Chapter 78

Usually, Friday nights at the Star Potential Studios ran like clockwork for Zoey. The last classes started at 7PM in order for the studio to be finished by 9 o'clock.

Claire and Sam would be working with her, as well as two older instructors, Maria and Caitlin. Maria was a sweet woman of around 35-years-old who taught at Star Potential Studios longer than anyone else. Caitlin was a national champion gymnast who injured her arm a year ago during a routine. She was taking the time for her broken arm to heal by teaching at the studio that taught her.

Zoey was leading the youngest group, since many of them felt most comfortable with her. Caitlin was a bit too intense for teaching younger students and Claire was enjoying working with intermediate students prepare for another tournament.

Since Claire had overcome her fear of competitions, many students had come to her for advice about nervousness and stress.

Zoey had to admit, Claire was really becoming a role model for the students.

She looked over at the clock and noticed it was around 8:30. It was going to be time to close up soon.

"All right guys! Time to start packing up and getting to the locker rooms!" Zoey shouted clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.

The front door crashed open, the wood splintering as it fell to the ground. Windows inside the studio were shattered as Foot Bots climbed through.

Students started screaming in terror as Maria tried to get them all behind her.

Three girls clung to Zoey's legs as more Foot Bots came in through the front door. A young Japanese girl and a black man followed behind them. The girl had on a ninja outfit and the man looked like he belonged in a lab.

"Stockman, check the computers."

Is that Baxter Stockman? And Karai?

Zoey kneeled on the ground and tried to comfort the girls.

What is Stockman doing in the office?

Claire eyed Zoey across the room. The turtles had prepared them for a situation like this.

"The important thing," Leonardo said. "Is to not let anyone you know each other or us. Let them figure it out if they are smart enough. Act like strangers."

Karai had black hair, except for the back of her skull which was dyed blonde. She had red marks on the corners of her eyes, giving her a more intense look.

"Now, I'm going to make this easy. You answer our questions and things go smoothly. Give us any problems-"

She snapped her fingers and the Foot Bots pulled out their weapons.

"Well...you get the idea. So, I'm going to ask this once and only once. Where is April O'Neal?"

Claire and Zoey felt their hearts stop for a brief moment.

Sam, with a catch in her voice, spoke up.

"We don't have anyone named April here."

Karai went over to Sam and knocked the gymnast to the floor.

"Don't lie! Stockman is looking through your files to find out when she's here."

A little girl sobbed into Zoey's leg.

"She's not lying!" Zoey said. "We don't have any April whoever here!"

Karai scoffed and went to the office. No one was telling her the truth...or they really didn't know anything. Papers were all over the floor as Stockman scanned through a computer.

"There's no April here. Not even an O'Neal."

"Impossible! The turtles are in this location too much-"

Karai punched a hole in the wall.

"Father comes back in three days. I need to have that rat by then!"

Karai stormed back out, where the Foot Bots were trying to each hold a person. They were struggling with the younger children. The kunoichi saw a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail was yelling at the robots.

"Stop it! You're hurting them! They're just kids! Let them go!"

Karai groaned. The kids were screaming and crying. This was not how this mission was supposed to go. Either April was going to be here or there was some indicator on the computer that she was a student there.

The angry ninja went through every strategy in her mind.

Wait...

"Foot Bots!" she yelled. "Let them go but stand guard."

The Foot Bots let the people go but stood very close.

Karai knew it was hard to keep too many hostages...five would be best. She pointed to people as she spoke.

"Foot Bots, capture these five, let the rest go-"

The kids were too scared to move.

A brunette girl with her hair in a bun spoke up.

"P-please. Let Maria go and take them out. They are all too scared to move..."

Karai turned to the Hispanic woman.

"Fine. Let her go. The rest come with us."

In the Lair, Holly was sitting on the couch with Mikey next to her. Leonardo was sparring with Raphael as Donatello tried to meditate with Master Splinter by the water. It was Donatello's turn to pick up the girls from work in a few minutes.

Holly was flicking through the channels to find something to watch.

Mikey was trying to keep track of the channels but she was going way too fast. Was she even seeing what was on the stations?

Holly passed by a news channel but heard the word "ninja."

