I still do not own, despite my writing partner's best efforts, the 2012 TMNT or their friends and enemies. We do own our respective OCs, though.

Please enjoy reading ...

Mayu

My brother hands me the phone mumbling, "I should never have built that soundproof room ..."

I raise the phone to my ear and mouth. "Hello?"

"Who are you?! Why are you with my fiancé! If you don't answer right now, I'm going to shove this air horn …"

"I found him in a cell inside the compound we were being held hostage in. I think he was in there a lot longer than me. I helped him break out … after he threatened to break my neck."

There is a long pause followed by a calmer voice. "Thanks for getting Maverick out. I'm detective Jackie Mortem or at least I was supposed to be a week ago. Now my lovable, heart-attack-inducing fiancé and I have to reschedule … again. But that's not important now. I need to get Maverick back home. I assume that's why you called. What do I call you? I'd like to talk to you more about what happened, and what you know later."

I glance at Maverick pausing before answering. "Call me … Ninja-girl."

"Wait you're just a kid!? Okay where are your parents?" Jackie said with some concern in her voice.

"I am not a child ... the name is ... a joke." I glance at Maverick and see his shoulders rising and falling silently in fast waves. He gets it. The voice on the other end sounds like she's annoyed and really wants to see Maverick again. I don't blame her.

"Okay then... 'Ninja-girl'... Where should I meet you so I can take you and Maverick to a safe house? Also, I'll need your contact info. You might not know this, but you've stumbled in on something me and some other officers have been investigating." Jackie said seriously.

"I'm glad to hear that. I can't talk much longer tonight, but we can meet at said safe house and talk whenever we both have time. I'll leave this phone on Maverick and you can contact me that way."

"Okay, anything I should bring? How is he?"

"He was dehydrated and starved after being run into by a vehicle ending the fight he was in at the time, which itself was some time ago, I think. That's how they captured him. Also, he was splashed in the face by mysterious blue goo that seems to have damaged his eyes. He can't stand light now, sadly. I got some liquids and electrolytes into him. I'll try to get him in good enough shape to bring him to a place you can pick him up."

"Where and when?"

"Is the alleyway between Brooklyn's best pizza place and the laundromat next door good for you?"

"Works for me. Should I bring anything?"

"Stuff to clean him up and get his starved body up and running again along with checking him over for possible missed injuries from the vehicle running into him."

"Do you want me to give you an address so you can check up on him later?"

"I will want to check up on him later. But I'd prefer to just leave him this phone to contact me with. I should be able to track it without others cutting in to do the same. Right now, we need to meet, so I can leave him with you and get on to my own business."

"Roger that, I'll be there by 0400, over an- sorry mean I'll be there by 4:00 A.M. goodbye." Jackie says this just before she hangs up.

Maverick asks, "Can I have my Ulaks back now?"

I draw them out from where I stashed them and slap their handles into his waiting hand. "Keep drinking up that fortified water, brother. We'll be heading out soon." As I listen to Mav drink, I think about Splinter and the boys. I'd just given my long-lost heart-brother's fiancé what I haven't given my family yet.

I take another phone off the shelf and start pressing buttons. Mass Text: I put in the numbers for Splinter's phone, Leonardo's, Raphael's, Donnie's, and Mikey's. Then I typed out my message. "Free and fit enough to be home between an hour or two from now."

. . .

Sadly, the longer my brother takes to recover enough for our trip together, the more my body comes down from its "emergency mode" into it's "I'm feeling it now" one. I only wait a few more minutes after realizing this to get him up and moving. I feel everything while I stabilize and help Mav's far-too-light for him, but far too heavy for me, bulk move down each tunnel between us and our destination.

I also have to guide him through these underground pathways of New York City I know so well. How well might the Kraang know them? I keep my eyes open for our foes, while Mav's are shut tight. Despite his ears being as good as ever, I also keep mine attuned to the music of the sewers searching for an out of place note caused by the Kraang.

I get my brother to the bottom of the ladder beneath the alley I told his fiancé to meet us in. Then I disentangle myself from his side moving him to lean against the ladder. "Here, lean on this while I go up and look around."

I force my burning legs to move like they don't feel a thing. Then I force my arms to do the same with the lid of the manhole above me, but I can feel them shake. This night has taken a toll on my body. I'm not even home yet!

I worry I was breathing too hard to scout ahead. I pause and take a few deep breaths that help my breathing, but make my arms and legs shake as I come up. Picking up the manhole, and slowly lowering it down to the street without making a sound feels like it takes three-hundred years my arms burning throughout every moment.

As I lift my head up and glance around, I don't hear much, not even TVs. A few dogs bark at each other in the distance, the small breed kinds. Then I climb back down to my brother. "Okay, I'm going to give you a boost." God help me finish this right!

