New Friends and Old Enemies - Edited

by EuroAmerican

The turtle boys are saving the day once again with help from their old friend April O'Neil, but a blunder on the boy's part introduces them to a new friend. This gives the purple dragon members another target to try a figure out where the turtles' lair is. Rated for violence, mild language, and some romance. (Naturally, I don't own any of the TMNT characters)

9. Chapter 9

Holly and April had been texting each other most of the afternoon and on into the evening. April had been keeping an eye on her street, looking out for any other suspicious activity, while Holly had nothing better to do than chat with her friend. Her mother wasn't home and her apartment felt very empty and lonely having spent most of the week at the turtles' home.

The sun was setting over the city, and Holly had the doors to the balcony wide open. A warm summer breeze floated into the living room while Holly walked around looking for something to do. She had already showered, done her laundry, cleaned her room, done the dusting, and made herself a healthy treat. She had to admit that hanging out with the others was much more fun, and even when Raph was being grouchy, it was better than being alone.

Speaking of Raph, she hadn't heard from him at all. She had texted him earlier to let him know she was at home, but he hadn't replied. She wasn't really worried about him physically, it was his emotional state she was concerned about. Normally he was all too willing to spill his guts to her, but he had been acting differently today. She really didn't know what was going on, he was just fine yesterday.

Holly sighed to herself and walked out onto the balcony, she set her phone down on the little table and leaned against the railing, watching the sun sink below the skyline and the lights of the city winking on one at a time. She picked up her phone and decided to try Raph one more time before she called it a night. She typed him a quick message saying that she was just making sure he was OK, and that she and April were fine, and pressed the send button with a sigh. She didn't expect a response, but a few minutes later her phone buzzed across the little table. She picked it up and opened the message.

"Hey." Was all it said. Holly felt a flair or irritation rise up within her, and she was not above letting him know it.

"Really? You've been acting weird all day and all I get is 'Hey'?" She sent the message hoping he would read it how she had intended to send it. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for him to respond.

"I know, I was being a jerk. I'm sorry." He sent back. She was a little stunned, she had been expecting him to be more defensive or at least crack a joke. Her phone buzzed again, "What are you up to?"

"I was about to go to bed" She typed to him.

"What!? It's like, 9?" Holly laughed to herself, she could practically hear him mocking her.

"Yeah I know, but I have been sleeping on your couch for the last week and I am quite excited to sleep in my queen-sized bed." She typed as quickly as she could, smiling to herself as she did so.

A few seconds later her phone beeped again, "Yeah, that's not happening." Holly frowned slightly, she wasn't exactly sure what he meant. She sent him a message asking him, but he didn't respond. She started pacing as she sent him another message. He wasn't seriously on his way over, was he?

Holly quickly ran to her bedroom and threw on some actual clothes, and checked her hair and teeth in the mirror. She then proceeded back out onto her balcony to wait.

Raphael raced across the rooftops towards Hollys apartment. He didn't want to think about her being home alone, and he wanted to see her anyway. He had acted like a moron earlier and he wanted to make it up to her, and what better way than to keep her company when she was lonely?

He climbed up to the roof of the apartment building and over to where he knew Hollys apartment was. As he peered over the edge, he saw her out on the balcony staring out over the city. It had been dark for a while now, and the temperature was steadily dropping. Holly had grabbed a sweater and was currently wrapped up in as the wind swirled her hair around her shoulders

Raph took a moment to just watch her. They were very rarely alone, since they spent all of their time in the sewers with his brothers, and when they were together he usually had on his tough-guy face. He peeked over the ledge a little further.

"You didn't have to wait outside." Raph said.

Holly span around and looked up. A smile spread across her face and she felt herself blush slightly. She didn't know why, but she was feeling a little nervous, this would be the first time they had really been alone when she wasn't crying.

"I can't believe you came all the way here." She almost laughed.

"I didn't think an apology through the phone would be good enough." He grimaced, feeling ashamed of himself.

"Don't worry about it." She waved him off, "Do you want to come down? Or should I come up?"

"That's your call." Raph chuckled.

"Alright, then help me up." She rushed over to the stone railing and carefully climbed up onto it. She reached up as high as she could since it was at least a ten foot climb. Raph grabbed onto her hand and easily lifted her up, careful not to bash her against the ledge.

"Wow, I keep forgetting how strong you are." Holly said.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." He pretended to flex his biceps giving her his best smug face.

"Shut up." She gave him a good jab, making him chuckle. "It's a good job I'm here to keep your ego in check."

"Yeah, that's probably true." They smiled at each other, letting a comfortable silence fall between them.

"Hey. How was your trip home? I didn't really get much info earlier." He asked.

"Oh right. Well, the Purple Dragons have taken to stalking April sneakily. They were hiding in another building peeking out at us through the blinds, and I took a cab home since I didn't feel much like getting into any trouble myself." Holly summarized for him.

"Hmm, they're almost getting too smart for their own good." Raph snorted. He sat down and leaned against the little wall that prevented people from falling over the edge, Holly joined him and wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Actually, I have a feeling if we don't do something soon, they'll resort to doing something drastic to get what they want." She let a worried look cross her face.

He nodded his agreement, they knew that the moronic gang wanted April so they could find out where the turtles were, but they didn't know how to make them leave her alone. "We'll figure it out. Besides, Donnie would be crushed if anything happened to her before he could make him move."

Holly's eyes went wide and her mouth fell open slightly. "Wait a second. You don't know what happened, do you?" She bounced happily and giggled to herself at his ignorance.

"What?" Raph looked confused, and a little scared, by her behavior. He wasn't accustomed to 'girl talk'.

Holly proceeded to tell him all about the kiss that April had shared with Donnie. She was so enthusiastic that she would start a new sentence before finishing the last one.

"Are you kidding me?" Raph looked shocked. "I can't believe he didn't tell us."

"You can't let on that you know though." Holly said.

"Why not? Can't I just rub his nose in it a little bit?" Raph said sounding disappointed.

"No! he's not ready for you to know just yet." Holly stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Raph just looked confused again. "Then why did you tell me?"

"So that when he does finally say something, you don't hound him for details." Holly said.

"That makes no sense at all. Are these like, girl rules?" He looked befuddled for a moment.

"Just trust me. When he brings it up, let him talk, and when he's done, just say 'Yeah, I know.'" Holly beamed at him.

"That is crazy." He shook his head at her, but let it go.

"I promise, that's all you need to do and it will make his day." Holly smiled smugly at him.

"Well anyway. What do you want to do?" He said changing the subject.

"I don't care, I'm perfectly happy just sitting here for now." Holly shrugged.

Raph thought about it for a moment and got an idea. "Well, I haven't really eaten much today, and if you want to come with me, I actually know a place we can go." He grinned.

"You know a place?" She looked at him skeptically.

"Yeah, I do." His grin widened.

"Alright, I'm curious." She stood up, now ready for an adventure. "Let's go."

Without another word, Raph stood and walked to the opposite edge of the building. He checked the street for passersby and turned back to Holly. He held his hand out to her, they were not going to take the elevator.

Holly hesitated for the briefest second. She knew he could lift her easily but she didn't much feel like hurling herself off her building. But, she trusted him, completely, and before she could change her mind she took his hand.

They just looked at each other for a second. Raph let a smile creep onto his face before pulling her closer, he slipped an arm around her waist. "Ready?"

She didn't answer with words, she just took a deep breath and nodded. He launched the two of them off the roof-top, he heard Holly gasp and she gripped onto his arm with surprising strength. They clambered down the building and across the alley to the building next door. Raph and Holly made their way across the rooftops, walking along the flat surfaces, but Raph would scoop Holly up when there was a gap to cross, or a few story drop to survive.

Raph dropped them down onto the street in front of a sushi shop Holly had never been to before. He let go of her waist but kept a hold of her arm just in case she was feeling a little wobbly.

"Are you alright?" He asked her with a grin.

"That was," Holly took a breath, searching for the word. "Exhilarating." He let out a bark of laughter, unable to believe that she had actually enjoyed climbing all over the city. "Do you feel that every time?"

"Yeah." He nodded to her. "Come on, let's go in." He had his hand on the door before Holly realized what he was doing.

"Wait, you're just going to walk in the front door?" Holly had a look of amusement on her face, this was the first time they had gone anywhere that made her feel like she was hanging out with a normal teenager.

"Yes, now come on already, I'm starving." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the store after him. "Mr. Murakami? Are you here?"

An elderly blind man shuffled out of the backroom, "Raphael? Is that you?"

"Any chance of getting some dinner?" Raph asked the old man.

"Of course, of course. You don't even have to ask." Mr. Murakami hurried around the tables in his restaurant and flipped around the sing in his window to 'closed'. "And who is this you have brought with you today? Whoever they are, they're too quiet to be April."

Holly laughed and introduced herself before they were ushered towards the bar so that they could watch their food being prepared. They sat admiring Mr. Murakami's ability to make perfect California rolls despite the fact that he couldn't see. They sat for quite a while trying many different kinds of rolls, Holly realized that Raph was quite adventurous when it came to food. He was willing to try anything offered to him, and Mr. Murakami would beam every time he expressed his approval of the last roll he ate, and Raph loved them all.

"And here I thought you only ate Pizza." Holly said before taking a nibble of a tuna roll. She popped it all in her mouth when she realized how delicious it was.

"Anything is good compared to what we used to eat." Raph devoured a piece of eel sushi. Holly just wined, she wasn't brave enough to try that one.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really want to know." She said with a grim look on her face.

