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)

12. Chapter 12

The next day, Holly and April went back over to the lair. They met up and went to the store again to grab some stuff for the guys, and had discussed what they thought their next steps should be. They both agreed that they should not be going into a military base without some reconnaissance of what was going on and who all was involved. Holly had managed to find some information online, the base had been unused for decades, and was on a square mile of bare land. Next to the base, was a recycling center, which would be the perfect place to be gathering parts with out it making the news.

Donatello and Leonardo were awake and waiting for them when they arrived, as was Splinter, who had already made tea and coffee for everyone.

Donatello was on his PC looking over some of the same information Holly had been the previous night.

They all sat around on the couches and spoke in low voices to make sure they didn't wake up the others. Splinter listened to the little group in their discussion and was so proud. He smiled softly to himself. His boys were beginning to start thinking like real strategists and April and Holly were doing everything they could to help despite the danger it posed to themselves. He was so grateful for the friendship they had offered his boys. He had always tried to give them the most normal life he could, but there are some things that a father just can't do for his sons.

April and Donnie adjourned to the kitchen to start making breakfast for everyone. She had decided that she wanted to make pancakes so dragged Donnie away to help her.

"I can't believe you haven't tried cooking yet" April commented as she grabbed some bowls and the closest thing they had to a whisk.

"I make the stuff we need to live, the least they can do is use it." Donnie shrugged.

"I mean, that's fair." April agreed, He had built them a whole bunch of stuff she took for granted from scratch.

They busied themselves mixing a huge bowl of pancake mix and doing a fair amount of flirting in the mean time. Leo and Holly just rolled their eyes and carried on their own conversation.

Fairly soon after, the smell of fresh cakes had dragged Michelangelo out of bed. He practically floated into the kitchen, and immediately began devouring a short stack without hesitation. Leonardo and Holly joined them and soon they were all happily munching away on fresh fruit and powdered sugar covered pancakes.
"They're not as good as pizza." Mikey said when April asked how he liked them.

"Yeah, but you can't just eat pizza forever." April said with her arms crossed in annoyance. They had worked hard on making all these pancakes, there had been a ton of batter.

"I bet I could!" He shouted back in defiance.

"You need to eat fruits and veggies too, you know"

"Pineapple and mushroom pizza!" Mikey said triumphantly. "It has both"

"Just let it go April," Leo chimed in, "You'll never win an argument with him"

"Well, pancakes are pretty much just sweet pizza anyway" Holly offered as a compromise. "Tomato sauce is a savory fruit pastes." She shrugged as Mikey was nodding along in agreement while April raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll just shut up."

"See!" Mikey yelled happily.

By the time they had saved a plateful for Raph, and tidied up the kitchen, it was almost noon.

"Does Raph often sleep this late?" Holly inquired as casually as she could. They hadn't spoken at all since her freak out the previous day.

"If he's sulking, he does" Leo said

"Oh." Holly shrank down in her seat a little.

"Just leave him be for now" Leo said.

Holly sat up straight again. "Hmm, no I don't think so". She stood and wheeled around on her heal and marched straight at his closed door.

"Oh boy." Leo rolled his eyes.

Holly knocked on Raphs door and waited for an answer, when none came, she banged a little harder.

"Raph, will you please come out and talk to us?" Holly waited for a response, she turned and leaned against his door. "We need to talk about what happened yesterday and what we're going to do in the future." Still no response came. "We can't make a plan without you."

"Sure we can, we all know that all he's gonna do is shout and punch things" Mikey yelled over to her.

Holly just shook her head, "OK, I'm only going to wait for another minute, and then I'm coming in" She stood again in case the door opened behind her. Finally it did, and a mildly irritated looking Raphael stepped out of his room. "Hi." She tried.

He just nodded at her as he stepped past her. Holly frowned, but followed him over to the rest of the gang. He grabbed his usual cup of coffee and retreated back to the outskirts of their group. Holly sat back in her spot with a crease in her brow, but chose to let it go for now.

They spent most of the rest of the day going over information and strategies. Mikey only had the attention span for short bursts, so they let him dip in and out of the discussion as he pleased. Donnie and Holly traded back and fourth going over all the information they had discovered about the base its self and the surrounding area. Once they had gone over all the info they already had, they started discussing what, and how, they could find out more. Everyone agreed that they wanted better information about the facility, and if they could get it, the most current blueprints.

"I actually had an idea about that" April said happily, she pulled out a micro drone. "This has a little camera on it and we could fly it around the are to get a look at...Hey!"

Michelangelo had snatched the little quad drone out of her hands and was already syncing it to his T-phone. The display went blank for a moment, then he saw his own smiling face peering back at him. "Cool".

"You're welcome" April said sarcastically.

Mikey began flying the little drone around the lair, making it do loopedey-loops and barrel rolls. "This is amazing!"

"Yeah, well. If we can get it inside the building we may be able to get live information. Maybe even find my dad." April had hope glinting in her eyes.

"I have been building a vehicle that will allow us to go further into the city, or out, in this case" Donnie said, "We can use it to get to and from the base with any supplies we may need."

"Donnie, that's amazing!" April said and hugged the tallest turtle, "Can we see it?"

"Of course" He was ecstatic to share his newest creation with everyone.

The group all stood and followed Donnie to his Lab, Raph was still hanging back and away from everyone else, and had barely spoken during their whole conversation. Donnie threw back the giant barn door to his room and there was a huge van covered with a giant cloth. Donnie cleared his throat as though preparing for a lecture. "Gentlemen, and ladies" he added with a eyebrow wiggle at the girls "I present to you, The Turtle Van!" He whipped the cloth off of his creation.

Michelangelo was excited "Dude, it's awesome!" He immediately jumped in the back and began looking at all the cool gadgets Donnie had packed into it. The rest of the group was less enthusiastic.
It wasn't that they weren't impressed, but his creations always seemed to have the theme of having a shell like design about them, and the top of the Turtle Van was no exception. It was a giant yellow and green windowless van that had graffiti art all down the sides of it. Holly and April looked at each other.

"You hate it" Donnie said with a scowl.

"No!" April jumped in immediately "Its amazing you were able to build it, its just..." She trailed off, not knowing how to break the news to him gently.

"Its a bit conspicuous." Holly finished for her.

"I had to build it out of junk!" Donnie said defensively.

"And it really is impressive, but we need something a bit more discrete to do recon work." Leo continued for the girls.

"I guess," Donnie finally caved, "I just wanted to test it out and see if it worked."
"Who says we can't do that?" Leo asked and jumped in the back of the van with Mikey.

"Why don't you guys give us a ride home?" April said happily. It would be nice to not have to walk all that way for once.

Donatello's face lit up, "Really?"

"Of course" April beamed.

"Maybe we should wait until its fully dark out at least, just in case something happens" Leo poked his head back out of the van, "In the mean time, why don't you show us all the stuff you put on this thing." Donatello and April also hopped into the van and Donnie began to happily go over everything for them.

Raph just stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his plastron. He shook his head and turned to leave as they heard Donnie smack Mikey's hand as he was about to touch something.

"Don't you want to see what your brother has made?" Holly asked before he got too far.

"Not really" Raph shrugged without turning around.

"Alright, what is going on? Are you mad at me?" Holly asked with genuine worry in her voice.

"No" He replied shortly.

She snorted in disbelief, "Then what is it? You haven't said more that three words combined since yesterday."

"It doesn't matter." He said and continued to leave.

"It does though, doesn't it?" she was getting annoyed with him now. He hadn't been this distant for a long time. "Can you please tell me?" She spoke lower so the others wouldn't eaves drop, but the chatter from the van had already died down to a suspicious level. Raph didn't answer her, he just continued out of Donnie's lab into the main area of the Lair. Holly followed him, not quite ready to give up yet. "Raph."

"What do you want?" He turned on her, emotion blazing in his green eyes. She couldn't tell which one though.

"I want to understand what happened between yesterday and today to make you so hostile." She looked hurt, and Raph hated himself for making her feel that way, but after her freak out yesterday and revealing that she didn't think the six of them could deal with everything that was going on, he couldn't let her get any more involved than she already was.

"What happened is you stopped trusting us!" He almost shouted at her.

"Wha..what?" She stammered, she felt like he had just punched her in the gut.

"You don't think we're going to be able to handle everything and you wanted an out. Well you got one, so just take it now and don't look back". He turned on his heel and stomped off. He couldn't look her in the eye anymore. Her eyes had gone so wide with shock.

"Whoa" Mikey said softly from the lab door.

Holly turned and took a breath. She was not going to cry, not this time. She took a couple of deep breaths to try and keep calm, but then realized something else was going on here. "Hold on a minute, you're so full of crap!" She turned back around and stomped right after him "How dare you take out your own issues on me. I had a moment of panic, which I think I am entitled to every once in a while, but I have never doubted your abilities."

"Excuse me?" Raph spun around again and was surprised to find her glaring at him rather than the tears he had been expecting.

"You're just trying to push me away. Why? If I'm such a traitor, why even let me back in here at all?" she gestured around at the lair, "You know I can help you guys, so this has something to do with you and me."

Raph was stunned into momentary silence, she had figured him out far too quickly. "No it doesn't" he came back at her lamely.

"It does," she gawked at him, "so what is it?"

He finally snapped "You shouldn't have to deal with our problems! Neither of you should! You keep risking yourself and your homes for us and all we do is bring you trouble. I can't bring anything good to your life, only problems and I don't want to see you get hurt or miss out on a normal life because of me."

