Phoenix watched the television, biting her inner lip and trying to hold back tears. The news that their digital bunny ear antenna picked up was only covering two of the shelters, 1 and 4. Either the other shelters hadn't been discovered yet, which she doubted, or the news simply hadn't gotten to the places yet. She glanced down at the little ones surrounding her, thankful that the twins were still sleeping, thanks to a little help from her powers.

Yuuta made the sign for the phone, and she checked it. She had called Splinter dozens of times, and texted probably fifty but the damn rat hadn't answered. He was meditating or teaching a class, and he always turned his phone off, not even on silent, when he did either of those two things. She shook her head, "He hasn't called back yet, Squeaky Toy."

"Are they coming here?" Ana asked, her voice high pitched and panicked.

Irritation edged on Phoenix, scared her voice would wake the twins up. "I don't think so," she said, her own voice wavering. Her heart hammered in her chest and tears were threatening to engulf her.

She wanted her family here, at home, with her, where she felt in control, where she could at least pretend that she could protect them by keeping them hidden, just as she had for so many years during their youth. She held her hand out, expecting Yuuta to take it, but it was Anton who slipped his hand into hers.

"Gr'mere," he said quietly. "You have to go."

She laughed, and realized it sounded mean, so she scooped him up, having to heft his bulk to place him on her hip. She looked deep into his eyes, the feeling of affection welling in her to the point that the tears finally formed in her eyes. She wanted to go, so bad and dosomething. "I have to stay here and protect you."

"We are gonna be OK," he told her, his voice so sure that it frightened her even more.

"I know you think you are, but you're not able to defend everyone if they come here."

"We are gonna be OK," he repeated firmly. "But you gotta go." He sounded so sure of himself, that she glanced around the warehouse at Yuuta and Ali. Her son nodded his head, and squeaked, pointing to the kitchen window, her usual mode of exit.

He believes Anton, she thought, feeling both relieved and defeated at the same time.

She put her grandson down and turned to Ana. "Listen," she said harshly.

Ana's eyes went wide, and she began to shake her head vigorously. "Nononono, you're not going to leave me here."

"You listen and listen good." Phoenix grabbed her cheeks in one hand, as if she were a little child refusing to look at her. The young woman's eyes went wide and she began to breathe heavily. "You are the adult, you are going to protect them." She pointed to the gathered group of little ones. "You're going to be quiet, so the twins don't wake up." She released her face. "If they come here, you're going to bottle yourselves up on the third floor. It is the most secure and has the old equipment closet in it with the steel door. They shouldn't be able to break it down."

"But it stinks in there," Ana said pathetically.

"It probably does," Phoenix agreed, grabbing her slingshot and bag of bullet casings. She softened her gaze and returned to Ana, kissing her on the cheek. The woman didn't move. "You'll be OK." Before she could reply,, she kissed Anton, Yuuta, and Ali, and bounded out of the kitchen window.

TSOTCTSOTC

Leo eased back into his physical body, his mind soothed from his meditation practice. A cursory glance at his father showed him still deep in trance. Employing his best stealth, he rose, making his way to the dojo locker room. The morning classes were particularly trying. He smiled only to flinch at the sight of himself in the mirror. Twenty-two mutant and human children. A big booyakasha for the dojo. His teething daughter kept him up until the wee hours of the morning- not so much. Even meditation couldn't remove the bags under his eyes.

Still, she was a gift. A treasure. One he couldn't wait to get home to. Reaching for his phone he scolded himself for having left it in the locker room, rather than keeping it on him. He never did that. Sleep deprivation was tough, even for ninjas.

As he opened the screen his stomach plummeted at sight of April's message. Sent over two hours ago! Where were the kids? Was Karai okay? Had madness erupted? Fumbling with the device he managed to speed dial Karai. He needed to be updated. Why hadn't anyone called him? What hadn't April consulted him?

Racing around, grabbing a weapons bag as he simultaneously armed himself, he threw in everything he touched. Tranq bullets for Denim. Shuriken for everyone, an extra tanto- no two- for Karai and April. Tessen for Zoe- was she even stable enough for this? Wait. Hadn't April said this had to be defensive? He looked at his phone to reread the message as his mind jumbled with words, tactics and mounting frustration.

His outgoing call had connected, Karai yelling. "Are you listening to me, Leo? Get. Here. Now. I'm at shelter 3. 3!"