"Yeah, it grossed April out too." He finished off the last roll in front of him, and he sat back in his chair letting out a satisfied sigh.

"I take it your full?" Mr. Murakami said with a chuckle. He started cleaning off his workstation, feeling his way back to the kitchen to dispose of the contaminated knives.

"What do we owe you?" Holly said pulling out her wallet.

"Oh no my dear, this one was on me." Holly frowned at Raph who chuckled. Mr. Murakami sensed her confusion and chuckled along with him, "You guys make sure those Purple Dragon guys don't kick my butt, and you can come back any time you like."

"That's very kind of you, but I would feel bad if I didn't do something." Holly said feeling guilty.

"I tell you what, you can do the dishes if you really want to." Mr. Murakami turned and sat in one of the chairs that dotted the small restaurant. Holly immediately jumped up and started washing the chopping boards and fillet knives for the old man.

The two teenagers stayed for a short time after that, keeping the old man company and getting to know each other better. Mr. Murakami told Holly how the turtles had saved him and he knew exactly what they were despite his disability, although he didn't see it as a disability at all. Sometime around eleven thirty, Holly and Raph agreed that they should be leaving. Especially since Raph hadn't actually told anyone he was going out. They bade goodbye to the generous chef and set off back towards Hollys home.

Fong stood before the thing that used to be Bradford and Baxter Stockman. Normally he would be shaking in his boots, but today he had good news for them. Well, sort of.

"Why are you here?" Bradford yelled. He was not pleased to see the gang leaders without the red-headed girl.

"I have some good news. We can snatch the girl even if she is with her friend." He paused for dramatic effect. Hopefully, this information would lead to a raise, or at least less of a lashing later.

"And why is that?" Bradford asked trying to keep is voice calm.

"Because the other girl is in on it too." Fong said, satisfaction written all over his face.

"How can you be sure?" Stockman asked, he narrowed his eyes at his unexpected colleague.

"Because, the friend is the girl who lives in your building." Fong rocked back on his heels, obviously proud of himself.

"So what? It's not that surprising since we're all in the same district." Stockman said, waving off this information.

Fong sighed exasperatedly. "OK, the night your information was taken from your apartment, that girl was on the elevator with us. I thought I saw someone dip into the stair well, and I'd bet anything it was her spying on us."

"That's actually an intelligent assumption." Stockman scratched his chin. "What's wrong with you today?"

"I'm telling you, she knows about them." Fong was getting annoyed, he hated that Stockman doubted his intelligence, he didn't get to be the leader of the gang on his charm alone.

"Alright. I'll do some digging and see what I can find out about her, it shouldn't be too hard." Stockman said, he walked over to his desk and flopped down into the chair. "Thank god for the Freedom of Information Act." he chuckled to himself as his fingers flew expertly over the keyboard.

He pulled up the list of tenants in his apartment building by hacking the managements' private database. After figuring out which apartment the girl and her mother lived in, Stockman had a name he could search.

"How are you going to find out about the girl?" Fong asked excitedly.

Stockman looked at him like he was a moron. "I'm going to type their name into google." Bradford laughed gruffly.

"You're joking, right? It can't be that simple." Fong let a flash of irritation cross his face.

"You don't have to look very hard to find information anymore." Stockman scoffed. He pushed his glasses back up his nose as Fong went to sulk behind him. He typed in the teens' last name and was surprised by the articles that popped up from the search engine. "Ho Ho. It looks like I'm living with a celebrity."

"What did you find?" Bradford asked.

"Well, this girls' mother is a fashion designer. I know that's not terribly important, but she is headlining a show that is currently running in Paris, it has been for almost a week." Stockman leaned back in his chair and swiveled around to face his companions.

"So?" Fong huffed, still sulking in the corner.

"So?" Repeated Bradford. "That means that our little friend has been home all alone." A wicked smile stretched over his sharp teeth.

Fong perked up immediately. He didn't exactly like the idea of roughing up a teenage girl, but he was tired of the turtles screwing up his plans and he was dying to get back at them for all the trouble they'd caused him. "I guess I had better go pay this girl a visit."

Fong stepped out of the fortune cookie factory onto the empty streets. It was late, almost midnight, as he started making his way towards Stockmans' apartment building. As he passed by the convenience store, he saw a couple of his fellow gang members loitering around the alleyway, being a nuisance. He whistled to them, and they scurried across the street to follow his orders.

"You're all coming with me to visit one of the turtles' contacts on the surface. I won't need you to come in with me, just make sure we're not disturbed." Fong announced. His henchmen nodded, they knew exactly what to do. The group turned and stalked off in the artificial lights of New York City.

Raphael and Holly dropped down onto her apartment balcony and quickly ducked through the doors. Holly closed the heavy curtains behind them before turning on any lights. She turned around to find that Raph had made himself comfy on her couch and was watching her.

She raised her eyebrows at him, asking a silent question. He must have gotten it as he just grinned and shook his head. She walked over to him and sat down.

"I'm surprised the others haven't been blowing up your phone trying to find you." She said, swinging her feet up onto the couch.

"They probably are, but I didn't bring it." Raph rested his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"But what if they need you? They won't be able to get a hold of you."

"Have they tried to get a hold of you?" He asked with his usual level of smugness.

"No." She replied, knowing where this was going.

"Then they don't need me." He laughed as she shoved him. "What?"

"How do you know that they will know you're here?" She screwed up her face, going over that sentence in her head again to make sure it made sense.

"It's not like I have a wild and crazy social life here. I know two people, and Donnie would be so mad if I went to see April without him." Raph scoffed.

"I suppose your right." She had to agree with him. She sank back in the couch and sighed. "Thanks for coming tonight. I guess my life is a little boring without you guys in it."

"Yeah, we are pretty great." He smirked.

Holly just rolled her eyes at him. "And so modest too."

Raph chuckled again, "Hey, someone's got to point out how awesome I am."

"Well, I would tell you, but we don't need your ego to get any bigger." Holly said jokingly.

"No one can do it like you." He was smiling at her, but it wasn't his normal cocky smile, it was softer and more sincere.

Holly blushed and smiled back at him, she wasn't used to dealing with this side of Raphael, but she had to admit that she was enjoying it.

Raph cleared his throat and instantly put on his tough-guy face again. "I should go, it's getting late and I'm probably already in trouble." He stood hastily, he had managed to make himself uncomfortable by letting his mouth blurt out what he had been thinking, and it showed.

Holly followed him to the French doors, she cracked the curtains slightly to peek out at her neighbors' balconies, although she didn't expect to see anyone. "Alright, it's all clear. Be careful."

"I am a huge mutated turtle, who is going to mess with me?" He said. Holly just laughed, it was true, she wouldn't want to be a Purple Dragon and bump into him in a dark alley. "So, uh." he stuttered, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course." They smiled at each other, and before Holly could even blink, Raph had disappeared out of the door and up onto the roof-tops.

Fong and the two other Purple Dragon members walked the city streets towards Stockmans apartment building. They stuck as best they could to dark alleyways and shadowy corners so that any passersby would be unlikely to catch their faces.

Stockman had given Fong a case of fake notes that they were going to be "delivering" to his apartment, that would at least get them in the building. However, getting to the girl was up to them. He and the two meatheads knocked on the glass doors to the apartment building.

Bud, the doorman, looked up from his newspaper and saw a small group of men standing on the other side of the glass. He stood and walked over to them and opened the door a crack.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" He asked politely, although every fiber of his being screamed at him to lock them out.

"Yeah, Mr. Stockman has asked that we drop these papers off at his apartment. I have his door key but not the complexes' key." Fong said. He wiggled the keys in front of himself to make a point.

"You can come in, but I will have to ask that your associates stay in the lobby. I'm sure you can handle dropping off a briefcase on your own." Bud wasn't about to let these three go wandering through his building. He had seen the skinny one before and he hadn't liked the look of him then. But now he had two muscle men with him and he liked that even less.

Fong just nodded, he had expected something like this to happen. Stockmans' old paycheck was capable of affording an upscale apartment, and the other tenants wouldn't be too thrilled if anyone could wander through their building.

Bud let them into the building and returned to his post behind his desk. The two muscle-bound morons took a seat on the bench that was on the far wall of the lobby. He watched the skinny one get on the elevator and press the "up" button, and after a few minutes, the car arrived with a ding and Fong climbed aboard. Bud watched the needle as the car took him up to Stockmans floor, just to be sure he was going where he said he was.

Fong got off the elevator on Stockmans floor, but instead of going to his boss's apartment, he made a beeline straight for the stairs and hurried up to the top floor. He ran a hand through his hair, straightened his jacket, and made sure to have a smug grin on his face before he knocked on the door.

Holly had been on the phone with April when someone banged on her apartment door. She frowned slightly as she wasn't expecting anyone to be visiting her this late. Especially not through the front door. She supposed it could be one of the neighbors just checking in on her, which wouldn't be that surprising since her mother often asked them to keep an eye on her. She crossed her living room and pulled open the door.

"Hello. My boss would love to have a word with you." Fong said dramatically. Holly was caught off guard and almost dropped her phone. Without thinking, she tried to slam the door shut in his face, but Fong was quicker. He jammed his foot over the threshold so the door wouldn't close and forced his way into her home.

"What are you doing here?" She said raising her voice hoping that one of her neighbors would hear the commotion.

