Sarina taps at her keyboard, her circuits working themselves into a near overload. April is slumped at her station, snoozing away with her head propped on her arms and Diaval's cloak draped over her shoulders. Splinter lays on a sleeping mat in a more secluded section of the laboratory, his chest rising and falling steadily as he sleeps on his back, hands folded over his stomach.

Diaval is the only one awake besides Sarina. He stands at the doorway and stares out at the rest of the lair, blank-faced as he taps at his communicator. Still nothing but static. Without his cloak obscuring his lean figure from view, it's easy to see the tension in his pale arms.

Sarina runs her hands through her hair, her eyes flashing and illuminating the quiet darkness of the lab. She glances at her arm and adjusts the plug inserted into it. Electricity buzzes faintly as it enters her body, making her feel tingly and far more awake. She has to stay alert if she's ever going to find them.

Two days ago, she lost all contact with them. It didn't take her long to hypothesize that it was Circa's doing, only adding to a growing sense of anxiety. Her family, her friends, Donatello, they're all in there and she has no way of ensuring their safety.

A beep sounds and she jolts to attention. Behind her, Diaval turns around, eyes widening. As she pulls up a tracking screen, he shuffles closer and hovers over her shoulder, squinting at the seven green dots racing along the maze on the screen.

"That them?" he asks, pointing.

Sarina nods. "Yes, and that," she says as she points to a red dot moving along just ahead of the others, "is Circa. They've got her in their sights, but..." She puckers her lips. "Where is she going?"

Her attention flickers to and fro on the screen as she scrolls around, searching for a possible area that the virus could be running to. The red dot makes a sudden detour, heading straight for a website, and Sarina's breath catches when she sees that it's YouTube. To get even more specific, it's Annalise's channel.

She slides her swivel chair across to April, startling Diaval so that he stumbles back a few steps. Sarina reaches over and shakes April's shoulder, making her wake up with a few bleary blinks.

"I've located them. They're headed for YouTube," Sarina says. "Wake Splinter while I try to get a hold of their signal."

April nods and stands, leaving Diaval's cloak hanging over the chair as she hurries over to Splinter. Sarina slides back to her computer, cracking her fingers and hovering them over her keyboard. Diaval wanders back to her side.

"Want any help?" he offers.

"Yes," she says, motioning to the open seat at her side and a control panel of buttons. She points to a red button. "Spam that button. Keep pressing it and let me know when you hear something other than static. Got it?"

He sits down, adjusts his headset and ponytail, and starts pressing the button.

----------

The cyber-team appears on what looks like a normal New York street. The only thing that tips them off is the fact that it's snowing outside. Circa is nowhere to be seen.

Leonardo reaches his hand out and a snowflake lands on his palm. It melts but he doesn't feel any sort of chill. He looks back at his team. "Any idea where we are?" he asks.

Donatello pivots on one foot as he looks around. "Well, for one...New York," he says.

"How about a website, genius?" Raphael retorts.

He shrugs. "I have no clue."

"Wait, I think I might know," Annalise says.

She moves to the sidewalk and goes down a couple of buildings, stopping in front of one that only her and Michelangelo recognize. There's a small group of tweens lingering on the sidewalk, all wearing hats, mittens, and other warm clothes. They don't notice any of the teenagers near them.

"This is my place!" she says with a grin.

"Cool!" Casey says. "What does that mean?"

Annalise keeps her eyes on the door. "I think this is the first time I tried vlogging. I was twelve and I was going carolling with my friends, so..."

The door swings open and a younger Annalise with longer hair and a mouthful of braces races out of the house, waving at her friends. Mrs. Hughes stands at the door, warning her to be home before midnight, and the children race off. Younger Annalise goes right through the present Annalise like she's a ghost.

As the sound of them singing "Jingle Bells" rings in the air, Destiny's face flickers with remembrance and she turns around. Walking down the sidewalk are two people: a girl and a boy who's much taller than her. The girl holds a Space Heroes backpack and the boy has a maple leaf toque tugged over his white mop of hair.

"Huh..." she murmurs, watching her fifteen-year-old self wander past and chat idly with Diaval. "It's been a while."

"Annalise," Donatello says. "Did you post the vlog?"

"Privately, yeah. Mom didn't want me to have my channel..." She trails off, eyes widening. "Oh my word, we're in YouTube!"

"And on your channel, too," Donatello says with a nod. "I'd bet my shell."

Destiny's ears perk and her sharp gaze falls on Casey and Annalise. "Did you guys remember to mention the Circa stuff?" she asks. Their eyes widen and they look at each other, making Destiny groan. "You didn't."

"To be fair, we were very caught up in trying to save your life," Casey says.

"What he said," Annalise agrees.

"What? What Circa stuff?" Raphael asks.

Destiny motions for them to group around her. "We aren't sure yet, but we think Circa's ultimate goal was to lure us in here so that she could kill us where she has the upper hand. Then, with us out of the way, she'll use Sarina's body as a host."

Donatello's jaw drops. "A host..." He thinks for a second before he frowns.

"How'd you figure that out?" Leonardo wonders. "Does...does that even work?"

"It does," Donatello says. "Remember the video she showed us of Annalise? Circa wanted a robotic body to use in the real world. Sarina is..." He grimaces. "She's almost perfect for that use."

Raphael immediately starts tapping his visor. "Sarina!" he shouts into the mic. "Sarina, you're in trouble! Come in!" When he still gets nothing, he turns and kicks the nearest trash can. "Damn it!"

"It's no use," Michelangelo says, forlorn as he grabs at his face. "She can't hear us. The jig is up!"

"Unless we defeat Circa first," Leonardo says. He whips out his cyber-katanas and aims one at the sky. "That was the plan all along. We can still succeed!"

"I highly doubt that, Leonardo," Circa says from behind him.

He whirls around and she evades his blade. The others form a group behind their leader, weapons ready, and Circa eyes them with the same amusement as she had before. She starts to clap slowly.

"Well done, well done," she drones. "You chased me, now we're here, and you've walked right into my trap." She chuckles.

"We know what your plan is," Donatello says. "I won't let you get Sarina."

"You act like you have the chance to stop me," Circa retorts. "That's cute, very gentlemanly, but it won't do you much good. I have already won."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Raphael shouts.

He throws one of his sai. Circa smirks, waves her hand, and the pronged weapon drops to the street. She lowers her hand and sweeps it in a cutting motion and Raphael chokes, collapsing to the street as lacerations appear across his collarbone and shell. Coding bleeds onto the street.

"Raph!" Michelangelo cries.

"Like I said," Circa says with a smile. She raises her hands, her hair sparking and her eyes glowing red as she floats into the air. "I have already won."

She slices her hand out and Destiny clutches her stomach as her previous wound reopens. She drops, struggling to breathe, and Leonardo lunges to catch her before she falls. Circa slices her hand in his direction and lacerations break across his skin, dropping him like a stone in a river at Destiny's side.

With four more swipes, Michelangelo, Donatello, Casey, and Annalise fall, weakened and struggling for every breath as pain assaults their senses. Black and green coding bleeds onto the sidewalk.

Their headphones buzz and the broken, glitching voice of Sarina reaches them. "Turtles! Bzzt...Destiny—" There's a sharp crackling noise. "Circa...bzzt...trying to...bzzt...delete you!"

"Sarina..." Donatello whispers. He clutches at his shoulder and tries to speak, vision going blurry. "S...Sarina, I...can't..." His cheek touches concrete, eyes closing. "Sa...rina..."

"Donnie! Donatello!"

He doesn't answer. Nobody does.

----------

Sarina's eyes flash as she gets to her feet, ripping off her headphones. Diaval looks up at her, bewildered, still pressing the red button. Sarina shoves the headset into Splinter's hands, expression grave and determination burning in her eyes.

