Action! Excitement! Panic attacks! All this and more coming soon! I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed working on this chapter. It's the most action-packed thus far and I'm rather pleased with how it came out. The impromptu vacation I took was delightful, although I caught a cough on the trip. But I got it in France, so at least it's a French one... That makes it so much better. Also, there's some swearing in this chapter. Ye be warned.

Don't sue me- TMNT isn't mine!

Thank you all, beta-readers, for your help, and thank you reviewers as well.

Chapter Thirteen

The explosion didn't happen inside the club, exactly. It came from somewhere above, but the force of the blast shook a lot of pipes loose, and there was apparently a false start to the sprinkler system. Water started pouring down on the heads of people in the club, increasing the screams and panic as the dancers started to stampede out of the building. I would probably have been crushed in the chaos if Donny hadn't grabbed me by the waist and with a ridiculous amount of grace pulled me to a safe corner. Mikey and Raph were already there, their faces oddly grim looking.

"Never get a break," Raph grumbled, pulling a sai out of his belt and running a finger over the edge. Mikey's nun-chucks were already in his hands, being twirled around. I looked back at Donny to see that he had his bo staff in hand himself. My eyes widened. "You guys were all expecting something like this to happen, weren't you?" They said nothing. "Leo isn't really in the Lair, is he?"

There was a sudden sound of shattering glass and I spun around to see one of the floor-length decorative mirrors on the far side of the room shatter to reveal said Leo in all his blue glory. He jumped out and noticed my pale face. "It was a door to the basement," he explained. Turning to his brothers he said "April and Casey called me. Those people they were following saw them." The other three nodded and Leo turned to me. "Irma, it would probably be best if-"

"Tell me to go, and I'll take a hammer and smash your computer with it," I snapped angrily. "What's going on?" Leo shook his head and brushed past me, heading towards the exit. I turned imploringly to the other three. "Guys! Raph, Mikey!" They glanced past me at Leo, who, when I turned to look at him, was staring at them in a way that would have been rather terrifying had it been directed at me.

"Donatello," I said imploringly, turning to the last brother. He glanced up at me his eyes somewhat apologetic, and then he started towards the door with his brothers.

I let out one final appeal, not caring about my use of slang at the moment. "Oh, Don, please, y'all promised!" He froze and turned back to me. The turtle stared into my eyes again like he had done only minutes before and then gave a sigh, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him as he and the other three swept out the door. "We're going to regret this," I heard Leo say before we found ourselves in the pandemonium outside.

There were too many people for me to see where we were going as I was tugged along, the brown caboose in a train of green and other assorted colors. There was screaming and shouting and I had only a brief thought that I had left my coat and hat in the club before I was pulled into an alleyway where Raph was already pulling open a manhole. He climbed in first, followed by Leo and then Mikey, who waited for me to step onto the ladder and put his hand on my back, ensuring that if I slipped, he'd catch me. Donny crawled in after me, closing the lid behind him.

It was pitch black inside and I reached out to try to feel for a wall. Instead I felt a cooler hand take mine and lead me forward, and I could hear shuffles in front of me. "Just hold on to me, dudette," Mikey said, and I squeezed his hand to show that I heard. He squeezed back in a reassuring way. Reaching behind me, I felt a plastron and a second hand grab mine. This hand didn't squeeze, but held onto me in a firm grip and didn't let go. I gulped, remembering how the person the hands belonged to had twirled me around only a little while before. I stumbled slightly, and forced the thoughts from my mind as both Donny and Mikey reached out to help me regain my balance. We walked in silence for a ways before I spoke. "So… guys… would you like to explain what's going on?"

Leo sighed up in the front of the group and started explaining. "April and Casey have been following a group that they suspected attacked them before. You remember the guys who went after April and you in the hospital?"

"Of course I remember. Who could possibly forget something like that?"