"I told you already, I'm here to take you to my boss." Fong stepped towards the young girl, but she darted farther into the apartment out of sight. "Don't make this harder than it has to be." He followed her through the hallway cautiously.

As he stepped around the dividing wall to the kitchen, he had to duck as the girl swung a frying pan at his head. He stumbled backwards and bumped into a wall, and Holly used his moment of disorientation to jam the pan in her hand right into his gut. Fong doubled over clutching his stomach, he hacked and coughed trying to catch his breath. Holly didn't wait another moment, she grabbed her keys off the counter and ran as fast as she could out of her apartment.

April could hear everything that was happening through the phone. Apparently Dog Pound and the others had figured out that Holly was involved with everything and had gone after her instead. She tried to yell frantically down the line but it was no use. Holly and the man exchanged one or two sentences, but after that, all she could hear was rustling and the occasional grunt from Holly. She hung up the phone and did the only thing she could. She called Leonardo for help.

Holly didn't really have a plan of action. She took the stairs three at a time but she knew that the Purple Dragon guy was hot on her heels. She stopped briefly a couple of floors down and decided to go down the fire escape at the end of the hall-way. She might be able to slip out that way, provided there wasn't a whole battalion of gang members waiting for her. They probably saw her as a silly little girl that they would "handle", but that would be an assumption that would make them think twice about hassling teenage girls again. Holly ran to the window and slid it open all the way and a cool wind whipped through her hair. She climbed out onto the fire escape and carefully climbed down to the street. Thank god she hadn't changed back into her pajamas before calling April.

Fong was livid, He couldn't believe he had let a girl get the better of him. He hurried out of the apartment and ran over to the elevator, he would be able to get to the bottom floor much faster than she would on foot. The happy elevator music seemed to mock him as the car lowered him down to the lobby. He burst out of the doors and turned to the two men he had brought with him.

"Did she pass through here?" He demanded. The two goons shook their heads.

"She? What are you talking about?" Bud asked, He had a bad feeling about this.

"It's none of your business." Fong glared at the lobby attendant. "Go check the surrounding alleys, I'll stay here in case this guy gets any ideas."

The other men rushed out of the building and each took a different direction. Fong pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and waved it at Bud. "Don't even think about trying anything." Bud held his hands up, he would have gone for the silent alarm if he'd have gotten the opportunity.

Holly dropped onto the street just as another of the Purple Dragon guys rounded the corner of her building. He yelled something to someone and started running down the alleyway towards her. Holly took off the other way trying to put as much distance between herself and the gang members as possible. She dug her phone out of her pocket as she ran, pulling up Aprils number as she went.

It rang once before April answered. "Holly!" she shouted, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Holly said hastily. "That Fong guy burst into my home, so I hit him with a frying pan."

"Nice." April said, delighted that her BFF was safe for the moment.

"Not really, I just startled him." Holly rounded a corner onto a well-lit street, she was hoping some Good Samaritan would see her distress and come to her aid.

"I already called the guys and they should be on their way, but isn't Raph close by?" April asked quickly.

"Even if he is, I couldn't reach him. He doesn't have his phone." Holly glanced behind her, there were two huge guys chasing her down. They were maybe half a block behind her and were surprisingly fast considering their size. "I'm heading your way, I hope I'll see you soon."

Holly ducked around another corner and dove behind some garbage cans. A few seconds later two sets of thundering footsteps clomped past her hiding spot and continued down the street. Holly was getting sick of running around the streets, she needed to get to Aprils as fast as possible. Or failing that, she needed to find Raphael.

Holly peeked out of her hiding place, the two big guys who were following her were long gone, but the skinny one was up to something. She hadn't seen him since she bolted from her home, but he was definitely the one she was the wariest of. She scanned the rooftops for some sign of Raph. She had been following his usual route back to the lair but she hadn't seen him yet. She started running along the streets again, keeping her eyes on the skyline.

A few blocks down, Holly caught sight of someone on one of the buildings ahead of her. The figure was short and stocky, and it had a huge shell on its back.

"They're so conspicuous." Holly said to herself. She went to take a breath so she could yell out to Raph, but before she could even get out a syllable a hand clamped down on her mouth and nose, and another grabbed her around the waist. All that she managed was a muffled yelp, and she hoped that was enough to get someone's attention.

Raphael had been taking his time getting back to the lair. He had been reminiscing about his time with Holly and didn't really feel like sharing any information with his brothers. He hopped across the rooftops and paused atop one particular building when he saw his brothers a few buildings away. Raph groaned to himself, he was going to get an ear full.

"Raphael!" Leo yelled to him. "Have you seen Holly?"

Raph frowned, "Yeah, I just left her place about twenty minutes ago." He had thought they would figure that out on their own, but apparently, he was giving them too much credit.

"I know that. I mean have you seen her since then?" The tone in Leo's voice made Raph nervous.

"Ok, what is going on?" Raph crossed his arms.

The others looked at each other briefly. It was Donnie who spoke up this time. "April called us and said that Holly was chased out of her apartment by some Purple Dragon members not ten minutes ago. We were hoping she had found you already since they're pretty intent on taking her to Stockman and Dog Pound."

Raph clenched his jaw to stop himself from breaking something. "We need to find her now."

"We will." Leo said, "But you're staying with me so I can make sure you don't do anything you'll regret." Raph just nodded. If he'd had stayed just a little longer, none of this would have happened. "Spread out and search the area, and contact us if you find anything."

Mikey and Donnie nodded and split up from their brothers, they each took a different direction and started their search for Holly. Leo and Raph headed towards the Fortune Cookie factory since there was a chance that she was already there.

Fong had dragged the girl into an alleyway that was nice and dark. He had spotted the turtle on the roof by following the girl's gaze, she had been about to call to them, but he had grabbed her just in time. She had managed a squeak but he didn't think I was loud enough for it to matter. Fong watched the lone turtle be joined by the others on the rooftop, but they soon split up and disappeared along the skyline again.

Holly kept squirming in Fongs' grip, but he was surprisingly strong for such a scrawny guy. He kept hissing threats in her ear, but she would not yield to him. She had just watched the turtle boys split up to search for her so she needed to get away now while they were still close.

"Alright princess," Fong whispered. "We're going to see the boss now, so be a good little girl and maybe they won't hurt you too bad." He started dragging her backwards into the alley.

Holly had had enough, she lashed out furiously against the man now dragging her away. She kicked him hard in the shin which made him loosen his grip on her, and when he did she bit his hand hard, hard enough to break the skin. Fong yelled out and let go of her for a second, so she drove her elbow into his abdomen. She didn't even look back before she started running for the street.

Fong checked his hand quickly, a few droplets of blood shone brightly on his skin. He cursed under his breath before chasing after the girl again. He grabbed her arm as she was running away from him and spun her around to face him.

Holly let out a scream as Fong grabbed her arm, she had been hoping to get further away before he was after her again, but this guy was tougher then she thought.

"You little bitch" Fong spat as he slapped her across the face.

Holly fell to the ground, her glasses flew off her face and smashed against the hard concrete. Fong reached for her again, but this time she was ready. She whacked his hand away from her and struck out at him again, Fong hopped backwards not wanting to be hit in the gut for a third time that night. Holly jumped back to her feet and turned to face the man who had ruined her night.

"You fight like a girl." Holly said brazenly. She would not let this guy intimidate her again.

"Don't think I won't hurt you just because you're a kid." Fong said.

"You are going to regret anything you do to me." Holly snapped back, she was angry and scared and wanted to make him suffer for everything he had done.

"I'm not scared of those turtle freaks." Fong said softly.

"You should be." Holly replied.

Fong had heard enough, he ran at the teenage girl ready to actually inflict pain on her and swung, a fist at her face. Holly blocked it, she felt the force of his blow rattle the bones in her wrist. She stumbled backwards from the impact slightly but righted herself quickly. Fong swung again but she kept backing away from him until her foot slipped off the sidewalk and she toppled onto the street. She landed with a thud, cutting up her hands and elbows. Holly groaned from the gutter, Fong was standing above her looking pleased with himself.

"Like I keep telling people. I didn't become the leader of the Dragons on my charm alone." Fong laughed as he reached down to pick her up. He hesitated when he saw the triumphant look on her face, and suddenly felt the atmosphere around them change. He turned around and came face to face with Michelangelo.

"Dude. Not cool." Mikey said waggling his finger at Fong.

Fong gasped and tried to back away from Holly, but Mikey had seen the commotion from the rooftops and was not about to let him get away that easily. He grabbed Fong by the scruff of his neck, dragged him back into the alley, and tied him up to a fire escape.

"You can hang out here for a while." Mikey said rather coldly. He turned to Holly and crouched down beside her. "You were awesome. Are you alright?"

"I think so." Holly said quietly.

"I'll call the others, Raph will be pleased to see you." He nudged her and gave her a cheeky wink. He pulled up Leo's number first and waited while it rang.

"Mikey, any luck?" Leo asked quickly.

"Yup, I found her. You can tell Raph to relax now." Mikey helped Holly back to her feet, she held her hands up in front of her to examine them, she had probably done more damage to herself falling over than anything else.

"Where are you?" Leo asked. Mikey gave him the street names and listened to Leo for another moment or two before hanging up the phone.

"Come on, let's get out of the open. Leo would be so mad if we made the front page of the paper." Mikey grasped Hollys' upper arm and helped her off of the street. He place a quick call to Donnie since he was still fairly close by as they climbed slowly up the fire escape to the roof.

