Author Note: While writing this chapter, I've been in something of a pit of black despair, so it's not an especially cheerful one. On the other hand, I found actually writing it tremendous fun, the easiest of all the chapters I've done for this story. Part of the reason is the heavy tie-in with a certain episode, making my work easier, but tell the truth I've been looking forward to writing this and the next chapter since I decided the direction to take with this fic.

And news on the next chapter... I have some major exams in a little under three weeks and have to study like a mad creature, or at least find a new and interesting way to cheat, lol. So an update may be slow in coming. I will still be writing as a way to unwind (and do I ever need to unwind! I'm so tense a masseuse would take one look at my back and quit forever) but because I won't have a huge amount of time and the next chapter wants to be even longer than this one, it might take some time. On the plus side, once the exams are done with I'll have nothing to do with my evenings but write fanfics for three whole months! Yay me!

&&&&&&&&&&

Leonardo was sick of it all.

Sick of tip-toeing around Splinter. He had remembered the time when the rat had been all they had known of the world, long before the Foot had got hold of them and Saki had taught them his twisted morals. So why couldn't he bring himself to accept Splinter's help, his honest good intent?

Sick of Mikey's moping around. That was all his fault too. All he had to do was to protect his family and he hadn't even been able to do that. The result was his usually cheerful brothers depression.

Sick of Donnie being the one to bring Mikey out of his misery. Shouldn't he be the one doing that, since it was he unable to protect the family, not able to see what was going on right in front of him, not able to inspire the trust of his brothers until it was too late?

And he was especially sick of arguing with Raphael. Every time the subject of the foot came up, he could feel himself tense up, wanting to do something but for the first time in his life not sure what was for the best. Every comment reminded him of his indecision.

So when Raph began again with all the reasons they should be out looking for the Foot ninja, he lost his temper.

"How many times do we have to go through this Raphael? We're not ready!"

"The hell we ain't!"

"We've got no plan, we haven't been training properly..."

"So we make a plan! How much plannin do we need Leo? Listen ta you, we'll still be plannin when we're thirty!"

"It's stupid to rush into a fight with the Foot! Not to mention dangerous. Last time was a necessity, this is just – pointless vengeance."

"It ain't pointless."

"Shredder's dead."

"And the Foot are still going! Probably being led by Karai..." Raph narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I get it. Karai. She's the reason ya got us hiding."

Leo glared back. "Care to explain that?"

From the couch, Don and Mikey exchanged resigned looks and headed for the kitchen. There was no way either of them could diffuse this particular exchange. All they could do was stand back and wait for the dust to settle.

Raph knew he was going too far, but Leo wasn't the only one tired of the way they were living. "You an her always were close. Maybe ya scared to take her on, ya hoping she'll just say 'all is forgiven' and leave us alone? Or ya worried 'bout getting ya shell kicked by ya girlfriend?"

"Take that back Raph."

"Face it, ya spent more time mopin around after her than ya did thinking about us. And now ya think ya can tell us what to do?"

"At least I was training, doing something useful, not wasting my time with the Dragons – I know you got involved with some of their activities so don't try to moralise with me!"

"Right, and Fearless Leader would never break the law to follow orders, never fight, never steal, never kill..."

Leonardo snarled with rage and automatically, his hand went to the pommel of his double-bladed sword.

Raph narrowed his eyes, the movement not escaping his attention. "If that's the way ya wanna play it, Fearless..."

"Enough!"

Neither turtle broke eye contact, but were aware of the rat approaching.

"This is intolerable! You are supposed to be family, yet you would resort to violence over a minor squabble!"

"Stay out of this Splinter," muttered Leo, his anger still focused on Raph.

A blur of movement and suddenly he was flat on his shell. Not knowing how Raph had managed to move so fast, he sat up quickly only to see his brother also sprawled out on the floor of the lair. They both glanced up at Splinter, who had placed himself to one side so he could glare at both of them.

