Author's note

Yeah, this chapter got a little long so I had to split it in half so the next chapter will come a lot quicker than this one did. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews I always get so excited to read them!

~Enjoy

The Things We've Lost

"Alright, kiddies line up! Our leader is about to give orders and I want this room dead silent!" The woman commanded having the room fall into dead silence. "That's better." She nodded her head having her two purple ponytails fling around her around her head. The echoing sound of combat boots hitting against cement was the only remaining sound in the room as an older woman waltzed to the center of the stage, her hands crossed behind her back as her fiery red bangs bounced against her crystal, narrowed, scanning eyes.

"Thank you, Commander Angel." She addressed the first woman with a hard, stern tone. "Alright," She announced to the group, "Reports have come in that Shredder's forces have discovered one our bases directly outside the city. We need to head in that direction and stop the Foot from infiltrating that base and destroy any soldiers that enter our turf. We will divide into two teams: half of you will go with Angel and take the roof tops and cut through the forest to get to the base, the other half will come with me. We'll travel underground by going through the old sewer system, the tunnels should lead us directly underneath where we will set up an ambush. It should take us about 3 hours on foot so we'll be leaving immediately. We need to get there before day break."
"Yes, ma'am!" The group saluted.
"Good, now move out!"

Angel adjusted the holster that ran across her torso as her leader loaded her weapons. Her bright green eyes examined her body language, she could tell something was on her mind.

"So, are you going to be ok traveling through the sewers?" Angel's voice lingered for a moment before she could find a response. "Of course I am." She spoke straightening her back. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that, some history went down in those tunnels. Just making sure that's not going to affect anything… or anyone." The woman slammed her gun on to the table her eyes not meeting Angel's as she leaned over the counter. "I am perfectly capable of traveling underground. I've done it before, this time is not any different!" She raged but her voice was leveled. "What happened in the past is in the past and is not my problem anymore, is that clear?"

"Whatever you say, April." Angel shrugged.

April's troops trudged through the abandoned subway tunnels with light of their flashlights and the rusted rails as their only guide. All subway tunnels had been left to rot after Shredder's take over. The only real way of transportation was the assigned busses that would pick up groups of people at one specific pick up zone and cram as much of them inside, leaving not even enough room to turn your head, and take you to your single destination that was where you went to work for 18 hours. If you missed the bus, you would not be able to go to work that day. If you missed a day of work, you would be punished.

"Watch your step! These tunnels have abandoned for years." April ordered. "These walls are willing to give in at any moment!"

It wasn't before long until April started to feel a sense of Déjà vu. At one point in her life, she could walk these tunnels blindfolded and still reach her desired destination.

The lair had always been her safe haven for many years. It was her only escape from her stressful ordinary life and was filled with people who loved and cared about her. She always believed it to be too good to be true, but like all good thing it had to come to an end.

A cool breeze blew through the warm air and rustled the leaves above her. Her legs had begun to grow numb under the weight of her body as she shifted her weight to ease the pain. Her eyes remained fixed on slab of stone before her, her finger tips brushing over the petals of the freshly laid iris on top of the newly topped soil.

"Goodbye, my hero." April spoke faintly as if he could still hear her six feet underground. A single tear slid down the surface of her cheek before she brushed it away at the sound of approaching steps.

"Gotten a response yet?" Casey voice broke through the silence as he sat next to her.

"This just seems to be the only place I can go to escape reality." April responded as she swiped away any loose tears.

"Well, Donnie always was the one who could cheer you up." He flashed an uplifting smile her way before looking in the direction of her eyes.

"I can't believe he's gone." April sighed. "It doesn't even feel real. I feel like if I was to go back to the lair now he'd be inside his lab asleep with his head rested in his arms on his desk and there would be a long line of line of letters across his computer screen from being rested on the key board and he would be softly snoring with his mouth opened just enough to see the gap between his two front teeth…" April stopped herself short of the memory when the lump in her throat cut off her voice.

"Things certainly aren't the same without him." Casey faced forward. "Things will never be the same."

"How was Mikey before you left?" April asked once she found her voice.

"Not that great. He was still refusing to eat when I left and all he's been doing lately is laying in his bed and refusing to talk to anyone." Casey answered. "I don't blame him though. I'm just proud that he's been keeping it together for this long. Watching Donnie get killed and now this, and with Raph checked out- he's stronger than all of us."

"If Donnie was here Mikey wouldn't have lost his arm." April commented. "He would've been able to stop that infection without taking drastic measures."
"How were we suppose to know that that simple cut on the arm from Shredder would've led to that mess?"
"Donnie would've known."
"If Donnie was here we wouldn't be in this hell at all."
"We should've never tried to attack Shredder head on." April sighed.

Casey glanced down at his hand draped over his raised knee. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"What is there to do now?" April implied. "The turtles are no condition to fight, Shredder's has already gained control of most of New York as well as the Kraang, people are being executed or being put into slave camps, and there's no one left to stop them!"

