Leo and Raph stood on the same rooftop that they and their brothers had occupied only a short while ago. It was hard to believe just how short of time it took for them to return to the scene of battle that they had fled just earlier that day. Despite the huge commotion they had caused earlier, the place looked deserted. Even the giant hole left in the wall from the Shellraiser somehow looked inconspicuous. Leo looked at Raph uncertainly.

"It doesn't seem like they're here anymore," Leo said.

Raph looked sideways at his brother, his face showing just how badly he wanted to say 'duh.' Instead he said, "Got anywhere else to go, wiseguy?"

Leo huffed quietly. "No."

"So are we going or not?"

Leo looked down at the seemingly vacant building. "Yeah. Let's go." Together, they made they way to the ground. Instead of the aerial approach they had taken before, they the more obvious approach: the gaping hole in the wall. April and Casey were waiting a short distance away in the Shellraiser, waiting to bust in and provide backup if needed for the second time that day.

Raph reached the hole first. "Can't see a thing," he muttered to himself. Leo saw, too, that the large room was dark again. The light shining in from outside was only illuminating a surprisingly small portion of the room. There was rubble spewed across the floor from the Shellraiser's grand entrance. Other than that, there was no other sign of the fight that had taken place. Any evidence that had been there before Raph stepped over a large hunk of plaster into the building.

"Careful," Leo murmured. Raph scoffed.

"Careful? There ain't anything to be careful of 'cept tripping over this junk."

Leo didn't reply as he warily followed his brother through the mess. Inside the room, they stood aside each other and squinted through the darkness.

"Man," Raph sighed, "It's definitely empty. There's nothing here for us."

"Let's just look around a bit," Leo persisted. "There could be something here." He started walking forward into the gloom. Raph shook his head.

"Leo, we don't have time to go hunting for trolls in here. We gotta find out where the hell these guys went to."

Leo continued walking. "We don't really have anywhere else to look, Raph."

"Still, we need to-"

"Just a couple minutes," Leo said firmly, signifying that he was done arguing over it. Raph rolled his eyes to himself as he started trudging into the shadowy room after his brother. After a minute or so, Leo called out to his brother from across the room.

"Hey! I found something!"

Raph turned towards Leo's voice just as the entire place lit up. As his eyes cleared, Raphael saw, with the lights in the room now being on, his brother holding a remote in his hand. He walked to his side.

"That's the thing that ugly guy had earlier," Raph observed, squinting from the sudden brightness.

"Do you see anything?" Leo asked. Raph looked around him. Suddenly movement in the corner of his eye caused him to look above them. He stepped back, nudging his brother.

"Uh, I found the trolls."

Leo followed his brother's gaze. Above them was a series of beams, crisscrossing throughout the ceiling. They had been there earlier, as well, as the source of Raph and Leo's sneak attack. Only this time, the beams were swarming with Foot soldiers. They all gazed down on the two brothers hungrily like ravenous insects. As the two watched, a solitary soldier dropped to the ground. He held one obvious difference from the rest: the bottom half of his mask was completely open, leaving a sick grin exposed.

"So you did come back," He hissed. "In that case, I'm guessing you've figured it out. Karai did tell me that your group was smarter than it looks. Of course, I didn't believe her. Yet here you are. Hello again. Where's the other two? You don't plan on playing that trick on me twice, do you?"

Raph began towards the man, a scowl plastered on his face. Leo put out a hand to stop him, with a meaningful look at the company they held above them. Raph growled under his breath, but stopped his advance.

"They staid home," He said instead. "Don't worry, we won't be needing them."

The man chuckled darkly. "But I think Iknow what you animals do need, hmm?" As he said this, he withdrew a small vial from his belt of equipment. It contents were a murky brown color. Leo once again had to restrain his brother, who was much less patient about it this time.

"Let me go, Leo. I'm gonna smash his ugly face in."

"Have you forgotten about the hundreds of Foot soldiers that are currently waiting to smash your face in, Raph?" Leo replied.

The man chuckled again. The sound of it made Leo feel sick. He desperately hoped that this was not the man that had been handling Emilynn all that time.

"You should listen to that one," the man said to Raphael. "He seems must smarter than you." Leo could feel Raph's body go rigid with fury. "In fact," said the man with a crooked smirk, "I think I'll do my business with him from now on. Won't you come here?"