TSOTCTSOTC

To his embarrassment and frustration, Slash arrived last, to a complete and utter mess. A quick survey of the area told him that Pete, Mikey and Denim were missing, Mondo frantically skated through the chaos of the mob focused only on not getting hit, Rockwell had spread himself too thin trying to both subdue the crowd and shield the shelter from their projectiles, thus failing at both and Leatherhead, under pressure of the crowd's jeering and relatively harmless assaults, roared in fury as his rational self hid in its happy place. All while the shelter burned in a chorus of terrified screams. Off to a great start.

For a moment, that he would never admit to out loud, he felt a pang of sympathy for Leo. It was herding freaking cats.

Ignoring the thrown objects bouncing harmlessly off his solid frame, he waded through the crowd over to Rockwell, people falling over themselves to part a path for him. "Rockwell, leave off for a minute, your on coms first and crowd control second."

The flying monkey paused to look down at him for a moment before abandoning the building and refocusing on the mob.

"Get the people closest to calm down first, so the rest gave to go through them and patch me through to all our people." Slash ordered, catching a jar of flaming kerosene and chucking it back to sender. The resulting screams indicated there wouldn't be many repeat attempts at that.

Rockwell nodded. "You have everyone but Leatherhead."

He figured that. "Mikey, see to Leatherhead. Mondo and Pete, catch, deflect, whatever. Stop them from throwing stuff at the shelter and tell everyone inside to cover the windows with tables, chairs, anything they got." As he spoke, bullets ricocheted off his shell and into the crowd provoking screams of pain and fear. Rockwell caught a few in the telekinetic barrier surrounding him. Bullets would be a problem for Pete and Mondo though. "Denim, cover fire. Get the gunmen and whoever is setting the fires. They're too effective to be random mob violence. I'll handle the burning building."

Without waiting to see if he was obeyed, he shoved his way back through the sea of angry people, ripping the top off of a fire hydrant and directing the spray into the flames with his meaty hands.

TSOTCTSOTC

"Master Splinter!" Leo yelled racing back to the dojo with a weapons bag over his right shoulder, a second in his left hand.

His father opened one eye, flashing him the ever familiar 'this better be a crisis' look.

"Sorry to interrupt your meditation, Master, but uh, there's an emergency. Mobs. April signaled everyone to take shelter, it's been over an hour ago. I just called to check on Karai- It sounds bad Sensei and I don't know where everyone is. Mom, the kids-" Leo shook his head. "I've got to get to Karai."

Splinter was on his feet. "I'll find your mother. The children are most likely with her. Go, my son. We will not be far behind."

Leo took off at a run, hoping his father remembered to lock up. Shelter 3, he quickly recalled the building with a frown. It was nearly clear across town. Where was his team? He started a group message…

Leo: On the move. Headed for Shelter 3. Check in with status.

He didn't wait for replies, immediately dialing Raph.

"Bout time, where the shell you been?" Raph didn't sound out of breath which bothered Leo. Either everything was fine where he was at or he wasn't on a scene yet.

"I'm on my way to Shelter 3, Karai is in trouble. Where are you?" Leo hesitated for only a second before adding, "Is Zoe with you? Is she up for this?" The team needed his sister, but was she stable, and were she and Raph willing to risk their baby? He'd have to respect their decision no matter what.

"She's ready. We're almost to Shelter 2. Have you talked to anyone else? Where's Donnie? I'm betting Mikey is already at 2 since that's where Denim is. What the shell is that? Z, get your ass back here! I gotta go, Leo."

"Wait!" Leo's heart formed that tight air-depriving knot that was becoming all too familiar in times of uncertainty. He loathed not knowing where everyone was, having them all spread out, without a plan- He needed to get them all in one place. He leapt across rooftops, his feet sliding in gravel as he balanced both bags and dialed Donnie's number. He needed a headcount and location for each family member. He had to form some semblance of organization. As he leapt into the air yet again the line rang. But as his feet hit the ledge the keystone buckled under his weight, crumbling away. Falling, he was forced to choose between the weapons bag in his left hand or his phone in the right.

Without missing a beat, Leo twisted and spun, flinging the bag into the air and catching ahold of a windowsill with his now free hand, because it would have been too convenient to fall in reach of a fire escape. When it rained it poured. His foot shot out, catching the falling bag with his ankle, just as Donnie's phone went to voicemail.

As he hung there, he considered his predictament. Allowing his panic to control his actions and running around recklessly wasn't going to help anyone. With a deep, calming breath, he forced the fear aside.

