Because today's a national holiday (And my birthday) I went ahead and updated.

Rated T for:Violence, and some language. Everything in it's place, and light.

Inspiration: Brothers, Pain in the neck when their around and a pain in the heart when their gone.

Thanks to: Pretender Fanatic and PainterofSorrows. Glad to have people who enjoy what I do.

Maria stalked around her room restlessly. Under normal conditions this was her own place of quiet contemplation, and retreat from battles with her sister, brothers, or anybody, really.

And under normal circumstances, this was a place where she could just let her feelings flow into the air, into the open, letting her live in peace.

However, Maria's life had not been normal in the last few weeks. Two to be exact. Two entire weeks, and still no word. Her brother was still missing, and not one soul could give the police any sort of information, or her family for that matter.

Maria paced the floor thinking it all over, until it made her sick, and dizzy. She threw her hands into the air and plopped angrily onto her bed.

"I give up!" She screamed for the millionth time. "I can't think of a single person to call, a single person to ask, or a single person who might have a bleeding clue!" She huffed a heavy sigh.

'Two weeks.' She thought. 'Two weeks of no news, and almost no hope...'

The last two weeks had been filled with an electric kind of tension. One could almost feel all the heightened emotions, dancing through every room in the house. It was the sort of atmosphere that one could practically touch, and feel with the utmost ease.

Despite the wonderful, sunny weather outside, inside the Connrad home was gloom, anger, and most prominently, a spiteful sort of despair.

Maria and Ann had done little but bicker through the whole of the three days. Ann was a bad person to cross, but Maria wasn't to take insults, even when they weren't directly aimed at her.

She missed her brother. She worried over him. True, she wasn't extremely close to Lee, but she still loved him, and would try to exact her revenge upon anyone who tried to injure any of her family. Family was all she really had. She knew by experience that friends could stab you in the back, or choose to leave you over foolish things that didn't matter. Not family though. She felt the biting sting of having her firmest foundation shaken from under her feet. Too much more of this, and it might collapse. That was why she would give anything to save, or help those she loved.

'Wonder if he knows that...' Maria pondered. 'I guess he knows... I just wish that I could prove it...'

Maria looked out the window wistfully. She felt small and alone. With her brothers gone, (One in college, one moved away, and the other missing.) Her mother off SanFransico, working alongside the police, and her father working. That left the two girls by themselves for a few days, until their grandmother could make the nine hour trip to come look after them. That left one person. Ann. Maria was still infuriated with her younger sister's cruel and inflaming attitude. Ann too seemed to be unwilling to recant her actions, justifying them to herself.

Living in a big family (Or medium, compared to some) wasn't easy. Sometimes, Maria found it to be downright vexing.

A loud shrill ring from the telephone snapped the teen out her laments.

"I'VE GOT IT!" She called loudly, and with deft speed, she snatched up the phone.

"Hello?" She said cradling the cordless device to her ear. "Connrad residents."

"Am I speaking to Mr. or Mrs. Connrad?" A calm, reputable, male voice asked.

"No, I'm sorry," Maria stated, almost automatically. "Neither are in, may I take a message?"

"Yes, I am calling on behalf of the NYPD." The voice said. Maria's hopes rose.

Could they be bringing news of Lee? Could they have found him? That made perfect sense to her. Lee could've found his way to her other brother, David. David was going to college there, and the two were exceptionally close.

"Oh," She said, her confidence rising. "Have you found something?"

"Pardon?" The voice on the other end sounded rather confused.

"My brother," Maria prodded, completely forgoing any formality, or decorum. "Have you found something out about him?"

Silence met her from the other end for a moment.

"I'm sorry; did somebody already call you about the disappearance of David Connrad?"

Leonardo let out a loud, heavy sigh, as he and his brothers trudged into the lair. All of them were tired, and worn out. It had been a week of constant searching, but there was no sign of their quarry. Even their reporter friend couldn't come up with anything on recent Foot activity for them.

Michelangelo fell onto the couch unceremoniously, and let out a loud groan, echoing his brother's softer lament of failure. Donatello walked into the kitchen, his bare two-toed feet scuffling on the floor. Raphael gave a low growl, as he marched into the training room. Moments later, the loud, rythematic sounds of his fists hitting the punching bag filled the air.

Leo drug his feet towards his room, an automatic movement. His mind was running at a sluggish pace as he pushed open the heavy metal door.

"Leonardo..." The eldest turtle paused at his sensei's voice. He turned to face the aged rat.

He stood tall, and proud, despite his short stature. His fur was a soft brown, hidden by his long maroon robe.

