used his bō to launch himself across the vortex to the tunnel opening on the other side as Mikey swung over with his kusarigama. Leo used the pipes along the walls as stepping stones, while Raph just powered straight across.

"She'll wait for us though," Raph said as he landed, but he sounded uncertain. "She's not gonna just go charging in against the Kraang."

"This is April," Mikey pointed out. "She never means to get involved; the fighting just kind of finds her anyway." He thought about that. "She's kinda like me that way."

Leo exchanged a look with his brothers, and they redoubled their pace. It wasn't that they didn't trust April's common sense. She wouldn't intentionally go it alone against the Kraang. Just as she'd meant to stay out of the fight against the ratroach queen. But Mikey was right; trouble had a habit of seeking her out. Just a week ago, they'd almost lost her to Dogpound and the Foot, and only speed and Donnie's ingenuity had allowed them to take her back. That had shaken them, though nobody seemed to want to admit it, and now the entire family was still in something of a heightened state where April's safety was concerned. The thought of anyone else laying a hand on her filled Leo with an emotion he hadn't had a lot of experience with in his fifteen years on this Earth.

Pure, unadulterated rage.

April looked down as her silent phone buzzed with an incoming text. Pulling it out, she read it and rolled her eyes before firing off a reassuring message. Of course she wasn't going to go fight the Kraang by herself. She looked back at the building in front of her. She was, however, going to get herself in there and figure out where most of them were, and report her recon back to the guys. The more time she could save them, the faster they could get to the Kraang and stop whatever it was they were up to. And if they could hold on to one long enough, find out what it knew about her dad.

She had some time, at least. It was nearing closing time at the museum, but the sun wasn't quite down yet, and they'd need the dark for cover. She closed her eyes briefly, preparing for what she needed to do next, casting her mind back to her training session with Splinter.

April collapsed to her knees, shaking with exhaustion. "We've been at this for hours. How much longer do I have to keep doing this?"

Splinter regarded her levelly. "Until you convince me that there is a cat in that tree."

She looked up at the decidedly empty branches above her. "But there isn't."

"I know." He smiled a little. "That is why getting me to look is a challenge."

With a noise of frustration, April buried her face in her hands. "Can you at least explain why I'm doing this?"

"Because it is an important part of becoming ninja," he answered, raising a hand to stroke his beard. "Before weapons, before combat, you must learn the art of invisibility."

April looked up at him. "I'm not getting how making you look for a nonexistent cat makes me invisible." She looked at her hands. "What about the sneaky stuff, and the smoke bombs." She grinned eagerly. "Can I use smoke bombs?"

"No," he said. "Not yet." He sighed. "There are more ways than one to become invisible, April. My sons have learned to become one with the shadows, and to use the darkness as their ally. But for you, there is a different path. There is also an art to being invisible in plain sight."

April hugged her arms around herself. "I still don't understand."

"Think of it this way," he said. "Imagine that you wished to obtain a copy of an upcoming test at school." He paused, and pointed a finger at her, his voice going stern. "Not that you will ever, ever do this."

"Of course not," April said, holding up her hands.

"Good." He placed both hands behind his back again. "Now, imagine that a teacher walks into the office as you are attempting to look at the test. Who does she supect? The student who is glancing over her shoulder and showing fear at being seen, or the student who smiles and greets the teacher with a wave?"

"Oh," April said, her eyes widening. "I think I get it."

Splinter nodded. "When you can convince someone that you belong in a place, even when that person knows that you do not, you will be able to disappear even while the whole world stares at you. You are fortunate, as well; your gifts will help you with this particular skill. It is not easy to convince a person of something they know to be untrue."

"I still think smoke bombs would be more fun," she said. "The guys get all the good stuff."

"Perhaps," said Splinter, pausing only a little. "But I teach you this skill now because it is one that they cannot master."

It took her only a second to understand what he meant. April breathed in sharply, and looked away, unable to meet his eyes. Of course they couldn't. It didn't matter how confident they were; nobody was going to overlook a giant turtle walking around in broad daylight. It was just that they were so firmly a part of her everyday life now... Her face burned as she blushed, mortified by the mistake she kept making.

