They waited until Mikey and Don came back from the bedroom. Michelangelo's eyes were red, his orange mask soaked with tears. He was sniffling a little. When they sat back down on the couch, he burrowed into Donatello's arms, and said nothing. Splinter reached over, patting his son gently on the leg.

Goliath felt his heart quicken as he looked upon each face of his clan. The wall he kept around his soul had weakened these past few weeks, but he still guarded his face well. At least, so he hoped.

I cannot ignore it any more. The evidence we've gathered places Xanatos at the center of this conspiracy. Without these young ones, and their arts of subterfuge, we would never have unraveled it. And were it not for their efforts, we might yet still have been under his sway.

He thought uncomfortably about the debt he now owed Leonardo and his family. He thought, with equal discomfort, of the news he was about to break to his clan. He'd thought it wise to wait and keep his conversation with Xanatos secret before sowing distrust in their allies–he was glad his insight had been true.

He kept his wings caped, tail carefully curled around one ankle to keep it from accidentally knocking over the TV. These quarters were so cramped, this living room so small, he had to stoop to keep his head from brushing against the ceiling. Leonardo spoke first.

"Goliath and I infiltrated TCRI on Wednesday night." He began. "I'm not going to lie to you. We cut it close. If it weren't for Goliath, I never would have made it out alive. We barely escaped as it is."

"You should'a let me go with you, Leo." Raph folded his arms, his tone angry. "You shouldn't've made me stay home on that one. To hell with my cracked shell, I wasn't gonna let him crack yours again."

"You're right." Leo said haltingly. "I–We could have used the help. As it stands, I have bad news. The Shredder knows I'm alive, and he knows we're back in New York."

There was a ripple of murmurs from the Hamato side of the room. Michelangelo flinched deeper into Donatello's embrace. April and Don's eyes widened with horror, and Raphael grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. Casey seemed to shrivel into himself, as if he hoped he could disappear into the wall. Splinter's face was unreadable, but his hands tightened on the head of his walking stick.

"There goes that surprise." Raph muttered. "Hope it was worth it."

"It was. Security was light, lighter than I expected it to be. We wouldn't have gotten far if the Shredder had been waiting for us, and Don wouldn't have had the data we needed without this mission. I want to thank Goliath for having my back when the Foot came down on us. I'm glad we can count on you."

"And I you, Leonardo. Your talents impressed me greatly. Your skills are a credit to your father's teachings." Goliath bowed his head, a little lower. He took a moment to look into the eyes of each of his clan as he spoke. "The night we made our foray into the enemy's fortress, I was summoned to Xanatos' presence for a conference. He planted a tale in my ear intended to sow doubt in our allies."

There was a ripple amongst the gargoyles this time. Lexington leaned forward intently, brow ridge heavy over his huge eyes. Brooklyn and Hudson frowned, suddenly wary. Broadway's eyes went from Goliath, to Leonardo, and back to Goliath. "What'd he say?" Broadway asked.

"His deception painted our noble friends as abominations, tainted by dark magic, manipulated by an evil patron. He claimed that you, the Hamato Clan, were behind the iron soldiers we had encountered. He called you assassins and monsters, bent on destruction for profit and power."

There was a soft sound from Michelangelo. Don patted him on the shoulder, and asked, "Say that again, Angelo?"

"...not monsters." He whispered, pressing his head into the crook of Donatello's neck. "We're not."

Raphael's eye twitched when he heard Michelangelo's broken, timid voice. He snarled. "Who fed him that load of sewer apples?" Raph cracked his knuckles. " 'Cuz I wanna talk."

Goliath exhaled through his nose. "A man he claimed to be the head of a noble organization of secret keepers–the Iron Foot of the Dragon."

"Shredder?!" Casey balked. "That fucking bastard! That's a lie, a bald-faced lie!"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Brooklyn asked incredulously.

"I had my doubts as to its authenticity." Goliath answered. "If I had told you this, would you have trusted your partners on your missions? Would you have honored them, as they have honored you?"

Lexington looked a little guilty. He sighed. "I… No. I wouldn't have."

"Our trust has been abused before." Hudson sighed. "Aye, the lad's right; I would'nae have trusted them. But now that we know Xanatos is allied with this evil, can'nae turn a blind eye."