"You don't get to decide how important you are to me." Holly said dangerously.

"Just go home and forget we exist." He turned around again and was about to stop into his room.

Holly sprinted across the room and put herself between him and the safety of his room she wasn't much taller than Raph, but she towered over him in her fury. "Don't you date tell me to forget you! I have chosen to be involved and you know damn well that I would never just abandon you, or the others. My mother was taken by those bastards too so this is as much my fight as it is yours. I had one moment of weakness and you try to push me away, to what? Protect me? Or is it to protect yourself?"

Raph was equally furious, she was exposing all his weaknesses so effortlessly, "I don't want you to see you get hurt!"

"I don't want to see you get hurt!" She threw back at him.

"This is pointless" He shouted in frustration

Holly took a deep breath, and all the fight went out of her "Are you so afraid of the uncertainly, that you won't even give me a chance?" She asked sadly.

He couldn't answer her, was he too afraid?

"I care about you Raphael, and I fell like you should know that by now." She walked past him this time, she ignored all the hurried scuffling noises the others made as they tried to look innocent and went straight to the kitchen to get a cold drink.

He stood stunned for a moment before disappearing into his room.

The others let the tension dissipate a little before they emerged from the Lab, even Splinter had made himself scares and hadn't reappeared. April went to her friend and they spoke in hushed tones in a corner.

"That was intense" Mikey commented before plopping down on a beanbag and powering on a games console.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone has ever spoken to Raph that way before." Donnie was amazed.

"She had some valid points though" Leo sighed and shrugged. Raph was going to be impossible for a while now.

The girls rejoined the group and sat down to watch Mikey.

"Your van is amazing, Donnie," Holly said, sounding almost like herself again, "but I think we can find something a little less obvious."

"How?" Leo asked.

"I haven't quite figured that out yet".

"I might be able to convince my aunt to let us use her station wagon." April added

"Someone knows how to drive though, right?" Holly chimed in. "I only have a provisional license and have barely practiced at all."

"I'm sure its easy" April said with a wave of her hand.

"I can drive my van, and its basically the same as any other internal combustion engine vehicle." Donnie was grinning smugly to himself.

"I bet I can drive it" Mikey said, as he crashed the car he was driving in his game into a wall.

"I wouldn't let you drive if you paid me a million dollars." Donnie said.

Leo, April and Holly laughed.

The remainder of the night, the teens just enjoyed each others company. Splinter did come back out to get a fresh pot of tea and to see how their plans were going. He agreed that they should use an inconspicuous vehicle while they gathered information, but it needed to be done sooner rather than later. But, he soon left them to their games and talk and went back to his room. He did briefly glance at his second sons door debating if he should try to talk to him. It could wait until the others were gone though, Raphael had probably been embarrassed enough already for one day. When the girls decided it was time to go, Donnie jumped up eagerly. He ran to his Lab and started checking over all the gauges and dials before he would start it up.

"Should I go get Raph?" Mikey asked before they all climbed into the van.

"Mmm, best not this time." Leo said and sat in one of the few seats there were in the van.

April sat herself in the front next to Donatello and fastened her seat belt, "This thing is safe, right?"

"Of course!" Donnie said confidently.

"I just hope all the cylinders are properly sealed or the engine might blow up!" Holly said jokingly.

"That wont happen though, right?" Leo asked his brother with just a hint of worry in his voice.

"Ignore her, she knows its fine. She looked at it herself already" Donnie wasn't worried, they had looked at it together as he had built it since she actually had experience with cars.

Holly chuckled as Leo gave her a disapproving look,"Its solid."

Donatello fired up his van and pulled out into an old subway tunnel. They drove underground for a few miles before they came to a dead end.

"Dude, where are we supposed to go now?" Mikey asked.

"Just watch" Donnie said and pressed a button on the dashboard. The entire wall opened up in front of them and revealed an opening to the surface.
"Did you build that by your self?" April asked awed.

"Yeah, when you live underground in secret, theirs a lot of down time." He shrugged, but internally he was thrilled that April was impressed.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Mikey yelled "Lets roll!"

The van screeched out onto the street, and that was when Holly realized that the back had no seat belts. "Lets maybe take it a little easier than this?" she said as she was thrown around. She finally grabbed onto a pipe that had been fitted and held on for dear life.

The van was top heavy, so it rolled around the corners as Donnie tried to get the big behemoth to drift through the streets. By the time they got to Holly's apartment, she was feeling quite queasy.
"Next time, I'm driving" She said before falling out of the vehicle onto the sidewalk.
"It wasn't that bad" April said happily from the passenger seat.

"Oh yeah? Try sitting in the back and tell me how you feel." Holly shot her friend a sarcastic look.

"I'm sorry, I'll have to work on the suspension system to make the ride better." Donnie said thoughtfully.

"Get heavy duty springs and it should help with the rolling, but you really need to lower the center of gravity." Holly said honestly. "Other than that though, you did awesome."

He beamed at her praise, and looked over his shoulder at his brothers. "Shall we go?"

"Can I drive now?" Mikey asked.

"No" the three remaining passengers said in unison.

Holly shook her head, bade them all good night and went up to her apartment.

Donatello drove a little less exuberantly on the way to Aprils house. He was deciding what he wanted to do. He really wanted to talk to April. Holly and Raphs fight had been rough, but both of them had been right about something. Raphael didn't want to put Holly in any unnecessary danger, although he had expressed it like a complete idiot. Raph wasn't the best at expressing any sort of affection, but that was where the terribly ineffective plan had come from, a place of caring. And Holly had been right that there were things that she and April could do to help them, and both of their parents had been captured for one reason or another. The girls were just as involved as the turtles and Splinter were. Donnie was desperate to talk to April about his worries, and hopefully be a bit more tactful than his brother.

They arrived at Aprils aunts house and she hopped out of the van, "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Um, actually... Leo, do you want to drive the van home?" Donnie asked, there was no way he was going to let Mikey loose on his newest creation yet.

"I probably could manage it." He said over Mikey yelling that he wanted to drive.

"Thank, I'll catch up with you later." Donnie hopped down and waved as his brothers drove away still fighting over who was driving.

"Is everything OK?"April asked.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you... in private." Donnie looked awkwardly at his feet.

"OK, why don't I go in and I'll meet you on the fire escape?" April touched his arm briefly before rushing up the front stairs. It sucked that she couldn't just bring him home to meet her aunt, but Carol might have a heart attack if she was who April was spending all her time with.

April tried to keep her conversation with her aunt as short as possible, she wanted to know what Donnie wanted to talk about. She had a feeling she knew, but still, it was nice to be able to have some time with him alone.

Carol was curious to know where April had been all day, but wasn't too pushy in asking questions. She remembered what it was like being a teenager. Hormones raging and trying to figure out who you are all at once, she wouldn't go back to that if she was paid a million dollars.

April closed her bedroom door once she had safely answered all her aunts questions. She then opened her bedroom window and saw her lanky, gap-toothed turtle waiting patiently for her. "Sorry about that, I had to chat with my aunt for a few minutes."

"No, its not a problem. I understand." He smiled goofily at her.

"So, whats up?" She asked and sat on her hands to keep the chill away.

"Well," He started scratching his head, "I wanted to talk to you about Raph and Holly"

"Oh, yeah that was pretty rough." She nodded along.

"No, I mean what was said, very badly, between them." He was already messing this up... No wonder Raph had made such a mess of things.

"OOH" She said, suddenly understanding where he was going, "I was wondering why you wanted to gossip."

"I just wanted to check in with you, and make sure you knew that I worry about you in all of this too, but I know that you want to, and are perfectly capable of, helping us." He felt a little awkward saying this all out loud, but he felt it was necessary.

"I know, but thank you for saying it anyway." April scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "You do know that I would keep getting involved even if you didn't want me to though, right?"

"Of course," He put an arm around her waist and scooted her over even closer. "Holly is more hot headed that you, but you're both as stubborn as I have ever know Raph to be."

April laughed,and the sound warmed his heart, "That's probably true." There was a brief pause as the two teens just sat and looked out over the dark city.

"I should probably go," Donnie said a little awkwardly.

"Stay with me a little longer. In fact, come inside with me, its getting chilly." She dragged him through her open window with her.
"Won't your aunt hear me?" he whispered as he stepped into Aprils room. He propped up his bo staff against the window frame so he could grab it on the way out in a pinch.

"No, she said she was going to go to bed soon and she sleeps through pretty much anything." April did keep her voice down though, her aunt had a routine, and she still had her episodes of reality TV to watch.

"What do you want to do?" He asked, awkwardness levels climbing ever higher.

"Just, come sit with me." She patted a spot next to her on her bed. Donnie audibly gulped. April laughed.

She kicked off her shoes and opened up her laptop to put on some episodes of a show. He sat on the edge of her bed and twiddled his thumbs.

April rolled her eyes, she grabbed him around the shoulders and pulled him back to sit next to her on her bed. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and snuggled into him. After a few moments he began to relax. They watched a few episodes of one of Aprils favorite shows, but really they weren't paying that much attention. Donnie was so absorbed by the feeling of having Aprils body so close to his, he could barely hear anything over the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears. He could feel her breathing against him, and he couldn't help but stroke the soft skin on her arm. April, likewise could hear Donnie's heart beating in his chest. She intertwined her fingers with his over his plastron and noticed his heart rate speed up. She didn't know she could have this effect on anyone, but she kind of liked it. She looked up at him and he gave her his trademark goofy grin, she sat up and leaned in to kiss him. He was stunned for a moment, but very quickly he recovered himself and kissed her back. She pressed against him and he held on like she might dissolve into a dream.

