Brandon cursed under his breath as he searched around the living area for the one element that was missing from his plan. Dang it, I know Raph left his keys behind. Where are they?

It had been about half an hour since the others had left, and that meant that the timing was right for him to make a move of his own. Jenna was in the Lab with Donatello, and he didn't know what Jazz was up to. It made sense to get out before anyone would see him, but the missing keys were throwing a wrench in the works.

This is ridiculous. I need to leave now, but I'm not going to get far without the…His thought trailed off when he suddenly noticed that Jazz was watching his frenzied search from the hallway.

"Looking for something, Brandon?" Jazz asked.

"Um, sort of. I lost…" he faltered, swallowing as he wondered if she knew more than she was letting on.

"You changed your clothes," she mentioned casually.

He cocked his head as he took another look at her. "You did too," he realized.

"Are these what you're searching for?" she suggested, holding up Raphael's key-ring.

Brandon gasped without meaning to. "What are you doing with those?"

"What do you intend to do with them?" Jazz shot back.

He sighed inwardly. "I can't stay here, okay? I thought I could force myself to sit back and wait, but it's not going to happen. I've got this bad feeling in my gut that won't allow it."

"Who are you chasing?"

He crossed his arms. "I haven't decided."

"You're already behind them, and you haven't made up your mind? It's the wrong time to be indecisive, Brandon."

"You think I don't know that? This isn't an exact science. I don't have a clue what this feeling is telling me to do. I know where I want to be, but the chances of me losing it are so great that I could become a major liability."

Jazz nodded. "Then it sounds like we have a longer road trip ahead of us."

"We?" he echoed.

"You don't think you're getting out of here without me, do you? Where's the fun in that?"

"This from the girl who got caught in the middle of a terrifying gun battle?"

"This is different," she protested. "Team Prevention is only going to be poking around Indian Point."

"That doesn't mean it won't be dangerous," he countered.

"Everyone else is out there."

"All of them are in some form of law enforcement! They're professionals."

"Well, you work for the FBI. You train with the turtles. You're a fellow butt-kicker. I'll be safe with you, right?" she asked impishly.

"I don't think it's a good idea," he said honestly.

"It's not a good idea for you to go either, but you are," she retorted. "If we both go, at least we can look after each other."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to put you into a dangerous position."

"Then I guess you don't want the keys."

"This isn't a game, Jazz," he said seriously.

She put her hands on her hips defiantly. "Jenna isn't going with you. She wouldn't even let you go without a fight, and I'm not going to stand here silently while you walk out the door. You people stick together, right? So if you go, I go."

"You have no idea what we could be getting into."

"You know what? I'm not anything special, Brandon, and I'm definitely not brave like these turtles. But if they can storm some building full of the worst of the worst to save millions of people who don't know or give a crap about them, then I can step up a little too. The other team is only looking for signs that the Plant has been tampered with, aren't they?"

"That's the plan, but there's probably going to be some resistance, Jazz."

"I figure that's why you've got your sticks on you."

"I already told you what they're called."

"As if I'd be able to repeat it?"

Brandon crossed his arms with a withering glare.

"I'm going with you; that's all there is to it," she continued. His eyes narrowed, but she wasn't budging. "Are you going to fight me for them, or are we going to leave together, before Jen realizes what we're doing?" Jazz held up the keys questioningly.

"You're ticking me off right now."

"I don't care. I'm not letting you go alone. Everyone has to have back-up."

"You're not prepared for this!" He struggled to keep his voice down.

"Neither are you. We're the perfect partners in crime. Do you really want to waste more time arguing with me, or do you want to chase the Indian Point Team?"

Brandon stared her down for several seconds, then glanced longingly at the door.

"So? Are we going?" she asked.

He cast her a dirty look. "We need to hurry. Can you move fast in those shoes? We have to get to the van entrance on foot."

"I've been storing up energy doing nothing for a couple of weeks now. Lead the way, and I'll follow."

As they slipped through the main door, he noticed Jazz put the key-ring in her jacket pocket. "You're going to hold those keys hostage, aren't you?"

"I'm not giving you the chance to ditch me. We're in this together, Man; you may as well accept it."

"It's crazy," he muttered. "They're going to kill us."

"Who?"

"The turtles. My sister. Greg. Take your pick."

"No kidding. You're more worried about your family than you are the Akiudo? It's really time to get going then."

Brandon clenched his jaw in irritation as he picked up speed in the darkness. "You're a civilian; you've got no business being within ten miles of this crap."

"Aren't your doctors considered civilians too?"

"They don't go inside the hell-holes."

"No? What about Hillsboro? Both Jen and Marcus invaded on that mission."

"That wasn't the same thing," he said sharply. "You don't understand how dangerous this is. If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself!"

Jazz was quiet for a few seconds as she kept up with him. "Doesn't choosing a side mean taking action of some kind?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Donny. He told me that I couldn't be neutral forever, that I needed to make up my mind to stand for something. You feel like you need to act, and I do too. If the gang had it their way, this could be the freakin' end of the world as we know it for Manhattan.

"September 11th was bad enough. Nobody can forget where they were or what they were doing that day. It spurred my brother to take action that changed his life forever. We have a chance to stop the terrorists this time, to prevent the strike before it happens.