"Well, April got a client who wanted her to find some old piece of artwork that supposedly had disappeared centuries ago. April didn't think there'd be much of a chance to find it, but she took the job anyway because she likes a challenge, as well you know."

A thought occurred to me. "Was the art called Seiobo's Nectar?"

"She mentioned that she'd asked you about it. You didn't find anything, did you?"

"No, not on the artwork. Just some stuff on the artist, and not much there either."

We rounded a corner, and I was happy to see that my sight was adjusting to the darkness. I could make out the shapes of the turtles around me, and could see the thick fingers holding my own vaguely. Leo continued his story as we trekked along. "In any case, April managed to hunt down what she learned to another antique dealer in South Korea who pointed her to another dealer in Indonesia."

"And let me guess," I said, following Mikey's lead and stepping over shapes on the ground. "Someone else was looking for the thing too."

"Yeah," Raph picked up the story. "And they weren't nice about it either. They had to get the Hell Outta Dodge and when they got back they still had the bastards following them."

"That was when April got caught in that explosion," Don said behind me. "April had been poking around in an old warehouse and some bombs went off, and, well, you know what happened next."

"Almost there," Mikey said cheerily.

"So, where're we going now?"

"Another warehouse." That was the last thing said before we turned another corner and Leonardo and Raphael jogged ahead a short distance and found a ladder leading up to another manhole. We climbed up one by one, with Leo in the lead and I at the end. When I reached the top of the ladder, Don reached down and took my hand again, helping to pull me to my feet. I looked around when I got my feet on the ground. We were by the docks and I saw that there was a large warehouse looming up. "Irma!" I turned around to see April getting out of a van with Casey. They both looked like they had just come from a party too; Casey was dressed like Jason from the horror movies with a hockey mask and April was a girl leprechaun, complete with hat; there had been certain liberties taken with the dimensions of the outfit, however. I was fairly certain that leprechauns hadn't worn corset tops and stockings.

"What're you doing here?" April asked agitatedly. "I thought the guys-"

"They were at a party with me," I explained. "I insisted they bring me along when things started blowing up. How'd that explosion way over there lead you guys over here anyway?"

Casey wandered over shaking his head. "They caught us leaving the apartment. We had to call Leonardo to help draw their attention away."

"And that's why there was that bomb," Leo picked up the story. "The people following me threw it. I was just happy that it was such a small one and that the upper floors were empty. It only shook up the building. I don't think anyone was seriously hurt."

Meanwhile, while we were talking, Raphael and Donatello were poking around the building, looking for a way in. They called us over when they found a window that was halfway open. "It leads to the office, looks like," said Mikey. "Booooring."

"Why would a window be open to an office?" I wondered aloud. "Seems a bit unsecure to me."

Leonardo made a sound of agreement. "We can't get in that way."

April was examining the gape in the window. "Actually… I could fit through here."

"No, April," Casey immediately objected. "You are not going in there alone."

"I can go in with her," I offered. Both Casey and Donatello instantly said "Nooooooooo!"

"Absolutely not," Donny said, staring at me angrily. "You two are not going in there without someone to protect you."

The two of us took a deep breath and drew ourselves up. "Oh, here we go," muttered Casey. "Someone to protect us, you say?" I sniffed indignantly. "As if we couldn't protect ourselves. Of all the things to say…"

"I've only traveled all around the world and smacked around the most dangerous ninjas, but I can't protect myself." April drew herself up and then went to the window. Casey reached out for her arm but she jerked it out of his grasp and shot him an icy look. "Come on, Irma." She started to crawl through the gap and the turtles tried not to look as she wiggled her butt in the air in her attempt to slide through. Casey grumbled furiously under his breath and turned away. There was a soft thud as she landed on the floor and called up "Alright, Irma!"

I went over to the windowsill and gripped it firmly for balance. "Irma," Donatello was suddenly there next to me, concern in his eyes. "I really think this is a bad idea." Smiling reassuringly at him, I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be okay, Don. Besides, April needs someone in there to make sure she doesn't set her eyebrows on fire again."

