Who Are You?

by CatilinaOokami

Raphael didn’t know much about humans, and what he did know, he didnt like. It wasn’t until he met a young girl named Artemis that things started to change. Follow these two as they learn about family, love, and adventure beyond anything they were ready for. TMNT 2012.

8. Chapter 8

Present Day

Raphael had quite possibly the worst two weeks after finding out about Artemis. He couldn't tell his brothers for fear of what they would do. He couldn't discuss his revelations with his Sensei because he knew he would just tell his son to converse with his siblings. While keeping this secret and holding himself back when fighting against her, he had realized that even though he was holding back...she would not. Even his brothers had noticed the odd treatment Kit would dish out to their hot-blooded brother. On one mission, she used Baxter Stockman's mousers and launched a wave at one target...Raph. It took all he had to try and fight them off and whenever his brothers tried to help him, Kit would launch into battle with his brothers and kept them away while he kept getting bit left and right. Eventually, Kit deemed that enough time went past as her mentors got away with another piece of machinery, and called the mousers back. Raph had teeth marks all over him and growled when one was still biting on his finger. He quickly sent a sai straight through the machine and it let go while blue sparks came out of the hole he just made. His brothers came over to him and helped him stay upright while Kit watched from the doorway. Mikey wanted to go over there and teach her a lesson but the red-banded turtle dismissed the worry and just wanted to go home.

Another day, she was paired with Fishface and they broke into a robotics lab which Donnie was all happy about until he learned they were trying to steal blueprints for the latest advancements. For a while, Kit was nowhere to be found and it was easy to sneak in and catch Fishface at the head terminal of the lab. He growled at the turtles but actually went to ignore them as he plugged in a USB into the computer. Donnie was first to launch himself at their opponent but was thrown to the side by a half built android. The turtles all slowly turned their heads to the open doorway by their right and their fears came true. There stood Kit, her hands behind her back and she tilted her head slightly as if to say "What are you looking at?" Mikey was the first to question her. "Oh come on! Don't you ever take a break?! Where did you even come from?!"

She held up her left hand and resting in her palm was a grey remote with two buttons on it. She pressed the big button on top and in a flash a flood of robotics came forth and rushed towards them. Donnie groaned. "The robotics repair shop. That's where she came from Mikey."

All types of robots were after them. Some missing arms and others missing their legs and crawling towards them with red in their eyes. The turtles were so focused on the wave of deranged robots that Fishface had time to download the whole program and he smashed the computer after taking the USB. He laughed and waved the stick at them. "Better luck next time turtles." He grabbed a chair and threw it out a glass window that were lined all along behind him. He gestured to Kit, "Let's go Guppy! We have much more to do!"

Kit lazily walked towards him as the turtles tried their best to fend off the onslaught of technology. She had one foot on the window sill after Fishface jumped out and turned to look at Raph. He was able to push back a bulky robot with one leg missing and could just feel the animosity filled stare aimed at him. He watched as Kit pointed to her shoulder then saluted as she fell backwards out into the city. It took him a second on what that meant until he felt something on his left shoulder. He looked and saw what seemed to be-.

"COCKROACH!!!"

Thanks to Raph's ultimate fear and wanting to get it off him, he stampeded all around the room while simultaneously attacking every enemy android in sight. This gave the turtles time to vanish before police showed up because of a silent alarm that had been triggered. When they made it home that day, Raph felt the need to crouch into a corner about how close that bug was to his face. He flashed back to the time he was showing Artemis all the fighting stances in their hangout and corrected her as she tried to mimic him. He was about to fix one arm position when he felt weird tiny sensations across his foot. He looked down and he knew his eyes grew as big as saucers. There were roaches crawling around and aiming themselves towards a forgotten pastry that Artemis just wasn't hungry for. She looked down at them as well and went to shoo them away but Raphael screamed so loudly she had to step back and cover her ears. She never questioned him about it but he could guess she found out he was afraid of those little demons from that day.

