The cool night air felt good as it pressed against my skin and through my braided hair. A wide smile was plastered on my face as I somersaulted forward, clearing a gap between two buildings before I landed in a forward roll. I came back to my feet, utterly delighted to be back out after months of inactivity. Leo ran along side me now, his own face sporting a smile as he set me up for another leap. The tension I saw on his face earlier this evening was gone and I could feel that he was beginning to enjoy himself. A lot.

After the Unicron incident, things took a turn in the abnormal for us. Our routine severely shaken up. First we spent months helping the bots to rebuild the base that was pretty much destroyed in the fight with the Heralds of Unicron. Only a few structures had remained standing, and they were very unstable. The whole place had to be rebuilt practically from the ground up. Took quicker than we expected it would to get it running to where the guys felt it was ok for us to return home. What was left to do was just minor fine tuning on all the systems and what not, and the bots could handle that on their own.

But in leaving, we also left our children behind. Each now grown turtle tot had found someone they had connected with. Not willing to rip the humans from their chosen profession at NEST, nor to settle on a long distance relationship with them, the teens had decided to stay on the base with their mates. And they were welcomed with open arms. Will, Epps and Prime all were happy to have the capable teens under their, unofficial, command. They existed there as ghosts. Not officially on the government payroll and they had been given their own tech by Donnie that they had linked into the bot's systems and by the time we headed for home, they were fully integrated into the NEST team. Heck, they accepted their first mission even as we rolled out towards home, towing the still not completely fixed up van.

And when we did get home, Leo enforced the decision he made. The guys settled down into their retirement. I understood why he decided on this, and he was in a way right. They still had the ability to turn into dragons and sooner or later one of them would get frustrated or tempted and turn into that large, graceful...and very hard to hide, dragon. That in return would bring who knows how many monster hunters in the city to look for them. That didn't mean the decision sat well with them. As we found out earlier, the forced inactivity was starting to unravel them, and us, a bit. The run tonight was actually doing us all a world of good.

"I have to admit...I did miss this..." Leo told me as we landed together. His blue eyes sparkling in the night.

I laughed in my own enjoyment, both at being out and his better mood. "You've been doing it for so long, you just can't turn it off Leo."

I got a rueful shrug as an answer.

"Hey!" Caitlin called from behind us. "Wait up a minute!"

"Why? What's up?" I asked as we all skidded to a stop.

Caitlin was leaning over the side of the building we were on, looking intently down to the street before she pointed. "Nothing. I just want to go look at something is all."

I walked curiously over to see what had her attention, and rolled my eyes. "Really..." I asked her in a flat tone as I looked away from the bridal store and back to her. "Come on Cait. I don't think any of them are ready for that just yet."

Her delicate face took on a pouting expression. "I just want to look..."

The quiet chuckle Leo let out told me he fell for that look. "Go with her. We'll wait up here."

I rolled my eyes again and we dropped down with Caitlin. She let out this annoying girly squeal as she ran towards the large display window. Immediately she started gushing over everything she saw. And had to look at every single piece. "Oh! That dress would look lovely on Ari..." She pointed excitedly.

Cris groaned slightly as she walked over at a much slower pace.

"And that veil is so pretty!" Cait gushed next, her hands pressed to the window and her face almost smushed up against it.

Marina sighed as she stepped off of the street we crossed and up onto the curb.

"And look at those shoes!"

"Oh good god..." I muttered, rubbing my face.

Cris walked over to me and placed her elbow on my shoulder and leaned on me as we waited as Caitlin made her way slowly down the window. "And what about this one! Oh that tiara..."

"Anyone else already feeling sorry for Ari and Adam?" Marina asked calmly as she crossed her arms. Cris snickered as I tried not to roll my eyes again.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about bridezilla." I dryly replied. "It's momzilla who is-" I cut myself off. Something else had gotten my attention. The slightly amused sensation I was getting from Leo turned into shock, then anger before he just...turned off... I couldn't feel him anymore. My head snapped around to the rooftop they had been waiting on even as Caitlin and Marina did the same.

"I can't feel them..." Cait said quietly as her eyes went up. Marina nodded her agreement.

I was moving back across the street before she even finished, cursing violently as I did.

They were right on my tail as I frantically ran up the fire escape and we all skidded to a stop in shock to find an empty rooftop. The four turtles who should have been there, weren't. The only thing we found were their weapons scattered all over the roof.