"Raphael... so angry. Why do you insist on pushing your brother away? And Leonardo, if you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, all you can do is be crushed by the worlds weight."

"Forget this. I'm going for a run." Leo jumped to his feet and took off, out of the lair and into the sewers. For a moment he thought one of the others might follow – he knew Mikey and Don had to have been watching although he hadn't seen them – but he wasn't. The sewers were always quiet save for the occasional sound of water and soon he managed to clear his mind a little.

He couldn't believe he had almost drawn his weapons on his brother.

They fought – a lot. That much was true. They were too dissimilar in so many ways and yet alike in that they both had a stubborn streak and refused to back down, even if it would diffuse a bad situation. They had fell to brawling more than once. But never in his life had he even considered trying to seriously injure Raph.

You're acting just like him. Like Saki.

He had always wanted to emulate his former Sensei, be just like him, able to keep control of the clan and take charge. But this sudden desire to force his brother to do what he said at any cost was one he would never have wanted to imitate...

The flash of metal in the air, the blood spraying, Mikey's disbelieving expression as the skin of his face sliced apart...

He had never behaved like that before.

Seeing a manhole nearby, he quickly scaled the ladder and went topside, not even thinking of how often he'd warned the others about doing that. He just needed to think, clear his head for a few minutes. Beside, rain was threatening and by the colour of the sky, it was going to be a hell of a storm. Unlikely the Foot would be scouring the city for them in that, thinking they'd be safely hidden away somewhere away from the elements.

Scaling the fire escape of a nearby apartment block, Leo was grateful for the darkened sky, the piercing wind that kept anyone wise indoors. Although it was as dark as evening, it was still daytime and he didn't want any humans spying him, hence the rooftops.

Leaping across several rooftops, he revelled in the freedom that came from practising his skills outside instead of in the enclosed, dank sewers. There was nothing like the fresh air, the height that protected him from being seen, although once he had been terrified of being up high and had to be taught, none too gently, to overcome this fear. To this day, he would look down occasionally and feel that terror threatening to return and be forced to beat it down. To have fear was to have a weakness and weakness was the enemy of the warrior.

He paused on the edge of a building, glancing down at the city below. Down there were millions of people who didn't have a clue they existed and if they did would probably think of them as a threat, hunting them down relentlessly. Their former clan wanted to see them all dead and all he could do was to fight with his brother.

"What is wrong with me?" he said quietly.

Wanting nothing more than to drive the unwelcome thoughts away, he leapt for another rooftop, pushing his limits, concentrating on nothing more than the movements of his body, the innate awareness of the ground beneath him and the area around him. There was no one around to see him as he ran and jumped and flipped...

And then there was.

He sensed some one following him, more than one person. For a fleeting second he suspected his brothers and dismissed the thought. He would know. Instead, as he landed on another rooftop, he risked a glance behind him, knowing even before he looked what he would see.

Foot ninjas. Four of them, not seeming to care about stealth. They were racing toward him and as Leo turned his head back, he realised that the end of the roof was blocked by a utilities building, preventing his leap to the next. He would have to fight.

Leonardo stopped running and turned, removing his double-bladed swords from their sheath and facing off against the Foot. They paused momentarily then rushed him as one. It was a simple matter for him to take them down, letting their own momentum work against them as his punches and kicks felled them and their own attempts at offence were hindered by the proximity of their allies.

Not even breathing hard, Leo prepared to leave in a hurry. He'd never live it down if his brothers found out he'd been topside after all the lectures he'd given them on the subject and run into the Foot on top of everything else. But a sixth sense that he'd developed from years of ninjitsu training alerted him and with a quizzical look, he glanced over to the next building. More Foot ninja on the roof. A lot of Foot ninja.

There was a roll of thunder as the rain began to fall.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"If ya ask me, Leo's losin it," said Raph, grabbing a packet of Dorito's from the woefully inadequate snack stash.

"You taunting him doesn't help," said Don sharply.

"He needs ta start thinking about what the Foot are planning," said Raph, unrepentant. "We shouldn't be hidin down here like cowards."

