Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. What are the Foot going to do with Melinda and will the turtles get to her in time? Well guess you'll have to wait and see. :D Thanks again for your patience last weekend was crazy but I worked really hard to get this chapter done today so I could get it posted. Thank you again for those who take the time to review, really appreciate it. See you guys again next time. Have a great week.

Chapter 11

Raphael scowled crouching down next to his brother as they stared across the street towards the girl's apartment building. All of the broken windows had been boarded up and he knew that trying to get a look inside to check on her would be tricky if they were to avoid being seen. He knew that Leo knew this as well because Leo hadn't spoken since they'd hit the surface and taken to the rooftops.

Next to him Leo shifted his weight, his dark brown eyes were analyzing the apartment building carefully, thoughtfully, as if calculating the best route to take in order to check in on this girl and get out as quickly as possible. Raphael knew that Leo was edgy with all the Foot activity lately, especially with what happened to Mikey, he didn't want them to end up in a situation that they couldn't get themselves out of easily. They were also both aware that this Melinda girl didn't seem to want their help and it made both brothers more wary of being seen by here, especially since she didn't know about the surveillance cameras that Donatello had set up to keep an eye on the place. So them just showing up again out of the blue was bound to raise suspicion.

As far as Raphael was concerned this was a waste of time. Melinda had wanted to leave, she hadn't wanted their help, so why were they trying so hard to help her? It seemed to him like it was a wasted effort and a waste of time. Not to mention that he still wasn't sure how he felt about this girl, if she was really trying to help Mikey or not. If she really had been trying to help Mikey, like Don and Elizabeth seemed to believe why had she been so eager to get away from them when they had saved her from the Foot ninja? Why was she acting like he and his brothers were the bad guys here? It just didn't feel right. Scared of the freaks. As usual. But she hadn't been afraid of Michelangelo so how were they different?

"We are going to have to check it out, Raph," Leo finally broke the silence. Raph shifted next to him, his hands going automatically to his sai. "We'll check out the back window, if we can't see in through there we'll try the bedroom window. Just stick to the shadows, we aren't here to scare her or confront her, just to check and make sure everything is ok since Don can't check on her with his cameras."

"Yeah, yeah, fearless, let's jus' get dis over wit'," Raph growled as he followed his brother over to the fire escape and they descended as silently as shadows. Keeping close and watching Leo's back they darted across the street and to the quiet apartment building.

Pain was her constant friend, a companion, the only thing that told her she was still alive. She was getting used to it now, although the temperature of the room was going to take some getting used to. If it wasn't so darn cold in here it might actually be tolerable. But with the shivers that constantly ran through her and the pain that was now radiating in her spine as well as her shoulders and wrists Melinda almost wished that whoever it was that had taken her would just do whatever they were going to do with her and get it over with. It would be better than this torturous waiting anyway.

Melinda had no idea how long she'd been unconscious for, or where she was, when the fog had started lifting from her brain the first thing that she had registered was pain. Hot, sharp, and it had almost made her lose consciousness again when she came around enough to really feel it. As it was she'd slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a brilliantly bright white room. It was empty of any furniture, decorations. Just white floor, white walls, and another pair of chains that had been attached to the wall opposite of herself. Slowly she'd looked up to see if those had been what were holding her up, and was dismayed to find that they were. Shackles were around her wrist, attached to chains that were hung from the ceiling. Her wrists where chained together above her head forcing them to support her weight, though her shoulders were screaming in protest at the strain. If she really stretched her bare toes could touch the cold floor. She couldn't remember changing into these clothes though – a loose simple white shirt and loose cotton pajama bottoms. They were thin and did nothing to help keep her warm. Melinda jerked a little, but the hot pain that flared in her shoulders had stopped her from trying that again. She was sure that that had been at least an hour ago and now the pain was spreading to her upper back and was slowly progressing its way down the rest of her.

No one had come in here to check on her yet. And Melinda was beginning to feel desperate. Why had they brought her here? What did they want from her? What had she done to deserve this?

As if the weekend hadn't been crazy enough – and now her week was turning into a nightmare. Getting fired from her job was the least of her concerns now. She really didn't want her dead body showing up on the beach or in an alley somewhere.

Melinda closed her eyes feeling sick. When had her life gone down the drain and how had it happened so quickly? First the giant turtle, then the men in the black pajamas smashing into her apartment, more giant turtles, waking up in a weird place, stinky sewers, seeing her completely trashed apartment, and now this? Being chained up for who knew how long and who knew what they were going to do to her when they did come in? Were these the men in the black pajamas again? What did they want with her? The turtle was gone. And she couldn't tell them where the other turtles were – although, she had to admit to herself as she thought of her new friend, she wouldn't tell them if she could.