Raphael finally emerged from his room once he knew everyone else was gone. He had spike on his shoulder and went to the kitchen to get something to eat for himself and his pet. He set a whole bunch of lettuce leafs on the table and unwrapped the pancakes the others had saved for him. He took a couple of bites and had to admit that they were delicious, but he still didn't have much of an appetite, so he re-wrapped the pancakes and sat with his chin on the table watching spike eagerly munching on his dinner.

"Are you alright, my son?" Splinter had appeared noiselessly in the kitchen.

"Not really," Raph admitted, "I was an ass today, wasn't I?"

"Yes, that pretty much sums it up." Splinter agreed.

Raph groaned, "Why doesn't she understand that I just want to protect her?"

Splinter paused for a moment, "Do you understand that she wants the same thing?"

"Sure, but I am more prepared to deal with stuff. We've been training for years." Raph argued.

"True," Splinter agreed, waiting to what his son would say next.

"And these guys are really dangerous! Who knows what they're all planning together?" Raph continued, feeling justified.

"Again, this is true." Splinter confirmed, "Holly's mother was taken by them, and we are yet to help Aprils father."

Raph was , "So we have to keep them safe! Right?"

"And you think pushing her away, further from your protection, is the best course of action?" Splinter said.

"Well, no." Raph said, sensing a trap.

"Holly, and Apirl, are very well aware of the risk they are taking on. The fact that Holly is worried shows that she understands that she has shortcomings in this fight. But you need to trust in her ability to know when it is too much, and that she will let you know when she needs your help." Splinter knew that his son had difficulty expressing himself, but he also knew that he did care deeply for his family and friends. It was his loyalty to them that was his greatest strength.

"But, what if she gets hurt because of us? What if she decides that we're not worth the trouble?"

"Do you believe she would come to that conclusion?" Splinter asked.

"I don't know." Raph went back to watching his pet munching on his leafs.

Splinter paused thoughtfully, young love was a tricky topic, "There may come a time where Holly might feel that way, but she won't know it until it happens. It would seem that right now she doesn't think you are a waste of time, and she was willing to fight for you. You are still young and learning how to handle more mature situations, but I wouldn't let you fear deny you one of life's most wonderful experiences."

Raph sighed again, "What am I supposed to do?"

"I can't answer that for you, but I can at least give you one very important life lesson that I learned too late. Talking honestly with the people you care about will solve more problems than anything else."

Raph was silent again, he wasn't the best at honest conversations. He liked to stay safely hidden behind his wall of sarcasm and empty threats. "I need to get some air." He left his father and Spike in the kitchen and proceeded to the surface, he had been in his own head for too long.

"Boys." Splinter shook his head and chuckled to himself as he got another lettuce leaf for spike.

April went to the lair alone the next day. She had called Holly, but she was still pretty annoyed with Raph and had a lead on a vehicle that she wanted to deal with as soon as possible, so April was alone today. She had woken up later than usual, but that was because she had been up late with Donatello. They had had a pretty steamy make out session and had stayed together almost the whole night. He hadn't wanted to go, but they both knew that he would have to leave before the sun came up, but she had been too wound up to sleep much. Her aunt had banged on her door at ten-thirty to see if she was alright. April claimed that she had been reading and lost track of time, but Carol knew that was a lie. She tried to pry the truth out of her niece, but April wouldn't fess up.
"You know, I don't care if you were up late talking to a boy." Carol finally snapped. "You don't need to lie to me."

"Alright fine! I was up talking with a guy." April felt a flush rise in her cheeks, partially from annoyance, but also as she had not been talking all that much.

"See! Was that so hard?" Carol shouted exasperatedly before huffing away in frustration. Freaking teenager.

April had ran out of her Aunts house as soon as possible, she couldn't quite deal with all the questions she was going to have to answer at that time, so she decided avoidance was better than lies. She took her time getting underground today though, the seasons were starting to shift again and she wasn't sure how many more nice days there were left before the leaves started to fall from the trees and the winter set in. New York City was not the most pleasant city in winter. It got bitterly cold, and if there was a snow storm travel became almost impossible. Not to mention that the snow didn't stay all pretty and white like in the movies, it always turned a dirty gray color that was just oppressive. April looked around and saw a few of the trees were already starting to turn. All the different shades of green were punctuated with flashes of orange, yellow or deep red.

Once she was underground, she ran to the lair. The exercise felt good and helped her to wake up a little. She was hoping to get a training session in today as it had been a few days since she had managed to find the time. School had been ramping up with assigning homework and she was not as organized about getting it done in as timely a manner as Holly. Luckily, Holly usually helped her with the boring classes they shared, so she at least got decent grades which was all Carol cared about.

The guys were up and about when she reached their home. Leonardo was watching his Space Adventurer show. Mikey was wearing his thumbs out playing on his phone. Raph was beating up the punching bag in the corner of the room. She couldn't see Donatello, but she could hear the sounds of him working in his Lab. He was probably already making adjustments to his van. April went and sat by Leo, "Hey."

"Donnie came home very late last night, you wouldn't have had anything to do with that would you?" Leo asked with a knowing smile plastered on his face.

"What!?" April tuned red.

"Hah!" Mikey laughed "You guys were smooching" he and Leo both made kissy noises at her between bouts of laughter. April threw a pillow at them, but she wasn't really mad, just a little embarrassed.

"OK Mikey, be nice." Leo wiped a tear away, "Its none of our business really."

"I am being nice" He replied.

"Just you wait, I am going to make your lives hell if you ever date anyone." April threatened.

"I can't wait to meet the girl who'll put up with Mikey." Raph said from the corner.

"Hey!" Mikey shouted at his big brother indignantly, "At least I wouldn't scare off a girl by being a big jerk".

"Ouch" Leo said and winced waiting for Raph to pounce on their brother.

Raph looked annoyed, but muttered, "Alright, I deserved that." He stomped off to brood in solitude.

"Geese Mikey, that was a bit harsh." April said, but before Mikey could answer Donnie came out of his room to see what was going on.

"What was harsh?" He said, wiping his hands on a greasy rag.

Immediately, Mikey started up with the smoochy noises again and Leo had to stifle his laughter. Donnie shot them a look.

"Ignore them," April said, "What have you been doing?" She pointed at the rag.

"Oh, I was working on getting firmer suspension on the Van so it doesn't rock around as much." He sounded pleased with himself.

"So, they managed to drive it back OK then?" April said.

"I can drive no problem!" Leo protested.

"Oh yeah, then how did the dent get in the side panel?" Donnie asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Mikey was messing around and bumped into me!"

"Did not!"Mikey yelled back, "You wouldn't let me pick the radio station!"
"Geese, sorry I asked." April shook her head.

"Do you want to see what I've been doing?" Donnie asked April before Leo and Mikey could continue arguing.

"Sure!" April followed Donnie back to his lab. She sat on his work stool and let him talk about all the changes he was making to his Van. She smiled to herself as he showed her the suspension he was making to replace what was already there. He always got so animated when he was talking about something he was passionate about and it warmed her heart to see him so happy.
"Do you want to help me?" He asked her

"Really? You trust me to not screw it all up."

"Of course, its really not that hard. It just requires a little muscle and I know you've been working on those" He smiled at her as she pretended to flex her biceps for him.

"Yeah, I am pretty tough" She agreed, and they both chuckled.

They worked together to lift the van and get the wheels off. Donnie then showed her how to use his impact wrench so she could help him get the rest of the assembly pulled apart to get at the springs.

It took them a few of hours, but eventually they had the new pieces in place and had put it all back together.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Donnie asked. He had a smudge of grease on his face and April wiped it gently away with a rag.

"No, It wasn't" She was surprised at how satisfying it was to work on the vehicle.

"We'll turn you into a gear head yet." He said and brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes.

They locked eyes for a moment, and just as they were leaning in towards each other, Aprils phone rang. "Terrible timing" she muttered as she checked the screen to see who it was. It was Holly, so she knew she should answer it. "You couldn't have waited like thirty seconds to call me could you?"

"Why?" Holly asked shocked.

"I'm standing here with Donnie and it was very romantic" April scolded her friend.

"Hi Holly" Donnie said smiling at April.

"Oh what, were you guys going get frisky?" Holly asked a little sarcastically. She knew they wouldn't have answered if they were actually having a moment.

"Maybe later," April said, she caught Donnie's expression out of the corner of her eye, a combination of shock and excitement. She laughed. "So whats up?"

"Oh right, I have an old plain white van we can use for the recon, I was going to drive it over to the lair as it needs some modifications before we can all get in it." There were the sounds of a vehicle being driven in the background.

"Are you driving it now?" April asked a little impressed at Holly's law breaking.

"Yeah," There was a pause "How else am I going to get it over there?"

"I just assumed you would have Donnie drive it over, or something?"

"Considering Donnies driving last night, and I already have my learners permit, I figured I could risk it." Holly sounded nonchalant.

"Your mom is going to be so pissed if you get caught." April said.

"Yeah, so she's not going to find out." Holly replied.

"How far away are you?"

"Well, that's the reason I called. I need to know exactly where that tunnel entrance was that Donnie made so I can get to you. I sort of vaguely remember, but have him text me the exact location so I can GPS it."