She put the channel back on. The usual anchorman, Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe was standing in front of Star Potential Studios. As the man spoke, the turtles and Master Splinter listened in.

"Authorities at this time have no current leads but have reason to believe the gang known as the Purple Dragons are responsible for the kidnapping of 4 teenage girls at the studio behind me."

Raphael and Donatello couldn't move.

Both of their girls were there that night.

A Hispanic woman came on the screen. The police were trying to put the woman into a car.

"I'm telling you! That girl was after-"

The camera couldn't catch the woman's words after the car door slammed.

"Do you think they have-" Leonardo said.

Raphael's entire body was filled with fury. He clenched his fists and his eyes turned white.

"What do we do?" Donatello said gathering up his gear. "Zoey-chan can't-oh this is all my fault!"

Mikey instinctively pulled Holly closer to him in fear she would disappear next.

Holly could tell the turtles were all wired up.

"Guys, calm down. You know who has them. It has to be Karai and the Foot."

"What if they know that Zoey-" Donatello said unable to breathe. "I-I can't-"

Master Splinter slammed his staff on the ground.

"Boys. Calm down. You need to focus. Go to the surface and try to find out anything. If the Foot has discovered your connection to the girls, then the Foot would want you to follow them."

Claire, Zoey, Sam, and Caitlin were taken to a large, empty warehouse. Foot Bot parts, large boxes, and alien technology were everywhere.

The girls were forced to their knees as two mutants came out from behind a stack of boxes. One was a large purple fish with metal legs and sharp teeth. The other was a very tall wolf-like creature with black fur, almost like a skeletal werewolf.

Claire felt her throat dry up.

Is that Fishface and Rahzar?

Karai paced in front of the girls.

"Now, one of you must know April O'Neal. Who is going to cooperate and let the others go free?"

Sam tried to be tough, even though she felt faint.

"Please, you think a few guys in Halloween costumes will scare us?"

Rahzar growled menacingly.

"Who says we're wearing costumes?"

After almost an hour of searching, the turtles couldn't find anything.

Raphael stomped on the rooftop they were on.

"No note or anything! How the shell are we supposed to find Claire?"

Leonardo knew there was someone who could help. Someone who was great at tracking.

But he knew his brothers wouldn't like the idea.

"Come on, we're going back underground."

Since he wasn't exactly sure where he was going, Leo had to use his instincts and training for any signs of movement.

"Leo, what are we doing here?" Raphael grumbled. "Claire and Zoey won't be in the sewers!"

Leonardo shushed him.

"We didn't find anyone on the surface. I'm going to the one person who can find Claire right now."

Leonardo led the his brothers down a series of tunnels they hadn't been through in quite a while. The leader hoped he had listened to Claire correctly when she told him where to find-

A plastic cake wrapper crackled under his foot.

Deep in the tunnel, the boys heard some movement. They pulled out their weapons in instinct.

"Don't come any closer," a voice warned.

Raphael recognized the voice.

Slash came out of his home and walked up to the turtles.

"Spike?" Mikey asked confused.

The massive turtle let out a screeching roar before he spoke.

"It's Slash! And why are you here?"

He turned and was about to go back to his home.

"Guess I couldn't trust her to keep a secret..."

Leonardo took a step forward.

"Claire's been kidnapped by the Foot. She's in trouble along-"

Slash whirled around and pinned Raphael to the wall.

"You let her get taken? She can't defend herself with that pathetic police baton! Do you have any idea what they'll do to her?"

Raphael winced in pain but looked into Slash's eyes.

They were filled with terror and worry.

Slash dropped Raphael and started heading back to his home.

"I'll find her. I can always find her..."

He grabbed his large morning star weapon and passed by the turtles.

"What are you going to do?" Donatello asked Slash. "We looked all over for any clue."

"I've got Birdie's scent memorized. I could find her even if she went back home to PA."

Raphael eyed Slash warily. It was then the red-masked turtle noticed Slash's shell had been broken, most likely after his fall, but looked almost completely healed.

"How do you know about Claire so much? And what's with the nickname?"

Slash chuckled darkly.

"You think she was really working all those extra shifts? She was fixing my shell. Nursing me back to health. She even found me this new home. Purposefully made sure it was one you guys rarely went by."

