A/N: Hello everyone! SO sorry for the long delay, I've been REAL busy! But here you go with the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!

P.S: I can't believe we're so close to the finale :0

I OWN NOTHING!

Enjoy!

Chapter 44

"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."

― Phil Jackson

Slowly blinking awake, Raphael rose from his curled-up position on the beanbag chair with a tired groan and drearily rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, his jaw cracking as he yawned loudly. Well, that had been a weird dream; who would've thought that rabbits could be Samurais? And he'd thought ninja turtles were weird. He'd probably been spending way too much time hanging out with Mikey.

On the floor beside his foot, Spike, his beloved pet turtle, idly wandered over to the half-empty bag of popcorn he'd left from the night before, taking a deep interest in the salty snack as he picked one up and munched happily away. Raph smiled fondly down at his little friend before casting his tired gaze across the room, spotting Mikey, still dead to the world, with another bag of popcorn over his head, his right arm and leg hanging limply over the edge of the bench. Raph shook his head; how the kid could sleep in a position so unnatural was a mystery to all of them. But then again, so was Mikey in general.

However, as the remnants of sleep faded, Raph frowned. Where was Donnie? He'd been watching the movies with them after taking a brief break from decrypting the message on April's computer – well, after Mikey had used his infamous 'Puppy Eyes' to get the genius out of his hobbit hole, that is. So where was he now?

Humming aloud, Raph picked up a stray magazine he'd abandoned on the floor last night and turned back to Mikey. "Hey, Sleeping Ugly, wake up," he called, chucking the magazine at his baby brother. It fluttered through the air and slapped against his plastron, making the youngest turtle jump awake with a startled snort, the popcorn bag slipping off his face. "Did'ja see where Donnie went?" Raph asked.

Sitting up from his awkward position with a groan of mild protest, the magazine sliding back to the floor, Mikey lifted the popcorn bag from his face entirely. "…uhhhhhhhh…nope," he yawned drowsily. "Haven't seen 'im since yesterday. Wait, do dreams count? 'Cus last night, I dreamt that Donnie and me were Rodeo Detectives, and there was –"

"Can it, ya dork," Raph snapped, picking Spike up and setting him on his lap where he fed him another piece of popcorn; just like his owner, the little guy wasn't all that picky when it came to food. "I'm serious."

Pouting at his amazing tale being so rudely interrupted, Mikey shrugged with feigned nonchalance. "Okay, but you'll never find out who stole the Buckaroo Diamond!" he chimed, grinning widely at his older brother, clearly hoping the 'Puppy Eyes' would entice him to let him continue with his tale.

Raph only stared, not so easily swayed this time around. "You through?"

Visibly deflating like a busted balloon Mikey frowned. "Yeah."

Satisfied, Raph nodded. "Good. Now, are you sure you didn't –"

"It was the CLOWN!"

"Mikey!"

"Okay, okay, yes, I'm sure I didn't see where Donnie went last night; I fell asleep right after 'Blazing Saddles' finished, which was around the time April went to bed I think. Oh, by the way, Splinter can't find out we watched that movie."

Despite his earlier exasperation, Raph smirked at that. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he already knows, Mikey," he said, carefully setting Spike back down on the floor as he stood up, dusting his hands off. "We were laughing so hard I'm surprised no one from the surface came down here to investigate."

Mikey giggled, mimicking Raph as he climbed to his feet, stretching his stiffened limbs. "I know, right? Could you imagine the headlines, though? 'Talking Ninja Turtles Found Busting Guts to 'Blazing Saddles' in Sewer'. Ha!"

Raph shook his head, unable to stifle his own chuckle at the thought. Boy, Joan Groady from the news would have a field day if that ever happened. "C'mon, genius," he said, bumping Mikey's shoulder fondly with his own. "Let's go check the lab, see if the egghead's in there."

Leaving the pit behind, the two trailed up the stairs and opened the wide metal doors of their leader's lab. One glance was all it took to tell the brothers that the purple clad genius wasn't there either. Aside from the floating blob of goo that had once been Timothy, the lab was completely empty.

Planting his hands on his hips, Raph frowned again. Well, they could always check his room; despite common belief, Donnie did actually sleep in his bed when he wasn't so absorbed in his latest project, or if someone hauled his sorry shell away from his computer desk –

"Hey, Raph! I think I know where Donnie went!"

