You know those action movies, when the protagonist has to climb through the air duct for some reason or another, and the duct is miraculously spotless?

This was not one of those times.

Tally had to resist the urge to cough and was contented to silently die as she climbed through the duct. The thing was so dusty and moldy Tally was sure she was going to catch some sort of disease. Whoever cleans this building has been doing a really crappy job. It also sucked because she was right in assuming it would fit her, but she had taken to account that she would have to army crawl her way down the shaft.

It doubly sucked because she had no idea where she was going. Tally felt her way along the vent, her eyes trying to focus on any light as she tried to keep her weight as evenly dispersed as possible. If she kept it even, the less noise she'd make. It also cut down on the possibility of falling through the thin sheet metal. She didn't think that neither Hun nor the Foot would take too kindly to her trying to escape, so she figured she should keep it on the down-low.

Tally couldn't help it, and she let out a small cough. She held her breath and froze in place. She counted to thirty before continuing her journey. She stopped again when she came to a fork, and there was a grate that looked down.

Tally glanced down and saw the hallway. She nodded. "Excellent," she breathed. So, she was…generally on the right track. The only question now was whether she wanted to stay in the vents, following those, or take a chance on the hallway and try and find the door. She deliberated a few moments before a flash of green made her decision for her.

She punched out the grate and stuck her head out, "Guys?" she asked in surprise. The turtles turned around, weapons ready, until they saw who it was.

"Tally?" Leo asked in surprise. The four lowered their weapons and Tally lowered herself out of the air ducts to meet a rush of hugs. She felt extremely loved in the moment.

"What were you doing in the ducts dudette?" Mikey asked, ruffling her hair.

"Trying to find a way out." She explained. "To find you. Listen-"

"That's genius." Raph grinned.

"We got your call," Leo said, holding up his shell-cell.

"Thanks but-"

"How'd you get that bruise?" Donnie interrupted, examining her head. "And those rope marks?"

"I'll tell you later." She said. "Guys," she said. "I screwed up. I screwed up big time."

"What happened?" Leo asked.

Tally found herself getting emotional again as her shoulders hunched. "I caved," she said quietly, looking down at the ground. "I told them that the lair was underground." She paused. "I'm so sorry." Tally balled her fists as she blinked back ashamed tears. There was no point in crying now; it was already done, nothing she could do could change that, so why cry? "I thought I was s-stronger but I wasn't. It was a good thing you guys blind folded me otherwise-"

"Tal," Leo interrupted. "Calm down." He took a calming breath of his work and rubbed his head. "Is that all you told them?"

Tally nodded.

"They've known that for years." Donnie grinned, "There's no way they'll find it. The only reason they did last time is because of those Mousers." He explained. "And I've highly improved our tech since then," he assured. "No one's finding us."

"Really?" Tally asked, relieved disbelief washing over her. Mikey patted her shoulder.

"Really dudette."

"I'm just sorry you got hurt telling them info that they already knew," Don said apologetically.

Raph cracked his knuckles. "Not as sorry as they're gonna be from hurtin' our friend." He said with a menacing grin.

"So…you guys aren't mad?" Tally asked, looking up at them.

The four turtles shook their heads. "Not a chance," Mikey grinned. Tally grinned back. In that exchange, she felt something warm and real wash over her. These mutants…these turtles…these warriors-they weren't just her friends. No, not just her friends, not anymore.

They were her brothers.

Tally smiled widely and cracked her own knuckles before rolling her shoulders. "Then let's kick some ass."

There was a cry of agreement and the five of them ran down the hall. Nothing look familiar to Tally, but she hoped that the turtles knew where they were going. Tally shook her head and got in the zone. She was going to kick Hun's ass. And she wasn't going to let him intimidate or scare her ever again. She made this decision now, and there was no going back. She refused to be that scared little girl afraid of a big bully. And now that she had her friends to back her up, she felt like she could actually do it. There was no turning back now.

"Looks like we don't have to search the sewers after all, do we turtles?" Hun asked, as he and several Purple Dragons filled the hallway.

