Hey guys. I had hoped on getting this chapter up yesterday. But things were a little crazier than I expect last week and I didn't have time to write. And when I did start to write the chapter I had only gotten half a page written and I realized I couldn't keep writing because it was so boring. LOL. It didn't inspire me to keep going, but around 12:30 this morning inspiration finally hit and I was able to punch out half the chapter before I was too tired to write anymore at about 4:30 this morning. LOL. But I got it done and this one has some much craved action in it I'm sure. I'll update again when I can I promise. Thank you again for the reviews guys - I really appreciate those who take the time to leave them. :) It makes me want to keep pushing through on this story. I'll see you again soon. Enjoy.

Chapter 20

"I don't want you to go." Elizabeth protested not for the first time that evening. She glared at the red-banded turtle, her normally bright green eyes were shooting daggers at Raphael's shell.

Raphael turned around, sliding his sai back into its place on his belt. "'Lizbeth, we've been cooped up in da lair fer weeks. We're just gonna go stretch our legs."

"I don't like it, Raph. What if Graham has men looking for you because of me?"

"Den we'll handle 'em. We can take care of ourselves, 'Lizbeth. Ya don't have ta worry. 'Sides Donny says he needs some stuff fer 'is equipment in da infirmary. We gotta pick dat up."

"Raph, please – I'm begging you don't go!"

Raphael shook his head. "'Lizbeth, I ain't gonna sit home while my brothers go out der and have all da fun. I gotta stretch my legs. 'Sides I'll do a lot more good if I'm with 'em if someting does 'appen."

Raphael started to walk past her but Elizabeth's hand shot out catching his arm. He paused, raising an eye ridge at her as if daring her to try and stop him.

"Raph, I just can't help feeling that something isn't right. Please – please! I don't like this."

"'Lizbeth, what is it dat's buggin' ya? What is it dat ya tink is gonna go wrong?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't know, but something just feels off. Please, Raph, I don't want to lose the one good thing I have in my life."

"I ain't goin' nowhere – but if yer right and my brothers run inta trouble I gotta be der. Ya understand dat don't ya?"

"Of course I do, Raph." Elizabeth was hurt that Raphael would think she would put herself before his brothers. "You know I don't want anything to happen to any of them."

"It's just fer a couple hours, 'Lizbeth. We'll be back before dawn." Raphael leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "Don't worry – Splinter is here with ya – ya won't be alone."

"I'm not worried about that," Elizabeth said quietly but with a tone of acceptance.

"Ya can watch a movie or someting – we'll be back before ya know it."

"You promise?"

Raphael cupped her cheek, running his large thumb over the soft skin there and watch in fascination while her cheeks turned pink and she looked away from his face. How had he gotten so lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to not only meet Elizabeth but to have the opportunity to get to know her so well? And on top of that not only to fall in love with her, but by some miracle she had fallen in love with him too. He let his hand fall to her neck, his finger straying to the snowflake pendant she had refused to be without ever since he'd given it to her. His fingers ran across the slightly rough surface and he used one finger to tilt her chin back so she had to look at him.

"I promise I'm comin' back, 'Lizbeth. Ain't nothin' gonna stop me from gettin' back ta ya."

Elizabeth leaned into him, burying her face against his plastron for several seconds before she pulled away and left the dojo without looking back.

Raphael let her go. He knew she wasn't happy about Graham having men searching for her – but he and his brothers were more than capable of handling themselves. Graham's men had been lucky to catch Don last time – he'd been alone and distracted. That wasn't going to happen again. If Raph had the chance he was going to take down every single one of Graham's men and then go after the jerk himself. He longed to introduce this Graham guy to the sharp end of his sai.

"Raph! You coming?" Leonardo's voice interrupted Raphael's dark thoughts.

"Ya – comin'."

Splinter was by the front door conversing with the others as Raphael jogged across the lair to join them.

