Muck splashed about the ankles of her rubber boots as she trudged down the sewer tunnel, flashlight playing over the walls. April squinted, trying to spot the marks that indicated where she was. Donatello's system may have been meant only for those who dwelled in the sewers, but with all the time April seemed to be spending down there, it seemed to make sense that she learn the system too.

If she could only remember what each mark meant, she'd be in good shape.

She shivered, moving her flashlight so it illuminated the sludge before her. It took every fiber of her willpower to keep her from turning back and bolting up the nearest ladder, clambering her way back to the alley where this nightmare had all started.

The memory of Spike's voice, muffled through static, pushed her steps onward, as much as she wanted to turn back.

She turned the flashlight on her watch, squinting at the time and blowing out a sigh. She'd been traipsing through these tunnels for an hour, and was just as hopelessly lost as when she'd entered them.

She raised her flashlight again, frowning as she caught a flicker of movement. She jumped, panning the light back, eyes lighting up. "Raphael!"

The red-masked mutant turtle grimaced, holding a scaly arm in front of his eyes. "Hey, ease off, April!"

"Sorry." April lowered the light, stepping forward eagerly. "Raphael, I'm so glad I found you. We need to get your brothers and move! We're losing daylight."

Raphael squinted, lowering his arm. "Aw, April, already? We had a rough night! We're still recovering. I've got bruises on top of my bruises!"

April grimaced. "I'm not feeling the best myself, but if you remember, there's an evil ninja overlord who is holding my friend hostage. You promised to help me find her, and we've lost too much time already."

"Right. Leonardo promised." Raphael sighed. "I'll take you back to the lair. Stay close." He turned on his heel, sloshing off through the muck.

"Great. Thanks." April waded after him, flicking the flashlight on the ground in front of him.

"I can't promise that we leave right away," Raphael warned. "Master Splinter's running training this morning. I was sent out on surveillance."

April held a disapproving silence as she trudged through the slime. Raphael glanced back over his shoulder.

"Hey, no worries. We're ninjas. Nothing can stand in our way, not even Oruku Saki." A cocky grin spread across his beak. "You've got nothing to worry about."

April shook her head. "You know, Raphael, I've come to realize that maybe, if I'd worried a little more, I might not be in this situation in the first place. Maybe it's time I started." She gestured. "First, let's get to your brothers. I've lost enough time wandering around down here as it is."

"Sure thing. Try to keep up." Raphael turned and bounded off into the sewers, not once looking behind him as April burst into a run, trailing him as they wound deeper into the sewers.

The lair looked different in the daytime. Or maybe the difference was that April walked into it of her own free will.

Whichever it was, the living space seemed brighter, more cheerful. At the little table, a purple-masked turtle was tinkering with a jumble of circuitry, muttering to himself as Raphael and April stepped into the more brightly-lit living space. He looked up as the pair entered, dropping the gizmos with a clatter.

"Hi, April," he greeted cheerfully. "Feeling better?"

"A little." April smiled gratefully, crossing to the table to peer at his project. "What are you working on?"

"A motion sensor system for the sewers," he answered. "All I need are a few more parts. I was hoping that the next time we run into those Foot soldiers, I could harvest some of their wiring to make it work."

"A motion sensor system?" Raphael repeated skeptically. "So it can pick up every rat, frog or hunk of garbage that comes streaming through the sewers?"

Donatello shook his head. "Not if I design the sensors to only pick up objects of a certain mass or higher."

Raphael shrugged. "Do we have any more cereal? I'm starved."

"Michelangelo finished the rest of the Mr. T cereal, but there should be some Smurf Berry Crunch left."

April's nose wrinkled. "Do you guys eat anything healthy?"

"Not if we can help it," Raphael answered cheerfully, crossing to the cupboards over the stove. He pulled out a bowl, inspecting it. "Michelangelo and Leonardo still going at it?"

Donatello nodded. "Splinter's trying to help Michelangelo learn patience. Boy has he got his work cut out for him!"

"Really?" April pulled out a chair opposite Donatello at the round table, sliding into it.

