The turtle boys made their way swiftly through the sewers back towards the lair. Time was against them tonight and they needed to formulate a plan since it was a guarantee that they would be walking into a trap to get April back. As they walked, Raph filled Leo and Mikey in on exactly what had happened with Fong, Donnie remained mostly silent for the limited time it took them to get back home.
They walked through the entrance and found Splinter and Holly sitting on the couches drinking tea. Holly held her cup in bandaged hands, and her face was still red from where Fong had hit her.
"Hey." Raph said sounding relieved.
Holly and Splinter both looked up at the same time. Splinter let a small smile cross his face, he was always happy to see his boys home safe. Holly, on the other hand, set her cup down and leaped over the couch and rushed over to the turtles. She threw her arms around Raphs neck and let out a little whimper of joy.
"Well it's nice to see you to." He said through her hair.
Holly laughed as she let go of him. "I honestly thought I wasn't going to see you guys again." She beamed as she turned to the others and gave them a quick squeeze too. Mikey even got a peck on the cheek, as a thank you, but when she got to Donnie her face fell. "What's wrong?"
"It's kind of a long story and we don't have much time." Leo said, he motioned for her to follow him as he strode over to the couches. "Master Splinter, you should hear this too."
The group sat around their living room and quickly filled Splinter and Holly in on what had happened and as the tale unfolded, Hollys expression changed from mild concern to full-blown panic. She couldn't sit still and kept picking at her ruined jeans. Splinter was deep in thought, he had his eyes closed and was gently stroking his whiskers as Leonardo spoke. It would have been funny if the situation weren't so serious.
"Holy crap. This is all my fault." Holly ran her fingers through her hair and let out an enormous sigh. "What are we going to do?"
"We?" Raph said sharply. "You are not coming with us to get here back."
Holly glared at him, "Is that so?"
"There's no way!" He raised his voice slightly to emphasize his point.
"I am not staying behind." She said, also raising her tone.
"Enough." Splinter said before Raph could continue their argument. "Your main focus right now is how to get April back." Holly and Raph shot each other a 'this is not over' look, but held their tongues for the sake of the group.
"Anyway." Leo continued. "We need a strategy. Now, we know that Fong will take April to the fortune cookie factory. But, they're also going to be expecting us and probably have something planned."
Donnie pulled up a map of the area on his laptop and connected it to their T.V. so everyone could see. "This building is the factory." He circled the building with the mouse icon. "Last time we used the skylight on the roof to get in, and provided there aren't any guards up there and they didn't weld it shut after it was demolished, I don't see why we couldn't use it again."
"But wouldn't they be expecting that?" Holly asked.
"Possibly. But there's no way to know until we get there." Donnie replied.
"How do we get in if they are guarding the rooftops?" Leo asked as he scratched his chin.
"We actually have two other ways in. There's the front gate, but that will probably be on the street and guarded, or there's the delivery ramp." Donnie said.
"So, are we going to walk right up to the building and ring the bell?" Mikey asked.
"Well, without getting the blueprints this is the best I can do, and it's the middle of the night on the weekend, so city hall is closed." Donnie said.
"What do you think Master Splinter? What's our best plan of action?" All the teenagers turned to the aging rat, waiting for him to give them some advice.
Splinter looked into each of the kids worried faces, with the exception of Mikey who was digging in his ear, looking spaced out. "Remember your training, and don't go in looking to settle any scores." Splinter raised a hairy eyebrow at Raph, who was still scowling at the floor.
"So, that's it?" Mikey asked.
Splinter just chuckled, "You will be just fine. I haven't been training you for 15 years for nothing."
Leonardo clapped his hands together, "Alright guys, we had better go now while we still have a few hours before the sun comes up. Ideally, we should be back underground by first light."
Everyone except Raphael nodded and jumped up to gather any pieces of gear they may need. Holly walked briskly to the training room to grab the bow and quiver she had left here for the boys. She held her head high and kept her back straight as she walked, but he knees felt like they were about to give out at any moment.
