"Perimeter infringe, breached!" Donnie announced. "We have incoming!" Without hesitation, I shot to my feet and followed the turtles' thundering footsteps to the monitor wall with a racing heart. I knew they were here. I knew it was the Footclan—could feel it in my bones. I just couldn't understand how they managed to findus.

"Oh no oh no!" Donnie moaned, sliding into the chair in front of the TVs. "We got two breaches!" He adjusted his glasses nervously and began typing madly while staring at the monitor. I watched in growing horror as images of black-clad Footclan soldiers bearing guns and long, weird batons marched across the screens. "Fan room!" He cried. "Weapons wall!" Leo jumped into action, taking charge immediately.

"Mikey," he called. "Flank right!" The youngest turtle nodded and took off. "Donnie! On me!" Leo hopped anxiously on his feet while waiting for his brother to stand from his seat. "We gotta go!" He yelled, spinning and running off. "Go! Go!" Donatello tore his worried gaze from the monitors.

"Raiya!" I spun and found Raphael rushing toward me from the dojo, swerving to avoid being barrelled over by Leo, then Donnie as he followed his brother.

Oh no. No way in hell am I gonna leave them to deal with these fuckin pricks!

"I need a weapon," I said, trying to sidestep the turtle before he could demand I leave or accuse me of being the cause of this. His hand clamped onto my shoulder and wrenched me around to face him. I shrugged off his grip harshly fully prepared to defend myself from the mutant's harsh words, but before I could yell at him my eyes fell on the tantō blade and leather belt of kunai knives he held out.

"No lethal hits. And don't get close to them unless you have to," he advised, dropping the weapons into my hand and running off as I stared at him in disbelief. And I couldn't believe that he'd just spoken to me with almost no hostility in his voice.

Hurry it up, Raiya. You don't have time for this, I reminded myself, throwing the belt on overtop of my hoodie and buckling it as quickly as I could manage. Splinter's voice rang out through the lair, yelling something I couldn't quite catch. And then something exploded, rendering me momentarily deaf. I stumbled on my feet as tremors shot through the floor and walls of the lair. A thick cloud of dust rolled in from the dojo, causing my eyes to sting and my throat to tickle despite having turned away from it.

Dimly, I heard Leo call Donnie's name from the dojo where the explosion went off.

And then I heard new voices. And my stomach dropped like a sack of flour.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit. The sounds of a scuffle reached my roaring ears and I willed myself to calm down.

Breathe.

Inhale…exhale...

Calm.

I tucked the tantō into my belt and pulled the sleeves of my hoodie up before drawing two knives; the weight of the weapons helping to steady my hands and even my breathing.

Calm, I reminded myself, stay calm. You got this.

I tugged my hood on and released another breath, my heart rate returning to normal. I got this.

"They've got tranq darts!" Donnie said, the panic in his voice instantly kicking me into action. I darted forward and slid into a crouch, pressing my side against the concrete wall and peeking around the corner. Through the dangling strips of plastic stretching across the entrance to the adjacent room, I saw Leo and Donnie laying on the floor.

"Well don't let them hit your skin," the leader replied. "Let's go! Let's move!" They scrambled to their feet, simultaneously drawing their weapons and spinning their backs toward the approaching Foot soldiers as they opened fire. I drew a flap of plastic away to provide myself with an opening. My gaze zeroed in on the closest soldier's gun and I drew a kunai back over my shoulder, then snapped it forward and sent the knife clean into the muzzle of the assault rifle, effectively halting the steady stream of darts he was firing.

"What the–?" He looked down at it, barely having any time to be confused before the turtles attacked.

Donnie twirled his bō above his head, brining it down upon them and batting them to the ground. Leo was a whirlwind of movement, spinning and striking his blades out to collide with their guns and causing the men to fall with the mere force of the blow against their firearms. They moved so quickly on their feet I feared if I launched another knife I might hit one of them without meaning to.

Voices stemmed from behind me. I glanced back, finding a trio of Foot solider approaching Mikey, who stood in front of the monitor wall with his nunchucks in-hand. Worry for the youngest brother washed over me.

"What's up, brah?" He asked, spinning his nunchucks to nonchalantly deflect a burst of darts. "Oh, you think you can handle this, huh?" He deflected another and ran toward them. "I'm a snapping turtle, fool!" He vaulted over the couch in the living area and spun in midair, yelling "snap, snap, snap!" for each time he kicked them all in the face before landing ungracefully on his back. I couldn't help my small smile as I turned back to the other brothers, finding Raphael had joined the fray while I'd been preoccupied with watching Michelangelo.

I drew another kunai back and watched carefully for an opening within their battle-frenzied movement.

There! I flicked the knife forward as quickly as I could manage and watched it fly straight into a Foot soldier's trigger finger. He yelled a curse and was promptly smacked in the face by a nunchuck as Mikey arrived. I cast a nervous glance toward the dojo, only to have any worry relieved when I found Splinter pummelling a group of Footclan soldiers with close-to no effort, so I returned my attention to the brothers.

My breath caught in my throat when the drumming sound of heavy-booted footsteps sounded behind me.