"Oh yeah." Raphael dropped his bowl onto the table with a thunk, tossing a spoon alongside it. "Michelangelo needs to learn to keep his cool, like the rest of us," he added sardonically. He winked before turning back to the cupboards, taking out a bright, colorful box of sugar-laden cereal.

"So, why are you down here so soon again, April?" Donatello asked curiously.

"Can't you tell? She can't get enough of us!" Raphael sat down, pouring his bowl full of a combination of milk and cereal.

April rolled her eyes before turning her attention fully to Donatello. "Don't you remember the base that was under the skyscraper last night? That big Technodrome thingamajig! We've got to check it out. That's where The Shredder is keeping Spike."

Donatello nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. As soon as the training is over, we'll follow the sewers to find the spot underneath the building the Foot flooded last night."

"The sewers? Heck, can't we just go the same way we did yesterday?" Raphael swallowed a mouthful of food, gesturing with his spoon. "After all, there's no way the building is still full of water, right?"

"Actually, I'm positive that it's collapsed by now." Donatello reminded him. "The weight would have been too much for the supports. It would have crumbled! I've got a hunch that the Shredder's base must have been underneath the building, not inside it. And what's beneath the building?"

"The sewers," April realized. "You think their base would be down here as well?"

Donatello shrugged. "By my calculations, the odds are pretty good. That's one reason I want this motion sensor idea to work."

"One reason?"

Donatello grinned. "It'd be helpful to know when you are coming, as well. That is, if you intend to visit us more often."

April gave a half-hearted smile. "I hope so."

A commotion in the opposite doorway drew the attention of both turtles and April as Leonardo and Michelangelo marched into the kitchen, weapons drawn.

"How'd it go?" Donatello asked conversationally.

"Leonardo beat me again." Michelangelo sat down and set his nunchucks on the table before waving. "Oh, hi, April! What are you doing down here?"

"She's down here looking for that Technodrome." Raphael slurped down the rest of his cereal, setting his bowl down with a thunk.

Leonardo nodded at April in greeting, sheathing his katana blades. "We have not forgotten our promise to help you." He turned to his brothers. "Are you ready?"

Donatello dropped his circuits, drawing his bo staff. "Certainly."

"Ready when you are, Leonardo," Raphael drawled.

Michelangelo sprang to his feet again, apparently rested enough for the time being. "Another adventure? C'mon guys, what're we waiting for? Let's go!"

April stood up as well, pushing her chair back. "I'm way ahead of you. Come on, guys. We don't have time to lose!"

"What do you mean, monsters?"

Spike's voice shook slightly, her panic almost swallowed by boiling rage. The vein in her neck throbbed. She stared Hun down, eyes wide, hands shaking where they bunched in his collar.

"I mean monsters. Green skinned, scaly, like lizards. But they stood up. They had weapons." Hun jerked his head towards the door. "Weapons like the Shredder's got. Swords and sticks. And they know how to use 'em, too."

Spike barely glanced away as the door on the other end of the room slid open. The Shredder stalked towards them, his voice like thunder.

"Be mindful of your words, Hun. We do not have the feeble minds of your associates. Fairy-tales may frighten the Purple Dragon scum, but they will not work on me."

Hun started, trying to spot the Shredder out of the corner of his eye. "You gotta believe me, I'm dead serious. They were ninjas. Mutant turtle ninjas."

The Shredder took a step closer, the blades mounted on his claws gleaming underneath the bright light. "Mutants?"

"That's what I said." Hun craned his neck as the Shredder circled him, coming to stand behind Spike. "They broke my communicator and took O'Neil."

Spike bared her teeth. "You rotten-"

"He tells the truth. Release him."

Spike's eyes flashed, her grip loosening enough for Hun to fall back, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Shredder? What, you believe 'im?"

Oruku Saki was already moving, cape billowing behind him as he strode towards the door. "There is much you do not understand," he barked. "Come with me."

Spike followed at a lope, jaw grinding with frustration, with confusion. Anger and fear tore at her, making her gut lurch, her chest constrict. The door to the interrogation room closed just behind her booted heels as she threw her arm out, teeth bared.

"I ain't goin' anywhere 'till you explain what I don't understand," she growled. "An' how you can believe this scum-suckin' liar."