Raph watched her go, grinding his teeth together with every step she took. He jiggled his foot irritatedly trying to remain calm. The others were watching him quietly as they checked their weapons. Donnie and Leo shared a nervous glance, one of two things were going to happen. Either Raph would remain silent and be a colossal jerk for the remainder of the evening, or...
Raph jumped up in a flurry of extremities and stomped after Holly.
"Oh, this is going to be good!" Mikey rubbed his hands together and tried to sneakily follow Raph.
"Don't even try it." Leo grabbed the back of Mikey's bandanna and dragged him backwards as far away from the training room as possible.
Raphael closed the door behind himself and turned to see Holly checking the tension on her bow. She pulled back on the string, but her arm was shaking slightly. She released the string and let out a sigh as she rubbed her sore fingers together.
"Looks like you're having some troubles there." Raph said to the back of her head.
"I'd like to see you do any better with messed-up hands." She didn't turn around to look at him.
"If you can't shoot straight, there's not much point in you coming." Raph said rather coldly.
Holly spun around to look at him, he had his arms crossed and he was staring at a spot on the ground. "Alright, I know you're not thrilled about this whole situation, but I am coming with you whether you like it or not."
"No, I don't like it." He snapped, he looked up at her for a brief moment before lowering his gaze back to the floor. "We're going to get April back, we don't need you out there too." He fidgeted nervously. "You'll just get in the way." He felt ashamed of himself immediately. He didn't mean it, but he was willing to do anything to keep her here, even risk his friendship with her.
Holly's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe he had just said that. "You know damn well that's a load of crap!" She stomped across the room at him. "You don't want me to go in case I get in any more trouble, but I will not sit by and do nothing when my best friend is out there, especially if I could have done something to help."
"I don't know what you think you're going to help with. We'll get in, grab April and get out. You won't have to do anything." He said throwing his arms wide.
"Then you won't have anything to worry about, will you?" She snapped.
"I just don't know why you feel the need to come with us."
"Wel,l I don't understand why you think I can't help you."
"You can't go!" He yelled at her.
"You can't stop me!" She yelled back. The two teens stared each other down, both wearing equally stubborn expressions.
The whole room was silent, as was the rest of the lair. Holly realized they must have been yelling quite loudly, and the others were probably listening. She let out an exasperated sigh. "We don't have time to be arguing. If you want to yell at me, we can do it later, after we get April back."
Holly grabbed her things and brushed past Raph, but as she moved by him, he reached out and gently took her arm. "I don't want you to go, because I don't know if I could handle seeing you get hurt." His head hung low and spoke quietly to the floor.
Holly said nothing, she wanted to stay mad at him, but just couldn't. She sighed again and stepped between his arms to give him a hug. She felt his arms wrap around her, and was surprised to find that he was holding on like she would slip away at any moment. "Do you think that I want to see you get hurt? I know I can't go storming in with the rest of you, but I can provide some cover. Don't worry about me, I'm not."
"Why?" He asked.
"Because I know you'll be there to protect me." She pulled back slightly to see if he would look at her yet. He was, so she gave him a reassuring smile. Raph didn't return her smile.
He lowered his gaze to her shoes again, feeling foolish and childish. Of course she trusted them to protect her, they had so far. "I still don't like this." He mumbled.
"I don't either, but we have to get April back." Holly tried to step away from Raph to grab the rest of her gear, but he wouldn't relinquish his grip just yet. She glanced at him only to find him staring quite intensely at her. "Raphael. Are you..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Raph gently pulled her close and pressed his mouth to hers. Holly was stunned. She knew he liked her, but he was so shy and guarded that she had doubted he would actually do anything about it. He had proven her wrong. She let her eyes close and wrapped her arms between his shell and neck.
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. Holly and Raph both turned to see Leonardo leaning against the frame with the smuggest grin he could muster up. They jumped apart, Raph instantly went back into his tough-guy stance, while Holly stated blushing furiously.
"Are you guys ready to go? We have work to do." Leo couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Yeah, so let's go already." Raph stomped away from Holly without looking at her, and made sure to bump Leo's shoulder hard as he passed by him on the way out.