"I heard that!" April hissed from inside. I gave a small bark of laughter and then went back to pulling myself up. Donatello grabbed my foot in his hand to help me get better leverage and within a few seconds I had landed inside with a soft "Oof!" and found myself sitting next to April. "Okay, we're in," April called out.

Mikey called from the other side. "We'll try to sneak in another way. Be careful! If you meet anything nasty, leave some for us!"

"Will do," I said, before turning to see April carefully opening the office door. "What exactly are we looking for?" I whispered to her, quickly catching up to her side. "Anything that could give us a hint as to who's hunting us, right?"

"Yeah. Speaking of these hunters, it seems like they mean business." The two of us crept around the corner of the office door and saw nothing but black shapes in the darkness. "April," I said quietly in her ear, "I don't think we'll be able to see anything in the dark. Unless we turn the lights on, which I'm assuming isn't an option, I sure hope you brought a flashlight."

"Sorry," she replied dryly. "I forgot the flashlight with my pot of gold. We'll just have to feel our way around I guess."

We did just that. We reached out and walked forward until we felt the edges of some crates, and, keeping our fingertips on them, began to walk around, trying to see if we could stumble upon anything. "So, you two were heading to a party?" I asked softly.

"Well, we were until we saw the person watching us." April turned a corner and I followed, trying to keep the outline of her in sight. "We had just finished getting dressed when Casey noticed someone watching us through the window. He pointed the guy out in a clever way and we decided to pretend like we didn't know he was there. We left and watched him follow us for a while until we ducked into a building. Then while I called Leonardo for backup, Casey kept watch on him. That's when the bombs started coming."

"I'm sorry, started coming you said?"

"Yeah, the guy started tossing these bombs into the building. We managed to get everyone out before there was a big incident, which was lucky, but we lost the guy in the process."

"And I'm guessing Leo picked up the trail?"

"Yep." We encountered what seemed to be a dead end suddenly. I hmm'd. "Alright. Let's look for another way. So," I continued. "I'm also guessing that Leo managed to somehow guide him to where the other guys and I were, and told them what was going on via one of Donatello's comm thingies."

"Correct again." I took one of April's hands in mine and found another open path of crates, directing her hand to it so that we could start walking again. "But how'd you and Casey know to come here?"

"This," April said with some slight resignation in her voice, "is the same warehouse I got set on fire in before. I just keep thinking that this place has more to it than I got to see before. Why would they have tried to blow me up if they hadn't been hiding something?"

"My question," I said, "is why bombs are their weapon of choice. I mean, there are so many other neater, quieter ways of doing things. Y'know, like, um, by sniper. Or silenced pistol. Something that doesn't make as big a mess as a bomb."

"I recall that they tried to stab the two of us in a hospital once. I guess when that didn't work they decided 'The hell with it.'"

"Eh, as good an explanation as any."

All of a sudden, light flooded the building. I had to slap a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp of surprise and sudden pain from the light.

The two of us crouched down and I was suddenly grateful that I had left my jacket behind. It would have dragged on the ground and made more noise. We heard footsteps coming our way, and I shook April's arm and jerked my head over to where some lone crates were sitting. We quickly scurried over and hid behind them, hoping that whoever it was would be friendly.

The footsteps were coming closer, and we heard voices. I didn't recognize the language, but from the look on April's face, I was guessing she did. It looked like it wasn't good. The steps stopped not too far away from where we were, and I took a deep breath before carefully peaking around the corner to see what was going on.

There were five figures, all wearing black suits. They were all Asian as well, and one of them was trying to open a long, wide crate. I glanced back at April confused, and then turned my gaze back to the men as the creaking sounds of an opening crate. They pried it open with the crowbar that they had produced, and then the lid fell down onto the side to reveal-

I bit down on my hand to hold back a gasp and quickly pulled my head back into the shadows. April leaned in close to me and I barely breathed into her ear "It's the stolen painting from the museum."