It took longer than usual for them to reach the roof, and by the time they got to the top, Donatello was already waiting for them. "Hey, you look rough." He helped Holly over the ledge, and she instantly dropped to the floor to rest for a moment.

"It probably looks worse than it is." She said, cradling her hands from the pain.

"You should see Fong, he looks worse." Mikey chimed in.

"It's nice to see you were paying attention." Donnie said trying to cheer up the situation. Holly just laughed harshly, it didn't feel like she had been paying attention. Her swelling cheek and aching elbows said differently.

"Come on, let's get you back underground." Donnie helped her back to her feet.

"Wait, what about Fong? We can't just leave him here." Holly said suddenly.

"Why not?" Mikey asked. Holly just gave him a look like it should be obvious why they could leave a known gang member chained up in an alley with an old ninja weapon. "Alright, alright. I'll go get him."

Mikey quickly hopped over the side of the building and clambered down to the street level again. Holly and Donnie stood next to each other while she tried her best to clean off her scraped-up hands.

"Uh, guys. He's gone." Mikey poked his head back over the roof-top and held up his chain that had been wrapped around Fong.

"Are you kidding me?" Holly said with frustration. She tried to calm herself down with a deep cleansing breath. "We have to find him."

"Why?" Mikey asked.

Donnie and Holly just looked at each other, they knew Fong was getting desperate. If he was willing to try kidnapping Holly from her own apartment, who knows what else he would try.

"I'll call Leo and let him know what's going on. You call April, and let her know you're OK." Donnie said to Holly.

"What can I do?" Mikey asked.

"Go see if you can find Fong, he can't have gone too far." Donnie said while punching up his big brothers phone number.

Mikey nodded and started clambering across the rooftops in search of the runaway gang member. Holly called up April and gave her a quick summary of everything that had happened, while Donnie called Leo and Raph to see where they were..

"Hey Donnie, what's going on?" Leo got straight to the point

"Mikey and I have Holly safe, but Fong got away and we're not sure where he's heading." Donnie said.

"Do you think he'll cause problems?" Leo asked.

"I don't know, but where ever he goes it's going to be a bad day for someone." Donnie said matter-of-factly.

"Alright, we'll keep an eye out for him, just in case." Leonardo hung up the phone and turned to his pacing partner. "Fong got away."

"That weasel!" Raph shouted, Leo gave him a disapproving look, but let it slide. "He'd better hope he doesn't run into me." He punched one hand into the other letting out some of his pent-up frustration and anger.

"Would you relax already? Holly is fine, but we should try and find out where He's going." Leo said shaking his head at his overly emotional brother.

"What does it matter where he's going? If he goes back to Dog Pound empty-handed he'll be impaled." Raph said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's exactly why we're concerned with where he's going." Leo reiterated.

The two teenage turtles started heading back towards where Mikey had found Holly. It would stand to reason that he would be heading in their direction since they had gone to the gangs' hideout, and hopefull,y they would bump into him somewhere in the middle.

They spotted Mikey a few buildings away, and he waved to them, with a big cheesy grin on his face, and pointed down to the street. Fong was shuffling along frantically in the shadows, checking behind himself making sure he wasn't being followed. He would quickly sweep the rooftops occasionally, he obviously knew the turtles were going to want to find him, but he kept moving as fast as he could towards an unknown destination.

They followed Fong for almost an hour. He had stopped off at a couple of places to catch his breath, the 24-hour corner market and one of the local Chinese places were just two of his pit stops.

"Urgh!" Mikey exclaimed, "This is so boring. What's he doing anyway?"

The three turtles were crouched atop a building facing yet another seemingly random business.

"I don't know." Admitted Leonardo. "But I don't want to let him go just yet."

"Then what's the point? Holly is fine and he's not doing anything wrong." Raph said.

"You just want to go see your girlfriend!" Mikey rolled back on his shell and laughed hysterically. He'd been saving that one for a while now.

Raph didn't even look over, he just punched Mikey in the arm and continued his conversation with Leo.

"We haven't even been following him that long." Leo said to Raph, who was doing his best not to look like he was sulking. "You'll have plenty of time later to suck up to Holly."

Mikey rolled around on the floor laughing again. Leo even smirked while he kept watching the entrance to the store that Fong had gone in. Raph silently fumed, he crossed his arms in front of himself and turned away from his brothers. He cursed them out in his head since he knew this would happen after all the grief they had been giving Donnie about April. Someday it would be their turn and he would be just as hard on them as they were being on him.

Mikey and Leo were snickering to themselves while Raph was on the other side of the building keeping to himself. He was slouching against an air conditioning unit when something on the street caught his eye. It looked like Fong. Tall, skinny, looked like he was up to no good. But he was supposed to be inside the store on the other side of the street. Raph looked over his shoulder, Leo was still watching the building while Mikey was playing games on his T-phone.

If it was Fong, they couldn't just let him get away. But if it wasn't him, and they left the real Fong in the store, he could slip out once they were gone.

Weighing out his options, Raph made an executive decision. He leaped over the side of the building and tailed the look-alike, leaving his brothers to watch the store, just in case he was wrong.

Holly and Donatello dropped down into the alley that would take them back underground. He set her down on the concrete and opened the manhole cover for her.

"Thanks Donnie." Holly said with a small smile.

"Don't mention it. Well, maybe you could mention it to April. You know, if it comes up." He smiled at her and she could help but chuckle.

"I don't think you need my help in that department." She said as she started climbing down the ladder.

"Do you need me to help you get back to the lair?" Donnie asked.

"No, I'll be fine. Just do me one favor." She looked back up at the considerate turtle teen.

"You name it."

"When you find that jerk, Kick his ass." Holly wasn't a particularly vindictive person, but since Fong had been stalking her best friend for the last few days and had now broken into her home, she wasn't feeling all that forgiving.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Raph already had that in mind." Donnie said. He smiled at her once more before replacing the cover and taking off to rejoin his brothers.

Fong was furious with himself. He had let that brunette get the better of him twice in the same night, and if he went back to Bradford empty-handed, he would get smushed like a bug.

He knew that he was being followed. He had managed to escape from the first turtle brother, but that wasn't that difficult since the one with the orange mask wasn't the brightest bulb in the shop. Unfortunately, two of the others had managed to catch up to him and had been tailing him since then.

Fong dipped into a couple of businesses that were under the control of the Dragons. He had been hoping to run into the two morons he had taken with him to the apartment earlier that night, but they were probably stuffing their faces in one of the restaurants in the area.

The third building he tried, he finally found some luck. The owner of this particular building was working with the gang and had a back room that was often used as a hide-out. It also had a handy side door that lead into the adjoining business, which then had access back onto the streets. The whole block had been used by bootleggers during the prohibition back in the 1920s and had been serving New York's criminals ever since.

Fong hurried to the back of the store, where an elderly man sat on a stool behind the counter. His hair was stringy and thinning, and his hands were arthritic from years of hard labor. No one would ever suspect him of harboring criminals, it was the perfect cover.

"Hello Fong. Got ourselves in some trouble again, huh?" The aged man chuckled.

Fong just sneered at him. He wasn't in the mood for this right now. "I need to get out the back, you got eyes on the front still?"

"Of course." The old man uncovered an ancient monitor that had a flickering black and white image of the street outside. "Who's after you this time? I don't see any cops."

"It's not the cops. Check the rooftops." Fong was busy rummaging around the drawers behind the counter. The old man usually had a weapon or two lying around from when previous criminals needed to ditch their evidence.

The haggard man manipulated the camera controls and aimed the lens at the rooftops. He panned around the area until something on one of the other buildings caught his eye. "What the..?" Was all he could say.

"Good. They're still out front." Fong quickly peeked at the screen before turning to go to the back room. "Hey, can I have this?" he held up a knife that he had found in one of the draws.

"Yeah." The old man was frowning, he had seen some weird stuff in his time, but what he thought he was seeing was by far the strangest. "What is going on Fong?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Oh, and call my boys and tell them to get ready, I'm going to need their help." Fong dipped through the back door and hurried through the series of fake walls to the end of the block. He slipped back out onto the streets feeling marginally better about his chances, as he slid the blade into his pocket.

April was pacing her bedroom chewing on her fingers. Her aunt had gone to sleep hours ago, and even if April could talk to her, she wouldn't believe any of this. The last thing April had heard was that Holly was safe with Donnie and they were going back to the lair to make sure she was alright.

April had every faith in the guys to keep Holly safe, they had saved her neck on more than one occasion, and were perfectly adept at dealing with the Purple Dragons, especially if it was just one of the gang members. However, she really wanted to be there for her friend. Holly had been through quite the ordeal and April wanted to make sure she was doing alright.

She dressed quickly and grabbed her keys and cellphone and snuck out of the apartment. She grabbed a trench coat and turned up the collar before heading out to the street, she knew there was probably still someone keeping watch on her building, but the Purple Dragons' were comprised mostly of high-school drop-outs and weren't too difficult to trick. Her aunt would be furious in the morning, but something's we're more important than rules.

Raphael was following the shady-looking man at a reasonable distance. He hadn't actually seen the guy's face yet, and it didn't seem like he was in any big hurry to go anywhere. Raph was starting to think he had made a mistake and was about to turn back when he started noticing that he recognized this neighborhood. They were getting uncomfortably close to the girls favorite entrance to the lair, and they were disturbingly close to Aprils home.

