Well, folks. We've come a long way, but we've still got a little ways to go. If you can hang in there just a little bit longer, I promise you all you won't regret it. Hopefully. I'm so excited I managed to get Irma added to the character list! Now I can make a whole bunch of fics with her and put them under her name instead of having to scour the site for things with her in it.

Oodles and oodles of thanks to my ever wonderful and fantastic beta readers, Colonel Pop and GoodSmileGirl! I love you two to death! You're terrific!

I don't own TMNT in any way, shape or form. Don't sue.

Chapter Twenty One

No one came after me that day to ask what was wrong. I guess they were all too surprised to do anything, or didn't want to get in between a lover's spat. I was grateful, to be honest. I didn't want to talk about it, and certainly didn't want to relive it.

The day after that, however, April came over to try to talk to me about it. I staunchly refused, saying only that we had broken up due to irreconcilable opinions on things. She wheedled and cajoled, but I kept my mouth shut on the subject. Casey came over later and tried to convince me that I should talk to Don again, but I made it very clear to him that I had no interest whatsoever with debasing myself. I wasn't proud of what I had done; God knew I had incurred my share of trauma from it. But I didn't regret doing it at all. Nothing had shown up about the boys in the media and I was certain it was because Ken kept his end of the bargain. As far as I was concerned, as long as the guys were fine, I could live with my choice. That wasn't to say I was at peace with it at all. I spent a good deal of time wondering if I had made the right choice and if I should have done something different, but I knew that even as the concern about whether Ken had destroyed the evidence of the turtles was valid, he would definitely have made good on his threat if I hadn't done it.

The other three brothers made it clear that I was still their friend, and even Raphael, who had confessed his feelings to me before, kept things very calm and not at all awkward between us. They said nothing about Donatello, which I was fine with, because even the mention of his name made my heart ache. I had gone through some rough break-ups before, but this one was just awful. I did my best to keep my mind off the problem by continuing to search for a job, but still, I had no luck in that department. I was starting to get a bit desperate. I sold my TV set and most of my books (which made me even more miserable) and was starting to consider selling my jewelry as well.

"Why don't you come live with me?" my sister offered one day as I spoke to her on the phone. "I've got plenty of room."

"I dunno, I really like it here," I told her as I spread peanut butter onto one of my few remaining slices of bread. "I'd rather not leave unless I really had to."

"Understandable," she said. There was a brief moment of silence and then she said "I think Johnny might be about to propose."

I set down my knife and phone down and went to my cupboard where I kept the few remaining sweets, and pulled out a bag of chocolate chips.

"Irma? You there?"

"Yep. I'm here." And lamenting that these aren't filled with vodka. "Is him proposing a problem?" I asked as I poured the chocolate bits on the peanut butter and then folded the piece of bread in half, taking a bite.

"Well, no, not per se… I'm just nervous I guess."

"What about?"

"Oh, you know, this is my first real relationship so I'm fairly inexperienced in these kinds of things."

Thinking back very briefly on my own relationship history, I told her in a deadpan voice "Trust me, Velma. You've got a solid gold track record. You're doing great."

"Thanks… So how're things with you?"

"Oh, you know, still on the job hunt."

"Seeing anyone?"

I had a quick memory flash to me standing over Don while he was at the computer, and he was looking up at me with a huge smile on his face. "No," I managed to choke out. "No, I'm not."

Despite my lack of progress in finding stable employment, I refused to give up. I would go out at least six days a week looking for any "Help Wanted" signs, but to my chagrin there was nothing. It seemed I was a sucker for punishment though; I woke up one morning and stared at the clock on my bedside table and seriously considered becoming a female bounty hunter, like the heroine Stephanie Plum. Problem was, I was twice as inept as she was and had a distinct lack of policeman boyfriend. Nevertheless, I got myself to my feet, pulled some clothes on, and went out.

