Author's Note: I am very sorry for the long wait, I have no idea how to write this chapter, and when I thought I had something going I scrapped it and started over. Still I finished this chapter and thank those who are patient. Now I didn't edit this chapter because it was late and I wanted to finish and upload this before I went to sleep So please any mistakes in spelling is my fault. Still I hope you all like the twist at the end. Enjoy.

Chapter 34:Renewed Hope

A chilling scream, gushing of blood, shining metal, and the olive green hand which caused it all. A dark void which happened to be deprived of all life, not even a sound could be heard. If one were to walk among the void, one would see a gruesome sight.

*Thunk*

A muffle cry of pain sounded followed by a shocking gasp as two figure suddenly materialized in the void as a scene seemed to be playing out, almost as if it's being recreated. A bound human on his knees, gagged and blood oozing out of a fresh wound which had just been impaled on with a katana.

The razor metallic blade now stained red as it continued to drip down to the blade guard and then onto the handle, which a hand held it by. This limb belong to a turtle, who happened to be the one who thrust the weapon into the human, the shock of what he had did now registering in his mind.

"G…Gavin…" the voice spoke out as he watched the body fall over to its side, no sound of impact as all as the void seemed to have a surface. The human's movements slowing down as more blood started to leave him, effectively making his body cold and stiff. The turtle wasn't sure what to do, too frozen stiff as he kept looking at the soon to be stiff.

Both eyes widen as he saw the gag fall from the human's mouth, and apparently some life still in him as his jaw moved, and sound started to come out. "D…D-Don…why…why did you kill me…"

"Gavin…no, no I didn't mean to I…I…" Donatello started to hyperventilate as he started to get function back into his body as he kneeled over his down friend, and for once in his life, not sure what to do. "Gavin, stay with…please…please…Please!"

"NO!" Don's voice shrilled as he bolted up from bed, the blanket shooting off of him as he's covered in a cold sweat. Heart pumping wildly as his body trembled and breathing turned shallow as his body started to wake from its slumber. Both eyes were focused as he saw that he was inside his room, in his large bed. The whole room lit up as the sun illuminated the whole room, a clear indicated that it was morning or noon depending on the time.

All this registered in his mind as the turtle slowly started to calm down from his scare, only to realize that it was only a nightmare…an all too real nightmare. Another replay of him murdering his friend, willing and so gruesome.

"Gavin…" Don spoke softly, feeling guilt welling up within him as the memory played once more, so vivid and almost like it was happening once more. Watching himself with the sword and thrusting it into his friend and then watching him slowly die from the blood loss, all because of him.

"Why did I do it?" he hung his head and rested them into his hands, eyes closing as he tried to pull himself from the memory, but that was a mistake. As the scene played once again, but this time through his own perspective…which was much worse.

"No, I can't be thinking of this, Shredder told me he was the enemy, he was the one stealing from me and worked for another company. I…I did the right thing…but why am I feeling guilty?"

A tormented sigh escaped his mouth as he did his best to push those thoughts from his mind, he has to get this whole thing from his mind or else he will continue to be haunted from it. He already knew that murder could be a psychological hurdler to overcome, even for the toughest of people. There always a feeling of guilt that comes from it, as the memory always sticks with you. It's up to the person's will to stay sane from it, and right now he had to show his.

Ridding himself of what the left the comforter covered his body the turtle then swung his legs over and planted them on the wooden floor. Eyes closed as he hunched over as he took a few breaths to steady himself before getting back up so he could stretch his body. A few pops were heard as he started to get limber

"What do I do?" he thought to himself as he needed to do something that will help keep his mind cleared and focused. Anything to keep his mind of the…incident would be a big relief.

"What the?" both eyes widen in surprise as something on the table caught his eye. Resting on the darkly stained surface is a medium sized box, which wasn't sealed at all. It looked almost as if it was ready for him to open it. Then his eyes saw a folded up piece of paper that rested on top of the box, which now perked his curiosity. "Wasn't here last night…so it was left, but why?" he spoke to himself, now walking over to the table, and the contents on it.

Reaching out he picked up the note first; pulling it closer and unfolding it and seeing neat and fancy handwriting on the page. It's a note, and from Shredder none the less. Don couldn't help but read the message out loud.