This question had apparently been directed at Leonardo. Leo looked at Raphael.

"Don't." Raph whispered. Leo looked back at the man in front of them.

"Stay here, Raph." Leo said. Raph looked at him incredulously, stepping forward after his brother.

"Leo-"

"Raphael. Stay. Here." Leo's cold stare locked onto his brother. "I can handle it. Just don't. Move." Leo turned away and left his brother behind without waiting for a reply. He walked up to the man, who watched him quietly from his black orbs of eyes. Once Leo was before him, he grinned. Leo had to hold back a shudder at the sight of it.

"My, you're quite the sight from up close." The man whispered. He licked his cracked lips. "Repulsive," he added, voicing Leonardo's thoughts exactly.

"Who are you?" Leo asked. The man's mouth rounded as if he were surprised.

"Who wants to know?"

Leo stared at him blankly, which earned the turtle another sickening grin.

"Let's just say I'm a friend of an enemy, and an enemy of a friend." The man gurgled. His voice had a very strangled sound to it.

"What do you want?" Leo said, paying no attention to his remark.

"It's not what I want, turtle. It's what he wants."

"The Shredder." Leo said bluntly.

"Ah, yes. That's what he calls himself. He's the boss. I don't usually work so close, but I do tend to drop by occasionally. I must admit, this is proving to be one of the more exciting visits."

Leo scowled to himself. He didn't like the way this man like to drawl on and on about things.

"Just tell me what he wants." He commanded.

"Now, now. Don't get bossy with me, turtle. My friends are very protective." He cast a pointed look to his 'friends' above them. Leo watched him silently, waiting for a reply.

"Alright, alright. Come here."

Leo watched him mutely. The man scowled, and stepped towards Leonardo instead. It took Leo a distracting amount of restraint not to flinch away as the man leaned in so their faces were side by side. Leo could hear his haggard breathing in his ear.

"You see, turtle. The Shredder wants two things right now. Dead girl, dead turtle. Earlier, the plan was to provide him with both. But seeing as that went a bit wrong, we've been put in a situation where we must, for now, opt for one of the two. So here's the options. One: leave now, take your brother, safe and sound, and don't take my antidote, letting the girl die. Or two: Let your brother die here."

Leo took an abrupt step back, freeing himself from the man's foul stench. "What?" He blurted. "There's no way I'd let you-"

"Ah, ah, ah, turtle," The man tutted. "You already have." He nodded towards the area behind Leo. Leo turned around to see an empty room. Raph had disappeared. He whirled back around the face the man.

"Where is he?" Leo shouted.

"Oh he's still here." At his cue, the Foot above the two of them started moving together. Leo watched as his brother's limp figure was drawn from their crowd and then roughly shoved. Leo cried out and ran to his brother as he fell through the air and smashed into the ground in a heap. Leo lifted his brother's head and felt for a pulse. It was still there. He turned back towards the man that was now grinning wider than he had ever before.

"What did you do to him?" Leo demanded.

"Oh, he's not dead or anything," Was the response, "Not yet, anyway."

Leo gritted his teeth together. "What did you do." He muttered.

"Hmm. Maybe you are as stupid as you look." The man said silently, as if he were talking to himself. Then he gestured towards Raphael. "Seem familiar?" He asked. "It's the same thing we gave to your precious girly." He stopped, holding up a finger as if remembering something. "Well, almost. What your, uh, sibling, is it? Yes, well, anyways, what your sibling now has circulating through his body is the more refined version of what we gave the girl. Would you like to now what I mean by that?"

Leo glared at him silently. After a long moment that made it clear the man was expecting an answer, Leo lowered his head and muttered: "Yes."

"I thought you would." The man continued. "To put it simply, he's going to experience the, er, symptoms," He paused for a moment, "much faster."

Leo looked down at his brother's unconscious face. He couldn't deny what the man had meant by that. Raphael, if left untreated, would die. Soon.

"How much faster?" Leo forced out through his clenched teeth.

"I told you much, didn't I? It doesn't matter." Seeing Leonardo's expression afterwards, he continued. "Don't worry, you still have a few minutes to... decide."