Her eyes widened and she pointed in the direction of the painting. I nodded. The look of confusion on her face mirrored my own. Why would the painting be sitting here? I had asked about it shortly after its theft. It was worth maybe twenty, thirty grand at most. That wasn't cheap by any means, but compared to so many other works of art, it was pretty worthless. It had no real value other than the time period that it had been painted in and the fact that it was a sort of compilation of different painting techniques. It just wasn't important or valuable enough to have been stolen when there were so many other vastly priceless works that could have been snatched just easily.

Shrugging my shoulders at her, I peeked out from behind the crate again to see the men all bending down and closely examining the painting. My eyes furrowed. I couldn't figure out what they were staring at so intently. I just couldn't get it at all. They stood up and I immediately pulled back into the safety of the shadows and listened for their footsteps coming closer and closer. April and I huddled together, and I started praying that they wouldn't move the crates and see us. I didn't know for sure what they would do, but I was fairly certain that whatever it was, it wouldn't be friendly. The sound of creaking wood came and I bit down on my hand again to keep from making a nervous noise. It cracked open under the strain of the crowbar and the men started to look through whatever was in the crate. I could hear rustling sounds, like things clanking together in a sort of wooden way, but other than that, I had no way of knowing what the heck they were doing. April caught my eye and she mouthed the word "Japanese". I assumed she meant the language, although I suppose she could have meant their ethnicity as well. A tiny nod was the only indication that I had heard her. I didn't want to do anything else just out of fear. The men continued to move around for a while longer, picking things up and then dropping them (it sounded like) and then suddenly there was a crash on the other side of the building. April and I both jumped, and I cut my lip biting down so hard. The men instantly left to investigate the noise. We waited until their footsteps faded and then we both crawled out from behind the crates and stood to examine the contents of the crate they had opened. My face slackened in shock as I realized what the contents were exactly.

"April," I whispered to her, "it's all puzzle boxes! It's full of puzzle boxes!"

And indeed it was. Full to the brim with the things, all different shapes and sizes. I picked one up and examined it closely. I recognized the pattern. "This is one of the harder boxes," I whispered to April. "I've seen this kind before. And… and this one," I picked up another. "This is the most difficult of all. Only a handful of people are supposed to have been able to open these."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"When I started looking up info about that artist, I found out he created puzzle boxes. Then I found a whole website dedicated to making them just like he did. I've been ordering them for ages now. Got a stack of boxes in my bedroom." I thought for a moment. "Should probably get rid of those…"

There was a shout in the direction the men had gone and April and I ducked down instinctively behind the crate again. Sounds of conflict started up and I swore as I bit my lip in the place where I had cut through skin. The Lady Leprechaun next to me started to go in the direction where the men had gone. I grabbed at her arm, shaking my head earnestly at her. "No!" I mouthed. But she was having none of it. She wrenched her arm from my hand and started running. Throwing my hands in the air, I gave a growl of frustration. Then a thought occurred to me. I turned to the painting and knelt down next to it, trying to see what the men had seen in it.

The sounds started getting louder. I sighed and realized that there was no way I was going to figure it out by sitting here. I needed more time. An idea occurred to me and I began to pat my pockets for my phone. I pulled it out and put it in camera mode, taking snapshot after snapshot of the picture, with some zoomed in and some zoomed out. I decided to print them out later to study. This took me about a minute, and when I was done, I stood up and started running in the direction April had gone.

Without hesitation, I ran zig-zaggedly through the crates, taking the first paths that I could see that were open. In hindsight, this probably was not the best way to go.

I kept running as fast as I could, trying to find April or Casey or the boys, but as I rounded a corner, I came face to face with one of the men that we had seen examining the picture.