Holly and Leo smiled at each other, she was still bright red and scratched the back of her head. She finally cracked and let out a laugh. "Alright, quit with the smirking, let's go." She grabbed her stuff and walked over to Leo, he just chuckled and put an arm around her shoulder as they walked.
Not twenty minutes later, the four turtles and Holly were perched a few buildings down from the fortune cookie factory. They had three pairs of binoculars between them, and naturally, Leo hogged one pair all to himself. "It looks like they have some people guarding the doors, but no one's on the roof." Leo said softly.
"Really? I wouldn't know since I haven't had a chance to look." Raph said sarcastically. Leo just gave him a 'don't even start that' look, so Holly handed over the pair she had been using.
"I don't know, going in the roof seems too easy." Holly said.
"It's the only entrance that's not being watched." Leo replied.
"Precisely, they could be trying to force us in that way." Donnie chipped in.
"Why don't we just bust our way in?" Raph smacked a fist into his other hand.
"No, we need to take them by surprise. Otherwise, they will try to use April against us." Donnie said definitively. No one argued with him, they knew he was trying to keep it together, and they all wanted April back in one piece.
"Alright, we're going in the delivery entrance. We'll draw away the guards and incapacitate them." Leo decided. "Holly, stick close to Raph. If you get separated from us at any time, get back underground and stay there."
Holly nodded grimly, she was feeling quite nauseated and didn't think opening her mouth would be wise. They all climbed carefully across the rooftops until they were able to descend to street level unseen by any civilians.
"Ok, we need to draw them away and make sure they stay out of commission." Leo whispered as he peeked around their building at the half-dozen goons guarding the door.
Holly had an idea, and let out a soft whistle that should be loud enough for the goons to hear.
"What... Why did you do that?" Raph hissed at her. She gave him her best innocent look and ran behind some cover. The turtle boys followed suit and dipped out of sight just a second before four of the men walked around the corner.
"Are you sure you heard something?" asked a particularly scrawny-looking guy.
"Certain." Replied a dangerous looking man.
Before the men could continue down the alley, Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey leapt out of nowhere and with surgical precision knocked out the men with hardly a whisper escaping their lips.
Holly crept out of her hiding place and tried to look as innocent as she could. Raph let out an exasperated sigh but held his tongue. She had, after all, figured out how to get some of the guys to leave their posts. Leonardo laid a hand on his brothers' shoulder for support, and partially to stop him from having another fit.
"Ok guys, let's take care of the last couple of guys over there. Get in, and get April back." Leo said trying to stay positive, everyone nodded and they got back to work.
April was tied to some rickety old piping at the back of the factory. Bradford, Stockman, and Fong were all there trying to organize the gang of petty criminals, but none of them really wanted to face the turtles.
"You won't be able to keep me here." April said to the distracted Fong.
"Shut up." He snapped back.
"You're going to be in so much trouble when the turtles get here!" She yelled at him.
"I don't think so." He sneered.
"Would you stop talking to her?" Stockman said from behind a steel I beam.
"She's just trying to make you lose your focus."
"Not that he needs my help with that." April muttered to herself.
Fong and April continued bickering back and forth as the turtles slipped into the factory. They ducked behind dust-cover crates of fortune cookies. Holly was pushed onward by Raph, who was determined to keep her in his line of sight.
They moved silently around the edges of the factory until they were spread out enough to get a good view of everything. Leo peeked over his crate and did a quick head-count of villains in the room; Bradford, stockman and about thirty-five or so Purple Dragon members. He signed out his instructions to the others. Donnie was responsible for getting April, He and Mikey would try to keep Dog Pound busy while helping Raph to take care of anyone else who got in the way.
Raph nodded to his brother and checked to make sure Holly knew what to do. She gave him a thumbs-up before he started pushing her further along the wall. They dipped behind a taller pile of boxes so that Holly could stand and look for her target. There was an ancient panel on the wall that had all the light switches for the factory on it, and coming out of the top was a wrapped tube of all the wires. Holly notched an arrow and took careful aim between two crates, the arrow soared across the factory and sank deep into the wooden timber that was hidden behind the drywall.