Still, if whoever it was that had her intended to kill her – or whatever they were going to do to her, what would that do to Christine when the police found her body and told her the news? It would crush her. Melinda twisted her wrists inside the cuffs again and winced, sighing she tried to focus on anything other than the hot pain in her shoulders.

Luckily, or unluckily, that distraction came when the door to her small prison was opened. Two men, or she assumed they were men anyway their faces were hidden behind those masks that gave their eyes that fly like appearance because of the material over each eye, stepped into the room. One was thin, muscular and well built. The other was bulkier, all solid muscle and obviously higher ranking than the other.

He said something in a funny language. Melinda had no idea what he said, she really didn't have an ear for foreign languages, she'd failed miserably in her Spanish class in High School. Christine had often teased her that she'd better never get lost if she went to Mexico in case no one there spoke English, because Melinda was more likely to ask which part of the donkey was the rear end rather than ask where a cab station was. But this language definitely wasn't Spanish.

The broader man finished talking and the second thinner man bowed and hurried out of the room. The larger man turned to her and Melinda felt herself go cold as she stared into those creepy bug eyes of that mask. She knew that the eyes behind the mask were not friendly. That this man had no intention of going easy on her just because she was a girl. He had the air about him of someone who had done this before, someone who had killed before, someone who killed without mercy, and without regret. This man was going to hurt her – and if he didn't get whatever he wanted from her, though Melinda had no idea what that was. She wouldn't be leaving here alive to go to the cops about it.

Suddenly she had the deepest sinking feeling of regret. Those turtle creatures had wanted to keep her safe, as scary as some of them were, they had never given her any indication that they were going to hurt her. Suddenly her job with Buddy Potkiss didn't seem as important. Suddenly paying her rent wasn't important, suddenly nothing seemed important. Nothing except for one thing. She was going to die. This man was going to kill her.

The apartment was quiet, all the lights were on, but it was clearly empty. Raphael waited anxiously outside, watching the shadows carefully his sai drawn as Leo slipped inside to check out the apartment when there was no sign of Melinda from what they could see from the windows. He hadn't planned on confronting her just checking to make sure that she was alright. Raphael didn't like this – the night was almost too quiet for New York. And a familiar sensation was running up his shell. Something that always alarmed him to the fact that something was wrong.

It didn't take Leonardo long to come back, and he didn't look happy, in fact he looked worried, and strained. "She's not there, Raph. But her things are there, a purse and a cell phone. Even if she went out to the store or something she'd need those."

"Well she ain't takin' da trash out either. Da door locked?"

"No."

"Dis ain't good. We gotta get back and tell Donny."

Leo nodded and the brothers hurried back to the rooftops and down the street, back down to the alley, and slipped back into the sewers. They didn't need to talk. If the girl wasn't there but there was no indication that she would've left to run some errands or even go out for a walk there was only one thing that could've happened. The foot had come back for her as they feared, and they would have to get her out of there. In order to do that, they needed to get Don. And they had to make a plan.

Elizabeth handed Donatello a fresh damp towel for Michelangelo's forehead. "Shouldn't he have woken up by now, Don?"

Don frowned as he gently sponged Michelangelo's face. "He took a pretty hard hit, Elizabeth, and from the stitches here… " his fingers brushed the stitches that Melinda had so carefully stitched into Michelangelo's dark green skin, "it hasn't been the first hard hit he's taken in the last few days." He sighed and lifted Michelangelo's eye lid to check his pupil responses again, but this time he got a reaction, Michelangelo grunted and pulled away, making a face as he tried to turn his head away from his brother.

Don leaned forward eagerly. "Mikey? Mikey? Can you hear me?"

Biting her lip Elizabeth joined Donatello crossing her fingers as she too watched the youngest turtle, who seemed to be fighting his heavy eyelids as he fought his way back to consciousness, but at least he was finally starting to come around. He groaned softly, his fingers twitching on the sheets.

"Mikey? Bro?"

"DONNY!"

Donatello jumped, so did Elizabeth as the front door shut behind the red and blue banded turtles. "Elizabeth stay with him."

"Of course." Elizabeth sat down next to Michelangelo gently taking his hand in hers as Don hurried out of the infirmary.

"You guys able to check in on her?" Don asked as he jogged out to the living room.

The looks on his brothers' faces told him the answer to his question before they even had a chance to answer.

"All the broken windows are boarded up, Donny. We had a hard time looking in, but when we did we saw all the lights were on, but she wasn't there."

Don frowned. "Maybe she had to go run a few errands forgot to turn off the lights."

"I thought that too until I saw her front door was open and her purse and money were still in the apartment, Don."