"OK, I'll have him do that now" April looked over at Donnie, who was already sending the requested information.
"Also... I mean, I need him to open the tunnel" Holly stated obviously. A little ding noise indicated that she had received a text. "Ahh! There it is. According to my phone I'll be there in about thirty minutes."

"OK, we'll meet you there." She ended the call and turned to Donnie, "Do you want to test out your new set up?" She indicated at Donnie's van.

"Might as well." They both hopped in and drove off into the tunnels.

They arrived before Holly, which was unsurprising as she had to fight traffic and they did not. But once she was at the tunnel entrance, she called April again to let her know she was there. They waited to make sure the surrounding area was as empty as it was likely to get, and anyone who was around was not paying attention, then opened the wall and Holly drove in. She jumped out of a medium sized van that was exactly as plain and inconspicuous as she had said.
"Well?" She asked, "What do you think?"

"I mean, its certainly a van." April said a little sarcastically.

"Oh ha ha." Holly shot back. "It won't draw anywhere near as much attention as that behemoth" She pointed at Donnie's ride. "Besides, it was practically free and it will get us close enough to that base to see what is going on."

"Where did you get it?" Donnie asked curiously.

"Remember Bud?" Holly asked April, She nodded, "Well after the break in, and kidnapping of my mother, I sent emails to the management company outlining what his job is supposed to be, and how they're grossly underpaying him. So he got a big fat raise and now only has to work one job. He was a painter on the side and so he sold me his van once he realized I wanted it."

"What did you tell him you wanted it for?" April asked.

"He didn't ask, he wanted to give it to me, but I made him take Fifty bucks for it. That way I don't have to pay tax it when I get the title."
"Wait, this is your van now" April asked.

"Yeah, I don't want him to get in trouble if I do get arrested for driving without a license" Holly frowned like it was all obvious.

"So what does it need doing to it?" Donnie said poking around under the hood, "It looks mechanically sound"

"Its fine, but its got shelved and cages installed in the back and there is no room for you lot." She opened the back doors to show them. There was maybe enough room for two adult males to be crammed in between the racks that were in there, so they would definitely have to come out to get all four brothers in there.

"Lets go, I want to get this done today if possible." Holly said eagerly. They all hopped back into the vans and drove back to Donnie's Lab.

Once there, Donnie left his van in the tunnels so that they could get the new van into his shop. He and Holly inspected the cages together while April looked in from the back. They were pretty sure that most of it would come out easily enough, but some of the bolts looked pretty rusty and may need cutting off. Holly got to work without going to let the others know she was here. April assumed it was because she wasn't quite ready to see Raph yet, so she left them to it and went back out to hang out with Leo and the others. She pulled out her computer from her bag and started working on her History essay again.

After a while, Donnie emerged from his Lab to come hang out too. Holly was perfectly happy to pull apart the storage units herself, and it had been quite cramped quarters with both of them trying to work. One of the down sides of having a hard shell on your back is that small spaces are trickier to get in and out of.

"Holly's here?" Raph said once Donnie had relayed all the information.

"Yeah," Donnie replied with a quick look at the others. "You can go in there, if you want to."

"Into your lab? By myself." Raph asked a little stunned. No one was allowed in there without his say so.

"If you think you should" Donnie amended his statement. Raph looked a little worried, but he took a deep breath and made his way over to the Lab.

Holly had borrowed Donnie's full face mask and angle grinder. She had already found a few bolts that needed cutting out, and she figured she's just get them all in one go before she tried ripping out the rest of the shelves. She had her earphones in and the noise canceling turned on so she could listen to her music in peace. As she finished up cutting a bolt free, she shut off the tool and started to bob along to the song in her ears. Raph watched her for a couple moments to see if she would notice him there, she seemed pretty focused and he could see one ear bud so he assumed the other one was probably in her other ear. She pulled the mask off her face and was mouthing along to the lyrics, she scrunched up her face and played air guitar along with whatever was playing on her phone. Raph couldn't help but chuckle at her. She stood up and turned to leave the back of her van with the tool in her hand when she finally spotted Raph. She let out a yell of surprise and missed her step on the bumper and landed in a sitting position with her legs hanging out of the back of the van.

"Jesus Christ!" She yelled at him as she unplugged herself from her song. "I could have cut off my freaking hand."

"Sorry," he grimaced at her, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, luckily." she took a steadying breath, "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," he repeated himself.

"I didn't think you'd want to talk to me after yesterday." She said him straight forwardly.

"That's actually why I came to see you" He scratched the back of his head unsure how to start.

Holly raised an eyebrow at him, stood up to put the power tools away, then sat back on the back of her van. She patted a spot next to her, to see if he would come and sit with her. He hesitated a moment, but did sit by her. He took a breath to start, "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I didn't mean everything I said, although I did mean it when I said I was worried about you getting hurt."

"Yeah, I know." She crossed her arms.

"You do?" He asked, "How?"

"Because I know you." She stated bluntly. "I was pretty furious when I left yesterday, but I thought about what you said and how you said it, and I realized that you were trying to protect me." She nudged him with her shoulder, "It was the worst way to do it, but still."
"I'm not very good at this whole, talking about my feelings stuff" He made a face that even this was pushing his comfort levels to their limits.

She sighed, "Could you at least try a little bit, for me? I don't need you to be all mushy like Donatello is, but just a little hint and I can figure it out."

He jutted his chin out in acknowledgment. She let out a little snort of amusement.

"I just..." he tried to find the words, "I can't..."

"I know" She said again, trying to sound reassuring,

"No, you don't." He stood and faced her again, "You're the only person I have ever cared about aside from my family."

"What about April?" She asked cheekily.

"You know what I mean." He narrowed his eyes at her, unamused.

She smiled guiltily, "I'm sorry. Please, continue."

"I could never forgive myself if something happened to you."

"Raph, there are somethings that even you can't protect everyone from." He was getting agitated again and she didn't quite understand why.

"I know that," He took a deep breath trying to keep himself calm, "Its not just about you getting hurt though, what if something happens and you don't want to hang out with us anymore? You don't want to see me anymore?"

"Oh, I see now." Holly finally understood. She bit her lip debating what to say. "Raphael, No matter what happens, you will always be so special to me." She took his massive hand in hers, "You're worrying about something that hasn't happened. Even if I can't fight with you against all this crazy stuff that's going on, you will always be someone I want to be around. I'm never going to stop being your friend."

He was silent, She knew what he was hoping she would say, but she couldn't promise to always be with him, that was just unrealistic.

"Look, right now in this time and place, I love you. I love hanging out with you, I love your sense of humor, I love to be by your side, but I don't know what the future will look like. You're going to have to decide if you think I am worth potential heart ache." He looked at her with shock in his eyes, and she just shrugged at her.

"Of course you're worth it" He spluttered at her. How could she even think that?

"Then we don't have a problem, right?" She asked with a relieved laugh.

He looked at her earnestly, she was right, Splinter was right. He was getting too deep into his own head to just enjoy her company. Raph needed to be more like Donnie, much more trusting with his heart. "No."

She stood and gave him a tight hug. "You really are quite sensitive you know."
"Don't you dare tell the others." He said, and she laughed, he snorted too.

She loosened her grip on his neck, but leaned down and kissed him deeply.

"Ooooohh!" Came four voices from the Lab door.

Holly laughed, and looked over Raphs shoulder too see everyone else's head poked in the little gap. "Oh shut up."

Raph just let her go and turned to give his brothers a stare that said 'You're all going to pay for this'.

"If you're all just standing around you can help me with this." She indicated at the back of the van.

"What do you need us to do?" Leo asked.

"I've cut the bolt that needed it, now it just needs a bit of brute force to get it all out". Holly said, she grabbed a crow bar and rammed it between the shelving and the frame of the shelving. She threw her whole weight into it and the shelving scraped along the floor of the vehicle about an inch.

April cringed at the noise, "No thanks, I've done enough physical labor today. I'll make something for us all to eat." She left to find some food for them all since it was getting late, and Mikey tried to sneak out after her, but Raph grabbed him by the shell and dragged him into helping.

With all of them working on getting the shelving units out it didn't take much time at all. Holly was greasy and sweaty by the end of it. She wasn't quite as heavy as the guys so it was much easier for them to pry out the storage racks. She instead had focused on getting the mounting brackets off the walls without damaging the aluminum siding. Once it was all out and cleaned up there was just about enough room for everyone and some supplies. It would be cramped, but it was significantly less obvious than Donnie's creation.

"It will work for now, in fact," She checked her watch to see what time it was. Almost 6 pm. "We should get some stuff in there to go out tonight."

"You want to go tonight?" Leo asked.

"Absolutely." Holly said. "Whats the point in waiting?"

"Agreed," Leo acknowledged. "But we have to be smart about this."