Bradford knew something was wrong a spit second before the lights went out. He heard the Low whistle of the projectile before he saw it, and his canine senses knew exactly where it had come from. While the other men scrambled around in the dark, he used his enhanced vision to pick his way across the room.
Leo, Mikey, and Donnie sprang into action immediately. They hurled themselves over the crates and silently swept through the confused men taking them down before they could even reach for any kind of weapons. Leo scanned the room once more, and noticed that Dog Pound was not anywhere near him, instead he was stalking straight in Raphs and Hollys direction. He tried to move towards them, but some of the men had gained their bearings and were now advancing on himself and his brothers.
"Someone get the lights back on." Fong shouted over the commotion.
Stockman turned to one of the control panels on the walls and flicked on the emergency lighting. The factory was blanketed in red light and the rusty machinery threw monstrous shadows across the walls. All that they could see was a blur of movement, three of the turtles were taking one after another after another of their men down without much resistance. Fong spun around to make sure April was still where she was supposed to be, she was, and his blood pressure dropped slightly.
Mikey was hopping along the conveyors, leaping over lead pipes and weaving around the whirling chains that were sent his way. He and Donnie had been carving a hole into the Purple Dragons forces, and had managed to get close enough to April to attempt a rescue. They fought back and forth with a few of the bulkier gang members, but eventually, their disorganization was their downfall.
April beamed as she saw Donnie coming for her, she had known he would. Fong was so busy trying to get his men to fight that he wasn't paying much attention to her anymore. She tested the ropes that bound her to the pipes, they we're tight and cut into her wrists. No hope of getting herself free. However, that didn't mean she was useless. A few men ran past her trying to block Donnie, but she stuck her leg out and tripped them as they passed. They fell all over each other with a thud, and the guy on the bottom was definitely out cold.
"You idiots!" Fong yelled at the three men. "Get up." He pulled the two men up by their shirts and shoved them towards Donnie. He turned to Stockman with loathing in his eyes. "Why aren't you doing anything?" He spat.
"I thought you were doing so well on your own." Stockman said with just a hint of loathing. "I'm not willing to risk my technology if I don't have to."
"Well, I don't think we have much of a choice here." Fong yelled.
Stockman scowled at Fong behind his, back but scurried away to do as he was told. He slid up the back door of a truck that was in one of the loading bays and pulled out a little remote control. He clicked a button and watched as a hundred or so red lights blinked to life in the darkness.
A swarm of shiny new Mousers spilled out of the truck and started towards the turtles. Holly watched as the little robots charged around the factory flanking them. Donnie and Mikey were doing just fine, they had already taken down most of the men around them and we're now working on mowing down as many Mousers as they could, and April would kick out at anything or anyone who got too close to her.
Holly started getting worried. Raph was just in front of her fighting off a few of the gang members who were intentionally lagging behind their comrades. However, Bradford was nearly on top of them and Raph would have a hard time dealing with him alone. Leo was fighting his way through the room to get to Raphs side, but the wave of new Mousers was chomping at his heels making it difficult to get through.
"Will you guys hurry up already?" Leo yelled at his two youngest brothers, as he blocked a lead pipe with one sword and slashed at some Mousers with the other.
"Working on it." Donnie yelled back. He threw off a half-dozen robots that were gnawing on his staff and rushed to Aprils' side. "Ready to get out of here?" He said as he dug around for something to cut the ropes with. Just as he pulled out a shuriken, Fong crashed into him and they both fell sideways onto the floor, the little blade skidding away across the floor. They hopped up and started circling each other.
"You're not getting out of here that easily." Fong said.
"Normally I'm fairly level-headed, but you are really getting on my last nerve." Donnie retorted.