Blinking out of his thoughts, Raph turned to find Mikey standing in front of Donnie's desk – the little bugger had managed to ninja his way over without Raph noticing he'd even moved –beckoning him over with a wave of his hand. In front of him, April's laptop was wide open.

"Where?" asked Raph, crossing the room in quick strides to look over Mikey's shoulder. Staring at the laptop screen, he saw the message April received yesterday was open, as was a map of the city with a blinking red dot over one location in a separate window. Raph blinked again. "Oh. There."

Mikey looked up at him, baby blue eyes widened in realization. "Dude, it's the secret message," he said. "Donnie must've followed it!"

"Maybe," Raph mused, narrowing his eyes as he stroked his chin. "After he figured out what it was."

Mikey nodded, turning back to the screen. It made sense that Donnie would want to track down the source of the message – hell, eager was probably a better term, knowing him. But what had yet to make sense to the youngest turtle was why he'd gone without telling anyone? Why would Donatello, their leader, go off on a solo-mission without telling his own team?

Something was up. There was no way Donnie would straight up ditch the team and go off alone unless he had a very good reason to do so, and whatever he'd discovered on this secret message would tell them what that reason was. That is, if they could figure out how to play it again…

"What would Donnie do, what would Donnie do?" Mikey pondered aloud, scratching his head with one hand as he stuck his tongue out from the corner of his mouth thoughtfully. To find a Donnie, you had to think like a Donnie, right? So step one would be to figure out how Donnie had cracked the code –

"Gimme that thing!" Raph yapped, having already lost his patience as he grabbed the laptop, shaking the device up and down like a squirrel trying to crack a nut on the ground. Mikey stared at him blankly for a moment – did he seriously believe that was going to work? – before frowning as he reached over and plucked the laptop from his older brother's hands.

"Dude, when I said 'what would Donnie do', I don't think 'acting like an angry caveman' was the answer," the youngest deadpanned, pinning Raph with a flat look. The older red turtle whirled on him, his fist raised and poised to strike, and with a high-pitched squeak, Mikey raised the laptop over his head like a shield and cringed.

"A-A-April, it's dad. I pray you get this message. I've been moved to a secret Kraang facility…"

Freezing, eyes wide, Mikey and Raph stared at the laptop as Mikey lowered it again. The message was playing by itself – or perhaps Mikey had pressed a button by accident when he'd shielded himself? He was good at doing that. But the sender…it was April's –

"Dad?"

Both turtles jumped in surprise, and they spun around to find April, pale-faced and wide eyed as her fingers held the metal door in a white-knuckled grip, standing frozen in the doorway of Donnie's lab, staring at her laptop.

With a soundless thud, Donatello landed on the roof of a water tower in a low crouch, the whites of his eyes aglow in the steadily fading darkness as dawn arrived, the sun peeking over the edge of the towering skyscrapers. On the opposite side of the street lay his destination, the secret Kraang facility in which April's father was being held prisoner…

But as he tilted his head in confusion, Donnie found it wasn't quite what he'd previously expected. It was an old garage of sorts, with a sign on the door that read 'ZIGA'S Auto Body: Transmission Alignment Collision Tune-Up'. The Kraang base was just a regular car shop?

Taking out his T-phone, Donnie checked the map again just to be sure he was in the right place. Sure enough, he appeared to be standing directly above the supposed base. "Huh. Doesn't seem very 'Kraang-y'," he mused aloud. Then again, he'd learned that appearances could be deceiving; he couldn't afford to let his guard down, not when Kirby's freedom and April' happiness hung in the balance.

Leaping from his perch on the tower, Donnie swung himself onto the ladder of a fire escape, sliding down and landing without a hitch on the pavement. His body low and his steps light as he cast his narrowed gaze about him cautiously, Donnie approached the crusted green metal door, stooping down to find it padlocked. Examining the lock in the palm of one hand, the young turtle could've laughed outright; the thing was so ancient even a baby could pick it. Donnie almost felt sorry for the guy who owned the place – that is, if he still owned it, now that the Kraang had presumably taken the place over.

His tongue sticking out from the side of his mouth in concentration, Donnie made short work of the lock and hauled the door up, poking his head inside the garage. The place was dark, dank, musty-smelling, but at least it was empty.