Now marked the third day after the robotics failure. His brothers were obviously downcast as they lost mission after mission. It was hard to believe that Artemis was so skilled in the past couple months that she could easily deflect them but then again, she was training under Shredder. That thought alone made tingles go down his spine to his tail. His friend was so easily manipulated that she would beat up her body just for petty revenge. The turtles gathered together in their living room and were soon joined by their human friend. She put her hands on her hips as she looked at the room with the turtles just staring off into space.

"Come on you guys; it can't be that bad."

Not even Donnie could give his usual nervous response to his crush. "It is that bad."

April always had a fiery temper and to Raph he felt it connected with how bright her hair is. He could relate with such a temper although his was way more physical as hers was more emotional. There was a difference. April shook her head and went over to the couch that Mikey was laying flat on. She grabbed onto the youngest turtle's arm and tugged trying to get him out of his funk and back to his perky self. "Come on already! Let's go find them before they take anything else! We still have to stop them and I'll help you guys this time."

"I don't wanna," Mikey groaned while dragging out the last 'A' in his sentence.

April clenched her teeth as she refused to give up and kept pulling in all directions. Being a mutant turtle gave them the advantage of weight and her being a small teenager made it that much harder for her. Leo had been meditating through the whole ordeal and Raph couldn't help but notice the twitch in the crease of his closed eyes as Mikey still dragged out the vowel. Leo breathed through his nose rather audibly and stood. "Look April, it's not like we're giving up but right now the Foot Clan is pretty silent. At the moment, I feel it is best we recuperate and figure out a new strategy."

April let go of Mikey and nodded at Leo's words. Raph would've agreed too if not for the fact that it would most likely be drowned out by Mikey's whining. Raph found the nearest projectile he could find and was glad to see it was harmless enough that he wouldn't get into trouble. He threw the half-eaten slice of pizza at Mikey and was glad it landed close enough to his mouth that it shut the turtle up rather quickly. Mikey ate it in one gulp and let out a satisfied burp. He got into a sitting position and stretched his arms above his head. "Alright then dudes, what's the plan?"

"We need to keep our focus on Kit. If we can defeat her then we have a better chance of stopping the rest of the clan before they can finish whatever they are up to," Leo stated as he walked to the middle of the room. Raph noticed Leo did this a lot whenever he was briefing them and he knew that it made his brother feel more of a leader.

Donnie walked over to stand next to April. "And how exactly can we defeat her when she has literally kicked our butts at every turn?"

Leo smiled in that special way which Raph hated. If he smiled like that it was because he had an idea that involved something amusing to him. "Simple Donnie; what's one of the best ways to defeat your enemy that you've faced before?"

Mikey shot up his hand and waved it around. "Oh! Oh! The best way is with a trap! She looks like the kind of gal who likes pizza."

Artemis definitely wasn't the biggest fan. If Raph remembered correctly the last time he brought them some leftovers from his home to hers, her face scrunched up in disinterest. Her family happily ate the warm food but she only ate it because she never turned down anything free. But it's not like he could tell this to his little brother so instead he just told him to shut up.

Leo shook his head with that smile still spread across his face. It was actually starting to irritate Raph. "Close, the best way is predictability. If we set up some bait for her and ambush her at once then we have a pretty good chance with April helping us. We'll separate her from the Foot soldiers and take her down."

Raph winced at the words 'take her down.' She needed to be stopped, no doubt about it, but he needed to get her to trust him again; not hate him even more. Raph frowned at Leo while getting off the wall he was leaning on. "What's the bait?"

If it was possible, Leo's smile grew. "Well, like I said, predictability will help us. What is the one thing about us she has been so focused on?"

All three of his brothers turned their heads towards Raph. April looked at each brother in turn with confusion but Donnie placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered that he would explain later. Raph growled, "You have got to be kidding me!"

"No, actually I'm very serious."

Raph shook his head. "No. Out of the question. I am not going to be bait while you guys go and stop the action before I get a chance to bust some heads."

"Don't worry, you'll be able to fight. You have to help us take her down."

He couldn't do it. He couldn't fight her knowing that this wasn't her fault. She was mad and looked for solace with the worst type of people. If he could just get her alone and talk to her, then maybe he could bring her back. "I don't like this plan. While we all fight her, the rest of her group get what they want and leave. I can fight her on my own." He smirked with his normal bravado in hopes that would convince his brothers to leave Artemis to him.