Shit shit shit. I glanced around desperately for a different hiding spot and darted into the huge space behind the monitor wall that housed the comm centre and a skateboard ramp along the length of the back wall. I took a deep breath and slipped a kunai into each hand.

Calm.

The footsteps grew louder as they approached.

You got this. It's just like sparring with Raph.

I dove into the ancient ocean of memories within my mind and rushed out to meet my enemies. My elbow quickly found the first guy's face, immediately sending him stumbling back into a second solider with a loud curse. A third guy rushed toward me but I whipped my kunai with as much force as I could muster—one at his foot and the other at his trigger finger. While he yelped in pain, I wrenched the gun from the first guy's grasp and whacked him in the side with it. He crumpled to the floor with a groan, revealing the Foot soldier behind him to have his gun leveled at me.

Fuck.

I instantly dropped to the ground right as he opened fire, and I mean I literally dropped like a log. The impact was absorbed mostly by my right forearm and hip, causing an almost numbing sensation to spread through the jarred, now-bruised bones. Gritting my teeth against the scorching pain, I rolled to avoid more tranq darts. But they were never fired.

And suddenly, somebody was yelling at me. Suddenly, there was a sharp change in the air above me.

Thankfully, my instincts kicked in and I was rolling before I could even think to move. And then something cold skimmed my shoulder, followed by a flow of warmth and a sting like the worst paper cut.

Oh hell no. I glanced to the side, my gaze falling on soldier number three, whom I'd thrown my kunai at earlier. There was no hesitation when I picked up the knife he'd thrown at me and whipped it back into his foot where the other still was. Then I scrambled closer and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall backward with a satisfying thump.

I got to my feet and glared down a him. Dick.

"Holy shit, dudette." I jumped and spun around, my eyes finding Mikey standing over the unconscious second soldier. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry." I bent down, hurriedly yanking the knives from the guy's foot and wiping clean the blood-coated tips on his clothing.

"Okay good, come on, I have a place for you to hide," he said rushing toward me.

"What? Noway, I'm gonna keep fighting," I argued, stepping out of his reach. "Didn't you just see me?"

"Yeah girl, it was awesome! But Leo–"

"Tangos at two!"

Shit. I adjusted my grip on a kunai and peeked around the turtle's large frame to pitch it at one of the approaching Foot soldiers. As they began firing an onslaught of darts, Mikey wrapped his arms around me and rushed us behind the monitor wall for cover.

"Just don't get hurt or Leo'll kill me!" He said, releasing me and rushing back into the open with a battle cry.

Leo can suck it the hell up, I decided firmly, and ran to the other end of the skateboard-ramp-space with fresh knives in my hands. And I had intentions to refrain from engaging in any more close combat but I really had no choice but to kick some ass when one of those pricks snuck past the brothers and fired a tranq dart into my back. I think I managed to pull it out before too much made it into my bloodstream, but I still must've been feeling a little strange considering I barely even registered the sudden collapse of the fan room, or Leo suddenly running off. Though Donnie was quick to notice my state despite being in the middle of fending off two soldiers.

"Are you alright?" He called, spinning his bō incredibly fast to deflect two separate streams of darts.

"Fine!" I yelled back. "Don't worry!"

"Donnie!" Leo yelled.

"Hang on Leo!" His brother replied. "Be right there!" My gaze swung in the direction of Splinter's room, finding Leonardo sprawled helplessly on the ground while a quartet of Footclan men held their weird baton-staffs—which apparently doubled as electric prods—over his body, sending cruel pulses of constant electricity though him.

Anger coursed through me at the sight. Those fucking assholes!

"I got it!" I yelled, rushing from my hiding spot and whipping a kunai at the closest enemy. The blade sunk into the man's hand, causing him to yelp in pain and drop his electric prod. I quickly scooped his fallen weapon from the ground and rammed it into his face. Before his body had even hit the ground I was spinning to take out another, but a loud, metallic clang resonated through the air. And if it had originated from anywhere but from the dojo, I wouldn't have worried. But because I knew Splinter was in there, I immediately halted and turned to check on him.

And my heart stopped.

Because there he was.

There was the Shredder in his beastly, mechanical armour; tossing Sensei onto the dais in the centre of the dojo.

There was the leader of the Footclan, marching toward the mutant rat's exhausted body and lifting his blades.

And there was Splinter, raising his head to gaze defiantly at Shredder—his executioner.

AN: I AM SO SORRY YOU GUYS. I HAD NO IDEA THIS CHAPTER WOULD TAKE THIS FREAKING LONG TO WRITE. I mean it was going pretty well in the first little bit but then I had to change a bunch of stuff and that screwed up my flow and then yeah, I'm not very good at writing action scenes so that didn't help either lol. But it's finally up and idk if I'll be able to get the next one up this Thursday because I have a bunch of exams this week and finals to study for and I'm putting a lot of time into my other story (it gets priority because I desperately need to get my writing vibe back).

So yeah, I apologize in advance as well as for my past, shitty updates. And I'd also like to thank all of you for putting up with it and continuing to support me! You guys are awesome! Thank you all so much! :D

Please leave me a review, I love hearing all of your thoughts!