The man and turtle lunged at each other, swinging their weapons of choice. Donnie blocked a knife and slammed his staff into Fongs' gut. Fong dropped his knife and staggered backwards, clutching his ribs. Donatello didn't wait for him to get back up, he leaped over him and gave him a good hard kick in the backside. Fong went flying forwards and slid across the floor on his face. He quickly flipped himself over to see that the tall turtle was crouched beside their hostage. Furiously, he grabbed a smaller knife from his boot and wound up to throw it across the room.
Holly saw what was going on. She only had a few arrows with her and had been hoping that they wouldn't be needed. All things considered, she didn't much like the idea of actually hurting anyone, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, it seemed that she didn't have much of a choice, given the present circumstances. She hastily notched an arrow in place, and fired it at Fong.
Fongs' arm was just behind his head in his wind up when something sliced through the fleshy part of his hand. Whatever had hit him whizzed between his hand and his head and thunked into the wall beside him. He immediately dropped the little knife he had to see what the hell had just cut him. An arrow was vibrating gently in the wall, he turned to see just what had fired it. Tucked behind a stack of boxes was that teenage girl he had fought with earlier that night. He was getting really sick of her, and if Bradford didn't stop messing around, he would have to take care of her himself.
Donnie had darted back over to April the second he had disposed of Fong. He grabbed up the knife that had been dropped and sliced the ropes binding April to the pipes. April threw her arms around his neck briefly and smiled into his shoulder. As she looked up, she saw Fong reaching for something and pull his arm back to throw it at them.
"Donnie look out!" She yelled, and shoved him back away from her.
Luckily whatever he had been planning was abruptly interrupted by some sharp pain in his hand, as he dropped the blade and twisted awkwardly clutching his hand. Both April and Donatello followed his gaze to see Holly holding up her bow looking quite pale.
"That was too close." Donnie said as he pushed himself back upright.
"We need to get out of here, now." April agreed.
Donnie scanned the area for his brothers. They were darting in and out landing blow after blow on the giant mutant dog, but his thick fur and bone claw served as wonderful protection. Mikey was entertaining himself by taunting the remaining gang members. He was running all over the place doing his best to stay off the concrete floor, up above any Mouser that may try to chomp on his ankles. Holly had her bow up, she fired carefully but precisely taking out as many of the little mechanical Mousers as possible without wasting her limited supply of arrows.
This was a disaster. Their simple 'enter and exit' strategy hadn't worked, and if they were stuck here too much longer they would run the risk of being overwhelmed.
April nudged Donnie's arm. "We can go up!" She pointed at the skylights, the deep black of night had started to turn milky gray overhead, and only the brightest stars were still visible.
"Guys!" Donnie yelled. Four sets of eyes flashed over to him for a second, he held a single finger up to convey his message, and three sets of eyes went back to what they were doing. Holly, on the other hand, looked up. The half-light was making it more difficult for her to see, and she wasn't sure what he was pointing at.
Donnie and April ran over to the stairs. He shoved her in front of himself climbing backwards still fighting off the perusing gang members. Mikey clambered up the machinery and leapt over the railings to help Donnie with April.
"So, how's it going?" He asked her cheerfully.
"Oh, you know. Just hanging out." She replied slightly out of breath. He gave her his best cheesy grin and started helping her climb up to the office roofs so she could get out through the skylight.
Both of them stopped for a moment when a strange crunching noise caught their attention. They looked to their left, to see a handful of Mousers climbing up the wall after them, their sharp little talons digging into the soft bricks. April gasped as they launched themselves off the wall in their direction. Mikey dropped April back down to the catwalk so he could dispatch the little devils. He swung his nunchucks around swatting at anything that got too close.
"Mikey!" April said, having a sudden idea.
"Yes?" he replied.
"Throw your chain down to Holly, we can pull her up and get the hell out of here!" She said sounding stressed.
"Can you get up here on your own?" He asked.
"She's not alone." Donnie yelled, and with a mighty shove, he threw several purple dragon men down the stairs. "I'll take care of April, you worry about Holly and the others."
Mikey didn't hesitate. If anyone was capable of taking care of April, it was Donnie. He climbed up to the inside of the roof and crawled along the ventilation system until he was on the other side of the factory, directly above Holly, and lowered her a chain.