Don swore scratching the back of his head. "The foot?"

"We ain't sure – but who else woulda taken 'er?" Raph growled.

"We'll have to get her out of there."

"I know, Don, but we need to have a plan. Don can you see where they would be holding someone – break into the Foot tower schematics?"

Don nodded.

"Raph, let's go talk to Master Splinter, we have some details to work out."

Following his oldest brother towards Master Splinter's room, Don hurried back to the lab and quickly sat in his chair, typing furiously on his keyboard.

"Don? What's going on?"

"Melinda wasn't in her apartment, but all her things that she'd need if she was going to go out were there. Leo thinks the Foot might have taken her."

Elizabeth's face paled. The Foot were ruthless and merciless if this Melinda girl didn't give them what they wanted…

Don's eyes narrowed as he began to concentrate on getting past the Foot towers firewalls. If he could scramble their communication devices with a virus it might give them a better chance when they got to Foot headquarters to keep the Foot as unorganized as possible while they got Melinda out of there. He paused as he finally was able to get into the main security grid for Foot headquarters. Perhaps he could do a bit more extensive searching right now… see if Melinda really was there…

Clicking the mouse he navigated through a few more systems, totally focused on his task. Have to get through… just one more… click. Got it! His eyes began to scan the security camera screens as he clicked through them, trying to find the one he would need. Foot ninja training, Foot ninja patrolling, Foot ninja meditating, Karai's office, the library, room after room. Click. Click. Click. Click. Getting frustrated with his fruitless searching he began clicking faster, and almost missed it. A closed secured door with a single small window. But that wasn't what had caught his attention. It was the small lettering in the corner of the camera screen that told him exactly what camera it was that made him pause. Frown deepening he saw movement from within the room, a figure in black moving, and then the door opened and the black clad figure left the room. He seemed perfectly controlled, relaxed even, the door slowly began to swing closed behind him, but before it did Don got a good glimpse of the horror that had gone in that room. Oh shell.

He jumped up, grabbed a few of the gadgets he thought he'd need as well as first aid and medical supplies. "Elizabeth, stay with Mikey!"

Don hurried from the room. "RAPH! LEO!"

Each breath was a struggled inhale. Each exhale was agony. Melinda's chest hurt. Her face felt swollen, she couldn't see out of her left eye anymore. She could taste copper on her tongue. She could feel something wet and sticky dribbling down her chin. She couldn't feel her right leg, but that was a mixed blessing. It was broken, that she knew, and the break was bad. She couldn't stand looking at the affected limb afraid she would be sick and she wasn't going to be sick all over herself and she knew that the man who had done this wasn't going to give her a bucket to do it. She could hear the steady drip drip of something falling onto the floor, consistent and alarmingly fast. But she could do nothing about it.

He had been furious with her. She had refused to answer any of his questions. She'd kept her jaw clenched, feeling her body jerking time and time again with the blows that had rained down on her. But still she had refused to cave to his demands. Impatience growing with her, he'd finally lost his temper when she refused to answer after several blows and had hoped a higher dose of pain would loosen her mouth. Melinda had heard the crack first and then the pain had blinded her. She had cried out for the first time. But when he'd gotten in her face once again demanding for the location of the turtle's lair she'd clenched her jaw firmly and refused to cave.

She coughed weakly, her chest hurt, her stomach hurt, her shoulders and wrists were in agony, and still the drip drip sound continued steadily. She blinked she was tired. So very tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. Sleep and never wake up from this nightmare. This horrible hell like nightmare that she was in. To wake up and realize it had all been a dream.

A few of her blonde limp curls rolled over her shoulder and down her front, quickly turning the dark red color her shirt was when it touched it. Melinda thought it was kind of funny. She could've sworn that the shirt had been white when she'd first woken up here. But now it was red. Dark red, and seemed to weigh a lot more than it did when she first noticed it. She was so tired… maybe she could just close her eyes just for a minute.

Her eyes rolled, her head dipped forward as she lost the fight for consciousness.

"How bad is it, Don?"

"From what I saw? Not good."

Raph growled from the front seat as Leo navigated through New York traffic. Don was in the back doing something, adding more and more gadgets to his bag from his Battleshell supplies.

"You know where this holding cell is?"

"Yeah, one level down from the main level. All we have to do is get in and get down there. Security is pretty heavy, but I'm hoping that this virus I've concocted will scramble up their security feeds and communication devices. The longer we can keep them unorganized the better chance we have of getting her out of there without one of us getting hurt or captured."

