Author's note: All right, everybody. I am sorry this took me a little longer than usual to update. For some reason I had a real block on this chapter, plus I had lots of IRL stuff going on. Sorry it's a little on the shorter side, too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Leonardo extended his arm out in front of him and bent back his wrist to stretch the sore muscles in his forearm.

"Still aching from the beat-down I gave you there, chief?" Raph said, looking up from his comic book.

The three of them sat in the den together. Mikey, as per usual, was about three feet away from the television screen. Leo and Raph occupied the two couches.

Leo made a face at Raph. He switched to his other arm. "No, I just didn't spend enough time in cool down this morning."

"Dudes, when are we eating lunch?" Mikey said, not turning his head away from the television. "It's almost noon."

"Well then, why don't you do something about it?" Raph said.

"Come on, Mikey." Leo got up from the couch. "Let's find something to eat."

A noise sounded from the turnstiles. Leo looked over to see Karai walking in. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach, not hungry at all.

"What are you doing here?" Raph's tone was cold enough to freeze boiling water.

Karai held up some bags. "I brought some lunch. Pizza gyoza."

Mikey leapt up from the floor. "You're the best, Karai."

"Hmph," Raph muttered. "She's probably just bringing us food because she wants something."

A few weeks ago, Leo would have bothered to contradict Raphael. But he had a nasty feeling that Raph was actually right.

"Fine, you caught me," Karai said. "Consider this an olive branch."

"Ew, there's an olive branch in there?" Mikey asked, wrinkling his face.

Leo shook his head. "It's going to take a lot more than food to make up for that stunt you pulled."

"I know," Karai said. "But I have another mission, and I absolutely cannot do it without you guys."

"Why should we trust you?"

"Because the Kraang have finished the serum to fix Donnie, and they won't give it to me unless I do something for them first."

Leo raised his eyebrows. He could feel his heart beating faster. "They really finished the retro-retro-mutagen?"

"Yes. But…remember how they said I owed them? Well, they want me to make good on that."

"What do they want?"

Karai bit her lip for a moment. "April."

"No way!" Raph said. "We are not handing April over to the Kraang."

"Not permanently," Karai said. "If I deliver April to them, they'll give me the serum. Then you guys can go rescue her. Or she can rescue herself. She's pretty good with that tessen now."

Leo rested his chin in his hand. Part of him wanted to agree immediately – they would have Donnie back. That thought almost overwhelmed the rest of his reasoning. But then – how could they know this wasn't just another trick on Karai's part? What if the situation she was leading them into was far graver than she let on?

"I don't know, Karai," Leo said. "The Kraang have gotten their tentacles on April before, and it wasn't pretty. I'm not sure if we can ask her to do this."

"Leo, you know she'd agree."

"I know. And that's the problem. She'd go right into this without considering the risk. Considering that the Kraang need April to complete their invasion plot, we'd be risking at lot more than just April. We could put hundreds of lives in danger."

"Yeah? And Donnie's not worth that to you? What would he say if he knew you were too afraid to help him?"

Leo clenched his fists. "You don't get to talk about him like that – like you know anything at all about him. Do you really think Donnie would want April risking herself for him?"

Karai folded her arms and scowled. "Why don't you ask him? Oh, right, you can't."

"I don't need to. He's my brother. I know what he'd say. He'd say absolutely not."

"But Leo," Mikey said. His lower lip quivered and he had those big sad eyes that even Master Splinter couldn't always resist.

Leo's heart broke. He wanted to get Donnie back every bit as much as Mikey did. But this…surely Donnie wouldn't want this. "No, Mikey. It's too risky."

"But we've kicked the Kraang's butts before. We saved the world, remember? I'm sure we can handle it."

"Yeah, we think we can handle it," Raph said. "Except we don't know if Karai doesn't have more planned for us than she's telling. For all we know, she could be sending us into a trap, like last time."

"Look, I know that I should have told you last time, but I swear that I am giving you all the details this time," Karai said.

"You haven't given us any details." Raph pointed an accusing finger at Karai. "All you've said is that we need to hand April over to the Kraang."

"Well, I was hoping that I could work out the details with you, instead of making them up myself."

"Hey guys!" April said, walking past the turnstiles with a stack of pizza boxes. "I brought…oh. Hey, Karai. Looks like you guys already have lunch planned."

"April!" Mikey shouted. "The Kraang can fix Donnie, but Leo says we can't!"

"What?" A dangerous cloud gathered in April's brow. She scowled at Leo.

"That's not the whole story, April," Leo said, holding his hands up defensively.

"The Kraang won't give me the serum unless I give you to them," Karai said.