Leo stared at the man blankly before looking away and closing his eyes. "Give me it," He said.

"What's that?" The man asked nonchalantly.

"Give. Me. The antidote." He had opened his eyes now, and watched as the sick man licked his lips gleefully. He once again withdrew the vial filled with the brown liquid. He threw it to Leonardo, who caught it in one hand.

"Just pour it in the mouth the see results. It's miraculous, really."

Leo looked at the liquid doubtfully. What if this was all a trick? He had absolutely no reason to trust this man. He felt for Raphael's pulse. Fright seared through him to find that it had already had a significant change. He couldn't shake the feeling that what the grinning man was telling him was true. But what about Emilynn? Leo thought back to what Splinter had said to him before he left: Remember your priorities.

He unstopped the vial and poured it into his brother's mouth.

"Aha, trusting the bad guy. Not the smart choice."

Leo looked up at the man fearfully.

"Oh no, no," The man laughed, holding up his hands. "I wasn't lying to you. Just... for future reference, not a smart idea." As if on cue, the mass of Foot soldiers suddenly dropped from the ceiling, surrounding Raph and Leo and obscuring the leader from view. Leo bolted to his feet, expecting them to attack. Instead, they began slowly pouring out of the room.

"I'm glad you chose what you did, turtle." The voice of that sickening man called, rising up through the crowd somehow. "I think the boss will be, too."

Leo watched in stunned silence as the huge group disappeared. He only snapped out of his stupor when he heard his brother groan. He looked down at Raph, who had just opened his eyes. A huge scowl was plastered on his face.

"Leo," He mumbled, "There better be a good reason for why we're cuddlin' right now."

Leo said nothing as he helped his brother, who was having trouble sitting up on his own. Raphael groaned, grabbing his head with one hand.

"Ugh, I feel like shell. What'd they do t' me?" He looked at his brother. Leo shook his head.

"I'll tell you in the Shellraiser. Text April and tell her to come get us."

Raph's face screwed up as his looked at his phone. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and held it out to Leo. "You do it, man. Everything's blurry."

Leo took the phone and texted April. Less than a minute later, the Shellraiser came rumbling up to the building. Once it stopped, The front door opened and April hung out, looking for the two of them. Leo nudged Raph.

"Come on."

Raph grunted, rolling forward and trying to get up. Leo couldn't help but be slightly amused by the sudden sluggish way of Raph's movements. Then, feeling bad, he held out a hand to Raphael. Raph begrudgingly took it and allowed Leo to help him up.

"You okay?" Leo asked. Raph gave him an agitated look.

"Been better."

Together they made their way to the Shellraiser, where April watched them with a concerned expression.

"We didn't do it, did we?" Raph asked on their way. Leo looked down.

"No."

April's face fell as she saw their condition. Leo just shook his head at her. They didn't say anything as the two turtles situated themselves in the vehicle.

"Where to?" April said quietly. Casey got up from the driver's seat and allowed Leo to take his place. He went to sit beside Raphael, who was holding his head in his hands miserably.

"Home," Leo said.

They drove in silence on the way back. Shockingly, it was Casey who said what everyone had been thinking. Leo shook his head.

"How are we gonna tell Mikey?"

There was a long pause. Leo stared ahead silently. "I don't know," he said softly.

April looked up at him. "Leo, you don't have to-"

"I do," Leo cut her off. His voice had hardened. "I do have to."

The ride was silent again.

When they arrived at the lair, they weren't given a chance to think it over. As soon as the Shellraiser was turned off, they could hear Mikey's yelling. Quickly, they jumped up and opened the door. Mikey was running towards them, his face was full of panic.

"Guys!" He cried in a strangled voice. "You have to hurry! You have to give it to her now! You have to-"

"Mikey," Leo said, stepping out in front of Mikey. He saw his little brother's eyes were full of tears. Mikey paid no attention, pulling on Leo's arm frantically.

"Hurry," Mikey begged. "We're losing her!" He cried. Then his voice suddenly dropped as he looked up and met his brother's eyes directly. "We're losing her, Leo."

Leo swallowed hard, looking at the ground. He gritted his teeth. "Mikey." He muttered firmly.

Then Mikey knew. Leo couldn't look up at him, but he could tell Mikey knew. It was the way Mikey just suddenly stopped. Everything just suddenly stopped.

