Splinter was busying himself making another pot of tea for himself and the young women. None of them had really spoken after they had changed and gotten all their injuries tended to. Holly had been wringing her hands non-stop. Tearing up the tissues she kept grabbing to dab the tears out of her eyes, while April was glued to her phone looking for any breaking news articles for information. Usually, when he was waiting for his boys to come home he would meditate in his room. He decided it might be worth a try, it would at least give them something to work on while they waited.
He carried the pot out and started walking towards the training room, "Would you please follow me."
April and Holly looked at each other, then over to Splinter. "Do we need to bring anything?" Asked April.
"Only your cups if you would like some more tea."
"Can you walk?" Holly asked April.
"Lets find out." April stood and took a couple of wobbly steps on her ankle. "Can I just hold your arm?"
Holly grabbed hers and Aprils cup on one hand, and held her arm out for her friend. They slowly hobbled over to the training room, where Splinter had laid out three cushions in a little circle. The pot of tea was in the middle and his own cup steamed away by one of his knees.
"We're going to try a little meditation to help clear your minds" Splinter had his eyes closed and his hands were resting gently on his knees. "Take a cushion and get comfortable."
Holly helped April down to one of the seats and got her arranged so her tea was within reach before she settled on her knees on the other.
"Alright, we are going to try to focus on our breathing to distract ourselves from all the negative thoughts that are trying to invade out minds." Splinter casually reached down and picked up his mug without opening his eyes. "I understand it will be difficult, you are both worried and have had an emotional couple of days, but this is the perfect time to try and learn how to block out as much of the clutter as possible".
April shifted around trying to keep her ankle comfortable, "Is this what you do, when you're waiting for them to come home?"
"This, or I like to catch up on my stories." Splinter smiled.
"Really? Soap operas?" Holly scoffed.
"We all have our guilty pleasures." Splinter shrugged. The girls exchanged an amused look, but didn't say anything. "Now, if you would take a deep breath in through the nose. Feel the air fill your lungs and let it out through your mouth."
Holly closed her eyes and rolled her neck to loosen some of the tension. She could feel how tense she was, as she rotated through the circle, she could feel the muscles stretching all down her back, and along her shoulder. Without prompting, she took another deep breath.
"Feel better already?" Splinter asked.
"A little, actually." Holly admitted.
They all sat quietly focusing on their own breath. Occasionally, Splinter would speak up to remind them to breath deeply, or to try to keep them from drifting too far into their own heads. Every once in a while, someone would take a sip of tea, or adjust their seating position. April was struggling to stay comfortable though. Her ankle still ached, and she couldn't cross her legs properly as it would put pressure on it and make it ache even more. She really did try to clear her mind, but she couldn't keep her thoughts off of Donatello and the others. Eventually, she gave up. She rolled onto one knee and stumbled up to her feet.
"Do you need some help?" Holly asked starting to get up.
"No, I just need to stretch my legs." She hobbled out of the training room and into the kitchen. She sat on one of the stools to catch her breath and stretched out her ankle a little. She stood again and grabbed a glass of water and sipped at it while she checked her phone for texts. It had been a few of hours since she and Holly had gotten back underground, she was hoping that there would be some news by now.
April settled herself back on the couch, meditation wasn't for her. She popped on some late night TV that she didn't have to pay attention to while she waited for someone to contact her.
A couple more hours passed and April was still waiting. Splinter and Holly were still in the training room and none of the Turtles had reached out. April was chewing on her nails when the boys finally trudged into the Lair.
"You're back!" She yelled and tried to stand, she immediately fell sideways onto the couch "We were so worried." Donnie raced over and helped her upright. She gave him an enormous hug before hobbling over to the others.
There was a commotion in the corner as Holly threw open the training room door, she stood in the frame for just a moment, before sprinting at Raph and launching herself at him. She tackled him with the sheer force of her relief and let out a little sob.
Master Splinter followed more slowly and was visibly relieved to see his sons home. Thy looked a little banged up, but nothing too serious he hoped.
"Are you guys alright? Did you find her?" April asked as Holly let go of Raph and he helped her onto the couch.
"We found her," Leo said "and a whole lot more."
"Where is she?" Holly said through the sleeve of her robe. She was rubbing her face trying to wipe away the last of her tears.
"She was picked up by a police officer who probably took her to the station," Leo answered, "I would bet they'll take her home after they talk to her."