"And we need a better idea of when to make a move," replied Don. "You know that."

"Yeah, but..." Raph frowned. "I hate waitin. I wanna do somethin about it."

"We all do," said Don. "But we don't have much choice. And it's hard enough to adjust to living here without you making things more difficult."

"When did you turn into Mr Reasonable?"

Don just gave a long-suffering look and Raph sighed. "Fine. I'll apologise to Leo when he gets back."

"I hope he gets back soon," said Don with some concern. "By the sound of the sewer tunnels, it's raining hard out there. Wouldn't do him any good to be caught if one of those tunnels decides to flood and he's in it at the time."

Mikey wandered into the kitchen, spied the Dorito's in Raph's hand and snatched them away. "Come to daddy!"

"Mikey!"

"Come on Raph, you can't eat all those!"

"Gimme those!" Don grabbed the Dorito's off Mikey. "Bad enough you hogged the nachos all morning."

"Did not!" Mikey made another grab for the packet. "Did Leo get back yet?"

"Not yet," replied Don, holding the Dorito's out of Mikey's reach. Mikey made another grab for them, Don held them further out of reach and Raph took advantage of the situation by snagging them out of Don's hand and escaping the kitchen.

"RAPH!"

"Come back here!"

Forgetting all about Leo, Don and Mikey chased their brother, both determined to rescue the snacks.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Stupid stupid stupid...

Leo couldn't even count how many Foot ninja there were. Everywhere he looked, there was another one, focused solely on him. Belatedly, he remembered the shell-cell that Don had made for them all – but he had left his back in the lair, too intent on getting out of there to take it with him, too angry.

Too bad.

A group of them jumped onto the rooftop where he stood and he wasted no time in striking, leaping the first and felling him with a kick to the back before he landed, a low sweep knocking over a second. Another rushed him wielding a katana and Leo used his own double-bladed swords to defend himself, bettering the ninja and sending him sprawling into two others. Letting instinct take over, Leo kicked and slashed his way through the other ninja, taking them out as quickly as he could. This was obviously an ambush and he knew his best course of action would be to get the hell away – but there was nowhere for him to go, not on the rooftops surrounded by the enemy.

Breathing heavily, he took down the final ninja with a high kick and surveyed the fallen. Maybe this was his chance – but even as he thought it, he sensed movement behind him and glanced up, seeing more ninja on a rooftop higher up, dressed differently to the Foot. This was new. He had never seen these guys before.

Maybe Master Saki didn't trust you as much as you liked to believe.

The three new ninja leapt onto the rooftop and Leo drew his swords, ready to fight. They didn't look so tough...

And then they punched the Foot symbol on their chests and vanished.

Leonardo blinked in confusion. Where had they gone? They certainly hadn't hidden in the shadows, there were none. Had he imagined them?

Glancing around in confusion, Leo tried to spy the enemy – and then a punch to the back of his head alerted him to the location of at least one of them. He whirled around, swords at the ready, only to be greeted by empty air.

Invisible? How can that be?

Another punch to the back of his head drove him to his knees. Growling in anger, he got up just in time to receive a blow to the plastron that knocked him clean from one rooftop to the next. Startled, he glanced to where the ninja should be, still unable to see his adversary. There was no way anyone could hit like that. There had to be something enhancing the abilities of the ninja for a blow to be that powerful.

They're toying with me.

Another hit threw him further across the rooftop, his shell hitting the ground and skidding until he fetched up against an electric store. Had it not been there, he would have sailed straight over the edge. Leaping to his feet, he began blindly slashing at the air, hoping that he might at least injure one of them or get an idea where they were. Instead there was a hit to the face, knocking him back on his shell. He got up again, spinning his swords so fast they were a mere blur, trying to work out where the hell they were...

And then they seemed to tire of toying with him. Something unseen took a powerful grip on the strap across his plastron and lifted him. Leo tried to land a kick on the enemy, but none of them landed. If he hadn't seen the ninja before they vanished, he might have believed it was the wind or maybe he'd learned how to fly but not how to steer.

