The turtles slept late into the evening after all the excitement of the previous night. No one had slept well, and everyone was stressing out about all the information that had obtained. Something sinister was going on and it would probably affect more than just the few people they knew. Leonardo was trying to forgive himself for failing April and her father, but he was finding it difficult to let go of his self criticism. Michelangelo had reasonably settled down, but was still anxious about how close they had come to loosing. Donatello was in reasonable decent spirits, he was more pragmatic than the others and was focusing on what they needed to do next. Raphael resorted to his usual stony-faced routine. He would never admit to anyone how terrified he had been when his brother was nearly turned into a shish kebab. He barely slept, and when he did the scene played over and over in his mind.
Their father was somewhere in the middle of all of this. He was certainly worried. Very few people aside form himself knew how dangerous Oroku Saki was. But he also knew that his boys could learn to defeat him, they just needed more training and a better understanding of what they were facing. He rummaged in his little shoe box of personal possessions for a single picture he had carried with him for years. It was just about the only thing he had to remind him of his life before moving to America, a picture of his wife and daughter. He was hoping that April and Holly might come by that evening, but understood that they too may be struggling emotionally and would need the comfort of their family.
He made his way to the kitchen to make tea and patiently waited for his family to join him.
"There are some areas of my past that I didn't think you needed to know about, but it has become obvious that this is no longer true." Splinter carefully studied each of his sons faces for their emotions. "I know each of you is still reeling from your experiences yesterday, but I think that some history will help you to understand your enemies enough to be more prepared for them in future."
He launched into his story, leaving very little out. Splinter told them about his past life as a man growing up in Japan. His relationship with Oroku, and their rivalry as boys. Their disagreements over their teachings. Their mutual love interest and how that interest had turned to bitterness once Tang Shen had made her decision. How she and Splinter had married and had a child , and how, consumed by jealousy Oroku had set fire to their home and had taken the life of the woman, and her daughter. The more detail he gave, the more exaggerated his sons expressions became. He passed around the only picture he had of him old life.
"You had a wife and daughter?" Donnie asked softly, staring at the faded photo, "I'm so sorry."
"I was so angry for so long," Splinter admitted, "It's why I came here in the first place, to face Oroku again. I heard there was a group in New York causing major issued headed up by a man who had come from our province in Japan. A man who studied under our school. I suspected it was Oroku, who now went by the pseudonym 'Shredder' but I wasn't 100% certain. I am now though." Everyone was stunned. The turtles knew that their father had been a man before the mutagen had changed him, but they had no idea about his past life.
"Once my physical form was changed and I had you four to look after, seeking out Oroku seemed pointless. I had joy in my life again, and was no longer controlled by bitterness and hatred." Splinter smiled at his family. "You saved me from the darkness."
"We are pretty great" Mikey said happily.
"So, now you know the truth." Splinter took back his picture and moved to put it back in his pocket.
"We may know more about the clan and Shredder himself, but we are going to need to get serious with our training if we're going to stand a chance against him." Leo knew all too well what almost happened to him. The others nodded their agreement.
April had slept through most of the morning also. She had gotten home and told her aunt that Holly's mom had been found and that the she had been taken by the same people that had her father. Carol was elated to know her brother was still alive, but didn't tell April that she had been worried he might not be. They were both hoping for some update from the police who had been working the missing persons case, but April knew it wouldn't be coming. The police weren't the ones who had found her dad and she couldn't sell her aunt who had. Surprisingly however, there was a news report on that evening that covered a police raid on the building the turtles had been at. The news anchor stated that the NYPD SWAT team had gone into the building after a local woman had been kidnapped and found safe near by. With her statement the police had obtained a warrant and had raided the location, only to find that the people responsible had abandoned the location and there were no clues as to where they had gone. A reward for information had been posted, but April would be amazed if anyone had anything to tell. Unfortunately, this also meant that her father was gone again and as of now they were no closer to finding him than they had been yesterday,
Te next few days were spent in relative isolation for everyone. Holly's mother was reluctant to even let her go to school, let alone go out with friends. April had made it over to the Lair, and she had been informed of the stricter training schedule that the Turtles were going to have to adhere to, but her ankle was still tender so she couldn't participate and usually ended up baking or doing homework while the other worked. The following weekend however, Holly finally convinced her mother to let her go to Aprils, and the turtles agreed to meet them there since it was summer and the nights wouldn't get as cold.