"Ah," he said pleasantly, his accent clean, "I see we have found another mouse." He lifted a gun up and pulled the trigger. In those three seconds, I felt my heart stop beating and the world ceased to move. Everything zeroed in on the barrel of that pistol and the thunderclap of noise I knew was going to erupt from it.

But it didn't. He pulled the trigger and nothing happened. The man frowned and looked at the gun, trying to pull the trigger again.

I decided to take action. Without a single thought to safety, I launched myself at his face with a wild cry of desperation and we both went down on the ground, struggling for the gun. The man had muscle on me, but I was younger and faster, and I wasn't afraid to play dirty. I grabbed the hand that held the gun and bit down as hard as I could, leading him to cry out in pain. I kneed him in the groin and slammed my full weight down onto his chest, making him gasp for air. He finally dropped the gun and I scrambled for it, making sure to kick the man in the face as I did so. Once I had the gun in hand I rounded on my assailant and pointed it at his face.

There was no need to have bothered though. He was unconscious, my boot print conspicuous on his face. I took a deep breath and noticed suddenly that I was shaking. I got up, only wobbling slightly, and took another deep breath to calm myself down. "Inhale… exhale… in… out… there you go." Once my heart-rate had gone down to a reasonable level, I checked the gun to see why it hadn't gone off. It was fully loaded and clean. I couldn't see- oh, there it was! "Trigger jam," I chuckled. "Typical." Quickly fixed, and now I had a working gun in my possession. I took one final breath and steadied myself against a crate. I closed my eyes and listened to where the sounds of the fighting were now. It echoed slightly in the warehouse, but I could make out the general direction. Without a moment's hesitation, I began running again, this time in a much less haphazardly way.

I could hear the sounds of metal hitting metal, grunts of pain, and the sound of things hitting flesh. Praying that I wasn't too late, I broke out into the fastest pace I could. Michelangelo cried out and I heard Raphael shout out his name. "No, no, no, no," I panted to myself. I knew I was getting closer, and suddenly I was sliding out of cover into another clearing, falling to the ground, and I saw Mikey on the floor, clutching his wrist in pain and Raph crouching down next to him. I saw blood and two of the Asian men holding swords pointed at their heads. "FREEZE!" I screamed.

They spun around and I stumbled to my feet, body shaking but my hands totally steady. "Drop the swords!" I shouted at them. "Drop them! NOW!" There was brief hesitation, but they did as they were told. Shaky breath. "Okay…" I wobbled on my feet again but I straightened myself. "Okay, kick them over to the turtles. DO IT NOW, OR I'LL SHOOT!" I don't think the men would have listened to me had I not been screaming at them and looked somewhat insane. In any case, they did as they were told and Raphael picked them up and helped Michelangelo to his feet, who was still clutching his wrist. I relaxed a little once I saw that he wasn't seriously injured, letting my grip on the gun loosen and lowering my arms.

And then- "BEHIND YOU!" Mikey shouted at me. I whirled around-

I glimpsed another of the men I had seen with a very pissed look on his face, then I felt a deep, sharp pain as something came crashing into my shoulder- no, through my shoulder.

"FUUUUUUCK!" I screamed, and I swung the gun across the man's face with all my strength, making him stagger back. I swung around again and fired off a few rounds at the other two men, and one of them fell to the floor shouting what I was sure were obscenities in Japanese. "Just your leg, you goddamn bastard," I said, and then I began gasping in pain, staggering over to lean against a crate. I started sliding to the floor once I felt it's surface against my arm, and I registered the sounds of Raph and Mikey managing to subdue the two men still standing. I ended up clutching my shoulder trying to hold back tears of pain, bent over on the floor.

"Irma? Irma? Hey, Irma, babe, look at me. Look at me, honey." I felt thick fingers gently cup my face and brush my hair away. I opened my eyes and stared into the very concerned visage of Raphel. "You okay, babe? Does it hurt bad?"

