"Legal Stuff":

Lyrics from "Dream a Little Dream of Me" are by Doris Day and lyrics from "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen are by Ben Platt. Just adding some musical flavor to this world; I don't own either.

March 20, 2012

The normally cheery dojo held an ominous spirit as Splinter and the boys sat in silence before the large tree. The turtles knelt before their father, heads hung in shame for their botched mission topside. Splinter's elbows rested on his knees, head buried in his hands.

"Tell me again what happened." His broken voice asked.

Mikey stroked Ice Cream Kitty as she purred in his lap. After the Kraang had taken April, he needed some comfort. The rest of the group had yet to notice.

"After April's episode and also called you, we checked out the van. I was keeping watch around the corner in case those Kraang dudes came back early. Donnie wanted my backpack to put some purple goop in, so I brought it to him before going back to my corner." The boy shook his head. "They snuck up on me before I could warn anyone. Donnie and I took off after April to help her out…" Mikey trailed off as his cat left him to curl around a shaking Donatello. "Dee? You okay, dude?"

Donnie continued to shake with anger, not even noticing the tiny creature trying to offer him comfort. "No, Mikey. I'm not okay! None of this is okay! We're ninjas who have been training for 9 years and we couldn't stop a bunch of robots. We couldn't stop them because we couldn't get our act together!" He grit his teeth "We all ended up fighting each other more than the Kraang!"

Splinter looked up, running a clawed hand over his weary face. "So your inability to work together as a team allowed them to take April?" Leo felt the tension building between his father and his brother. They did not need another family fight today. He needed to head this off before things got ugly.

"Father… as the oldest, I take full responsibility for our failures tonight…" He stopped as Splinter raised his hand.

"No, my son. The fault lies with me. I trained you to hone your individual skills, not your teamwork. But that is in the past. The question for now: How to save April?"

Donnie zoned out of the conversation, replaying the moment she was taken in his head. Over and over again. If I had only been a second quicker… He squeezed his eyes shut at the memory of April screaming his name. I can still hear her voice in my head…

"Stars fading but I linger on, dear… still craving your kiss…"

"April?"

"I'm longing to linger til dawn, dear… just saying this…"

Why am I hearing April's voice in my head? He pressed a hand to his head. I've never heard her sing this song… I've only heard her dad sing it to her in her memories…

"Wait… DONNIE? You can hear me?"

Donnie gasped, feeling his spirit pulled… somewhere outside of the physical realm. He could see April sitting cross-legged in an empty black space. Her powers have definitely grown. He willed his body closer, kneeling before her. Tears flowed freely down his face.

"You're alive! You're okay?" He saw her corporeal form smiling through her own tears.

"Yeah. For now. Are you guys okay? I've been so worried!"

"We're fine. Raph and Leo almost killed each other, but we're all okay." The guilt he had been feeling a moment ago came flooding back in full force. "April, I'm so sorry I let them take you! This is all my-"

"Don't you DARE finish that sentence, Donatello." The girl snarled. He winced at her tone. "It's nobody's fault but the Kraang's."

He paused. Then he frowned, noticing that she was trembling. "Did they hurt you?"

April bit her lip. "They- they held me down to take my blood after I woke up. I think I had a panic attack…"

"They took your blood? Again?" Donnie punched the ground in front of him. How DARE the Kraang hurt his best friend! They were going to pay. If they hurt her before he could tell her how he felt… he would regret it for the rest of his life.

"Dee… I'm scared." She began crying again. "I-I don't want to be stuck here again… alone…"

Even if she couldn't feel it, Donnie reached out to cup her cheek. Was it his imagination or did she lean into his touch?

"April," He soothed. "We're working on a plan to come and get you. We're going to bring you home."

"And oh, I know someone will come running… And I know they'll take you home… YOU WILL BE FOUND." Donnie felt a jerk in his gut as he was pulled away from April. He landed back in his body with a fierce grunt.

"DONNIE! Dude, are you okay? Wake up, Dee!"

"OW! Michaelangelo, did you just slap me?" Donnie rubbed his cheek, also wondering how he ended up on the floor staring at the ceiling.

"Had to make sure you were still alive," The boy shrugged. He hugged his cat to his chest.

Raph and Leo sat on either side of the purple turtle as he struggled to sit up. "What was that, Donnie?" Raph frowned.

