"Casey said that he'll be waiting for in the alley behind the skating rink," Mei said, shutting down Donnie's computer. "He's skipping practice so that his mother doesn't know that he's gone."

"I kinda feel bad that he's lying to his parents," Michelangelo said.

"Yeah, like he's never lied before," Raphael snapped.

"Raph," hissed Leonardo.

Mei sighed. It was unfortunate, but there was no other way. "Hopefully, we won't have to use Casey as a middleman once I've explained everything to Karai. Is everybody ready to head out?"

"As we'll ever be," Leonardo said.

The four of them exited the lab. Splinter was in the den, straightening up a few things. He looked up at them. "Are you leaving now?"

"Hai, Sensei," Leonardo said. "I'll call you if anything changes."

Splinter nodded. He looked at Mei. "Go on ahead; I would like a word alone with your aunt."

Mei ignored the odd tingling in her stomach as the boys filed out of the room. "What is it?"

"I spoke with Kirby O'Neil earlier. I explained Miwa's predicament to him, asking him how we could soften the revelation for her, if at all."

Mei folded her arms. "What did he suggest?"

"He suggested revealing the truth in stages, since too much at once would bring about instantaneous rejection of the new idea."

"Splinter, I don't think we'll have the option to reveal it gradually. She's going to want to know everything. Did he have any other suggestions?"

"Something that she would remember would lend credence to your story," Splinter said. "But he said that babies remember very little—faces, voices, and the like. He said that some studies suggest that memory building is linked with smell and music. I cannot see how any of those would be enough to convince her, however. Mei—you must not tell her everything. Not yet."

"I will try," Mei said, bowing. "I will do everything I can to help my niece."

Splinter returned the bow, and she turned to go. Before she reached the turnstiles, however, Splinter spoke again. "Mei, I—"

Mei turned to face him again, her face growing hot. "Yes?"

Splinter looked at her with a mixture of longing and sorrow. "Be safe," he whispered.

Mei bowed in acknowledgement. Then she turned to go, running to catch up with her nephews.

When they arrived at the alley behind the skating rink, they saw Casey sitting up against the wall with his knees to his chest. He looked up and waved to them. "I don't have long, you guys. Coach thinks I'm in the bathroom with gut-exploding diarrhea."

"Nasty, dude," Michelangelo said, but he couldn't disguise the grin on his face.

"Great, so you came up with another awesome lie," Raphael spat.

Casey's face fell.

"Forgive us, Casey," Mei said, shaking her head. "We're just having a bit of a hard time, well, trusting again." She elbowed Raphael. "Some of us more than others."

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened to Donnie," Casey said, with a sigh. "I didn't know. Is April handling it okay?"

"You've got a lot of nerve—" Raphael began.

Mei cut him off. "She's managing it. Her father is back to normal, so she at least has that."

"And really awesome friends, like you guys," Casey said, as a hopeful, pleading grin spread across his face.

Raphael glared at the ground. Leonardo said nothing. But Michelangelo gave Casey a hearty slap on the shoulder. "You bet, bro," he said.

"Let's just do this," Raphael growled.

Casey stood up and handed his phone to Mei. "I guess just dial her, or whatever. I've got to get back inside in case Coach sends someone to check on me."

After Casey was gone, Leonardo said, "We should get to a more secure location."

"What about that radio station?" Raphael said.

"No; the Foot has seen us there once. They'll know to canvas it now. Let's head for that one subdivision where we found that dumpster full of comic books."

"It was so sad," Michelangelo said, wiping a tear out of his eye. "Only a monster could do such a thing."

Mei rolled her eyes. "Let's go, then."

The subdivision was a good spot; high buildings and windowless alleys made an excellent place for daytime cover. Once there, they found a secluded area to sit down. Mei pulled out the phone. "Well, nephews, this is it." She entered Karai's number and hit 'send,' then turned on the speaker.

All four of them sat tensely, waiting for Karai to answer.

"It's going to go to voicemail like last time," Raphael muttered.

"She has to keep it hidden, Raph," Leo snapped. "She can't get to it in—"

"Hello?"

"Karai!" Leo said, his voice jumping an octave. "You're there!"

Mei studied her nephew closely. Something in Leonardo's tone suggested a little more excitement than was strictly necessary.

"Your observational skills are astounding, Leonardo."

A slight hint of pink welled up on Leonardo's face. "Well—I—we thought you weren't going to pick up."

He's blushing, thought Mei. Why would he be blushing?

"What makes you think I'd want to talk to you, anyway?" Karai's voice was cruel. "I want to talk to Kobayashi."

Pink turned into red. "Right. She's right here."

Keeping her eyes on Leonardo, Mei held the phone a little closer to her mouth. "Hello, Karai."

