Despite the fact that Ryanne became anxious about finding her parents, to let them know that she was alright, Splinter asserted, "If this man kidnapped you before, he may do it again, and you may not be able to escape a second time. It is best that you remain down here until we are certain that this threat is no more."

"But I need to let my parents know that I am all right," Ryanne argued. "They have the right to know."

"Your parents have probably filed a police report of your kidnapping, am I correct?"

Ryanne shrugged. "Most likely."

"And so, you letting them know that you are all right will lead them to close the case with the police. Which would mean that your escape would be noticed, and perhaps not by friendly eyes."

Ryanne hung her head, "But…"

Splinter put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Your parents will be happier to have their child back when the threat to her life is eliminated. Have patience, young one. Patience."

The next few weeks, Ryanne fell into the routine of the turtles. She'd participate in the turtle's training sessions, as well as single practices with Splinter alone. She was very weak, and thin, but slowly she became stronger, and more able to defend herself. She spent her evenings planning on how to get rid of her enemy, but one problem always seemed to rear its ugly head. They had no idea where to find him. Ryanne herself said that she had sleepwalked all the way through the tunnel system. The fact that she'd turned up completely exhausted attested to the distance that she'd covered through the sewer systems. They couldn't figure out where to turn to, and the strange devices were no help at all despite Donatello's tinkering.

Another big problem that occurred was Ryanne herself. She was a freaky sleepwalker that roamed during the nights, and sometimes unconsciously wreaking havoc. One night found Ryanne standing on the railing of a small footbridge over the indoor pool, teetering dangerously.

Donatello spotted her first, as he was having a hard time sleeping in the first place. "Ahh! Ryanne! Get down from there!" He called. His noise woke Raphael.

Donatello grabbed her right before she walked right off the edge of the railing and into the water, where she could possibly have hurt herself, and was about to wake her up when Raphael said, "Wait! Isn't it dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker?"

Donatello shook his head, "Naw, that's just an old wive's tale. It's a lot more dangerous to let them sleepwalk." He shook her.

Ryanne's eyes had been half open already, but her eyelids fluttered , and she looked dazed and confused. "Wha—what?"

Raphael held her steady for a moment, while she got her bearings. "You were about to sleepwalk right off the edge of that footbridge, Ryanne."

Ryanne looked at the footbridge apprehensively. "Great." She said. Then she looked at Donatello and Raphael, "Guess I forgot to mention that I sleepwalk a lot, didn't I?"

"Guess so." Raphael nodded.

The next few nights passed by relatively quietly, but after a few days, she had another sleepwalking episode. This time, nobody was awake enough to stop her. She walked into the strange elevator-like room that lead up to the surface, inside a warehouse. Somehow she'd gotten hold of Donatello's remote control to the Battle Shell. She pushed the button that activated it, and nearly got herself killed. By the time anyone realized what was going on, the whole place was a shambles, the Battle Shell was wrecked, and Ryanne herself lay in a pile of newly-made junk, having been knocked down by the Battle Shell. She had quite a few bruises, but luckily no broken bones. The next morning they sat down to have a meeting.

Leonardo provided some calming tea for everyone. Ryanne was shaken up by the experience, Raphael just needed to cool down, Michelangelo would have been laughing had not their Battle Shell just been totaled, and Donatello rubbed his head contemplating the sheer amount of time it would take to get everything in that warehouse the way it had been before the accident. Splinter didn't really need calming tea, but he loved the flavor, and decided it wouldn't hurt to have some.

"All right," Leonardo began, "We've got to do something about your dangerous sleepwalking, Ryanne."

Ryanne rubbed her forehead, and sighed. "Yes, we do." Taking a sip of her tea, she noticed a new bruise on her hand that she hadn't already found.

Donatello spoke up, "Ryanne, how did your parents deal with your sleepwalking?"

"They'd just have me lock my door at night, and that'd keep me relatively safe. I never had a bunk bed, and most of the time, I had all my things picked up in my room, just in case I'd trip on things. Yes, I'd still wake up with bruises sometimes, but at least damage…" She pointed up towards the warehouse, "was kept to a minimum."