Something thudded against the floor next to Holly and it made her jump. She rolled away from the noise and aimed an arrow at it, but all she saw was a solid metal lump, about the size of a tennis ball, attached to a chain. She followed the chain up to see what it was and saw Mikey smiling down at her.
"It's not going to bite you know." He said wiggling the chain from side to side. "Come on, let's get you out of there."
Holly slung her gear over her shoulder, then grabbed the chain. As Mikey lifted her off the floor, she glanced in Raphs direction. He and Leo were drawing Dog Pound away from herself, back towards the door they had come in. She let herself relax slightly. They were still in danger, but April was ok and she was going to be out of the way as soon as she was up with Mikey.
No sooner as she was beginning to feel safe, Holly heard someone yell out angrily and grab her legs. She looked down to find Fong reaching up for her ankles, he dug his fingers into her leg and snarled up at her looking quite crazy. She let out a yell and tried to shake him off.
"Hey!" Yelled Mikey from above, "Let her go".
"Not this time." Fong yelled. "You're not going anywhere." He clawed at Hollys' leg, digging his fingernails into her flesh.
Holly thrashed against Fongs' grasp and managed to wiggle one of her legs free, she stomped down on Fong as hard as she could, her heel connected with his nose and there was an audible crunch. Fong fell back to the floor, clutching at his face, blood pouring over his fingers.
"Oh crap. I'm sorry." Holly said, cringing.
"Why are you apologizing to that jerk?" Mikey asked as he pulled her up onto the ventilation system.
"I don't know. Habit?" Holly glanced down once more. "Will the others be ok?"
"What do you think?" Mikey said. He gave her a shove to start moving towards the skylight, where Donatello and April were waiting with two sets of arms pulled Holly out into the fresh open air. The sky overhead had changed to a murky gray, and off to the east there was a tinge of gold starting to peek over the skyline.
"We have to get underground soon." Donnie said with urgency.
April and Holly nodded in unison and all four of them peeked back inside. Leo and Raph were not in sight, but neither was Dog pound.
"We have to go." Donnie said softly.
April wrapped an arm around her friends shoulder and gently steered her away from the skylight. Donnie and Mikey carried April and Holly as the leaped across the rooftops, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the factory. Once they were half a mile away, the turtle boys slowed down so they could look for their brothers.
"Where would they go, if they couldn't shake Dog Pound?" Holy asked.
"Anywhere that isn't home." Donnie said. They all stood in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to do.
A noise caught everyone's attention, "What's that?" April said frowning at the others. Whatever it was, it was moving. There was a clatter of garbage cans, and then a rattle of a fire escape. Donnie, Mikey, Holly, and April all stared at each other as the sounds faded out around them.
"You'd guys don't think that was Leo and Raph, do you?" Mikey asked the group hesitantly. They all stood perfectly still waiting for some sign that they were right.
A bellowing roar pierced the stillness and the four teens scurried over to the edge of the roof to see what was happening. Raph and Leo were racing ahead of Dog Pound through the winding back alleys of New York. They had already destroyed one fire escape, it lay twisted and mangled on the grimy concrete, but Raph and Leo moved swiftly on, doing what they could to lose their pursuer.
Holly drew an arrow, just as Donnie was yelling at her and April to head back to the lair. She mentally tuned him out and searched for something to use as a wind gauge. A faded flag fluttered gently in a light breeze. Holly could hear Donnie and Mikey babbling in her ear, but she ignored them. She took a slow breath in and drew back the bow as far as she could.
Leo and Raph were getting annoyed with Dog Pound, he was surprisingly agile considering how massive he was. They had attempted to climb up to a rooftop on a fire escape, but the man-mutt had just ripped it clean off the wall. Leo looked over at his younger brother, preparing to signal another plan of action at him. However, something whizzed overhead that almost stopped him in his tracks.