Slash still had a look of worry in his eyes as well as shaky hands.

"I won't let the Foot hurt Birdie..."

At the Foot warehouse, Zoey was trying to keep an eye out for any possible exits and places the girls could escape to. Karai had taken Caitlin towards the back of the warehouse half an hour ago to interrogate her. The view of what was happening was blocked by mountains of crates.

Fishface was guarding Zoey, Claire, and Sam while Rahzar was with Karai. Foot Bots were scattered around the warehouse. Each girl has ropes tying their hands behind their back as they were forced to sit on the ground.

Sam was struggling to stay conscious.

"Is your blood sugar low?" Claire asked worried.

Sam nodded.

"I need my insulin or orange juice...something..."

When Karai came back, Caitlin was dragged behind her. The passed out girl had a few visible bruises but looked relatively unhurt.

Thank goodness Zoey thought relieved.

The kunoichi tossed the girl to a Foot Bot.

"Put her somewhere for the cops to find her. She didn't know anything."

"Are you sure?" Fishface asked cautiously.

Two Foot Bots carried Caitlin out of the building.

Rahzar growled.

"I can tell when someone is lying. She's just a mindless brat. We made sure she wouldn't remember this encounter."

Fishface was not happy with the situation.

"That girl was probably just like these ones. We have three potentially useless hostages and no connection to April O'Neal or the turtles or the rat! When the Shredder hears about this, he'll have-"

Karai cut him off.

"One of them has to know something!"

Zoey spoke up.

"Whatever weirdness is going on here, that Fish guy is right! We don't know any gang called "the turtles!" I mean we know the Purple Dragons were around but nothing about turtles! Sam's a diabetic and needs her insulin! Please let us go!"

Rahzar went over and smelled the girls.

He smelled Zoey very carefully.

"She's been in the sewers..."

Zoey shook in terror. She couldn't let them know anything.

Claire made a very loud sound of disgust.

"Zoey! Seriously, a scholarship isn't worth going into the sewers!"

It took Zoey a second to register what Claire was doing.

"I'm going to Polytechnic Institute of Technology! I need as many grants as I can!"

"What were you looking for, then?"Rahzar growled.

"I'm looking about how there is too much sewage overflow in the New York City's underground networks that it is seeping into local waterways."

Zoey feigned a gasp.

"Is that how you guys were changed? Were you a normal fish in the river?"

Fishface groaned and put his hand on his face.

"This whole thing was a waste of time. Just wrap this up and we'll never speak of this again."

"I refuse," Karai said. "One of them has to know April O'Neal. Did you check your phones?"

Claire glared at Karai.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're in leotards. We aren't allowed to have cell phones in the studio."

Fishface chuckled.

"Looks like Karai is losing control."

Karai grabbed Claire by the hair and yanked her up off the floor.

"Claire!" Zoey called out.

Karai dragged Claire behind the boxes, followed by Rahzar again.

Slash led the turtles over the rooftops as he sniffed for Claire's scent.

"She's close," he said grunting.

Raphael still had a hard time believing Claire would keep such a big secret from him. Wasn't he her boyfriend?

She knew exactly how Slash was doing and even found him a place to live!

Slash suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?" Mikey asked.

The blue-skinned turtle pointed to a warehouse.

"There."

Raphael pulled out his sai.

"Fine, let's go in and save 'em."

"Idiot," Slash yelled. "The Foot took them because of a connection to you. How will it look if you guys came in?"

Leonardo nodded.

"He's right. We need a better strategy."

Claire was punched hard in the right eye by Karai. The girl was in a chair as Karai circled around her.

"Quit the silent treatment. You know who she is, don't you?"

Rahzar growled.

"She knows far more than she's letting on."

Claire refused to speak.

Karai hit Claire again in the face.

"If you're not going to start talking, I'll just keep this up."

Claire felt Karai's foot start to push the chair back on its two back legs. She wasn't able to brace herself as she hit the floor hard.

The air was knocked out of her lungs.

Rahzar was amazed Karai was being this ruthless to a stranger. Usually it was reserved for people she hated.