Holly let out a shaky sigh and put her face in her hands. "Thank you all, so much" Her voice broke and a few more tears leaked from the corner of her bloodshot eyes.
"There's more though. April, your father was there too?" Leo directed the comment at the girl and everyone turned to see her expression. Leo had already told his brothers about what had happened to him while they were in the tower, but they had all agreed that it would be better to tell April in person what they had seen.
The color drained from her cheeks, "My dad was there too? Did you save him?" She sounded hopeful and Leonardo felt terrible that he had to let her down.
"I'm so sorry, someone knocked me out before I could".
April visibly deflated, "It's alright. I'm sure you did everything you could". She was disappointed that they had finally found her father but hadn't been able to rescue him.
"I swear, I tried." Leo offered her feeling like a failure.
Everyone was silent for a moment, even though they had managed to get Holly's mom out safely, somehow the whole mission felt like a bust. Leonardo probably had a nasty concussion, Raphael was still sporting scratch marks all over his face and torso, while Donatello and Michelangelo still had the fire extinguisher residue in various smudges all over.
"Why don't we get you all cleaned up, and we can discuss what you saw, and learned further." Splinter offered.
While Donnie and Mikey washed the powder off of themselves.
Holly was applying iodine to the scratched on Raphs plastron. Raph sucked air in through his teeth as she tended the scratch on his face "Ouch! That hurts."
"Don't be such a baby." Holly scolded him, but her heart wasn't in it. She was pleased the turtles were home, and relieved that her mom was safe, but worried for April. The guys had seen her father. This was the first news of him since he had gone missing.
Splinter had grabbed a bag of ice for Leo's head while April was still resting her foot. She was staring off absently and being unusually quiet.
"Hey, are you alright?" Holly sat next to April and looked for some indication of what was going through her friends head.
"I'm not really sure" April replied honestly.
Holly leaned over and gave her a hug. What could she say? Once everyone was back together, Leonardo, assisted by Donatello, shared everything that had happened over the last six hours. When they got to talking about the organized ninja outfit, Splinter suddenly became very interested. "What was the name of this group?" He asked seriously.
"The Foot Clan," Leonardo replied, "but they're run by a guy they call..."
"The Shredder." Finished Splinter softly.
"You know those guys!?" Mikey yelled.
"He was the reason I came to Manhattan in the first place." Splinter said absentmindedly. He was connecting pieces of this puzzle together and it was not painting a pretty picture. "I will explain later, please continue."
"Oh...Kay," Leo said dubiously, "So, Stockman claims that this 'Shredder" is working with some other guys to make and distribute the Mutagen. They're using the Purple Dragon gang to commit the petty crimes they need to get supplies or transport, but the big stuff is all done behind closed doors".
Holly was listening intently; "Wait a minute, there are three organizations, all working together? Who are the third guys?"
"That we don't know. All Stockman said was that they were 'weird'" Donnie answered.
"If Stockman can manufacture this mutagen then why have they got other scientists held hostage doing research?" Holly didn't like where this was going. Organized criminals working with genetic experimentation, this was beginning to sound like weapons dealing. Weapons of the biological kind.
"Again, we don't know for sure." Donnie was getting that ominous feeling again. There was a lot more going on here than they could possibly know.
Holly rubbed her temples with her finger tips. This was an awful lot for a bunch of teenagers to be dealing with. Most kids their ages we worried about pimples, or who they were going to homecoming with. Not criminal organizations and secret laboratories. "I'll be right back." Holly got up and walked into the kitchen. She splashed some cold water on her face and checked the time. It was well past sun-up by now. They had all been awake all night and the strain of sickening worry and lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, making her jump. It was her mother calling, and she answered it without hesitation.
"Mom?" She gripped the phone tightly.
"Holly," there was relief in Stacey's' voice. "Where are you? Are you safe?"
"Yes mom, I'm safe. I'm with April." She paused for a moment, worrying. "Are you alright?"
"I just got home, the police had some questions about what happened to me. Are you coming home?'
"Yes, of course I am." Holly was shocked she wasn't demanding she get home immediately. "I'll grab a cab as soon as possible".
"Good." Stacey also paused. "I think we need to talk."
"Sure mom, whatever you want." Holly was really freaking out now. "I'll see you soon, OK?"