Raph hurried along the rooftops to try and catch a glimpse of the man he was following. He went to grab his cell phone off of his leather belt, only to remember that he had left it at home so that he could for once have some privacy. He cursed at himself silently, this was turning into the worst night ever.

Raph was following Fong so intently that he didn't even see Donatello on one of the nearby buildings. Donnie, however, did see his brother, and immediately made a beeline to see what was going on. Since dropping Holly off, he had had no contact with his siblings and was eager to find out some information.

The purple-clad turtle dropped next to his brother, "Hey."

Raph didn't look up, he wanted to maintain eye contact with the guy on the street. "What are you doing here?"

Donnie scowled. "I just dropped Holly off and was on my way back to find you guys." He followed Raphs gaze and saw Fong on the street. "Isn't that Fong? Where are the others?" Donnie quickly scanned the area for Mikey and Leo.

"I wasn't sure it was him, so I left them back where we lost sight of him." Raph said with a shrug.

"Of course it's him, any idiot could see that." Donnie scoffed. Raph remained silent, he was too busy to get into an argument with Donnie right now. "Did you even tell the others you were leaving?" Donnie continued with the questioning. Again, Raph remained silent. He hated when Donnie did this, it made everything he did sound moronic.

"Would you just call them already? I still don't have a phone you know." Raph snapped.

Donnie just tutted and pulled out his T-phone to call his brothers.

Raph tried so hard to ignore his big-headed brother, he just kept reminding himself over and over that he needed to watch Fong and that he would get Donnie back later when April was around to witness it. He ground his teeth as he heard Donnie chuckling, but immediately forgot to be angry when he saw Fong pick up his pace and make straight for a young red-headed girl that had appeared out of nowhere at the other end of the street.

He may not be able to spot Fong from the rooftops, but there was no mistaking April O'Neil for anyone else. Her fiery hair gave her away every time. Raph slapped Donnie in the arm to get his attention.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" Donnie glared at Raph, only to realize that Raph was running in the other direction at top speed. Donnie scanned the area to see what was going on and instantly knew what was going on. He felt his cold blood drain from his face. His heart rate sky-rocketed and his adrenaline began pumping furiously through his body. April was out on the street, alone, in a poor excuse for a disguise, and she was heading straight at Fong.

April was walking along the street blissfully ignorant of the danger approaching her. She kept her coat collar turned up to cover her face and hurried along the streets towards the turtles' lair. April did however take a few unnecessary streets, and would double back once or twice to make sure she was not being followed. She rounded another corner and found the street she was now on was almost deserted. There was one guy walking at the other end of the street, but even from this distance April didn't like the look of him.

Fong wasn't paying much attention to where he was going. He knew these streets like the back of his hand and was more concerned with who may be following him. He glanced up quickly to make sure he wasn't about to bump into anyone when he saw a small figure walking towards him. As she got closer, Fong spotted her red-hair and couldn't believe his luck. He picked up his pace and lowered his head, hoping that the girl didn't recognize him until it was too late. The two got closer and closer, until finally the girl stopped in the middle of the street, she was looking up at the roof-tops and Fong knew what she was looking at. Instead of wasting time by checking to see if he was right, he sprinted down the street towards the girl he had been on his way to see.

April heard her name called out in a refreshingly familiar voice. She looked up across and across the street to see Donatello sprinting along the rooftops towards her. She smiled at him until she saw the look on his face. His eyes were wide and full of panic, and that scared her. A few yards ahead of him was Raph, and he too had concern scrawled across his face, but there was another emotion mixed on his face. April didn't have time to decipher it however as he launched himself off the rooftop with his eyes fixed on something to her left.

Before April even had a chance to turn and see what Raph was staring at, someone collided with her, knocking the air out of her lungs. She tried to catch her breath, but the person who knocked into her had one hand clamped firmly across her shoulders, while the other held a shiny blade to her throat.

"No, don't!" Yelled Donnie, he had followed his brother down to the street, but they weren't fast enough to stop Fong.

"Come any closer, and I'll cut her pretty face." Fong said sternly. Raph growled at Fong and moved to draw his Sais, but Fong just tightened his grip on April and smiled maniacally at him. "Don't even try it."

"You are such a coward." April said around gritted teeth.

"That maybe so, but I wouldn't be so brazen if I were you." Fong said silkily in her ear.

"What do you want Fong?" Donnie demanded.

"I want you two to let me borrow your friend for a while. I'll even bring her back in one piece if she behaves." Fong made sure to keep the girl in front of as much of himself as possible, if these guys got the chance to take him down, they would.

"No way slime ball." Raph said.

"You don't have much of an option." Fong whistled loudly into the night and a set of headlights blinked on in an alleyway nearby. A white windowless van pulled up to the side of the street and one of the gang members' popped open the back door. Fong slowly edged his way over to the van, all the time making sure neither of the two turtles was planning anything stupid.

"They're going to get you for this." April said threateningly.

"I'm counting on it." Fong smiled maliciously at the turtle boys before dragging April into the van. The doors slammed shut and the tires squealed leaving thick black streaks on the street.

Raph started running after the van, but Donnie grabbed his arm, "No, that is what he wants."

"We can't just leave her." Raph yelled.

"Do you think I want to!?" Donnie yelled back. There was a moment of silence between the two teenagers, they were both emotionally compromising this whole situation, and Fong seemed to be one step ahead of them the whole time. "We need to regroup and come up with a plan of action. We know where he's going, so why don't we be one step ahead for a change."

Raph didn't say anything, he was furious with himself. First, he had failed Holly, now he and Donnie had failed April. Fong was apparently smarter than they had anticipated, but that would just make whipping that smug grin off his face all the sweeter.

"I'm going to call Leo and tell him to meet us back at the Lair. I think it best if we get some advice on this whole situation." Donnie said pulling out his phone again.

Raph and Donnie made their way back to the lair in silence. Both were trying to think of any and all scenarios that they may have to face when they went to find April. They needed to get back to the lair and form a plan quickly if they were going to get to April tonight.

The turtle boys made their way swiftly through the sewers back towards the lair. Time was against them tonight and they needed to formulate a plan since it was a guarantee that they would be walking into a trap to get April back. As they walked, Raph filled Leo and Mikey in on exactly what had happened with Fong, Donnie remained mostly silent for the limited time it took them to get back home.

They walked through the entrance and found Splinter and Holly sitting on the couches drinking tea. Holly held her cup in bandaged hands, and her face was still red from where Fong had hit her.

"Hey." Raph said sounding relieved.

Holly and Splinter both looked up at the same time. Splinter let a small smile cross his face, he was always happy to see his boys home safe. Holly, on the other hand, set her cup down and leaped over the couch and rushed over to the turtles. She threw her arms around Raphs neck and let out a little whimper of joy.

"Well it's nice to see you too." He said through her hair.

Holly laughed as she let go of him. "I honestly thought I wasn't going to see you guys again." She beamed as she turned to the others and gave them a quick squeeze too. Mikey even got a peck on the cheek, as a thank you, but when she got to Donnie her face fell. "What's wrong?"

"It's kind of a long story and we don't have much time." Leo said, he motioned for her to follow him as he strode over to the couches. "Master Splinter, you should hear this too."

The group sat around their living room and quickly filled Splinter and Holly in on what had happened and as the tale unfolded, Hollys expression changed from mild concern to full-blown panic. She couldn't sit still and kept picking at her ruined jeans. Splinter was deep in thought, he had his eyes closed and was gently stroking his whiskers as Leonardo spoke. It would have been funny if the situation weren't so serious.

"Holy crap. This is all my fault." Holly ran her fingers through her hair and let out an enormous sigh. "What are we going to do?"

"We?" Raph said sharply. "You are not coming with us to get here back."

Holly glared at him, "Is that so?"

"There's no way!" He raised his voice slightly to emphasize his point.

"I am not staying behind." She said, also raising her tone.

"Enough." Splinter said before Raph could continue their argument. "Your main focus right now is how to get April back." Holly and Raph shot each other a 'this is not over' look, but held their tongues for the sake of the group.

"Anyway." Leo continued. "We need a strategy. Now, we know that Fong will take April to the fortune cookie factory. But, they're also going to be expecting us and probably have something planned."

Donnie pulled up a map of the area on his laptop and connected it to their T.V. so everyone could see. "This building is the factory." He circled the building with the mouse icon. "Last time we used the skylight on the roof to get in, and provided there aren't any guards up there and they didn't weld it shut after it was demolished, I don't see why we couldn't use it again."

"But wouldn't they be expecting that?" Holly asked.

"Possibly. But there's no way to know until we get there." Donnie replied.

"How do we get in if they are guarding the rooftops?" Leo asked as he scratched his chin.

"We actually have two other ways in. There's the front gate, but that will probably be on the street and guarded, or there's the delivery ramp." Donnie said.

"So, are we going to walk right up to the building and ring the bell?" Mikey asked.

"Well, without getting the blueprints this is the best I can do, and it's the middle of the night on the weekend, so city hall is closed." Donnie said.

"What do you think Master Splinter? What's our best plan of action?" All the teenagers turned to the aging rat, waiting for him to give them some advice.
Splinter looked into each of the kids worried faces, with the exception of Mikey who was digging in his ear, looking spaced out. "Remember your training, and don't go in looking to settle any scores." Splinter raised a hairy eyebrow at Raph, who was still scowling at the floor.

"So, that's it?" Mikey asked.

