Cris watched him exit his what looked like a rental car, with that toothpick still casually sticking out of her mouth. Ken seemed shocked at first to see her waiting for him. That wore off quickly and his eyes narrowed and he began to approach.

"I wouldn't." Cris warned him in a dangerous low tone. "Gonna be the first and last time I tell you, go away and leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that." He snapped as he was still coming closer.

Well, she tried...

He reached the top step of the porch, and reached out to grab her arm. He never made contact. Cris had her hanbo out and spinning and it smashed into that almost offending arm, knocking it back down. She backed up from him, giving him a calm look as he cursed up a storm.

"Bitch!"

Yeah, yeah...

The hanbo twirled easily in her hand before it was resheathed. Then she placed a palm on the bannister and easily cleared it. Once more heading for the woods.

She was going to show him which one of them now knew the most about hunting.

And it wasn't going to be him.

Cris smiled as he heard Ken follow her. This, was going to be fun...

.

.

Leo watched as the convoy pulled out of Karai's compound. His eyes a hard, steely blue. Michi was leading this last strike force in his place. Leo had come to trust this man who had opened up to him first. Telling the turtle about his worries for the clan. Worries that Leo himself could understand. He had the inkling on an idea on what to do to solve his rapidly becoming friend's worries, but he unfortunately had to wait and see how everything played out before he could put that into motion. Everything was still too uneasy and could explode at any moment.

Instead, Leo had asked the man for trust and faith, along with reassurance, when he informed the elder that Leo would not be personally leading them. Michi seemed a bit startled, but nodded in understanding when he guessed what was on Leo's mind. Probably because over time he had come to know Karai as well as the turtle leader did. He would lead, and cover for Leo the best he could.

Now Leo rested on the rooftop of Karai's building. Crouched lightly as he calmed, gathered himself, and took a different journey. He reached out, pushing his mental awareness, farther and farther. Sheer determination fueling him now. He concentrated, sweat beginning to build on his brow from the sheer effort. Then, after a long while, he was rewarded. He once more made contact with her. He could sense her. And smile when he became aware that she was actually sleeping. It was still early in the evening, but her ordeal may very well be starting to wear on his normally night owl lover. He was going to make sure he rectified that situation tonight.

He didn't try to wake her. If she was tired, she would need her sleep while she could get it. Who knew what tonight would bring. He looked at the horizon, the storm was just on the outside of the city limits. He was reluctant to go for a moment, knowing the reach of some lighting bolts, but once more he was egged on. Somehow reassured that none were going to be aimed at him.

A deep breath was taken, and then he leapt down. He held onto her, and he began to follow her mental pull like a bloodhound.

.

.

Karai waited until her forces were on their way. Then steepled her fingers over her desk. Contemplating. How did she want this to end? Leonardo by her side? Or dead? Well, she supposed that would have to see how he reacted to the death of that wretched woman. Karai even refused to think of her name. As far as the clan leader was concerned, corpses didn't need names. Which she was about to become.

She stood up, and pulled on her own gear. What she didn't tell Leonardo was that she had her own mission planned for tonight. One of extermination. She made her way to the ground level after calling for her ride to be ready. By morning, she smiled at the thought, she would be rid of this thorn in her side.

.

.

Raph's hands clutched on the steering wheel as they sped on. It was coming down to the wire now. They had a fifty fifty chance of finding her in the next choice. If she was even held in one of the remaining two.

Mikey, too, was a bit restless. Pacing in the van as he twirled one of his chucks around. Aloplex was wiping her tanto down with a cloth as she sat patiently in the passenger seat. It was almost silent besides the van's engine humming lightly as they drove on.

Not long after, they pulled up to another bunker. Well, not right on it. If there were guards that would be a bit conspicuous. They slid out and carefully mapped out a path, then jogged off. Time to recon.

.

.

You ever have one of those feelings of restlessness? You know, the kind where you are just twitchy and on edge. Like you want to go somewhere, do something, but you didn't know what?

Yeah. That was me.

Pacing around my little home was really easing that restlessness that was eating at me. Not sure anything would ease it, because I couldn't pinpoint exactly what was causing it. It was a familiar feeling, but just came out of the blue. And as the minutes ticked by it seemed to just grow stronger, as if it were trying to pull me out of here and somewhere out there.

You call me Fievel and we are going to fight.

I just finally gave up trying to figure it out and flopped onto my cot. I noted in passing that my sheets really could use a washing. starting to get a bit grungy and fragrant.

Yeach.

Oh well. Just one more thing on the list of discomforts.

Even though I was feeling miserable, on many levels, I still made myself sleep. Wasn't too hard honestly. The longer I was confined, the more my body became attuned to the call of laziness. There were only so many pushups, situps and forced pacing you could do. Despite my efforts, depression and complacency was starting to take over and my body was reflecting it. God, I was going to hate my first training session back home. Home, had been gone so long even thinking about the place felt weird...

Of course I couldn't sleep long, or deep. As with the exercises, there was only so much sleep you could force your body to take. Feeling a bit sorry for myself, I sighed a bit as I looked up at the hidden camera. Things had been so quiet lately. Ever since that one clear mental message there had been nothing but silence from him. And lord knows I sure as hell wasn't strong enough to reach him.