Mostly I just walked around that morning, trying to stay motivated and positive about things. I didn't have any real success. I finally decided around noon to pack it in and just head home to get my laptop so I could sell it. Nothing really held my attention as I walked back to my apartment. My mind was swimming with different scenarios and ideas for how to get out of the rut I was in, but a lot of them involved theft of some kind.

As I was contemplating whether or not I would look good in a Catwoman type outfit, I rounded the corner to the street that my apartment was on… and found that in front of it sat three fire trucks, four police squad cars, and a huge crowd of people. I looked up and saw, without any real surprise, that my apartment had been firebombed. Smoke was pouring out of every window and I could see the firemen trying to suppress the flames licking along the side of the building.

My first thought was Oh, for god's sake, why me? and my second was Oh, crap, they're probably scouring the crowd for me.

The problem was that I had no interest in getting involved with a police investigation. I knew that the chances of Ken being behind the attack were up in the ninety percent range, and that he wouldn't be caught any time soon. Talking to the police about it would yield no beneficial results for me, and instead most likely make me a target for Ken. I had already interacted with him more than I wanted; there was no way I was going to do something to get him involved with me again.

Turning around, I walked as nonchalantly as possible away from the scene of chaos, running my options through my mind. I had two choices if I disregarded going to the police and asking for protection: One, I could go to April and Casey. This was quickly thrown out thought. If they knew where I lived, they would surely know where my two friends were. I didn't want to put them in any more danger than I already had. I was fairly certain that the attacks were aimed directly at me. Bringing those two into the mix would only exasperate things.

And so, I was left with the second choice- hiding out in the Lair.

Needless to say, this conclusion caused me no small amount of inner turmoil. I needed someplace to stay, someplace safe; family and friends were just not a viable solution. And while the Hamato's were my friends, they were effectively invisible to the outside world. Only three people, including myself, were aware of their existence (or at least, aware and not trying to actively kill them). I would be safe there. The fact that I would have to come into contact with Donatello on a daily, perhaps hourly basis would just have to be dealt with.

Having reached my decision, I began to make my through the streets, looking for one that was fairly uncongested with pedestrian traffic. The less people who saw me go into an alleyway to crawl into a sewer, the better. I finally found one after about fifteen minutes and proceeded to climb down the ladder to the sewer system as carefully and quietly as I could. It wasn't too difficult to find my way to the Lair from there. The guys had made sure that I was able to navigate through the myriad of systems easily enough on my own, so it wasn't too intimidating. It still took a little while to get to the Lair, though.

Finally, I arrived and opened the door. "Guys!" I called out. "Master Splinter! Hey! It's Irma! Look, I know this is short notice and all, but I've got a really big problem on my hands and I…" It was at that point that I noticed almost all the lights were out in the Lair. "Where's the switch in here…"

Suddenly the lights flickered on. I gave a small scream of surprise and jumped back.

"Hello, Irma," came a very familiar, very suave, and very disliked voice. "How have you been?"

Ken sat on the massive couch that was usually occupied by both Raphael and Michelangelo, and all along the back and the sides were ninjas wearing the same uniform I had seen that night April and I had been attacked in the hospital. Their arms were crossed and various weaponry were on their persons.

I stared at all of them for a moment before I asked "Where're the guys?"

"They're here," Ken replied, and another light flickered on to reveal all four brothers on their knees, their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged to prevent any attempt at escape. I gave a small cry of distress and began to run towards them until a ninja guarding one of them put a knife to Leo's throat, and I froze. "Let them go! Where's Master Splinter?" I demanded and asked, twirling around back to Ken. He smiled calmly. "The old rat is fine. He's lying in his room knocked out. These four," and here he pointed at the boys, "were the real challenge."

"How'd you even find this place? I know I wasn't followed!"

"See, that's the wonderful thing about tracking devices, Irma. You don't need to follow someone for them to work."

I paled. "What tracking device?"

"The one I planted in your purse the night we slept together, honey."

I instantly pulled my purse off my shoulder and emptied it onto the floor. "Where is it?!" I began stomping on everything that had fallen out.

