Here's the new chappie guys! I apologize! Schoolwork has had me grounded for the longest time. Updates will be slow, but surely I'll do my best! Enjoy!

Leo couldn't stand to watch anymore. He'd seen enough to know that what the Purple Dragons were doing was far lower than any other crime he'd witnessed them commit. Their actions were far beyond dishonorable or forgivable!

His teeth clenched tight at the thought of those poor girls, his breathing picking up as anger began to build up in his chest more quickly.

"If Master Splinter wonders where I am, tell him I'm up-top," feeling a small tingle of relief when he heard that neither of them protested or seemed to be following him.

He grabbed his katanas from the sofa, but took a quick turn down the hall and into his into his room to grab a rolled up piece of paper on his desk and small sack tucked under his bed. With his swords strapped to his belt. He sped through the tunnels, navigating his way without needing any guidance except instinct. Which was more of Raph's drive, but he was quickly losing the cool he was barely keeping in front of Casey and his brother. He didn't want to be alone, but he knew he needed to talk to someone else beside his brothers and Casey. Luckily once he'd climbed out of the man-hole, it was a little past sundown and there was plenty of shadows to hide in on the rooftops. He replaced the cover and after climbing the ladder, took off at a dead run.

No one's POV

"I'm sorry April. Maybe another time when I'm home. I'm just….still not comfortable with you leaving the house at night. I'm sorry."

"It's alright Dad. I understand," the redhead whispers, nodding her head to herself as she hangs up the phone. The minute the phone ended the call, she tosses it onto her bed and sighs deeply, her eyes looking sadly at the device half hidden between her pillows as she sank down onto the mattress.

"It's just a movie, with Casey and Irma, and only a block from home. It's like I'm grounded." She changes out of her school clothes and into her sweats. She sits comfortably on the sill of her apartment window as she picks up the phone again. Just when she worked up the courage to dial Casey's number and break the bad news to him without , a familiar shuffle emanated from the roof, a sound that she knew too well. She reached in between the bottom and top layers of her bed mattress and pulled out her tessen; just in case, She thought.

She eagerly climbed out onto the fire escape. "Guys! Is that you?"

"Hey," The voice came from behind her, a hollow smile spread across his face as he perched from the top of the roof over her window.

She folded her tessen and placed it in her pocket before returning a friendly smile."Hi Leo. What's up? Where are the other guys?"

He jumped onto the railing of the fire escape and then landed beside her. "Back at the lair. It's just me. I….I needed to talk to you."

The smile on her face was replaced with worry. "Is something wrong?"

"I….I don't know. Possibly." Leo found it hard to hold a straight face with her and averted her eyes. Usually it wasn't this hard with his brothers, except maybe with Raph on occasion.

"What do you mean? Has something happened?"

Leo lets out a deep breath, and still doesn't look at her.

"Leo?"

The blue-masked turtle turned to her. Without warning she grabbed him by the front of his plastron and pulled him towards her, so close their noses almost touched! Leo, still trying to process what just happened, didn't move an inch or even open his mouth as if he was caught in a trance. But neither did April.

She stared for nearly five minutes, a large smirk curling up the corners of her mouth as she thoroughly explored his eyes. Leo, terrified of what he thought she was thinking about, remained as still as a statue.

April lets go of him and gives a small shove against the middle of his chest, which he won't admit, actually hurt a little. She whistles small tune in an almost surprised manner. "Sooooo….." she cooes, seemingly putting all of the emphasis and devious inferences that she can muster into her words, "Leonardo Hamato, the Brave Blue Leader, and most centered and focused of ninja has finally been stung by the love bug."

Leo cheeks are tinted pink and he opens his mouth to argue. "It's not what you th-"

"So you admit it!" She chuckles, "Leo has a crush on a girl."

"No, no!" Leo stammered with more gravity in his voice.

"Leo, I don't even need psychic powers to see that you care for this girl," April said, crossing her arms over her chest, "So spill, what's on your mind?"

"It has to do with a girl, yes. But that's not why I'm here. I have to confirm some suspicions I have about her."

"What kind of 'suspicions'?" Leo really wishes she would stop looking at him with that enormous grin. 'Holy Crow April!' He thought to himself, 'She's not even interested in me.' But why did the thought of talking about her make him nervous? And why did he feel this strong feeling that he had to be near her or check in on her frequently to make sure she was okay? She should be fine, since she almost never goes out until later. Wow, maybe he really was obsessed. He just needed to keep a little distance between her and him. He didn't want to make her feel crowded. He just knew that she was special in a way...and she was one of the few humans that doesn't scream and run from what she doesn't understand. And he admired that about her.