Splinter knelt before her, his knees almost touching hers. Very gently, his fingers caught her chin, and he raised her gaze to meet his. "There is no shame in forgetting that my sons are not as you are," he said softly. "They have different strengths than those that you bring to this family, it is true. But it is your very differences that complement each other's abilities. You strengthen them where they are lacking, and serve to make us more than what we were."

Pain lanced through her, sudden and unexpected. It was his gentleness that undid her, for in that moment, he was so much more father than sensei, the grief that she walled away as part of her daily ritual slipped past her defenses and took her down.

Splinter, being who and what he was, knew immediately what had happened. She could see the moment he read it in her eyes. And because he was not just her sensei, but also a husband and father who knew what it was to have the spectre of an absent loved one surface without warning and knock your world out from under you, he silently opened his arms.

He was so unlike Kirby. They were night and day. Were they anything alike, she wouldn't have been able to accept that comfort without feeling like she was betraying her father. But it was those differences that allowed her to lean forward and bury her face against him, her hands clutching desperately at his robe, weeping quietly into his fur so that she didn't alert the overprotective brothers in the room beyond whose concern now would have undone her completely. For his part, he simply held her, letting the solid bulwark of his strength shore her up as one of his hands traced soothingly over her hair.

And when exactly the right amount of time had passed, he let her go, and brushed the drying tears from her face, and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Now," he said. "About that cat."

April's eyes narrowed. It was now or never. She dug out her school ID, slipping it into the lanyard she almost never wore, and slung it around her neck. Then, squaring her shoulders, she marched up the steps and through the front doors.

The Tyrannosaurus was still now behind its fence, its power off and the scientists gone for the night, but their lab coats were still draped over the chairs next to the control unit. And as she passed by, nobody noticed that there was one coat too few, or that the girl who had come through the door with her hair in a ponytail now sported glasses, a white coat, and hair loose to her shoulders.

I'm just a grad student here to work on my thesis.

She marched past the security desk, never breaking her stride, and nodded to the guards on the desk. One of them stared at her with the look of a person who feels she really ought to recognize someone but just couldn't place her and was too embarrassed to admit it, while the other just gave her a bored wave as he typed something into his phone.

April didn't change her pace, didn't pause, didn't look back, until she was up the stairs. Then she leaned back against a wall and let her breath out in a rush. Pulling off her glasses, which only made things blurry since her contacts were already in her eyes, she shoved them away and dug out her phone, typing in a quick text and sending it. Then she headed up the stairs, keeping a sharp lookout as she went. The Kraang didn't stand a chance tonight. She was on fire.

Leo watched the confusion spread across Donnie's face as he read the message on his Tphone. "What does it say?" Leo asked.

"'The cat is in the tree.'" Donnie read back, and looked at Leo. "I have no idea what she means."

"Maybe it's a secret code," Mikey said. "Oooh, I know. Tell her 'the frog croaks at midnight.'"

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Raph demanded.

Mikey crossed his arms. "Spy stuff. You wouldn't understand." He ducked Raph's annoyed swipe and hid behind Leo, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

"What do we do now?" Donnie asked. He turned his face up to the manhole cover, and the thin beams of light still trickling through it.

"We wait," said Leo.

Donnie sighed, and his face, dappled with light from above, was tense with anxiety. As Mikey and Raph got into a game of keepaway with Mikey's Tphone, Leo moved closer to Donnie. "She'll be okay," he said quietly.

"I know," said Donnie. "I'm just gonna stand here and worry anyway, if it's all the same to you."

"I'll just keep you company then," said Leo, and placed an arm around Donnie's shoulders. Without looking away from the manhole, Donnie raised his hand to cover Leo's in wordless gratitude. Letting Mikey and Raph deal with their concerns in their own way, they watched the fading of the light that barred them from their April as effectively as any physical barrier.

Leo had meant it when he said she'd be fine.

He'd just feel a whole lot better when he could make sure of that fact himself.