Author's Notes: (Dashes in and proceeds to fall flat on my face.) Sorry it's taken me so LONG to update. I've been extremely busy lately but thanks to my ever-talented beta, the President of Angst Dierdre, I am now able to present you with chapter 13 of Mistaken Loyalties! There are a few swear words in this particular chapter. Italics will denote character thoughts. Beta read by the extremely talented Dierdre!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything TMNT related. I am making no profit or gain from this story so please don't sue.

Chapter 13

Leonardo's point of view

Thanks to Karai's infinite knowledge of the Shredder, we discovered that he had decided to set up shop in New Jersey. When we finally arrived at the compound, April didn't park very close to it. Instead, she opted to park a short distance away, where the security cameras wouldn't be able to spot her. This would allow us to get in without being seen.

Quietly slipping out of the Battle Shell, Raph, Mikey, Casey, Leatherhead and I began running to the complex. Time was of the essence.

Upon arriving at the compound's steel doors, I nodded towards Raph. Grinning eagerly, he knelt in front of the door and began working on the lock. For a few moments, we all waited in tense silence until we heard a faint click. Raph cautiously removed the lock before moving away from the doors.

I took my place at the front of the line as we slowly crept inside the complex. Once inside, we each went our separate ways. Mikey and Leatherhead were assigned the first two floors, while Casey and Raph had been assigned the third and fourth. For myself, I'd be scouting the last three levels.

If one of us found Don, we were to retrieve him and leave immediately. Under no circumstances did I want any of us engaging the enemy.

Sticking to the shadows, I examined the fifth level carefully, only to come up empty-handed. Most of the rooms had been locked, except for one door. I looked around cautiously before attempting to go into the room, and when I did enter, my jaw went slack in shock. Sitting in front of a huge monitor was one of the Shredder's lab assistants, and I could only watch in horror as I saw the remnants of Mikey's bandana tails being captured on video.

Silently creeping up behind him, I hit him on the back of the head and caught him as he slumped forward. I removed him from the seat and dragged him to the farthest corner of the room. Grabbing onto his lab coat, I ripped a piece of the material off and blindfolded him.

Taking his place at the desk, I quickly glanced over the control panel, not sure what to do. This sort of thing was Don's specialty, not mine's. Taking a deep breath, I pressed a random button and anxiously waited.

When nothing happened, I let out of a small sigh of relief. My victory was short lived, however, when a sudden shrill beeping noise began to fill the room.

Great. Just what I needed, I sourly thought to myself.

Looking at the control panel once again, I pressed several different buttons at once and stood back as the system began to malfunction. Deciding to help the monitor's ailment along, I used my katana to slice through the wires behind the monitor. The sizzling and hissing of snapped wires reached my ears as the monitor went dead. Satisfied that I had caused enough damage, I slipped out of the room and continued my trek down the darkened hallway until I heard faint footsteps coming towards me.

Running to the nearest room, I barely had enough time to slip into it undetected. Crouching by the door, I carefully peered out to see Hun walking by with an unconscious girl in his arms. Now this presented me with a rather perplexing problem. I could either tail Hun to see where he was going, or I could continue wandering around the complex on my own.

Thoughtfully weighing my options, I decided to follow him. If there was one thing I could count on, it'd be him leading me to an answer.

Allowing a few minutes to pass, I left the safety of the room and began following after Hun.

Michelangelo's point of view

Leatherhead and I weren't having much luck scouting the two levels Leo had assigned us. I'd already searched the first one and had come up with nothing of value. The only thing I found was a group of scientists leaving for the night. When I saw them coming towards me, it took every single drop of my ninjistu training to avoid being seen by them, let alone caught. Lucky for me, there had been a janitor's closet nearby where I was able to hide, hoping that no one would decide to come in the room for anything.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts of the near run in, I turned my attention back to Donnie. It's not like we were in the Amazon jungle or anything, so how come I wasn't able to find Donnie? Where could those creeps have put him?