Swinging his body in a wide arc along the windowsill, he kicked the bag, lobbing it back up onto the roof while landing in a crouch, his toes keeping him balanced on the narrow ledge. The bag landed with a cringeworthy clang that he tried to ignore as he dialed April. She'd activated the emergency protocol and as such should be best suited to update him. If he'd been thinking, he might have called her first.

A series of dings and an overly cheerful, electronic voice informed him the number he'd dialed was unavailable.

Grinding molars, he willed himself not to crush his phone while he scrambled back atop the building.

What to do? What tools were at his disposal?

There was the hands free head set in one of his utility pouches for a start, Donnie's own 'idiot proof' version, made to fit them. He carried it in case he needed it at the dojo, seeming a very businessy thing to have on him, a need that had never arisen. Well, he could sure use it now.

What else? He wondered as he put the headset on?

Phone trackers. They should have activated when April launched the emergency phone tree, a compromise between everyone's desire for privacy and his ulcer-inducing worry.

He pulled up the map on his phone, looking for the blinking red dots. Mikey and Denim were at Shelter 2 with Raph, Zoe and...Arcos, interesting, enroute as his call to Raph had indicated, if not via the most direct path. Aries was unmoving in the middle of the city, not going to help anyone it seemed, while Medusa and Sappho were traveling through an industrial district, destination unclear. Donnie was...at home? Karai was alone at shelter 3 and April wasn't showing up at all, though her messages indicated that she should be at Shelter 2.

Not great. Shelter 2 had the most support, by a narrow margin, and was receiving all the reinforcements that he was aware of , while Karai barely held her own at Shelter 3 and Shelter 1 might be completely undefended. He knew where to start at least.

Shoving his phone back in his belt, he grabbed the bag he'd dropped and began running full tilt towards Shelter 3.

"Dial Denim." The headset obeyed but it rang to voicemail. Best case, busy shooting. With a sigh, he tried again. "Dial Mikey."

"Sup brah?" Mikey's voice called out over a cacophony of other sounds.

"Are you and Denim ok? How is the shelter?". Leo yelled loudly into the headset in very unninja-like fashion.

"We're good now. Goodish. All the baddies are trying to set everything on fire, but Slash has it on lock."

Slash? Leo shook his head as he parsed his way through Mikey-speak. "The Mutanimals are there? All of them?"

"Yup. Totes came through with the save." Before he could elaborate his attention shifted. "Aww, stop axing holes in the building, dude. Not cool."

"Is everything still ok?" It was so frustrating not being present.

"Hang on...got the ax. What were you saying?" Mikey sounded distracted, even by his standards.

"Slash knows what he's doing. Follow his lead." Leo calculated as he spoke. "Raph and Zoe are almost there," he hoped "but Shelter 1 needs help. Tell Slash to send anyone you can spare now and redirect Raph and Zoe if you don't need them." That would save him the trouble of trying to call Raph while he was distracted over Zoe.

"Got it...hey, stop with the giant hammer" Mikey's answer wasn't the most encouraging, but what could he do?

"And tell Denim to keep me updated on your status." That should result in a more coherent report. "I'm in touch if you need me."

"No probs, Leo...hey don't..." Mikey hung up and he had to hope everything would be ok. Shelter 2 had more than enough support.

"Dial Arcos."Leo ran along a wire to cross streets to the next building as it rang.

Arcos answered in a low growl. "Leo, where have you been?"

Leo winced. "Not checking my phone. It won't happen again. Shelter 1 is in trouble. Can you call Medusa and Sappho and have them meet you there? Raph and Zoe can keep going to Shelter 2."

"We'll be there." Arcos rumbled and hung up.

One to go. "Dial Aries."

It rang until he thought it would go to voicemail, but Aries picked up at the last second. "Leo? You have the worst fucking timing." He sounded like he was struggling and there was a lot of yelling and screaming in the background.

Leo frowned. "You ok?"

"I do not need your help." Aries snapped.

"Good. Because I need yours. Karai is defending Shelter 3 alone. I'm heading there now, but..." He didn't get a chance to finish.

"I'll be there once I wrap this up." Aries hung up on him.

Leo allowed himself a small smile, it faded as he saw the flames rising from the direction of his destination.

Hang on. I'm coming.

TSOTCTSOTC

With one man's head tucked under an arm and a crazy, eye-clawing woman pinned against the wall of a building, Aries hung up on Leo cursing a venomous blue streak. As if he needed more to deal with. Stretching around the struggling man he shoved the phone away. So much for hoping for good news.