Behind the turtles, Dog Pound heard an arrow sailing in his direction. He skidded slightly as he dove sideways out of the line of fire, the arrow bounced off the concrete and rolled away harmlessly with a clatter. Bradford looked up at the rooftops and saw that same girl crouched high above him, she looked quite pissed off.
Holly already had another arrow ready to go before the first one had even finished bouncing. She made sure he saw her before letting it go angrily. The giant dog dove out of the way again, but this time there was already a third, fourth and fifth arrow sailing in his direction before he could glare up at her. He swatted them out of the air with his bone-covered claw and snarled at her before remembering that he was supposed to be chasing some turtles. He spun around searching for his pray, but it was too late. That irritating girl had distracted him long enough for the two to escape, and when he looked, she was gone too.
Holly was running as fast as she could alongside April, Donnie and Mikey when they heard Bradford let out a desperate, frustrated roar into the lightening sky. They crossed a few buildings before taking a quick break to catch their breaths and figure out where they were.
April burst into laughter and threw her arms around Donatello's neck. "I knew you'd come." She said and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Like we'd leave you to fend for yourself." He said happily, smiling for the first time that night.
"I hate to burst your bubble," Mikey said, "But the sun is going to be up any minute now."
"Right." Donnie said, "I'm sure we'll find the others on the way back."
Once again, Mikey and Donnie picked up the girls and carried them across the skyline. In the east, huge streaks of gold and orange were slicing through the gray sky. A few early birds were already out for their morning jogs, and the dull rumble of cars was growing louder every second.
Donnie and Mikey dropped the girls near the entrance of the sewers. There had been no sign of the other two, and everyone was starting to panic again. The sun was poking up now, igniting the tops of the building like giant candles. The group took one more silent look around before they slid underground.
"You guys took long enough." Leo said loftily, stepping out from around a corner, Raph was right next to him looking equally as smug.
"You jerks." April yelled although she was smiling. "We were worried about you guys." Leonardo just shrugged, and laughed when April shoved him.
Everyone was laughing and joking as they started making their way back to the lair, but there was still a long way to go yet, and after a short while, Holly and April were yawning hard. The turtles were used to pulling all-nighters, fighting bad guys and running all over town, but the girls weren't, it had been an exciting night for them.
Holly looked ragged, her clothes were blood-stained and the bandages on her hands were frayed and grubby. April wasn't looking much better, her wrists were raw from where she had been bound, and her usually neat hair stuck out at weird angles. Both of them looked exhausted and were dragging their feet as they walked.
Donnie took pity on April, and offered to carry her the rest of the way back to the lair. She pretended to think about it, but her legs were shaking, so she agreed. Donnie knelt down and let her wrap her arms around his shoulders, he interlocked his fingers behind her knees and stood up with ease. April instantly melted, she was so tired and it was nice to have friendly arms around her for a change.
Donatello felt Aprils' arms go slack, her long fingers dangled a few inches in front of his face, and he could feel her warm breath on the back of his neck. He smiled to himself, and let his mind wander into a daydream about the girl he was carrying.
Holly was walking in the back of the group, she really was trying to keep up, but she felt like she was wearing cement shoes. Raphael was just ahead of her, be he was hanging back just enough that she knew he was keeping an eye on her. She let out a little chuckle, and he turned around to see what was so funny.
"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"It's... It's nothing" She said waving him off.
He stopped to let her catch up to him, "Come on, what?"
She paused and pursed her lips, trying to decide how to word what she was thinking. "Your just funny." he didn't say anything, but his brow slid a little higher up his face. She giggled again. "Alright. Donnie and April are cute and he likes to molly-coddle her, and that's fine. But, I like that you look out for me from a distance."
"Well, after today I don't really think I need to worry as much." He sounded amused, and now it was Hollys' turn to give him a funny look. "I have to admit, I was impressed with your skills."
"You doubted me?" Holly faked being offended but was too tired to put much effort into it.
"No, I've seen you shoot. But when you're focused, you're kind of scary." Raphael said. Holly just blushed and smiled at her shoes. They walked the rest of the way back to the lair in silence, the only interruptions came from Leo looking back making sure everyone was still doing alright, and by the time they walked through the turnstiles at the entrance, even he was looking worn out.