His Bo unsheathed, he slid the door shut behind him, his brown eyes sweeping across the large room as he crept inside. The old flickering light-bulbs above did little to lighten the place up, but Donnie could still see rows upon rows of old cars piled atop each other, from taxis to Honda's, the set of tools lying discarded about the dust-caked floors, the air tanks stacked up on the other side of the room with the once pristine metal crusted and browned with age. Donnie made a face. This place looked like it hadn't been used in months –

Something clanged loudly behind him, and Donnie gasped as he spun around, his staff held out in front of him. When nothing else stirred, he allowed himself a faint sigh of relief before continuing his investigation of the place; it was probably a stray tool falling from a shelf or something.

But for a second there he was certain a Kraang had shown up from the shadows ready to blast his head off his shoulders. Then again the Kraang were not known for their stealth.

However, as he wandered through the empty garage, he could no longer deny that without his team, he felt…he felt vulnerable, almost.

He was used to listening to Raphael grumbling impatiently under his breath during a mission as he twirled his Sais, he was used to having to shut Michelangelo up before he blew their cover with his corny jokes (even though half the time they were kinda funny). He was used to having two brothers right by his side, supporting him, following his lead. Without them, the silence was too deafening, the shadows too daunting…

Holy crap. He wasn't afraid was he? No, no of course not! He was just…lonely, he supposed. But he'd made his decision to go alone, to save April's father and prove that he could do things by himself, without help from his team. A little loneliness was a fair price to pay. And so far, he was doing a pretty good job –

"It is one of the ones called the turtles!"

Donnie froze, eyes wide, his heart leaping to his throat as he spun around to find a Kraang droid, its blaster aimed directly at him. How in the hell he hadn't heard that thing coming from a mile away, Donnie couldn't quite fathom.

Ducking his head seconds before the Kraang could blast his brains to bits, Donnie swung his staff hard against the robots wrists and head with loud sickening cracks, before swinging his Bo behind its knees, sweeping the droid off its feet, letting it fall to the ground with a loud thud. There was a control panel on Donnie's right, and he didn't have to ask what the big red button did as he jabbed it. A forklift holding one of the cars dropped down upon the Kraang, trapping it and the alien brain inside to the floor as it squealed angrily, pink tentacles flailing helplessly in the air.

Donnie grinned. "Looks like you could use a tune-up! Huh? Yeah! Riight? Am I right?" he said to the room at large, smirking at his own joke though no one was around to hear it. A part of him deep down felt yet another pang of sudden loneliness – right now he'd do anything to hear Raph and Mikey groan at his awful pun – but he quickly brushed it aside. He'd done something legitimately badass and he wasn't going to spoil it.

Spinning his staff expertly, Donnie's grin turned smug. "Who's the hero now?"

Movement on his left caught his eye, and his smile instantly dropped.

"HO-LY COW!" he screeched, ducking left and right – even tucking his head into his shell – to avoid the streaks of sudden laser fire. Popping his head out of his shell again, he was greeted by three more armed Kraang droids, none of them looking pleased in the slightest, soulless purple eyes almost glaring at the intruder standing in their midst.

Donnie gulped. "No response necessary!" he squeaked, before diving behind one of the cars for cover.

The sun had already risen by the time Raph and Mikey emerged from the sewers, bounding across the rooftops in search of their leader gone AWOL. It should've been pretty straightforward after Mikey remembered how to transfer the map onto their T-phones (which had surprised Raph a great deal considering how scatter-brained his little brother could be sometimes).

However, what Mikey had in memory, he lacked in general sense of direction, and they quickly became lost. Figures.

"Dude, how can you still not know which way is North?! That's preschool stuff, man!" Raph barked, skidding to a halt on the next rooftop and smacking Mikey upside the head.

"Ow! Sorry, dude! It's not my fault! I have a selective memory!" Mikey whined, rubbing the back of his sore head with a wince.

Raph growled with an exasperated roll of his eyes. "Oh that's right, you can remember scenes from a movie you watched two years ago but you can't remember which way is freakin' north? Are you for real? This is important, Mikey! We've gotta get to Donnie before he gets himself hurt or captured or worse –"

"Hey…could you keep it down o'er there?"

Both turtles froze mid rant, eyes as wide as dinner plates. The voice was slurred, drugged with sleep yet irritated, and alarmingly close by.