He screamed, his old childhood terror taking over him as he was thrown from the building.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Panthers, rams, bears... hell, they even got dolphins! Ya'd think they'd have room for somethin a little more – reptilian."

Don laughed. "The Turtles? My friend, unfortunately the lowly turtle has been saddled by society with the stereotype of being velocity challenged."

Raph blinked. "Say what?"

Mikey hung over the back of the couch, fresh from practising with his nunchaku and liberated a handful of Dorito's. "Good game?"

"S'OK." Raph didn't glance up from the TV. "Hey Mikey, how many times ya hit yaself in the head today?"

In response, Mikey leaned close to his brother and let out the loudest belch he could. Raph jerked away in disgust, wrinkling his beak.

"Mikey!"

Don laughed and began to applaud, amusement tinged with relief. Mikey finally seemed to be over the worst of the depression that had plagued him since they had left the Foot and was beginning to act like himself.

Raph growled at Mikey in irritation. "Go bug Leo for a while."

"Can't. He's not back yet."

"Leo must be nuts to be in the sewers in this weather," said Don.

"Unless he's not in the sewers," said Raph thoughtfully. "Think he snuck out topside?"

"Leo? Nah. Leo's the one turtle you never have to worry about."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Leo struggled not to give into his terror as he plummeted at high speed, heading straight for asphalt. He had about six seconds before he became pavement pancake. He managed to sheath one of his swords in mid-air, frantically searching for a way to escape the onrushing ground.

Being thrown outwards from the rooftop rather than just dropped saved his life. The building beside the one from which he had been tossed wasn't as many storeys tall and as the rooftop flashed by his sight, he reached out and snatched desperately at the ledge, losing skin but managing to catch his grip. He slammed painfully into the side of the building, hooking his other elbow over the ledge and pulling himself onto the rooftop, heart beating wildly as he glanced down and realised just how close he had been to annihilation.

But there was no time to count his blessings. He could hear footsteps splashing through the waterlogged puddles on the rooftop but could see no one. That meant that the ninja who had thrown him were aware he had survived the fall and were still out to get him.

Sight was only hindering his fighting. Leo took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting his other senses compensate for the one that was missing. The rain beating against his skin seemed sharper, the sound of the raindrops coming into focus, the splashing seeming heavier to his left, coming closer...

He kicked out, this time hitting a ninja across the chest and disabling the device there that allowed invisibility. The ninja sank to his knees but Leonardo saw none of this, concentrating on sound and not sight. A slash with his sword disabled another. The third was trickier, realising what Leo intended, but the slight noise he made when he leapt allowed Leo to guess his plan and leap in the air, slicing with his sword and disabling the cloaking device. As the ninja puzzled over his sudden visibility, the still-blind Leo slammed him with a kick that knocked him down and out. Hearing no more sounds of people, Leo opened his eyes and stared down at his fallen foes. He waited a few seconds and when none of them moved, he bowed and turned his back, sheathing his swords and walking away.

Time to get back to the lair. I shouldn't have come topside. But now we know the Foot haven't given up...

He leapt across the rooftop and headed in the direction of home.

Behind him, the Foot Tech ninja he had fought rose and followed.

Leo had barely cleared three buildings before he realised something was amiss. Turning, he spied the three he thought he had dealt with, surrounded by the more conventional Foot ninja. Swords raised, they advanced not to attack, but to herd him closer to the edge of the building. Leo raised his own swords, waiting for the first of them to rush him... then two of the ninja stepped aside for a new player to be introduced.

Hun.

The Shredder's right-hand man stepped forward and Leo was temporarily confused. With Shredder gone, why was Hun here? He and Karai had never gotten along, although it was likely they could put aside their differences to overcome a common foe...

And why he's here doesn't matter. Time to draw on everything you have. Time to find out who you really are.

That is, if you live long enough.