Master splinter was still awake when they walked in, a smile broke across his face when he saw his sons and the girls. Donnie gently deposited April on one end of the couches and rushed off to grab her a pillow and blanket. Leonardo walked up to his father, and they started discussing the evenings' events. Michelangelo waved sleepily to Holly and Raph, and trudged off to bed without so much as a backwards glance.
Splinter patted Leo on the arm and turned his attention to Holly. She was perched on the edge of the sofa, swaying slightly as she tried to stay awake.
"Come with me, we need to find you some clean clothes." He held an arm out and gently wrapped it around Hollys' shoulder, steering her into the training room where he slid behind the dividing screen to his own room and emerged a moment later with a wrapped package.
"I was saving this for a later date, but I doubt you have anything else to wear right now." Splinter handed her the package, and she frowned at him. "It was supposed to be a present."
Raph and Leo had followed and were lurking in the doorway, but Raphael's curiosity got the better of him and he crept closer for a better look. Holly unwrapped the package to reveal a pale green piece of fabric with little pink flowers on it. As she pulled it out of the paper, it unfolded to reveal a yukata.
"Oh my god, it's beautiful." Holly was stunned. "Thank you."
"I have one for April too. Since your part of the family now, I wanted to get you something special." He smiled softly at her as she let the soft fabric flow over her hands.
"Thank you so much." She said again and walked forward and gave him a hug. She started to pull off her sweater but realized that Raphael was still in the room. "No offense, but could you give me a minute."
He turned around, but didn't move, Splinter also turned and departed for his bedroom. No doubt he was tired since he had been up worrying all night. Leo was long gone, he hadn't said anything, just walked off with a smile on his face. Holly struggled out of her jeans and shirt and slid into the cotton robe easily. It was so soft.
"Alright, I'm decent." She said, smoothing out her new outfit.
Raph turned, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Very nice." She smiled wide, but it turned into a yawn almost instantly. In all the excitement she had forgotten how tired she was.
"Let's go, you need some sleep." He said and beckoned her over to him. They walked back out to the living room, which was void of movement. The only sounds came from April who was snoring slightly on the sofa. Holly started heading for the couch, but Raph reached for her hand and pulled her in the other direction.
"Where are we going?" She said sleepily.
"You've had a rough night." He pulled her towards his own room. "Wouldn't you like an actual bed tonight?" He pushed open his door and let her go inside ahead of him.
"What about you?" She asked, not really sure if she wanted to know what he had in mind.
"If you can sleep on the couch for a week straight, I think I can survive one night." Holly let out a little sigh of relief.
"Thank you. I really appreciate this." Holly said. She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and turned to finally climb into bed.
Raph closed the door to his own bedroom and turned back towards the living area, but he wasn't tired. True, it had been a stressful night, but his body was just not ready to relax just yet. He grabbed a couple of comic books that were lying on the floor and made his way into the kitchen. To his surprise, Donatello was already sitting at their table, a screwdriver in his hand and some little gadget lay in pieces before him.
"Can't sleep?" Raph asked his little brother.
Donnie's head snapped up in surprise. "Um, no. You either huh?" Raph just shrugged and shook his head, then sat down opposite the mess. Donatello frowned, "Don't you usually just stay in your room when you can't sleep?"
"Yeah, aren't you usually in your lab?" He snapped back sarcastically.
"I was just asking, and the lab is too big and empty tonight."
"You mean, it's too far away from April." Raph translated.
Donnie looked embarrassed but didn't deny it was true. "So, why are you out here?"
"I gave up my bed since I knew I wouldn't be using it." He rustled his comic and hid his face behind it.
"That's a good idea!" Donnie said excitedly, he stood and rushed off to pick up April again and carry her into his room. Raph smiled to himself. For a genius, his brother sure could be a dummy sometimes.
Donatello returned a short while later, and the two turtles sat together, eating leftover pizza, and doing their favorite activities as the rest of their family slept soundly