Stacey drove her daughter to her friends house. She usually wouldn't drive in the city, but she was much more cautious that she had been in the past. "Don't go anywhere, and call me when you want to come home."
"I won't, and I will" Holly called back. "Are you going to be OK?"
"Oh, I'm not staying there alone until the guy comes to fit the new door" Stacey said, "If you're staying here, I'm going to go to one of my friends places."
"Be safe mom, I love you."
"I love you too."
Once upstairs, April was delighted to have her friend back. "I missed you!" She squeezed her friend tight and beamed at her. "Are you guys doing OK?" April guided Holly into the living room and they sat down for a while with Carol.
"We're OK. Mom is still worried that those guys will come back, but she is getting all new security on our apartment, and she is threatening the Homeowners Board that if they don't fix the rest of the buildings security she will sue them." Holly shook her head, but so long as they didn't move again, she didn't care what her mother threatened.
"I don't blame her," said Carol, "If I payed that much I would expect the doorman to be more capable of dealing with intruders."
"It wasn't his fault. They surprised him during the day when the doors are unlocked." Holly was sad for Bud, he was in a fair amount of trouble and she didn't want him to loose his job. "He can't be expected to deal with dangerous people, he doesn't have any training!"
"That's true I suppose" Carol was won over.
April and Holly moved themselves up to Aprils room, they talked about the news report that had been on, and wondered how the Foot and Shredder had managed to pack up and move so quickly.
"There has to be a mole" Holly said with certainty.
"Donnie thinks the same." April said sadly.
"Just because they have more information doesn't mean we wont catch up." Holly offered with a smile.
"What if we don't though" April hugged her knees. She had been keeping this to herself for a few days now, "He's been gone for so long already, I miss him."
Holly scooted over and wrapped an arm around Aprils shoulders "Weren't you the one telling me to trust the guys a few days ago? They will find him"
April sobbed softly, after a few minutes she said "I know. We have once now, we can do it again."
"In all honesty, I wasn't sure how far I could trust anyone. But I would trust Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey with my life. I know they will do everything and anything they can to help."
April nodded, "That's how I feel about them too. They've never not tried to help.'
"It's why they keep getting into trouble. Stopping those Purple Dragon thugs from stealing from innocent people is why this all started in the first place." Holly chuckled. Her face then dropped as she had a thought. "Holy shit, I've had a great idea". April was confused. "We bug a shipment!" April was still confused.
When night fell, and Carol was safely tucked up in her own bed. April and Holly climbed up the fire escape to the roof of the building. The night was warm and still so they both had just put on short and tank-tops. Holly had her Hair up in a messy bun, while April had opted to let hers loose for once. It hung down to her shoulders in auburn waves that suited her much better than when it was up.
The turtles didn't leave them waiting for too long.
"Glad to see you!" Leo said and hugged the girls.
"Did you miss me?" Mikey said at the same time.
"Of course" April replied with a chuckle, and grabbed the youngest brother tightly.
"How's your ankle?" Raph asked April and motioned at the injury.
"Much better, it wasn't much fun to climb the ladder, but otherwise its doing great!" April rotated it around to show them.
Once all the pleasantries were over with. The group moved on to more serious topics. Leo lead the discussion by recounting all the Splinter had told him and the others to the girls.
"And you didn't tell me any of this before, why?" April shouted. She was immediately shushed by the others.
"I wanted to tell you together, mostly so I only had to do it once." Leo shrugged.
"Jerk." April sulked.
"That's some pretty heavy stuff." Holly said, "I'm not surprised he kept it to himself. Are you sure he's OK with us knowing?"
"I think so, its pretty important information and you guys are the only people who can help us on the surface."
This did little to ease Holly's discomfort. This all felt a little too personal to be casually discussing.
"We saw the News report" Donnie offered to change the subject. "We'll find your dad again April, I promise."
April gave him a small smile, "I know you will."
"Speaking of, I've had an Idea of how we can find them again!" Holly said brightly. The others looked at her expectantly. "We just need to bug their next delivery and they'll take us to them!"
Donatello frowned, "How will we know where they'll hit next?"
Holly was hoping that he would have at least been more excited, "We know the Purple Dragons have been looking for any and all electronic supplies... We can find a warehouse they haven't hit and put trackers in the supplies."
Donnie considered it, "It could work. We would need very small tracking units though, and they would have to be well hidden. Stockman could find them."