"Do you honestly believe you can distract her long enough for us to take care of the Foot?"

"I know I can Leo. Just trust me."

Leo sighed. "Alright, we'll give it a shot. Let's just hope it works."

Donnie stepped forward while holding his phone in hand. "We're going to find out. I just got an alert about where they are now. You won't believe where it is."

Raph frowned at that. "Where is it?"

"It's that greenhouse again from when we had to track down Raph."

---

It was the same place where the Foot attacked Artemis and she had been knocked out for a couple of days. They all nodded to each other and found themselves running along the rooftops with the blanket of night above them. They landed a building away and peeked over the edge and saw Kit and Dogpound instructing their underlings to get into the glass building. For such a small building, it seems to be taking the soldiers a while to find what they were looking for. The turtles and April had their backs against the edge. Donnie turned to his crush. "Okay, we just need you to flash her with your fan. Do you think you can angle it to catch the moonlight and catch her attention?"

April smiled and took out her weapon. She tested it a few times at catching the light and seeing where it shined before nodding her head that she was ready. The turtles snuck over to a brick wall that hid them from sight but they could see April. She lifted her fan and started to move her it back and forth. They got lucky for a full moon tonight so they didn't need any lighting of their own. Donnie was using binoculars that he made and was watching Kit while whispering under his breath. "Come on, come on. Notice it already."

Raph couldn't see Artemis as well as Donnie but he knew that she just stood there. Maybe her mask was obstructing her vision more than they thought. Suddenly, she turned her head quickly towards them and stared. They had the darkness covering them so she must have caught their bait. She didn't move for a good two minutes but then suddenly she just patted Dogpound's arm and walked into the greenhouse. Donnie sighed. "Well that's just perfect! She didn't even care!"

Raph narrowed his eyes at the plant building. "Are you sure about that?"

"Well pretty sure since she's not with Dogpound or going after April. Where else would she be but the building she just walked into?!"

Kit's bell rang right above them and it was a split second before the turtles were getting a new haircut. Donnie ran over to April and guarded her as she rose to get into a defensive position. Raph was next to Mikey as Leo pointed his sword at their opponent. "That wasn't very nice! Don't you know anything about fighting etiquette?"

Kit grabbed the sickle that had pierced the ground and held onto the chain that was closest to the metal ball in her right hand. She walked towards them slowly as if assessing her position and how she could handle it. If the turtles wanted their plan to work out Raph needed to act now before she attacked his brothers and April. He ran forward before anyone could stop him and right when she lifted her weapon up to defend herself he jumped over her and landed on the next rooftop. He turned swiftly and threw a smoke bomb at her but as the smoke expanded, it didn't even faze her as she gracefully leapt out of it and onto the same roof with him. He gave a look to his brothers before running off onto another roof. His brothers nodded at one another and quickly went over to Dogpound as April tried to figure out who to help first. Once Raph felt he was far enough away, he stopped and waited for Artemis. She jumped up and was sickle first while trying to land on him but he blocked it with his sai and pushed her away from him. "Artemis please! Let's just talk about this!"

She gripped the chain harder, making the skin around her knuckles turn lighter. She never said a word as she threw the ball at him multiple times. On her latest throw he let it wrap around his sai and put his foot on the chain connecting to her quickly so she would stumble forward from such a tight grip. She was about to but she fixed the position by leaping over him and twirling the chain simultaneously. She was able to wrap him up but Raph wasn't new to this trick. He ran head first at her and she wasn't ready for this so she had no choice but to leap away as her chains loosened even more around him. He was able to slip out of them but grabbed the bundle of chains around his feet and they ended up in a type of tug-o-war. "Come on Artemis! Just let it out already and tell me what to do," Raph growled at her while pulling her closer. She just dug her feet in more and pulled with all her strength, however, just like with April, a mutant turtle had more strength than some teenager.

