Just continuing the Good Friday spirit! BTW, I flipped when I saw how many views this had. 823! Ya'll are just amazin'! Love all o' ya'll! (Sorry. Relatives from TX called the other day, so my accent started appearing in speech and writing [obviously]) Hope ya'll enjoy!

Chapter 6

Sacks stumbled over his feet, knocking over the table. Taigā leapt at him, snarling. He rolled just before her strike hit him. Instead of his face, her claws sliced clean through the monitor. Scrambling to his feet, he hit the emergency lock-down button, sliding under the toxin shield. Alarms blared throughout the facility.

Just then, the phone rang. Sacks ran over to it, hastily picking it up. "Nan jigoku ga daun soko okotte iru!?" The man winced at the raised voice.

"Taigā is free, Master Shredder."

"Seigyo chippu ni tsuite wa dō?"

"She freed herself before I could implant it." Two tense seconds passed.

"Kanojo no haiki shite kudasai. Ima." Sacks breathed a sigh of relief.

"At once, Master Shredder." He hung up just as ten platinum claws sliced through the three-inch metal door. "Seal off the lab! We're detoxing!"

~ *.* ~

Raph slowly stood up, his brothers running around him. April had just injected them with tons of adrenaline, making them insane. Everyone was talking at the same time, but he was able to get the gist of it. Shredder was going to poison New York, Sacks was going to use the mutagen in his brothers' blood as an antidote... ya' know where it goes from there.

"So we have got to get going now!"

"Good. Let's do it for Sensei." The turtles began running out the door when alarms blared. They looked at April and Vern, who shrugged. Leo gasped.

"Taigā! We have to get Taigā!" He stared running down the corridor, his brothers close on his tail. Raph caught up with his hyped leader.

"What about Taigā?"

"Sacks said he was going to do something to her! I don't know what but it had to do something with the mutagen in our blood!" Don's eyes widened from their already basketball size.

"He's going to mutate her!" The scientist shot ahead of them. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" The turtles soon left Vern in the dust.

"I'll…. just…. go…. to…. the…. van." April circled back to join him.

"Good idea, Vern! We'll meet you there!" The ninjas tore down the hallways, following the sound of chaos. They turned the corner at a scream. "There she –" Everyone froze on their toes.

A young woman with pointed ears on her head, black hair, and sparkling emerald eyes was holding a Foot soldier by his neck, keeping him pinned against the wall. Raph blushed when he realized she was only wearing pants and a sports bra. Mikey, on the other hand, shamelessly wolf-whistled... which earned him a slap on the head. Hearing, the Foot soldier feebly pointed towards the turtles. The ninjas gulped as the woman's eyes turned in their direction. When she dropped the man, Raph moved protectively in front of the group. He stared at the girl for a few moments.

"Taigā?" he asked hesitantly. The female chuckled, revealing fangs.

"Glad to see you're alive, Fruitcake. What took ya'?" The red-masked ninja relaxed, sheathing his sai.

"Had some issues."

"Don't you always?" She looked up at the alarms. "Come on. Let's get out of here." The ninjas nodded, following her out.

The group made it outside just in time to see a helicopter take off. "Sacks is airborne!" Leo shouted. Taigā snarled, baring her fangs.

"Flight time to Manhattan, nineteen minutes!"

"Get us out of here, Donnie!" The scientist lowered his goggles, scanning the trucks. His visor then swept to a soldier.

"Oh my gosh! They have guns!" Taigā rolled her eyes at Don's panicked voice.

"Get down!" The turtles huddled around the humans when the men started shooting. This time, actual bullets. Taigā's eyes widened when she looked behind Leo to see the bullets ricocheting off the shells and back at the soldiers. Leo laughed.

"Ha! Are you guys okay?"

"We're bulletproof."

"Sweet." Taigā chuckled.

"You walking shields ready to knock some heads?" Leo nodded. He pointed towards Vern.

"Can you drive that truck?"

"Yeah."

"We're on Raph. Ready?" Raph ran out backwards, grabbing a soldier's gun. The others ran around him, following his lead. Taigā flipped out, landing on one man while slicing the throat of another. The man under her collapsed underneath her weight, her feet crushing his sternum. "Everybody in the truck! We gotta go, go, go!"

Leo grabbed Taigā's hand, throwing her in the truck before him. Donnie caught her, setting her on her feet. Raph ran forward, banging on the window. "Drive!"

"I'm on it!" The truck rumbled to life.

"Come on, come on!"

"Ah that's all I need. A backseat driving, talking turtle." Taigā appeared next to the terrapin.

"Would you rather him or me!?"