I squat down and intertwine my fingers in front of and a little below his right foot. "Okay, grab onto the railing, step into this makeshift stirrup, and pull while I push!" I felt his foot in my hands. Man ... he has lost weight, but my arms have lost a lot of strength. I hear myself suck in a breath. My arms are no longer burning but screaming as I launch him!

Now, he is climbing. I deepen and even my breaths before looking up and then climbing up after him. In these few moments, I thank God profusely I weigh so little myself.

I hear him grunt softly as he pulls himself out without me. As I raise my eyes over the manhole, I see him crawling toward the road beyond the alley. I crawl out behind him. Then I try to put the manhole back with as much control as I lifted, moved, and set it down before. But then my arms give out.

It falls where it needs to end up and lands with a clang. I glance around. I freeze. I listen. Nothing. I almost let myself sigh in relief.

Then I look over at Maverick lying on the pavement. His breathing sounds worse than mine. As my arms scram loudly in my head, I try to keep the pain out of my whisper, "You, okay?"

"Never better."

"Okay ..." I stand and tiptoe to stand above him before squatting down beside him. "Your fiancé should be here in minutes."

"Well, this was fun. Let's never do it again... Not even if Jackie's in a bikini ..."

I roll my eyes. "Well at least your fiancé and I will know where to look for you next time you disappear from a traffic accident."

Suddenly, I hear a screech of wheels. A blinding light floods the area outside the alley opening. Then even the dim light coming in that entrance is blocked by a car. It's driver door flies open. A woman catapults out. My brother rises to his feet as I back away into the shadows. The newcomer lunges at Maverick. He stumbles back into a wall.

She kisses him on the lips for about seven seconds before pulling away. My brother starts saying, "I missed you too Ja-*slap!*" I raise my eyebrows as Maverick's cheek develops an apple red handprint.

"IF I WASN'T SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU, I WOULD POUND YOU INTO THE GROUND WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

I scowl before I whisper-hissing. "You might want to keep it down!"

Jackie stares at me with wide eyes. "You're the one who saved him? Wait, I thought you said you weren't a kid!?"

I scowl at the woman. "I've been an adult for a long time now ..."

Jackie's eyelids droop a little. "Okay kid." She turns to my brother before asking. "Maverick is this kid really the one I talked to on the phone and saved your rear end?"

I narrow my eyes further and put bite into an otherwise flat voice for my answer. "I already told you, I'm not a child. I 'am' a ninja. And this isn't only about Maverick. There is an enemy in this city, we don't understand, whose stated intention to me was changing our entire planet to suit themselves. Can we concentrate on that?"

"I know this isn't just about muscle brain here." Jackie points at Maverick with her thumb.

Maverick's eyebrows rise over his closed eyes. "Well, I feel underappreciated."

"I'm going to put him in a safe house, and then see if I can convince the commissioner to call in the military. So you don't need to worry kid."

I dropped my head a little but refrained from shaking it after this, hopefully, good news. If the Kraang are still sneaking around they must still consider the official protectors of this world a threat to their plans, right?

I look up at my heart-brother. "You'll be okay then, Maverick?"

"I'll be just fine kid." Maverick grins at me. I glare back.

. . .

Splinter

I stand on the rooftop staring at the fortress in the distance. The text message had been brief. I had gotten it half-way here. I was unsure whether or not to trust it.

Mayu was brief when stressed. She may have been attempting to calm us while Kraang droids were mere yards away hunting her as she typed quietly. Surely she would not have risked that though ... But perhaps it had not been her at all. The Kraang themselves or a prisoner better at texting than they may have sent the message after they had threatened this captive with more torture.

Perhaps I need not sneak back into the fortress, but only wait for an ambush they had set to spring, fight off my would-be captors, and take one of "them" prisoner, force them to tell me where they are keeping Mayu, and …

"Planning a rescue?"

I spin around. Mayu stands at the other end of the rooftop leaning back against the railing. She grins at me with her arms crossed casually in front of her chest. I stand stunned staring at this picture of calm amusement she makes.

Her grin grows a bit as she speaks again. "I did text you."

"I know." My voice sounds empty to my own ears like the emptiness of shock I feel inside. My fear and anger have been blown out like a candle-flame leaving a dark space of uncertainty. After everything that has happened … "It seemed too good to trust in as truth."

Mayu's smile falls a bit. Her eyes widen and mouth twist in sympathy. She pushes off the railing to walk up to me. She reaches and wraps her arms around my waist before leaning her forehead into my chest. At the feeling of her heated, solid form I finally trust she is here with me. I have not lost my son's mother. I have not lost my only ally in raising them and surviving in the sewers hidden from my enemy. I have not lost my only friend since my brother, once my best friend betrayed me, and my best friend and wife died. I have not lost someone again.

I close my eyes and let my own form relax. Suddenly, I feel all of my own aches. Exhaustion drags on me like weights. Her bright words somehow cause me to smile despite all of this. "Let's go home."

What do you think?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes