TMNT does not belong to me. Just Cade, Delaney & Co.

Big thanks to Purple N' Blue Wings, Giai Kame, LunaTheLoneWolf, syzygy101, magical fan18, ZathuraRoy, TMNTfan95, Flamestarter, and Tubachick101 for reviewing!

When Annie had yelled her husband's name, Leo had immediately thought that she was going into early labor. So focused was he on his brother's wife, that he didn't even notice that Toby and the girls were gone. Not until Annie had brought it up. At his sister-in-law's panicked exclamation, he'd immediately noticed the absence of the four young turtles. Layla. His baby girl, his only child, was gone. So were two of his nieces and one of his nephews. He shivered and Stephanie wrapped her arms around his waist, her usually silver hair turning black with worry.

"Maybe they just sneaked out, Aunt Annie," Aaron offered hopefully. The poor kid had already had a rough day. Out of the entire family, April, Casey, and a seventeen year old Shadow included, he'd handled Splinter's death the worst. And now his sister and cousins are gone without a trace.

Little Yoshi, now wrapped firmly in Michelangelo's arms, opened sleepy violet eyes and lifted his head from his dad's shoulder, "Yeah. Toby did snuck out one time."

Mikey chuckled at his son, planting a kiss on the five-year-old's temple, "That's sneak out, little buddy." He turned to face the rest of the family as he slid an arm around Keira's shoulders, "But what I don't get is why the girls are gone too."

"I'm with you on that one, Mike," Raph spoke up from his wife's side. "Cade may be a lot like me, but she's got your sense of responsibility, Wildcat."

Annaleigh nodded, but it was Trevor who spoke, "But Cay did chase after Toby that time he took off. Without telling you or Uncle Leo, Dad."

Donatello's voice interrupted from his Lab, "I don't think they took off. At least, not on purpose."

Amie's brow furrowed as she moved from her son's side to join her husband, "What do you mean, Einstein?"

Donnie looked up from the unidentified piece of tech that he'd found the last time that the four older turtles had gone on patrol, "This has been moved. And tampered with."

"Toby," Mikey and Keira groaned in unison.

Raph chuckled, "Well, the apple sure doesn't fall too far from the tree. Ow! What was that for, Wildcat?"

"Our daughter and your brothers' children are missing, Raphael," she growled out, the red-masked turtle wincing at her tone. "This is no laughing matter, di hi. We have absolutely no idea where they went." She absentmindedly grabbed Raph's hand, the one that was still rubbing her belly, as her expression quickly changed from irritated back to worried out of her mind. I think Annie's mood swings are worse this time around. But, she's right. How the shell are we gonna find the kids now?

Layla was standing in front of the computer with Flash when the Batmobile pulled into the 'Cave. The hatch slid back and her older cousins nearly tackled her, hugging her so hard that she was sure that her shell was about to crack. But she could care less. They were safe and, for the most part, back together.

Both of the older turtles pulled back and Laney placed her hands on Layla's shoulders, bending slightly so that they were at eye level, "You okay, Layla? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

The silver-blue masked turtle shook her head, her silver-brown eyes darkening to her father's deep brown in relief, "No. They gagged me and tied me up. But that was it."

"If they tied you up, how did you manage to escape?" Batman narrowed his eyes at the youngest turtle who shivered. I don't have to be scared of him. He just wants to know the details. That's it.

She opened her mouth to answer, but the Flash beat her to the punch, "'Cause she's a shape-shifter like J'onn, Bats."

Delaney was shaking her head, "Her abilities aren't that advanced. And they're mostly out of her control."

Layla's skin turned dark green, almost black, in irritation, "Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Laney. You're always doing that!"

Delaney was about to retort, but Cade snapped, "That's enough!" Batman simply watched with crossed arms as Flash gazed uncertainly at the three of them. Cade's voice turned softer, but it was still firm, "We've still got to find Toby. And we're still lost. Now's not the time to start blowing up on each other. I know that you're both frustrated, but keep a lid on it, okay?"

And that was why Daddy had picked Cade to lead instead of Delaney. Yeah, Cay still blew up occasionally, but, when push came to shove, she was Aunt Annie through and through. She could keep her cool and still refuse to take crap from anyone.

"But how the shell are we gonna get Toby out of there, Cade?" Delaney asked. Get Toby out of where?

Batman stepped forward, dropping his arms to his sides, "You can start by explaining what the FOH is."

Toby had tried several times, over the past hour, to call out to the Martian with his mind. Nada. I guess I've got to be a telepath if I want to be able to get his attention. The only time he'd seen J'onn respond to another's mental call was when he'd been telepathically searching for Batman. I think that was the episode with the Injustice League. To this day, it was still his favorite. He shook his head, closing violet eyes in frustration at his own short attention span. Gotta focus. How the shell am I gonna get out of here?

His hands were still tied behind his shell and Highton had replaced the gag. He'd tried to spit it out, but it was tied way too tight. He tried twisting his wrists, hoping that whoever had tied the knot had been careless. No such luck.