I rolled my eyes over to the door when I noticed the approach of one of my jailers. Bebop opened the heavy door just wide enough to poke his big head in. "Boss is comin'." He raised his purple shades and he actually seemed a bit worried about something. "Told us ta drag you out-"

Whatever I was going to be dragged to was never revealed. Mainly because there was a huge crash coming from behind him. From what I could tell towards the hall I've seen them come and go. Bebop blinked and slammed my door back shut, clearly he didn't know what was going on either. I got back up and began to head towards that sealed portal, but I froze.

Something big was going on, even from being confined here I could tell that. There was a pair of what sounded like angry roars before the sounds of a fight broke out. A nasty one at that. Walls were shook when something hit it. That actually made me back up a step or two.

Then, there was movement at the door. A shadow covered the slot that my food had been slid through. Then, I had about half a second to get out of the way as the door, and much of the wall with it, suddenly burst inward. With a startled squeal, I scampered out of the way as a very large mass of green and grey came rolling through the wall that had been smashed like wet paper.

I was standing ontop of the meager protection my cot offered, and I just stared in disbelief even as the two snarling individuals kept rolling and tore through another wall. And just like that, my cell was open...

And I was too stunned to believe it, or to believe what I had just seen. That large green blob with a bright spot of red looked an awful lot like... "Raph?"

Standing on my cot, gaping in a stupefied disbelief, relief, and a whole variety of emotions, I supposed I looked pretty stupid. But, my head just didn't want to comprehend what I was seeing. I didn't even snap out of it when I heard a very familiar, and missed voice, ring out with "Dude! Seriously man, have you even heard of a bathtub? Shower? ANything that requires soap and clean?" Looking through the first hole made, another green blob with bright orange shot by so fast with an enraged warthog right behind. "M-mikey?"

I wasn't able to move. I had dreamed of this moment, but now that it was finally here, my body was frozen in shock. I honestly didn't know what to do.

Only my eyes moved as a large creature nimbly dodged around the two separate fights. At first glance all I could see was a tall, lean frame of white. Covered in a dark leather vest and tight leather pants. The bushy tail was also very obvious, as was the odd shaped patch of blue across the snout. The golden eyes were warm as the creature made it's way toward me. It took one look at me, and seemed to think a moment before a furry hand was offered to me. "Come. It's time for you to leave this place." Came out reassuring in a soft, female voice.

I couldn't agree more, but I was still frozen in shock. As much as I wanted to move, I couldn't.

The, honestly very beautiful, white creature tilted her head at me, and smiled. "Come on. The brothers are doing what they can, but we really need to leave. You are Leonardo's Vicky, am I right? We've all been looking for you for quite some time now."

I blinked, a few times. Her mentioning Leo's name finally snapping me out of my stupor. I took her offered hand even as there was another wall shaking crash coming from the area beyond. "Where is he?"

The question held both desperation and singing. I couldn't hide anymore just how much I missed my turtle, and how much I worried for him.

"We don't know." Came the answer. One I wasn't looking forward to hearing. "You were the first one we found. The others are out trying to find him now."

"Others?" I still couldn't wrap my head around everything. Was more than a little dense too because of it.

"Donatello and Ninjara." She clarified. "And, my name is Aloplex."

Even as she half drug, half guided me out of my now ruined cell, I stared at her stupidly. I knew those names too... I suppose if I hadn't been separated from everyone I love for so long, I would have taken all of this in stride better. But right now, this information just jumbled in with everything else.

Aloplex gave me a sympathetic understanding look over her shoulder, right before she pushed me forward towards the exit so I wouldn't get run over by the Raph/Rocksteady steamroller. I briefly looked around just as Aloplex nimbly leapt straight into the air to avoid the same thing she pushed me out of the way of, and by the looks of it, Raph went trough now wall number for as Rocksteady finally got his feet under him and chucked the large turtle off.

Suddenly Mikey was beside me, half carrying and half pulling me as we made for the exit. Still in that daze, i looked around for the other guard...and found him headfirst down a large barral full of pasta...

For the first time in I lost track of how many weeks, I began to laugh. The sight of those thick, but stubby legs kicking back and forth as angry muttering echoed up out of the tomato sauce filled depths forced a much needed laugh that was unstoppable as it rolled out. I was in tears, holding my belly and throat hurting by the time Mikey drug me out of the building that had been my prison. After a few more crashes, Raph and Aloplex also came running out. Rocksteady was following them...right until the building finally said fuck you and collapsed on him. I mean, was inevitable. Weren't many load bearing walls left...

I was on the verge of pissing my self when we finally slowed. They gave me a moment to calm down and gather myself. And then, well Raph was a bit widened, and a bit misty eyed himself when I finally broke into tears and hugged him fiercely. "Raph..."

"It's okay Vic." His large beefcake arms wrapped around me in a hug. "It's okay."

I was so overcome with relief, and hugging, that I missed the way Aloplex was watching, a soft smile on her face. Mikey was next to be hugged to death and he returned it just as tight and without any jokes. They weren't my turtle, but I missed them a hell of a lot too. And I just couldn't believe that i was...free...with members of my family...

I started crying all over again.