"Be careful, my sons," Splinter said, something he always said whenever they went out. But Raphael didn't miss the shift in Splinter's eyes, the unmistakable unease that settled in those dark eyes. And from Leonardo's expression he hadn't missed it either. The brothers met each other's eyes and a silent agreement passed between them. They'd be extra cautious tonight, and would keep their eyes open for any danger, being hyper aware of everything around them. Not that they weren't anyways, a lifetime of drilling had always made them aware of when they were being followed or watched. It had saved their shells more than once, but as they left the lair and headed out into the sewer tunnels Raphael couldn't help but compare how Elizabeth's expression had been so close to Splinter's – as if they had both felt the same uneasiness and had let the four of them leave against their better judgment.

"You coming, Raph?" Leonardo called again, glancing over his shoulder at his brother, his brown eyes were narrowed slightly behind his mask, his face uneasy.

Raphael jogged to catch up with his brother just as Michelangelo climbed up to the manhole and slid it open before disappearing into the shadows, while the rest of them silently followed.

Raphael found keeping up with Michelangelo was often exhausting. Of the four of them Michelangelo was the fastest, his stamina and speed would often let him out distance his brothers. And when you added that to Michelangelo's charming personality and the insults he'd throw at you as you literally ate the dust he kicked up in your face it didn't make for very happy brothers and often they'd let Mikey jump ahead by a few buildings, close enough they could still hear his jubilant cries of exaltation but far enough away that they didn't feel the urge to whack him upside the head a few times. Especially when Michelangelo decided that his usual taunts weren't enough and he'd start rubbing it in their faces that he was the Battle Nexus Champion again. It didn't matter how many times Raph knocked him upside the head Michelangelo never seemed to get the point.

Tonight, however, Raphael felt ill at ease by letting Michelangelo get too far ahead of him, too far away for him to be immediately at his brother's side in case something went wrong. So instead he was building up an incredible sweat just trying to keep up with the youngest most energetic turtle.

"Come on, Raph, yer gonna have to go faster than that if you want to catch this turtle," Michelangelo couldn't resist teasing as he leapt for the next roof.

Raphael pushed himself faster, building up his velocity to give him the power he'd need to make the jump. He leapt from the edge of the roof and flipped neatly, landing perfectly on the next roof where Michelangelo was already halfway across, laughing wildly to himself. Raphael shook his head and glanced back to see where Leo and Donny were and was relieved to see them land gracefully onto the rooftop he'd just left.

Neither of them seemed to be as tired as he felt, but then again none of them was trying to pace Mikey either. Not that Raph hadn't been able to keep up with his brother at first but an hour into their run and even he had to admit he was getting tired.

"Mikey, hold up!" Leonardo called after their brother as he and Donatello landed beside Raph.

Michelangelo, almost ready to launch himself onto the next roof turned with a pout and reluctantly made his way back to his brothers. "We aren't heading back already are we, Leo?"

Leonardo shook his head. "No, but Don said he want to stop at the dump really quick and it is just two blocks back that way." Leonardo pointed to his right.

"Cool! Maybe they have some new comic books that someone threw away!" Michelangelo said, brightening at the prospect.

Raphael rolled his eyes but watched as Donatello and Michelangelo ran ahead of them. He was content to stay back and watch the rear with Leo while Donny tried to keep up with their energetic sibling. But to Donny's credit he paced Mikey well, Raph wasn't sure if that was because Donny was eager to get to the dump or because Mikey kept throwing cat calls at him.

"You see anything?" Leonardo asked quietly, his dark eyes were scanning the rooftops warily.

"Nothin' outta da usual," Raphael said, though his amber eyes too scanned the rooftops uneasily. "If anyting it seems ta be too quiet."

Leonardo nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

"Ya tink somethin's up?"

"I don't know – but I don't like it," Leonardo admitted. "Come on lets catch up with Don and Mikey."

Raphael nodded and broke into a run, his brothers had gotten out of his sight now and an uneasiness had settled into the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right, something was eating at him – like an itch under his shell that he couldn't reach. He couldn't quite place what it was – all he knew was that it was there.