"In some small way, being a part of this makes me feel like I'm following in the legacy my brother tried to create. If he was here, he'd go. I don't care if I'm afraid. Everybody gets scared, but not everyone gets the opportunity to avert something like this. Stop trying to talk me out of it, and let's get to the van before we're an hour behind them."

Leonardo was antsy. He knew that they had to wait outside the building until they heard from the other team that they'd arrived at Indian Point, but that didn't make it any easier. They've got a lot more distance to cover than we do, but hopefully it won't be much longer.

As he stared out of the back window of the Avalanche, the first night that they'd met the Akiudo flashed through his mind. If only we'd known then what we know now. We never would have let them escape the United States to start with. We would have dealt with them properly. It's hard to believe that we didn't, after how close Yukiko came to killing Raph, and the way they kidnapped Mike and the girls. Every encounter we've had with them has escalated in violence, until we're now on the brink of taking deadly action.

He couldn't remember ever going into a mission with such strong anticipation of being forced to take a life. As much as he'd tried to prepare for it, the idea still left a bad taste in his mouth. We've had no choice but to kill in defense before, but this feels different. I think even Sensei would agree that we have to come on full force though, in order to shut down the threat against the city.

Leonardo let the thought hang in the air for a few moments. What would you say, Sensei, if you knew I was walking in somewhere with the intention of killing someone? He dragged the back of his hand across his forehead, wiping away a thin sheen of perspiration. Shell, we haven't even done anything yet and I feel like I'm sweating bullets.

He felt eyes lingering on the back of his head, and turned to see Raphael staring at him.

"What are we in, Leo?" his brother asked. "What are the Akiudo doing here in New York?"

"They're making war on civilians," he answered softly.

"That's right, and don't forget it. Those idiots want to kill a lot more people than they already have. We're not going easy on them this time, Leo. We can't."

Leonardo looked around the Avalanche, and motioned for Katherine and Mike to huddle up with them. "Our entire lives, we've adhered to a strict code of honor. Sensei ingrained it into us, to never use more force than was necessary to dispatch an enemy. This time is different. We've got many reasons to be angry with the Akiudo, but we're not going in there with rage.

"Tonight is not about revenge for Don or Brandon. It isn't about saving a few more slaves from their collection. They mean to cause significant harm to a large number of people, and we're the only thing standing in their way. We have to be ruthless, but controlled at the same time. Takashi and Yukiko won't go down without a fight. I don't expect any of the gang will.

"Check your hearts and make sure you're coming from the right place. I can't pretend to know what Sensei would say if he was here. I don't have his wisdom or years of experience. But we have each other, and that's what we have to count on."

"Preach it, Bro," Mike cracked. "Really, this is good stuff."

Leonardo made an effort to look stern, but it was hard not to smile at his enthusiastic youngest brother.

"If Sensei was here, I think he'd understand that we're doing what we have to," Raphael piped up.

"I'm here to back you guys up, no matter what," Katherine added.

Leonardo felt his phone vibrate, and tugged it off his belt. He checked the screen before answering it. "What's your position, Greg?"

"We just drove past a check-point," the man said mechanically. "It was unmanned, so we took a quick look around. We found at least seven National Guardsmen, Leo, dead."

The turtle took a sharp breath. "Then they're already inside Indian Point. Can you determine how they were killed?"

"Most of them were shot."

The lump in Leonardo's throat felt like it was growing. "Greg, you have to be careful. You don't know how many there are, and they're clearly armed. It sounds like they're planning on wrapping things up tonight."

"We know that, Leo. We came in prepared," he reminded him.

"Their guns are still bigger than yours."

"Then it's a good thing I went for something bigger too."

"Wait…what?"

"I wasn't going to take any chances, Leo. I knew you wouldn't want to hear about it, but I procured a couple of assault rifles too."

"Why would you think I wouldn't want to know?"

"I said you wouldn't want to hear it. We're not going to use them unless they open up with their rifles, and Tim and I are the only ones carrying them. We're trained to handle this kind of weapon."

"I can't believe you kept this from me!"

"Is now the time to have this discussion? Can we talk about it after we save the city?"

"I assure you, we will," Leonardo said with irritation. "How far are you from the Plant?"

"About half a mile. Marcus will stay back at this point, and we'll continue further on foot."

Leo felt butterflies building in his stomach over the thought of his friends facing down gun-toting Akiudo at Indian Point. "Give me a call when you get there, and we'll make our own move." He heard someone trying to click in. "I need to let you go; someone else is trying to reach me. Call me back."

"I will – it shouldn't be long."

The blue-masked turtle switched to the other line, and was greeted by a distraught Donatello.

"Houston, we have a problem!"

"Don, don't tell me Takashi is already moving. We only need a little more time!"

"No, Leo, a different kind of problem! Brandon and Jazz are gone, and so are the keys to the Battleshell!"

"You're kidding me! Are they answering their phones? Where are they heading?"

"Bran's coordinates are traveling out of the city. I think they're going to Indian Point."

Leonardo grunted angrily under his breath. "I should have thought of this. I can't believe this is happening now!"

"There's nothing we can do about Brandon and Jazz," Donny said. "You just have to focus on where you're at."

Sure, that'll be a cinch, he thought inwardly. Those two are going to get it when we're finished here.