Slowly, Mikey and Raph turned their heads and looked up to find Leonardo, still clad in the same blue scarf and Foot Clan attire, staring down at them from where he lay on his side atop a water tower, his eyelids struggling to stay open as he blinked sluggishly.

Raph's mouth fell agape. Seriously, how was it that Leo just happened to cross paths with them every other time they went out? This was getting ridiculous. No way was this a coincidence.

Unheeding of the supernatural forces clearly at work here, Mikey's whole face lit up like the fourth of July at the sight of their older brother. "Leo!" he gasped, grinning from ear to ear as he bounced on his toes like a hyperactive puppy. "Dude, we haven't seen you since that thingy at the warehouse! What are you doing out here?"

Leo blinked slowly. "Sleeping. Or I was," he droned.

Folding his arms, Raph raised a brow. "Seriously? Sleeping? Like that?" he asked, nodding his head at Leo's current position. He was laying on his right side, his legs tucked close to him and his chin pillowed on his hands in manner that reminded Raph very much of a lazy cat. And this wasn't the first time he'd caught the other turtle displaying these strange habits. Seriously, what was it with their brother and the feline mannerisms? If he started purring or licking himself good lord…

"Yes," Leo answered dismissively before yawning loudly with a shaking of his head, blinking rapidly to ward of the remnants of his unscheduled nap. "Rough mission last night, so I decided to hang out here until dawn, but ended up falling asleep."

Raph smirked. "Out in the open? Doesn't sound like you, Leonardo. You losing your edge, pal?"

Leo responded with a faint humorless smirk of his own as he climbed to his hands and knees, arching his back upwards until bones cracked and then stretching his arms outwards – again with the cat stuff?! – before he swung his legs over the edge of the tower, letting them dangle lazily as he regarded the younger turtles below him. "So, what are you two doing out here so early in the morning?" he probed. "Doesn't seem like you to go wandering around when the city is ready to wake up."

Raph didn't answer right away, dropping his arms to put his hands on his hips as he worried his bottom lip. He spared a glance at Mikey, who only shrugged. Should they tell him the truth? It wouldn't exactly be wrong if they did, would it? After all this time, the brothers had established a sort of relationship with each other despite being on opposing sides; they weren't exactly friends but they weren't exactly enemies either.

So they were frenemies? To be honest it was still very unclear what they were, but all the same they'd learned to trust each other, to forgive and forget the many misunderstandings that had come their way over the past few months. So this occasion should be no different, should it?

Shrugging, Raph decided to go for it. "…you haven't seen Donnie around at all, have you?" he asked.

Looking surprised at the question – or as surprised as someone could be after just waking up from quite possibly a literal cat nap – Leo quirked a brow. "Um…no, no I haven't seen him," he said. "Not since the other night. Why?"

"He went out to find Mr. O'Neil by himself after April got some kinda secret message from him on her computer last night!" Mikey exclaimed before Raph could stop him, and he earned yet another smack upside the head for his troubles. "Ow! Dude, knock it off!" he growled.

"You knock it off, ya dingus!" Raph barked back.

Ignoring their childish spat, Leo became more alert as he leaned forwards curiously. "Mr. O'Neil? As in April's father?" he asked, to which both younger turtles nodded. Leo frowned, sliding off the water tower and landing in a crouch before rising to full height with a grace that somehow managed to rub Raph the wrong way. Jeez, he was a show-off even when he was tired.

Blue eyes darting left and right, as if he were wary of being spotted – and Raph couldn't blame him – Leo turned back to face them. "I think I know where he's headed," he began, a commanding aura surrounding him that Raph had never felt before. "It's an old garage not far from here; the Kraang base is hidden underneath, I think. But that place is heavily guarded by dozens of Kraang, more so than usual I expect, if they're holding someone pretty important down there."

Then Leo's frown morphed into a thoughtful pout. "And isn't Donnie supposed to be the leader of your team? Why would he risk going out to rescue April's father by himself?"

At that, Raph felt his heart sink into the very pit of his stomach as the realization finally kicked in, the pieces of the puzzle coming together perfectly. And from the looks he soon received from both Leo and Mikey the longer he remained silent, the worse his guilt became as he reached up to nervously rub the back of his neck. "…uuhhhh…m-maybe because I told him he has no shot with April?" he winced.

Now Leo was wide awake as he stared at Raph, his mouth agape. Mikey's expression was no different, only he gasped loudly before slapping his hands over his mouth.