Hun cracked his knuckles and advanced with a chuckle. Leo took up a defensive stance and with a smirk, indicated for the behemoth to bring it on.

Snarling, Hun ripped a ventilation pipe from the roof and sung it at Leo, who met the makeshift weapon with his sword, defending himself from numerous blows before leaping into the air. Hun saw him coming and swung the pipe high, catching Leo and throwing him backward, his momentum destroying a utility shed. Groaning, Leo tried to regain his bearings, knowing only that he was tired, bruised already from his earlier encounters with the Foot and the fall from the apartment block. He was dazed, wanting nothing more than to lie back and wait for his head to clear...

And if you do that, you WILL die! MOVE!

He rolled onto his front and picked up his swords. Hun towered above him, the pipe still in his hands, ready to bring it down and neatly crush Leo's skull. With a glare, Leo leapt into the air, flipping neatly over Hun and landing behind him. Hun turned and ran at him, swinging with the pipe. Leonardo sidestepped neatly at the last possible second and Hun ran straight into a chimney block, his forward momentum too great to stop. The chimney was already weakened from age and the elements and the sudden blow proved too much. Mortar crumbled, cracks appeared and Hun barely had time to look up and whimper before he was buried beneath its weight.

The three Foot Tech ninjas wore masks that hid their faces, but were still clearly astounded by the victory. Turning to them, Leo snarled.

"BOO!"

The three backed up far too quickly and fell off the roof before they realised how close to the edge they were. Leo allowed himself a small triumphant grin that soon faded as he ran across the roof. He was bruised, battered, tired. He needed to get away from there before they could call for reinforcements.

Too late.

As he leapt across the rooftops, he became aware of being followed. More Foot ninja. Obviously, they had been called as soon as his location had been discovered.

There was no question of fighting. He was in no condition to and he was heavily outnumbered. As it was, one or two would give him a problem. As many as he saw, there was no way he could win. Instead he fled along the rooftops, occasionally glancing behind him to see if he had lost them yet, his breath rasping harshly in his ears. The Foot Tech ninja and Hun had also recovered from the battle far more quickly than Leo would have hoped, joining in the pursuit. Still, Leo thought he might just be able to keep ahead of them and then maybe he could find some shadow, hide himself, sneak away...

He ran out of rooftops.

As he landed on the roof of a block, he realised there was nowhere left to go. Nowhere within jumping reach, no way down to the ground that he could get to before they would be all over him. This was it. He was going to have to make a stand.

He turned to face them, out of breath, muscles complaining about the enforced workout they had been forced into. The ninja blocked his path and Hun walked through them, pipe still in his hand, the Foot Tech on either side of him.

Leonardo didn't give them the chance to strike the first blow. Instead he leapt among the Foot ninja, slashing, punching, kicking, using his strength and agility to the best of his ability, knowing that the only thing he could do now was fight and hope against hope that he could get out of this alive. He was far more skilled than the other Foot ninja, but he was nearing the end of his endurance, heavily outnumbered against opponents who were fresh and uninjured. They were wearing him down.

But Leo had desperation on his side, determined to stop at nothing to get out of this. Through sheer determination, he managed to vanquish a good portion of the Foot, using their numbers against them by causing them to fall into each other, taking out two or three with a single manouvre rather than one at a time.

Hun narrowed his eyes as incredibly, Leo slowly gained an advantage. Storming toward the turtle, he was taken by surprise as Leo flipped over a TV antennae and pulled the metal back, letting go at the opportune moment to hit Hun full in the face. Hun was knocked temporarily down.

For a moment, Leo was able to catch his breath as Hun put his hand to his face and slowly rose, rage evident in his expression. Then, unbelievably, the anger was replaced by amusement and he chuckled deep in his throat, looking at a point over Leo's shoulder.

Confused, Leo turned his head slightly, aware that it might be some kind of trick. But there was definitely something behind him, on a rooftop out of his reach. Not quite able to fathom what his eyes were telling him, he gazed at the sight.