He pulled her closer again. "Stop giving me the silent treatment already! That's not like you at all!" With every second he pulled her closer and he thought he was the stubborn one. She wouldn't let go and just let herself be pulled but still wouldn't let anything come out of her mouth. Raph glared at the mask that was placed over her face. He felt like he was talking to Kit rather than Artemis and he wanted to correct that. He finally was able to get her close enough that he could see a glimpse of her electric blue eyes under the cloth of the eye holes in her mask. "I'm sorry Artemis." He thought that would shock her enough that maybe he could use her own chains against her but she was defiant and head butted him instead. He let go and rubbed at his head. "Are you insane? That would hurt you more than me with that stupid mask on." He looked up and saw she held a hand over her mask and was worried that it really did hurt her more than him. He took a step forward but froze when he found out that she wasn't hurt, she was trying to take off her mask. She placed it in her leg pouch and glowered at him.

"You want to get close and personal? Fine, then let's get close-," She leapt over to him and he grabbed her hands with his to keep her at arms length. "-and personal."

He didn't expect her to be this strong. With the tug of war earlier, he had easy leverage but with them being hand to hand like this, she had more strength than he gave her credit for. She was actually able to be evenly matched with his own girth. "I'm sorry about your family! I really am! But you have to know that the people you're with now won't help you! They're just using you!"

"Shut up! I don't care if they use me! I care that they want to stop you just as much as I do!"

He felt her hands loosen but he couldn't let her go yet. She was still so convinced that this was the right way, the right path to take. If he just never gotten involved with her she would be happily with her family without ever needing to fight like this. He faced her head on and felt he was seeing her for the first time in a while. She always wore that kitsune mask and now that it was gone he could see her full of raw emotion. For once, she was holding back. He just needed one more thing, anything to say and bring her back to how she was before. Raph never got his chance as she glanced behind her quickly and moved a foot up on his plastron to push away from him. His brothers were heading towards them but when Artemis turned to them and showed her real identity, they almost slipped and fell into an alleyway from the shock. Artemis chuckled a little too darkly for the situation. "So he didn't tell you. I'm not surprised, he was always good at hiding the truth from those he supposedly cares about."

Raph shook his head. "Please Art! I do care about you!"

"Enough! Now that you're all in one place I can finally-!"

Dogpound and a group of Foot soldiers were leaping by as the akita mutant shouted to her. "Leave it Pup! We have other things to do!"

She glared at her mentor. "You've got to be joking! They're all right here I can just-."

"Leave. It. Master Shredder needs us back now."

Dogpound followed the group of soldiers as Artemis took out her mask and wrapped her weapon around her waist. She looked to Raph and spoke low. "Playtime is over. Next time Raphael, the fight will be for real." She glanced over to his brothers as April was able to join them. "Of course. Enjoy my replacement."

Raph ran to her while holding out his hand. "Wait! She's not-!"

Artemis covered her face again and leapt away before Raphael could catch her. He could only watch as she followed her mutant mentor without a backwards glance. He gritted his teeth and slammed a fist on a nearby vent, slightly denting it. Leo walked over to him and Raph couldn't help but try to dispel his anger on his leader. "What were you doing coming back here so soon?! You were supposed to stop them!"

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me, but I was worried about my brother fighting a strong opponent alone. Turns out, he knew his evil assailant the whole time!"

"She's not evil Leo! She's just been misguided!"

Mikey decided to intervene. "Yeah, misguided enough to punch your face in! She's bad news dude!"

"Like you would understand!" Raph turned to run off but Leo grabbed his shoulder and turned him around so their faces were close.

"You want to keep some secrets? Fine, we all have them. But if it affects our team we can't afford it any longer! You can't keep hiding things from everyone especially your own flesh and blood."

Raph pushed him away but that only made Leo push him back. Before it turned into a brother brawl, Mikey and Donnie each grabbed a brother and pulled them apart. Raph shouldered Donnie and ran off, this time successfully. He felt better that the cool air was flowing along his skin. He didn't mean to fight with Leo but sometimes his brother made it so hard for him. Why couldn't he see reason? She wasn't a bad guy! She just needed...

