Michelangelo was terrified. There was no other word to describe how he was feeling. In all of his fourteen (nearly fifteen) years of life; which was a very long time to him, he had never expected to be crawling through an air vent while searching for his siblings' weapons. He had managed to shimmey through the vent with all his might; the energy mainly coming from adrenaline and his shaking limbs. He was hidden from sight now, and he had time to catch his breath even with the walls closing in on him. It was a tight squeeze in the ventilation shaft with sharp, metal edges- which did not ease his worries.

To add onto his list of worries, he felt something moved brush against his thigh. Almost immediately he reacted with a flinch that shivered throughout his body.

He covered his mouth to muffle a yelp as the culprit scurried by him, squeaking cheerfully. A small, grey rodent.

"Phew," He sighed in relief. "Sorry, lil fella, I'm a bit jumpy." he said to the rodent, seeing as it was his only companion. The mouse's round black eyes stared at him for a second, before darting down the vent pathways. "No, no, don't leave me!" He pleaded. But it was gone.

'It's every creature for himself I guess.'

Now on his hands and knees, he started to crawl forward, the tunnel seemingly endless from his perspective. It was dark and freezing with the air conditioning on full blast hitting him in the face.

He couldn't give up now. Not when his family depended on him.

"If I don't hurry, the guys'll be shark bait! Literally swimming with the fishes. Oh, and the cruise goers will be mutated. That's bad too."

He grimaced. Those weren't pleasant thoughts at all.

"C'mon Mikey, they're counting on you! I mean, yeah they didn't really have a choice but still! Don't freak out, don't panic, don't mess up. Follow Donnie's instructions. Find the weapons and then find Raph. Reconvene with the rest of the guys. Save the day, as always. Who knew being a teenager could be so stressful?"

What would Lou Jitsu do in this situation? Well, not crawl through vents like a rat in the wall that was for sure.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Keep going.

The walls were thin, he could hear shuffling noises from below him. From different rooms, clearly, as he didn't recognize any of the voices. Crew members, he presumed. They sounded way too formal to be vacationers waltzing around, and it was late at night. At least that meant he was going somewhere instead of moving in circles. He tried to listen to the voices. Maybe they would lead him somewhere.

"...the gentleman requested to remove the tails from the shrimp tartar. Twice. Now he wants us to redo the entire dish," a woman spoke, sounding irritated and tired. "Who orders food past midnight? Especially shrimp tartar!"

Or not. The mere mention of food made his stomach growl once more. He continued to crawl, ignoring his hunger and instead focused on finding the end of this tunnel.

Until some dust flew up his nostrils as he made a quick turn. Luckily he managed to cover his beak before he squeaked out a sneeze, but it was still startling nethertheless. He was tired, his nose itched, and his knees were starting to ache and bruise.

"Jeez," Mikey stopped to catch his breath. "This is like, a whole maze! I'll never find the weapons at this rate."

"Not with that attitude you won't!" a friendly, but slightly gruff voice chimed in his ear. A voice he hadn't heard in hours.

"Raph?" He croaked, brightening. Finally someone he recognized!

"Nope, just me." Mind Raph said, sitting on his shoulder. Mikey wilted, but still looked hopeful. "I had to help regular Raph with something but I'm here to give you the motivation you need."

"Is Raph okay? He didn't get captured?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah he's fine." Mind Raph assured him. "He's looking for you guys as we speak. But I'm not here to talk about him," He poked Mikey's head. "I'm here to help you. Or at least motivate you. You've gotta keep moving!"

"Well, yeah, I know that," The box turtle scoffed, continuing to wriggle through the vents while having this discussion with a figment of his imagination. "But what if I don't get there in time? I feel like I'm moving in circles!" His hand twitched.

"You will. Raph's already trying to figure out a plan to save the cruise people as we speak. At least I think he is." Mind Raph tapped his chin. "To be honest, the last time I checked he was-"

"It doesn't matter!" Mikey said, now exasperated. "Can you please tell me where to go?"

"I'm not a map, I'm just here for moral support."

Mikey groaned.

"You could try turning left though."

"And one more right..." Mind Raph drawled, half asleep. "Okay now turn left. Last time, I promise."

Mikey, now exhausted, flopped on his face. "This is hopeless." He lifted his head, scrunched his nose, and listened closely to some sounds coming from below him, a muffled hum of voices; grumpy and hushed chatter. "Wait a sec..."

"I can't believe you lost one of the turtles!" Fishface growled furiously from the room underneath. "I should never have left them alone. Now the little one is gone! And it's all you ignoramuses fault!"

Mikey gulped. Even hearing the sick mutant's voice was enough to tie his stomach into an unpleasant knot; yet he still couldn't help but listen.

"No matter. The plan can still commence without him."