"Hun is not lying." Shredder turned slightly, eyebrows thick and heavy. His eyes darkened as he looked at Spike. "There is more to our reality than you can possibly imagine. You have witnessed them before. Robotic life forms. Undead spirits. And yet there is more that you cannot understand. Not yet, anyway."

"Then make me understand." Spike stepped forward, face flushed a deep crimson as her throat tightened. "What n' blazes are you talkin' about?"

"The Purple Dragons are not my only allies." The Shredder turned, beckoning for her to follow as he strode down the long, white hallway. "There is another benefactor I am in contact with. They possess a technical and scientific expertise beyond those of our world."

A realization slowly began to dawn in Spike's mind as she pieced together everything she'd seen.

"They gave you the robots."

"They provided me with the technology necessary to create them, yes. This very structure is an example of their workmanship, a mobile fortress capable of holding hundreds, fitted with defenses, capable of drilling underground." Shredder gestured grandly at the walls around them.

Spike started. "This thing 's movin'?"

"Indeed. The Technodrome is difficult to track, and even more difficult to invade." He continued down the hallway, on a path that seemed vaguely familiar, inasmuch as any of these featureless corridors could. "But this was not their greatest gift."

The Shredder turned, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "There is a chemical. A highly unusual substance that has the ability to transform any organism's cellular structure, mutating it into a different form. Any creature that comes into contact with it transforms into a mutated being, affected by whatever DNA it has last come into contact with. This can turn men into sludge, animals into sentient beings…." He clenched his fists at his sides. "At first, I did not understand its properties. Only recently did my benefactor reveal to me it's true nature, but not before I had attempted to use it, many years ago, in these very sewers."

Spike's bushy eyebrows drew together as her eyes narrowed, her mind working through the Shredder's story, his very purpose for being in New York in the first place. "I thought you jus' came t' New York recently."

The Shredder's steps faltered briefly. "Not entirely. I have been here once before. When I first banished Hamato Yoshi, I and my followers followed him here. He fled into the sewers. We pursued."

Spike's lips twisted wryly. "So y'tried to murder 'im."

"Murder? Ms. Sanchez, if ridding the world of a warmonger who was a danger to the Foot clan's society is murder, than I am indeed guilty. Hamato Yoshi is far more dangerous than he seems."

"Since y're still lookin' for 'im, I'm gonna guess it didn't work."

"We never found the body. Still, I had no intention of returning to finish the job until the recent information about the chemical came to light." The Shredder turned a corner, heading down the hallway that Spike recognized as leading to the control room. "The knowledge that Hamato Yoshi may, in fact, be alive, perhaps mutated beyond recognition. A monster, if you will."

"So, y'think these turtles….."

"May be connected to Hamato Yoshi. If they are, they are as dangerous as he is, and must be dealt with."

Spike halted, eyes narrowing further still. "An' y'think if we find these things, we'll find April."

"It's very possible." The Shredder paused as well, turning towards her. "I must confer with my partner to determine a course of action. I will call you when I need you."

"Need me? For what?" Spike threw her arms out to the side, gesturing at the walls. "What, I just wander around until y' need me ta beat up another Purple Dragon?"

"Certainly not, Ms. Sanchez. I expect you to familiarize yourself with the interior of the Technodrome until I need you to go hunting." The Shredder pressed at the keypad, watching the door slide open. "Prepare yourself to go to war, lieutenant. That is, if you have any intention of finding your friend." The Shredder stepped through the doorway, allowing it to slide shut behind him with a hiss.

Spike stood alone in the chrome hallway, fists clenched at her sides, frustration charging her limbs with energy. She closed her eyes for a moment, allowing her forehead to uncrease, wishing and hoping, more than anything, that April truly was safe.

Spike pressed her burning forehead against the cool metal of the hallway, slamming her fist into the wall beside her head.

I was supposed to protect you.

She opened her eyes slowly, catching a glimpse of her reflection in the wall. She raised her square, bloodstained chin and ground her teeth. If killing monsters is what it took to get April back...

Then that's what she'd do.

The Shredder was right about one thing. It was time to prepare for war.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Please let me know what you think in a review, it really helps me keep writing. I'll see you in the next chapter!