"Don't bother," Ken told me in a bored tone. "It's already accomplished what I meant it to. Destroying it now would be pointless."

"Fuck you!" I spat at him. "Why are you doing this to me anyway? What've I ever done to you?"

"You? Nothing. Your friends? Everything. Although," he lounged back, his eyes narrowing at me. "you did lie to me the other night."

"What about?"

"You said you didn't have the box." My face must have betrayed what I was thinking because he gave me a very unpleasant grin and stood up to motion two of his subordinates forwards, both carrying the Box. "I found this in the purple one's lab. Now how, I wonder, did it get down there?"

I said nothing but sank down to the floor. "Leave them alone, Ken. I'm the one that lied to you."

"I am more than aware of that fact, sweetie." He slowly walked over to me. "Fortunately for you, I've noticed a little something. You," he pointed at me, "have managed to start opening that thing. Now how did you accomplish that?"

But I wasn't about to give up my secrets that easily. "What's in it?"

He frowned and straightened up. "You're hardly in a position to be asking things like that, Irma."

"Indulge me," I said, desperate to get any amount of time so that I could try to think of an escape. "You used to work for Karai, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot that'd you'd had your own interactions with her."

I could hear the muffled sounds of surprise and anger from the turtles, still restrained, and for once I was glad that they were unable to get to me. "They were hardly interactions. More like quasi-kidnapping and mild threatening."

"Don't insult me, Irma, I know she gave you the information you needed to find the box."

"She only told me that to keep it away from someone that I think I can safely assume is you!" I shot back at him.

He sighed. "It's a shame, really. The two of us could have accomplished so much more had we worked together. But no, no, she wouldn't have anything to do with my plans."

"What's in the box?" I asked again. "What is all of this about?"

He said nothing, but scanned my face with his eyes looking for something. Finally he shrugged. "Why not? It's a lot less interesting than I'm sure you think it is." He stood up and with a dramatic flair of his hands, rounded on me. "It begins with the death of the Noble Father of a great ninja clan. His adopted daughter, now in control, is distraught and heartbroken. In her desperation, she begins to look for a way to reverse the sad state of her father, and once again take her rightful place as his lowly assistant."

I was fairly certain that had Karai heard him describe her like that, he's quickly be missing some vital anatomy. But he continued.

"She scours through her impressive resources searching for a solution, and stumbles upon something that might help-"

"Seiobo's Peaches," I said.

"Correct. These mythical pieces of fruit are said to either grant immortality to someone living, or return someone dead back to life. She decides to send her most dashing and promising ninja, myself, to find out what I could about it. I manage to find a great deal, but the dashing young ninja sees the errors of his master's ways." Here he stopped pacing and looked up as though seeing something divine, a piece of inspiration like that given to the great painters of old. "Why bring back a failure, whose own ineptitude brought about his death, when we could accomplish so much more as immortals?"

"And I take it that Karai disapproved of this new interest."

"Indeed. She decides that it is perhaps too dangerous after all, and orders the young ninja and his compatriots to cease their search. They do not. So instead, the Dead Leader's Daughter has to resort to measures that she hates- she hires one of her arch enemies to steal the artifact out from under the rouge group."

I was pretty sure I could surmise the next part of the story. "Let me guess, she hired April O'Neil, because she knew that you guys would go after her and draw the ire of the turtles who would stop at nothing to stop you, thus ensuring your defeat and secure the artifact for herself."

"Very good, and all true. This plan seemed to work for a little while. O'Neil was successful at keeping us from our goal, and our attempts to take her out of the picture always seemed to fail."

"But you thought of a new twist to get what you wanted."

"Indeed we did." He smiled at me. "We found you, a woman with a history of bad relationship choices," (I was tempted to jump up and punch his lights out for that) "who was best friends with the woman that we were trying to kill. I figured, if I got close to you, I'd eventually find a way to get rid of that irritating thorn in my side. But of course, things never go according to plan."

"What about the man who killed the older guy in the warehouse?" I asked. "Why did he do that?"