"What?!" Leo snapped, looking pretty ticked off as he glared at Raph. "Why the hell would you say something like that?!"

Raph took a step back, his hands raised in surrender. This sort of reaction coming from Leo of all people was pretty strange. He'd expected Leo to not really care about whatever feelings Donnie had for April, so why the change of heart? "Well, because he has no shot with April!" Raph repeated.

"Well, yeah, but you shouldn't tell him that!" Leo sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Look, I personally don't care about the romantic feelings Donatello has towards April –"

Oh, so I was right, Raph thought.

"– but I've learned to respect them," Leo continued. "And I would've thought as a member of his team – as his older brother – that you would respect them, too. But instead you've pushed him to try and win her over by going out alone into a literal death trap. If that's how you treat your brothers it's no wonder I have issue with trusting you."

Eyes widening, Raph glowered at him and growled like a feral dog through clenched teeth, an insult along the lines of 'what the hell would you know? You haven't been around for twelve years, don't talk like you know Donnie or any of us' on the very tip of his tongue, but Mikey was quick to dart between them both, a hand on his shoulder. Raph whipped his gaze to his youngest brother, only to find something sombre within his baby blues.

"The heart's a soft muscle, man. A soft muscle," he said, bringing up his free hand and clenching it into a fist. "Squish."

Leo and Raph stared at Mikey in silence, the tension between them broken. "Huh," Leo muttered. "That was…actually quite profound in a way, Michelangelo."

Mikey beamed. "That's what I do, dude. And look at you, sticking up for Donnie like that, like a bro!" he chimed, releasing Raph's shoulder and spreading his arms outwards to wrap around Leo. "That's awesome! You really do care about us after all!"

When Leo smiled, it was tight, laced with irritation. "Oh don't make kill you, Michelangelo," Leo said, his tone deceptively polite and casual. "It's far too early in the morning for that."

Mikey froze mid-step, eyes wide, arms stuck in mid-air. It sounded like a joke, but Leo wasn't often prone to joking, something they'd quickly picked up on. "Right," he said, lowering his arms to his side again. "But this means you'll help us find him, right?"

Leo's fake smile dropped and he did a literal double-take. "What? No," he snapped, shaking his head rapidly as he took several steps back as though he'd been burned. "The Foot are – I-I mean, they'll – I'll get –"

"Hey, you're the one going on about 'hurting Donnie's feelings' just now," Raph argued, prodding Leo in the chest with a finger and a smug little grin. "If anything it sounds like you wanna help. Besides, if you didn't want to get into trouble with the Foot, you wouldn't be standing here in plain sight talking to us about where to find the Kraang's base, would you? I would've thought that kinda info would be pretty confidential."

If looks could kill Raph would be dead ten times over as Leo pinned him with a murderous glare. Ha, payback time, sucker, Raph cackled inwardly, not quite as afraid as he should be. But in the corner of his eye, he could see Leo's fist clench at his side as he took a step forward, ready to punch him.

Seconds before fist could be acquainted with face, however, it was Mikey who once again stepped in between them to keep the peace. "Okay dudes, why don't we all just chill for a sec, m'kay?" he said smoothly, gently pushing Leo and Raph away from each other – he hadn't realized just how up close and personal they'd gotten.

Once that was settled, Mikey turned back to Leo. "Look, we get it if you're still not a hundred percent with us, Leo," he said carefully. "And we totally understand that you're afraid of getting caught by the Foot, and that you probably wouldn't go that far to help us just because we're your brothers. But I know how far you'd go for your friends. And April's your friend, right?"

Raph watched as Leo's former irritation melted away, his eyes widened yet softening at the mention of their adopted sister. Mikey had noticed too, and a kind knowing smile grew across his freckled face.

"If you won't do it for Donnie, then I understand," he continued softly, reaching out to hesitantly put a hand on Leo's left arm, and his smile grew when Leo didn't flinch away from the contact. "But can you do it for April, just this once? I mean, it'll mean so much to her if you help us get her dad back. So…"

Mikey said nothing more, instead waiting for Leo to respond. As he watched the blue masked turtle avert his eyes to the side, down to the hand on his bicep, then back to Mikey again, Raph could feel his hesitation, could see the wheels turning in his head as he weighed his options, repeating everything Mikey had said. And if he was being honest, what his little brother said – though it hurt to think that Leo still didn't truly care about them after all this time – was pretty insightful.