"Kobayashi. I want you to meet me under the old freeway bridge over South Hatterson."

Mei frowned at the lack of an honorific. It was easier to understand on their first meeting; stress took precedence over manners. The fact that Karai was still being rude was not encouraging.

"We'll be there in about half an hour," Leonardo said.

"Sorry, Leo. I didn't invite you. Kobayahsi shows up alone, or I won't."

"Are you crazy? Do you think we're just going to let her walk into a trap like that?" Raphael snapped.

"Yeah," seconded Michelangelo.

"It would seem the gang's all there," Karai said bitterly. "Minus one, of course. How is poor little Dumb-atello?"

All three turtles started to say something in varying degrees of vitriol.

"Silence!" Mei hissed, taking the phone off speaker. "All of you!" She drew a deep breath, and held the phone to her ear. "Apologies, Karai. Speakerphone was not my best idea."

"You know where to meet me. Come alone, or the deal is off, and those turtle freaks will never get their precious brother back."

The line went dead.

Mei sighed. "I suppose that I need to head over to South Hatterson."

"Obasan, you're not going alone," Leonardo said. "At least let us stake out a rooftop so we're close by."

"No, Leonardo," Mei said. "If she sees even one scale she's going to strike the whole deal."

"I don't think we have scales, technically," Michelangelo said. "It's more like a scaly skin hybrid."

Mei joined Leonardo and Raphael in a moment of staring at Michelangelo in disbelief.

"What?" Michelangelo said. "It's something Donnie said to me once, okay? If he were here, you know he'd be sayin' it."

"Yeah, and we'd be staring at him just like this, too," Raphael quipped.

"Anyway," Leonardo said, rolling his eyes, "you can't go alone. What if she's staging an ambush?"

Mei looked at Leonardo's face for a moment. Concern for her well-being looked back at her. But there was something else, too. The same thing that had caused him undue excitement and made him blush.

She could not know it for certain, but she strongly suspected that Leonardo was harboring feelings for Karai. For his long lost sister. It was strange, but they hadn't been raised together, and he hadn't learned of her heritage until after he had already known her for a while.

It's no stranger than harboring feelings for my brother-in-law, she thought. As soon as she thought the words, she felt as though she had been struck in the face.

What? She didn't have feelings for Hamato Yoshi, for Shen's husband! And he certainly didn't reciprocate those feelings. It was an utterly ridiculous notion.

So where did that thought come from?

"Uh, Aunt Mei, are you all right?" Raphael said.

"You shouldn't go alone," Leonardo said firmly. He clearly had misinterpreted her expression as fear of being recaptured by Shredder. "At least let me come with you."

Mei shook her head. She focused her thoughts on the present. "No." She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "If you want someone to trust you, you have to start by trusting them. Trust her, Leonardo."

Leonardo's eyes widened slightly, as if he realized that she was talking about more than the situation at hand. Pink rose in his cheeks.

"What about the rest of us?" piped Michelangelo.

"Yeah, do we have to trust her, too?" Raphael said gruffly. "Do you have any idea what happened the last time we trusted her?"

"Dude, we were kinda the ones who messed up that whole thing," Michelangelo said. "You know, trying to throw a grenade at Shredder with a water-balloon launcher."

Raphael raised a fist in Michelangelo's direction.

"All of us need to trust her," Mei said firmly. "Now, I have to go. Take Casey's phone back to him and go back to the lair. I'll call you once I'm finished talking to her."

"But what about your phone, Auntie M?" Michelangelo asked, his voice filled with a note of concern. "Didn't you say they could like, use it to find us or something?"

Mei smiled. "Trust, Michelangelo." She gave each of her nephews a quick hug. "Now go."

"Do you need any extra shuriken?" Leonardo asked, his face still tight with worry.

"Go, Leonardo. All of you."

All three of the turtles exchanged worried glances, but they bowed to Mei and started back toward the skating rink. "I don't like this," muttered Raphael, clearly not realizing that Mei could still hear them.

Once they were gone, Mei drew a deep breath. She sat down on the rooftop in lotus position and spent five minutes collecting herself in meditation. Then, she rose and made her way to South Hatterson.

When she arrived, she approached silently. There was no sign of anyone, but it was an occluded section of town. There were too many things which could conceal enemies. Mei's intuition told her to run the other way before it was too late.

Instead, she drew another steadying breath and walked beneath the old bridge. Trust, she told herself.

Karai emerged from the deepest parts of the bridge's shadows. "I see you came alone," she said.

"I did," Mei said. Their voices lingered in the air, echoed by the confines of the space around them.

"Good," Karai said. "Because I have a lot of questions for you, Kobayashi Mei."

At least fifty Footbots leapt out, weapons poised to attack.