Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT. They are the property of Nickelodeon, Viacom, Mirage Comics and Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.

Author's Note: Welcome back everyone. I'm sorry for the two month delay. It's been very hard in my life. I lost someone very close to me and it drained me. I haven't felt like doing much more than reading and I almost thought it would be better to pull this story if I couldn't finish it, but inspiration came back to me a few nights ago. So, I'm going to go on. So thank you again for being so patient. Now, on for the real reason you're here.

Chapter 8

Despite the feelings of unease and regret since Karai's visit, April felt her life drift peacefully. She slept well, ate well and spent her days on the website, taking notes of strange occurrences outside the Kraang Inc. building as the Turtles brought her word. The message board had come to life with the new information provided and April was discovering that a lot of people and mutants thought as she had. April spent time with the turtles as well. She found ways to interact and do things with all of them, not just Donnie. Some nights, April was alone while the Turtles when on patrols around the city. This meant quiet days while they slept until the early afternoon. But Mikey, ever the wild child, would stay up to spend time with her while the rest slept. April noticed how much Mikey seemed to be trying to ease her out of her shell, which was a funny thing coming from a turtle. But Mikey had no secrets and April felt so at ease around him that she found herself forgetting he was actually 15. Raph, on the other hand, was perfectly willing to let April stay in her shell if she allowed him to do the same. Leo was likewise different. He was kind and considerate, like Mikey, and wanted to pull her out of the shadows. But he was also a stickler for routine and planned everything. A great quality for a leader, but as a friend, April wished he could lighten up. Donnie reserved his evenings for time with her. They talked about music, science, books and the places he'd traveled. But they're relationship never came up since her decision to wait until her father was back. Donnie respected this and wouldn't bring the subject up. But April knew he was confused and a bit hurt. She promised herself over and over to make it up to him when her father was back with her.

Before April realized it, two weeks had passed and she was beginning to sense a change in the air; something big was on the horizon. One evening, she sat with Mikey to watch a movie while Raph and Donnie sat at the piano, working on lyrics for a new album slated to begin recording at the beginning of the year. April felt her ears perk as Donnie tapped out a melody on the piano to give Raph thoughts for lyrics.

"Donnie, pick up the pace a bit," Raph said, "What happened to some rock songs on this album."

Donnie instantly blushed.

"This is supposed a love song, Raph," Donnie said, "It can't be all rock songs."

"I'm not writing lyrics for this," Raph said.

"I'm not bad at writing lyrics," Donnie said, "I've done a few songs that have been pretty popular among the fans."

"Only the sappy, love starved ones," Raph muttered.

"Raph, that's not fair," Leo said, coming into the room, followed by Splinter, "Those sappy, love starved fans, as you call them, represent a huge majority among our fans."

"The heart, dude," Mikey said, "Remember? Squish."

Raph scowled but said nothing. April turned to look at Donnie and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Fine, let Donnie write the stupid love song," Raph said, "Get me a recording of the other two songs so I can get started."

Donnie handed him a flash drive player and Raph sat down with his headphones and a pad of paper. April had never seen Raph sit down to write lyrics and she noted that it was very different from how he behaved usually. There was something calm and introspective about his posture; he almost looked like Donnie.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Mikey whispered, "He really gets into this process, so never bug him about anything. It's not a pretty result."

April nodded. She glanced over at Donnie who was readjusting settings on his synthesizer. Walking over, she leaned against his shell and rested her head on his shoulder. This was the first time they'd had any form of closeness in weeks. Donnie's leaning his head against hers.

"I can't wait to hear how the song turns out," she whispered. She felt his smile against her cheek.

"I hope I won't disappoint you," he whispered back. April shook her head.

"You guys here?" said a shrill voice from the hallway.

April looked up as Casey came around the corner. A flash of green and red flew past her and the next thing she realized, Casey had been flipped onto his stomach with Raph pinning his arms behind his back.

"CASEY!" Raph growled. He put a large foot on Casey's back with a smirk.

"Ow, dude, chill," Casey moaned. He glanced over at Mikey.

"Lyric writing?" he asked.

"Yup," Mikey said, popping the ending "P" sound. Mikey gave a huge smile as Raph gave a twist to Casey's wrists.

"Dude, UNCLE," Casey cried, laughing slightly, "Uncle! Uncle! Come on, Uncle!"