Finally after a long moment of silence, and Raph was surprised that Mikey had managed to keep still and quiet the whole time, Leo sighed heavily, letting his head drop in defeat. "…fine," he muttered. "I'll do it for April…and, to an extent, I'll do it for Donatello, too."

He shrugged, the beginnings of a smile playing on his lips. "He'd do the same if it were me, I guess."

Mikey gasped, the grin nearly splitting his face before he leapt for Leo, pinning the startled turtle's arms to his sides in a tight embrace. "YES! Thank you, dude!" he cried, looking over his shoulder to extend his grin to Raph. "Dude, we're teaming up again! This is awesome!"

Speechless, Raph just stared at them as Leo wriggled uncomfortably in Mikey's solid grip, green eyes wide as saucers. Huh. What do you know? He really did care. He just had a weird way of showing it, like Raph often did.

"Yes yes okay, Mikey, thank you, you can let go of me now," Leo said, finally prying Mikey off him with an embarrassed huff. "But if I end up dead, I'm haunting you both from the afterlife. And believe me, it won't be pretty."

Undeterred, Mikey nodded. "Fair deal!"

Leo rolled his eyes with a fondness that Raph had only ever seen from Donnie or Splinter, but it was only slight, gone in the next instant. "Okay then. For now, it looks like we're a team," he said as he started moving. "If we're gonna to get to Donnie, we'll have to move fast. And since neither of you really know where you're going, I'll take the lead."

As they followed Leo across the rooftops, Raph nearly tripped over in shock. "Excuse me? Who died and made you leader of this team? You're not even on the same side! If anything I should lead, since I'm the strongest and the most sane out of everyone here –"

"You two have made it pretty clear to me that you're not capable of handling a serious search and rescue mission without a proper leader," Leo interjected over his shoulder, leaping over an air vent without a hitch as he ran on ahead of them, "And since I have actual experience in leading a team, as well as a better sense of direction –"

"Hey!" Mikey cried.

Leo ignored him. "I simply took it upon myself to fill the void in Donnie's absence. Besides, you just said you wanted my help, and this is me helping, against my better judgement. Any more objections, Raphael, or can we move on?"

Grinding his teeth and narrowing his eyes, Raph huffed. Leo did have a point; if they had any hope of getting to Donnie and Mr. O'Neil before it was too late, they would have to follow Leo's lead, as much as it pained Raph to admit it.

"Whatever," he grumbled, and restrained another growl when Leo cast him a smug grin. Jerk.

"Aww, you see guys? Isn't this great?" Mikey chimed as he ran alongside Raph, baby blues sparkling with hope. "We're a team now. We're bonding!"

"Shut up, Mikey," Leo and Raph chorused flatly.

Well, at least there was one thing the two could agree on.

Other than that, though, Raph was certain this was going to be a long day...

Back in the sewers, April stood in the center of the dojo, her shoulders squared as she waited patiently for Splinter's newest training exercise to commence. The old rat master circled her, hands braced behind his back as he regarded his young student. "April, today I will train your mind," he said.

April nodded in acknowledgment; they'd already covered training the body and the soul through extensive meditation and – ugh – arduous physical training involving slippery sewer pipes and a multitude of bruises that had no right to be hurting even after a week, gosh darn it. Now came the part that April had anticipated and dreaded all at once; training the mind. She wondered how the ninja master would go about it, what 'training the mind' would entail. She highly doubted it had anything to do with reading other people's thoughts; ninjas were awesome, but they weren't that awesome. Well, as far as April knew.

"Close your eyes," Splinter instructed. "Listen to the silence."

Her brows furrowed in confusion at his words, but April closed her eyes anyways.

However, she soon found that her focus began to drift from the exercise, and she opened her eyes again, sighing softly as she cast her gaze to the grates above the tree, sunlight poring through it, sounds of the city rising with the dawn in the distance…

Her eyes softened, a frown creasing her features. Raph and Mikey had left after Donnie over an hour ago when they'd learned the message she'd gotten was from her father. Instantly she'd wanted to go with them, but of course none of them deemed it wise for her to leap straight into what could be a heavily guarded Kraang facility, where the chances of getting captured were astronomically high. And April understood that. But still…

"I know what you are thinking, April," Splinter said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "But it is best for you to remain here."