"Well, I wouldn't say there's no one." Casey met her eyes.

"What are you trying to say, Casey?"

"Nothing, I'm just implying that we're the only ones who has had history with these guys and know their strengths and their weaknesses."

"So?"

"So, what if we actually put that to use and created a resistance team! You know like in those old Si-fi movies we all used to watch."

"That's the craziest thing you've ever come up with." April replied flatly. "No, I'm serious, Red. We could assemble a group of people from all over the city and create an organization to take down Shredder. Raph and I could train them in hand to hand combat, Leo would be in charge of making the plans and assigning people based of their skill sets. You and Mikey could work with weaponry- this could work." Casey explained.

"Honestly, Casey, I still think you're suffering from that concussion Tiger Claw gave you." April looked to Casey for a hint that would tell her he was joking, but he wasn't. "Are you serious? Where would we find people to do this? Where would we even set up a base where Shredder wouldn't find us? A-and look at the turtles now. Do you really think they're in any condition to do this?"

"Well, I didn't expect it to happen overnight." Casey shrugged.

"I-I don't know Casey. I mean, with everything that's been going on lately I just don't know how that could work. I think it would just be best if we just stayed low and in the lair for now. At least there it's safe." April answered.

"And what if it comes time it won't be?" Casey asked.
"If that day comes…I'll take you up on your suggestion."

Eventually, that day did come and April was true to her word. It toke some time to put everything together, but soon enough their resistance team was formed, but without the turtles. Their army consisted of both mutants and humans that they had rescued or recruited throughout the years. April and Casey directed and trained their soldiers until their duo broke after a helicopter accident.

April kept starring ahead as she tried to ignore the flood of memories. Before too long the small cracks began to multiply. She found herself stepping over clumps of bricks before stopping in her tracks. She lifted her hand to stop her troops' march when they approach the barrier of the collapsed ceiling. Two of her soldiers pushed away a large block of cement, revealing a small passage.

"I will move forward alone to see if we can continue down this path." April informed before slipping through the opening.

The tunnel was completely empty with an eerie unsettling feeling of emptiness in its atmosphere. It was here that April had once called home. Another blockade of stone appeared at her left, but it wasn't as thick as the one before. She pushed against the stone which caused it to tumble forward enough for her to crawl over it. The room before her was a disaster. Broken glass and fallen stone scattered all over the ground that her boots made a loud crunching sound everywhere she stepped as if she was walking on gravel. She couldn't walk too far into the lair due to the wall of crumbling cement in the middle of the lair that blocked off the bedrooms. She wasn't there when this place fell apart and she hadn't come back since. Her heart felt heavy in her chest at the sight of it now. Her eyes trailed around the room until they came to a stop at the rusted sliding doors attached to the wall at her left and the silver padlock on their handles.

She hated that lock.

Walking up to the doors, she toke the lock in her hand and looked over it. The three wheels of numbers on the side were all set on zero and she had no time to sit and figure out what their code would be, but she was curious. No one had entered the lab after the lock was put on. Who knows what's in there now? She wondered how damaged it was in there after the bombing.

Taking out the old metal baseball bat that was sticking out of her backpack she began hitting it against the rusted arch in the lock. With a snap the lock broke, falling to the ground with a clang. Struggling to pry the doors open, she got it pushed apart just enough to slid through it sideways. The rusted metal doors screeched against the cement floor. Upon entering, her heart sank at sight what this once thriving room has now become.

Everything was rusted and broken. Most of the inventions were in pieces, decayed from over time to the point where you wouldn't have known what they even were. The vehicle that served as the Bat-mobile to the turtle team was now rusted to almost nothing. The tires had gone flat and it was engulfed in cobwebs and dust like everything else. She walked further into the room around the large device cloaked with a brown cover that had been the latest of his creations. Giving the cloak a slight lift, a metal pillar met her eyes that had so many wires sticking out of it and a thin lair of rust that she couldn't even guess what it was.

The walls and most of the floor and ceiling was consumed by a large amount of ivy that desperately reached for the light that shined through the cracks and holes in the ceiling where moonlight was able to pour in. Following one of the beams, they landed on one particular object that flooded her mind with more depressing memories.

The head of Donnie's beloved robotic friend.

Stepping over the decayed tools and knocked over cabinets, she walked over to the table.

Picking up the head, she starred into its dark unlit eyes. Thinking back to the day Donnie created him, she realized they both had a lot in common.

Both had eyes full of light. Both were able to bring joy to those around him. Both protected those they loved. Both very intelligent. And now, both were dead.

Just as if he left with his master.

Something in her couldn't bring herself to put him down, to leave him sitting there for another 20 years until he was nothing. She couldn't do that to Donnie.

Opening the top of her bag, she slid him inside until he perfectly fit. Zipping it back up, she walked towards the doors. Taking one last glance back, April darted out of the lair to reunite with her team.

Sorry this chapter was a little more quieter than the others but I promise the next one won't be ;)