Author's Note:

Could this be? An update? From me?

To the Guest: I feel seen. :D Thanks for reviewing!

To the Guest: I'm sure everything is going to be juuust fine. Thanks for reviewing!

Previously on this fic: The Shredder woke up, beat Bishop and captured-or-worse Saki who should have stayed home. April, Yoshi, Splinter and Casey have a plan, and so do Leonardo, Raphael, Karai and Angel.

Implementing the Plan

Raphael was following his brother in silence, busy brooding over the last events.

When Leonardo had told him about his plan, he had been both admiring of its sheer audacity and worried that Leonardo would get way, way too close to the Shredder, the dangerous and powerful man who wanted to get his hands on him for reasons unknown.

Still, it was slightly better than Leonardo's previous plan, because this time Raphael could come with him and stand at his side, no matter what.

As would, apparently, Karai and Angel. Angel had been with Raphael at the time, and she had made plain obvious that she was coming too, and Karai…

Raphael glanced at his cousin. She was walking with such determined steps that she could as well have pictured the Shredder in every patch of earth and sand. He wouldn't have dreamed of telling her to stay home.

They were doing exactly what Yoshi had forbidden them to do, which Raphael didn't really mind. He still hadn't forgiven his father for lying about what had happened to Leonardo on the day of the festival, even though he had been happy to reunite with him.

Raphael was fully aware of the fact the two of them needed to talk heart to heart, but circumstances were getting in their way.

At least they had their mother's blessing. Raphael had expected his mother to try and stop them, but somehow she had trusted them to carry out their plan. Leonardo's plan.

Raphael didn't have all the details, but it involved reaching the cliffs and using the tunnel he had discovered with Karai to reach either the desert or the Shredder's den, and then try to free Saki, if... if he was still alive.

Leonardo said the Shredder had told him so, but that man's word meant nothing.

Still, they had to try.

The cliffs were more than an hour away from the village. It would have been faster to ride to their destination, but the horses were kept for those who would help with the digging in the desert. The four teenagers were walking fast, so they couldn't miss it when Karai suddenly froze in the middle of the way.

"We're followed," she said.

Raphael immediately turned his attention on their surroundings. The way they were following led them through rocks and spare trees, with plenty of hiding places. He tried to spot what had drawn Karai's attention, but he couldn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

Apparently Karai's senses were more acute than his own.

"Show yourself!" Raphael demanded, mildly annoyed.

He really wasn't in the mood for a game of hide and seek.

There was movement behind a faraway rock, and someone emerged in the open.

Even in the distance, Raphael immediately recognized that someone.

"Slash?" he said, incredulous. "What are you doing here?"

Slash awkwardly made his way towards them, and stopped right in front of Raphael.

"I'm coming too," he stated. Albeit his voice sounded slightly embarrassed, his crossed arms and rigid posture indicated that he wasn't joking.

"Coming where?" Raphael asked, as if it wasn't obvious they were up to something.

The last thing Raphael wanted was to have Slash underfoot for their dangerous quest.

Slash lifted his chin. "I heard you talk. I know you have a plan to fight the Shredder, and I want in."

The following silence was eloquent enough that Slash winced.

"What? Do you think I'm a coward? Or that I don't care about what happens to my home?"

"Nobody said that," Raphael quickly replied. "It's just…" He hesitated. Slash wasn't welcome, but Raphael couldn't exactly say that now, could he?

"It's dangerous," Leonardo said flatly.

Slash gritted his teeth. "I'm not going to stay put while you're risking your lives to save us all."

Raphael exchanged a look with the others. None of them seemed thrilled about Slash's…offer, but if the teenager had decided to come anyway, they couldn't stop him without employing violence.

Not that Raphael wasn't tempted, but he wasn't stupid enough to attack people on his side at such a time of need. Even though said people were obnoxious.

Leonardo had apparently reached the same conclusion. He deliberately turned his back on Slash to start walking again. "Let's go. We have no time to lose."

Slash looked satisfied with that. It didn't seem like he was looking for trouble, but Raphael still decided to be the rearguard and keep an eye on him.

They hadn't even walked ten feet when Raphael noticed that Karai had disappeared. For one irrational second, he thought that the Shredder might have kidnapped her, too. Then he noticed Leonardo was glancing sideways, and he realized that Karai was circling around another rock.

His heartbeat slowed down.

A few seconds later, she pushed someone into the open.

"Ow!" the person protested.

It was Spike.

Karai couldn't have looked less sorry. "You should have shown yourself when we asked you."

Raphael hid his surprise by rolling his eyes. "Did everybody hear us?"

"Apparently," Angel muttered.