"And," Leo cut in, "it's too risky."

"I'll do it," April said. "You guys can get me out, right?"

"See?" Mikey said. "April and Karai are on board! What's wrong with you guys?"

Leo put a hand on his face. He knew that April would do this. "Raph? You're with me on this, right?"

Raph nodded gruffly. "For once."

"Mikey, April, we absolutely cannot trust Karai on this. We can't even know for certain that the Kraang really can fix Donnie."

Karai closed her eyes. Leo could tell from the way that her posture shifted that he had hurt her – and the fact that she was holding it in instead of flaunting it like she did with Raph made him suspect that she was genuinely hurt. He felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to hurt her – but after what had happened last time…

Mikey still had fine scars on his face from where the Ronin's blade had cut him.

Feelings didn't matter. Facts did. And the facts clearly stated that Karai was untrustworthy.

"Well, I trust her," April said, walking over to Karai. She grabbed Karai's hand. "And we're going to do this with or without you, Leo."

"April, you can't."

"You can't stop me, Leo."

"Look, April," Raph said. "You weren't there when Karai turned on us. She changed the playing field and we paid the price."

"So you got a few cuts," April snapped. "Are you going to let that keep you from saving Donnie? I can't believe you guys. Karai and I haven't known Donnie as long as you have, but obviously, we care more about him than you do."

You don't understand. I have to worry about my whole team, not just Donnie.

Raph raised clenched fists. "Just try saying that again, O'Neil."

April narrowed her eyes. "I think that Karai and I care more about Donnie right now than you do."

With a yell, Raph charged April. Leo grabbed him and held him back, accepting a punch to the gut on April's behalf. As Leo pushed Raph back, their eyes met.

Raph's eyes were tormented. She doesn't get it, they seemed to say.

I know, Leo thought, hoping that Raph would be able to understand him.

"What is going on out here?" Master Splinter's voice rang through the lair.

Everyone started talking at once.

"Quiet!" Splinter said, smacking his staff on the ground. He walked down the steps from the dojo and into the den. "Leonardo. Explain."

Leo drew a deep breath and pushed past everyone else so that he could stand in front of Master Splinter. "Karai says that the Kraang have developed the serum that can un-mutate Donnie, but they won't give it to her unless Karai hands April over to them. April, Karai and Mikey want to go through with it – handing April over, and then us turtles rescuing her."

Master Splinter ran his hand down the length of his beard. "And you and Raphael do not agree?" His tone indicated a simple question.

Leo was relieved. He had feared that Splinter would have taken their side immediately, since, as Raph pointed out, Splinter had a weak spot when it came to Karai.

If Leo was honest with himself, he had too, up until Karai's betrayal. He reminded himself of Mikey's injuries. "As much as we want Donnie back, we have to consider all the risks, Sensei. We wouldn't just be putting April at risk – we know that the Kraang want to use her to take over the world. And…Karai…how do we know this isn't some kind of trick?"

"I see," Splinter said, still stroking his beard. "This is indeed a dilemma. I fear that we must find a different way to take the serum from the Kraang."

"What?" Karai said. "This is the simplest solution. Besides, what if the serum needs more tweaking? If the Kraang see the turtles taking the thing that only I'm supposed to know about, they'll get suspicious, won't they?"

"Wait a second – the serum might need more tweaking?" Raph said. "They don't know if it works?"

"Well…" Karai looked at the ground. "They said that it needs to be tested. I was going to test it on Xever, and if it works, use the rest for Donnie."

"Why didn't you say that?" Leo said.

"I told you that I wanted to hammer out the details with you. I didn't think I'd have to work so hard to convince you to save your own brother."

"Leo, Master Splinter," April said, "it's the only way."

Leo sighed. "Fine. We'll do it."

April and Mikey cheered. But all Leo could think was that if this went sideways, all of the blame was on him for going along with it.

The price of being a leader.

"Leonardo, may I have a word with you?" Splinter asked. The two of them walked over to the corner of the room. "You seem unsure of your decision."

"It's just – I want to be able to trust Karai, but…"

"It is difficult. I understand."

"Yeah. But Karai's right. This is our only option."

"Then you must plan, my son. But this time, plan for the unexpected. Be on your guard – as somebody famous once said, 'Trust, but verify.'"

Leo grinned. "I like that. Who said that?"

Splinter shook his head. "A president, I think. I admit American politics have never been of much interest to me – I cannot exactly vote."

"Thanks, Master Splinter." Leo walked back over to the den, where everyone was already digging into the pizza and pizza gyoza. "All right, team, let's coordinate this caper."

Raph rolled his eyes.