Leonardo seemed to share his unease because his eyes kept darting around them at the surrounding rooftops as they hurried after their brothers.

"Leo! Raph!"

And there it was.

Raphael put on a burst of speed, willing his legs to pump as fast as they possibly could. Fear raced through him, faster than any adrenaline rush. Leo was right beside him, matching him step for step, his own eyes wide with fear.

It took them less than thirty seconds to find their brothers, and to their relief both of them were still standing and unharmed. However, the reason behind Donatello's distress was painfully clear as a mountain of a man emerged from the shadows, his bulk large enough to dwarf them all, his familiar blonde ponytail hung over one shoulder, his tattered black shirt with the ripped off sleeves revealing the tattoos on his arms. Both of them achingly familiar.

"Hun," Raphael growled through ground teeth. His sai were already in his hands and he spun them with the ease of an experienced fighter before he gripped the handles and his eyes narrowed to slits behind his mask.

Hun smirked at them and cracked his knuckles. "You turtles must have a knack for making enemies in high places."

Raphael growled low in his throat. Was Hun working for Graham now? It wouldn't surprise him Hun always gravitated towards people who could offer him something he wanted. Particularly those with money and power.

Leonardo stepped up beside him, his double katana already clenched in his hands.

Hun chuckled without humor, his eyes were dull and lifeless. "My new employer has only one request – hand over the girl."

"Dat ain't gonna happen!" Raphael snapped.

For the first time Hun looked pleased. "I was hoping you'd say that, turtle." He smirked as the shadows around them seemed to come to life. To his utter surprise Raphael found that these weren't purple dragons but someone entirely new. If he didn't know better he'd say they were the Foot, they wore dark outfits like the Foot and their masks hid their faces, but the symbol that was stitched into each of their outfits was wrong and it wasn't in the same place that the Foot symbol was.

"I was also told," Hun continued as more enemies emerged from the dark. "That if that were the case – that we were to retrieve the girl at any cost."

Raphael snarled under his breath, a low animalistic sound as one of the dark hooded figures approached him, their face hidden under their mask and a katana in their hand. He wasn't sure of where his brothers were at the moment but he knew he couldn't let himself be distracted either. He knew nothing about what they were facing against and Splinter had always warned them not to turn their back on an unknown enemy.

Raphael took another step back as his enemy stepped forward, he waited, sizing up his opponent. They were well built, muscular, but not half the size of Hun. Raphael ground his teeth together and lunged forward, feinting to the right, but his enemy saw through his rouse and sidestepped and tried to take Raph down with a spin kick, which Raph barely avoided. Raphael turned, his anger bubbling up inside his gut, fueling the fire that always burned there as he launched himself at the enemy again.

His opponent again managed to sidestep his attack and this time he brought his katana down towards Raphael's exposed neck just as Raphael turned. Raphael's sai caught the blade between its prongs. He could feel the force the masked man was putting behind his blows. Having sparred – and even fought with Leo Raphael had become an expert at feeling the effort one put behind their sword. And this man had put enough effort behind his blow that if Raph hadn't caught it he probably wouldn't have had a head anymore.

Raphael growled and leaned more heavily on the katana, feeling the metal give a little. A katana he knew could be broken by his sai if he applied the right pressure. He could feel the man jerk the katana, trying to pull it loose but Raph was having none of it, he twisted his sai ever so slightly and the katana snapped as easily as if he were breaking a chicken bone.

The man stepped back, looking down at his now useless weapon. Raphael leapt forward knocking the man to the ground and using the butt end of his sai to knock him out. His blood was boiling and he was half tempted to kill the man on principle alone but he wouldn't do it. Not yet. He turned to see how his brothers were faring but was quickly occupied himself as two more dark shadows leapt at him.

"Splinter? Are you awake?" Elizabeth bit her lip, hesitant to bother the old rat but her sense of unease had increased tenfold and was distracting her so fully that she could no longer focus on the book she'd been reading.

"Enter, Miss Elizabeth," Splinter's soft voice replied from the other side of the rice paper door.