Spike avoided her gaze, and Raphael wondered whether he had been spying on her - on them - in the village.

For his part, Slash looked like he had just bitten into something really rancid.

"What are you doing here?" he spat, like Spike's presence was a personal offense done to him.

As if he wasn't himself an intruder.

Spike withered under his look, but to his credit, he stood his ground.

"I want to help," he said, his voice trembling a little. "Before it's too late."

"Are you sure?" Leonardo asked. "We don't know what we're going to find. I do have a plan, but it's risky."

It was subtle, but Raphael didn't miss his brother's exasperated undertone. He shared the feeling; nothing he knew about Spike talked in favor of letting him go on a dangerous mission.

Risky was the understatement of the century.

"It's our home we're talking about. If there is anything I can do to protect it, I will," Spike said. He took a deep breath. "I promised to."

"You're a coward," Slash said with infuriating contempt. "We don't need you."

Raphael immediately changed his mind about Spike coming. First, his presence showed that he was, in fact, not a coward - especially as Slash had been bullying him. Second, said presence was annoying Slash, which was a nice bonus.

He wondered whether Spike knew he was, in fact, Slash's brother. But now wasn't the time to dig deeper.

Spike tensed even more as he avoided meeting Slash's glare. "You need all the help you can get. You're going to confront our most powerful enemy."

Raphael noted that he didn't seem as afraid of Slash as he had been. Obviously, spending time away from him had done Spike worlds of good.

Well, at least someone had profited from their temporary exile.

"Fine, come if you want to," Leonardo said after sharing a look with Raphael, Karai and Angel. "Now let's go. We have no time to lose."

Raphael paid close attention to their surroundings after that, but nobody else was following.

When they arrived at the cliff, Leonardo led them right to a place that didn't have anything different as far as Raphael could tell - until Leonardo moved his hands and an engraving of a stylized wave glowed blue.

Then the cliff face opened.

Raphael had known about this tunnel, but it was one thing to hear the story and another to witness it. Even Slash was finding it impressive, if his fleeting awed look was anything to go by.

Leonardo turned to the others and took a sharp breath.

"If any of you want to turn back, feel free to do it now." He paused. "We think that this tunnel will lead us through the mountain. We don't know in which state it is, or even if our assumption is true."

Raphael felt weirdly comforted by the fact that his brother wasn't fooling himself about their chances of success.

None of the teenagers took his offer, and after a few seconds, Leonardo turned around and entered the tunnel. Karai and Angel followed him, then Spike, then Slash. Raphael was more decided than ever to bring up the rear now that they had two unwanted guests instead of one. He also wanted to make sure that Slash wouldn't try anything against Spike.

Raphael half-expected Leonardo to close the wall behind them, but his brother didn't. It was comforting to know they would have a way back if… If…

Raphael decided he didn't want to think about any ifs.

Angel had already lighted a fireball, and Raphael did the same, followed by Slash and Spike. As Leonardo moved forwards, Raphael sent his fireball above his brother's head so Leonardo would have his own light.

As they headed deeper into the mountain, Raphael found himself praying that they weren't going to end up in a volcano eruption this time.

There were way too many people in this expedition for Leonardo's taste. He had hoped that he could make a discrete departure with Raphael and Karai, but obviously he had been wrong.

Now he felt responsible for the safety of no less than five people beside himself. He knew that none of them was defenseless, of course, but it was his plan they were following. And they seemed to believe he knew what he was doing.

He didn't. He was hoping that this tunnel could lead them to the Shredder, and then… Leonardo wasn't naive enough to think that the Shredder would release Saki if he asked nicely, but he hoped that they could somehow buy time for April and the others to save everyone. In any case, two surprise attacks would be better than one. Right?

Leonardo's stomach knotted, and he took several deep breathes. Now wasn't the time to allow doubt to nag at him.

Not when the stakes were this high.

"Amazing," Angel whispered behind him, breaking the heavy silence. "The walls are so smooth. Who built this tunnel?"

"We don't know," Leonardo said, grateful for the diversion.

"I've read that there was once a whole network under the mountain," Karai added.

Her voice showed more liveliness than one hour before. Obviously the action was doing her good, which in turn strengthened Leonardo's determination.

They were going to win. Every other outcome was forbidden.

Karai hadn't lighted a fireball like the other firebenders, and Leonardo wondered whether she wanted to keep the act in front of Slash and Spike. He doubted she would be able to do so for long, but he wasn't going to expose her secret if she didn't want to.

He felt all the more relieved that he didn't have to hide his own nature anymore.

He glanced at the fireball above his head, the one Raphael had placed here. It was comforting. He wished Raphael would walk right beside him, but his twin was busy keeping an eye on Slash while Leonardo led the way. Leonardo could see the logic, but he didn't have to like it.