He didn't even know what she needed. He was so focused on saving her that he didn't even think about how he was actually going to do it. When did it change from her needing him, to it being him needing her? Raph sat on the edge of a roof overlooking some of the city. He looked at his arms and saw a few scratches from Artemis' sickle. Nothing too deep, but good enough that it had been bleeding earlier. He took out a few bandages he always carried around and remembered the first time he let Artemis wrap him up.

Raph had been particularly grumpy that day after his brothers found out about his major fear of cockroaches. The worst part was that Mikey was the main one to laugh at him and his other brothers just continued with their jokes. He didn't show it to everyone else but he was starting to feel like maybe he wasn't good enough. He grabbed a first aid kit and walked out without another word. He made it to the warehouse and Artemis was already there on some crates she put together that formed a small 'L' so she was able to sit with her legs out and her back against the crate on top. When she noticed him come in she gave a small smile but it vanished like vapor when he threw her the medkit and sat crossed legged next to her outstretched ones. The boxes were big enough that he wasn't touching her but he could still feel some heat off her skin. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes while mumbling under his breath. He heard her shift around to get closer to him.

"So uh...rough day?"

"You have no idea." He held out one arm and leaned his head against the fist of the other appendage. She was on her knees now with the first aid kit opened next to her. She had some cotton balls with alcohol soaked into it and he didn't brace himself for the sting of the cursed liquid. "Hey! Easy now! You're not exactly trained to be a nurse."

She pouted at him and moved the cotton ball away. If he wasn't so mad, he knew that her pouting face would've gotten a laugh out of him. "Well, if I'm so bad at it then why give me the stuff in the first place?"

"Because it's easier if someone else does it but I forgot how brash you were."

She glared at him and grabbed a new cotton ball before putting it on one of his few wounds. He wanted to jerk his arm away but he really did need her help. "Watch your mouth. I hold the power right now so you best be careful."

"Yeah, yeah."

Her touch grew more gentle and he was thankful she was such a quick learner. She never met his eyes so she could concentrate on her bandaging skills. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm here if you do."

He couldn't tell her everything. Raph couldn't talk about his brothers or fully who his enemies were. She was trustworthy that much he knew, but his life was meant to be lived in secrecy. He had to be careful. "I need to be stronger."

She tightened the bandage too hard and he had to correct her. She decided to undo the whole wrap and restart. "Why? Did you fail your mission?"

Not really. His brothers and him were able to take care of the giant cockroach before it could kill him but it still left nightmares every once in awhile when he slept. He just didn't like that such a small insect scared him so easily. "Not really but it could've gone a lot smoother if I was better."

"Okay then, get stronger." She finished up the wrap and tied it off so it would stay in place. She grabbed his other arm and noticed it had less scratches and decided some alcohol with band-aides would be sufficient enough.

Raph shook his head. "You make it sound so easy."

She patted his arm and smiled at him, this time looking him right in the eyes with no doubt. "It is that easy. Were you perfect? Of course not, no one is after all. But you now have a goal set in place and you just need to reach it. Every day from now on you'll get stronger."

"Ya think so?"

She patted his cheek before letting her hand rest there. "I know so."

He could stare all day at her. She was so determined while all her emotions were plain as day on her features. The worry about his fighting, the pride that he was strong and was teaching her, and the happiness that he trusted her to help him. He didn't even second guess that he should talk with her and actually let her see him being so vulnerable. He could never do so with his brothers since they think of him as some tough guy who held no feelings. He couldn't ruin that reputation after so long but she was brand new and she hasn't set a clear idea of who he was. It was relieving on most days. He caught himself about ready to lean into her touch but instead he made his body go rigid so he wouldn't move and give her the wrong idea. She didn't seem to notice his internal dilemma and pinched his cheek to get him out of his stupor. He rubbed the wounded cheek. "Um ow! I'm already injured enough don't you think?"

She chuckled at him while jumping down off the boxes. "Well, if you want to get stronger we should start small. If you can't endure a pinch then you really do need to train more."

He smirked at her in a playful manner. "Is my student trying to give her teacher some lip? You're getting extra drills for that!"

"Good! Then let's get started!"

He followed her feeling ready to train with her with all his being while burying deep down the wanting of her hand on his cheek a little bit longer.