Elizabeth slid the door open and stepped inside the small but comfortable room and knelt on the mat opposite the one Splinter was perched on. Splinter's whiskers twitched a little as she knelt but other than that he seemed to be focused on something else. His eyes were closed and his body tense.

"Splinter? Are you ok?" Elizabeth reached forward, as if to touch him but then thought better of it and placed her hand in her lap.

Splinter's eyes snapped open. "I fear something is not right, Miss Elizabeth. I fear for my sons."

Elizabeth felt her stomach clench so tightly she was afraid she might lose her dinner. "Do you know where they are?"

Splinter got to his feet as fast as his aging body would allow, grabbing his walking stick as he did. "No, but Donatello has devised a way to track them. I am not sure how to activate the device though."

Elizabeth followed Splinter out to the main part of the lair and towards Donatello's lab.

"Miss Elizabeth, do you think you'd be able to activate the tracking device?" Splinter asked, picking something up off of one of Donatello's tables and turning around to show it to her.

Elizabeth stared at the weird shell shaped object and then flipped it open. It appeared to be a small cell phone, but it was unlike any cell phone she'd ever seen before. She frowned, looking at the buttons that didn't have numbers on them. Knowing Donatello all of them probably had different functions. A red one, a yellow one, a blue one and a green. Pushing experimentally on the green one turned the phone on. Elizabeth allowed a small smile to grace her lips, but frowned again as she studied the other buttons. What one would activate a tracking device? She hesitated for a moment then pressed the yellow button and to her utter surprise a small map appeared on the screen, where a red light blinked just a block or so from where Elizabeth knew the dump was.

She looked up at Splinter who was waiting with strained patience. "I know where they are."

"Come," Splinter said turning at once and heading for the elevator. "I fear if we delay we will be too late."

Elizabeth didn't ask questions but hurried after Splinter, glancing down at the red blinking light on the screen again and silently praying that she and Splinter would get there in time.

"Don! Mikey's hurt!" Leonardo growled through clenched teeth as he locked blades with two of the masked fighters. He'd seen Mikey go down and had gotten there just in time to stop one of the black clad fighters from finishing off his brother. The body now lay crumpled in a puddle of dark red blood but Leonardo hadn't blinked twice.

On the other side of the roof Leonardo could see Raph was still holding his own as he fought two of these new black clad fighters on his own.

"I'm fine, Donny," Michelangelo protested from behind Leo when Donatello had knelt beside him. "Help Leo."

Leonardo shoved forward, breaking the locked swords and shot forward with a snap kick taking down one opponent before turning to catch the blade of the second once again.

Donatello had ignored Michelangelo's protests and had removed his mask to tie a tourniquet around Michelangelo's bicep to help slow the bleeding. "Just stay here, Mikey. We'll get you out of here."

He turned, snatched up his bo and leapt up to help his brother, taking out the man with a sharp blow from his bo. The man fell like a sack of potatoes that had been dropped from a ten story building and crumpled at the turtles' feet.

"Thanks, Don." Leonardo said turning his sights on Hun. "How's Mikey?"

"The wound is messy – he might need stitches but I won't know until I get a better look at it under better light."

Leonardo nodded grimly. "Go help Raph – I'll take care of Hun. We have to get out of here."

Donatello looked like he might protest but Leonardo never gave him the chance. He was across the roof in an instant and Hun had turned to face him, his smirk still planted on his face as if Leonardo was no more of a threat than an irritating fly that needed to be swatted away.

Donatello resisted the urge to back Leo up and instead turned to Raph who seemed to be the black fighters' main target as three more were approaching him, though warily as they stepped around their incapacitated comrades. Raphael swung at one but Donny could see that his brother was tiring and he knew at once why Leo had sent him to aid Raph and not back him up.

Donatello was across the roof in a few seconds swinging with his bo once again and striking several of the opponents with devastating blows. One of them crumpled, clinging to an obviously broken leg, Donatello was sure he'd heard a crack when his bo had hit. One of the other men had turned towards his swinging his katana angrily at him. Donatello caught the blade with his bo, frowning a little as the metal sank into the wood. Donatello jerked the bo and the man lost his grip on the katana as Donatello pulled it out of his hands then swung around to catch him in the gut with a side kick. The man went down and didn't get up again.