He could only tackle so many at once. The rest streamed around him, locked in countless little scraps with the people he was defending. They'd be scared enough to flee if he didn't have to pull his punches.

That thought gave him a second's pause. These weren't soldiers, aliens, mutants or whatever freaking weirdo enemies his little turtle brothers got him tangled up in, just stupid, fucking, normal people. Assholes and bullies, but ordinary assholes and bullies. He could back them off. Intimidating losers like them without escalating shit was the bulk of his job description as a bouncer. He just needed to be the mofo nobody had the balls to mess with.

"Enough." He roared loudly, firmly gripping the shoulders of the man and woman grappling with him and bodily flinging them into the crowd of their compatriots, knocking over whole groups in the process. People all around him staggered to a stunned halt, including the guy behind him, swinging a steel pipe at his head.

Aries twisted around, grabbed the pipe and swung the man off of it, bowling down a few more.

"I'm done playing nice. Next person I hit isn't getting back up and I WILL keep going until you are all down." As he spoke, he casually bent the metal pipe into a 'u' shape, meeting the eyes of each person in the crowd as he did so. "From now on, it's broken bones and crushed guts, so fight, I mean really fight me, or run."

The mob eyed each other warily emanating a general sense of not having signed up for this.

"I said fight me or run." Aries reiterated in a low growl that would have made Arcos proud.

That pushed them over the edge and they tripped over one another in a stampede to escape. He glared after them until he was sure they were gone before relaxing his stance and tossing the bent pipe aside.

"Is it over then? Are we safe?" A racoon woman asked.

"Not until we make it to the shelter."A parrot man replied.

The shelter? Aries did a quick calculation and realized they were heading to shelter 3, only a few blocks away. The same shelter 3 that was being overwhelmed by rioters according to Leo. Well fuck.

"Not without my son" a human woman called out. "Brandon. Brandon where are you?"

"Or my daughter" added a man who appeared to be a cat-dog mash up. "Chelsea, answer me."

"Chameleon girl and hamster boy?" Aries asked.

Both worried parents zeroed in on him.

"You've seen him?" The woman cried.

"Where is she?" The man begged.

"Nice old lady in the townhouse through the alley and across the street. Number 467, I think." He pointed as he spoke. "Actually, shelter 3 is having some problems. It might be a tight fit if there's a bunch of tenants, but maybe she'll let you stay in her place until the rioting slows up."

Without questioning him, the herd of people hurried off to follow his directions as he took off for shelter 3.

TSOTCTSOTC

Splinter climbed into the Haunted Warehouse kitchen window and was met by Ana screaming, followed by the trills of several children, but none of the voices belonged to his wife. Yuuta leapt over the table in a way that seemed to be a feat much too long for the little rat to be able to achieve landing in Splinter's arms and squeaking incoherently while clinging to the older rat's neck.

"Where is your mother?" he asked him.

"She left," Ana said frantically, clutching both of the twins to her chest. "She just up and left, out the window, like some bird, and told us to get in the closet."

"If someone came to get us," Anton finished for her.

"Where did she go?" Splinter asked, trying to remain calm.

"That way," Alli pointed out the window in the direction her grandmother had run.

"I don't think you need to worry about her though," Anton added. "She was all armed up."

"That's what I'm worried about," Splinter dropped his ears and hugged Yuuta tight to his chest.

"She can take care of herself," Alie pipped. "Anton and Yuuta have been telling me all kinds of things she does that they don't tell you about."

Both boys glared at her.

"What things?" Splinter asked, pulling his youngest son from him and staring at him accusingly.

Both Anton and Yuuta shrugged non-committedly. Then Yuuta squeaked, holding his hand up to his mouth and ear in the shape of a phone.

"She isn't answering," Splinter told him.

Yuuta then pointed in the same direction as Alli had and motioned to the healing cuts on his arms from his time when he was captured. Splinter drew his brows together in confusion trying to decipher what his son was saying. Yuuta pointed out the window again and then wiggled to get out of his father's arms.

He made a squeak that sounded very much like, "Go!"

Then what Yuuta was trying to say hit him. She was going after Battle.

By herself.

Again.

God, what a stupid woman.

What a stupid, headstrong, beautiful, justice driven woman.

And that was why he loved her so much.