Raph finished up his own bandage work and sighed. It didn't feel as right unless Artemis was doing it. She had learned to have a gentle touch and when they were friends he had her do most of his after mission care. Her smile had disappeared and whenever she saw him her aura radiated nothing but pure malice. She didn't act like this when she found out he had a family all along and that he had been lying to her for all of their relationship. What changed from feeling betrayed to wanting revenge? There was something he was missing. There was something she was missing! It was her family. If he had just stayed away like they asked then they would've been there for her and maybe talked some sense into her. That was what she needed now more than ever. She needed the proper guidance and he had to get it back for her. She had told him they sent her family to a high security prison which meant he couldn't do this on his own. He would need his brothers' help to break into a prison after all.

He made it back home without any delays and saw them around the tv having ordered pizza. Mickey stared with pizza cheese dropping down between his mouth and hand. As Raph walked over, his little brother held up the box with two pieces left. "You want some?"

Raph shook his head in response. His stomach felt too twisted for what he was about to ask to even think about eating. "I need a favor."

Leo scoffed at him. "Of course you do! After finding out that you knew who Kit was the whole time we feel more than happy to help you!"

Raph pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stop the oncoming headache. "Look, I know I messed up but this is important!"

Leo stood and balled his fists up tight. "More important than the fact you lied to us?"

"Please, this is for Artemis!"

Leo narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Oh sure! Let's help the bad guy! What's next? Inviting them over for a party?"

Raphael growled loudly, "Enough! Just listen to me for once Leo!"

Leo was about to retaliate but Donnie put a hand on his plastron and nodded to Raph to let him continue. Raph took a deep breath before allowing himself to speak in a determined tone. "I need your help to get Artemis' family back. She told me that they were taken away to some high security prison. But-But we can do it! If we work together we can get them out." He looked at Leo because his face had twisted in disbelief. "They're not bad people, I swear! If it wasn't for me they wouldn't be in prison in the first place. I was the careless one and because of that it hurt Artemis. She doesn't deserve to be manipulated by Shredder because of my mistake. Please, I need your help."

Mikey and Donnie looked to Leo first, not knowing the best course of action for something like this. Leo ran a hand down his face in exhaustion. "That's all well and good Raph but..." He looked up, his face stone cold, "...but you still haven't apologized about lying to us. And no, saying you messed up doesn't count."

"I'm sorry." For Raph, that was the hardest thing he could do because he rarely thought he made mistakes but for Artemis, this was above him and his issues. He couldn't not have Artemis in his life and he was ready to let her in. "I'm sorry that I lied to you guys. And I'm sorry that it has come to this because I felt I could fix it on my own but it's just gotten worse. I just know that for someone who shouldn't be involved, you want to do the right thing and help her."

Mikey stepped forward and placed a hand on Raph's shoulder, making him look up so they were face to face. "Don't worry, dude! I'm in."

Donnie also stepped forward and smiled, showing the gap in his teeth. He nodded in agreement and nudged Leo forward as well. "Of course we'll help you. What are brothers for?"

Raph almost couldn't believe that apologizing worked but if this was the result, he was ready to apologize more often. If they were going to break into a high security building they would need some intricate planning and major confidence. In the days that followed, Donnie was able to track down the only prison closest to them and downloaded the blueprints for the whole building. He showed it to them and had already mapped out the best route for them to sneak in. Of course, they had to sneak through the sewer line. It was always the sewers. The sewers were all over the underground except the main pipes never went directly under the prisoners and were just their bathroom pipes. The only manhole covers were outside the range of any prisoners access so that meant Donnie would need to hack into their system and be able to get them inside access to the cells. It took Donnie probably three hours before he was able to get in and found out the codes to open the doors. After that, all they needed was to know where they placed Artemis' family.

Donnie had been in his laboratory and had to rub at his eyes from staring at the screen for so long. He found the list of prisoners' names but for some reason he couldn't find the names Raph had given him. He looked up and down that list for quite some time and decided to use a search engine instead. He wanted to avoid that so as not to leave any history but he guess he would just need to do intricate deleting later. Once he typed in the names, the page seemed to glitch a little bit but it could've been the sewers connection. It happened sometimes. Thanks to the search, he was able to find the cells they were in and wrote it down. He ran out to his brothers who had been spending the time to clean their weapons. Well, his eldest brothers did anyways while Mikey was actually goofing off and reading his comics. "Guys! I found them!"