.

.

Leo opened his eyes and didn't like the situation he found himself in. He was strapped down, front first on a metal table. His arms extended out in front of him and his legs were also held tightly down. Confusion hit him a moment before everything came flooding back into his mind. One moment they were watching Caitlin, enjoying her excitement as she dreamed for what she hoped for would be the next step in her daughter's relationship, the next there had been a net thrown over him. A net that had been stronger than his attempts to get out of it, and it was encrusted with odd looking crystals. Crystals that burned him where they touched. The fully covered men then promptly unarmed the four of them before grabbing hold of the furious turtles, hitting something on their belts and somehow zapped them all to this place. Then Leo had been sedated.

Now he was lying on what he fully realized was an experient table. And he knew because he had seen to many in his life for his liking. Leo ignored the burning sensation that came from the areas he was strapped down at and began to furiously struggle.

"What the hell!" Raph roared, letting Leo know he was also awake. But Leo couldn't see him. Where ever he was, it wasn't in Leo's line of sight. The sounds of Raph jerking at his own restraints then met Leo's ears. "Somebody better get me off of this damn thing!"

"Yeah!" Mikey agreed, a hint of anger in his voice. "So not cool dudes!"

"But yet very amusing all the same to watch you four struggle." A smug voice replied.

Leo stopped, his eyes wide as he listened. He knew that voice, and it was one he thought he would never hear again. "Bishop..." He snarled.

"You should be rotting in hell!" A furious Raph snapped, his anger picking up.

"I should be yes, but I'm not." The smirking black clad man walked now into Leo's view, eyeballing the turtle with undisguised hatred. "You and your family have a lot to answer for."

"As do you." Leo snapped back, once again jerking on his restraints. This time he hissed in pain as they burned deeper into his wrists.

"I think I already paid my price." Bishop replied, his eyes narrowing. "And now it's time to pay yours." A scalpel he held in his hand was brought into view. "You will now serve me."

"The hell we will!" This from the normally calm Donnie.

Leo tried to reach into himself, to pull out the dragon that hid deep within as a last ditch effort to free himself, and was shocked when he felt the connection he needed blocked from him. A very desperate Leonardo once again pulled at his restraints that refused to budge and held him firmly in place.

"Exactly, it will be hell for you, but you will." That evil gleam Leo had seen so many times came into Bishop's eyes. "You will serve me and do as I wish you to do." He stepped closer to Leo, hitting a hidden button on the table and a band snapped out to hold the thrashing head into place. "And by the time your family finds you, all they will be able to do is watch as I order you to tear them to pieces. That is a worthy enough reward for putting up with your meddling all those years."

"No!" Leo growled out one last time before the sting of the scalpel cut into the back of his neck.

"Oh yes." Leo barely heard him through the pain. "I will turn you against your own family, and there will be nothing you can do about it."

.

.

"What do you mean you can't feel them!" I thundered at the two turtle trackers. "They have to be here somewhere!"

"Just that!" Marina snapped back. "They are nowhere in this area!"

"Or they are shielded." Caitlin said in a defeated tone as Cris drove the older van around the city for the countless time. "It's not the first time that's happened."

"Then you would be able to sniff out the boarders of the shield like you did last time!" I snipped. I was tired, hungry, frustrated and worried to no end. We had been on the move for hours trying to find them. Only taking short breaks at home to rest a little, eat a few bites while Marina and Caitlin tried to use Donnie's various computers to try and track something down. But even as well as those two knew him, they weren't Donnie and couldn't find anything. That in return led us back to the streets again to do it the old fashioned way.

I don't know how we kept this hectic pattern up for over a day now. And I also didn't know how much longer we could keep it up. All I could say with determination was that we weren't going to just give up and hope they make it back on their own. We left notes every time we went out, just in case they did show up. But so far? Nothing. It was like the earth had swallowed them whole and refused to spit them back out.

Caitlin was on the verge of tears now. a combination of her own worry and my harsh tone eating at her. I suddenly felt like such a damn heel as I looked at her. She was trying just as hard as the rest of us. "Caitlin, I'm sorry hon. I really am."

She didn't answer but laid a hand on my arm as Cris guided the van down another road, hoping that this one would give us some kind of lead. It didn't.