Junko

I hope you are feeling better from last night, and at least had a good night's sleep. Like I told you before I am proud of what you did to that traitor, not only did you free yourself of his lies but you showed me most of all that I can trust and depend on you for anything. As such I took the liberty of giving you a gift, to show how much trust I have in you. Consider it a rise in your current status, you earned it. Also if you're still up to it, we have a training session later today, come when and or if you're ready for it.

-Oroku

After reaching the end of the letter Don had been left in a small state of shock and surprise, his sensei's words really digging into him as he reread the letter once more. "That…That's surprisingly of him…although I shouldn't be surprised since he's always giving me things. But what does he mean by a rise in my status?" He thought to himself, not sure whether to feel positive or negative about this. But either way subconsciously it was helping occupy him away from his negative thoughts.

Folding up the letter the black clad turtle set it aside before focusing on the box. Reaching forward he grasped the flaps and slowly started to open it, starting with the left and then the right. Letting go he then grabbed the remaining two flaps, opening the top and then bottom one which finally revealed the contents inside.

Both eyes rose as he saw a new set of knee and elbow pads, ones completely different from his current ones. For one thing, the obvious difference is that they are black and instead of being tied on they could slip onto his limbs. The material looked like they could stretch to accommodate the size of his arms and legs.

Reaching out he felt the pads, and was surprised to find them firm and strong. "These look much higher in quality than my current ones…and I do kind of need them," he looked at his elbow, seeing the pad scuffed up, faded, and losing its durability to protect him. He wasn't sure how much more they could serve him, and it even hadn't crossed his mind on what he would use as a substitute.

Taking them out he then noticed a new belt for him, which was like his pads as the color is black. The Foot logo stitched on the end ties. A smile started to appear on his face as the new accessory is looked over, yet another replacement for his current belt, which had some chips along the material and looked almost like it could tear.

Pulling the gear out it was then he saw one last thing inside the box, which completely took the turtle by surprise. Reaching in he pulled out the last piece of gear that he had been given, and raised it up to get a much better look at it.

In his hands is a large, black, tactical vest that is large enough to fit him despite his shell. The material felt ridged, almost like strong rope, and looked to almost be made from Kevlar. Strong enough to protect him from projectiles that were to hit him. There also were multiple pockets on the vest for storage, which he would need when he would be asked to do anymore tasks. On the back the Foot clan symbol is present for anyone to see, and identify him with.

Don couldn't believe the gifts he had received, his sensei basically gave him new gear for him to wear and more. The pads were a welcoming gift but he started to figure that the vest was too much. "I…I can't believe he gave me all this, just because of what I did by showing loyalty. But does this truly make me a part of the Foot clan? I mean this is all their colors…but it would be rude to turn it all down, especially with how understanding sensei has been."

His arms lowered as he thought this all over, as he wasn't sure what he should do. By accepting this he would further be crossing over to the Foot's side, and possibly cementing his role within their ranks. Something that he would be honored to have, but of course there was a nag at his mind not to take it, a sense of this being the bad course he could go through. But of course taking it would please his sensei, and would show that he appreciates everything he's done. But also not taking it could have the opposite effect, which he wasn't sure what could happen.

"Well…wouldn't hurt just trying it on," He told himself as he started to feel a bit better. Try it on, that's all, see how he looks in it. There was no harm in that, was there?

Slowly he started to remove his elbow and knee pads, still being careful with them and setting all four items on the table before grabbing his new ones. Starting with his elbow pads inserted his hand in it and slowly pulled it up along his arm, the soft material gliding up his limb until it was set on his elbow. The pad fitting his limb like it was made for him, form fitting and just right. He could barely feel it when he bent his arm, a sign that it was good gear.

"Well…so far, so good," he quietly remarked as he deemed it ideal, so he turned back to the rest of his gear. One by one he put them all one, with the last elbow pad and then the one for the knees. Loving how they felt and formed to his body, and was curious how he would look once it was all on.

Then he grabbed the belt, running his hand along the rough fabric that it was made from, and knowing it was made for durability. Removing his current brown colored one he dropped it next to his discarded gear and then wrapped the new one around his waist, tying it off once at the proper spot.

Finally he then moved onto the vest, the one item he wanted to save for last. Now further inspecting it he found no straps located on it, which meant it would need to slip on. Putting it up he then slipped his head into it and allowed it to slide down his shell and plastron, liking how it went on smoothly and accommodated his frame. His arms and head slipped through the openings as it was finally one, hands adjusting it before he declared it on perfectly.