"See you soon." Stacey hung up.
Holly stared at her phone, this was not going to be good. She returned to the rest of the group and let them know she would need to leave. "April, do you want to catch a lift home?"
"Yeah, I probably should" She said. "I'll need help though."
Donatello stood. "I'll carry you to the surface. It's the least I can do."
"Let me round up our things, and we'll go." Holly hurried around the lair grabbing the few things she and April had brought the night before. It wasn't much, so soon they were bidding the others a solemn farewell. They all promised to stay in contact as much as they could as no one knew when they would be seeing each other again. Once Donnie, Holly and April were gone. Splinter stood.
"Leonardo, please join me for a moment in the training room."
"Yes, father." Leo responded and the two of them left.
Once the door was closed, Mikey piped up, "Well, this has been a bummer."
Raph couldn't even muster the energy for a snarky reply.
Splinter faced his son with a stern look on his face. "I wanted to tell you that in light of your recent discoveries, we are going to have to begin more advanced training for you and your brothers."
"Whats going on father? What do you know?" Leo was curious.
"I am not quite ready to disclose everything, but if the Shredder is involved, there are some things you are going to need to know." Splinter turned to go to his own room. "I am glad you are all home."
"So am I father." Leo exited back out to the living area to see Mikey and Raph sat quietly on the couch. He walked over and sat between them. "You guys alright?"
"Of course," Raph said dismissively. "I saved your ass though".
"Yeah, you sure did" Leo smiled to himself. He knew his brother was scared for him, but this was as close as he could manager to admitting it.
"Well, I'm not!" Mikey yelled. "We were getting creamed by the Shredder guy. If Donnie hadn't caused a distraction, who knows where we'd be right now? Probably six feet under."
"I know Mikey, but that is why we all have to lookout for each other, and trust each other." Leo stood and patted his youngest brother on the shoulder.
Mikey grabbed Leo around the waist and hugged him tight "I just don't know what I'd do with out you guys!"
"Mikey!" Leo cried out as he was almost knocked off his feet.
"You asked for this" Raph gestured at their brother.
"I love you too, Raph" Mikey released Leo and tried to latch onto the grouchy one.
"Don't even think about it!" Raph tried to run, but was tackled around the knees by Mikey, who promptly tried to give him a hug.
Donatello dropped April and Holly off just out of sight of the street. He couldn't go any further as the sun was out fully for the day. But he bade them farewell and made sure they got in the cab before he turned back.
April and Holly's' ride home was very quiet. The cab dropped April off first, and Holly helped her up the stairs to her apartment before continuing on alone.
Holly was dreading what was going to happen when she got there. Her hair was still messy with flakes of blood and her clothes were covered in ash and dirt from the Factory. She had intentionally not changed back into them so she could try to hide the evidence, but how was she going to explain the beautiful robe she had on, or anything else for that matter.
When she got to her apartment, there was still a police officer in the lobby. The officer asked Holly who she was before she was allowed upstairs and when she finally did let her pass, Holly heard the officer call in a report on her radio.
The door was locked, so Holly let herself in with her keys "Hello? Mom?" She called out tentatively. There were hurried footsteps and Holly saw her mother swish out of her room in a long elegant bathrobe, her hair was still ever so damp and she looked exhausted.
"Holly!" Stacey threw her arms around her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug, Holly gripped her mother back just as tight.
When Stacey finally drew back, she looked her daughter over to see if she was hurt, "Where were you? I was so worried when they said you weren't home!"
"Mom, you were kidnapped... I was at school when it happened," Holly was shocked. "I couldn't stay here when I heard what happened, I needed help!"
"The police were already here, why didn't you go to them?" Stacey had tears dripping off her chin.
"I was scared!" Holly also had tears running along her cheeks. She hadn't thought she had any left. "I went to..." She faltered "Aprils."
"Liar." Stacey pulled Holly in for another hug, "What is going on with you lately? The men who took me were asking about you and your friends. Is April in a gang? Is she the reason you're in trouble?"
"No, God no." Holly actually laughed at her. "That's ridiculous, even for you."
"Then what is it?" Stacey was pleading for some answers, but what could she say. Her mother wouldn't believe the truth, and chances are she would have her daughter committed for a mental evaluation.