Raphael was panting, his body covered with sweat despite the cooler temperatures out here. "Whe… where's Leo and Mike?"

"Mikey's over there – Donatello pointed to where Michelangelo sat concealed in the shadows and Leo's… "

But at that moment Donatello realized that he didn't need to tell Raph where Leo was because Hun's triumphant laughter rang across the roof to them. Both brothers turned and watched in horror as Leo crumpled to the ground, his katana spinning away from him. Leo struggled to get to his feet but a sharp kick from Hun had him crumpling again and then Hun removed something from his pocket and tossed it at Leo.

"Leo! Look out!" Raphael yelled dashing forward but it was too late. He'd only taken two steps when the device beeped and the roof underneath Leonardo collapsed. Raphael felt someone grab his shoulder and snatch him back as more of the roof fell in and white dust filled the air in a heavy cloud. By the time it settled Hun was gone and Leo was nowhere in sight.

"NO! LEO!"

Elizabeth jerked the wheel a little too hard to the left and blushed a little when Splinter grunted as he was jerked against his seatbelt.

"Sorry, Splinter," Elizabeth said, although she'd been saying this a lot in the last ten minutes. She wasn't used to driving something this big and the way it handled was very different from her old car. Not that she did a lot of driving anyway – but even though she knew this thing had a lot of power, something she guessed at from all the knobs and buttons on the dash anyway, Elizabeth was finding it hard to drive it. The gas pedal was stiff and she had to press her foot almost all the way down to the floor to break. She couldn't figure out which stick was the turn signal so she'd gotten several angry New York drivers honking at her as she switched lanes without signaling.

They were almost upon the turtles signal now and Elizabeth felt herself growing more and more uneasy. They were taking too long to get there. Something wasn't right.

"Turn in here, Miss Elizabeth," Splinter directed, although his normally calm voice was hard in his worry. Elizabeth did as she was told, pulling into a dark alley and shutting off the engine with a relieved sigh.

Splinter was already getting out of the battle shell but stopped when Elizabeth started to remove her seatbelt. "Miss Elizabeth, I cannot allow you to accompany me. You must wait here – it is safer for you and if we need to get away quickly you will already be waiting."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest but then snapped it shut quickly and merely nodded. She wasn't happy that she was being told to wait here like a naughty child, but she could see that arguing would be useless and that Splinter really wasn't leaving the decision up to her. She just had to pray as she watched the rat disappear into the shadows that they had gotten here in time.

Raphael jerked out of Donatello's grip and ran for the hole Leo had disappeared into. He saw that several of the support beams had collapsed underneath the weight of the roof as it had caved in and the floor was covered with debris. But he didn't hesitate his brother was down there somewhere. He leapt down to the next floor easily, and paused when he heard the floor groan a little under his weight. He knew he had to hurry – even here the flooring was unstable because of the weight that had fallen on it. He had to find Leo and hope to shell that he wasn't too injured so he could get him out of there.

A dark shadow fell down beside him and the floor groaned again.

"We'd better hurry," Donatello instructed. "The floor won't hold up forever."

Raphael nodded and began picking up large pieces of debris, tossing it aside as he searched for their missing brother, while Donatello did the same.

Raphael suppressed the urge to growl as he picked up heavy pieces of debris. How had Hun gotten the best of Leo anyway? Leo wasn't easy to take down – and even if he had been up against Hun alone it wasn't like he hadn't taken him down before. So what had been different this time? He had been too busy fighting himself to see what had gone down between Leo and Hun but when Leo had gone down it had looked as if he'd really been struggling just to get on his hands and knees. Had he been hurt? Had Hun managed to seriously wound Leo before having the roof collapse beneath him?

Raphael's searching became more frantic. "Leo! LEO! Can ya hear me?"