Leo's jaw ground together. And he pressed on the gas. The Foot were un-honorable, and would stop at nothing until they got what they wanted. He knew this. He knew that letting Melinda go back to her apartment had been a bad idea, and yet he had let her go, he had been the one to walk her back to her apartment and had just left her there with no protection other than a few security cameras, which hadn't even helped. She had probably saved Michelangelo's life when she'd found him and all it was costing her was her own. If they couldn't get to her and soon…

He pressed harder on the gas pedal.

More pain, sharp and intense brought Melinda around. She cried out, trying to pull open her heavy eyelids.

"Shh… easy, easy, we're going to get you out of here. Leo hurry she's coming around. Raph watch her leg it's broken."

"Raph, go watch the door, make sure no one is coming." Someone else hissed.

Footsteps walking away from her. Melinda slowly tried to peel her eyelids back, to force her eyes to open, they were reluctant and fought her but eventually they slowly opened. Only to reveal three more monsters that were in front of her. One touching her, the other standing above her reaching for her wrists, the third at the door.

"No… no… please… "

"Leo."

"I'm trying, Donny!" A second voice snapped.

There was a click and Melinda would've fallen if somebody hadn't caught her. The pain was overwhelming, bewildering. She felt her good leg lifted and assumed the other had been to because she seemed to be lying down, but floating. She felt sick, dizzy. And terrified. In the arms of a monster as he cradled her to his front. His hard yellow front. It was weird but it seemed almost familiar in a way as if she'd seen it before somewhere.

"We got company," someone growled in a rough heavily accented voice.

Melinda was shifted in the arms that held her, aggravating her already aching, protesting body.

"Don, just carry her. Raph and I can cover you."

"Leo, my bag… there should be some small explosives in there. They should create enough of a distraction that we can get out."

"These?"

"No the other ones."

"These?"

"No not those ones the other ones!"

"These ones."

"Yes that, just open it like… yeah now set the… yeah you got it."

Melinda tried to make sense of all of this but she couldn't. She couldn't focus on this – on them. She hurt and she just wanted to die. Please just let her die! Nothing was worth this pain.

"Raph."

"Right wit' ya, Leo."

"Don, let's go we'll cover you!"

She was rocking in the arms of whoever was carrying her, she was pinned to his front as he tried to keep her steady, tried to support her as he hurried along. She heard yelling, the sound of flesh on flesh, heavy breathing. The clang of metal on metal.

And then the ground began to rumble, or maybe it was just in Melinda's ears. Cold air. Cold, cold air. She heard the sound of something heavy opening and heard someone's breath picking up as he carried her in and then she was on something. She wasn't sure what.

Car doors? Two opened.

"Let's get outta 'ere!"

An engine started up.

"Leo! You're bleeding!"

"We'll deal with it at home, Don."

Melinda's body rocked as the vehicle shot forward. She whimpered.

After several long minutes of silence, and painful prodding on Melinda's part, a voice spoke up again.

"How bad is she, Don? Should I detour to the hospital?"

"I don't think it's safe for her there, Leo. Especially not now that we've come for her. Let's just get her home. I can handle her injuries."

"If you… Don… "

"… a lot o' … blood.. "

Melinda didn't like the sound of the radio kicking in and out. She was just so tired. She felt herself drifting and let the black take her.

Elizabeth waited anxiously for the brothers to return, knowing full well how dangerous this rescue mission could be, especially as they were missing one of their own. But that they could deal with when they got home. She knew they would have a lot to take in when they got here and a lot to deal with for a while.

"Lion King!"

"No, Akemi, no Lion King."

"YES!"

"No. Go find something else."

Akemi threw herself on the floor and began to scream and kick. Elizabeth sighed. "You keep that up and you'll go to time out with no movie."

Sniffing Akemi ran over to the corner, laid down and began to kick anyway while screaming. She'd been into the habit of doing this lately, putting herself in time out and acting worse in time out than she was when she wasn't in time out.

"Akemi you stop that right… " she stopped as the elevator door opened.

Jumping up Akemi ran to Raphael as he stepped out, flinging herself at him. He caught her, and held her to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly.

Elizabeth hurried forward, all three brothers looked extremely worn and tired. And Melinda was obviously unconscious in Donatello's arms while Leo had his left hand clamped on his right arm even though fresh blood continued to ooze through his fingers.

"Leo! You're hurt."

"It'll be fine, Elizabeth."

"Don, shouldn't you have taken her to the hospital?"

"It's not safe. I'll have to take care of her here. How's Mikey?"

"Well, he woke up about ten minutes ago."

All three brothers' eyes snapped to hers.

"He did?" Raph asked shifting Akemi in his arms.

"How's he feeling? Any sickness? Dizziness?"

"No, but… "

"But what?"

Elizabeth shifted. "But he doesn't remember his own name or you guys and Splinter Guys, Mikey has no idea who he is – he doesn't remember anything."