"If we bring the drone, and some thermal scanners to start we may be able to figure out how many people were dealing with." Donnie scratched his head as they all made their way into the kitchen. April and Splinter were happily talking as April stirred a large pot of something. "We can also do our own scouting once were there, there's no need for us to stay cramped in the Van."
"Of course, I didn't expect you guys to just sit there. The van is just to get you guys close enough without being spotted. The area around the base has very little cover so I figured if we drive by slow-ish you can all pop out while April and I just watch." Holly pulled up a 360 degree street image on her PC. "I think if we come this way, past this old building, you can dip out" Holly showed them all where she had been thinking, "Then I can park around this corner and we can see who comes in and out without being too obvious." She panned over to the section where she thought there was the best cover

"What else is around this area?" Leo asked. Holly pinched the track pad and it zoomed out to a top down view of the block. They all dished themselves up some pasta and sauce and stood around discussing the best places they could potentially see to gain some level of access to the area. Leo had noticed another building that looked abandoned and they could possibly sneak into the back side completely undetected. So they agreed to drive by it to see what was there. Once the dishes had been washed and put away, Donnie and Holly went to see what gadgets they could possibly bring that wouldn't take up too much space while still giving them beneficial information. Mikey went to retrieve the little drone that he had been given and Leo and Raph brought a few basic supplies with them, like rope and a grappling hook. April, unsure how long they were going to be there, packed water and her computer, just in case there was time to finish her assignment before it was due.
Once the sun had set completely, they all piled into the old painters van. It was cramped for the guys but the made do with the space they had.

Holly drove them out through the Bronx and further into the suburbs. The base was fairly unassuming in the neighborhood. The only thing that really made it stand out was the thick concrete wall that enclosed the property. Otherwise it could be any old office building next to a recycling plant. There were other buildings around, but the back and one side of the base had a park and golf course butting up against it, so the only cover there were the few, well groomed trees that helped New Yorkers feel like there was some nature around them. The side the recycling facility was on had a wide gap between the two buildings, presumably for trucks to drive down with the refuse they carried. The street side of the base had a large steel gate and a guard box wedged in the concrete wall. There were flood lights and cameras mounted to the wall which all looked new. April and Holly pointed out these things out to the guys as they drove by.

"Drive down that road and see if that garage is still there." Leo pointed, and Holly complied.

The garage they had seen was still there, and it did look empty.

Holly pulled up and cut the engine. "We'll stay here and watch for anyone coming in, we'll call if its anyone to worry about."
"Stay out of sight." Leo warned them.

"We will," April said, "You guys be careful."

The guys were gone without another word, the sprang into the shadows and disappeared up the side of a building. April and Holly got back into the van to watch the front gate.

Nothing much happened for a while. Mikey killed the mini drones batteries and came back to the van to see if there were spares. There was not, so Holly made a note to make sure to put some in a bag for later. Donnie was sending April the pictures he was getting with his thermal imager for them to take a look at. April opened them on her lap top to be able to open the images on the larger screen and they examined them in as much detail as possible. Unfortunately the images didn't give a whole lot of information as the walls of the building were thick, but they could see where a lot of energy was being used as there were brighter spots in the images. There was a guard sitting in the booth, but both Holly and Donnie noticed that he was unusually still.

"I've been watching him for a good 20 minutes and he hasn't budged an inch," Donnie said over the phone to the others.

"I know, its really strange" Holly agreed.

"Maybe he's watching a show, or reading a book?" April offered.

"No," said Donnie, "I can't see anything in his hands or the flicker of a screen on his face."
April shrugged at Holly, " I don't know then, maybe he takes his job really seriously?"

Holly didn't respond. She was frowning at the guy hard trying to figure it out.

The sound of motorcycles interrupted their conversation. The turtles on the roof could see them coming long before the girls could. There was a group of black motorcycles driving towards them. They were each driven by someone dressed from head to toe in black. Some had multiple riders, but they all had a an ornate metal dragon head sculpture on the front of them.

"Geese, I wonder who these guys are?" April said sarcastically.

"They should basically just be flying a flag that says 'We're the foot clan'" Mikeys voice crackled over the little speaker in Aprils phone.

"The flag that one guy is carrying, does say that." Leo interjected, and sure enough one of the bikes had a big black with red Japanese characters on it.

"They know were here, or at least that we will be" Holly said. They all watched as the bikers slowed and the gate opened in to allow them to enter the base. "Did any of you see the guard move?" She asked the others.

An assorted mumbling of 'No' came back through the phone.
"Why don't I go get a closer look?" April asked.

"You know that the Foot probably know what we look like, right?" Holly said.

"I'll wear a disguise." She rummaged around for an over sized sweater and pulled it over her head. She threw the hood over her hair and snatched up her phone. She hopped out of the van before Holly could protest more and walked over around the corner and approached the booth.

April knocked on the glass, "Hey buddy, you got the time" She asked in a gravely voice that sounded so fake, and both Holly and Donnie slapped their foreheads simultaneously. They guard didn't respond. April tired again, "Can you hear me?"

"You should not be in this place." The guard replied, his voice was almost metallic sounding and he had no inflection in his tone. He turned his head towards April, but his eyes didn't seem to focus on her.

"What the hell?" Raph asked as they all heard the guards response though their phones.

"I'm just looking for the time, bro" April tried again.

"You must leave this place as you are not allowed to be in this place." The guard said again.

"Alright, I'm going man." April said, she hurried away felling thoroughly spooked. She climbed back into the van and shuddered.
"Are you OK?" Holly asked.

"I don't know," April replied. "Something is very wrong with that guy."

"Yeah, that's why I didn't want you to go over there." Holly said. Before they could get into an argument, they were saved by Holly's phone. "It's mom," She answered the phone.

"Where the hell are you?" April could hear Stacey even though she wasn't on speaker.

"Hi, I'm just helping April with some last minute homework" She lied and grimaced at April, who immediately began clacking the keys on her PC to make it sound like it was the truth.

"I don't care what you're doing, its almost eleven o'clock on a school night!" Stacey was furious.

"I'm sorry, I'll get home as soon as I can."
"You'll get home now or you can kiss your social life goodbye" Stacey hung up on her daughter.

"Great," Holly said sarcastically.

"You can go home, we'll find our way back." Leo said.

"No, you guys keep the van, I'll get a cab" Holly said to Aprils phone. "Do you want to come with me, or stay here?"

"I'll come, chances are I'll be getting my own call here any minute." April said.

"I'll leave the keys tucked up in the visor," Holly told the guys, "Don't crash my ride." She smiled as she heard Leo and Mikey begin to argue.

They called for a cab to pick them up a few blocks away, and started to walk in that direction. They said farewell to the guys and hung up their group call as another group of vehicles drove towards them, this time it was an assortment of vehicles, mostly old and beat up, but all of them driven by Purple Dragon members. April and Holly pulled their hoods up to cover their faces and hastened their pace to get out of sight. A couple of the vehicles slowed, and when they got around a corner, they ran to get out of sight. Not a moment later, one of the cars came back around and Fong was leaning out of the window looking for them.

"What are you looking for boss?" Said one of the other goons in the back seat.

"Shut up" Fong snapped back.

The girls pressed themselves back against the dumpster they were crouched behind and texted the guys just in case they needed them.

"Go to the next street," Fong ordered and the car pulled away to the next street.

"He saw us." Holly said softly to April. April nodded her agreement, and they waited for an extra minute to make sure the Purple Dragon car was gone before they continued on their way to find their cab.

April and Holly ducked down a shady alley to wait for their cab, and April was in the process of calling Donnie to let them know that they had been spotted. Holly poked her head out to see if she could see either their cab, or Fong and his bunch of idiots. The street was still empty, but Holly thought she could see the dark outline of a car parked down the street.

"I think that's their car, it looks like the right make and model" Holly said. Behind her she heard a squeak of surprise and the sound of something hitting the floor. Holly tried to turn around, but before she could a calloused hand clamped down over her mouth and a beefy arm grabbed her around the waist, pinning her arms to her side. She was dragged bodily backwards and she blinked in surprise as Fong stood with his hands on his hips and a smug grin plastered on his face. Holly glared at him with as much anger as she could muster. April was thrashing in the arms of another henchman who was struggling to catch all her limbs.

"Well, well." Fong gloated, "Look what we found, a couple of princesses snooping around."

April muffled something back and kicked the guy holding her in the shins. He momentarily let go of her mouth and she screamed "DONATELLO!"

Fong rushed over and hit her across the back of the head with the blunt end of his knife. She fell limp and the hench-guy threw her over his shoulder. "You keep your mouth shut unless you want the same treatment" he shot at Holly. She tried to get her mouth free to call him every name she could think of but her head was clamped into the chest of the guy holding her.

"Get them in the car, we'll take them to Dog Pound." Fong lead the way, he knew the Turtles would be around here somewhere so they needed to get out of there as fast as possible. He opened one of the back doors and the guy carrying April placed her in the back seat before closing the door again. Holly was shoved less carefully into the other back seat and the door was slammed in her face. She waited for her guard to turn his back before she tried to open the door to run, but they had put the child locks on so she couldn't open the door from inside. She cursed under her breath.

"We ain't that stupid" Fong said from the drivers seat. One of his buddies was sat in the passenger seat and the last guy was stood awkwardly outside on the sidewalk.

"Where am I gonna' sit?" He asked stupidly.

"You can take a cab back to the city, or go into the base with the Krang, I don't really care." Fong said to his man. He pulled away without waiting for an answer and as they rounded a corner Holly saw the guys on a roof top. She immediately began banging on the window and screaming for them.

"Guys! We're in here!"

"Hey! Knock it off" Fong yelled at her, "Do something about that". The other gang member reached back over his seat and tried to contain Holly. She bit him as he was reaching out for her, and started to punch at body part that came too close to her. She managed to fend off a few arms but eventually Fong had to shut her up, he punched her in the gut as hard as he could and she collapsed as the air went out from her lungs. She looked up one last time to see the Turtles watching the car driving away. They tried to chase after it, but Fong sped away far too quickly for them to chase on foot.