"Ease off, Raph," Leo said, although he was grinning broadly. Raph let Casey up.

"Jeez, I gotta start texting ahead of time before coming over," Casey grumbled. He looked over at April and gave a smile.

"Hey there, Red," Casey said smoothly. April gave an awkward wave and felt Donnie's muscles tense against her.

"Um, 'Red'?" April asked.

"Yeah, you got red hair," Casey said, with a tone that said he clearly thought it was obvious. April smiled at him.

"Creative," Donnie muttered.

"Not everyone's a nerdy genius," Casey said with a patronizing smirk.

"And not everyone can be a cave mouth, punk kid jock," Donnie said, "But who'd want to be."

"Okay, who wants pizza?" Mikey chirped up in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Me!" April said quickly, eager to redirect the situation.

"No time," Casey said smoothly. He gave Donnie a smug look and waved a camera phone at them, "I just stopped by to give you some surveillance footage from TCRI."

"TCRI?" April asked.

"That's the official building name where Kraang Inc is located," Donnie said, "It's generally called Kraang Inc because they occupy most of the building, but TCRI is a commercial office building, like the Bierley Building or Chrysler House in Detroit."

"Detroit?" Leo asked, giving him a sarcastic stare.

"I like Detroit," Donnie said simply, "The point is that it would be hard to tell what all is going on in TCRI unless there was a way to watch 24/7. If Casey has enough footage, we might be able to start finding a pattern of activity in Kraang Inc."

"I saw some heavy activity about 3 am yesterday morning," Casey said, "It happened again this morning too."

"We'll take a look, Casey," Leo said, "Thanks."

"No problem," Casey said, "Thanks for the help with Cami."

April looked curiously at them. Raph and Leo exchanged glances while Mikey gave a sad sort of smile. Donnie's face was blank, but his eyes had seemed to dull slightly with heavy emotion. He stood up and walked over to Casey, fixing him with expressionless eyes.

"If you guys need anything, you know all you have to do is ask," Donnie said. Casey shrugged and gave a half-hearted punch to Donnie's shoulder.

"We're fine," Casey said, "As long as we stay away from home."

April went slightly cold. It hadn't occurred to her until now that Casey was about her age, perhaps a bit older. Why was he working as a stage manager instead of going to college or something expected of a teen?

"Let me know if you need any more recon done," Casey said. He punched Raph on his way out the door and was gone.

"Cue that video up, Mikey," Leo said, tossing the camera phone at his youngest brother. In a matter of moments, Mikey was watching through fast-forwarding footage of TCRI building. April sat on the couch again, lost in her thoughts. Casey Jones seemed a bundle of contradictions to her. It seemed off to her for a young man, practically a boy still, to be in charge of the managing the stage crew.

"Casey's got a pretty rough home life," Donnie said. April had not even realized he'd joined her on the couch. He was staring at the screen at the video of the building.

"Rough?" she asked.

"Casey's mom left the family when Casey was 8," Donnie said, "His dad took it pretty hard and spends a lot of time away from home. And when he is home…well, Casey and his little sister, Cami, are on their own most of the time."

"Casey could have gone to college on a hockey scholarship," Donnie continued, "But he can't leave his sister without anyone to look after her. So, he works for us."

"And Cami has a place to go when he needs to be away," Mikey said.

April felt a twinge of pain. She'd been in a similar situation and she couldn't help but think about what she might have done if she could have had the opportunities TMNT provided for her now.

"This is it," Raph said, "3 am, play it from here."

"Back it up about 5 minutes," Leo said, "Just to be sure.
Mikey complied and they watched. The lights suddenly blinked back on and the front doors opened. A woman stepped onto the front steps and looked out expectantly. It seemed to April that she had seen her somewhere before, but it was fuzzy. The woman was short and plump, dressed in blousy lavender leggings and top. April was reminded of her grandmother who she always thought of as being hip and cool. But her grandmother had never worn the expression this woman had; a cold, clinical stare in her dark eyes and her face seemed almost seemed made of stone.

"Who is that, April?" Donnie asked.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "I've never seen her."

"She's got some sort of clearance tag on her jacket," Leo said, "Could she be an executive?"

"No clue. My dad's boss was an older man, lots of gray hair. But he retired just before my dad vanished; Dad even got him a watch to celebrate."