"I know that you are disappointed by your fruitless search, my son..." The rat said his voice akin to a loud whisper. He placed a paw-like hand on Leonardo's shoulder. "Yet hope remains, in a place you have yet to look."

Leo frowned, his brow creased in confusion, and frustration. "Where would you have me look Master Splinter?" He asked, hiding all traces of weariness.

Splinter closed his eyes, hiding the wise brown irises from sight. He huffed a small sigh of his own brand. "That, my son, is unclear to me."

Leo turned his head to the side, his frustration increasing. Even his sensei didn't have a good answer. That was a bit of a blow. True, his sensei's wisdom had faltered before, but those times were few, and far in between. He had been hoping that Splinter would have been able to give him an answer, but...

Leonardo's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the lair's telephone. Leo glanced at his sensei for a moment, and then made a bee-line for the kitchen where the phone sat attached to the wall. It had been an old payphone that had malfunctioned. The city probably decided that it was cheaper to replace the old one, than to fix it, and tossed this one away. Donny had fixed it up into a fine piece of machinery that worked as their own private line.

The genius was now on the phone, cradling it with his shoulder, as he wrote something down with a pen.

"Uh-huh, Thanks April. Leo's gonna love this." He said, as the other brothers crowded around. "Yeah, I will. April, we're always caref-" He stopped, listening to the woman's voice on the other end.

"I guess we can take him along for the ride. Let me ask the guys." He pushed the phone away from his mouth, and looked up at his brothers. "April wants us to take Casey with us."

Leonardo gave quick nod of consent, eager to know what had been found. Donny gave small smile, and turned back to the phone. "Leo says it's fine. Uh-huh. Promise. Don't worry April, we'll be fine. Okay. Thanks again. Bye."

The purple clad turtle hung the phone back up, and turned to his brothers again.

"Good news and bad." He announced. "April got wind of a NYPD Missing person's report."

"So what Brainiac?" Raph growled, crossing his arms in irritation. "The missing guy's from the south. Mississippi?"

"Louisiana." Leo corrected. "But the same scenario. He wouldn't have missing persons report in New York."

Don shook his head. "That's just it. His younger brother just went missing. The report's on a missing college student, David Connrad."

"So what's the scoop Sis?" The question came from a tall young man, hunched over in a chair. His features were mostly cast in shadow, as the only light in the small computer lab came from the screen of said computer. In the eerie light, one could just make out his forcibly calm expression, and wide, worried brown eyes. His skin took a sickly pale hue in the dim lighting, adding a ghostly tint to his jet black hair. He looked to be about nineteen, or twenty.

His attentions were turned to another figure; he sat in a computer chair, in front of the machine. Her back was straight, and good posture, her calculating brown eyes running over the data on-screen. Her long jet black hair came down to her shoulders, wavy and wild. Her skin looked just as pallid as the man who had spoken, giving her the appearance of an unearthly creature. Her sister, Maria often commented that if she didn't get some sun, she'd scare people into believing she was a banshee. It didn't take a DNA test to tell that the two were twins, possibly identical.

She bit her pale lip. "Not good." She muttered. "Not good at all..."

With a few taps on the keyboard, and mouse clicks, she brought up more coded information. With a muttered curse, she quickly scanned the nonsense lettering, and numbering.

"It's worse than we thought..." She stated, in response to her brother's query. "David's on the move, or been caught, No clue on Lee's holding cell. Their keeping that info tighter than the CIA's mutation project."

"So?" The brother gave a shrug. "You got through that easy enough. Why not here?"

The young woman gave a heavy sigh. "That information existed to steal, this doesn't. Besides, that was the hardest network I've ever hacked, and you know it." She rubbed her temple.

"Sorry." He huffed. "Look, Amy, I'm not trying to stress you, but we need to find out what Lee managed to get his hands on, and find it."

Amy glanced at her twin brother. "Aiden, if I had even a glimmer of an idea as to what, and where, I'd tell you. But there is no data on it. That's why Lee went in, remember?"

Aiden nodded his head slowly. "I know. It's just...Well, it's getting worse." He heisted his head in his hands. "Before you know it, they'll try to commission Rei rei."

Amy caught the note of helplessness within his voice. They were twins after all, it was natural for her to hear his fears, and understand them better than her own, and vise versa.

She exhaled slowly. "Aiden," She murmured gently. "I know. Believe me, I do. Maria is still young, and innocent. We vowed to keep her, and Anne, and mom safe. And we will." She smiled, cupping a hand around her brother's cheek.

"But we're going to have to think of something different."

The plot thickens... and I turn another year older. Huh. Review.