A turtle could get used to riding in style like this.

The seats of the taxicab were plush, the interior smelled of fresh pine, and the view was unbeatable even if it was mostly just the dark sewers. Mikey wanted to prop his feet up on the dash but was afraid of hitting one of the many buttons and accidentally triggering something. Whenever they all got back to the lair, he was going to pull Donnie aside and help him label everything.

Because they were all going to make it back to the lair and be okay. Donnie and Raph and Leo and April and Splinter and Hueso and Frankie and Draxum-

The tank careened around a corner and almost smushed him against the side. "Whoa!" The spider shell's arms automatically extended and braced him in the cab as Splinter took them around more hair-raising turns and dark tunnels at break-neck speeds. He was grateful for the support… and the distraction.

Because he couldn't shake the feeling that they might not be able to laugh off this adventure… right away. Raph's nightmares might get worse before they get better, and he was willing to bet Donnie would be difficult, and he had a much longer way to go with Draxum than he had anticipated…

The tank abruptly slowed to a crawl, and Splinter called out for everyone to keep their eyes peeled for anything suspicious. They were by the East River. Mikey squinted about the sewers, once again grateful for the task to pull him out of his own head.

And grateful that Leo convinced everyone to bring Draxum along. Yeah, yeah, as part of the plan, but, maybe it would provide closure. For Draxum, and for… who knew all else. This had to be a step in the right direction for the baron, right? Joining them to fight bad guys? He was still redeemable after, yes, after everything he… did.

No, Mikey wasn't going to give up.

If anything, all this meant he just needed to try harder.

Even the blackest hearts have a little bit of goodness in them. It just wasn't always easy to see. Like those tire tracks.

Oh, tire tracks!

He called out and in the next second they were back rocketing through the sewers, following the trail. No time to lose. Mikey tried to focus once again on the mission at hand. They were close, now, and any minute it would be showtime. Lights up, razzle-dazzle, roll the cameras, action.

"Up ahead!" April shouted.

The tracks ended at a wall. Or so it seemed. Mikey knew sewers, and he knew the layers of grime they accumulated over time, which this wall did not actually have. It only looked dirty, but was really clean and smooth. The perfect canvas, really, if he had his spray cans.

What a shame.

"I got it!" he shouted. He reached up – robot limb mirroring his move – and pulled down a targeting system.

He was a little sad that Donnie wasn't here to see them finally use the Boom Cannons.

"This requires a delicate," he pressed the button, "touch."

BOOOOOOOOOOOMM!

Fire and debris blasted around them as the 'wall' exploded. Mikey whooped and then shrieked as the Turtle Tank spun an abrupt 180, tires screeching. Splinter didn't seem to let off of the gas pedal the entire time as he yanked it into reverse.

They burst through the destroyed wall butt-first, back hatch flying open as they screeched to a halt.

"Everybody out!"

Showtime.

Mikey jumped down the hatch with a "Cowabunga!" followed by a painful "oww" as the landing jostled his arm. He gritted his teeth and hoped no one heard. Mikey cradled his sling and pelted after his brothers as Sunita and Mayhem took the tank controls.

He almost smacked into Raph who froze upon entering the room, eyes blown wide. Mikey vaulted around him and thought oh wow, it really is real.

The room was brighter than he had expected. The fogged doors circling both levels helped break up the white walls somewhat, but geez would it have killed the designers to add a splash of color somewhere? Or change the lights to something warmer?

A handful of panels on the upper walls slid down and glistening, gray, barrels jutted out from their holes. The first of the guns fired bolts of magenta lasers at them.

"Finally, there's some color for this place!" He yelped as Leo tackled him out of the way. Pain shot through his arm and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

"You okay?"

He sucked in a few breaths through clenched teeth. "Yeah, I'm fine!" No way was he going to let Leo think he couldn't do this! He stuck out a thumbs up, and Leo ducked as his robotic arm did the same thing.

"Alright. See if you can take out those lasers." Leo turned his head to where Raph still stood frozen. Mikey flinched as he suddenly bellowed, "RAPH, DUCK OUT!"

Raph shook violently for a moment, then charged forward with a roar. "But Leo, what about the plan?" Mikey cried.

"Still goes! Just a minor tweak!" His brother jumped away from him, dodging a laser. "Take out those defenses and free Donnie and the Yokai!"

"You got it!" Magenta exploded before him and he flipped backwards. The world swirled with pink streaks, white flashes, and black scorch marks as he zoomed around the room. The explosions were always hot on his heels, one second behind him. He couldn't work like this! He needed to see! He needed to razz his tazz!

"Hey, spider shell, fight mode! Fight mode!"

"Fight mode activated."

With a leap, the other robot arms extended and grabbed the catwalk above him. They flipped him upwards along the wall, lasers trailing behind him, and launched him away from a particularly strong blast that had him spinning in the air. He screamed, but then landed on two feet, surprisingly well-coordinated. Mikey peered at the arms extending around him.

