The drive to Bridgeport was tense and silent. The girls took their usual spot in the front seats, but instead of the usual muttering between them, there were no exchanges. The boys were huddled in the back of the van, each of them in their own heads and going over different scenarios in their heads. There was one goal and so many ways the plan could go wrong. 

Donnie and Monica managed to finish the mind control antidote after working 30 hours non-stop. In that time, the others used the dojo layout information- also made available through the hard drive data-  to devise a way to enter the building and get to Shelby while running into as few Foot soldiers as possible. The biggest problem with that was Shelby was being kept in the lowest level of the dojo. even lower than the basement. And of course they couldn't just walk through the front door. The solution was sneaking in through the roof access, getting onto the elevator, and riding the elevator down to the bottom level. They would only be able to go four at a time, with Donnie going on both trips in order override the elevators to go straight down to the bottom floor, ignoring other commands from the floors. Leo, Mikey, and Casey would be dropped off first to secure the basement, then Donnie would get off to administer the antidote once he was able to deliver Raph, April, and Monica as well. The reinforcements were needed because once Donnie left the elevators, it would be back under the control of the building, and anyone would be able to come onto the scene of rescuing Shelby at any moment.

It seemed so simple, but yet the best laid plans of turtles and men often go awry.

"So what happens in the case that Donnie's antidote doesn't work and she stays a psychotic killer wolf under the control of the Foot Clan, or if something stupid happens to the Donatello so that the antidote spills all over the place?" Raph inquired, his arms crossed. 

"Well, in that case, we'll take a page out of Karai's book." Donnie stated, before holding out a small white bag. "Powdered rohypnol. Once Shelby inhales this, she'll be knocked out cold long enough for us to be able to transfer her back to our lair, where we'll make sure she stays until I'm able to cure her properly."

"Only one bag? We'll have to be careful with it." Leo stated.

"Precisely." Donnie nodded, before holding out his hand to Mikey.

Mikey stared wide-eyed at the bag, before looking up at Donnie hesitantly. "Are you sure?"

"In this situation, I would not trust anyone more than the decision to use this." Donnie said. 

Mikey's hand trailed to the bag that was carefully tucked into his belt, which felt extremely heavy, despite the small size.

"We'll be pulling up into the drop off spot in 5 minutes." Monica stated from the front.

"This is it, team." Leo muttered. "Barring any unexpected circumstances, this should go smoothly. But the worst should always be expected when going into battle. I know we are aware that what Shelby does is not on her own accord right now. But that only means that we need to be all the more aware of how dangerous she is as a wolf. She almost killed me already. So if anyone wants to back out, there will be no judgement. But once you leave this van, there is no going back."

There van was silent for a moment. Then, Raph laughed. "If you think I'm backing away from Shelby, you're out of your mind."

"I'm not leaving her with them for one more second." Mikey stated.

"I'm the one who let her leave. It's only fair that I help get her back." Monica said.

Casey smiled. "Casey Jones laughs in the face of danger." 

"I'm sick of letting the Foot Clan hurt my friends. I certainly will not stand by if I can help it." April added.

The group paused as the van came to a stop, all eyes falling on Donatello, who was double checking his elevator hacking device. When he realized everyone was waiting for him to say something, he rolled his eyes. "Well, I didn't put all this work into planning a way to get her out just to not participate. I thought that was obvious."

As they slowly exited the van, thunder rumbled above, the lightest of showers beginning to sprinkle on the pavement and pattering against the team's hair and skin. They climbed the fire escape of the building they parked next to, silence engulfing them. They now only had one thing in mind, and they moved in sync like a well oiled machine. Once the rooftop was reached, the four turtles shot out their grappling hooks onto the roof of the dojo, sitting like a fortress across the street. April, Casey, Monica and Leo swung across the way first, and as Leo reeled in his grappling line, his three brothers made their way onto the rooftop of the dojo. 

There was no need for instructions, everyone knew the plan. Leo pried the roof access open, and he, Casey, Donnie, and Mikey dropped down onto the floor, leaving the other three on the roof for Donnie to retrieve later. Though the four of them quickly rolled into the shadows to stay out of view, there was no need. This floor seemed to be deserted. It came as no surprise- according to the blueprint, this was just a floor of different dojos for sparring and classes; no Foot members lived on this floor. 