My mouth opened and closed before I whimpered, "Ow."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, hun. C'mon, here we go." He wrapped an arm around me, careful of my shoulder and helped me get up off the floor. I let my eyes wander around the room "Where's Leo and… and Don?"

"Don't know. Can't worry about them right now. Mike!" Raph called over to his brother. "You okay to walk? How's the wrist?"

"I'll be alright. You okay, Irma? I got the chucks," he said, first to his brother, then me, then back to him.

Deep breaths, I thought to myself. Deep, deep breaths. "Fine. Got any pain killers?"

With a brother supporting me on either side, we began walking to the nearest exit. "How'd you get in?" I asked, trying to get my mind off the pain. "And where're the others?"

The two looked at me. "Thought April was with you," Raph said.

"No, she took off as soon as we heard the fighting start. What happened anyway?"

"We've been doing a lot of explaining to you lately." Raph commented. "Donatello managed to get a garage door open enough for us to crawl in. We split up afterwards. Don and Leo went to security and the two of us came down here to poke around and find you two. Now what the hell happened with you and April?"

"Where's Casey?" I asked.

"I just asked you something. You answer me first."

"I've just lost like a gallon of blood," I said. "I can't think straight. You answer first."

Raph sighed. "He was supposed to be lookout. Don't know where he is now. Probably with April."

There was a loud crash on the second floor of the warehouse. We all looked up. "That's where security is," Mikey pointed.

There were sounds of a struggle and Raph swore. "We gotta get up there. You gonna be okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, sure, fine," I said. I pulled my hand away and looked at it. It was covered in red. "Is this blood?" I asked, hearing my voice coming from a distance.

"Pretty sure," Mikey replied.

"Oh." And then the world went black.

I woke up less than a minute later in Raph's arms as he was going up the stairs to the second floor. Mikey was hurrying behind us. "Irms, Irms, you awake?"

"Would seem so." We got to the top of the stairs and I started wriggling in Raph's arms. "Put me down. I'm perfectly fine."

"Are not," he snapped at me, but he put me down just the same. "You start fallin' over again and we're takin' you outside."

"Gotta find the others. Then we can go." I took a deep breath and walked next to the turtles, keeping one hand on the railing for support. The door to security was open, but it was empty, with the computers and cameras running but no one monitoring them. The crashing sound seemed to have come from a laptop left haphazardly on a desk, and it had fallen over and broken. Whoever had been fighting in there, they were gone now. "Donny must have already been here. There's no way he'd leave without getting what he needed." Mikey started poking around the computers. He could still move his injured wrist well enough, but not enough to use his nun-chucks properly.

I walked over to the screens too and started scanning to see if there was any sign of the other two turtles and our human companions. I didn't notice Raphael and Michelangelo start signing to each other behind my back. I was too busy looking at the person skulking around in the crates. "Someone's down there," I said, and pointed to the screen. "There he is."

Raphael immediately stood and grabbed his sais. "You two stay here. You can't fight anyway."

I think Mikey would have argued, but I was feeling kind of spacey and I must have looked like it too because he didn't say a word. The older brother was gone in an instant, using some neat ninja trick to disappear.

The two of us sat there for a minute, not saying anything. And then we heard footsteps. We spun around and saw two unfamiliar shadows chasing along the wall. I turned to Michelangelo. "Don't know the shapes. We should hide."

He nodded and grabbed me in his arms, pulling me to a dark corner of the room. I don't know how he managed to do it, but when the older man rushed into the room, he didn't see us. Neither did the other, younger man as he ran in afterwards, his back to us, holding a gun.