Michelangelo pointed out, "Yeah, but look around here. Everything's so open, and there are so many automatic doors. We couldn't lock you anywhere."

"That's not entirely accurate, Mikey." Donatello interjected, "I could rig her up a timer on one of the automatic doors that opened with a code at night, and automatically in the daytime…" He looked around, "Although, that would take a few days, and we have to fix the warehouse and the Battle Shell first."

"Great!" Raphael said, gripping his teacup a little harder than necessary. "So what do we do in the meantime? Post a watch every night?"

"Cool it, Raph," Leonardo said, looking at Ryanne who now looked close to tears. She didn't like all the problems she was causing. "I have an idea. We could all sleep together, with Ryanne in the middle of us."

Donatello rubbed is chin. "That's actually not a bad idea Leo. Sleepwalkers bump into things all the time, especially if the things are in their path. She'd wake us up, and we could direct her back to her bed."

Raphael patted Ryanne on the back, "I'm sorry, Ry. I didn't mean it."

Ryanne smiled at him, "It's ok, Raph," and she then grimaced. "Just don't touch me for a while. I'm covered in bruises."

Raphael lifted his hand swiftly. "Sorry."

They moved all their beds into Master Splinter's quarters, creating a ring around Ryanne's bed. The spaces in between their beds were minimal, so that even if Ryanne were awake, she'd have no choice but to wiggle the beds in order to slide past them.

Their days were now filled with the repairs that needed to be made to the Battle shell. Ryanne did as much as she could, and actually as she had the most dexterity in her hands, she could do a lot of things a lot quicker than the turtles could. She learned how to do things she never thought she'd ever learn to do in her life, like looking into an engine, and be able to identify parts, how to un-ding a huge hunk of metal, and other interesting things.

It took them a whole week to finally fix all the dents, scrapes, dings, and breaks in the Battle shell, but they still had the warehouse to clean up. Nights were now a lot less terrifying. Ryanne did sleepwalk a few times, but each time she was caught by a turtle or Splinter, woken up, and sent back to bed.

The turtles had to admit, it was really hard getting used to having a human living with them, even if it was temporary. She added a new dynamic to the group. She had a sense of humor, and quickly became good friends with Michelangelo. But she also had a serious enough side that she got along with Leonardo just fine, and actually managed to get him to smile once in a while. She loved working with Donatello on whatever he was working on, becoming more and more able to understand what he was talking about, even providing her own ideas, and help with tinkering. He was glad of the help, and let her do some of the delicate work that his own clumsy, three-fingered hands had a harder time doing. But Ryanne also had a spunky side, enough to deal with Raphael's temper, and she could toss a few good remarks when she had to. Needless to say, she pretty much became good friends with all of them.

But there was a downside too. It had to do mostly with bathroom time. She was an eighteen year old girl after all. She'd make sure everything had to look perfect, even if she was only going to be doing a training session with the turtles. Her hair became a curiosity and a nuisance. The turtles never imagined how long it would take a female to make sure every strand was perfectly in place. However that was easy enough to handle. Donatello decided that since he was going to have to build her a door with a lock on it, he could also very easily build her a table and a mirror for getting ready so she wouldn't keep the bathroom all tied up. The mirror was in the shape of a turtle shell, of course. Ryanne got a kick out of that.

She became very fond of Splinter too, and would sit down just to listen to the old wise rat. He became her mentor every bit as much as he was the turtles'. Her life had been turned upside down, to be reshaped in a way she'd never imagined could be possible. He helped her learn to focus her energies, and become calm inside, despite her having been ripped away from all that she'd ever known, having to deal with a man who she couldn't find, but would probably find her instead, and could possibly harm her in the future. Her worries he taught her to shelve, her fears, to closet, her passions to dust off, and her intelligence to sharpen. It was as if she were learning how to organize and clean her mind like she would clean her room.

One night, Leonardo awoke from a bump on his bed from Ryanne. Sleepwalking again. He moved to wake her up, but before he touched her, she suddenly reached out, grasped his wrist, and squeezed. She looked at him.