"Whoever she is," Raph said, "She's obviously expecting something to happen. Who is she watching for?"

The answer came almost before the words left Raph's mouth. Stepping out of the shadows was the shape of a man familiar to everyone, which seemed to include Casey. Here the video got a bit jumbled; Casey had evidently moved to a spot where he hoped he could hear the conversation better.

"Saki," the woman said in a throaty, rasping hiss, "When will the items Kraang requires be in our possession?"

"By the end of next week," Shredder said, "The items you've requested are not easy to obtain, especially in these days of heightened security."

"We have little time to waste," the woman said, "Kraang must not miss this opportunity. It will not come again."

April was lost

"Who called in Big Brother?" Mikey asked. Several men in suits came out of the building and spoke to the pair on the front steps.

"The time is drawing close to the time which is known as the time for the signal," one man said. April had to blink and shake her head; surely that was the recording garbled.

"Yes,", "Once the signal is sent, Kraang will have all that it needs to restore the order Kraang established in the beginning."

"But Kraang is also needing that which is known as the catalyst in order to make that which is called the new order begin from the enacting of the signal."

"We will have the catalyst soon," the woman said and her face gave a wild twitch.

"Why are they talking so weird?" Mikey asked.

"And what do they mean by catalyst?" Leo said. All eyes turned to Donnie.

"How should I know?" Donnie said indignantly, "Do I look like I run a megalomania support group?"

April gave a gasp of shock and pointed at the screen. Stepping out of the streets were mutants, at least three or four dozen mutants of all ages, all in various degrees of undress and walking as though asleep. Walking around them were more men in suits, each with a large gun across his chest. April gave a start when she realized that they all seemed to look alike.

"Where did they all come from?" Casey's voice said over the recorder. He quickly moved back, trying to stay out of sight. But the camera stayed focused on the small gathering. They couldn't see the woman anymore, but the way Shredder angled himself showed them where she was. Something was being said but it was garbled by an awful sound of squealing. April was reminded of the sound of tires skidding across pavement and the sound of a pig being slaughtered. The mutants remained motionless.

"Where's that sound coming from?" Leo said. No one could answer.

"What's the time, Mikey?" Leo asked.

"2:53 am," Mikey said, looking at the time stamp, "Casey said something big happens soon."

"Wait, Mikey!" Donnie said, "Back it up about 5 minutes. I thought I saw something.

Mikey complied and Donnie stared hard, looking for something.

"There!" he said, pointing to a figure on the screen. April looked as well and her eyes went wide at who stood on the screen. Three years had done little more than make him skinnier, thinner and grayer on top and give him a furtive look as he glanced around the area as he stood between two men in business suits.

"Dad!" April cried.

All eyes fixed on the tall, thin man on the screen. Mr. O'Neil was dressed as April had last seen him: khakis, dark shirt and brown jacket. The two identical men looked stone faced as they walked beside him, seeming more to herd him rather than escort. Her father looked ashen and April could see him shiver and twitch in fear.

"He's alive," April said softly, "He's alive and healthy and…oh Dad!"

Donnie slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it in reassurance. April clutched at it like a lifeline.

"I think this is it!" Mikey cried. The screen had gone black and when it came back on, Casey had perched on a ledge on a building across the street, right in the direct line of sight of the woman and the Shredder. The time stamp read 3 am.

"Is he crazy?" shouted Raph, "They'll see him."

"Obviously they didn't," Leo said, "Or we wouldn't be watching this video."

Raph stared at his brother, looking embarrassed at his oversight.

"It's amazing that he didn't though," Donnie said, "But he must be high up enough to not be noticed. That's why we can't hear them talking."

The woman looked up as April's father approached. She reached into the inside of her jacket and pulled out a silver hoop. She slipped it onto Mr. O'Neil's head and stepped back. April stared in fear as her father clutched at his head and she heard his screams.

"NO!" April cried, "DADDY!"

Mikey turned off the video. April sank to her knees, shaking with fear, sadness and anger. She felt Donnie kneel beside her.

"It's okay," Donnie said, "April, please it's okay." He sounded genuinely concerned that April would have a breakdown. April felt him slip an arm around her shoulders and she began to feel more in control.

"No, I-I'm fine," April said, "It's just…oh, Donnie, what are they doing to him."