Splinter just chuckled, "You will be just fine. I haven't been training you for 15 years for nothing."

Leonardo clapped his hands together, "Alright guys, we had better go now while we still have a few hours before the sun comes up. Ideally, we should be back underground by first light."

Everyone except Raphael nodded and jumped up to gather any pieces of gear they may need. Holly walked briskly to the training room to grab the bow and quiver she had left here for the boys. She held her head high and kept her back straight as she walked, but he knees felt like they were about to give out at any moment.

Raph watched her go, grinding his teeth together with every step she took. He jiggled his foot irritably trying to remain calm. The others were watching him quietly as they checked their weapons. Donnie and Leo shared a nervous glance, one of two things were going to happen. Either Raph would remain silent and be a colossal jerk for the remainder of the evening, or...
Raph jumped up in a flurry of extremities and stomped after Holly.

"Oh, this is going to be good!" Mikey rubbed his hands together and tried to sneakily follow Raph.

"Don't even try it." Leo grabbed the back of Mikey's bandanna and dragged him backwards as far away from the training room as possible.

Raphael closed the door behind himself and turned to see Holly checking the tension on her bow. She pulled back on the string, but her arm was shaking slightly. She released the string and let out a sigh as she rubbed her sore fingers together.

"Looks like you're having some troubles there." Raph said to the back of her head.

"I'd like to see you do any better with messed-up hands." She didn't turn around to look at him.

"If you can't shoot straight, there's not much point in you coming." Raph said rather coldly.

Holly spun around to look at him, he had his arms crossed and he was staring at a spot on the ground. "Alright, I know you're not thrilled about this whole situation, but I am coming with you whether you like it or not."

"No, I don't like it." He snapped, he looked up at her for a brief moment before lowering his gaze back to the floor. "We're going to get April back, we don't need you out there too." He fidgeted nervously. "You'll just get in the way." He felt ashamed of himself immediately. He didn't mean it, but he was willing to do anything to keep her here, even risk his friendship with her.

Holly's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe he had just said that. "You know damn well that's a load of crap!" She stomped across the room at him. "You don't want me to go in case I get in any more trouble, but I will not sit by and do nothing when my best friend is out there, especially if I could have done something to help."

"I don't know what you think you're going to help with. We'll get in, grab April and get out. You won't have to do anything." He said throwing his arms wide.

"Then you won't have anything to worry about, will you?" She snapped.

"I just don't know why you feel the need to come with us."

"Well, I don't understand why you think I can't help you."

"You can't go!" He yelled at her.

"You can't stop me!" She yelled back. The two teens stared each other down, both wearing equally stubborn expressions.

The whole room was silent, as was the rest of the lair. Holly realized they must have been yelling quite loudly, and the others were probably listening. She let out an exasperated sigh. "We don't have time to be arguing. If you want to yell at me, we can do it later, after we get April back."

Holly grabbed her things and brushed past Raph, but as she moved by him, he reached out and gently took her arm. "I don't want you to go, because I don't know if I could handle seeing you get hurt." His head hung low and spoke quietly to the floor.

Holly said nothing, she wanted to stay mad at him, but just couldn't. She sighed again and stepped between his arms to give him a hug. She felt his arms wrap around her, and was surprised to find that he was holding on like she would slip away at any moment. "Do you think that I want to see you get hurt? I know I can't go storming in with the rest of you, but I can provide some cover. Don't worry about me, I'm not."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I know you'll be there to protect me." She pulled back slightly to see if he would look at her yet. He was, so she gave him a reassuring smile. Raph didn't return her smile.

He lowered his gaze to her shoes again, feeling foolish and childish. Of course she trusted them to protect her, they had so far. "I still don't like this." He mumbled.

"I don't either, but we have to get April back." Holly tried to step away from Raph to grab the rest of her gear, but he wouldn't relinquish his grip just yet. She glanced at him only to find him staring quite intensely at her. "Raphael. Are you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Raph gently pulled her close and pressed his mouth to hers. Holly was stunned. She knew he liked her, but he was so shy and guarded that she had doubted he would actually do anything about it. He had proven her wrong. She let her eyes close and wrapped her arms between his shell and neck.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. Holly and Raph both turned to see Leonardo leaning against the frame with the smuggest grin he could muster up. They jumped apart, Raph instantly went back into his tough-guy stance, while Holly stated blushing furiously.

"Are you guys ready to go? We have work to do." Leo couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.

"Yeah, so let's go already." Raph stomped away from Holly without looking at her, and made sure to bump Leo's shoulder hard as he passed by him on the way out.

Holly and Leo smiled at each other, she was still bright red and scratched the back of her head. She finally cracked and let out a laugh. "Alright, quit with the smirking, let's go." She grabbed her stuff and walked over to Leo, he just chuckled and put an arm around her shoulder as they walked.

Not twenty minutes later, the four turtles and Holly were perched a few buildings down from the fortune cookie factory. They had three pairs of binoculars between them, and naturally, Leo hogged one pair all to himself. "It looks like they have some people guarding the doors, but no one's on the roof." Leo said softly.

"Really? I wouldn't know since I haven't had a chance to look." Raph said sarcastically. Leo just gave him a 'don't even start that' look, so Holly handed over the pair she had been using.

"I don't know, going in the roof seems too easy." Holly said.

"It's the only entrance that's not being watched." Leo replied.

"Precisely, they could be trying to force us in that way." Donnie chipped in.

"Why don't we just bust our way in?" Raph smacked a fist into his other hand.

"No, we need to take them by surprise. Otherwise, they will try to use April against us." Donnie said definitively. No one argued with him, they knew he was trying to keep it together, and they all wanted April back in one piece.

"Alright, we're going in the delivery entrance. We'll draw away the guards and incapacitate them." Leo decided. "Holly, stick close to Raph. If you get separated from us at any time, get back underground and stay there."

Holly nodded grimly, she was beginning to feeling quite nauseated and didn't think opening her mouth would be wise. They all climbed carefully across the rooftops until they were able to descend to street level unseen by any civilians.

"Ok, we need to draw them away and make sure they stay out of commission." Leo whispered as he peeked around their building at the half-dozen goons guarding the door.

Holly had an idea, and let out a soft whistle that should be loud enough for the goons to hear.

"What... Why did you do that?" Raph hissed at her. She gave him her best innocent look and ran behind some cover. The turtle boys followed suit and dipped out of sight just a second before four of the men walked around the corner.

"Are you sure you heard something?" asked a particularly scrawny-looking guy.

"Certain." Replied a dangerous looking man.

Before the men could continue down the alley, Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey leapt out of nowhere and with surgical precision knocked out the men with hardly a whisper escaping their lips.

Holly crept out of her hiding place and tried to look as innocent as she could. Raph let out an exasperated sigh but held his tongue. She had, after all, figured out how to get some of the guys to leave their posts. Leonardo laid a hand on his brothers' shoulder for support, and partially to stop him from having another fit.

"OK guys, let's take care of the last couple of guys over there. Get in, and get April back." Leo said trying to stay positive, everyone nodded and they got back to work.

April was tied to some rickety old piping at the back of the factory. Bradford, Stockman, and Fong were all there trying to organize the gang of petty criminals, but none of them really wanted to face the turtles.

"You won't be able to keep me here." April said to the distracted Fong.

"Shut up." He snapped back.

"You're going to be in so much trouble when the turtles get here!" She yelled at him.

"I don't think so." He sneered.

"Would you stop talking to her?" Stockman said from behind a steel I beam.

"She's just trying to make you lose your focus."

"Not that he needs my help with that." April muttered to herself.

Fong and April continued bickering back and forth as the turtles slipped into the factory. They ducked behind dust-cover crates of fortune cookies. Holly was pushed onward by Raph, who was determined to keep her in his line of sight.
They moved silently around the edges of the factory until they were spread out enough to get a good view of everything. Leo peeked over his crate and did a quick head-count of villains in the room; Bradford, stockman and about thirty-five or so Purple Dragon members. He signed out his instructions to the others. Donnie was responsible for getting April, He and Mikey would try to keep Dog Pound busy while helping Raph to take care of anyone else who got in the way.
Raph nodded to his brother and checked to make sure Holly knew what to do. She gave him a thumbs-up before he started pushing her further along the wall. They dipped behind a taller pile of boxes so that Holly could stand and look for her target. There was an ancient panel on the wall that had all the light switches for the factory on it, and coming out of the top was a wrapped tube of all the wires. Holly notched an arrow and took careful aim between two crates, the arrow soared across the factory and sank deep into the wooden timber that was hidden behind the drywall.

Bradford knew something was wrong a spit second before the lights went out. He heard the low whistle of the projectile before he saw it, and his canine senses knew exactly where it had come from. While the other men scrambled around in the dark, he used his enhanced vision to pick his way across the room.

Leo, Mikey, and Donnie sprang into action immediately. They hurled themselves over the crates and silently swept through the confused men taking them down before they could even reach for any kind of weapons. Leo scanned the room once more, and noticed that Dog Pound was not anywhere near him, instead he was stalking straight in Raphs and Hollys direction. He tried to move towards them, but some of the men had gained their bearings and were now advancing on himself and his brothers.

"Someone get the lights back on." Fong shouted over the commotion.

Stockman turned to one of the control panels on the walls and flicked on the emergency lighting. The factory was blanketed in red light and the rusty machinery threw monstrous shadows across the walls. All that they could see was a blur of movement, three of the turtles were taking one after another after another of their men down without much resistance. Fong spun around to make sure April was still where she was supposed to be, she was, and his blood pressure dropped slightly.