A loud crashing noise came from outside the warehouse. Monstrous roars seemed to be coming closer and closer to the warehouse.

"Bradford, go see what's happening."

The werewolf-like mutant left, walked passed Xever and the other hostages, and opened up the truck door.

A large mutated turtle was out there destroying the street. He was throwing cars and knocking over streetlights.

"Karai, you should see this," he shouted, getting the large turtle's attention.

Suddenly, the turtle charged at Rahzar and threw the wolf into the wall.

Xever rushed over to try and fight the mutant, but was horribly out-sized.

Karai came out and saw the turtle was on a rampage.

"There's more turtles?" she growled. "Foot Bots, take him down!"

The Foot Bots charged but were quickly shoved off by the turtle.

Zoey thought this must be Slash, but the turtle didn't have on a mask or anything like the turtles normally had on.

"He went in here!" Michelangelo's voice shouted loudly.

The four turtles came in and pretended to be focused on the large mutant.

"Foot Bots! Get the turtles! All of them!" Karai shouted joining the fray.

"What's the Foot doing here?" Leonardo shouted as he sliced through a Bot.

Zoey understood: they were trying to make it seem as if this was chance.

Mikey purposefully threw a few shuriken, one landing close to the girls.

"Sam, can you cut your rope with that sharp thing?"

Sam still felt tired, but moved closer and grabbed the ninja star.

"Whoever this April girl is... I hate her."

Once Sam was freed from her ropes, she handed the star to Zoey who then cut through hers..

"Let's get out of here," Zoey whispered thankful everyone was distracted with the huge fight.

Zoey put Sam's arm around her neck and carried her to where Claire was.

It seemed to be a three-way brawl between one giant turtle, four smaller turtles, and then the ninja who captured them. Zoey was able to sneak passed them without being noticed.

Claire was on the ground, groaning in pain. The right side of her face was badly bruised and her eye was swollen.

Zoey kneeled on the ground to cut through Claire's ropes.

"Claire, Claire, are you okay?"

She mumbled incoherently.

"Come on, I can't carry you both out of here."

Claire sat up and tried to focus. She helped Zoey carry Sam towards the exit.

Slash saw the girls and immediately noticed Claire's beaten face. He yelled loudly as he smashed into Fishface angrily.

The three girls tried to sneak passed the large fight, but Rahzar noticed them.

"They're getting away!"

Claire pushed Sam and Zoey towards the door.

"Split up," she groaned before running.

Zoey didn't want to, but the Foot Bots were coming towards them.

Zoey piggy-backed Sam down one alley and Claire went down a separate alley.

As long as Zoey could get to one of the police cars she heard circling the area, she knew she and Sam would be safe.

She hoped Sam would be out of it enough to not remember anything about giant mutant animals.

It was a good strategy to split up, since it made the enemy separate, but Claire was pretty hurt. Zoey was worried if there wasn't some other way they could have done their escape.

When the girls escaped from the warehouse, the Foot Bots, Karai, Fishface, and Rahzar went outside to try and find them.

Leonardo was thankful their plan of pretending Slash was a rogue, mindless mutant worked, but he had seen how bad Claire was hurt. She was conscious enough to run, but for how long?

He leapt over with Donatello to the rooftop where Slash was. They pretended to be fighting him.

"Slash, you better run off," Donatello said. "Go into the sewers in case the girls go there."

He growled.

"Someone better tell me how Claire is later."

Leonardo watched as Slash disappeared.

However, now that the turtles were out in the open, Karai was mercilessly trying to capture them. Raphael was fighting Fishface as Mikey fought Bradford. Foot Bots kept chasing the turtles as they went along rooftops.

Raphael seemed to be working out his anger on Fishface.

Leonardo could understand, he thought as the fight kept moving over rooftops, why his brother was angry. He had seen his girlfriend's face severely swollen and was furious.

It was when Leo cut off another Foot Bot's arm that he realized they were moving too close to Stacy's house. She could be out on the roof with her parents.

"Guys, retreat!" Leonardo shouted.

Raphael ignored his words as the short turtle continuously tried to strike Fishface.

Leonardo saw Donatello and Mikey weren't listening to him either.

If the fight keeps going...she'll see us...