The tunnel was exactly as he remembered, and he kept a brisk pace. Soon they were passing by the cell where they had heard Bebop and Rocksteady during their first expedition. It was empty; the two guards must have served their time.

"I wonder where they sent them," Karai whispered to him.

"Maybe they were the lucky ones, after all," Leonardo said wryly.

They were already reaching the other end of the tunnel. Here stood the wall that Leonardo had pretended was a dead-end. Here began the true unknown.

Taking a deep breath, he filled the three lines of the stylized wave with droplets of water and watched as the wall slid to the left.

And he swore inwardly.

In front of him, the tunnel was splitting in two.

The six of them had quickly gathered at the junction. Leonardo tried not to feel anxious about the precious minutes they were losing. He didn't know what time it was, but he had no doubt they still had a long way to go.

And April had been clear: they had until tonight to win this fight. After that, the Shredder would become too powerful to be defeated.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Karai said. "One tunnel doesn't qualify as a network. The question is, which one do we choose? I don't think we should split up."

"Agreed," Raphael immediately said.

As if this was something Leonardo had considered. He wasn't completely stupid.

Both tunnels looked exactly the same, going down on a gentle slope, one towards the left and the other towards the right.

Leonardo tried to map the oasis, the desert and the mountain in his head, but the result wasn't satisfying. He didn't know whether they should go left or right, and he couldn't afford to make the wrong decision.

Well. Nobody had said it was going to be easy.

"Any ideas?" he asked.

To his surprise, Spike cleared his throat. "The desert is this way," he said, pointing at the tunnel on their left.

Everybody else watched him in surprise.

"How do you know?" Angel asked.

Spike blushed. "I have a good sense of direction."

"Then left it is." Leonardo smiled at Spike, grateful that he wouldn't have to pick one at random. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Spike stammered.

For the first time since he had joined them - for the first time ever as far as Leonardo was concerned - Spike seemed satisfied with himself.

Karai had been right. This place was an underground network, and the deeper they went down, the more Raphael wondered how much they didn't know about their own home.

They had passed three other intersections by now. Each time, Spike had indicated the direction, and each time, Slash had looked a little bit more furious. It was as if he was pouting because his half-brother had displayed a skill he didn't have.

Raphael thought it was only a matter of time before Slash burst out, so he had resolved to place himself between the two teenagers. He had even slowed down a bit, so he and Slash lagged behind while Spike was staying with Leonardo, Karai and Angel.

It was as close to a safety distance as he could create within these tunnels.

"I know what you're doing," Slash suddenly said.

Raphael slowed down even more so that the others - especially Spike - wouldn't hear that conversation. He would have to accelerate soon, or he would lose visual contact with them.

But Leonardo would wait for them if there was another intersection, and this might be his opportunity to clear things up with Slash.

"What do you mean?" Raphael said innocently.

Slash ignored his reply. "You don't need to do that. I won't try to hurt him in the middle of our mission. I'm not stupid."

Raphael's eyes narrowed. "You better not try to hurt him after that, either."

"That's none of your business."

Raphael kept a low voice. "He's not responsible for your mother's death, or your father's poor choices. If you must blame someone, it shouldn't be Spike."

"I don't care about your opinion," Slash spat.

They remained silent for a while. The others had turned a corner, and they were out of sight, exactly what Raphael hadn't wanted. He started walking faster to catch up with them.

"Before I left, my father said that I had dishonored him," Slash suddenly said. "That's your fault, by the way."

His voice wasn't only resentful, and Raphael decided to interpret this rather out-of-the-blue statement as a positive sign. Slash was thinking about his father now, wasn't he? The one to blame for the mess that was Slash's family, if you asked Raphael.

Well, Slash wasn't exactly blaming his father yet, but it was progress.

"My own goodbye with my father didn't go all that well," Raphael said. "I was pretty mad at him."

Slash watched him with surprise. "Really? I always thought that..."

In the light of Slash's fireball, Raphael noticed the darker shade of the teenager's cheeks.

"I mean, you look so close to your family."

"I am," Raphael said. "It doesn't have to be perfect for that." He paused. "You could have what I have too, you know."

Slash snorted, and Raphael didn't insist. He didn't even know why he had brought up the topic in the first place. After all, what happened to Slash didn't matter to him, even though they had survived an eruption together, and…

Exclamations echoed through the tunnel, and Raphael forgot everything about Slash's family drama.

He had been stupid to let the others out of his sight. Who knew what lurked in these tunnels? It wasn't because they hadn't met anything or anyone until then that they were deserted.

He ran to join the others, ready for a fight.