As my thoughts lingered on Donnie, I began making my way back to Leatherhead. Walking down the halls, I caught a glimpse of his tail up ahead. I silently crept over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He spun around and almost hit me. Luckily, I moved just in time to avoid getting smacked by his hefty fist. I knew how strong he really was, and the mere thought of getting pummeled by this mutated crocodile didn't exactly sound like an attractive prospect to me. Man, he'd probably be able to give Raph a run for his money in the strength department.

"Find anything?" I whispered, once my heart rate had returned to normal.

When he finally realized that it was only me, his muscles relaxed, and he was now very calm. "I believe I found a laboratory of some sort. There was nothing of particular interest about the place; however, I did find this."

He handed me a paper marked with Donnie's precise handwriting. I didn't understand everything on the paper, but my eyes bulged when I saw the name Project Apocalypse. That couldn't be a good thing. Nervously, I grabbed my shell cell with every intention of calling Leo, but Leatherhead snatched the phone out of my hand.

"If you call your brother, you could be putting his life in danger. Perhaps we should find him rather than give his location away," he calmly suggested as he handed me back my phone.

I nodded mutely and put it back in its holder. Together, we went off in search of Leo.

Raphael's point of view

Case and I had decided to split up. I figured it'd be easier that way since he could take one floor while I took the other. I was getting pretty frustrated with my own search, because I was coming up short. I mean, honestly! This place wasn't that huge to begin with, so where in the shell was Donnie?

Walking past yet another locked room, I was just about to leave this floor when I heard someone coughing. It was further up ahead so I decided to investigate. Creeping silently to the door, I leaned against it and listened, as the coughing became louder and more intense.

I opened the door slowly and had to refrain from screaming once it swung fully open. Lying on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, lay my brother Donatello.

I nearly tripped over my own feet in my desperate attempt to reach him. Arriving at his side, I cradled him in my arms. This couldn't be right! We'd come here in hopes of finding Donnie and bringing him back alive. This wasn't supposed to be happening!

He was in bad shape. It looked like someone had broken his right arm, while his left leg looked completely crushed. Due to the many lacerations and bruises on his face, he was almost unrecognizable. His plastron was severely cracked and there was a pretty deep gash on the side of his head.

Choking back tears while fighting off doubts and insecurities, I urgently called out to him, "Donnie, it's me, Raph! Come on, Donnie! We gotta get you out of here."

More coughing came from him as blood began trickling down the sides of his mouth.

"No, Raph, it's too late for me," he mumbled softly.

I could feel my temper rising. This was not the freaking time for him to be telling me that it was too late! Pushing down my ire, I tried speaking to him in a friendly voice. I failed miserably, however, for the anger was still evident when I spoke.

"What are you saying? We come all this way just to save you, and now you're just going to leave us! What kind of bullshit is that! Don't you know if you leave us, we're going to fall apart? And what about all of those things you saw in that alternate world? Do you really want that to happen! Donnie, please… I'm begging you. Don't give up…please…"

He sighed wearily as he began to tremble. "Just hold me, Raph."

I did as he requested of me, and that's when I noticed the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I'd almost given up hope. I was so close to believing that you guys weren't going to come for me. I'm just glad that I was able to see someone that I cared about one last time," he weakly rasped out, as his mouth somehow managed to curl into a soft smile.

I couldn't take it anymore as I angrily blurted out, "Would ya stop that already! Yer really starting to annoy me with that 'one last time' stuff! Ya ain't dying, okay!"

Breathing heavily, I could have cared less who heard my angry yelling. As much as I didn't want to admit it though, my brother was dying in my arms, and I couldn't do a thing to help him.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I finally got to see him again, but I knew it was only a matter of minutes before he would be gone forever…

"I love you, Raphael."

Biting my lower lip to keep the tears at bay, I slowly looked down into his face and tried to smile. I wanted him to know that I wasn't angry, but instead happy to see him.

When I looked at him and saw the serene expression on his face, however, I took in a few shaky breaths and sputtered out, "No, not yet, Donnie. I'm not ready to lose you. Come on, Donnie, open your eyes!"

No response came from him.

I pulled him close to my plastron and cried. My brother had just died in my arms, and I hadn't even told him that I loved him. He'd gone into the afterlife only after hearing my angry words.

As I cried and held onto Donnie's limp body, a primal and tortured scream erupted from deep within me, loudly echoing throughout the corridor.