Chapter 6

This was going to be fun.

Going through the maintenance hatch, each of us humans got paired with one of the turtles, who were gonna use their shells to slide down the pipes. April got put with Mikey, who volunteered very quickly. Vern got put with Raph, who didn't look pleased. And I got paired with Leo, to which I was okay with. It was a little wet, but I really didn't mind.

"Please keep your arms and legs inside the shell at all times," Mikey joked around, looking like he was having the time of his life. Meanwhile, Donnie was busy hacking into a satellite.

"Satellite imagery shows Shredder's reached the top of Sacks Tower," Donnie reported to everyone.

Leo looked back over his shoulder at his brother. "If that's where he's releasing the toxin from…"

Donnie finishes his sentence. "…it's gonna spread all over the city!"

Following the train of thought, is Raph. "We need to…" Before he could say anything else, there was a break in the pipes that we were traveling in. We would have to jump it and Leo tightened his grip on my torso and legs while I tightened my grip around his neck.

"…break a left!" Donnie yelled out as we all jumped the pipes.

It didn't take us long to get into the Sacks Tower vents and came out in the parking garage. Once we were all on solid ground, Leo started to give out orders. "All right listen up. We gotta find the elevator and get up to the roof." He then pointed to the three of us humans. "You guys get out of here. Get to a safe distance."

I gave him a defiant look. "Hell no. My father still has the mutagen and he isn't getting away that easy."

Leo looked taken back by me opposing him, but that quickly turned into a smile. I smiled back at him as April backed me up with a plan. "We can get our hands on the mutagen as a contingency plan," she came up with then quickly trailed off. "Just in case… you know."

The boys looked a little grim after that statement. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Raph acknowledges with a hint of sarcasm.

Leo then stepped up to us. "If we don't make it back, bring the mutagen to Splinter. It can save his life."

Donnie came running up to us to give us information. "Sacks' laboratory is on the thirty-sixth floor. I've already disabled the security system. Oh, and uh good luck." He finished as an afterthought.

The three of them started to run off, but Mikey stayed behind to talk to April. "If I don't make it back, remember me, April," he said slowly, being very melodramatic. "You can always find me, in here." He finished by pointing to her heart.

One of his brothers then grabbed him and pulled him along. Vern, April, and I started towards the stairs that would take us up to the laboratory. Vern looked at April. "You're a complicated chick."

We ran up the stairs and to the thirty-sixth floor. Vern and April were breathing heavily but still moving forward. I wasn't breathing heavily, my training being harder that the run-up the stairs were. When we got to the lab, we saw that my father was all alone in the area. We ran up to the entrance to the little area, but all ducked down when bullets went flying. My father had a gun in his hand and was firing at us.

"Seriously, you three… you're adorable, really," he said sarcastically. "I could just pinch your cheeks!"

Vern went to stand a little to look at him but ducked back down as more shots were fired. Vern looked over to the other wall, and saw a few buttons on the wall, and nodded to them, making both April and I to look over at what he was seeing. A plan forming together, we just needed to be able to get around my maniac father with a gun. He kept firing at us, so we had to stay where we were.

"I understand a girl with dead daddy issues, I do," my father taunted us. "But you're not gonna stop me. And Rosalba, I'm doing this for you, and you can hate me all you want but that's not gonna change anything for what's about to happen here."

"You're doing this for yourself!" I shouted at him and a few more bullets went flying.

"This is history repeating itself April," my father said, ignoring what I said. "Your father walked in on me April, just like you did." Both April and I looked at each other in shock. He was there that night? "It took a few less bullets to take him down though."

I covered my mouth to not let out the gasp that came up. My father killed April's father. How did I not know that?! Why didn't I realize that was what happened that night? April looked at me with dread and anger in her eyes, but it wasn't directed at me. "You killed my father," she whispered with tears starting to form in her eyes.

Vern took that chance to go find a way around the barricade to try to get to my father. I watched through the clear glass fridge in front of us as my father walked slowly towards us. He was watching us through the same glass and stopped, raising the gun in his hand. Suddenly, Vern called out to April. "O'Neil!" he shouted.

It drew my father's attention, who raised the gun in his hand in Vern's direction. I used my powers to raise his arm, so he shot at the ceiling. April ran to the buttons on the wall and hit them. A spray from the ceiling came down and hit my father to where he couldn't see. I watched as Vern had grabbed a handheld microscope and swung it at my father, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. But I also heard a shot being fired before that.

Once the spray died down, April and I ran over to where Vern was on the ground with a bullet wound in his shoulder. "Are you okay?" April asks in concern.

"Look, just go get some help and take the mutagen with you," he ordered. "Just go!" When both April and I refused, he got an exasperated look on his face. "Go!"

April took one of the canisters of mutagen and handed it to me before grabbing the second one and detaching it. I grabbed a black messenger bag that was lying on one of the tables and put my canister inside. I didn't want to leave one of these with my father, unconscious or not. And I didn't want Shredder to know that we had both canisters.

We ran towards the stairs again and ran up to the roof. We ran out to see the guys holding up the spire and Shredder sucker punching Leo as he tried to hold it up. When April saw that, she let out an almighty scream. "SHREDDER!"

He turned around to see that April was holding up one of the canisters of the mutagen. He saw me standing next to her and I could feel the burning of his glare. April was being cocky and waved the canister in the air.

"This is all that's left!" she taunted as she walked backwards with me following next to her.