"Oh, him." Ken waved his hand dismissively. "A few of the older members of the clan had shown great interest in my investigation into immortality, and so they loaned me their support. They stole the picture for me because I had discovered what it really was, but instead of handing it over they decided to keep it as blackmail. If I didn't deliver, which they were starting to worry I wasn't, they'd keep the picture for themselves and go from there."

"That doesn't explain why the box was at the warehouse."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Haven't you guessed? O'Neil succeeded in her quest. She found the Box, brought it back to the US. But at that point, the splitters from my own little group had found out about it, and set the explosion up so they could steal it from her. And now, to make it even more complicated, one of the members of the splitters decided to defect back to Karai, and gave the location of the box to her while keeping it a secret from everyone else."

"And that was the guy that gave me the key," I surmised.

"M-hmm."

"But then who killed him?"

"One of my own. Sadly, his failure to deliver me the correct key had… fatal consequences."

I swallowed, feeling a stab of sympathy for the poor guy. Being at Ken's mercy was not something I would have wished on anyone. "But why try to kill me? What would that have accomplished?"

"I wasn't trying to kill you when I set your college on fire. I was trying to get your defenses up. I knew that at that point, you would either lead us to the box or give us some way to get it. You're far too cautious to keep something like that around."

I didn't bother to say that I had kept the damn thing in my apartment for a good two months after the fire. Instead, I continued to probe him for answers. "If you thought I had it, why didn't you just take the box from me? If you put a tracking device on me, you must have known I was lying when you… came over that night."

He shrugged. "What can I say? You're annoying, but pretty sexy. I'd wanted to get you into bed for a while."

There were sounds of struggle and I looked over to see Raphael straining to launch himself at Ken while Donatello was twisting his wrists in an attempt to loosen his bonds. He was staring at Ken as though he was going to flay him alive with his mind. Ken glanced over at them and gave a smirk. "She's an animal, in case you two were curious."

"I'm going to kill you," I snarled at him.

"What? It's a compliment."

"You still haven't told me what's in the box, asshat."

"Oh, like I'm going to talk to a person who insults me."

My face twisted into a sneer. If he wanted to play like that, then fine. "So what do you want now? Mock me? Show off how fantastic you are to have found this thing?"

"As satisfying as that may be, I'm actually here to offer you another deal."

"I'm not interested," I replied instantly. I didn't even need to consider my response before I gave it.

"Oh, but I think you will be." Ken walked over to the turtles and took a katana from the hands of one of his ninjas. He lifted it in the air and gave a few swings to make sure I was paying attention. When he knew I was, he walked over to Donatello and raised the weapon over the captive turtle's head as though he was about to come down and take Don's head off with it. All of the blood drained from my face as I watched him, and I knew that whatever deal Ken was about to make, it would involve the life of my friends.

"Now, I know that you've worked on that box, Irma," he told me. "I saw how it's been fiddled with, and I know it was you. You're not stupid; I know you could figure it out. And you were one of the only other people to have had access to the painting before it was taken by the police. I saw the pictures on your phone. You used them. Don't try to deny it."

I didn't move from my spot on the floor as he started to walk in front of the four brothers, idly swirling the sword in his hand. "So, my deal is this. You come with me and open up the box, or I will kill your little freak friends here."

I got tunnel vision. Everything started to black out and I visibly swayed where I sat. "You're joking. You must be joking. I don't believe you. You'll kill them anyway."

Ken walked over to me. "Oh, you know that's not true. After all, I kept my end of the last deal we made. Every shred of evidence of them is gone. I destroyed all of it."

"But they've gone up against you," I said. "There's no way you'd let them go. You're just saying this to make me desperate enough to agree."

"I don't need to make you desperate to deal with you. Besides, you made a similar deal with Karai already, didn't you?"

I cringed again and stared at the floor, feeling the stares of four pairs of eyes. Ken continued to push. "Oh, you didn't tell them, did you? You didn't tell them that Karai gave you the info you needed in exchange for you taking the box, and in return she promised not to kill the turtles the next time she fought them?"