Donnie's mind cleared and his gaze sharpened, meeting his father's. "It's April. We need to get her out NOW."

xXx

The four turtles found themselves outside of a decrepit warehouse on the edge of the city. Leo looked down to a crouching Donatello who was bent over his phone. "Are you sure this is the right place, Donnie?"

"I'm sure. The tracker I attached to their van leads us here. My tech is never wrong."

Raph surveyed the warehouse with a pair of night vision goggles Donnie had whipped up. "So how're we gettin' in, leader?" Leo rolled his eyes at Raph's quip. He held out a hand for Raph's goggles so he could take a look as well. He pointed out a section of the building.

"There. Southwestern section of the warehouse. The heat signature setting on these things isn't picking anything up over there. There's a window near the roof we could access."

Mikey poked Donnie's shoulder. "Hey, do most night vision goggles have heat signature do-hickies?" The purple clad turtles smirked.

"Mine do."

The team ninja'd their way into the warehouse through the window Leo had found. Once they were all inside, they looked to Donnie. No one would admit it, but he was the best chance at tracking down April. He checked their surroundings. There wasn't a surface that didn't gleam with an other worldly silvery sheen.

"Look up." He pointed. "These look like power conduits. This place make look trashy on the outside, but the Kraang have some serious generators running this place." Donnie grinned as he looked down the hallway. "How much do you wanna bet these can lead us to a computer or something with everything we want to know?"

Raph bumped his shoulder. "I'll take that bet. There's no way we're that lucky."

Following the power conduits in the ceiling lead them to a control room covered with computers, one of which was booted up and unlocked already.

"Huh…" Leo scratched his head. "Maybe we are that lucky…"

Donnie quirked an eye ridge at his older brother. Raph grumbled. "Fine. I'll take over dish duty for a month. Now that we've found the 'computer with everything we want to know', where's April and WHY do these crazy creeps want her in the first place?"

"Let's find out." Donnie cracked his knuckles before his fingers flew over the keyboard. He felt Mikey's head over his shoulder, eyes scanning the screen for anything related to April. The orange turtle's finger suddenly jammed at the screen.

"There, Dee! Something about detention cells!"

"Good call, Mike." Donnie clacked a few more keys. "Looks like they're all empty except for one. Cell D87. Wait, it says Experiment 274 has escaped?"

The computer suddenly shut down as all the screens in the control room blared an alarm. Leo, Raph, and Donnie glared at Mikey. The boy blinked back.

"Why are you lookin' at me? I didn't do anything!"

"We gotta move!" Leo withdrew his katana from their scabbard, gesturing for everyone to leave. "Donnie, did you see which way April's cell was?"

"Yeah. Once we leave this room, head down the hallway and take the first left. There'll be a stairwell that can take us to the lower levels."

The turtle teens had barely turned the corner when they saw a figure at the end of the hall. Everyone stopped to draw their weapons before they saw the red hair.

"April?" Donnie whispered. Her hair had fallen from its ever present ponytail, but her yellow headband had apparently made it through the ordeal.

"Donnie!" She cheerfully shouted. She took off running towards the group. Donnie ran halfway to meet her before being tackled in a deep hug by his best friend. He chuckled as they crashed to the ground. He pressed his forehead to hers.

"What the heck are you doing? You're depriving me of a very dashing rescue." He teased.

April gently pushed herself back from his embrace to wipe away her tears. "Sorry, Dee. The only one who saves me is me. I did get you a Mutation Day gift, though."

Donnie frowned in confusion as he helped the girl to her feet. "Do the Kraang have a gift shop you raided or something?"

"Or something," She held up a small thumb drive. "Everything the Kraang have on me. And maybe where they've been keeping my dad!"

"YOUR DAD?" The boys shouted. Everyone shut up as they heard the sound of metal footsteps approaching.

"Let's revisit this when we're somewhere safer…" Raph readied his sai as the group started moving backwards.

"Yeah… Let's go home." April grinned.

Did you guys enjoy the telepathy bond from Donnie's POV? It was fun doing writing from both points of view!

Fun fact: I wrote the dialogue for their interaction in this chapter first (just had a place holder in chapter 14), then just plugged in the appropriate POV for each chapter.

I'm about to go work on chapter 16 AS WE SPEAK. See y'all again soon!