Again, April understood his reasoning, she really did. But still. "Sensei, that message was from my father," she said, "I-I should be up there!"

"The best way to be reunited with your father is to wait here," Splinter pressed, not unkindly, his tone soft and understanding. And in the face of such empathy, April found she could say no more as she nodded instead. He was right (though wasn't he always?). She had faith that the boys would bring her father back safely at long last. All she had to do was wait. But she was tired of waiting. She missed her dad, so much that her heart ached…

As if sensing her thoughts, Splinter offered her a smile, one that she soon returned. Her boys would bring her father back. She just had to wait, just a little while longer.

"Now again," Splinter said, reclaiming April's attention once more. "Close your eyes and listen for my movement. Listen for the silence."

Nodding, April closed her eyes, lowering her head. But even as she focused, his words still made no sense to her. Listen for the silence? What was that supposed to mean?

With a sigh, April shook her head, opening her eyes. "How can I listen for the –"

She froze. Splinter was gone.

"…silence?" she breathed. Where did he go? She hadn't heard him move –

"You weren't listening."

April whirled on her heel to find Splinter standing behind her, hands calmly clasped behind his back. She didn't bother questioning how he'd managed to that; he was a ninja master after all, and ninjas were supposed to be –

Oh. Now I get it.

Splinter's whiskers twitched in what April could only assume was a smirk, earning a pout from the freckled red head. Sassy ninja master was sassy. Now she understood where Donnie got it from. "Listen deeply," Splinter offered. "Again."

Drawing in a ready breath, April closed her eyes a third time. "Okay. Listen deeply," she repeated. Then she bowed her head and focused.

That was when she heard it. A dull ringing in her ears, whispers of voices, words in a language she couldn't quite decipher, sounds she'd never heard before…

She lifted her head, opening her eyes. "Well, I heard you that time," she said.

"Heard what?" Splinter asked, raising a furry brow at her. "I did not move."

April blinked in surprise. He was right; he hadn't moved an inch since she'd closed her eyes. Confused, she furrowed her brows. If Splinter hadn't moved from his spot, and with no one else in the lair…

"…then…then what's that sound?" she muttered. "You hear that, right? It's coming from…"

The ringing continued, though the strange sounds seemed farther away than before. Her ears strained to listen, to follow the sound, and her eyes fell upon the doorway of the dojo. "It's coming from down there! Let's follow it!" she exclaimed, already heading towards the exit.

By the time she'd reached the foot of the stairs, Splinter was only half way down, his ears twitching in search for the noise. "I hear nothing," he said with a confused shake of his head.

"Really?" April asked, bewildered, and Splinter nodded. As a rat, with hearing that far exceeded that of any human, he should've been able to hear it clearly. But only silence met his ears.

His eyes drifting to the side in thought, he old rat hummed aloud, one hand stroking his beard. Something was amiss, he knew it. There was no way April could possibly have better hearing than him, unless his was deteriorating with age, but he highly doubted it...or just stubbornly refused to acknowledge it.

"Most curious, April," he mused, lifting his eyes again to look back at the young red head, "that you are hearing something –"

He froze. "…I cannot."

April was gone.

Hm. That was odd. He hadn't even heard her move. Perhaps she'd picked up his brief lesson faster than he'd thought.

He smiled to himself. "Well done," he said, expecting April to come out of whatever shadow she'd hidden within, a smirk on her face at having succeeding in conning her sensei. But when she failed to make her reappearance, Splinter's smile fell. "April?" he called, turning this way and that in search for the young kunoichi. "April?"

Still no answer. Where on earth did she go? And how hadn't he heard her slip away? Hm. Maybe, like his hearing, he was getting a little old.

Or perhaps, though a part of him didn't want to admit it…perhaps there was something unusual about April O'Neil. Something that not even he could have foreseen…

The winding tunnels that lay underneath the city were dark and dank, but not quite to the same level as the sewers. The walls and floors were made of smooth stone, and the dim white lights that hung overhead illuminated the narrow walkways. Should one ever venture down here, they would quickly become lost within this vast labyrinth. Or worse, be captured by the creatures that inhabited it.

Luckily for Donnie, he was a ninja. And better still, he knew the Kraang were quite possibly the most oblivious creatures – aside from Mikey – that he'd ever come across; none of the guards that passed through the hallways had even bothered to look up to find him carefully perched atop one of the lights.