Holly shook her head, "It won't matter, so long as the hired help doesn't discover it, we'll already know where they are. And hopefully by the time Stockman actually gets his hands on the equipment it will be far too late."
Donnie smiled, "Its not a bad plan." They both looked at the others for their input.
"How can we be certain that the Purple Dragons will take the trackers?" Leo asked "What if the supplies get picked up by an actual delivery person?"
"I'm not saying the plan is perfect. If we can at least get the trackers into items they're more likely to take, that will give us better odds." Holly shrugged, it wasn't perfect, but it would give them more information. They had ran in blind last time and nearly been blown up. She didn't want to risk it a second time. She started pacing, "If we could a camera also we could get visual conformation that they are actually holding the missing people in the same place that the supplies are going, and potentially see who the mysterious third party is." She stopped pacing when she realized everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. Everyone except Donnie, who finally looked excited.
"You are as bad as him." Mikey pointed at Donnie, who glared back at his little brother.
Holly sighed, "Listen, I am still a bit freaked out after the fortune cookie factory, and what you all faced in the tower. I don't want you to rush in unprepared. Neither of us do." She gestured at April, who nodded her agreement, "We need to be smarter that they are, as well as stronger, so while you all get stronger. I will help you the best way I know."
"This is supposed to be my briefing" Leo said jokingly,
"This involves all of us now," Holly shrugged "I am never going to be as good a fighter as you guys, or even April, but I will still help the best was I know how."
"I fell like we should clap or something" Mikey whispered to the group.
"Don't be ridiculous" Holly replied.
April was significantly happier than she had been. Her friends were doing everything they could in order to help her get her father back. She was determined to do her part and train as hard as she could in order to be of help. Holly was right, they all needed to work together using the best abilities they had. A fire had been lit in her chest, and she would not wallow in her fear any more.
"I need all you help to train more." April said. "Holly, can you show me what you know about the katana if I can't get to Splinter for training?
"Of course" Holly smiled, she was so glad April had her spirit back.
April nodded, she felt ready to go now.
The rest of the evening was mostly spent listening to Donnie and Holly talk about how they could implement their plan. Leonardo would occasionally ask a question, and Mikey would chime in with a witty comment. But they would have to orchestrate most of the initial work. Donnie was going to start working on designs for a small transmitter that could easily be hidden, or ignored from nosy eyes. If he could manage it, he would try to add a camera, or something that could give them additional information. Holly would get supplies for now, anything Donnie needed to make a prototype. Once they had a design, the two of them could build a few devices in case they were needed. They would share design information digitally through a secured file sharing service so that they could both work on it together, even if Holly was at home. While they were doing this, the others could search the web for whatever information they could about thefts and what was being stolen to try and figure out a pattern to the stuff going missing and who else had the same merch.
It was late when they wrapped up their conversations. Holly gave each turtle a hug in turn, and lingered slightly when she held Raph. Just enough to let him know she cared, but not enough so that the others could give him grief about it. She climbed down the side of the building easily. April on the other hand needed help. Naturally, Donatello practically sprinted to her when she asked.
"I just don't trust my ankle on this ladder." She smiled and hugged Leo, Raph and Mikey and let Donatello lift her easily into his arms.
He deposited her into her bedroom and got his own hug before leaving again.
Holly and April were far too excited to sleep. They lay in bed together with a lamp on talking of all the things they wanted to do. How it would be nice to take a vacation once Aprils dad was back. Where they could possibly go and take the Turtles and Splinter with them. How they could possibly convince Mrs McCallister to let Holly out so she could go to the Lair to train and work on the trackers.
It took Donnie and Holly only a month or so to finalize their designs for a tracker. There were plenty of pre-made components that they could utilize, but they were hoping for something smaller than those that were commercially available. The two had spent many late nights on a video call going over plans and drawings. Holly had been ordering parts and supplies from a delivery service, or going to a small model shop that had soldering tools available much cheaper that what was online. Plus, she liked talking to the shop owner, he had lots of experience with electronics and was happy to teach her whatever she wasn't able to grasp on her own. Anytime her mom had come into her room unannounced, Holly had to mute her speakers so that nothing gave away who she was talking to. She had told her mom she was working on a project with other students at the school. Stacey had heard her daughter talking with a males voice through the door and wouldn't stop asking questions; What was his name? Was he cute? After a while, Holly had switched to headphones to keep her mother out of it.
