The dirty glass shattered the moment he touched it, falling in cracked shards to the concrete floor below. As he dove through the broken window, Raphael caught a glimpse of dozens of men down below, staring with astonished expressions at the giant turtle hurtling toward them. He twisted his body in mid-air, tucking in his arms and legs as he fell, and braced himself for the landing before his feet struck a table littered with cards and chips.

For a moment, the factory was silent. The humans around Raphael stared with saucer-like eyes, too dumbfounded to say or do anything. Which was the effect he had intended.

"It's him!" one of the men shouted. Gray-streaked black hair, expensive suit, an ugly ragged scar over one cheekbone. Marino. "That mutant Foot freak! Kill him! Kill him!"

Raphael lashed out with his sai before a single gun could be drawn, and one of the men collapsed with blood bubbling from his throat. The sound of more glass shattering broke through the sound of Marino's screams. More black-clad figures leaped down into the factory or slid down grappling lines, their katanas already drawn and ready to be soaked in blood.

Bullets began flying — and only some of them were aimed at Raphael, with most being fired at the other ninja leaping or sliding down from the ceiling. He stabbed another one of Marino's henchman as the man charged at him with a knife, bellowing something incomprehensible, and then whirled to face a sweaty-faced underling who was aiming a gun directly at his face. He barely kicked the arm aside before the gun fired, and smashed his fist into the shooter's jaw.

Screams arose from the outside of the factory — high wailing shrieks, along with the loud, wet, thick sounds of swords slashing human flesh. Some of Marino's men had tried to flee, but had instead encountered Karai and some of her ninja.

"Freak!" a behemoth of a man roared, swinging a hamlike fist at Raphael's head. The turtle ducked it easily, and jammed his sai into the wrist bones with a loud crunching noise. It would have been a sickening sound if he had time to actually think about it.

The giant bellowed in pain and staggered backward, his eyes full of mingled outrage and shock that Raphael had hurt him so effortlessly. Raphael took the opportunity to kick the man's knee sideways, which caused him to scream again and stumble, his leg bending at an odd angle. Another ninja came flying towards him, and with a loud swish of his sword, the behemoth's head fell with a thud.

But Raphael didn't care about that anymore. He wanted Marino.

His eyes moved quickly to where Marino had been standing a few minutes ago, screaming orders at his men as he backed away from the combat himself. Raphael charged to that spot, and turned slowly to survey the rooms beyond the main floor. There were plenty of places in this old rat-trap for someone to hide — crevices, old storage facilities, pieces of rusted equipment lying around in old crates, shadows falling from half-ruined walls.

With a bloodied sai in each hand, Raphael prowled through the darkened rooms, listening for the faintest sound, watching for the slightest motion. Thin shafts of pale light shone through the broken windows, casting a whitish glow on the brick floor under Raphael's feet. He turned his head this way and that, sweeping the area for any signs of life.

But there was nothing. Frustration bubbled up inside him, and he clutched his sai even more tightly. Marino seemed to have evaporated into thin air, but that simply wasn't possible. Both the front and the back were covered, so he couldn't have gotten out that way. And he definitely wasn't in the main room — which was still alight with guns and flashing swords, judging by the shrieks and bangs Raphael could hear in the distance. Where had he gone?

His eyes flew down to a metal hatch in the floor. The sewers. He was desperate enough to try to escape that way, Raphael reflected.

He seized the ring on the hatch and heaved it up, setting it down carefully rather than letting it fall. He didn't want Marino to hear it clanging, and realize that someone was on to him.

He slithered down a short metal ladder that led into the darkness below, until he felt his feet touch a brick walkway, which was slimy with rainwater and rot. Something squeaked and ran over his foot, almost making him jump out of his shell.

"Rats," he muttered. "Stupid rats."

He ran swiftly through the tunnel, doing his best to keep from splashing the stagnant water as he did so. His eyes soon adjusted to the dark, and he could see the outlines of the tunnel's end, the murky passages just beyond, and the faint gleams of light shining through the holes in a manhole cover. Just enough light that he could make his way through instead of blindly groping in the dark.

He could also hear breathing. Hoarse, desperate breathing.

Raphael dropped into a crouch as he moved closer to the sound, his hands grasping his sai. He had to take the man alive — Master Shredder had ordered it — but he might have to hurt him first. Marino was desperate, and a desperate man was hard to catch, because he would do anything to evade his fate.

It wasn't long before Raphael caught a glimpse of Marino — a thin, grayish figure crouched at a junction between two sewer tunnels. He could see Marino's hair was disheveled — and much grayer than it had been seven months ago — and his eyes were glittering in the faint light. His face looked so thin it was almost skeletal, and the scar on his cheek stood out lividly. As Raphael stepped closer, he saw that Marino had a large bloodstain on his left thigh — presumably one of his men had hit him by accident, since Raphael hadn't done anything to him.

He raised one of his sai, letting Marino take in the sight. He had been ordered to bring him in alive, but the human didn't know that.

"Diavolo," Marino spat. "So you chased me down to kill me, mutant? Go ahead. I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be," Raphael said grimly. "I'm the one with the weapons."

Marino bared his teeth. Raphael was about to come closer when he saw something glint in the man's hand, and saw his fingers closing around it. He pointed a sai at Marino's face, hoping the man wasn't as stupid as he was acting.

"Don't try nothin'," he ordered.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" the human sneered.

The gun came up in a flash, and a blast of white fire erupted from the muzzle. Raphael dodged just as the bullet grazed past his face, and exploded a brick directly behind his head.

Gritting his teeth, he surged forward and caught the gun barrel between the prongs of his sai, wrenching it from Marino's grasp. The man groped desperately for it, but Raphael stepped back and away from him, his hands pulling the gun's cylinder open and allowing the bullets to fall to the sewer floor. Marino stared in shock for a moment, almost slack-jawed, but then his face hardened into a defiant mask.

"You might as well kill me, monster," Marino snarled. "I won't submit to that psychopath you serve."

"You don't speak like that about my master," Raphael said, touching the tip of his sai to Marino's throat, and pressing just hard enough to dent his skin. "Ever. Got it? Now face the wall."

"So you can stab me in the back, coward?"

"Do it now, or I make you do it."

Marino seemed to consider the option, and slowly rose on his injured leg, turning to face the slimy brick wall behind him. Raphael felt a rush of satisfaction at the sight. He slipped his sai back into his belt, and pulled something else from one of the pouches — a length of strong, thin cord that Marino would need to chew his arms off to escape. He whipped it around the man's wrists as quickly as possible lest he try something, pulled it tight, knotted it.

"He brings death to everything he touches," Marino said darkly. "He'll bring death to you too."

"Shut up," Raphael snapped, and dragged the bound human back the way he had come.