There was a gurgling noise followed by a grunt.

Whatever sound it was, Fishface understood it perfectly. "What do you mean the mutagen hasn't been added to every sprinkler system? What are you waiting for? Do it now or I'll turn you both into sushi! I'm not a man- er fish of idle threats."

Both guards started to slip away, but Fishface stopped them again. "You, with the dorsal fin, put those weapons in the other room and lock the door. I don't want anyone finding them." The doors closed, and the room was quiet once more- save for the occasional drip drop of water.

Mikey snapped his fingers. "Bingo!" He whispered excitedly to Mind Raph. "That's where the weapons are: The next room!"

"See? I told you turning was a good idea," Mind Raph said. "It's good to be helping."

"You didn't do anything..."

Mind Raph scowled. "Oops, well I've gotta help Donnie with something so, catch ya later!" He poofed away in a puff of dramatic smoke—reminiscent of Hypno's illusions.

"See ya, Mind Raph!" Mikey crawled to the edge of the shaft, climbed down the vent and landed relatively unscathed in an empty suite.

"Cowabunga!" He squealed, now in an awkward squat position before he plopped down on his rump. "I made it!" He glanced around the room suspiciously as he stumbled to his feet. "At least, I think I did?" He whistled lowly at the size of the suite and how fancy it was. The walls and decor were all matching creams and whites, with a plush rose rug in the middle complimenting the room. His eyes stopped on a cluster of weapons lying haphazardly on the satin queen sized bed. Best of all, they were unguarded. "Aha! Found it!"

His eyebrows knitted in concern, discouraged by the current situation at hand and how completely impossible it seemed to fix. "How am I supposed to carry all of this stuff? I'm only one guy. Unless..." He lifted Donnie's battle shell with a grunt. "Ugh, this is heavier than it looks," He adjusted the straps, tied the ends tightly so it fit relatively snug on his back like a glove. Or backpack. It shifted slightly, since Mikey was much smaller than his sibling, but it would have to do for now. "I've always wanted to wear this- even though it feels like a kajillion pounds! My back is already starting to ache," He did a very slow turn. "Woah, I see why Don likes this! It's so stylish."

Next was the tech bō, which he shoved inside the holder with only some struggle. Leo's swords were a bit trickier, so he decided to carry them himself. As for his nunchucks, they were clumsily placed where they usually were in his belt.

Last was April's baseball bat, which had been snapped in half by Fishface's goons.

"Come on, mystic bat..." He murmured, picking it up with a very exhausted grunt. "Do your magic, please! Abra Kadabra?" He waved it around like a baton wielder. "Alakazam! Mystic Magic Mojo? Ugh!" in pure frustration, he thrusted both ends to the floor with a loud clang. "Stupid stick!"

Predictably, the baseball bat stubbornly refused to budge. "Figures..." The second he started to move away, a strange emerald aura illuminated around the baseball bat like a very sparkly ceremony. Startled, Mikey started to back away as the two sides floated in the air and then finally connected.

He let out a gasp, cheerfully picking up the glowing bat to take with him. "Wow, who knew that would work? I sure didn't!" He wiggled the battle shell uncomfortably. "Now, let's get this shell flying pronto! Activating: Jetpack Mode!"

Unlike in the movies, the jetpack was not activated by voice recognition. Unless it only reacted to Donnie's voice which would make some sense. "Eh...I think I'll just walk."

He hoisted the weapons up, and started on his journey to find his missing siblings.

"I think we may have gotten on the wrong foot," Raph said as he and Lisa walked through the halls side by side. She was noticeably smaller than he was, so she had to quicken her pace just to keep up with him, "I know I said we aren't a team. Or friends. But I've made the decision to trust you for the time being."

Lisa raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"If you were really gonna betray me at the last minute, you wouldn't have told me your whole story. That was a big risk you took and ...well, I admire that."

"Even if I did betray you, you're twice my size," Lisa quipped. "But thank you. For trusting me, I mean. I want to help save everyone too, and I think if we work together we might actually stand a chance." She stopped, motioning him to peak around the corner. "Here's the plan: We'll sneak above deck, find your family, rescue them..."

"Then we'll get Donnie to hack into the sprinkler system and stop Filch from mutating everyone on the ship," Raph finished for her with a thumbs up. "Sounds good. I just have a few questions..."

Lisa looked at him in slight exasperation, blinking as though he had lost his mind. "We really don't have time..."

"It won't take long, I swear," When she relented, he took a deep breath, "You helped capture my siblings, I know you did," Before she could protest, he continued, "I heard you say you nabbed one of them."

Lisa looked down guiltily, but bristled at the sudden accusation. She lifted her chin up to defend herself from being scolded; "I did it because I didn't want Filch to get suspicious. I didn't hurt your brother, if that's what you're going to ask."