Once the two sentries were gone, Donnie leapt from his hiding place, landing with a roll and pressing himself against a wall, scoping the area out. Finding the hidden base had been less of an achievement and more of an accident, in truth. After more Kraang had come out to find that they'd been infiltrated, he'd no choice but to take shelter behind one of the cars. One clumsy Kraang droid was all it had taken; a stray shot had hit the control panel beside the car he'd taken shelter behind, and Donnie had fallen into the dark abyss with a scream. When he'd regained consciousness (after he'd bounced off the car hood and landed on his head on solid stone – ouch) he could've shouted hallelujah when he was greeted with the secret Kraang base he'd sought.

Fighting off half a dozen Kraang and finding the secret base all by himself? Heck yeah! Score two for Donatello! Even if that last one had been mostly the Kraang's doing, but whatever.

Now all he had to do was find where they were keeping Mr. O'Neil, and then get out of here without alerting any more Kraang of his presence.

Turning a corner and pressing his shell against the wall, Donnie spotted a door at the end of the hall just as it opened up, another Kraang stepping out of the room. He'd only had mere seconds to see what was inside the room, but it seemed important enough for him to take a look at. The question, however, was how was he going to get in without getting shot?

Then he had an idea.

Grinning, he quickly took out his T-Phone, opening up the camera and taking a quick selfie of himself smiling with a wave, and then he slid the device across the room, watching as it came to a stop in front of the droid as it began to ring.

The Kraang tilted its head in confusion as it bent over and picked the phone up, staring at the picture of the waving turtle…only seconds before an angry version of said turtle appeared, swinging his staff at its face and slamming it against the metal door.

Smirking at his own ingeniousness – oh Donatello I love your mind – Donnie plucked his phone from the lifeless droid's hand. "It's from me," he said. The alien brain inside began to screech in rage, and Donnie swung his Bo like a golf club, sending the creature flying and smacking against the opposite wall. "And that's for you," he finished, watching as the thing slid down the wall and landed with a splat on the floor.

Score Three for Donatello. He was on a roll today.

Picking up the Kraang's head and pressing it against the scanner, the doors swished open and Donnie stepped inside the room, letting the doors shut behind him. The room was round, dark aside from the purple florescent lights glowing from the control panel in the center, and lined along the walls were several black and white surveillance cameras. Donnie hummed to himself. They must be monitoring prisoners in their cells, but as his eyes scanned each one, they were all empty…

All but one…

Donnie gasped. "Mr. O'Neil!"

The middle-aged human was huddled in the far corner of his cell, head buried between his crossed arms as he hugged his knees close to him. Donnie felt his heart sore but ache at the same time; he'd finally found April's father, but the man looked so tired, so broken…

Donnie scowled deeply, clenched fists shaking at his sides. The sooner he reunited April with her dad, the sooner he could teach every single one of those wretched creatures a lesson they would never forget for what they did to Kirby.

Approaching the control panel, Donnie began typing in a series of codes upon the smooth surface, his tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth. Some of the codes he'd memorized after reading pages and pages of Kraang encryptions from what he'd gathered from the storage device, and others that were just half-assed guesses that he prayed didn't set off any alarms – he was still learning, okay?

Soon enough, he watched as the door to Kirby's cell cracked open – though the man hadn't seemed to notice – and Donnie grinned. "Yes! That's score number four, baby!" Donnie cheered, even patting himself on the shell for the hell of it, before memorizing the location of Kirby's cell and slipping out of the room, diving back into the shadows. And though he knew the importance of stealth, he couldn't stifle a small chuckle.

He couldn't believe he'd gotten so far, and on his own no less. Oh he couldn't wait to see the look on Raph's face later on.

So deep in his own musings was he that he failed to hear the faint sounds of a creatures' outlandish screeching, deep within the darkened maze. Had he been paying attention, Donnie would have quickly realized that not only was he no longer the only one wandering about the facility, but that he had unknowingly released something far worse than a mere army of Kraang...

…and that he and Mr. O'Neil would soon be in a staggering amount of peril.

A/N: Uh oh. That's all I can say.

I hope you enjoyed that, and more are on the way! :3

Next Chapter: Donnie has a bit of a newt problem, Leo is suddenly the reluctant leader of the team, Kraang are getting eaten and everyone is certain their losing their minds. Meanwhile, April finds out something rather interesting in the sewers...