"Put this on. You and Diaval need to keep contacting them," she orders. "See if any of them are still conscious."

"What is going on?" Splinter asks as he slips the headset over his large ears.

"Circa is deleting them. If nothing stops her, we're going to lose them," Sarina says as she dashes to her lab table. She raises her voice as she moves away from them.

"So, are we going to do anything?" April demands, her face as white as a sheet.

"Believe me," Sarina mutters, grabbing a cord off her desk and examining the ends. "We are, or...I am."

She heads back to them, pushing her short hair off the back of her neck and pressing the base of her hairline, right along the spine. A USB port opens up and she finds the nearest mirror, angling herself so that she can see properly, and slips the edge of the cord into it.

"Whatever I do, whatever happens, none of you can unplug me," she says, noting the wide-eyed stares she's getting. "Do you understand?"

"Unplug you?" April echoes as Sarina strides past them again, en route for the teleporter. "Sarina, just tell us what you're doing!"

"I have hypothesized for hours on end about Circa's motivation and judging from the most plausible option, I made a backup plan," she mumbles, talking more to herself than to the others around her. "I didn't tell Donatello. He would never approve."

Diaval looks up from the panel, his finger starting to shake against the button. "Sarina, don't...don't like this," he says. "What're you...?"

Sarina stops at the teleporter, flipping open the control panel on the side. She drags her fingers along the buttons and wires before stopping on a slot that she has to slide open. She looks to her friends and her Sensei and her eyes flash.

"To be plain, I am saving them," she says.

The plugs the other end of the cord into the machine. Within a second, her eyes turn completely white and she goes stiff. Her hands clench into fists and she starts to vibrate in place.

"Sarina!" April exclaims, taking a step towards her.

Splinter blocks her path with his arm. "No, she said not to interfere. We can do nothing but trust her," he murmurs. He turns to Diaval and his whiskers droop. "Can you find any trace of them?"

Diaval clenches his jaw and keeps pressing the button. "No, but 'm gonna."

----------

When Annalise manages to open her eyes again, her wounds have stopped bleeding and the pain that overtook her every sense has started to fade. She can hear Circa's loud, whirring laughter echoing in her ears.

Circa's words are muddled to her ears, like she's listening to a language that she doesn't know. Annalise tries to get up but all she can do is lift her head in time to see a flash of light overtake Circa's body.

There's a crack of thunder and with a final echoing laugh, Circa's body crumples into a lifeless pile. The pupils of light in her black sclera go out.

Leonardo pushes himself back to his feet, still dizzy and far too pale. Raphael and Donatello follow suit and Michelangelo crawls over to Annalise, helping each other up.

"My sons, get everyone up," Splinter's voice crackles in their headsets. "Apparently, there is something I must activate in order to bring you home. To be completely honest, I am not sure of the procedure."

"Where's Sarina?" Donatello asks.

A pause. "Return home," Splinter says. "It will be clearer then."

The headsets go silent. The turtles get Destiny and Casey back up to their feet, all seven of them shaking with exhaustion and muddled in confusion.

"Get ready," Diaval says.

Their suits glow a little. Leonardo's body starts to fade away bit by bit. Raphael follows him, then Donatello, Destiny, and Casey. When Michelangelo notices his fingertips starting to fade, he looks back at Annalise. She stares at Circa's still body, goosebumps crawling across her skin.

She turns around and Michelangelo reaches for her hand, a weak yet warm smile on his face. She reaches for him, but as they're about to touch, a shimmering blue wall appears between them. It sends shockwaves through their bodies.

"Mikey?" Annalise asks, her voice starting to shake. "Something's—" Her body glitches and her voice buzzes. Her panic rises. "MIKEY!"

"Annalise!" he screams.

He tries to reach for her, but he fades away before he can do a thing.