As they usually did when she sleepwalked, her half open eyes did not focus on their intended target. But it seemed as though she could see through them anyway. "What the…?" He asked to himself. She dropped his wrist, and began to slowly walk again. It wasn't the usual bumbling step that she had when she sleepwalked, but a smooth, very quiet step. He rubbed his head in confusion. With that, he slapped Donatello, who woke up instantly, but very grumpily.

"Aw, Leo," He grumbled, "I was having a good dream too…"

"Shut up a minute, Don," Leonardo countered. He pointed to Ryanne. "Ry seems to be sleepwalking, but she's sleepwalking very… well weirdly."

Raphael woke up, having heard the last thing that Leonardo said. He rubbed his eyes. "Whaddaya mean, Leo?"

Donatello sprung up in a jiffy. "Geeze, Leo, why didn't you wake her up?" He ran over to where Ryanne was silently walking.

"I tried!" Leonardo defended. "But… well, you try waking her up!"

Michelangelo was up by now. "Guys, couldja keep it down? Some people in here are trying to sleep." He sat up, and rubbed his eyes.

Donatello reached over to tap her on the shoulder, but she blocked his hand swiftly, and kept walking. She'd never done that before in her sleepwalking episodes, and she'd never been so agile either. "Whoa…"

Although she remained asleep, Donatello thought she looked very awake to him. If he didn't know better… And she wasn't about to be woken up either. It seemed to him that if he tried, she'd sleep-fight him, and stay asleep. She walked over to his workstation, opening drawers, and closing them, as if she were searching for something in her sleep.

Michelangelo walked over with the three other turtles, and asked, "What's she doing?"

They all shrugged, and watched.

She had by now pulled out the little silver devices that had puzzled Donatello for weeks now. She had also arranged a very small screwdriver, Donatello's magnifying glass, and a regular AA battery on the worktable, and sat down.

"Ryaannneee…" Michelangelo tried, waving a hand in front of her face, but it wasn't any good. She really was asleep, but this was unlike anything they had ever seen. "Well, now what do we do?" Michelangelo asked.

Leonardo pulled up a chair. "We watch, and wait, I guess."

They all pulled up chairs and sat down, watching to see what Ryanne would do.

She had opened up one of the devices, a thing that Donatello had done many times before, but all that there was inside was a little micro-chip. There wasn't anything else there besides the micro-wire that attaches the little thing to the body of its victim. But Ryanne seemed to know things about it in this awake-yet-asleep state that she was in. She pulled out the screwdriver, and found a screw that Donatello had supposed was what was keeping the chip from rattling around in the device—which was partly its function. But Ryanne seemed to know something else about it. She unscrewed the screw.

"This is fascinating. It's as if she's awake…" Donatello commented.

Raphael shook his head, "Yeah, but what if we can't wake her up?"

Donatello shrugged. "Maybe she'll wake up on her own."

"Somehow," Leonardo put in, "I have a strange feeling that she's definitely not going to wake up for a while."

"Yo, dudes, look what she's doing!" Michelangelo had walked around the other side of the table, finding a better angle by which to observe.

Ryanne had disassembled the chip from the device, the micro-wire that was attached to it, and had even opened the chip up—something that Donatello hadn't tried before. Ryanne then proceeded to do the same to the other device.

"If she disassembles both chips, we may not get them to work at all!" Donatello disputed. He got up to try to stop her.

"Wait, Donny." Raphael put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "She's definitely got something on her mind. Just wait."

Donatello grimaced. "But these things are our only clue as to who the man is that kidnapped her."

"But Don," Michelangelo argued, "You can't even get them to work."

Donatello growled a bit.

"Easy, Don." Leonardo warned.

They watched as she finished disassembling both chips, the micro-wire, and the silver plastic coverings. She picked up one of the coverings, and took out the screwdriver again. This time, she was putting things back together. Donatello picked up one of the chip halves. Inside was a little device that looked like a receiver for a remote signal.

"I knew it!" He cried.
"Shhhhhh!" Everyone retorted.

"Sorry," he said, and quieted his tone. "But I knew these things had to be able to pick up some sort of signal. How else would the time-bomb have been activated? I just didn't think to take the actual chips inside these little babies apart!"