Donnie squeezed her shoulders gently.

"I have to get him out of there," April said.

"We have to," Donnie said, "And we will. I promise."

April looked up at him and saw the same sincerity he always had whenever he told her anything. But she had waited so long to find her father, she couldn't wait any more.

"Leo," Donnie said, "Any chance of a little recon of our own tonight?"

April felt her blood race in anticipation. Leo considered for a moment before giving a nod.

"Recon only though," Leo said, "And only the four of us."

"What?" April shouted, "Why can't I go?"

"Because we are trained for this, April," Leo replied, "You can't keep with the pace we'll keep."

April stared at him in horror and fury.

"It's a recon only," Leo continued, "We observe, take stock of any and all enemies we might encounter and we come back here. We do not engage."

Raph grumbled out a reply but didn't look like he would argue. Mikey nodded with a smile and Donnie matched his oldest brother stoic face. Only his eyes looked hesitant as they shifted between his brothers and April.

April, although appearing calm, was still livid on the inside. She would not stay behind, not when she had a chance to reunite with her father.

"Okay then," Leo said, "Donnie, I want to discuss plans with you. Maybe we can put together a schematic of the building from looking at this video. Mikey, you check over our gear for tonight. Raph…"

"I'm going back to writing those lyrics," Raph said, "You do remember what we do to pay for all this equipment and our gear, right, Fearless?"

Leo scowled but it was with a smirk that he gave his younger brother a shove on the arm. Donnie and Mikey followed him into the dojo and Raph returned to the table to work.

April stared in shock as they seemed to act so normal. April went out onto the balcony and slammed her hands on the stone banister.

"How can they act so calm?" she thought, "If it was Splinter, they'd be tripping over themselves getting out the door."

"No," April said firmly, slapping her hands against the stone again, "Not gonna happen."

April turned on her heel and stomped into the dojo. Mikey was counting shuriken and froze at the look on her face.

"Where did Leo and Donnie go?" April said sharply.

Mikey gulped visibly and pointed through an open set of double doors. April stormed into what she realized was some sort of studio. It was where Donnie's computers and equipment for recording music was kept. But it seemed now to be serving as a war room. Donnie was pulling out a large sheet of paper that depicted a building that April recognized as TCRI. April quickly collected her thoughts.

"I'm not staying here," April said, causing both Leo and Donnie to look up in surprise. April strode forward and looked Leo straight in the eye.

"You can't keep me here," April said, "The only way to do that is to tie me up."

"If that's what it takes," Leo said.

"I'd like to see you try it," April said, "I was on the track team in middle school and I took silver in my junior gymnastics class when I was 11. I'm still pretty good."

Leo blinked wordlessly, clearly surprised. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Donnie cover a smirk.

"And, in case you've forgotten," April continued, "I have a few talents that would come in handy. And this is my father we're looking for. If I've got a chance to get him back, I'm not going to stay here like some 8-bit video game princess."

Mikey gave a snort of laughter. April glanced back and saw that he and Raph had joined the party in the room. Raph was eyeing Leo with smug amusement.

"You have no way to control these so-called 'talents', April," Leo said, "You don't even know how to trigger them."

"Adrenaline is the trigger," Donnie said, "I'm 93.265% sure of that. Leo, you're fighting upstream here."

"I'm trying to protect her," Leo said, "I'm surprised you're not on my side."

Donnie's eyes narrowed dangerously. Leo winced at his choice of words and sighed.

"Leo," April's voice was full of pleading, "I have to get to my dad. This can't be just recon, we have to save him."

Leo looked at April for a long moment. Finally he looked away and at Donnie.

"It's your call," Leo said, "If she comes, she's your responsibility. And we keep the team safe, no matter what. But we have a mission to do. Are your prepared for what that may mean?"

April looked at Donnie hopefully. He worse such a serious expression that April would be hard pressed to try and argue with him.

"If we let you come, will you stay where we tell you and follow our plans?" he asked.

April nodded, inwardly agreeing that, if the plans were reasonable, she would abide by them. If not, she would form her own plan.

"Fine," Donnie said and smiled broadly. April melted at the gap between his teeth. She sat down in an open chair and wheeled over to the table to join in with the planning, thinking about how in only a few hours, she could be safe with her father again.

To Be Continued