Raph twirled his sai. "We never run from a fight." He growled.

Hun grinned, cracking his knuckles as the other Dragons swung their various weapons. "And that will be your downfall." He laughed. "Not really smart of you to walk into the Purple Dragons' hideout."

"Dude could you get any cheesier?" Mikey laughed. Leo shook his head and leapt first. The rest of the group followed after.

Now granted, Tally was still super sore. She figured she was running on pure adrenaline, because the last time she had properly slept had to have been at least a day and a half before.

But hey, the adrenaline was working out so far.

Tally wanted to go straight for Hun, but the guys had already called him, so she settled for some underlings. She spotted the bat guy from the roof and smiled at him. Revenge was sweet.

"How's that knot on your head shorty?" He grinned, swinging his bat.

"Not as big as the one I'm gonna put on yours." Tally shot back, attacking him.

The Dragon took a swing and Tally ducked underneath it at kneed him in the stomach. She grinned. That was pretty precise, she thought to herself. While she was in his box, she sent an uppercut to his jaw, sending him back, at the same time sending the bat sprawling. Unfortunately, because of her size and lack of power behind her punches, it didn't knock him out like she had hoped. It was defiantly going to leave a bruise, but she would have to stick with her legs for this fight.

The Dragon came back and popped his neck before coming after her. He clipped her jaw and she stumbled, but she regained her balanced and dodged the next one, coming in with a missed jab of her own. She had to give the guy credit, he was pretty fast.

But she was faster.

She jumped up and nailed him in the side with a kick, and just as she was about to grab his head and ram it into his head, another Dragon was sent flying into him. She looked over to see Raph waved, giving a wink. She gave him some finger guns and swung turned around to a punch in the gut from another. Tally gasped and fell to her knees, a sharp pain in her stomach. It almost felt like she got shot again, and for a moment she had a panic attack, looking down and half expecting to see blood.

She didn't, but she did see the ceiling as she was shoved down, a foot on her chest.

She sucked in a breath and dug her nails into his exposed calf and gave him a mean Indian burn. He yelled and jerked up, giving her just enough room to grab the bottom of his foot and shove him off balance before swiping her foot underneath the other and sending him crashing to the ground.

Okay, maybe it wasn't ninjustu, but she wasn't going to give up her dirty fighting when it was still working. She got up and kicked him in the head. He was out.

Tally turned toward the rest of the fight. The turtles had effectively taken down most of the Dragons, and now they were all focusing attention on Hun.

"How can I help?" she asked, running beside Leo. Leo glanced at her and then at Hun, analyzing and considering how best she would be affective.

"Go from behind, take out his legs," He ordered.

"Right!" Tally said, running around.

Tally was pretty small, so to her, everyone seemed big. But she never really saw how big Hun was. He was gigantic. She knew that Leo was right; get him off balance, and he would fall hard.

Tally bounced on her heels and made a quick assumption. There was no way her mass alone was going to knock Hun off his feet. She looked around and grinned, finding a loose cable. She hauled it up and swung the end of it.

"Mikey, catch and hold on!" she called, tossing one end of the cable to him. The orange clad turtle caught it.

"You got it dudette!" He called back. Tally nodded and sprinted around Hun's massive form as he twisted and turned trying to swat the other turtles off of him like flies.

Leo saw what she was doing and nodded. "Push him back!" he ordered.

"Accursed turtles!" Hun roared. And with that roar, the dude went crashing down, with the turtles beating him up. He roared once more and barreled up, pushing all five of them off. "This isn't over turtles!" he yelled, running down the hall.

"It never is," Leo said, holding his hand up, to stop his team from following. "The fight's over guys," He said as they put their weapons away. There was a collective whoop of victory.

"How ya feeling Tal?" Raph asked with a grin, throwing an arm over her shoulder. She winced.

"Like I could sleep for 12 years," She said, giving an exhausted grin, feeling herself coming off her adrenaline high.

"Then let's go home." Leo said.

Home was the best sound Tally had ever heard.