Slowly and without a single creek in the hardwood floors, the group made their way towards the elevators. Leo pressed the down button, and the sound of the elevator rushing up filled the floor. Mikey's heart started beating faster and faster, wondering now if an elevator coming up to the fifth floor at this hour was going to give them away. 

They drew their weapons as the elevator opened, but the lights shone on an empty lift. Donnie entered first, instantly hooking his device in through the key hole that allowed an operator to manually control the elevator. With the device plugged in, the elevator could now only be controlled from inside, meaning any command Donnie put in would be obeyed, and all other requests for the elevator to visit another floor would be ignored. Once Mikey, Leo, and Casey were inside, Donnie closed the door and selected the floor they wanted to travel to, "HC", which was 1 level below the basement. 

"HC?" Casey muttered.

"Holding center." Donnie replied in a hoarse whisper. The elevator travelled down quickly, before the doors opened to a dark, dismel floor. Leo and Casey had their weapons at the ready and took the lead as they exited the shaft. 

The room was small, with only a single cell directly in front of the opening to the elevator, and off to the right against the opposite wall seemed to be a makeshift research station with a closed laptop as the centerpiece. Nobody could be bothered with the laptop, however, no matter the information it might possess. All they could focus on was the fact that the cell door was open and nobody was inside.

"Woah, wait a second-" Leo began to say, but he was too late. The doors to the elevators closed, leaving Leo, Mikey, and Casey alone in the empty room. 

"Well isn't that just brilliant?" Casey muttered. "Where do you think she is?"

"No clue. Maybe in a lab somewhere for testing?" Leo stated, though he did not sound hopeful. "Worst case scenario... they were expecting us."

"How would they have known?" Mikey urged, beginning to bounce up and down in an effort to calm his nerves.

"I mean, word had to have spread that we broke into the Newark dojo." Leo said. "Maybe... after we left they could tell that we hacked into their system or something?"

"Man, why can't anything just go our way?" Casey complained.

"Well, there's no stair access to this level, so we're just going to have to wait for Donnie and the others to arrive." Leo stated.

And so they waited. Michelangelo occupied his time by investigating Shelby's empty cell. There was a heavy chain attached to the back wall that was scarred heavily with teeth and claw marks. Mikey's mouth curled in disgust, first at the Foot Clan for chaining Shelby up, then at him and his brothers for doing the exact same thing. On the floor next to the chains, there were more distinct, long claw marks, patterned and purposeful. 17 tally marks.

Mikey's mouth was dry but at the same time, he felt like he could throw up. Had Shelby really been suffering in this cell for 17 days? 

Finally, the elevator dinged, and Mikey turned to the doors expectedly. But when the doors slid open, his stomach dropped when his eyes failed to land on Donnie, Monica, April, and Raph. Intead, four Foot soldiers stood in their place, with a kunoichi dressed in Squadron Beta-X garb at the head of the group.

"Hello, its been a while since we've last seen each other." Her voice was deceptively sweet. "And I never really got the chance to formally introduce myself, did I? My name is Brianna Stockman."

Leo unsheathed his katana as Casey armed himself with a puck and hockey stick, while Mikey gripped his nunchunk, ready to fight at the drop of a dime. "We know who you are. Where is Shelby?"

"Upstairs." Brianna answered so casually, as if it was stupid of them to assume anything other than that. "She's been waiting for you." The Foot soldiers behind her unsheathed their weapons, and Brianna followed suit, spinning her kama mastefully between her fingers. "I understand your anger, but my advice is to come without a fight. You'll want to save your energy."

"You're right, we don't want your advice." Casey stated, before throwing the hockey puck in the air and whacked it at the group. It flew much too fast for anyone to stop it as it smacked against one of the ninja's heads, causing him to fall to the floor. The other three ninja jumped forward to attack. Mikey was able to briefly fend off the one that came for him with a hard strike of his nunchunks, but within the next second, he felt a heavy weight entrap him, and as he fell to the floor, he groaned, realizing he was caught in the large manriki-gunsari.