"Casey and Raph witnessed some very strange Purple Dragon activity in Chinatown. Hundreds of them were gathered in an old warehouse, holding fighting matches for new initiates.

April shrugged, "Sounds to me like the norm for them."

Leo swallowed hard. "They were handing off….girls as prizes to the winners."

The color drained from her face as she gasped, "What? How...how could they do that?" She then saw through his mask of emotions, cursing herself for not have sensing something terrible troubling him.

Leo closed his eyes. "We've never seen the Purple Dragons in this many numbers. We're not sure how, but they've become much more organized and have resorted to kidnapping and selling off young, sickly, starving girls."

"It's inhuman! But, what does this have to do with the girl you were talking about? How'd you even meet her?"

"I, uh, saved her from some Purple Dragons who were shaking her down for valuables. But she wasn't scared of us and I've….been to see her a few times. I can't say that I suspect her to be conspiring with them, but I have a feeling that she may be tied to the Purple Dragons and this operation they have going on somehow.

April squints at the lights below, leaning against the railing of the fire escape. "How exactly?"

A pained expression graced the turtle's face. "She looks as though she hasn't eaten well in who knows how long and when Donnie examined her, he told me he found...chain marks on her wrists."

April's grew big, "Does she have parents? And if she does, what kind of parents do that to their children?"

"Exactly what I thought. To be honest, I'm not so sure that she was truthful when she talked about her parents and her life at home, like she was afraid to talk about it."

"Well I wouldn't want to talk about the cruel way my parents treated me, unless it was urgent that I share it with someone. What's in the bag, Leo?"

Now that she was no longer giving him that inquisitive stare, he sighed with relief. "Some food for Tess and her siblings."

April blinks, "Tess?" she asks, a little startled.

"Yeah. What? Do you recognize that name?"

"Well….I do know there was a girl named Tessandra at my school, but I think she dropped out about a month and a half ago. What does she look like?"

Leo tries not to giggle as he pictures her. "She's about your size, long dark brown hair, and really bright blue eyes. Ring any bells?"

April tapped her chin, her eyes turning in all different directions as she tried hard to think. She snaps her fingers. "Tessandra! Yes, she was one of my classmates. She sure was a teacher's pet too in history. But….could it actually be that same girl?"

Leo put both his hands on her shoulders and stared her dead in the eyes. "Were you friends with her? Do you possibly know the reason she left?"

"Whoa Leo, you really have it bad with this girl," she says, grabbing his hands, "I did know her a little. She was really fun, friendly to be around, and very assertive. We had lunch together and were partners in class projects. But whenever she spoke about her parents, she always talked about them as if they were the kindest people in the world. I never saw chain marks on her wrists. Maybe….she wasn't so truthful?"

Leo closes his eyes, his arms slipping from her shoulders. He effortlessly leaps onto the fire escape and then onto the apartment roof, his stare turned to the bright lights of Chinatown.

"I'd stake my life on the assumption that something really terrible happened to her that meant dropping out of school and being subjugated by abusive guardians."

"Subjugated? Leo you barely know her. For all we know, we could be talking about two completely different people." April says.

"Perhaps," Leo says scowling, "But perhaps not. I intend to find out more about our friend, even if it isn't the same person."

April looks doubtful, but "If it helps, I could snoop around and see what I can find out about her."

Leo nods, staring tentatively at the town ahead. "Whatever you can find would be appreciated April. I intend to find out more about our friend, but don't going doing anything dangerous."

April rolls her eyes.

"I mean it April."

The redhead looked up and smiled as the grimace on his face turned into a smirk.

"Oh yeah? The same goes for you too, Blue Leader."

Sweat makes my bangs cling to my forehead as it comes down to our last few minutes to scavenge for junk. I stopped brushing it away a while ago, because every time I did, more would drip down the sides of my face. Under the excuse that it's wintertime, the marshalls enjoy piping in warm dry air into the rooms where we work, which tires us out quicker.

My marshall smirks as he snatches up my stash to inspect and weigh it.

"Disappointing little girl," he says shaking his head as he tosses the contents into a bin and waves for me to move along.

"How much did you find, Tess?"