Shredder jumped from where he stood in front of Leo and down not far from us. "That belongs to me," he growled at us.

"This city and mutagen will never be yours," I growled at him in Japanese while getting in front of April.

"We'll see," he replied in a deadly warning tone.

Suddenly, the spire that the boys were trying to hold fell to the side of the tower. I caught movement from Shredder and grabbed onto April. Shredder ran at us and knocked us off the roof. He managed to grab the mutagen from April, who put both of her arms around my waist. We fell into the tongs that came off of the spire and I managed to grab onto one of them, stopping our fall.

I heard the turtles call out for us, but I looked down at April who was looking at me with wide eyes. "Don't let go April!" I yelled over the wind and noise around us.

I looked up and saw Shredder throw one of his blades at where I was holding on. To avoid getting stabbed, I had to let go and, as we started to fall, I curled one of my arms around one of April's, so we wouldn't get separated. We were both screaming when I felt a giant hand wrap around mine. Looking up, I saw Raph was holding onto me.

"I got ya," he reassured me. That's when I saw the turtles had created a chain. Mikey held onto one of the tongs, and Donnie held onto one of his legs and one of Leo's. Leo was upside down holding onto Raph's legs, and Raph was upside down as well holding onto me.

"Swing me towards him!" April yelled up the line.

I looked down at her and we shared a nod before looking up at Raph and the guys. Leo shouted for Raph to do it and he nodded at me. The two of us were able to get enough momentum to swing April towards where Shredder held onto another part of the spire. She kicked him hard, causing him to lose his grip and fall.

I smiled in pride for my friend. Feeling myself moving up, I looked up to see, one by one, the turtles pulled each other up onto the spire. Raph helped me onto the spire and I helped April up next to me, making sure she had a firm grip on the rail. Looking over at Raph, I gave a breathless laugh and smiled. "Thanks," I breathed out with a nod.

He gave me a smile and nod in turn. But then the metal made a groaning sound, and we all gave each other a startled look, knowing what that sound meant. April climbed into the spire in order to not be crushed, and I followed in after her. I looked over to April as Leo asked if there was anything that they wanted to say. "I'm sorry," I told her loud enough so she could hear me.

"What?"

"With what happened to your father," I explained to her questioning look. "I'm sorry. I didn't know about what he did."

"It's okay," she told me. "I know that even if you did, you would have told me about it."

I smiled at her, then tried to keep my grip as the spire lurched and moved forward. I closed my eyes and tried to do something that I had never done before. I focused my power on the spire and tried to make it slow down. After a few seconds, I could feel the air start to slow down around me, but it wasn't enough. I focused harder and felt the wind slow down even more before it stopped completely.

Opening my eyes, I saw the turtles were holding up the spire, and Mikey was teasing Raph about crying. We were alive. Letting my power go, I laughed a little before feeling my muscles give out and I fell to the ground on my hands and knees, breathing heavily. "Rosy!" April cried out in concern, seeing me fall.

The boys put the spire down gently and rushed over to me. "I'm fine," I told them between pants. "We need to get out of here before someone sees you guys."

April and Leo helped me out of the metal spire, but my legs gave out on me and I fell against Leo. He gave a concerned look while holding me up. "I can't walk," I told him.

He nodded before picking me up with an arm under my legs and carried me over to a manhole cover nearby. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice us. After we were all in the sewer, we took a moment to catch our breaths. Leo set me down on a few stairs that were down here. Donnie came over to stand in front of me and began to scan me.

"Are you sure you're okay Rosa?" Raph asked.

I nodded lazily at him as I leaned my head in my hands and messaging my temples. "Other than feeling weak and a pounding migraine," I answered with sarcasm. "I'm peachy."

"Your used your power, didn't you?" April accused with a skeptical look.

"What?!" the four turtles exclaimed in unison.

I winced at the volume. "Keep it down," I snapped. "I wasn't about to let us just be crushed. The migraine is worth all of us being alive."

"Have you ever tired to do something like that before?" Donnie asked. I shook my head at him. "Well, that would be why your body weakened."

"Thank you, Doctor," I smiled at him. "I can confirm your diagnosis."

Donnie smiled at my humor and chuckled a little. However, Mikey sobered up the moment. "But we didn't get the mutagen," he pointed out sadly. "We can't save Master Splinter."

I shared a smile with April. "Oh, ye of little faith," I told him as I pulled out my canister from the bag that managed to stay on me. They all looked shocked, but that quickly turned into grins. "You didn't think that we would just let him have all of it did you?"

Donnie took the canister from me with a wide smile.

"Go, save your dad," I told them. I held my hand up before they could protest. "He needs you now. We'll be right behind you. I know the way."

"She's right," April agreed. "Go save Splinter."

The turtles all looked at each other, but they nodded and ran off. I started to haul myself to my feet slowly. April came over to my side and put my arm around her shoulder to support me. We started to walk slowly towards their lair.

"Think they'll make it in time?" April wondered. I could tell she was worried for Splinter and what would happen to the boys if he wasn't around.

"I know they will," I said with confidence.

"How do you know that?" she persisted. "What if—"

"April," I cut her off, stopping our walk. "Splinter said that he showed those boys love like your father did you. That means they love Splinter just like you loved your dad. They'll make it. Besides, he's not their only family anymore. They have us now, just like we have each other."

We smiled at each other as we walked further into the sewers. We were all family now, no matter what.