"Shutting up." Vern drove the truck straight out the gates, slamming into and through them. Taigā grabbed onto Raph when she was thrown to the side. To her surprise, he leaned his head forward to nuzzle one of her new ears. His breath tickled the sensitive hairs.

"I'm glad to see you're okay too." The girl giggled, lifting her head to rub her nose against his jaw line. A soft purr escaped her throat. Raph responded by pressing his chin to her head. Another jolt broke the moment. Mikey leaned down from the roof.

"Where we going guys?"

"Donnie! What's the fastest route back to Manhattan?"

"We just need to stay on this road. If we can get to the maintenance hatch at the bottom of the hill, there's a sewer line just two point four miles from here." Leo leaned out.

"Mikey! Let 'em know up there!"

"I'm on it!" Taigā's ears twitched when she heard him groan. A second later, she heard something else.

"Missile!" The projectile hit the side of the truck, sending the occupants flying. Raph fell over Taigā at first, but was then thrown off when Vern tried to compensate. She slid towards the end of the truck, digging her claws into the sheet metal. Just before she could breathe a sigh of relief, Leo crashed into her, sending both out of the truck. Leo landed on a boulder plastron-first, Taigā on top of him.

"Leo! Move! Move!" Leo rolled over Taigā, shielding her as the truck ran over them. He then rolled the both of them out of the way of the tires. They stood up, staring down the slope. The duo started to run just as the Humvees chasing them ran over the snow bank.

Leo jumped, curling into a ball. He grunted when his carapace hit the windshield. Taigā dug her claws into the door, anchoring herself to the side. Her ears flattened involuntarily against her head, trying to keep the snow out.

"Fire!" She looked up to see one soldier shoot an electric cable at the turtle.

"Oh like hell I'm letting him go through that again." Swinging her legs up, she wrapped them around the man's neck, pulling him up and out of the car. He crashed into a tree, his spine snapping. Taigā jumped up on the roof, dropping inside the Humvee. The men immediately started shooting at her. She hissed when a few bullets lodged in her arm, but didn't let it faze her. She soon knocked out or killed the men, flinging their bodies out of the car.

Jumping in the driver's seat, she grabbed the wheel. Looking up, she swerved out of the way of a flipping car. Cursing under her breath, she righted the vehicle, slamming her foot on the gas. "Alright. No better time to learn how to drive then speeding uncontrollably down a mountain slope at breakneck speeds in the middle of a battle between good and evil." Spinning the wheel, she placed the car in reverse, looking out the back. "Always wanted to try this."

Pushing her foot down further, the car accelerated. It soon leveled with the armored truck. Grabbing one of the AK's, she jammed it between the seat and pedal, making sure it stayed put. Once done, she hauled herself out the skylight, balancing on the roof. A shout caught her attention. Raph flipped into the neighboring Humvee, crashing through the rear-view window. A honk told her the driver hit his head on the wheel.

Pretty soon, men were flying out of the car. Raph whooped again from inside the vehicle. Taigā smirked. 'Alright Sacks... let's see just how far I can jump.' Gathering herself, she sprung from her vehicle to the guys, landing perfectly on the roof. Mikey brightened at her sudden arrival.

"Hey Koneko!" She chuckled at him.

"You never stop with the nicknames, do you?" He grinned cheekily.

"Nope." Raph hauled himself up beside the two.

"Mind if I crash the party?" Taigā smirked at him.

"You always do, whether we mind or not!" A smash made her whip around. The truck crashed through a snowbank, jumpstarting an avalanche. Raph jumped onto the side, holding onto the top. Taigā braced herself against the windshield, while Mikey stayed up top. The Humvee flipped, throwing its riders. Raph caught Taigā as she fell.

"Still mind?" She just rolled her eyes. He chuckled at her. He slid to the side as Mikey landed next to Leo and Donnie.

"Come on Leo! Wake up!" They began slapping him.

"Yeah! If you wake up I promise to do anything you say!" Taigā shifted in Raph's arms.

"What are you-"

"Just trust me!" she yelled over the avalanche. She shakily stood, his large hands coming up to steady her. She stepped on them. "On three! One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" They yelled together. Raph flung her over to his brothers. She landed on Donnie's carapace, bracing herself on his gear. "What's our ETA!?"

"Shredder's copter twenty miles outside of New York City airspace!" Raph rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the traffic update, Donnie. You doing sports and weather next?"

"If you're going to be nasty about it then I guess you don't want to know there's a five-hundred foot drop-off in fifty-three seconds!"

"Are you saying there's –" Leo jumped up.

"A cliff!" He sheathed his katana that he had somehow managed to hold onto while unconscious. "We gotta get April out of there! Raph! Heads up!" Leo climbed up onto the trailer, using Raph as a stepping stool.