More ninja he had never seen before that day, clad in red robes and bizarre hats. All carried non-traditional ninja weapons such as tridents and axes, intended for distance use. For a moment none of them moved, then they parted ad Leo's eyes widened as he realised who was with them.

"Karai."

Intellectually he had known she would search him out, hunt all of them down until she had avenged her father. Even before they had left the Foot, he was aware that the price for treachery was death and that she wouldn't hesitate to mete out the killing blow.

Intellectually he had known it. But in his heart, he had hoped it wouldn't come to this.

Even from this distance he could sense the coldness in her eyes. She would believe he had betrayed her, would never accept that he had to do what he did, kill the Shredder, to protect his family. To her, he was the betrayer of the family. And she would never forgive him.

Silently he willed her to think about all they had shared together, the times they had been the best of friends, the dreams of the future they had shared that had somehow turned into a nightmare...

And she never cared about you anyway, she lied to you, lied because that's what the Shredder wanted...

Narrowing his eyes, Leo judged the distance to the rooftop they were on. He could make it, just about. With a yell, he leapt, swords at the ready and was unsurprised to see Karai flip out of the way and to safety, leaving the other ninja to face him. Or so he thought.

A glancing kick to his shell from Karai knocked him off balance but he managed to recover enough to land on the very edge of the rooftop, parrying forward with his swords to get out of the danger zone as much as to attack. But the swords met empty air as the ninja vanished in a cloud of mist.

"Huh?"

This wasn't like the Foot Tech ninja, who had still been there but invisible. These guys were just – gone.

Turning back to where he had leapt from, he saw arai land near Hun and a moment later, the Foot Elites appeared beside her. Fighting his confusion, Leo struck up a defensive stance. Unlike Don, he felt no urge to puzzle over how he could have seen what he had seen. It had happened and that was enough for now. Time enough later to worry about how they had done that.

Maybe.

Thinking of Don made him wish he hadn't stormed out of the lair like he had. Standing on the rooftop in the rain, facing off alone against his former clan made him suddenly realise what his brothers had needed. Not Fearless Leader ordering them about, but their brother helping them.

Too late to worry about it now, he realised with a sharp pang of regret. If he made it back alive, he would make it up to them. For now, he couldn't afford to allow the distraction. Any moment the Foot could attack, or worse, Karai.

But they showed no interest in advancing. Instead, they all turned to the side and – bowed?

The Foot ninja inclined from the waist, a mark of respect. The Foot Tech and Foot Elites did likewise. Hun followed suit and finally Karai. Of the events of the past few hours, this one confused Leo the most. With Shredder gone, Karai should be leader of the clan. She bowed down to no one.

And then Leo turned to his right and saw what had attracted their attention.

On a rooftop in the distance, illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning, stood the Shredder.

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock. "No..."

The Foot straightened up and returned their attention back to him.

"It can't be... I finished him off myself!"

The Foot Elites vanished in a cloud of mist, but Leo barely noticed. The flash of lightning gave way to darkness, hiding the Shredder from sight and he glanced back at Karai, noting the cold smile she gave him but imagining he saw something in her expression, a note of sadness – or just wishful thinking.

Belatedly, he sensed something behind him and turned to see the Foot Elites had materialised behind him.

There were only four of them, yet they were far more skilled than any of the other Foot ninja he had ever encountered and he was still thrown by the sudden reappearance of the supposedly dead Shredder, weary from his flight across the city, battered from his earlier encounters. They laid into him without mercy, using their weapons to attack, fighting as a unit and staying out of reach of his double edged swords. Whenever he attempted an offence, he was struck from behind. When he tried to defend himself, they would close in to kick and punch, ducking his swords and avoiding his blows.

A heavy axe blow to the shell knocked him to his hands and knees. For a few seconds they ceased as Leo gasped for breath, the knowledge that there was little else he could do playing on his mind. Soon, his brothers would come searching for him and they too would be taken down. He had failed them.

He couldn't fight anymore.

What am I going to do?

The answer came to him from the part of his soul that refused to give in.

