Chapter twelve:
"Guys!" April enters the lair with Casey following after her. "Guys!?" She glances around not seeing anyone nearby. "Guys! Are you in here? Donnies been kidnapped! People forced him into a building!" She heads to the training room finding it empty. She leaves as Casey comes from checking the bedrooms.
They hurry to the kitchen to see if the others are there. They skid to a stop staring in horror at the three unmoving bodies. Their eyes filling with tears. April hurries to Leo and Casey to Raph. They sit on their knees next to them.
"No... They can't be dead." April tries to shake Leo awake not getting a response. "Please!" She pleads only to stop and move her hands off of Leo in horror. She shakes as she sobs hanging her head.
Casey heads over to her hugging her close as he tries to comfort her. "We'll rescue Donnie." He tells her. "It's what they would have wanted."
"How can we fight an enemy that killed all of them?!" April demands looking to her mate with a fearful gaze. "We're not as well trained as they are."
"We'll find a way." Casey stays there rubbing his mates back as she sobs into him. He holds back his own sobs wanting to focus on comforting his precious beta.
The two sit there crying for a few moments then pull apart and look to each other. April gazing with fear mixed with sadness, and Casey gazes with comfort mixed with worry plus sadness. They get to their feet as Casey supports April so she can stand. They are about to leave the room when they hear a cough.
April breaks away from Casey and sits next to Splinter who is coughing.
Casey quickly joins her and helps Splinter to sit up as he catches his breath. "You're alive!"
"Oh thank god!" April finds her tears returning this time in relief.
"Of course I am." Splinter tells them then turns with the other two as Leo then Raph also cough a little.
Leo and Raph shift to get up taking a moment as they are dizzy.
"I am so not doing that again." Raph groans then crawls to his mate to make sure he is okay.
"But... You all were dead a moment ago..." April blinks tearfully confused at Splinter who is now sitting up on his own.
"We were. But only for a certain amount of time." Splinter confirms to the two who look at him even more confused. "Someone kidnapped Donatello's mate. Ordering him to poison us. He slipped us notes explaining the situation. That they are probably also watching us even here in the lair. He tampered with the poison. So it only killed us temporarily. We played along with his plan. He has a hidden tracking device on him so we can grab the device from his lab. That way we can track where he is. He knows that the enemy wouldn't honor the bargain and release Michelangelo. So he planned for us to help rescue them."
April wipes her eyes of tears. "We saw the building the enemies forced Donnie into." She tells them relieved that the three are not dead.
"We will all be going." Splinter gets up along with April and Casey.
Leo and Raph also getting to their feet.
"We can use the device Donnie left us to locate him in the building." Leo suggests to which Splinter nods to him. He hurries away to retrieve the device.
"We will need to start by sneaking in." Splinter explains as the others listen. "We get the two free from the enemy's grasp. Hopefully discretely. Then we will take down this enemy group."
The others that are there nod their heads in agreement to the plan. They head out of the kitchen meeting up with Leo in the living room, to which Raph fills him in on the conversation he missed.
Together all of them head out moving cautiously. They keep to the shadows just in case any of the minions are out and about. They can't get caught if there is any minions out as it'd reveal the plan. They fear that it will mean that Mikey and Donnie will be killed for it. Soon enough they are on the rooftop of a slightly taller building across the street from the target building.
Leo checks the device to pinpoint Donnies location in the building. He fiddles with the controls the way he had read in the instructions Donnie left by the device.
The others try to look for a way to sneak inside.
"Me and Casey could try walking around the building. Pretending like we don't know the truth of that building." April offers to them keeping her eyes on the building.
"You'll need to be careful about any cameras they may have set up." Raph warns April who nods her head to confirm that she knows.
"Try to not get spotted by the cameras." Splinter agrees to this though before the two can go down the fire escape they climbed, Leo speaks.
"The tracker says that Donnie is on the lowest floor. Probably in some sort of dungeon if I had to guess." Leo hopes that Mikey is in there with him as only Donnie has a tracker.
"Okay. Then that's where we need to try to get to." Splinter lets April and Casey go to check the place out.
