I have zero excuse for the delay. Zero. But having seen and enjoyed the new film, I felt like writing again, and as I had left this as a cliff hanger so long ago, I decided to finish it out.

Night's fall leached cold into the air and the sky was sharp with bright stars. Occasional clouds scudded across the moon's face, sending shadows crawling into the darkest corners of the alley. Leonardo stared across the deserted boulevard at the Landfall building. Two security men stood stone still at either side of the main entrance, fingers indexed along the gun stock above the triggers of their rifles. The guns glinted meanly in the glow of the streetlights.

Raphael elbowed Leo roughly and mouthed, "Get a move on."

Splinter laid a hand on Raphael's forearm, which was roped with muscles made tense by agitation and anger. "No killing without need, my sons." He held Raphael with a strong gaze until Raphael clenched his teeth and nodded sharply once.

Without a word, Leonardo and Raphael slipped out of the alley, ghosting through shadows, silent and invisible. Splinter pulled the hood of his robe over his face and shuffled out onto the pavement, looking for all the world like an elderly man on a midnight stroll, albeit one in an elaborate yet slightly shabby bathrobe.

The guards both snapped to alert as they caught sight of Splinter. "Stop right there, old man!" one of them barked, and they both stepped forward, guns raised. "What are you…" The taller guard did not finish his sentence, only gave a shocked grunt as a fist impacted the back of his neck. He toppled forward, coming to rest across his similarly-dispatched partner. Leonardo reached down and yanked the security key tags from their shirts. Raphael grabbed the collars of their shirts in each hand and yanked their unconscious bodies into the alley, tossing a few bags of garbage on top of them for good measure.

The trio swiftly entered the front doors of the Landfall Building, only to be met by a dozen startled soldiers, faces hidden by balaclavas. Raphael raced forward with a roar, glad to be able to finally unleash the burning rage that he'd been swallowing down for days. Two of the soldiers fell beneath his weight and he slashed another's Achilles tendon with a sai, grinning savagely when the man screamed and collapsed like a marionette without strings. He sensed a threat behind him and whirled, but Leo had already crashed into the man with a two footed mule kick, sending him flying back to hit the wall with a sickening crunch.

Splinter skidded forward, hands a blur, three men falling in quick succession in his wake. Raphael vaulted the security desk and delivered four swift punches to the guard there, and snatched his keycards. He tossed them overhand at Leo, and they all circled close, facing outward, fighting their way to the elevator banks.

The elevator door 'dinged' open and they darted inside. As the doors shushed closed, Leonardo gave the control panel a stab with his sword, sending sparks aloft and dimming the lights momentarily until the auxiliary power kicked on. Raphael stooped and offered his hands in a basket, boosting Leo up to push open the overhead hatch of the elevator car. Leo reached down and grasped Splinter by the forearms, drawing him up, and Raphael followed behind with a graceful leap.

"I still say we should go straight to the basement. Whatever Donny needs is down there," groused Raphael, ticking the tips of his sais together with impatience.

"And how are we supposed to find out exactly what he needs?" Leonardo pinned Raphael with a sour look. "They're keeping notes in that lab upstairs, they're sure to have a record of what Bishop did to him."

"Your brother is correct, Raphael. We shall follow the original plan. We can only find true answers in the records of what was inflicted upon your brother." Splinter's calm voice belied the tension that was clear in the way his ears were pinned back. "We cannot stab blindly in the dark, hoping to find a solution by mere chance."

Snarling, Raphael turned his back to Splinter and gripped the elevator cable tightly. Splinter grasped the curve of Raphael's shell tightly, then nodded. Leo blew out a quick breath and slashed out with his blade. As the counterweights of the cable were severed, they were jerked quickly upward, careening through the elevator shaft at a frightening speed as the car tumbled away beneath them.

The floor numbers painted on the wall of the shaft flashed by, rising, rising. 70, 71, 72, 73. Leonardo released his grasp on the cable, kicking out with his feet to brace himself against the wall of the shaft. Raphael crashed up against him, having mistimed his release, and he barked a whispered curse. Splinter, clinging securely to Raphael's back, hissed, "Silence!"

Leonardo pressed his eye to the gap between the doors, seeing only a pair of bored-looking security guards lounging in the hall. He held up two fingers, then eased his blade between the doors and levered them open with a quick heave.

He was out of the shaft and on the two men in only a blink, dispatching them before either could make a sound. Raphael followed, depositing Splinter at Leonardo's side. "I shall stay watch here, my sons, you must hurry."

With a curt nod, Leo vaulted the bodies at a run. As he dashed into the lab, the first person Leonardo saw was the same mousy lab tech they had met during their first raid of the building. The dumpy girl met his eyes and gave a little scream, sending a clipboard flying. Raphael cornered the other techs with a malicious grin, while Leonardo advanced on the frightened woman.

She retreated backward until she had wedged herself into a corner between the wall and a tall cabinet full of medical supplies. Leonardo stepped close, blocking her escape route with his body, and he ducked his chin to look directly into her terror-filled eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you." The girl didn't look particularly convinced. "I'm not. What's your name?"

The tech swallowed hard and stammered, "Kuh…Kate."

"Do you have family Kate? Brothers or sisters?" Leo forced his voice to remain soft, even. Kate nodded hesitantly, as though the question was a trap. Leo jerked his chin toward Raphael, but never broke eye contact with the girl. "Me too. That guy over there is my brother. And the guy your boss was experimenting on, he's my brother too." Leonardo gazed hard at the girl's face. "I bet you'd do anything for them, huh." She nodded again, a little more strongly. "You said last time we were here that you were studying the results of Bishop's tests, which means you must know what sort of things are in my brother's system. So I'm asking you. Tell me how to save him."

With that, he stepped back, opening a space for her to escape from the corner. She moved forward, hesitant and hunched, keeping her eyes on Leonardo the entire time, and after a moment of clear, conflicted thought, she pointed a shaking finger across the room at the door. "Down in the main lab...There's some vials, the ones with the red rubber stoppers." When she paused, Raphael looked over at her and curled his lip in a snarl. "They're labeled Romazicon. Give him one vial, IV push, with 20 milliliters atropine, over ten minutes time. Then another vial 30 minutes later."

A swell of hope rushed through Leonardo's chest, but his face remained blank. "Give me his records." The tech reached over, snatching a thumb drive from one of the computers and thrusting it at him. She recoiled at the touch of his hand. Leonardo looked down at her, grim-faced, and nodded. "Thank you." He turned to go, then paused and looked over his shoulder at her. "You should probably start looking for a new job." She stared back, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as he darted out of the lab.

Splinter was crouched at the open doors of the elevator shaft, lashing his tail with impatience. "We cannot linger. Every moment that passes is a moment for Bishop's forces to regroup."

Raphael shouldered Leo aside. "Express to the basement," he barked, pulling a wristband down to wrap around his palm. He hooked an arm around Splinter's waist and dropped into the elevator shaft, sliding one-handed down the cable line.

Leonardo followed suit, counting the floors in his head as he descended. At Subbasement 4, Raphael halted by planting a foot against the sidewall of the shaft. Leo took a steeling breath, then whispered, "Most likely going to be ugly. They know where we're heading."

"And they got a helluva head start on us while you were chatting up Nurse Ratched," gruffed Raphael. Splinter shot him a stern look so he just clenched his teeth and muttered, "So what's the plan, Fearless?"

"Full on blitz." Leonardo unsheathed his ninjato, the skin on the back of his neck prickling at the quiet whisper of the metal leaving the leather. "We'll only get one shot at this." He closed his eyes for a split-second, reaching out with his spirit. Hang on, Don. Nearly there. Hang on.