"How do you know this?" I whispered, still not looking up.

"I have sources on the inside. I know my stuff."

"You'll still kill them anyway," I said.

"Not so," he argued. "I honestly don't care about your odd little friends here. Sure, they've pissed me off, but they've done a better job at irritating Karai, which always makes me happy. I always keep my word. If you agree to open the box for me, I'll let them live and I won't bother them unless they, of course, come after me, in which case fighting back would just be self defense."

"If you refuse…" he let his voice trail off and stood up again, walking back over to the turtles. He gave a small nod to the four men guarding the turtles, and they all lifted their swords as though they were going to decapitate them at a moment's notice.

"You wouldn't do that," I whispered, but I knew even as I said it that I didn't sound at all convinced on the matter. The truth was I knew he'd do it in a heartbeat, but I just couldn't understand why. I finally managed to lift my eyes up to the brothers who had saved me numerous times, had become my companions, friends, and rescuers. I was terrified of what I'd see in their eyes, but I knew I had to face it. All four of them had varying degrees of shock, betrayal, and a little fear, but in all of them was a firm, unyielding demand that I refuse to submit, that I defy Ken and walk away.

"I'll count to ten," Ken growled. "After that, they're dead and I'll torture you until you open it anyway. ONE."

Leonardo's gaze was even and calm, asking nothing, only showing me with his eyes that he would accept whatever decision I came to.

"TWO."

Michelangelo looked frightened, uncertain, but even as I looked at him, his apprehension was overridden by an obvious concern for me, and for his family.

"THREE."

Raphael conveyed pure fury, even as he was restrained and a hair's breath away from death. Not fury at me, although I was sure that had he been able to speak, he would have had a few choice words about the situation with Karai. It was fury at the circumstances, a deep rage at the position that I had been forced into, that we had all been forced into.

"FOUR."

Donatello… I could hardly bear to turn to him because I was so afraid of what I'd see. His words from before had cut too deeply into my heart for me to just forget about them. I was convinced that I disgusted him, and so what I saw in his eyes confused me and at the same time sparked a tiny kernel of hope. He was looking at me like he wanted nothing more than to pick me up and run off with me to some far corner of the world, as though he wanted to shield me from everything that wanted to hurt me.

"FIVE."

I knew, like the last time, what my answer would be. If I said no, I might be making a point, but they would all be dead, and I knew that even if I didn't break under the torture that I was certain I would undergo, they could always find someone else to figure out how to open the box. If I said yes, they would live to fight another day. They would live. They could find a way to stop Ken, I knew, even if he managed to open the box. They deserved to live. They could accomplish so much more than I ever could. I was no heroine, and I knew it, but I could at least try to help them as much as I could.

"SIX."

I was going to say yes, but I knew that I would probably never see any of them again, and I had to, needed to give some explanation for my actions. They had to understand. Donatello had to understand. But how could I say all I wanted to in just a few short words? How could I make him realize, make him see?

"SEVEN."

I got to my knees and crawled to Donatello, taking his face in my hands once I reached him. "It was for you," I whispered fiercely to him. "It was always for you."

Ken made a sound of disgust behind me. "NINE."

"I'll do it," I said loudly, not tearing my eyes away from Donatello's.

"Oh, good," Ken said calmly. "I was hoping you'd say that." He snapped his fingers and said something Japanese, and suddenly I found myself being dragged backwards by my hair. I cried out in pain and clawed at the hand that was pulling me, swearing at Ken and the other ninjas and basically everything in general.

"Irma," Ken said firmly, "I'm going to have to make you shut up now. Your language makes my head hurt." Something hard and heavy hit me on the back of my head and everything went black.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN! CLIFFHANGER!

Things are goin' DOWN now. All kinds 'a crazy thangs are gonna start happenin' up in hur… I don't know why I'm writing like this now. I shall cease this behavior instantly. It is most indecorous.

In any case, I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Let me know where I can improve via reviews. Please. Pretty please. Pretty, pretty please.