Both of the girls had been able to go over to the lair a couple of times a week to train with Splinter and to hang out. April was improving quickly, she had kept her promise to herself and trained almost every day either alone, or on the roof of her apartment with Holly. She could feel herself getting stronger, and was gaining a little more confidence in her abilities. She had soon caught up to Holly in the basics and they were practicing against each other almost daily.
Once Donatello had finalized the plans for the tracker, he and holly presented their work to the others over the table in the kitchen.
"That's it?" Raph said unimpressed. "That's what too you guys a month to decide on?"
Holly scowled at him "Next time you can do all the hard work" She muttered something along the lines of "ungrateful" but no one heard much more of it.
"Its more sophisticated than it looks," Donnie said, so used to Raphs comments that he mentally blocked them out, "It looks like an old phone, but has better hardware. I added a much more sensitive camera and microphone to it and installed a tracking unit the will give us live updates as it moves. But to most people its just an old flip phone that's 10 years out of date"
"And how are we going to make sure its picked up by the right people?" Leo asked, he was getting to the heart of their problems. None of the gang members had been seen, or even accused of doing anything since they had been forced to move their operation. "Its going to be hard to follow someone we can't find"
"Yes, that is a problem" Holly admitted. She had hopes something would have pointed them in the right direction by not. She rubbed her forehead with the heels of her hands. "Its very suspicious that there has been nothing credited to them."
"They can't have gone completely dark. They're too stupid to know when to hide out". April said with a scoff.
"Could the be getting better at committing crime?" Leo postulated
"No way" Said Raph, April and Mikey together.
"What if they're going across state lines to get stuff? Like to Jersey?" Mikey offered.
"No, it would still be on the news if they were suspected." April said, she had been scanning the news apps on her phone every night before she went to bed for any indication as to where they could be.
"Do you know if they rough up the local shops for protection money? Like the Sushi place?" Holly piped up.
"Possibly." Shrugged Donnie. "You would have thought we'd have bumped into someone if they were though".
"I can go ask Mr. Murakami later tonight" Raph said.
"Actually, I can go there on my way home. I'll get dinner for mom and I, and talk to him at the same time." Holly tapped her finger on the table, "We should give him a tracker, her might be able to slip it to them if they try to rob him."
"If we can avoid using civilians, I would prefer not to." Leo said.
"Fair enough," Holly conceded the point, she liked the old chef too and would hate for something to happen because of her, "we should have him call one of us if they show up at the very least."
Leonardo thought on it for a moment, "That should be fine."
"I'll text you what he says once I'm home" She shrugged again, "I have to go now though, mom is still not cool with me being out after dark". She waved goodbye and jogged out of the Lair.
"I'll walk with you" Raph said hurriedly, and sprang after her.
The others all glanced at each other and smiled. It was just too weird seeing Raph all mushy like this.
"So, what will we do if we can't find them?" April asked.
"I don't know," Donnie answered honestly, "go back to the drawing board I guess"
Raph caught up with Holly a little ways down one of the tunnels. She was bouncing along happily, her hair swinging as she went. "Hey." he started a little awkwardly, "You know we appreciate your help with all this, right?"
"I know, but seriously, next time you can burn yourself on the soldering Iron" She continued on without breaking her pace.
"Alright, I get it. I'm sorry."
"You should be" she said, but he saw the corners of her mouth twitch, so he knew he wasn't really in any trouble.
"Listen, I would really like to hang out more with you." He scratched his neck, "You know, like just the two of us."
"You mean, like, a date?" she stopped briefly pleasantly surprised.
"No!" He shouted a little too loudly. She raised her eyebrows at him "I mean, whatever. You guys have been really busy lately and I really liked it when we got sushi last time, and I want to do that again"
"So, a date." She repeated.
"Call it whatever, look, do you want to or not?" He was getting frustrated.
"I'd love to," She smiled at him, then suddenly her smile faded ,"but it may have to wait a little longer, my mom is still pretty rattled about what happened and she's still being a bit overly protective."
"I'd wait forever"
Holly swallowed hard and felt a knot clench in her abdomen, "Oh" was all she managed.
He leaned in towards her and she felt the knot tighten further. She was about to close her eyes when something caught her attention in a shadowy part of the tunnel. A little red light winked on, "What the hell is that?" She said, and he turned just in time to see a streak of silver dart out of the darkness.