Fong was gone, but his goon was still there, he was trying to run away, but his massive frame made it difficult to get too far without becoming winded. This meat head was there to be a barricade, not to be a sprinter.

The Turtles dropped down to street level and surrounded the guy. He didn't even try to put up a fight. They had beaten him up a few too many times for him to want to take another.

"Where are they going?" Raph asked a little more menacingly than he really needed to.

"They're going to Bradford's gym." The giant man cowered before them. "Don't hurt me."

"Maybe you should choose a different career path then." Raph said and moved to punch the guy. Leo stopped him before he could though.

"Let him go Raph. You can take it out on Dog Pound when we get Holly back." Leo let go of his brothers arm and turned to go to the van. Raph feigned another punch, and the goon flinched back. Raph smirked to himself before he took off after his brothers.

They all dove into Holly's van and Leo slammed it into gear before peeling away down the street. Donnie was trying to get a connection to Holly's phone to see if they could cut Fong off before he got to Dog Pounds old gym, "They're taking the highway."

Leo drove as fast as the old van could go, but it was slow going no matter how much gas he gave it. Holly had been right about it blending in, but Donnie's van would have been able to catch up with Fong no problem. Fong managed to cross into Manhattan and stopped at the gym long before the turtles caught up with them. They would just have to go in and get the girls back the old fashioned way, by beating up some thugs.

Holly was furious with herself and April. They should have known better and gone back to the guys once they knew Fong had spotted them. If they got out of this she knew that there was going to be hell to pay, from more than one front. Her mom was going to loose her shit and no doubt the guys, and splinter, were going to repremand were racing back to the city going much faster than was sensible, she had to hold onto April to make sure that she didn't get hurt further as a result of the terrible driving.

"We won't be much use to you dead." She shot at them as they almost smashed into a parked car.

"Shut up." Fong snapped back.

"Ooh, you're such a tough guy. I bet your mother is so proud." She snarled at him. She was scared, but her anger was starting to overcome that. Plus, she knew that Raph wouldn't let them get away with this.

"You think I care what my mother thinks?" Fong replied with a smile. "She's been dead for years."

Holly focused on April again, she seemed to be coming too. April goraned and her eyes flickered open. Holly helped her into a seated position, but kept a hold of her arm as the car was still swaying violently.

"What happened?" She asked groggily. "Where's Donnie?"

"These Purple Morons caught us" Holly kicked the front seat for emphasis. "Donnie is coming, they all are." She tried to sound threatening

"I know they are, but we're ready this time!" Fong shouted.

Holly snorted indignantly, "You're so pathetic I bet even I could kick your ass."

"We'll see about that." Fong said and they screeched to a stop outside of Bradfords Gym. April and Holly were dragged out of the car. Fong had Holly by the hair and threw her through the door. April was carried in behind her. There were a couple dozen purple dragin members and Dog Pound waiting for them.
"Tie them up." Dog Pound ordered them once they had shut and locked the door behing them.

"Not so fast, I have a score to settle with this one." Fong said and pointed at Holly.

"Hey, leave her alone!" April protested, but Dog Pound held her wrists in one massive claw. Her arms were bound, and she was tied to one of the metal support stands for a punching bag. "Holly!"

"Not so talkative now, are you princess?" Fong asked as he leered over Holly. She climbed slowly to her feet.

"Stop calling me princess." Holly said and prepaired herself. She didn't think she could actually beat him, but if she could keep him distracted, it might be enough for the guys to make a move. That was of course, if she managed to stay on her feet that long.

Fong lunged and aimed a kick at her shoulder. She managed to hop back, but not fast enough and caught his boot to her bicep. The force knocked her sideways to the floor and she rolled as he went to kick her again.

She popped up again and missed a block as he punched her in the ribs. Holly groaned but kept her hands up by her face. Fong laughed, and most of the others had gathered around to form a ring around them. April was shouting incessently from behind a wall of people and Holly wasn't sure where she was anymore. Fong kept coming at her, he clearly had no qualms about hitting a teenage girl, so she did her best to just avoid contact at all costs. Holly was breathing heavily already. She had never been in a fight before, but she was determined to at least not let Fong win so easily. She took a deep, steadying breath as he lunged at her again. This time, she side stepped him and swung her fist with as much force as she could muster at his face. She caught his chin and he stumbled back, swearing. A number of the surrounding goons started laughing, and Fong shot angry looks at the offenders. "Shut up!" He yelled at them. "You're going to pay for that girlie." He wiped his chin and roared as he swung again. She ducked again and hopped backwards so that he had to keep persuing her around the area. When she got too close to the wall of gang members they shoved her back towards the middle. More than once she had to roll to avoid a fist or a foot that came flying at her.

April abandoned trying to yell her protests and instead tried to get herslef free. None of the Purple Dragons were paying her any attention, they were focused on Fong and placing bets on who was going to win this fight. She wriggled herself around until she could get the knot to her teeth and started pulling at the rope. She could hear the group lauging, and cheering, and jeering at whatever was happening. April could hear Holly, but she couldn't see what was happening. It didn't sound like she was fairing very well. April managed to slip the knot loose and wriggled her wrists loose. She tiptoed away to see what was available to her. First thing though, she unlocked the door so they could try to make an quick exit once the guys showed up. She knew they were coming, and she knew they were close. She could feel it in her chest. Her own anger started to swell as she caught glimpses of Holly. April found a broom leaning against a dark corner of the Gym, she grabbed it and braced herself for what she was about to do.

Holly was knocked onto her back and lay coughing staring up at the ceeling for a moment. It was taking longer to get up each time and she could hear the laughter of the others all around. Fong crouched over her head and thumbed his nose at her.

"You're not so smart now, are you?" He stood up again and kicked some dirt at her. He walked away and pulled out his knife, he was done playing now. He wasn't going to kill her, just make her sorry for that smart mouth she liked to run.

Holly lay there for a second, trying to collect herself. Her eyes started wandering around the celing, and she saw some shadows moving from the high windows. The harsh yellow street light was being blocked by some farmiliar shapes, so she risked a glance and saw the turtles. She couldn't make out their expressions, she could imagine them though. Raph was going to be as furious with her as she had been herself, but he would get over it. Right now she was just glad they were there.

The Turtles finally made it to the gymnasium where Fong had taken Holly and April. They could hear an aweful lot of noise coming from inside. They tried the door but it was locked.

"Up there." Leo pointed to a row of windows that they could climb to. Once there they could see what was going on inside. Holly and Fong were in the middle of a ring of people. She was getting smacked around, but she was doing enough doging and blocking to keep herself upright most of the time. April had worked herself loose and was creeping around the outskirts of the room, she unlocked the door, but continued on to find a broom that she could use as a staff. She swung the head of the broom at the closest purple dragon member.

Holly scooped up a handfull of dirt off the floor and threw it at Fongs face. He staggered back as the dust stung his eyes and she sprang up. She side kicked him as hard as she could in the gut. He flew back into a few other guys who all staggered out of the way tripping over each other in the process. Fong was clutching his stomache coughing as he inhailed the dust that was in the air. Holly didn't even hesitate, she sprinted towards him and kicked him square between the legs as he was trying to recover. He let out a scream that was four octives higher than it should have been and crumpled to the floor. There was a general goran of sympathy pain from the group, but a couple of people in the back were letting out actual shouts of agony.

April had knocked a couple of guys out before they had even known what was going on. She knew they didn't have much time to make an impact, but she had also spotted the guys in the windows, if they could all attack from different angles, they might be able to catch the gang members unaware and get away in the confusion.

The turtles used this as thier time to move. They burst through the windows down into the middle of the group and all attacked as one. Roaring into action, Donnie started hacking his way over to April. Mikey and Leo focused on Dog Pound while Raph saw to Holly. She was in pretty bad shape, but he was so proud of her.

"Nice work!" He yelled over the commotion.

"Thanks," she replied, but he could see she was completely exhausted. Her eye was starting to swell up and her hands and arms had abbrasions all over them.

"Try to stay close" He started punching his way through the goons towards the exit. Holly grabbed onto his belt and let herself be dragged through the fray. Leonardo and Michelangelo were bouncing all over the place, the used Purple Dragon members as spring boards in order to get away from Dog Pound and deal with the gang at the same time.
It was complete chaos. Donnie was shoving April towards the door while he helped Raph get Holly out at the same time. Leo was shouting at them to 'Just go!' while he made sure Mikey didn't get himself into trouble. There were unconcious bodies all over the floor, some were hanging from I-beams that supported the cealing while more were piled up against the walls. Raph scooped Holly up into his arms and leaped over a rack of weights.

As he tried to get to the door, Donatellos eyes went wide and he shouted "Duck!" Raph slid along the floor as a barbell flew over his head and smashed into the wall infront of him. Holly had squeezing her eyes shut as it flew at them.

He popped back up to his feet and set Holly down, "Go, we got this". Holly nodded and staggered to April who grabbed her arm and dragged her out the door to the van. April shoved Holly unceremonially into the back and sprinted to the drivers seat. She glanced back once before pulling away and taking them away from the danger.

Dog Pound was just about the only one left standing, he was throwing 40 lb weight plates at Leo and Mikey. They sank deep into the concrete walls of the gymnasium and sent paint chips and dust flying with every impact.

"Alright buddy, I've just about had enough of you." Raph roared and launched himself at the giant mutant mutt. Leonardo and Mikey followed suit while Donatello glanced around for something that might actually contain Dog Pound rather than just trying brute force. He saw a large punching bag susspended from one of the ceiling supports and figured it might be able to knock him back at the very least.

