Hey guys! So here's the next chapter, I hope it turns out okay! Also, I'll stop shuffling my feet and get to the real plot. Thank you all so much for your reviews! :D It really makes me happy and makes me want to upload a new chapter every day! :D Enjoy!

(I do not own the teenage mutant ninja turtles or their affiliates. I do, however, own Kristine.)

Raphael

"Damn it." I cursed as I heard Bishop's men enter the building. I paused at the opening of the air vent and actually thought for once about my options. I silently gasped at the horror; I was acting like Leo. Good thing no one was watching. I could repay her act of kindness, but I'd probably get nabbed again without my sai. Then we'd be dissected side by side. But if I left her, I'd be betraying my street code. I groaned. The only way to solve the problem was to circle back to the lair.

I shook my head and growled. This girl was gonna give me a whole new set of problems. I needed to get back to the lair and grab my sai to defend the little brat, but how was I going to get past Splinter and Leo? If I told them the truth, they wouldn't let me take one step outside the lair.

She's tough; she can handle it herself. And she can call. I told myself, but my mind flashed back to the moment she began to cry after I called her a freak. She couldn't defend herself against a fly. A pang of guilt shot through my chest at the memory. I clenched my fist at my side, what am I turning into? I asked myself. I was taking her act of goodwill for granted, and I'd killed a man just because I wanted to watch him die. My mind wandered back to the thug's last pitiful words. Was it right to kill him? I mean, he could've just been caught up in the streets, or maybe he didn't have anyone when he was growing up.

I was so caught up in my guilty thoughts that I tripped myself and fell on the pavement face first. I growled and slammed my fist against the ground.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I screamed and began to beat the pavement as if it could solve all my problems. Blood from my scratched face dripped onto the asphalt, and it looked as if the ground was bleeding from my fists. "I'M SORRY, OKAY?!" I screamed at the ground. I let out a scream of anger and pain, and the sky echoed my scream with a clap of thunder.

I paused and watched as the blood mixed with the rain and carried it away. As the blood was carried away by the rain, I felt like everything was being carried away with it. Kristine's problem, Leo acting like some sort of fearless leader and treating me like a loose cannon, Casey leaving me for April, Don being some sort of idiot, and all the guilt that followed the death of the thug was being carried away by the rain.

I rose to my knees and wiped the blood off my face; I didn't feel like myself. I'd been off ever since I'd sliced that motherfucker's neck. I needed to do what I did best: beat the shell outa bad guys, and defend the folks who can't fight worth a damn.

"Motherfuckers better watch dere backs." I muttered and ran towards the lair with a new sense of determination. I had found myself, even though I had never left. When I had turned 18, I had thought I was an adult. I thought I knew everything, and I assumed I'd never get lost. But adults get lost inside themselves more often than children. I wished I was still young, so I could find a way out of my shell.

Kristine

I wrung my hands together as the sound of their boots neared the lab. I began to panic. I looked for an exit, but the only plausible way out was the door that Bishop was nearing. My eyes watered as I stared at the air vent; did I make the right decision letting the turtle go? If he was strapped onto that table, almost all of my problems would've been solved. But…would it have been right to let him die?

I groaned, wondering why I had even shown up for work. I could've just stayed in bed like Zoe, or I could've just made her answer the phone. Wait…Bishop called her home phone…How did he know her aunt's phone number? And how did he know Zoe and I were residing there for the night? Warning bells began to sound off in my head.

I looked down at the number he had written on my coat. Now would be a good time to call. It was hard to make out with the adrenaline pounding through my veins, and his sloppy writing, but I came to the conclusion that it said "Raphael 1-212-944-0400".

I typed in the numbers shakily as the footsteps came closer and closer. I brought the cell up to my ear and began to pray that he'd answer.

My prayers were cut short as Bishop threw open the door.

"And as we can see, here is the fourth humanoid turtle speci—" His sentence ended abruptly as he scanned the room.

"He escaped, and I couldn't catch him." I whispered. I wasn't exactly lying. He did escape, and I couldn't catch him even if I wanted to.

He gaped at me for a moment, as if I had just sprouted a second head.

"You what?" He marched toward me angrily, his nostrils flared and his fists clenched. He grabbed my shoulders and towered over me. I tried not to cry out in pain as his fingernails dug into my shoulders. "What did you do?"

"I-I turned around for a s-second…a-and h-he w-was gone!" I silently cursed my inability to tell a good lie.

"Don't you see what you've done?" He screamed. "If one of them is free, just one, they'll free the rest!"

"There are more of them?" I asked, feeling myself become sick. Raphael had talked about three brothers and a father. Were they going to kill his family, leaving him an orphan?

"Yes! You idiot!" He pushed me onto the ground, causing me to painfully land on a scalpel. My eyes watered as I felt my skin break.

"I-I'm not an idiot!" I managed to yell at him.

His eyes widened at my confrontational tone, and he was shocked into silence. My small victory, however, didn't go very far. He slapped me across the face and sent my head down onto the green tiles. The tiles seemed to approach me slowly, and I began to wonder why they were green. The green tiles didn't let me solve the question, however, as they hit me against the head and sent me into a pool of warm darkness.