Mikey clapped a hand over my mouth and pressed me closer to him. I had no problem with it. I was terrified and suddenly the pain in my shoulder was much sharper. The older man spun around and stared at the younger man who was now pointing the weapon at him. They exchanged sharp words, quiet at first, and then they started shouting. It ended with the older man spitting at the younger, and then he reached into his pocket and tossed him a key. The young man caught it, laughed, and then shot the old man before walking out. I had to bite down on Mikey's hand to keep myself from screaming. When we were sure it was safe, he let me go and stood up. "Irms, stay here," he said, the humor so normally heard in his voice gone. "Don't move." And then he was gone. I let myself slide to the floor. Everything was fading in and out and I was feeling so damn tired. I heard laughing. I picked my head up from the floor and saw the Asian man sitting himself up, blood pouring out of his chest. "Wrong one," he laughed. "Wrong one."

I made a sound of pain and moved to my side, on my good shoulder to get a better look at him. "Wrong key," he repeated, and smiled at me, seeing me for the first time, blood staining his teeth. "Wrong… key." He reached a hand into his jacket slowly, a spasm of pain crossing his face. He pulled out a second key, blood from his fingers staining the metal. "Right one. Right key. Take… take it."

Well… why the hell not. Bleeding everywhere as it was, I figured I might as well loose it all. With a groan of pain, I started crawling towards the man, using my legs and my good arm to propel myself across the ground. It took me a few seconds, but I managed to get to his side. He placed the key in my outstretched hand and closed my fingers around it. "Right… key…" he rasped, and then coughed up some blood. "Storage… D… twelve…" Then with a rattle in his throat, his head fell back and he died. There was a grunt of dissatisfaction at the door.

I flipped over to see… "Oh. It's you," I said faintly. It was the guy I had stolen the gun from. My boot print was still on his face. "Uh… hi."

He gave a low, angry growl and he said something that I could only assume was somewhat justified fury. Also, he had a sword. "Swords, swords," I muttered, looking up at the ceiling, noting everything swimming and blurring. "Why swords? You guys have so many of them."

He said nothing, but advanced upon me. He lifted the sword when he got next to me, and held the hilt with the blade pointing downwards toward my chest. I closed my eyes, my hand clutching the key I had been given tightly.

There was what sounded like a battle cry, and then a flood of hot liquid spilled over my body, covering my mouth, the left side of my face and chest. I opened my eyes slowly and saw-

The man with the sword had a blade sticking out of his chest. He groaned and then fell to the side, revealing Leonardo. I smiled and closed my eyes in relief.

"IRMA!" My eyes shot open and I saw Donatello running to my side, running his hands over where my body had been covered in blood. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," he said over and over. He turned to Leo and shouted "You stabbed her! You bastard!"

"I swear, I didn't, Donatello! It's blood from the guy attacking her, I swear!"

"Also shoulder," I whispered. "Shoulder too. Hate knives. Too pointy. Can I we go home now? Maybe? Please?"

Leo went to the door. "April and Casey are grabbing some of those puzzle boxes. Mikey's getting their van. I'm going to find Raph. Bring her downstairs!"

Donny moved his arms under my legs and shoulders, carefully lifting me up off the ground. I gasped in pain and he murmured an apology as he carried me out the office. I finally let my eyes flutter closed and just listened to him whisper how I was going to be fine and everything would be okay and that he'd take care of me and Please, Irma, be alright, please be alright.

"'m fine," I whispered, and as he carefully carried me down the stairs I drifted off.

I woke up for a few seconds in the van. Casey was driving like a maniac and April was shouting at him. Leonardo and Raphael were arguing in the seat ahead of me and Michelangelo had my legs in his lap, watching me with worried eyes. I looked up to see Donny holding me tight against him, arms wrapped protectively around my waist. He noticed me with my eyes open and briefly rested a hand on my cheek. "You'll be fine," he said softly.

"I know," I said with a little smile. Then I fell asleep again.

I had originally planned for this chapter to be much longer; I was going to combine this and the next chapter, but it felt over here. I decided that they deserved a little break after all the drama I tossed in here. Hopefully it was as fun reading as it was writing. Reviews do a marvelous job of conveying appreciation for this sort of thing. Hint hint, nudge nudge.