"Mikey!" He yelled at his baby brother, and nodded at the bag.
"Ooh," Mikeys eyes lit up, and he hooked his hidden chain around the bag. He threw the other end up and over an I-beam for leverage and pulled it untlil it almost touched the celing. "This things gotta weigh a ton!"

"Its probably only about four-hundred and fifty pounds, but it should be enough". Donatello helped to direct Dog pound into position before Mikey let go and the bag swung down and collided with Bradford with a hearty thud. Dust exploded from the bad, and Dog Pound was sent flying into the wall at the other end of the room. He his the wall with such force that the glass in the windows rattled in their frames. The whole room was quiet now, aside from some groaning gang members and the creaking of the punching bag as it swung back and fourth. They all looked around the room. Fong was recovering himself a little, but still looked like he may be sick at any moment.

Leo walked up to him, and pointed a sword directly at his face. "If you ever come near our friends again, you will regret it." His brothers all stood behind him in silent agreement.

Fong said nothing, he huffed in annoyance, but looking around at the damage that had been done, he nodded his concent.

The Turtles left him on the floor. They rushed to find April and Holly. Donnie tried to call them, but he realized that Aprils phone was still in an alleyway on the other side of the river, and Holly's phone was off. It could have been broken, or lost in all the commotion. The most logical place they could go would be back to the Lair but they didn't know for sure.

As they ran across the rooftops, Donnie saw the van. It was parked down the side of the Sushi resteraunt and April was waving him down when she spotted them abover her.

"Guys! Down here" He shouted at his brothers, and they dropped down to the street.

April launched herself at Donatello and he almost fell over with the force, "I knew you'd save us!" She shouted happily.

"It looked like you guys were doing alright." He replied back, his smile faded once he saw Holly's face though, "Or not."

Holly was at least sitting up. She had bruises forming under her eyes and her right eye was swelling shut. "You guys timed that perfectly, a couple more minutes and I would have been in real trouble."

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

"I'll be alright, I just need some ice." She poked her eye gingerly. "Im more concered about what my mom will say."

"I'm sure if you tell her most of the truth, she'll understand." April said hopefully.

"She's never going to let me out of the house again." Holly said and sighed. "We'll, lets get this over with."

Everyone piled into the van and drove her home. April took her upstairs to try and help explain everything that had happened, while the guys climbed up to the roof to wait for some news.
When Holly opened the door to her apartment, Stacey came storming out of her office ready to lay into her daughter. But, when she saw the state Holly was in, she immediately became concerned rather than angry.

"What happened?" Stacey asked and held her daughters face in her hands.
Holly winced and waved her mom away, "There's a lot you need to know." Holly went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and a towel to wrap around the bag, she pressed it to her face and sighed slightly. "The people who did this to me are the same one's who took you, and the same ones who have Aprils dad."

Stacey looked at April, then back at her daughter. "Theres more to this than just gang violence, isn't there?"

April took over, "Yes, they took my dad because he's a scientist, although we're not sure exactly why yet."

"Have you gone to the police?" Stacey asked outraged.

"Sort of," April and Holly glanced at each other, "They know he's a missing person, but they don't know who took him exactly."

"The Dog man" Stacey figured out. It was what she had not told the cops about when she had been taken, well him and the four green ones who saved her. April nodded. "Does your Aunt know?"

April shook her head this time, then blanched as she realized that she had no way to call her and let her know she was ok. "Oh crap, she doesn't know where I am."

"I'll call her for you, I won't lie to her, but the less I know when I talk to her, the better for all of us." Stacey left to make the call, the two teenage girls shared a look. How much should they tell her?

When Stacey returned, she addressed Apirl first. "She's not happy you're out this late on a school night. But I told her you've been together all night." She pointed between them. "I assume that is at least true?"

"Yes." Holly said shortly.

Stacey let out a huge sigh and rubbed her eyes. "So, if the police don't have any idea what they're actually dealing with, what exactly are you two doing in all this?"

The girls looked at each other again. April spoke up again, "Gathering information."

"Information" Stacey repeated incredulously. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.

"There is something going on out there that is much more serious that anyone can really understand. We are doing what we can to help." Holly said getting frustraited. It was impossible to explain to someone on the outside.

"Help?" Stacey eyed her daughter susspiciously.

Holly looked back at her mother with just as much susspicion. "Yeah." She said slowly.

"You're friends with those four brothers, arent you?" Stacey smacked the table, "I knew they hadn't just shown up for no reason."

"What brothers?" April asked a little shocked that Stacey seemed to know something.

"They told me about the Mutagen that made them," Stacey reeled slightly, everything suddenly clicked into place. "They shouldn't exist, which is why they cant go to the police, and why those guys want to know where they are."

"How much did they tell you?" Holly asked slightly pissed off that she had been keeping their secret for no reason.

"Enough to know that you can't seriously be trying helping them." Stacey shouted suddenly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Holly said back

"The men that took me were working for another group," Stacey scrunched up her face in exactly the same way Holly did when she was trying to think, "The Foot Clan, that was it. They're into something seriously bad."

Holly and April were shocked, Stacey just told them almost as much as they already knew about the Turtles and their situation. Holly recovered herself first, "Yeah, we know. Thats why we need to help them."

"You can't be serious?" Stacey scoffed, "You're just kids."

"So are they," Holly said and added almost pleadingly, "They're the same age as us, and they have to take this all on alone."

Stacey rubbed her face again. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She muttered something to herself.

"Mom, We won't let them face this on their own." Holly was resigned. She didn't need her mom to understand, this was something she was going to do.

April had been sat in silence, she was almost fortunate that she didn't have to justify her actions to anyone, but she also wished she could talk to her dad. "Mrs. McCallister, they saved me when my dad was taken. They saved you when you were taken, and they are trying to stop whetever the Foot and the Krang are going to do in the future. They're our friends and we want to protect them as much as they want to protect us." Holly nodded her agreement.

Stacey looked at the girls, they were so young still. "You're just kids." She repeated pleading with them to see her side of things.

"Even if we were legally adults, would you be any happier? Would you be content to sit back and let bad people get away with causing harm to your friends?" Holly said and stood by April. They both had determined looks on their faces.

"What can you guys do that no one else can?" Stacey asked looking for an excuse to refuse her daughter.

"We are just about the only three people who know they exist that don't want them dead." Holly said plainly.

Stacey was stunned, she hadn't expected Holly to be so blunt. "Well thats just rediculous" She tried to laugh it off, but she could remember the fear she had felt from the tallest of the brothers when they had been trying to escape.

"Is it? You were there in the tower with them, did they seem like they were just fighting for fun?" Holly pressed her advantage.

Stacey sat on a chair and really though about it. No, they had not been 'fighting for fun'. They had been fighting for their lives, and hers. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Jesus christ."

Holly relaxed a little, her mom finally grasped what was really going on. They all sat there just thinking for a few minutes. April about her dad. Holly about how tired she suddenly felt; and Stacey about how these kids had gotten themselves into such a mess.

"Can I talk to them?" Stacey suddenly asked.

"What?" April said, shocked.

"Can I talk to them?" Stacey repeated.

"Uh, I guess so. When would you..."

"Now. You can call them, right?" Stacey looked at the girls.

"Well..." April said and glanced at Holly.

"Lets call them first." Holly said and pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was in pieces, held together by the screen protector and case. "Ahh."

"Here," Stacey threw her phone at her daughter. "You can delete the number after you call so I can't reach them if they don't want to talk to me." Stacey wrung her hands together anxiously.

Holly dialed a number and waited for an answer.

The Turtles were waiting on Holly's roof for some indication of what was going on, they had heard raised voices drift up from their apartment but it had been quiet again for a while now.
"Do you think we sould go?" Donnie asked the others for the fifth time.

"I wish we could , I'm so bored" whined Mikey and he rolled around on his shell to keep himself entertained.

"We'll give it a little longer, its still a few hours until dawn yet." Leo said.
They all jumped when Raphs phone rang unexpectedly. He saw a number he didn't recognize, but assumed it was Holly since they figured her phone was broken. "Hey," He said trying to sound cool.

His face grew more and more confused as Holly spoke, his brothers were pestering him for information. "She wants to talk to us?" He said and gave his brothers a look that conveyed his confusion.

"Ooh, yeah!" Mikey said excitedly, he liked Holly's mom and he would enjoy irritating Raph in a place he couldn't retaliate.

"What does she want to talk about?" Leo asked as confused as his brother.

"I don't know" Holly replied, "But its 100% up to you."

"Hold on a second" Raph put her on mute and looked at his brothers. "What the hell is this about?"

"I dont know either Raph, but maybe we should. Even if its just to make sure that she doesn't tell anyone else about us." Leo said with a shrug

"It may be wise just to assure Holly's mom that we don't intend to let the girls get into any danger." Donnie said.

"Right, right." Raph said sarcastically, "and this is after we drop her daughter off looking like a mugging victem"

"Oh, I suppose not." Donnie said.

Raph unmuted the phone, "Yeah, we're gonna have to pass on this one"

"Yeah, Mikey is already down here" Holly said sounding exasperated.

"He's what!?" Raph spun around looking for his brother. Leo and Donnie noticed Mikey was gone too and sprinted to the side of the building, Michelangelo was crouched on Holly's balcony waiting to be let in.