"You razzmatazz?"

"Affirmative."

"SWEET, baby!"

He scuttled up the wall like a roach and flung himself off the catwalk. Twisting in the air, he spotted a Raph-sized hole in a set of double-doors on the second level that gaped into a hallway beyond. A wide platform was suspended next to the doors, and Leo, April, and April's dad were below it. His brother's whip was curled around one of the cables and they were climbing up it, one by one.

One of the wall lasers was turning towards them.

With another twist he landed on the opposite catwalk. He pelted towards the laser, never taking his eyes off the barrel that began to glow. Mikey jumped.

"Gotcha!"

He wasn't entirely sure what the arms were going to do when they took hold of the laser. Maybe electrocute it. Maybe redirect its power.

He certainly didn't expect them to brutally rip it out of the wall and smash it into one of the fogged doors.

Mikey blinked a couple times, staring at the shattered door and smoking hole in the wall. A purple goat Yokai was pressed against the back of a tiny room. His arms were raised in a defensive position. Bespectacled eyes peeked out between them.

"Uh, hi there!" Mikey greeted. He noticed that one of the robot arms still clutched the smoldering laser and quickly tossed it to the side. "We're here to rescue you!"

"Really?" the Yokai whispered.

"You bet, chico!" A laser shot way too close to him and Mikey barged inside, making the Yokai duck. "But, ah, you might want to hang in here until we get those lasers taken care of!" Underscoring his words, a bowling ball launched from the tank and crashed into another laser. He poked his head out the door and cheered for Sunita and Mayhem.

"Orange, a little help?"

Splinter and Draxum were still dodging laser bolts on the ground level. He looked around. Besides his spider shell, only the platform seemed to provide access between the two floors. The empty platform, which meant Leo's troop had made it up and through the double doors.

Ohhh, so the plan was still in motion. Then he and his dads just needed to take out the countermeasures and release all the Yokai behind these doors. No biggie.

"On it, Pops!"

He glanced back at the goat-man still pressed into the corner of the cell. The guy was shaking slightly. His heart twisted.

"I'll be right back," he promised. Then, with a deep breath, he launched himself back into the room.

"This way!" Leo shouted. He turned a corner so sharply that April and her dad nearly fell over each other scrambling to keep up.

"How do you know which way to go?" she shouted at him. "You've never been here before!"

"I just have a pretty good feeling!" He made another turn and this time they did plow into him as he stopped short.

"Ow!" April untangled herself from the pile and looked up. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw why Leo had stopped.

Hun stood before them, blocking the hallway.

"Oh, man, not this guy!" She scrambled for her bat.

Augie stepped in front of them both, hands raised in a placating gesture. "Hun, it's me," he started calmly. "I know what this looks like, but you have to listen to me. This is wrong."

The giant cracked his knuckles.

"I don't think he's all that interested in a philosophical debate," Leo whispered.

"And I'm with him: less talking, more kicking butt! APRIII-!"

She gagged as her dad caught her jacket collar, pulling her short. "I'll handle this. Find your mother!"

"What?" she cried, flung back.

"Plan still stands! Behold!" Leo unwound his whip and twirled it over his head. "Beware my vine-like weapon. Hyah!"

He cracked the whip towards Hun, but it missed and thrashed uncontrollably next to him. The scarred man looked at him, unimpressed, then grabbed the end of it.

"Okay, so that didn't work- gah!" Hun yanked Leo off his feet.

"I'll get him!" her dad shouted. "Find Robyn!"

"And our weapons! Please find our regular weapons!" Leo cried as Hun attempted to spin him like a lasso. "Guh, I'm gonna be sick."

"Let go, you idiot!" Augie yelled, and that was the last April heard as she charged back around the corner and took a different hall.

"They got this, April, they can handle themselves," she panted to herself as she ran. "Now you just need to worry about yourself and finding- oof!"

She fell back and gawked as she took in the fight scene before her. The body she ran into turned.

"Mom?"

"April?"

"Duck!"

Her mother did, and her opponent's swing went over her head. It hit another assailant with a metallic clang. April blinked. The three fighters her mother was battling were all robots. They looked like a mech she'd seen in a video game once, except smaller and cruder. And a bit more feminine.

She grabbed her bat and joined the fray.

"What are you doing here?" her mother shouted.

"Looking for you!" She grunted as she swung her bat at a robot's head. It blocked her blow and the vibration down the bat made her teeth rattle. "What are these things?"

"Maria-bots." Robyn hefted her stun gun, but swung it instead of firing. "Shielded against electric discharge, too. You need to get out here!"

"Oh, no!" April dodged a punch. "It's my job to get you and jet!"

"What do you mean your job?" She kicked a Maria-bot backwards and spun towards April.

"I mean Dad and Leo are stuck fighting Hun, and-"

"Augie brought you back here?"

"Yes!" They traded places and charged the bots that were sneaking behind the other's back. "And I already fought with him over missing school, so you can skip that part!"