Raph hesitated. "It was."

"I'd never..." Lisa hesitated. "I don't think I hurt any of your family, no."

"That's all I wanted to know," He beckoned her up the stairs, helping her up the steps. "I know you didn't want to do it Lisa. I believe you. So let's go."

She smiled softly, touched.

The back staircases leading up to the deck were long and tedious. Each step was steep and anxiety inducing, since they felt as though they were being stalked by an enemy. In some ways, they were. Raphael was climbing with a determination to find his family. Lisa on the other hand, was terrified at the prospect of disobeying Filch. She had never once even questioned his orders, not since she had been mutated by him. There was no telling what would become of her if Filch found out she had betrayed him. He told her once that the consequences would be dire.

An image flashed in her mind. A girl with dark hair and olive skin and curious eyes. A girl with a bright future ahead, waiting for her story to be told. Overshadowed constantly; but hopeful for a better life. A second chance.

Would that girl be gone forever?

The imaginary beaker hung over her head mockingly. She needed it more than anything else. No matter the cost.

She was being selfish, she knew that. She had promised Raphael that she would save his family. But on one hand, since he was also a mutant, perhaps she could turn him back to his original human form too. She could...

"Lisa?" Raphael's gentle tone snapped her away from any past thoughts. "We're here, uh, on the deck."

Stars scattered the midnight sky. Constellations that she couldn't name connected together in an endless stretch of darkness illuminated by their tiny sprinkled forms. The only sounds she heard was the occasional wave crashing against the ship. Everyone was asleep in their cabins. No one was there, except for the two of them. It would be a beautiful night, if the circumstances were different perhaps. She looked back at Raphael with a distant expression on her face. He had a hand outstretched for her.

"Lisa?" He repeated, louder this time.

"Sorry, m' sorry," She shook her head, hesitantly reaching for his hand. Though they were large and calloused, she felt safe.

"Do you know where to look first?"

Lisa was about to answer that the ship was huge and of course she had no idea where to look. She kept her eyes peeled, craning her neck in several directions to search for any sign of mutant turtles and a human girl.

If Lisa wasn't already a giant salamander, she would have considered that the strangest statement she had ever thought. But by now, she was used to it. As she moved a bit closer, something caught her attention, and she grabbed on to Raph's shoulder and tugged him. "Look!"

Near the edge of the deck, she saw a truly peculiar sight. A shark cage was dangling at the end like a swinging pendulum, as if it was ready to plunge deep into the water. She even saw a few people inside. "Bit late for diving..."

"Guys!" Raph cried out, rushing towards the cage as soon as he saw it. He'd recognize their faces anywhere, even if they were yards away.

The closest to him was Donnie, who was gripping on the bars anxiously with a fearful look in their eyes. "Raph!" They cried out, then scowled shortly after. "Took you long enough," They said sassily, but they looked beyond relieved.

"Don, I'm pretty sure you're the only person on the planet who actually complains about being rescued," Raph replied with an eye roll.

Leo was behind them, and although he looked happy too- he had yet to say anything. No quips or jeers. Just silence.

On their left side was April. "Can you get us out?"

"Easy!" Raph cracked his knuckles. "I'll smash y'all out in no time." As he was about to raise his fist to punch the cage door, Donnie smacked him away.

"No!" They squeaked. "Do you see how shaky this cage is? We'll fall right in!"

"How else do you suppose we get out?" April said. "We don't exactly have a lock pick."

"We also don't have much time," Leo added, speaking for the first time since Raphael had arrived. "Focus on saving the humans on the cruise."

"I'm not leaving without you," Raph argued stubbornly. "My friend and I searched forever to find-" He paused. "Say, where's Mikey?" He couldn't help but notice his littlest brother was missing.

"He's fine," April assured him. "He escaped. He's out looking for our weapons."

"Good. He's safe at least then. Now to get you out..." Raph leaned forward, reaching out to clasp the handle of the locked door and wiggle it. "Almost..."

"Raph..." Donnie gulped as the rusty old metal bars creaked slightly. "Not to trust your judgement or anything but..." they yelped as the cage moved back and forth from Raph's added weight. "Stop that! We're gonna-"

"Gonna what?" As Raph lifted his leg to hook himself on the other side, he heard a popping noise. He frowned, debating on just smashing the door when April suddenly gasped.

Snap!

He flung himself backwards to the wooden floorboards, crashing his face into the ground. The cage hanging helplessly by a string waited for a brief moment, before snapping, and the anchor holding it in place plunged down towards the ocean waves. He had no time to react, to even reach out and grab it. The rope, along with the cage, fell deeper and deeper into the water until it was barely visible, even as he glanced overboard.

"No..." He whispered. "No!"

The cage had sunk.