As he shifted several more pieces of heavy roofing a familiar green hand came into view and Raphael's heart nearly stopped. "Don! He's over here!"

Donatello was by his side in an instant and together the two brothers worked to remove the remaining debris off their pinned brother. When at last the last piece had been removed Donatello knelt next to Leonardo's unmoving body and immediately his fingers went to his brother's neck to feel for a pulse.

Relieved eyes met Raphael's horrified amber ones. "He's alive, Raph. But I don't know how injured he is – he's unconscious."

"Well we ain't stayin' 'ere." Raphael growled.

"You're gonna have to carry him. I'll help, Mike."

"You head up – when ya get ta da roof yer gonna have ta help me up." Raphael said crouching down and making a cup with his hands for Donatello to step on. Donatello nodded and accepted the assist from his brother, jumping easily to the roof. Raphael returned his attention to his unconscious sibling and gently scooped him up in his arms. "Come on, fearless, let's get ya home."

Shifting Leo's weight to his shoulder for a minute Raph was able to grab the end of the bo Donatello lowered for him. Donatello swung the bo to the side and Raphael made a jump for the roof, just barely clearing the gaping hole. He readjusted his grip on Leo, holding him bridal style once again so as not to aggravate any injuries his brother might have.

"Raph!" Donatello called to him in alarm. "Where's Mikey?"

Raphael felt his own eyes widen in shock and terror. Had Hun snatched their brother while they were rescuing Leo?

"My sons," Splinter's gravelly voice greeted them and both brothers turned in surprise. Splinter walked slowly and stiffly over to them, his eyes alight with relief. "My sons you are safe."

"Master, have you seen?"

"Michelangelo is with Miss Elizabeth in the battle shell – I found him alone on the roof and came back to find the rest of you." Splinter explained, his eyes fell on Leonardo's limp body in Raphael's arms. "Leonardo."

"We've got to get him home, Master," Donatello explained. "He had the roof collapse on him I need to make sure he doesn't have any internal injuries."

Splinter's eyes gave away his grief and pain for a split second before he nodded. "Come we must hurry before the authorities arrive."

Neither turtle argued but hurried after him.

Raph found manipulating down the fire escape with his brother lying limp in his arms was a bit trickier as it threw his balance off a little, but still he never wavered as he followed his brother and father down to the alley below. Splinter lead the way, pausing just at the lip of the alley and sniffing cautiously before nodding to them and hurrying across the street where Raphael could barely make out the outline of the battle shell. He and Donny dashed across the street as fast as their legs could carry them. As soon as they approached the battle shell the side door slid open and Elizabeth stepped aside to allow them access.

Michelangelo was already in one seat, an ace bandage wrapped around his wound, though blood had still soaked through it a little. Raphael carried Leonardo back to the rear end of battle shell, with Donatello hurrying ahead of him to pull the fold away cot out and set it up for their injured brother. It only took him a minute or so and then he nodded for Raphael to set Leonardo onto it. Raphael did – laying Leo gently onto the cot and stepping back, only to find himself with his arms full of Elizabeth's quivering body.

"Raph, I was so scared – I thought we'd be too late."

Raphael stroked Elizabeth's dark hair but didn't say anything. He was watching as Donatello frantically examined Leonardo's motionless body. Finally he sat back, he looked very tired.

"Donny?" Raph inquired.

"I won't know for sure until we get him home – he might have some crushing injuries. But I've done all I can for him here." Donatello looked at Elizabeth who was quivering in Raphael's arms and knew she wouldn't be able to drive them back. She was in no condition to drive. Donatello sighed internally and met Raphael's eyes. "Keep an eye on him – if he wakes up or starts to have complications… "

"I'll tell ya. Let's go home, Donny." Raphael sat in the seat closest to Leo and Elizabeth crawled onto his lap, pressing herself as tight as she could to his body. Raphael stroked her back soothingly but his eyes never left his brother. Donatello hurried to the front of the van knowing Raph would keep an eye on Leo until they could get him home and see just how bad he really was.