Fight anyway.

With an inarticulate cry of rage, he leapt into the air, taking the Foot Elites by surprise, slashing desperately at them, blocking weapons and ducking attacks. It was his last chance and they all knew it, but he would rather fall in battle than to give in to them.

The space in which they fought was small, not allowing the Elites the ideal amount of room for attack and Leo was using the last reserves of strength to hold them off, finding something within him that forced him to keep fighting even though he knew it was already over...

One of the Elites lashed out with a trident and suddenly, Leo's swords were falling through the sky, out of reach, leaving him unarmed and defenseless.

As the Elites moved in, Leonardo had time to regret his recent actions, his lack of understanding and hope that his brothers didn't fall foul of the same fate...

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

April had long since locked the doors of the antique shop and was in her upstairs apartment, grabbing a soda from the fridge for herself and one for Casey, who had been taking a look at the electrical wiring in the kitchen. It had been acting up lately and although she would have preferred Donnie to examine it, she didn't want to drag him away from his family all the time. They had enough to contend with at the moment.

She glanced over to where Casey was standing on a ladder, checking the wires near the bulb. No way was she giving him the soda until he got down. He'd probably electrocute himself. Instead, she placed it on the table and was about to tell him to take a break when her phone rang, her private line rather than the one attached to the shop.

"Hello?"

"Hey April, it's Don."

"Hi Donnie," she said, absurdly pleased to hear from him.

"Tell that little green nerd I'm here doing his job," called Casey.

"Um, Casey says hi," she said.

"Yeah," said Don, sounding distracted. "Um, has Leo been to your place this evening?"

"No – why? Was he supposed to?"

"No, but he left in a temper earlier and he hasn't been back and hasn't taken his shell-cell. We can't find him in the sewer and we're worried he might have gone topside."

"Alone? With the Foot all over the place?"

"He was in a pretty bad mood."

"Sorry Don, I haven't seen him around. But if he shows up I'll..."

April paused suddenly, frowning, convinced she could hear something, outside but coming closer...

CRASH!

The window caved inwards, spraying glass across the room and Leonardo landed in the middle of the floor.

"LEO!"

Dropping the phone from her numb fingers, April sprinted over to Leonardo, falling to her knees beside him, unmindful of the glass shards sticking into her legs. She cradled his head, noting the way his eyes seemed unable to focus and the terrible bruising and cuts that covered his body.

Casey raced to the window, looking outside, unable to see anything. "What happened?"

"He's hurt – bad." April heard her voice shaking and realised she could hear Don's voice shouting from the phone. "Get Don over here right now!"

Casey took a step away from the window and a movement from the corner of his eye made him look outside again. Shadowy figures appeared on the rooftops around the shop, surrounding them totally.

"Oh shit."

Casey backed away to where he had left his golf bag, thanking whatever gods watched over vigilantes that he had brought it with him. He grabbed a baseball bat as he slipped the strap over his shoulders, glancing around the floor for where April had dropped the phone...

They were out of time.

More glass shattered and Foot ninja began pouring into the apartment. April dragged Leo backward, trying to get him out of danger and Casey allowed himself a grim smile. Hurt his friends? These pyjama wearing freaks were about to find out what vigilante justice was all about.

He jumped right over April and Leo, placing himself between them and the Foot, diving straight in to attack.

&&&&&&&&&&

"April! APRIL! What's happening? APRIL!"

Raph clenched his fists and stared at Don. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"APRIL!" Don gave up, shoving the shell-cell into his belt. "Something bad's happening. One moment we were talking, the next she was screaming Leo's name and I heard things breaking..."

"So why are we standing here?" Raph took off for the sewers, Mikey in hot pursuit and Don close behind.

"It'll take at least ten minutes to get to April's," said Mikey, his voice filled with worry.

"Not if we run like crazy," said Don firmly, putting on a burst of speed. He alone had heard the way April had screamed and the sounds in the background. He didn't want to alarm the others – but by the sound of things, they might already be too late.