"Don't forget that old guy!" Taigā looked down at Donnie. He nodded, doing the same thing for her that Raph had done for Leo. They met on top.

"Need a hand?" He smiled gratefully at her.

"Thanks. Let's move." They ran together on the roof, Leo dropping down on the passenger side, Taigā on the driver. "Hi!"

"Leo!"

"Change of plans." Both outside riders looked up at the sound of a weapon powering up. "Oh come on." Taigā and Leo ducked, but the cable still attached to Leo's plastron, anchoring. The panther mutant yanked the cable towards them, giving Leo a little extra slack.

"I'm going after them! You get April and him out of the truck!" Grabbing the cable, Taigā made her way over to the armored truck. Inside, Karai gasped when five metal knives pierced the armor.

"Kanojo o furu!" The driver nodded, swerving the truck left and right. Taigā grunted as her claws slid down the door, her fingers protesting. Gritting her teeth, she hauled herself up on the roof. Slicing the man's throat, she threw his body out of the truck. Raising her hand, she cut clean through the gun mount, just as Raph slammed into the truck.

Grabbing the gun, Taigā jumped off the vehicle. She landed in the snow, the coldness immediately piercing her skin. Sliding in the white powder, she managed to wrap the cable around a tree just as Leo jumped out with April and Vern. However, the cable snapped. Taigā grabbed one of the discarded doors, using it as an improvised snowboard. She slid down the slope, shifting her weight to avoid objects. Glancing to her right, she saw a familiar face.

"Mikey! Grab the cable!" The youngest turtle scrabbled through the snow, searching for it.

"I got it! I got it!" Taigā looked up to see the others barely out of range of the truck's trailer. "Hold on, hold on!"

Mikey tripped over a rock, losing his grip. "No! Oh no no no no no!" Leo and the others went over the edge. Mikey bowed his head.

"Poor Leo, April, and that other guy. They were so young. So beautiful." Raph slid by.

"They ain't dead, numbnuts."

"Oh. Right on." Taigā rolled her eyes, jumping off her improvised board. She ran over to the edge to see the cable had wedged itself in between two rocks. Leo was holding onto the anchor, while April and Vern held onto him.

"I hope you got a parachute under that shell!" Don looked over the edge too.

"Hey guys! It's the maintenance hatch! Our ticket home!"

"A little help please!" Raph grabbed Leo's hand, hauling him and the humans up.

"Guys, we gotta hustle! Shredder's over New York City!" Taigā nodded.

"Then let's go. Leo? Give me that cable." As soon as he handed it over, she slammed it into the rock. The turtle winced at the sight of her bleeding back. "This is what happens to those of us without shells, Leo." Taigā threw the cable down the cliff face, testing the anchor.

She looked up at them. "As soon as I'm down, send April and Vern down. It should hold them. Then each of you, one at a time."

They nodded. Nodding back, Taigā repelled down the rock, landing safely at the bottom. Once everyone was down, Raph removed the cover of the hatch. Leo picked up Taigā. Raph threw Vern over his shoulder, while Mikey grabbed April. "Let's move."

~ *.* ~

Taigā bit her lip as another wave of pain shot through her back. Now that it was beginning to warm, she was also getting pain back. 'That… and it seems whatever pain killer Sacks gave me is wearing off too. Just my luck.'

Leo tightened his grip on her, leaning his head down to whisper "It'll be alright." He kicked open the door to the ventilation hatch, landing on his feet. He set Taigā down next to April and Vern. "Alright, listen up. Gotta find the elevators and get up to the roof."

He looked back at the others. "You guys get out of here. Get to a safe distance." April shook her head.

"No, no, no. We could find Sacks and get our hands on the mutagen as a contingency plan. Just in case… you know…" Raph rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Besides the fact that we would never make it out of the city in time." Taigā stared at each turtle individually. Leo sighed.

"If we don't make it back, take the mutagen to Splinter. It could save his life." Donatello stepped up.

"Sacks' laboratory is on the 37th floor. I've already disabled the security system. Oh and uh…" He shrugged uncertainly. "Good luck." He smiled awkwardly before running after his brothers. Taigā caught Leo's arm as he moved away. Before he could say anything, she pulled him down, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks for saving me the night we met. This," She kissed him again. "Is for today." Leo blushed, nodding slightly. She smiled at him, releasing his arm. "Go kick Shredder's metal ass." Leo smiled back.

"Yes ma'am." The groups split ways. In each, one member in particular wished for the return of someone else.

Personally, I think this is one of my favorite chapters. I don't know why I just do. Maybe because we get to see Taigā kick some ass. *shrugs* Anyways... hope you enjoyed reading!