April walked over to the door and opened it slowly. Mikey didn't come crashing in like they expected him to, he slowly stepped into the room and was as calm and polite as he had ever been before. "Hi Mrs. McCallister, do you remember me?"

Stacey was shocked for a moment. She hadn't expected them to be here now, but she did remember this one. "You're Michelangelo? Right?"
"Yeah, but everyone just calls me Mikey." He took another cautious step forward.

"Everyone?" Stacey asked.

"Well, my brothers and my father, and these two." He directed a thumb at each of the girls. "They're the only surface friends we have. Except Mr. Murakami, he's blind though, so he doesn't care what we look like."
Stacey nodded. "Are your brothers here?"
"Yeah, but they don't have to come down, if you don't want them to?" He didn't want to freak her out any more than she already was.

"Yes, please. I never got the chance to thank you all." She braced herself.

April walked out to the balcony and waved the others down. Leo, Donnie and Raph landed almost silently on the concrete and stepped into the apartment.

"I really can't believe that you're real. I had almost convinced myself that it was all a dream." They all stood around awkwardly.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Leo asked, trying not to sound too rude.
"I just needed to thank you." Stacey nodded, reassuring herself. "You all saved me from those people and I didn't get the chance to say it back then."

"You're welcome." Leo said feeling a little wierd. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed and everyone exchanged glances with every one else.

"Well, this is super fun." Holly said tring to break some of the tension. She stood up and wobbled a little. Both Raph and Stacey moved to catch her, but she waved them away. Raph flushed embarrased that he had reacted instantly to protect Holly when her mom was right there. Holly smiled

April let out a bark of laughter that she couldn't keep in any longer, this was too absurd for words. Both Holly and April burst into hysterical laughter, Mikey joined in with them, although he had no idea what was so funny.
"You really are just kids, aren't you?" Stacey asked softly amazed that she hadn't realized it before. They all had the same sparkle of youth in their eyes that April and Holly did.

"We're teenagers, not kids." Donatello corrected her.
"You're Donatello," Stacey stated with sudden recolection, "you were the one who got me out."

"Yeah, but really it was all..." Donatello started, but Stacey had rushed over and gave him a hug. He stood rigid not daring to move at all.

"Thank you" Stacey said with real meaning this time. She squeezed him and then remembered more of what had happened. "Your brother, which one was taken by that Shredder guy?" She wiped a tear away from her eye and looked earnestly at the others.

"Uhh, that one," Donnie pointed at Leo. "Leonardo."
Stacey gave him a hug too. "Are you alright?" She asked and checked him over as if they had just gotten out of the building she had been captive in well over a month ago.

"I'm fine?" Leo said, and shot Holly a confused look.

"I don't think she properly processed what happened to her, You'll just have to deal with it." Holly said and rolled her neck to relieve some of the tension she had been holding onto.

"And you're..." She struggled to remember the last name.

"Raphael." Mikey said happily with a self satisfied grin plastered on his face. Holly let out a breath of amusement, Mikey was going to make this as uncomfortable as possible for Raph.

"Thats right," Stacey said and glanced at Holly. "How long have you known about them?"

"A few months, maybe half a year" Holly shrugged and placed the frozen peas back on her face. "April's known them for almost a full year"

Stacey stared in disbelief, "A year? And you haven't told anyone?"

"No," April said, "Who would believe me?"

Stacey sighed again and this time gave April a hug. "I don't know how you've been dealing with all this alone."
April almost melted with relief. She had desperatly wanted someone to take some of the pressure off her shoulders. Holly was helpful, but having an adult around to help sure made things feel easier.

"Wait, you're all named after classical artists?" Stacey asked but kept a hold of April for just a moment longer.

"Yeah," Donatello said. "Not that Mikey knows who the original Michelangelo is."

"We've tried to tell him a dozen times but it doesn't stick." Leo said trying to sound relaxed.

Stacey let out a little snort of amusment, much like her daughter did, and let the silence roll back into the room. "I'm sorry, I am just trying to straighten this all out in my head."

"Why don't we continue this later, Its been a tough evening and I think you guys probably need some sleep." Leo said hoping to get away before they screwed something up.

"Right," Stacey said dreamily.

"April, are you going home?" Donnie asked quitely,

"Yeah, I need to get back." April said smiling.

"Take the van, I don't have anywhere for it anyway." Holly said, Stacey shot her a questioning look, but decided she didn't care about the answer just yet.

The turtles drove April back to her place and dropped her off. It was very late and April knew she was going to get it again, but she was so happy right now that it didn't matter. She bade them goodnight and tried to creep into the house unnoticed. Her Aunt was still up, and she was mad, but once April told her that Holly's mom had been dealing with the trauma of what happened to her when she was kidnapped, Carol softened a little. April was still grounded, but a huge relief filled her chest that lifted her spirits to a place it hadn't been for a while.

For the few following days, April was at school by herself. Holly had figured going into school with two black eyes was just asking for trouble, so instead she had been going back over to the military base during the day while her mom was working to get some additional hours of surveillance under their collective belt. This time she used the drone and stayed well out of sight, hidden on the golf course and she had been sending the others some interesting stuff.

April was not allowed to go anywhere except school and back for the rest of the week, so Donnie had been sneaking over to her house after dark to talk with her. Every time he left the Lair to go, Raph, Mikey, and Leo made smoochy faces at him. This sort of behavior used to annoy him, but now that he actually was able to kiss her, it didn't really bother him anymore. They would often spend a couple of hours talking and a few more making out. The nights were getting colder again so often they would have to converse in little more than a whisper in her room.

"Have you been seeing this?" He whispered to her as they watched few of the videos that Holly had emailed to them. "The guard changes, but the person replacing the guy on duty looks exactly like the guy already there." He pulled up four different videos from four different days, at four different times of day.

"Either they have a set of quadruplets who do guard duty, or they're clones". April whispered back.

"If they are clones it would be a scientific breakthrough," Donnie said.

"What if they're mutants?" April asked in an excited whisper.

"I suppose its a possibility." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It would be unlikely to produce identical results though, unless the original organism were identical." He began to ramble about what could cause identical mutations when he was interrupted by a text.

"Its from Holly, she wants to send us an audio file" He frowned at his phone.

"She just assumes you're here?" April asked in fake outrage, she had told Holly that he had been at her place every night, and they had squealed together about it over the phone.

Donnie just rolled his eyes at her, he knew they talked. "Come on, lets go up to the roof."
They climbed up together, April grabbed her comforter for warmth, and they both wrapped themselves up in it to keep off the chill.

April called Holly when they were settled and put her on speaker phone, "Hey, whats so important that you want to talk about it now?" She emphasized the 'now', so Holly knew she was interrupting.

"Just, listen to this and tell me what you think?" There were tapping keys and after a few moments, Donnie's T-Phone pinged. They opened the file and played it.

The audio was weak, but there was some conversation taking place. The same monotone voice that April had heard when they were all there at the beginning of the week. "Has Krang seen anything that Krang would call suspicious? No, Krang has seen nothing. Krang will continue the search for the suspicious activity."

Donnie and April looked at each other with confusion. "It sounds like the guy is loosing it and talking to himself." April offered.

"Are you sure?" Holly's voice came through a little tinny.

"I mean, the voice doesn't change It has to be one person speaking" Donnie said.

"Its two of them." Holly said simply. "They even have the same speech patterns."

"Could they be using voice modulators, not that I would know why they would do that?" Donnie asked feeling the mystery going deeper.
"No, I ran the audio through a voice signature analyzer, and the results were identical." Holly explained.

"What?" Donatello said and shifted to a more upright position.

"What does that mean?" April asked, she obviously was missing something.

"Two people can't have an identical speech pattern and voice signature. Its as distinct as a fingerprint." Donnie was both impressed and slightly freaked out.

"Even people with artificial voice boxes have a unique voice pattern, these two Krang people literally have identical vocal chords and cadence, or rather lack of cadence." She paused thinking for a moment. "I genuinely have no explanation for this."

"Have you sent this to the others?" Donnie asked.

"I didn't think they would quite grasp this like you guys would." Holly said trying to be delicate.
Donnie just nodded, he loved his brothers but they didn't have the patients for investigative research.

"Did you get any other audio?" Donnie asked.

"Nothing as clear as this. I can send it to you though. Maybe you can clean it up better than I could." Holly tapped on her keyboard some more and a few more dings came from Donnie's Phone.

"I'll check it out when I get home." Donnie said, although now he almost wanted to go so he could see what else they could find.

"Don't get into too much trouble now." Holly said mockingly.

"Not you too... I get enough of this at home." Donnie said slightly sulkily.

"Awe, poor baby." Holly said through pouted lips. "Talk to you later."
April laughed. "You know they just do it to wind you up?"
"Yeah, I know." He said and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I would say they're jealous, but Raph and Holly could be a little more understanding."

"Just give them as much crap as they give you. Its kind of all part of the game of being a teenager." She leaned back into his chest and he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"April?!" Carols voice came floating up from her room.

"Shit," April whispered. "Up here! I just needed some air" She scrambled to the side of the building to see her aunts head poking out of her bedroom window.
"Get back in here, its freezing out and you could fall off the roof and kill yourself." Carol pulled her head back into the apartment.

"I should go." She winced at Donnie. He stood up and, after giving her a kiss, lowered her bedding down the ladder to her. She waved before ducking into the room.

Donnie sighed happily before taking off to go back home. When he did get back to the lair, he went straight to the lab to look at the files Holly had sent him.