Raph and Leo jumped up and put their weapons away. They wasted no time in getting ready, only spending a little time to grab Mikey off the floor. "But I wasn't finished yet!" They ignored his pleas and went on their way over to the prison on the outskirts of town. Donnie was to stay outside and keep track of their movements to make sure that everything was going according to plan. The other three had to crawl through the sewer line and find the manhole cover closest to the main door to the prison cells. Mikey would stay behind and be look out for any new changes with the guards that would walk by on patrol. They had to wait while Donnie had to hack into the door locking system and waited for the click indicating they could enter without alarms. They left Mikey to keep watch as Leo and Raph snuck into the middle area and blended into the shadows. They had brought their grappling hooks and launched the tools to help them get into the rafters. They looked down from above and took out the shortcut map that Donnie drew for them. On the map was a simple square and inside that was a U-shaped line that indicated the cells on the outer edge. Raph pointed to the left corner of the 'U.' "That's where cells 43 and 44 are and where her family was put in. They're the bottom row below the stairs."

Leo nodded and lead Raph silently along the metal beams high above the convicts that lay sleeping below them. Once they made it to the corner of the room they tied their ropes and slid down to land in front of a cell with '43' next to it. Raph pointed to the cell next to him and Leo went over and stood in front of that door. Both brothers waited for two minutes and then the two cell doors opened. They had approximately one minute and thirty-two seconds to get the group and run to the man hole cover with Mikey guarding it. The doors were electronically based so the noise was loud and disturbed the stillness of the empty room. Other prisoners were starting to wake up and banging on their own cell doors hoping it would open and they could leave. Raph launched himself into the room and spoke in a hurried pace, "Don't ask and let's just go before..."

Raph actually got a good look at the prison cell and saw it was completely bare. No sheets on the beds and no items that could belong to the people he was looking for. He heard Leo calling out to him. "Raph! This cell is empty!"

Raph came out and both him and Leo were quick to climb back up the ropes as prisoners started to yell obscenities to them. They took their ropes with them and ran off along the rafters and risked jumping down. They leapt out the door and into the open sewer line while grabbing a shocked Mikey along with them. They re-covered the hole and heard guards coming to their direction. They made a hasty getaway and met back up with Donnie at a dock port that was nearby. Raph was the first to confront him. "What was that Donnie?! They weren't there!"

Donnie was already typing away on his phone to try and see what had happened. "I don't know okay?! I'm looking at it and the names are right there! They fit the timeline perfectly. Except for this stupid glitch that keeps...wait a second."

"What did you do," Raph took a step closer while narrowing his eyes.

Donnie shoved him away. "I didn't do anything wrong! I thought it was some type of glitch but it's not. Every time you put in any of the names you gave me with the time it changes the formatted page with a bug controlled page instead. Thereby putting in the names and changing it back once you left the search."

Raph growled, "How about in English brainiac?"

"First off Raph, that was English. You just want it in simpler terms because you don't know-"

"Donnie," Raph spoke low in warning.

"Fine! What I'm saying is that someone set up a virus so whenever you look up something specific, like what we have been doing, it takes you to a different page that shows you a fake page. The reason they weren't there is because they were never there in the first place. So either Kit lied to you or..."

Raph eyes widened in realization. "Or she was the one lied to." He turned around and was ready to leap off to finish a new mission that just presented itself. "I'll see you guys at home, there's something I need to do first."