Meanwhile inside the building Donnie managed to slowly cut off the ropes on a slightly sharp rock he found. He grips the bars peering out to try to see if he can see anyone. He just sees rows of dungeons and not a single sound to indicate anyone is nearby. He can't even hear any sounds of Mikey. He lowers his head with a heavy sigh. He closes his eyes. "Oh please let the solution have worked as intended." He whispers to himself under his breath to not get caught. He lets go of the bars and just sits in his cell knowing he can't get out of here. He didn't bring a device to do so. He couldn't risk it being found, or them potentially watching him for such an escape. He has to trust that the others will be able to save them.
Back outside April and Casey make it back to the others.
"Okay. There is some stairs leading to a door we might be able to use." April tells the three. "But there is plenty of cameras so we'll have to be careful."
Leo looks to the building then notices something. He squints slightly trying to get a better look before blinking. "I have an idea." He turns to the others who have turned to him.
Not long later they are on the ground waiting in the shadows. They are using an alley with a fence to ensure the cameras can't see them.
Some of the minions walk towards them unaware.
"Man. I can't believe it was that easy to defeat them. I don't know what Shredders problem is." One laughs to the other minions with her. "Our boss is a true genius."
"Yeah. Now there is no one to stand against us. We'll take over this city then the world." Another minion laughs.
They cross in front of the alley then suddenly they are grabbed. They have a hand out over their mouth and nose as they are dragged into the alley. They won't stop struggling. They are hit on the head knocking them out.
The group of good guys strip the minions of their outfit, finding them to be wearing light clothes underneath. They hide them behind a dumpster like some homeless people sleeping. They then try on the outfits which stretch to fit them like some sort of one size fits all material.
Leo supposes they shouldn't be surprised as the group had been pretty clever so far.
They walk out of the alley and towards the building.
April leads them to the door that she and Casey had found.
They approach it and try the doorknob finding it locked.
Casey knocks on it seeing a sliding rectangle part to let someone inside peer out.
The slide opens and a pair of eyes look at them seeing their outfits. "Oh. I'll let you in." The minion shuts the sliding part then opens the door.
The group walks past him inside.
Casey turns to the minion. "It's our turn to guard this area. Take a break."
"Thank god. This position is so boring." The minion heads off out the door and Casey shuts said door.
"This way." Leo whispers and leads the way to where Donnies signal is coming from.
They are still carefully listening for any signs of other enemies. They cannot have them be revealed as intruders. Thus they also keep walking instead of running. They can see the occasional camera down here. They can't run as it would raise a red flag to whoever is watching the cameras.
Raph glances to the cells that they pass by them row after row. He clenches his teeth, able to guess that this group must plan to imprison anyone who opposes them.
"We're close." Leo whispers then they stop hearing voices around a turn. He gestures that they have to go straight to reach where Donnie is.
Which means that they'll have to get past the turn without the minions there seeing.
They approach the corner and don't see a camera that can spot them.
Casey peers around the corner spotting two minions standing just a little down that area.
"What if one of them escapes?" One of the minions questions the other.
"I doubt that one will be able to get out. Or even want to get out after what the boss had done." The other minion mentions to the first minion. "And even if that other one does escape we are prepared. We'll get the notification from the one on camera duty. We outnumber those two with the others that would come to help. And even more so if only one manages to get out."
"Hm. I suppose you're right." The first minion hums in agreement.
Casey ducks back around the corner then turns to the others. He holds up two fingers to say it is just the two.
The others nod then Splinter gestures to Casey and April to try to send the minions away.
April and Casey head around the corner approaching the two minions who turn.
April nods her head in greeting. "We're here for our shift. Well keep those prisoners from escaping."
"Yes! I was getting hungry." One minion heads off away from the direction where the others are waiting. "Come on Tom! Let's go upstairs and get some food!"
"Right behind you." The minion named Tom follows the others.
April and Casey turn as the others come out of hiding.
"We'll meet you at the way upstairs." April tells them quietly. "To keep up appearances." She leads Casey down the hall pretending to be on patrol. She knows that they can't let whoever is on the cameras become suspicious. So she knows that they'll have to pretend to be a part of them.
Leo, Raph, and Splinter head to get to where Donnie is.