"Do what your mother told you," he said to Yuuta, his eyes grazing over his many grandchildren-his clan. They misted over a moment, he shook his head, before leaping out the window to Ana's, "You're not leaving me here, too!?"

TSOTCTSOTC

Sappho rode passenger on the motorcycle, shifting with violently sharp turns as they traversed the city at speeds far exceeding the legal limit. While she could see everything in the semi-light, eyes applying her night vision filter, and was always a step ahead in calculating their trajectory, she wasn't sure how Casey was managing it with his inferior resources. Though they had come within a hair's breadth a few times, they hadn't crashed, so he must've had some edge, perhaps accumulated experience, that she had yet to conclusively identify.

Despite their total disregard for road safety, Medusa outpaced them, seeming to fly across the rooftops. Sappho had assessed her as fast but failed to estimate exactly how fast Medusa was. She was glad that she'd accepted Casey's offer of a ride, what she'd assumed was only marginally better than her run until they got going, or she'd have been left behind.

After Casey's sister had offered to take Horace to a hospital, they started towards Shelter 2. It seemed a good choice at the time, being the closest. Enroute Arcos called Medusa and informed them that Shelter 1 might be status critical and reassigned them to meet them there. They were close to arrival and a reasonable amount of time had elapsed since being deployed and yet she felt...worried. She'd never felt worried about a mission while property of the EDF. Perhaps it was a side effect of having a family. Now she had something to lose.

Raising her audio volume, not the most comfortable move given how loud her ride already was, she filtered out any sound not emanating from their destination. Of those, the most pertinent were likely the voices of the large number of people at that location. Keyword search and vocal volume levels highlighted the most deserving of her attention.

"Let them burn."

"But my brother's in trapped in there with those freaks."

"The freaks blew it up to kill us. They're crazy."

"Those inside are heroes. We won't forget their sacrifice."

"But they aren't dead yet. We can save them."

"Not without saving the freaks too. Let it burn."

She stopped listening as Casey cut around a corner and skidded to a halt in front of a large heap of stone rubble. Shelter 1?

"She ain't in there is she?" Casey's voice sounded strained. "April's not in there, right?"

A hum in her neural sensor, not EDF mod but from its Kraang tech predecessor, implied yes, though April would need to be putting out a lot of power for her to sense it. The sensation had only triggered in a handful of Kraang Legacy captures when those who could fully unleashed their power. "She likely is."

Sappho scanned the area. Medusa perched on the ledge of a nearby rooftop, assessing and Arcos had just arrived on a building across. The crowd argued amongst themselves, though the 'let it burn' faction appeared to be winning. The shelter had structurally collapsed and the detected smoke indicated fire. She switched to infrared. Yes, definitely fire. People and fire, though conditions were at least not ideal for the blaze to go out of control. Yet.

She activated Arcos and Medusa's phones. "Status update: April, sheltering mutants and a portion of the rioting mob are in the collapsed building which is catching fire at a slow but accelerating rate. Orders?"

Arcos answered immediately. "We dig them out. Fast."

"The mob'sss not going to like that." Medusa hissed.

"Agreed. The rioters will intervene." Sappho added.

Casey, not directly in on the call, figured it out from Sappho's end of the conversation. "I got those assholes, ignore 'em and do what you gotta do."

In a blink, he was off the motorcycle, boots flipping to rollerblades, and skating into the crowd.

If Sappho had been facing him as an enemy, she would not have considered him a serious threat, one untrained man in makeshift gear wielding sporting equipment. She would have been wrong.

"Goongala!" He charged into the middle of them, checking people left and right, sending them plowing into their compatriots, and tasing anyone who got too close with what appeared to be a potato masher hooked to a battery. When the mob backed off encircling him and began throwing, he quickly batted back most with a hockey stick, deflecting the rest with his pads. Rioters in shock, the projectiles slowed and he skated into the fray once more. As promised, the crowd's attention was entirely on him while Medusa and Arcos slipped unnoticed to ground level.

Sappho turned back to the shelter, rapidly analyzing the weight distribution of the debris. Removing the wrong piece at the wrong time would cause a collapse of stone that would take even longer and risk harming those trapped inside.

"That one, up top on the left," she pointed "and the one jutting out there on the right."

Arcos understood immediately and pulled free the right chunk of stone with one massive heave. As he did so, Medusa followed suit, coiling around her piece and dislodging it.

Recalculate.

"That one there and this one over here."

Yes, they could do this. The only question, would it be in time?