Mikey was hopping along the conveyors, leaping over lead pipes and weaving around the whirling chains that were sent his way. He and Donnie had been carving a hole into the Purple Dragons forces, and had managed to get close enough to April to attempt a rescue. They fought back and forth with a few of the bulkier gang members, but eventually, their disorganization was their downfall.

April beamed as she saw Donnie coming for her, she had known he would. Fong was so busy trying to get his men to fight that he wasn't paying much attention to her anymore. She tested the ropes that bound her to the pipes, they were tight and cut into her wrists. No hope of getting herself free. However, that didn't mean she was useless. A few men ran past her trying to block Donnie, but she stuck her leg out and tripped them as they passed. They fell all over each other with a thud, and the guy on the bottom was definitely out cold.

"You idiots!" Fong yelled at the three men. "Get up." He pulled the two men up by their shirts and shoved them towards Donnie. He turned to Stockman with loathing in his eyes. "Why aren't you doing anything?" He spat.

"I thought you were doing so well on your own." Stockman said with just a hint of loathing. "I'm not willing to risk my technology if I don't have to."

"Well, I don't think we have much of a choice here." Fong yelled.
Stockman scowled at Fong behind his, back but scurried away to do as he was told. He slid up the back door of a truck that was in one of the loading bays and pulled out a little remote control. He clicked a button and watched as a hundred or so red lights blinked to life in the darkness.

A swarm of shiny new Mousers spilled out of the truck and started towards the turtles. Holly watched as the little robots charged around the factory flanking them. Donnie and Mikey were doing just fine, they had already taken down most of the men around them and we're now working on mowing down as many Mousers as they could, and April would kick out at anything or anyone who got too close to her.

Holly started getting worried. Raph was just in front of her fighting off a few of the gang members who were intentionally lagging behind their comrades. However, Bradford was nearly on top of them and Raph would have a hard time dealing with him alone. Leo was fighting his way through the room to get to Raphs side, but the wave of new Mousers was chomping at his heels making it difficult to get through.

"Will you guys hurry up already?" Leo yelled at his two youngest brothers, as he blocked a lead pipe with one sword and slashed at some Mousers with the other.

"Working on it." Donnie yelled back. He threw off a half-dozen robots that were gnawing on his staff and rushed to Aprils' side. "Ready to get out of here?" He said as he dug around for something to cut the ropes with. Just as he pulled out a shuriken, Fong crashed into him and they both fell sideways onto the floor, the little blade skidding away across the floor. They hopped up and started circling each other.

"You're not getting out of here that easily." Fong said.

"Normally I'm fairly level-headed, but you are really getting on my last nerve." Donnie retorted.

The man and turtle lunged at each other, swinging their weapons of choice. Donnie blocked a knife and slammed his staff into Fongs' gut. Fong dropped his knife and staggered backwards, clutching his ribs. Donatello didn't wait for him to get back up, he leaped over him and gave him a good hard kick in the backside. Fong went flying forwards and slid across the floor on his face. He quickly flipped himself over to see that the tall turtle was crouched beside their hostage. Furiously, he grabbed a smaller knife from his boot and wound up to throw it across the room.

Holly saw what was going on. She only had a few arrows with her and had been hoping that they wouldn't be needed. All things considered, she didn't much like the idea of actually hurting anyone, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, it seemed that she didn't have much of a choice, given the present circumstances. She hastily notched an arrow in place, and fired it at Fong.

Fongs' arm was just behind his head in his wind up when something sliced through the fleshy part of his hand. Whatever had hit him whizzed between his hand and his head and thunked into the wall beside him. He immediately dropped the little knife he had to see what the hell had just cut him. An arrow was vibrating gently in the wall, he turned to see just what had fired it. Tucked behind a stack of boxes was that teenage girl he had fought with earlier that night. He was getting really sick of her, and if Bradford didn't stop messing around, he would have to take care of her himself.

Donnie had darted back over to April the second he had disposed of Fong. He grabbed up the knife that had been dropped and sliced the ropes binding April to the pipes. April threw her arms around his neck briefly and smiled into his shoulder. As she looked up, she saw Fong reaching for something and pull his arm back to throw it at them.

"Donnie look out!" She yelled, and shoved him back away from her.

Luckily whatever he had been planning was abruptly interrupted by some sharp pain in his hand, as he dropped the blade and twisted awkwardly clutching his hand. Both April and Donatello followed his gaze to see Holly holding up her bow looking quite pale.

"That was too close." Donnie said as he pushed himself back upright.

"We need to get out of here, now." April agreed.

Donnie scanned the area for his brothers. They were darting in and out landing blow after blow on the giant mutant dog, but his thick fur and bone claw served as wonderful protection. Mikey was entertaining himself by taunting the remaining gang members. He was running all over the place doing his best to stay off the concrete floor, up above any Mouser that may try to chomp on his ankles. Holly had her bow up, she fired carefully but precisely taking out as many of the little mechanical Mousers as possible without wasting her limited supply of arrows.

This was a disaster. Their simple 'enter and exit' strategy hadn't worked, and if they were stuck here too much longer they would run the risk of being overwhelmed.

April nudged Donnie's arm. "We can go up!" She pointed at the skylights, the deep black of night had started to turn milky gray overhead, and only the brightest stars were still visible.

"Guys!" Donnie yelled. Four sets of eyes flashed over to him for a second, he held a single finger up to convey his message, and three sets of eyes went back to what they were doing. Holly, on the other hand, looked up. The half-light was making it more difficult for her to see, and she wasn't sure what he was pointing at.

Donnie and April ran over to the stairs. He shoved her in front of himself climbing backwards still fighting off the perusing gang members. Mikey clambered up the machinery and leapt over the railings to help Donnie with April.

"So, how's it going?" He asked her cheerfully.

"Oh, you know. Just hanging out." She replied slightly out of breath. He gave her his best cheesy grin and started helping her climb up to the office roofs so she could get out through the skylight.

Both of them stopped for a moment when a strange crunching noise caught their attention. They looked to their left, to see a handful of Mousers climbing up the wall after them, their sharp little talons digging into the soft bricks. April gasped as they launched themselves off the wall in their direction. Mikey dropped April back down to the catwalk so he could dispatch the little devils. He swung his nun chucks around swatting at anything that got too close.

"Mikey!" April said, having a sudden idea.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Throw your chain down to Holly, we can pull her up and get the hell out of here!" She said sounding stressed.

"Can you get up here on your own?" He asked.

"She's not alone." Donnie yelled, and with a mighty shove, he threw several purple dragon men down the stairs. "I'll take care of April, you worry about Holly and the others."

Mikey didn't hesitate. If anyone was capable of taking care of April, it was Donnie. He climbed up to the inside of the roof and crawled along the ventilation system until he was on the other side of the factory, directly above Holly, and lowered her a chain.

Something thudded against the floor next to Holly and it made her jump. She rolled away from the noise and aimed an arrow at it, but all she saw was a solid metal lump, about the size of a tennis ball, attached to a chain. She followed the chain up to see what it was and saw Mikey smiling down at her.

"It's not going to bite you know." He said wiggling the chain from side to side. "Come on, let's get you out of there."

Holly slung her gear over her shoulder, then grabbed the chain. As Mikey lifted her off the floor, she glanced in Raphs direction. He and Leo were drawing Dog Pound away from herself, back towards the door they had come in. She let herself relax slightly. They were still in danger, but April was OK and she was going to be out of the way as soon as she was up with Mikey.

No sooner as she was beginning to feel safe, Holly heard someone yell out angrily and felt something grab her legs. She looked down to find Fong reaching up for her ankles, he dug his fingers into her leg and snarled up at her looking quite crazy. She let out a yell and tried to shake him off.

"Hey!" Yelled Mikey from above, "Let her go".

"Not this time." Fong yelled. "You're not going anywhere." He clawed at Hollys' leg, digging his fingernails into her flesh.

Holly thrashed against Fongs' grasp and managed to wiggle one of her legs free, she stomped down on Fong as hard as she could, her heel connected with his nose and there was an audible crunch. Fong fell back to the floor, clutching at his face, blood pouring over his fingers.

"Oh crap. I'm sorry." Holly said, cringing.

"Why are you apologizing to that jerk?" Mikey asked as he pulled her up onto the ventilation system.

"I don't know. Habit?" Holly glanced down once more. "Will the others be alright?"

"What do you think?" Mikey said. He gave her a shove to start moving towards the skylight, where Donatello and April were waiting with two sets of arms pulled Holly out into the fresh open air. The sky overhead had changed to a murky gray, and off to the east there was a tinge of gold starting to peek over the skyline.

"We have to get underground soon." Donnie said with urgency.
April and Holly nodded in unison and all four of them peeked back inside. Leo and Raph were not in sight, but neither was Dog pound.

"We have to go." Donnie said softly.

April wrapped an arm around her friends shoulder and gently steered her away from the skylight. Donnie and Mikey carried April and Holly as the leaped across the rooftops, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the factory. Once they were half a mile away, the turtle boys slowed down so they could look for their brothers.

"Where would they go, if they couldn't shake Dog Pound?" Holy asked.

"Anywhere that isn't home." Donnie said. They all stood in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to do.

A noise caught everyone's attention, "What's that?" April said frowning at the others. Whatever it was, it was moving. There was a clatter of garbage cans, and then a rattle of a fire escape. Donnie, Mikey, Holly, and April all stared at each other as the sounds faded out around them.