Nobody was paying any attention. In fact, Ryanne seemed to almost be done. She had attached the two micro-wires to the inside of one half of the chip, linking it to the remote device that she'd discovered. Then she attached the other half of the chip together with the screw, not bothering to put it back inside its plastic cover. Then she took the AA battery, and attached one end of it to one wire, while attaching the other end of it to the other wire. It began to blink, and glow. It had activated.

Donatello pulled out his scanner. He scanned the energy signature it gave off. "Hey, this thing is giving off a unique energy reading."

"Yeah, but is it picking up any signals from anywhere else?" Leonardo asked.

Donatello shrugged, and fumbled around with his scanner for a second or two more. "Yes! We finally have the point of origin!" The scanner's screen had a red blinking dot.

"Man, Don, why didn't you think of that?" Michelangelo asked. "Are ya losing your techno mo jo?"

Donatello rolled his eyes at Michelangelo. "I did think of it Mikey. But there would have been no point, because I couldn't find the remote receiver. What good would it do to activate the device when all it did was blink?" Suddenly he saw Ryanne collapse.

"Catch her, Mikey!" Donatello yelled.

Michelangelo got there in the nick of time, before Ryanne cracked her head open on the hard stone floor. He felt her neck for a pulse. "Yup, still in the land o'the living."

Raphael shook his head. "If that wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen..."

Leonardo walked over to Michelangelo who was still holding Ryanne, "Maybe we should try to wake her up now."

Donatello interjected, "No. She's not sleepwalking now. Just put her back to bed. We can tell her about it when she wakes up in the morning."

When Ryanne woke up in the morning it was to strange looks from the turtles. She yawned, and stretched. "Good morning, guys!"

Michelangelo folded his arms. Imitating Desi Arnaz from the old TV show 'I Love Lucy,' he said, "Oh Ryanne, you have some 'splainin' to do…"

Ryanne frowned. "What?"

"Yeah," Raphael agreed with Michelangelo, "You were really freakin' me out last night."

Ryanne remained quiet a second or two, and then asked, "Does somebody want to explain to me what it is that I'm supposed to be explaining?"

Leonardo stepped in for her. "It was last night. You sleepwalked."

Ryanne raised her eyebrows. "Huh, interesting. I've never done that before." She said this in a sarcastic tone.

Leonardo held out his three-fingered hand. "Here, let me show you what I mean."

Ryanne grasped it, and he pulled her toward Donatello's worktable. On the surface was the newly rebuilt micro-chip attached to the AA battery. It was still blinking. Ryanne frowned for a moment, "What? Are you saying that I did that?"

"Yeah, it was like having two Donatellos." Michelangelo said, shuddering mockingly. "Now see, two of me would be a different story. That would be a good thing."

Donatello pushed Michelangelo over.

"Ow!" Michelangelo yelped, "What?"

Ryanne chuckled. It always seemed to be a 'beat up on Mikey' kind of day. She picked up the device she had apparently reconstructed, and examined it. Donatello came over and explained. "See, now that it has its own power source, the device is functioning, picking up a signal from the point of origin." He picked up the scanner, and pointed at the red dot. "Which means, we've found him."

Ryanne didn't know whether to be thrilled or terrified. "So now what do we do?"

"We go kick some serious shell!" Raphael said with a grin on his face.

Ryanne looked at Donatello. "Wouldn't the fact that it's receiving a signal now mean that it's also sending a signal?"

Donatello nodded. "Well, yeah." He saw the point Ryanne was about to make. "Ryanne, relax. I seriously doubt that he's even looking for a signal anymore. It's been a long time."

Ryanne shook her head. "He won't ever stop looking for me. And three weeks is not that long of a time." She shivered, and not from being cold.

Raphael growled. "Can we go, now?"

They all looked at him. He had his sais in his hands, and they were gripped so tightly that he was shaking from head to foot. The demon inside him that could be called rage had just been prodded one too many times.

"Easy, Raph." Leonardo said, laying a hand on Raphael's tense shoulders. "I have a plan."