"Ok…that's it…" his soft voice confirmed to himself as he then turned towards the wall, where a large mirror hung on there, a fancy elegant one, and stared upon his own reflection. A small intake of air happened as he could hardly recognize himself, or rather the turtle within the mirror.

Already the black bandanna covered his face, but a good portion of his body is now covered with black. There were little traces of his olive green skin, as the gear changed that and made him look completely new. Almost like he's some kind of ninja commando or something of the like, but he wasn't sure.

A mental image of the turtle he once was appeared as his reflection, showing off his brown pads, belt and purple bandanna, along with the Bo staff that rested on his shell. But now that image broke, reverting back to the current reflection that is now and his new place in the world: A ninja under the Foot clan, serving them and now embracing it.

"I…I can't believe how far this has come…" he softly spoke to himself as his right hand unconsciously went to touch the glass, the cool surface being met. But then an eye rose as something on the vest caught his eye. It is right below the collar on the left side, something that he was surprised that slipping his eyes the first time he looked the vest over.

In white stitching there is a symbol that could be easily seen by anyone else who looked at him. Well the symbol was actual a word in kanji, a handwriting style that he knew how to read ever since he was young. And once his mind translated what it meant, his eyes widen as a small gasped left him. "Li-Lie…Lieutenant? What, Shredder…no this can't be right, but…no he wouldn't do that…but really Shredder would make me a lieutenant?"

Now this completely took the turtle by surprise, no way in his life would he think he'd been considered such a rank. No he originally thought he was here to work in the labs and that's it, but now the symbol said it all. And finally the whole raise in status finally clicked into his mind. He would really need to talk to his sensei about this, and get the full story about it, just to ease his mind.

"Well…I guess…I guess I can keep all this on…just for now," He spoke to himself, taking his eyes off the mirror and heading for the door. He really needed to talk with Shredder, and now would be a good time as of now.

A tired yawn escaped the mouth of Raphael as he exited his room and headed down to the main level. A closed hand rubbing his eyes as all his senses started to wake back up after a whole night's slumber, well actually not a whole night. As once again he and the rest of his brothers were up late looking at the videos that Don had on his computer.

A lot of the techno mumbo jumbo went over their heads as the recording of Don explained everything he was working on, but thankfully there were times he explained things in laminae terms. And part of them were very impressed with some of the projects that their purple clad brother had came up with, and surprised at how much work he put into them so they could work. They all had to admit that he was one productive turtle.

After a while they called it a night and went their ways for bed, which lead to now. The emerald green turtle heading to the kitchen and wasn't surprised to hear that one of the others is awake, and knew who it was since there is a good aroma coming from it. Walking in he found his youngest brother Mikey at the stove and Master Splinter sitting at the table, cup of tea in hand.

Raph raised an eye as he didn't find Leo here at all, which is surprising because besides Master Splinter Leo is always the one up early. The thought of his blue clad brother being tired came to mind but he axed that idea since Leo could go with that much sleep when he needed to, and since the current situation demanded it he should be here.

"Morning my son," Splinter knocked him out of his train of thought, the wise eyes of his father locked onto him.

"Morning sensei," he responded politely, strolling into the kitchen and heading to the fridge, opening and grabbing the milk inside.

"You sleep alright?" Mikey asked, taking a glance at his older brother before looking back at the stove.

The red clad turtle grunted as he moved to a cabinet and opened it to get a glass to pour the milk in. "Hardly, my mind is still reeling from all the stuff we learned last night."

"I know what you mean," Mikey responded, flipping a pancake. "I never knew Don could do this much, and yet there's still more of it left.

Splinter took a sip of his tea, enjoying the herbal taste going down his throat before looking at his sons. "Yes, Leonardo told me much earlier."

"Where is Leo anyway?" Raph finally asked, pouring his glass and returning the milk to the fridge before taking a seat at the table.

It was Mikey who responded to the question, taking the pancake off the griddle and adding it to one of the many plates. "He's checking the computer again, he wanted to see if there was any way to narrow down the videos we have to watch."

"What?" Raph almost choked on his mile as he was in mid-drink. "But we said we would look at the videos together."