"It is worse." Goliath closed his eyes, trying to brace himself for the delivery. "I cannot know if this is true, or yet another deception. But he said this… Steel Clan is intended to be sold to tyrants who would enslave and slaughter the innocent in vulnerable nations. Whether or not this is true…" He curled his four-fingered hand into a fist. "We cannot allow these mockeries of nature to see the light of day. Countless lives may depend on whether we succeed, or fail in stopping their distribution."

Elisa puffed out her cheeks. "This is… way over our heads." She laced her fingers together, elbows on her knees. "We're talking about possibly thousands of lives in dozens of countries here."

"We have enough proof," April said. Hope glowed like a cinder in her eye. "You can turn this in to the NYPD, we can stop this–"

"That's the thing. We can't." Elisa sighed. "Have any of you ever heard of The Bogey Rule?"

The confused looks and negative head shakes told her all she needed. She began to explain. "Sometime in the 80s, things in New York started getting weirder and weirder. People claiming to have been abducted by aliens, or bewitched into committing crimes, other things that we can't explain rationally. The New York State Supreme Court essentially said that anything that sounds like magic or science fiction isn't admissible as evidence in civil or criminal trials."

Elisa paused to take in their reactions; they ranged from skeptical to disappointed. "I'm…" She grimaced. "Not exactly the ace detective you guys think I am. Honestly, my job's kind of a joke at the precinct. My job is to hunt down these 'bogey calls' and try to fish out a normal, mundane explanation for them. Things like magic and gargoyles and mutants aren't going to be acceptable as evidence in court. My job is to make weird things normal enough to hand to a judge. That's it."

April frowned. "So what you're saying is…?"

"None of what we have would pass the bar. Heck, some of our evidence, we didn't even get legally. It's convincing, but any good lawyer would shoot it down–and Xanatos can afford the best lawyers in the country. We need something more mundane, more solid. If we can get something concrete–totally bulletproof and as normal as possible–then, we can lock them all up."

"And what could we get that would manage that?" Broadway said with a worried look.

"If we had a taped confession, we'd be golden." She spread her hands and shrugged. "Catching them in the act of moving these robot soldiers at the studio would be good, too. But it'll be harder to explain that as an anonymous tip without explaining, well… explaining you."

"Sounds like we're in a pickle. We can't let anyone know who we are. It'd be a disaster for all of us." Lexington said, a doubtful frown drooping his brow ridge.

"I'm with you there." Raph's beak curled in a look of disgust. "Knowing our luck, this'll all go straight to shell no matter what we do from here on out."

"And I'd like to point out," Donatello spoke up, "An anonymous tip runs the risk of alerting the Shredder to the fact that we know his plans. Remember, he has ears in the NYPD. Anything they hear, he'll hear. If he catches even a whiff that something's off, that studio will be empty, and we'll be right back at square one."

"You're right." Elisa nodded. "Either way, it's a gamble. Either we confront Xanatos, or Oroku with this..." She shook her head. "Or, we set up our own sting at the Pack's studio. I'm not going to sugar coat this, guys. From here on out," She looked across at each of them. "It's our lives on the line. We do, or we die."

"I think we're discounting Xanatos a little too easily." Brooklyn said doubtfully. "Something tells me that he has a trap laid somewhere in this, and we're all walking blind into it."

"What else are we gonna to do, Brooklyn?" Raph put a foot up on the coffee table. "Unless you happen to know every single mole in the NYPD, we ain't got no choice."

Splinter swatted Raph's foot with his walking stick, banishing it back to the floor. "Off the table, Raphael." He folded his hands. "Unfortunately, you are correct, Detective Maza. The risk is as great as it is unavoidable. But, in the words of a wise man; if your enemy fears being revealed, then reveal his presence."

"Sensei," Leo said slowly. "We just said that we can't. He'll know."

Splinter raised an eyebrow with a wry smile. "There are many ways to call the attention of the authorities, so quickly and in such a way that they cannot brush it away. We know where our enemies shall be, and we know that there shall be wrongdoing. All we must do is draw their gaze."

Broadway looked skeptical. "And how do we plan on doing that? Show ourselves and make them chase us there?"

April's hand shot up. "I vote arson."

Elisa and Splinter both shot her a glare. "We are not committing arson." They said at the same time.