If Toby hadn't been gagged, he would have tried talking some of his captors into letting go. Fat chance of that happening. He sighed, leaning his head back to rest against the wall behind him. I'm a sitting duck. I mean, turtle. There's nothing I can do but wait for Laney to find me.

I hope Layla's okay. The last he'd seen of his youngest cousin was some goon tying up her unconscious form. Cade's with a good guy, though. And Laney's still out there. Everything will be okay.

I hope.

Delaney opened her mouth to explain, but Layla interrupted, "Where is Toby? Is he still alive?" The mint green turtle started turning white with fear, "They didn't kill him, did they?"

Flash placed a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder, "I don't think so, kiddo. You're cousins aren't worried, so I don't think you need to worry either."

"Flash is right," Cade spoke up, cutting Delaney off. Again. Just stay calm, don't get mad. They're not meaning to do it. And Layla needs to be reassured before we start delving into details. "We know where Toby is. And killing him is not the FOH's style. They're keeping him as bait."

"You were saying," Batman said, looking pointedly at Delaney. The blue-and-hazel-eyed turtle sighed in relief that she was finally going to be able to say what was on her mind, "Friends of Humanity. They base themselves off of a gang in the X-men comics. And they dedicate themselves sorely to the eradication of mutants."

Batman's only reaction to the news was his narrowed eyes. Flash, however, looked completely horrified, "You mean that they're killers?"

Both Delaney and Layla nodded their heads as Cade spoke up yet again, "They almost killed all of the mutants on our Earth with a kind of airbourne toxin when I was just a baby. Our parents and a small group of mutants went to stop them. Most of our group was killed."

"Including Uncle Aaron," Delaney finished, thinking of the picture that her mother and Aunt Annie still kept of their burly brother. Cade said that she could remember bits and pieces about him, like his voice. I wish I did too. But he died when Mom was just barely pregnant with me and Aaron. I wonder if he was anything like Uncle Casey? Grandpa Splinter was the only one willing to talk about Uncle Aaron. And now he's gone too. Laney fought the urge to sob. But they couldn't afford to grieve right then. Got to stay focused. I can cry later.

Layla's eyes turned silver as her brow furrowed. She looks like Uncle Leo when she does that. The younger turtle looked up at Cade, "But I thought that Highton and the rest of those bad guys were in jail. Daddy said that they was in there for the rest of their lives."

Batman answered, beating Cade. His voice was unusually gentle as he addressed the youngest Hamato, "Prisoners escape, Layla. But I'll do everything in my power to stop him."

My. Here we go again. Delaney rolled her eyes as her hot-tempered cousin glared at the Bat. Cade's pupils changed back to cat-like slits, "You're not doing this without us, Bruce Wayne. If you say 'I' or 'my' one more time..."

His hardened glare met her green eyes, but she just glared right back. Typical Cay. Typical hard-headed turtle. Batman shook his head, "I was only speaking for myself. I usually don't like letting the rest of the League into Gotham. But for this, I'll have to make an exception. If we're to stop this 'FOH' completely, that is."

Batman, or Bruce as they were told to call him out of costume, had sent the Flash to the Watchtower to debrief the Martian on what was going on. According to what the turtle girls were told, J'onn would be responsible for choosing League members that were best suited for this kind of operation.

And, although she knew that they were finally making some progress, Cade just couldn't sleep. Alfred had offered them three of the guest bedrooms, but they'd declined. Choosing instead to sleep on the couches and floor of the den. Where they could see each other if they were to suddenly wake in the middle of the night. Cade had lost count of how many times that they'd had camp-outs like this in the Lair. Doing so tonight was more for familiarity and comfort than anything else. That, and the girls were used to sharing a room.

Cade stood up from the floor and looked over at both of her sleeping cousins. Layla was young and had hardly slept since Cade's capture, so it was only natural that she'd zonked out first. What caught the green-eyed turtle off guard was the fact that Delaney had followed suit not long after. Laney hardly ever sleeps when she's this worried.

But then, in the week leading to Grandpa Splinter's death, Delaney had slept a lot less than was normal even for the three geniuses. The whole family, besides Momma and Yoshi, of course, had taken turns staying with Splinter during the night. Cade, on her watches, had preferred to just sleep curled up next to him. But she knew that Delaney would just sit with him, downing as many cups of coffee as she could to stay awake in case he'd started to go downhill. Aaron had been the same way.

And, even though they knew that Toby was in the FOH's clutches, they knew that he wouldn't be harmed. The FOH wanted to get all of them at once. And they couldn't do that with a dead turtle on their hands.

Cade shook her head, hard, trying to get the horried image out of her thoughts. I'm not gonna sleep tonight, that's for sure. She peered out of the doorway and into the hall. Might as well look around since I've got nothing better to do.

Next: Cade's caught snooping and Donatello makes a mistake...

Please R&R.