"Do not rush to conclusion my son," Splinter eased his second oldest, just as Mikey placed the plates of Pancakes in front of them. "Leonardo is only looking, no watching, he's trying to make it easier for you all to look through them."

"Well either way he's going to need to take a break for breakfast," Mikey commented as he set all the plates on the table.

Almost as if his name was called Leo appeared at the kitchen's entrance, his stance, and the expression show on his face made it look almost as if he was in a rush. Something that definitely caught everyone attention. "You guys need to come look."

"What's going on?" Raph got up from his seat.

"Just come on, I think I might have found something," before anything else could be asked Leo was off, and soon followed by the rest of his family. They all ran across the lair to Donatello's lab, where the door stood open as they ran in. Leo got back in the chair and moved the mouse and clicked on something.

"My son, what is it?" Splinter asked as they came to a stop behind the eldest turtle.

Leo then wheeled away from the front of the screen, letting them all look upon a file name that they didn't see before. "I was searching through the titles of the videos when something came to mind," Leo began to explain. "I then went back to the main page and looked around, and then I found a folded titled, In progress. Being curious I clicked on it and I found only two recordings and a bunch of schematics."

"And?" Raph commented, not sure where he was getting at.

"Look at the date the last video was recorded," Leo then pointed at the screen, where the video icon is displayed.

They all did, the number of the month, day and year on the screen, and once it registered in their minds they all gasped in shock. "Wait…this…this can't be," Mikey responded.

"That's…that's the same night that Don was taken," Raph finished, his heart racing fast as their brother's final moments could be caught on this video. And all it would take is a click on the mouse to find out what it is.

"No way dudes…this…this is all too.."

"Good to be true?" Leo asked, but didn't wait for a response. "I know…But…this is maybe what we were waiting for…" Leo explained as he took the mouse and moved the pointer to the first video.

"Wait, aren't we going to play the last one?" Raph questioned, not wanting them to do anything hastily. He thought they would look at that one first.

"I know Raph, but it's best we see what Don was originally up to, just so we can understand his intentions for making this video," He explained, but didn't get a response from anyone else. Taking that as a sign that they agreed he clicked on the icon, which was labeled two month before the last video, the media player popping up and the image of Don himself sat before his computer.

"Hello, this is Donatello once again with another project that I'm going to start. Like always I'm going to take a few minutes to explain what and the purpose of this project is before I start on it. Now the name of this project is going to be…well…I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to call it. Let's skip that part for now."

The image of the purple clad turtle clearing his through showed as he leaned forward. "I've noticed a lot of things when my brothers and I are out on patrols or something out of the ordinary happens. There are times where we're captured or forget our shellcells. This is a problem since we won't know the location of said brothers…or me…that are in any of those situations. So I'm going to try and come up with an internal way to remedy this situation. I've done some research, but I don't have any concrete material to go by, but I need-"

All of a sudden there was a knock on the door as Mikey's girlish pleads could be heard, "Don, bro let me in, Raph is going to kill me!"

The image of Don looking at the door, which is off screen showed as he looked irritated. "Oh for the love of-Can't a turtle get any work done in peace!" His hand reached up to the camera as it switch off, but the screen only showed static as another image of Don appeared. It looked like he paused the reordering and started back up again, but this is different since the date on the camera screen showed a few days later.

Leo then hit paused as he wanted everyone to take this in, which was almost immediate as Mikey spoke first. "Oh, I remember that, I glued Raph's hand to a lamp as he was sleeping," the youngest chuckled at the memory, much to the displeasure of his second oldest.

"Yeah, but you at least gave me something to wake you with," Raph glared at his brother.

"My sons' settle down," Splinter said as he then looked at Leo, a bit surprised to see him staring off into space. "Leonardo, are you alright?"

"Oh..yes…I am…It's just that…" Leo then started to think, hunching over in his seat and his left hand rubbing his chin. For some reason this all started to feel familiar to him, like he heard Don say something like this before, but he couldn't' really place it. He decided to shake it from his mind, "Ready?" They all nodded as he pressed play, the same video resuming.

"Sorry about that, a little misunderstanding with my two brothers…you know I might change to a written log for this project since I can't seem to get any piece when I'm recording by video. It took me a few days to resume this video but I managed to get some research done on my project. I'm going to make one last video right now explaining my findings, before signing off for a while."