The person next to me loops arms with me. "Only about a fourth of what I got the last few times. Just some AI microchips a few power modulators, and an old working centrifuge. It's hardly enough to get either Kat or Jo even a single crust of bread."

Josey leans close to my ear. "Consider yourself lucky. They've shortened rations on the past few days, and I don't mean a few crusts short. I mean unusually short, they've cut away a third of our water and a whole half of our normal food."

"Hey! Can it little scugs and get moving!" An unseen hand pulls me from her as I keep walking. Metal is cuffed around my wrists and bites my already raw skin as I'm shoved through the mess of grimy children. Black covers my eyes and everything turns dark. The hand on my shoulder grasps the back of my neck, long nails digging into my skin. I resist the urge to cry out for him to let go of me.

The cold night air sweeps over me, making me shiver. I hear the familiar sound of the door closing behind us and the constant hum of the running engine of the truck that would take us back to our cellar. Small bodies surrounding me speed forward, desperate to get away from the hands that restrain them.

I'm afraid to see how Joven and Katherine did today; a fear that forever haunts me every time they disappear from my side and when I stumble down those steps to my prison, as if it's prompting the premonition that one of these days the welcoming hands of death will come to receive them, when they are still so young. And it will be me that calls them.

At one point, Katherine came back to me with a sprained and poorly wrapped wrist for speaking out of turn and Joven was bleeding out because of the deep lashings and cuts on his back for not working hard enough.

Ten minutes of rough bumps and heads knocking together with each sharp turn and swerve, I'm grabbed and pushed toward the dreadful row of steep stairs.

"Those scratches don't look good," he says as he unlocks my chains and takes off my blindfold, "I'd tie them off."

"I don't give two rips about what you'd do!" I hiss, pulling away from him and the familiar scent of filth and sweat fills my nose; walking quickly down the steps into the dark that had become our home. "Instead of pitying me, you should give thought about what a mistake you've made, committing to this hell."

"Tess!" Jo runs out from the shadows towards me, throwing his arms around my neck like he used to when dad came home from work. I feel an aching pain at the memory, but the man's voice quashes it. Curiosity urges me to glance for only a moment. His voice and gestures are not anything like Allen's and I turn to look at him; the blonde haired guy who gave me a clean smack to the face!

"There's no turning back," he says, but low as if saying it⸺no, he's just like the rest of them. Cold-hearted monsters, empty of compassion, or kindness, or sense of guilt. I can only turn away, shaking my head as the door closes; leaving but a stray strand of light and for a moment, I finally feel free to take a breath and contemplate the events of today.

"I missed you Tess," Joven whimpers, tightening his grip on me. He sounds seconds away from tears. His frantic fear shows through as something wet soak into my shirt, his shoulders trembling as if he will fall to pieces.

"I missed you too buddy," I murmur into his ears, rubbing circles through his greasy tasseled hair. "What's wrong? Did they hurt you?"

He shakes his head his face still buried in my shoulder and doesn't say anything for several minutes.

"Just so….hungry," he says between sniffs, "Tess, where….where is Leo?"

I wasn't quite sure how to respond, "I….I don't know Jo. I don't know where he is," I pull back from him so he can see me. Tears glisten on his cheeks and I wipe them away. "He is a ninja though little sprug. He could be anywhere, the way he gets around."

"He saved you big sis. Why can't he save us? Isn't that what he does? Save people?"

"No one is going to save us Joven," a low voice grumbles from the corner, "If someone was they would have done it weeks ago."

"Kat!" I can't believe I didn't notice that she was already here.

"Nice to know you still care about your flesh and blood."

"You're here earlier than usual. Did you get hurt or something?"

"Nothing I've never felt before. Although, they took my days' worth and demanded twice as much more. Just tell me you got some good stuff. I don't know how much more I can take…" She let's out a groan, her stomach growling angrily, "...without some decent food.."

It's easy for me to look worried in the dark. All the food I had received from Leo has been eaten already within a few days. But rations have been so short lately. Hopefully the others aren't suffering because of my defiance.

"Alright, I'll try to find something to help keep us satisfied for now."

"Tess, wait!" A hand grabs my mine. My brother tugs me down to his cot. "Please. Can you sing me a song before you go?" Still holding onto my hand with a death grip, he snuggles down under the covers. He won't let me leave without a fuss.

"Which one?"

He looks at me hard. "Mom's night song?"

"...Sure little brother."

What kind of business does Leo think he's digging into?

Will Tess fess up and talk?

How much longer can Tess keep her brother and sister alive?

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