"You'd guys don't think that was Leo and Raph, do you?" Mikey asked the group hesitantly. They all stood perfectly still waiting for some sign that they were right.

A bellowing roar pierced the stillness and the four teens scurried over to the edge of the roof to see what was happening. Raph and Leo were racing ahead of Dog Pound through the winding back alleys of New York. They had already destroyed one fire escape, it lay twisted and mangled on the grimy concrete, but Raph and Leo moved swiftly on, doing what they could to lose their pursuer.

Holly drew an arrow, just as Donnie was yelling at her and April to head back to the lair. She mentally tuned him out and searched for something to use as a wind gauge. A faded flag fluttered gently in a light breeze. Holly could hear Donnie and Mikey babbling in her ear, but she ignored them. She took a slow breath in and drew back the bow as far as she could.

Leo and Raph were getting annoyed with Dog Pound, he was surprisingly agile considering how massive he was. They had attempted to climb up to a rooftop on a fire escape, but the man-mutt had just ripped it clean off the wall. Leo looked over at his younger brother, preparing to signal another plan of action at him. However, something whizzed overhead that almost stopped him in his tracks.

Behind the turtles, Dog Pound heard the arrow sailing in his direction. He skidded slightly as he dove sideways out of the line of fire, the arrow bounced off the concrete and rolled away harmlessly with a clatter. Bradford looked up at the rooftops and saw that same girl crouched high above him, she looked quite pissed off.

Holly already had another arrow ready to go before the first one had even finished bouncing. She made sure he saw her before letting it go angrily. The giant dog dove out of the way again, but this time there was already a third, fourth and fifth arrow sailing in his direction before he could glare up at her. He swatted them out of the air with his bone-covered claw and snarled at her before remembering that he was supposed to be chasing some turtles. He spun around searching for his pray, but it was too late. That irritating girl had distracted him long enough for the two to escape, and when he looked, she was gone too.

Holly was running as fast as she could alongside April, Donnie and Mikey when they heard Bradford let out a desperate, frustrated roar into the lightening sky. They crossed a few buildings before taking a quick break to catch their breaths and figure out where they were.

April burst into laughter and threw her arms around Donatello's neck. "I knew you'd come." She said and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Like we'd leave you to fend for yourself." He said happily, smiling for the first time that night.

"I hate to burst your bubble," Mikey said, "But the sun is going to be up any minute now."

"Right." Donnie said, "I'm sure we'll find the others on the way back."

Once again, Mikey and Donnie picked up the girls and carried them across the skyline. In the east, huge streaks of gold and orange were slicing through the gray sky. A few early birds were already out for their morning jogs, and the dull rumble of cars was growing louder every second.

Donnie and Mikey dropped the girls near the entrance of the sewers. There had been no sign of the other two, and everyone was starting to panic again. The sun was poking up now, igniting the tops of the building like giant candles. The group took one more silent look around before they slid underground.

"You guys took long enough." Leo said loftily, stepping out from around a corner, Raph was right next to him looking equally as smug.

"You jerks." April yelled although she was smiling. "We were worried about you guys." Leonardo just shrugged, and laughed when April shoved him.

"Thanks for the cover fire. You really are quite a good shot." Leo said to Holly as she landed with a thud next to him.

"Thanks," She said with a grin.

Everyone was laughing and joking as they started making their way back to the lair, but there was still a long way to go yet, and after a short while, Holly and April were yawning hard. The turtles were used to pulling all-nighters, fighting bad guys and running all over town, but the girls weren't, it had been an exciting night for them.

Holly looked ragged, her clothes were blood-stained and the bandages on her hands were frayed and grubby. April wasn't looking much better, her wrists were raw from where she had been bound, and her usually neat hair stuck out at weird angles. Both of them looked exhausted and were dragging their feet as they walked.

Donnie took pity on April, and offered to carry her the rest of the way back to the lair. She pretended to think about it, but her legs were shaking, so she agreed. Donnie knelt down and let her wrap her arms around his shoulders, he interlocked his fingers behind her knees and stood up with ease. April instantly melted, she was so tired and it was nice to have friendly arms around her for a change.

Donatello felt Aprils' arms go slack, her long fingers dangled a few inches in front of his face, and he could feel her warm breath on the back of his neck. He smiled to himself, and let his mind wander into a daydream about the girl he was carrying.

Holly was walking in the back of the group, she really was trying to keep up, but she felt like she was wearing cement shoes. Raphael was just ahead of her, be he was hanging back just enough that she knew he was keeping an eye on her. She let out a little chuckle, and he turned around to see what was so funny.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's... It's nothing" She said waving him off.

He stopped to let her catch up to him, "Come on, what?"

She paused and pursed her lips, trying to decide how to word what she was thinking. "Your just funny." he didn't say anything, but his brow slid a little higher up his face. She giggled again. "Alright. Donnie and April are cute and he likes to molly-coddle her, and that's fine. But, I like that you look out for me from a distance."

"Well, after today I don't really think I need to worry as much." He sounded amused, and now it was Hollys' turn to give him a funny look. "I have to admit, I was impressed with your skills."

"You doubted me?" Holly faked being offended but was too tired to put much effort into it.

"No, I've seen you shoot. But when you're focused, you're kind of scary." Raphael said. Holly just blushed and smiled at her shoes. They walked the rest of the way back to the lair in silence, the only interruptions came from Leo looking back making sure everyone was still doing alright, and by the time they walked through the turnstiles at the entrance, even he was looking worn out.

Master splinter was still awake when they walked in, a smile broke across his face when he saw his sons and the girls. Donnie gently deposited April on one end of the couches and rushed off to grab her a pillow and blanket. Leonardo walked up to his father, and they started discussing the evenings' events. Michelangelo waved sleepily to Holly and Raph, and trudged off to bed without so much as a backwards glance.

Splinter patted Leo on the arm and turned his attention to Holly. She was perched on the edge of the sofa, swaying slightly as she tried to stay awake.
"Come with me, we need to find you some clean clothes." He held an arm out and gently wrapped it around Hollys' shoulder, steering her into the training room where he slid behind the dividing screen to his own room and emerged a moment later with a wrapped package.

"I was saving this for a later date, but I doubt you have anything else to wear right now." Splinter handed her the package, and she frowned at him. "It was supposed to be a present."

Raph and Leo had followed and were lurking in the doorway, but Raphael's curiosity got the better of him and he crept closer for a better look. Holly unwrapped the package to reveal a pale green piece of fabric with little pink flowers on it. As she pulled it out of the paper, it unfolded to reveal a yukata.

"Oh my god, it's beautiful." Holly was stunned. "Thank you."

"I have one for April too. Since your part of the family now, I wanted to get you something special." He smiled softly at her as she let the soft fabric flow over her hands.

"Thank you so much." She said again and walked forward and gave him a hug. She started to pull off her sweater but realized that Raphael was still in the room. "No offense, but could you give me a minute."

He turned around, but didn't move, Splinter also turned and departed for his bedroom. No doubt he was tired since he had been up worrying all night. Leo was long gone, he hadn't said anything, just walked off with a smile on his face. Holly struggled out of her jeans and shirt and slid into the cotton robe easily. It was so soft.

"Alright, I'm decent." She said, smoothing out her new outfit.

Raph turned, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Very nice." She smiled wide, but it turned into a yawn almost instantly. In all the excitement she had forgotten how tired she was.

"Let's go, you need some sleep." He said and beckoned her over to him. She scooped up her clothes and they walked back out to the living room, which was void of movement. The only sounds came from April who was snoring slightly on the sofa. Holly started heading for the couch, but Raph reached for her hand and pulled her in the other direction.

"Where are we going?" She said sleepily.

"You've had a rough night." He pulled her towards his own room. "Wouldn't you like an actual bed tonight?" He pushed open his door and let her go inside ahead of him.

"What about you?" She asked, not really sure if she wanted to know what he had in mind.

"If you can sleep on the couch for a week straight, I think I can survive one night." Holly let out a little sigh of relief.

"Thank you. I really appreciate this." Holly said. She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and turned to finally climb into bed.

Raph closed the door to his own bedroom and turned back towards the living area, but he wasn't tired. True, it had been a stressful night, but his body was just not ready to relax just yet. He grabbed a couple of comic books that were lying on the floor and made his way into the kitchen. To his surprise, Donatello was already sitting at their table, a screwdriver in his hand and some little gadget lay in pieces before him.

"Can't sleep?" Raph asked his little brother.

Donnie's head snapped up in surprise. "Um, no. You either huh?" Raph just shrugged and shook his head, then sat down opposite the mess. Donatello frowned, "Don't you usually just stay in your room when you can't sleep?"

"Yeah, aren't you usually in your lab?" He snapped back sarcastically.

"I was just asking, and the lab is too big and empty tonight."

"You mean, it's too far away from April." Raph translated.

Donnie looked embarrassed but didn't deny it was true. "So, why are you out here?"

"I gave up my bed since I knew I wouldn't be using it." He rustled his comic and hid his face behind it.

"That's a good idea!" Donnie said excitedly, he stood and rushed off to pick up April again and carry her into his room. Raph smiled to himself. For a genius, his brother sure could be a dummy sometimes.

Donatello returned a short while later, and the two turtles sat together, eating leftover pizza, and doing their favorite activities as the rest of their family slept soundly.