"School is the last thing on my mind right now," Robyn grunted as she heaved the android back. "This whole situation is incredibly fu-dangerous, you have no idea what you just barged into!"

"Let me guess, Bishop's a crazy asshole who's trying to exterminate the Yokai by any means necessary?" Her bat collided with a torso and knocked the robot into its clone. Her mom twisted and looked at her with wide eyes. "Yeah, I know all about that."

"And you didn't tell me?"

The third android leapt at them, its hands transforming into buzzsaws. April flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, desperately raising her bat to fend off the blow. The hit never came. Instead, there was a horrible grinding sound. She opened her eyes. Her mom shielded her, stun gun raised to block the saws. The metal shrieked.

"You think… I would have continued working here… after knowing the truth?" she grunted. She was forced to take a step back as the robot bore down further.

"I'm so sorry, Mom!" April blurted. "I've been lying to you for so long. My friends are mutants, and you work for the guys who are targeting them and I just wanted to keep them safe!"

Robyn's arms trembled holding up the stun gun. The saws continued grinding slowly through the metal. Her breaths came out ragged. She shook her head. "And all this time I thought you just didn't want to spend time with me."

"Of course I want to spend time with you!" April gripped her bat and eyed the other two robots behind them stumbling back onto their feet. "I miss you."

"I've been trying to come home more often!" her mother cried. "To be there when you need me! What more do I need to do?"

"Nothing!" April pressed her back against her mom's as the robots closed in. "I don't miss you, I miss you." She closed her eyes and gripped her bat, but the emotions could no longer be held at bay. Everything she'd been holding back, everything she wanted to say was bursting forth with a frustrated fury.

"You're the one that taught me to live life to the fullest! You're the one who taught me there's nothing to be afraid of if I can handle myself!" April fiercely looked back at the robots and braced to make her move. "You're the one that gave me the confidence and self-esteem to do things like this!"

She knocked the stun gun into the air and tackled her mom out of the way. The Maria-bots dove at them as they moved. Their metallic fingers stretched out to grab them, then stopped as the third bot's buzzsaws came slicing down on their heads. The two androids glitched and sparked, jerking wildly before going silent.

April twirled her bat. Her mom clutched her shoulder.

"That… that was…"

"… totally something you would have done," April finished. She turned sharply at her, shaking off the hand. "You always dive straight in, you're always game for a new adventure. So why are you suddenly so anxious and buddy-buddy all the time? Why all the home cooking, why switch jobs to the most boring schedule ever? It's awkward and weird and not you."

Her mom looked down for a long moment. "I'm sorry, April," she said. "I… I've had some scares recently. With the Stadium Incident. With this job. I'm scared." She took a deep breath and met her eyes. "I'm scared that something will happen to you and I won't be there. I can't help it… I'm your mother, and I care about you."

"I know you care about me." April's voice eased. "I know you care about me whether you're in Japan or Brazil or right here in New York. I've never questioned that. I love you, too, which is why it's so weird and painful seeing you second-guess yourself like this." She glanced behind her shoulder, then slowly smirked. "So how about we get back to that fierce mama I know?"

She held out her bat. Robyn looked at it, then at April, and slowly took it. A smile crept across her face. April grinned back… and then stepped out of the way of the last Maria-bot.

"ROCKIN' ROBYN!"

Her swing knocked the robot's head clean off.

April cheered as the android toppled. The buzzsaws died and she leapt nimbly around them to hug her mom. "That's what I'm talking about! Now, let's get back to Dad and the others!"

Robyn shook her head rapidly and passed the bat back. "Can't. I have to destroy Jericho while Donnie knocks out the power." She crouched down by the buzzsaw-bot.

"Alright, sounds like a – wait, you met Donnie? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He…" Robyn hesitated. "He didn't look great. But he was able to access the system here and that's how we found out about Jericho and… anyway." Her expression darkened. With more force than necessary, she stomped on the Maria-bot's arm and yanked the buzzsaw-limb free. It whirred when she tugged on one of the wires.

April chewed her lip and glanced around the halls as if she might spot her lanky friend. He did not appear. "Alright," she decided. "We'll destroy Jericho first and then catch up with everyone." Her mom opened her mouth, but she shot her a pointed look of I'm coming, too. She closed her mouth, then nodded.

"Right. Fierce mama." Robyn's eyes flashed as she looked towards a white door further down the hall. "These bots came from over there. We think Jericho should be housed in the same lab."

"Lucky us." April propped her bat on her shoulder and grinned.

Chaplin ran a nervous hand through his orange hair. It stuck out wildly in every direction as he withdrew it. Why had the bots gone dark? They hadn't even made it to the breach! What was up with that? Oh man, oh man, Boss was gonna kill him…

He yelped as the lab door suddenly burst open. Two ladies stepped through, one tall and holding the arm of a Maria-bot, one short and holding a bat.

"You must be Dr. Chaplin," Robyn O'Neil smiled sweetly. "Have you met my daughter, April?"