It then showed Don taking some papers out and lying them down on the desk, picking up one and looking it over. "I finally came up with the name of this project, it's called: Triangulate. I know it sounds weird but it fit with me. Now back to it, I did research on this internal process of tracking and found something similar that are done with pets. Something about ID chips being injected into them so that way if they are ever lost and found without their collar whoever responsible can scan and the pet's owner's information will be displayed. So maybe I could do something similar where a tracker can be placed in our blood stream or the like. So that way if anyone of us is without our Shell cells then we can be located without our enemies knowing."

All of a sudden the video was paused as they looked at the reason why, Leo's hand on the mouse, with a shocked expression on his face, one that showed that he knew something that they didn't. "Uh…Leo, what's going on, why did you pause it?" Raph asked first, everyone watching to see what he would do next.

"A tracker…an internal tracker…that's what he was building," Leo said as he looked around the lab, breathing increased as well as his heart rate. Memories from so long ago surfacing as they played before his eyes.

"It's a new form of a tracking system, one of which, like I said before, can save our lives."

"How does it work?" Leo raised an eye, more curiosity starting to set in.

Reaching instantly Leo exited the video and clicked on the one they were waiting for, everyone started as they saw this, and questioned as to why he would skip the rest of the first video. "Guys, trust me, something is coming back to me…I just need to see…"

"What?" Raph asked, kind of shocked and a bit scared at the way his brother is acting. Maybe all the worrying has gotten to his head.

"Just watch," Leo said as the video buffered. Finally the final video and last moments Don had before his abduction was playing. And like usual it showed him sitting in front of his camera.

"I need to keep this video short because my brother's and I are going on patrol in a few minutes. But I think I can do it. Now two months ago I started on a project I named: Triangulate. Well basic summary is it's an internal tracking device I can use when we don't have our shell cells if we forget them or are captured. It's been a long two months but I think I'm done with it."

The video then showed him reaching over and pulling out a vial that contained a clear liquid, but with a blackish tint to it. "This is the tracker, I did all I can to make it safe for our physiologies and hopefully it's safe. But I won't know that for sure until I test it…and since I don't have any volunteers I'm going to need to do it myself."

They all watched the screen as Don, in silence, picked up a few more items, a hypodermic needle, rubble tie, and alcohol. It showed him cleaning a spot on his arm before taking the needle and the vial. After filling it up with the substance Don tied his arm off, to stop the blood flow to his arm, and carefully sunk the needle in. He let out a gasp as he could feel it going in. In a matter of seconds it was over and he untied the tie and cleaned the dried blood.

"Wow…I feel a bit lightheaded…don't worry I'm find. For right now I just need to let the injection settle in my body, and that could take a couple of hours, which means it should be done by the time we finish with our patrol." Grabbing the camera he then filmed his work bench that hand a bunch of disassembled components on it. "Now I just need to build the transceiver and test, and I'm done. I can do that when I get home"

"Don, come on!" Leo called for his younger brother.

"Coming!" he responded from the inside of his lab.

The camera is then set back in place as Don appeared on screen, "Sorry but I have to cut this short since I'm about to leave. I'll resume this when I get back." Hand reaching up and the feed went black, the video ending.

"Oh Shell!" Leo stood up, the chair he was sitting in flew to the floor which startled everyone.

"Leonardo!" Splinter spoke. "What is wrong?"

"I can't believe this…I can't believe this…" he kept saying over and over again as it all came back to him. That day before they went on patrol he had visited his brother and they talked about the same experiment. He saw the liquid, but it was nowhere in sight, meaning what Don did in the video was true, and if that was true then…

He then moved past everyone else and went to the workbench, finding everything still in its place like it was nearly two years ago, but covered in a blanket of dust. Inhaling he then blew the dust off, causing everyone to cough a bit in reaction.

"Leo, dude, what's going on?" Mikey asked, coughing some more as he fanned the air around him.

Leo scanned the contents of the table, and having a good memory saw everything in the video matching what was on the workbench. He turned to everyone. "Guys…I can't believe this…the thing that could have helped us find Donatello…it's been in here all along!"

A/N: Hope you like, once again I hope you like the twist at the ending. I used something fro the beginning of the story and put it in here. For those who got it way before I congratulate you for that. Once again I'm sorry for the wait and will do my best to go faster with the chapters. Thank you and till next time.