"Leo," Mikey said, "What's wrong?"

It seemed like an eternity before Leo finally answered. "We don't have it."

Then Mikey was strangely quiet. Leo didn't dare to see how his brother must have been looking at him, but when he did, he found that Mikey wasn't looking at him at all. Mikey wasn't looking at anyone. His eyes had fixed on something in the background. His face was blank. Leo's first instinct was to shake his brother, hard. But he held back. He didn't want Mikey to go away now like he did other times. But he couldn't bring himself to snap Mikey out of it.

"Donnie."

Leo looked away from Mikey with surprise, remembering the rest of the group that stood behind him. It was April who had said it, but Donnie was nowhere in sight. She met Leo's eyes.

"Donnie's antidote." She said.

And suddenly everyone was running. They rushed through the lab doors to where Donnie was very frantically going between tables and screens as he worked. He made no sign of noticing the sudden crowd. At some point Emilynn had been moved, she now lay stretched out on a table beside Donnie. She had a dingy makeshift monitor attached to her. Splinter was in a chair between them. Unlike Donatello, he acknowledged the group.

"Children," He said, rising from his chair. He gazed at them sadly. "It was not a success, I see."

Heads were shook in response.

"How much longer does she got?" Raphael asked. Splinter looked as though he was going to respond, but Donnie was the one to answer.

"She's been going in and out. Her blood flow is extremely slow, and her heart has been having spasms. She's been stable for a minute or so now, but the last one was bad. The next one may be it." Due to his rush, his words came out without much emotion, but one glance at his face showed his distress. As if his words were cue, the monitor suddenly started blaring.

"Donnie!" Mikey wailed. Leo looked over at him, shocked that he was here. Maybe he hadn't been as gone as Leo had thought. Mikey flew to Lynn's side.

"Donnie, you have to give her the antidote," Leo said quickly. Donnie cast him an incredulous look.

"Leo, at this point the risks are just too high for me to-" His voice was cut off as the monitor attached to Lynn increased in volume with another series of more shrill beeps. Donnie looked at it, then back at the vial in his hands.

"Oh, no." He said.

"Donnie?" Leo asked, watching his brother. His heart beat frantically as he risked a glance at Lynn and at the monitor freaking out beside her. Mikey was kneeling beside her with his head buried in her pillow. He held onto her fervently. Everyone else was frantically swarming around her, hopelessly wishing they could do anything to help.

"We're out of time." Said Donnie.

"Then use the antidote!" Leo cried.

"Leo, you don't understand! At this point, this 'antidote' could do terrible things to her!"

"Donnie!" April yelled as she stared at the monitor's screen worriedly.

"Donnie, we don't have a choice," Leo said.

"But-"

"Please, Donnie."

The last statement had been Michelangelo's. He had lifted his head from the bed, and looked at Donnie. His eyes looked back to Emilynn, who looked more dead than alive.

"Do it," Mikey said. "Please."

Donnie looked back at the vial in his hand with a pained expression. It's contents were a murky brown color similar to that of the one the man leading the Foot had held earlier.

"Okay," he whispered.

Donnie walked over to Emilynn. The others cleared room for him as he approached and gently lifted her head, opened her mouth, and poured the vial's contents into it.

There is a ton of ladybugs on my window right now. They're my friends.

Hello hello. I'm trying to write more. I just barely got my darling laptop back to slightly functioning-ness. My laptop is a cripple, but I love him dearly. It's a him, by the way. His name is Tim. If your name is Tim, hey. You have the same name as my laptop. It's a bit scary that I have such an emotional connection with my laptop, but I do. Tim was my first laptop. I paid for him with my very own very mature big kid money. The day I replace Tim will be a sad one, indeed. But he's still kicking for now. I adore Tim. I'm really sorry that I use up this space talking about my bond with my laptop. I love you Tim.

My life is sad.

Anyway, Tim's a little less dead, so I can write again. It's really not the same on anything not-Tim. But even with Tim alive (though very hobbled), I still live under a rock and have trouble actually publishing my chapters. I suck. I'm sorry.

I hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think.

If you actually read all this idiot stuff I say, you are a good kid. I want to be your friend.

Until next time. Tim loves you.