Artemis had told him that an informant of hers had relayed the information of what happened to her family that day. He didn't know who it was but if he had to guess, it was someone from the same streets as her. His destination took him to that empty clearing that held memories of love and care. This was one mission he couldn't fail; he needed to find them and know what happened. There could be a chance that it wasn't his fault and if that was the case then maybe he could get Artemis away from the Foot clan. He walked up the alley that was the entrance to the outer streets and looked around. It was eerily still for awhile and he couldn't imagine any of New York being abandoned. Before too long he saw an orange light flickering against a brick wall across the street. So far, that was his only lead. Raph snuck over and held his back against the corner and leaned over and saw a man with a brown jacket. He was starting a fire and had just put in some paper with some twigs in with his mostly fingerless gloves. He wore a bandana with skulls all over it that covered some shaggy and dirty blond hair. His face didn't hold a young man's but an old one. He had prominent wrinkles around his mouth and forehead and there was a light scar across his cheek. This had to be someone she knew and he needed to risk himself to save Artemis. He stepped out of the shadows and walked slowly over to the man. The guy in question looked up and his eyes grew wider. He started to shake despite the warm fire next to him. "Oh. My. God." The man fell backwards on his back and crab walked as far away as he could until he hit a trashcan, making it fall over and causing the noise to echo around them. Raph crept over closer but the man shook his head, "Please...please stay away!"

"I can't do that until I get some answers. Someone has been smearing my good name through the mud saying I was sighted around here." Raph watched his face closely and was glad he did because the man's face flashed recognition of what he was talking about. Raph threw a sai in the wall next to the man that lay cowering. "And I have a sneaky suspicion that it was you."

"Wait! No! I c-can explain!"

"Victor?" Another man had showed up at the mouth of the alleyway and held a hat that carried some money and when he walked over to them, Raph could hear some change rattling around in the hat as well. This newcomer was tall and he wore a beige trench coat over comfy clothes that had a few holes dotted in them. The man himself blended into the shadows so well thanks to his dark skin but he wanted to make his presence known so as to understand the situation he just walked in. "What in the world? What is that thing?!"

"Bobby stay back!"

Bobby stopped mid-step and stood still like a statue, afraid of what would happen. Raph didn't have time for such pleasantries at the moment and turned back to Victor. "Start talking. I'm getting impatient."

Victor nodded. "Okay, it was nothing personal! I didn't even think t-that you could be real! I thought they were just some weird nutjobs!"

"What did you do to Artemis' family?"

Bobby blinked at that and stepped forward a few more steps again. "Artemis? What about her? Is she alright?"

Victor swallows a giant lump in his throat. "Bobby, please, you should leave."

Raph scoffed and knew what was happening. Victor didn't want Bobby to know what he had done. "Oh no, Bobby should stay to know the kind of guy you really are. Keep talking!"

Victor let out a small whimper. "Please! I didn't know! We just needed the money!"

"Victor? What's going on?" Bobby grew increasingly worried.

"I'm sorry Bobby. The day they were taken, it wasn't cops. It was some woman with a lab coat on and wore some weird slanted glasses. She was barking orders to some guys in black uniforms with symbols and told them to get the family. She saw me watching and came to me. She told me that either I could join the family they took or she would pay me to send a message."

Raph grabbed the sai from the wall it was stuck in and put it back in its' holster. "You were to tell Artemis the woman's version of what happened."

Victor nodded. "She paid good money and with winter coming what was I supposed to do?! I could've been taken just as easily! All I had to do was tell Artemis that some giant turtle was spotted and that was why her family was caught by the cops!"

They heard what sounded like change hit the ground and when they looked to Bobby they realized why. Bobby had dropped his hat in shock of what he just heard. His face was a shade lighter as he held up his hand over his mouth. "You...you were the reason they're gone? How-How could you?!"

Victor hurriedly got up and shoved past Raph to get to Bobby. "Now wait a second! Please Bobby, you have to understand! I did it for you and me! We needed that money."

"We needed our friends! They were good people and you just let some psycho take them!"

Raph growled, "That symbol you saw on the uniforms, what was it?"

Victor sighed. "It was a foot or something stupid like that, now please, you got what you wanted so just go."

He was right. Now that Raph knew the truth, he had no reason to be here. He left the two arguing men to themselves and was back on the rooftops. He had to find Artemis quickly and explain what happened. He could save her now, knowing that the very people she was with were the ones that took her family. Why did they take them? He had no clue but he had enough information to bring her back and that was all that mattered to him. Now, he just needed to find her.