"I can't tell you everything." Holly looked at her toes, she would not betray her friends trust, but she couldn't lie to her mother either. "I have made some friends who are in trouble. But they also don't know why they're being targeted" She hastily added when her mother blanched. "April knows them too, she has known them for months. They were the ones who saved her when her father was taken."
"Your new friends saved April too?" Stacey's mind was racing. She knew that Aprils father was missing, but she didn't know that April had been in danger too.
"Yes, they're so kind and considerate, but they are..." Holly was searching for the word "misunderstood." She winced, this was as close as she was going to get to telling her mom anything.
Stacey sighed. She knew her daughter too well. "I don't know, how can I possibly trust you when you are keeping things from me?"
"I'm sorry." Holly's voice cracked as a new wave of dismay crashed down over her.
"Come here." Stacey pulled her daughter to the couch and they sat and held each other for a while until Holly's tears subsided and became little harsh gasps. "First things first, we are moving out of this place. The amount I pay and the security was worthless."
"No please, I don't want to move again". Holly begged.
"I can't stay here." Stacey looked around. Someone had done their best to clean up, but there was still a slight stain on her floor from where she had dropped her wine.
"Mom, please! We can get a stronger deadbolt and cameras, plus you can have you lawyer contact the HOA and threaten to sue them over the security." Holly was getting desperate. "Just leave Bud out of it. He doesn't get paid enough to take the blame for this"
Stacey thought about it, she had dragged her daughter to 3 different cities in the last 2 years already. "We'll start with new locks and cameras. But I'm not promising anything." Holly just nodded. Stacey frowned suddenly at her daughter and held her arms out, "What are you wearing?"
"Oh, this was a present. Do you like it?"
"Its beautiful." Stacey's keen eye for design was impressed. It was the first thing her daughter had worn that really suited her. "Was this from your new friends? Are they Japanese?"
"Their dad is." Holly said happy to change the subject.
"Their dad... Huh." Stacey was sharper than her daughter gave her credit for. "You look like you want a bath. Go get cleaned up, I'll tell the school you're not coming in today."
"OK mom." Holly turned to leave, but rushed back over to hug her mom again. "I'm so glad you're safe. I love you."
"I love you too, honey. Now I'm going to call a locksmith." Stacey stood and went to her phone. As she heard Holly running a bath, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She looked into her own blue eyes and wondered if she was being crazy. If her daughter really were friends with those, things, that had saved her... It would explain why they came to help her in the first place. The tall one had admitted that they were all brothers, and they were trained in some form of eastern martial arts. If their father, came from Japan and taught them the traditional arts, he would have known about traditional garments too. There was no denying the coincidence.
While Stacey called and organized for a locksmith to come over within the hour, she walked into her home office and started sketching up some designs that had crept into her head. She styled them on the beautiful garment her daughter came home in.
Holly was so happy to be in a warm bath. She had soaked in it for a good 30 minutes before she scrubbed her hair and skin clean of all the dust and blood that had been caked in. She drained, and rinsed the tub, before refilling it with fresh hot water and settled in to let her head rest. She hoped that she had been as honest as she could while still keeping Splinter and the guy's secret. She snatched up her phone and sent a text to Raph telling him that she was home and what she had told her mother.
I mean, that should be good he responded.
I'm surprised you're still awake!
I wanted to make sure you were OK
I'll be OK. Are you guys OK? It sounded like you
were in trouble for a minute there.
Mikey was freaking out.
Oh No! You had better have been nice to him!
He tired to HUG ME!
I hug you all the time!
Yeah, but I like you
I mean, like a friend
I like Mikey too, but not like you.
Mikey's my brother!
Holly laughed out loud.
:D I get it, go to sleep already... And I like you too.
Holly felt better. She hoped that her mom wouldn't move them again, but she was glad that she was home and safe. She got out of the tub, and got dressed in her coziest pajamas. She made some food for both herself and her mom, and they ate while the locksmith replaced the deadbolt with a heavy duty version and secure it in place with three inch screws. He gave them all sorts of information about what else they could do to secure their home, and Stacey asked him to send her some additional information that she could take to their Home Owners Association to get better security for the whole building. She thanked him and got a referral for an electrician who could install some cameras and alarms, then closed and locked their door behind him. They then put on a movie, and snuggled up under a blanket on the couch, before the title screen had finished Holly was out cold. Stacey held her teenage daughter and was thanking whoever was watching that they were both safe.
