Drale collected them sometime the next afternoon.

Athira had managed a few hours sleep after she could no longer keep her eyelids open. Her head soon cleared--as much as it had ever been in recent days, anyway--but she still felt the memories rattling around inside her head, like her entire mindscape was coming loose.

He led them out of the Underground and into the back of a diner where he claimed all of Felicity's kids got their food, paid for by the woman herself. After they had their meals--meals that Athira had kept an especially close eye on--he seated them around a table in a corner.

"So, here's the deal," said Drale. "Did my errands last night, found some stuff. Couldn't get anything solid, but it's all up here." He tapped the side of his head, giving them a knowing look. Athira still wanted to slap him right across his smug little mouth. "Felicity's got your mum in one of her usual places, but it's obviously in the Underground."

"Where?" asked Raph.

"Can't tell you that," said Drale, continuing as Athira settled her eyes on him. "No, no, not like that! I mean as in I could tell you where she is, but unless you know how to get there, it's useless. I'll have to guide you. If we get caught, I'm going to pretend to have one of you hostage and controlling the other two through them."

Athira didn't like the sound of that. "So you're telling us we don't have a choice but to follow you blindly into the Underground when you had every chance last night to sneak off and tell Felicity."

"Suspicious, aren't you?" said Drale.

"With people like you around, I wonder why?"

"I want this just as much as you do," said Drale, going back to his food. "Besides, you don't have a choice if you want your mum back. If the Elites find her first--which they won't, trust me--she's dead. If you don't come to Felicity within a week, she's probably dead, and then she'll come after one of these two next."

Raph barely touched his plate, his legs fidgeting under the table. "We don't have much of a choice, Thira."

"We do," said Athira. "I could always just turn myself in."

"No!" said Drale, practically dropping the piece of chicken he'd almost had in his mouth in a panic. "No. Don't do that. I mean, even if she thinks you're going to co-operate, which it doesn't sound like you are, she'll just get rid of your mum later anyway. You can't do that."

Athira leaned back in her chair. "You'd better just get us there."

Zoe frowned, but aside from that, the four of them ate the rest of their meal with limited conversation. Raph attempted to get more details out of Drale, but the answer was always 'not here' or 'I'll tell you later'.

Drale left not long after, saying he had a few last minute lookouts to place, giving them privacy to talk.

The general consensus was that none of them trusted him.

"But he's right," said Raph after Zoe's detailed comparison of Drale to a slug. "We don't have a choice. Not--not if..."

He couldn't finish the sentence.

Zoe left her chair and hugged him.

Raph held her arms. "How'd we ever get into this mess?"

Though Athira knew the question was directed at both of them, she couldn't help but feel like she didn't have the right to answer it. She was the mess. The entire reason they were in this situation was because of her.

You had your chance to protect them. You still do.

Shut up! hissed Athira, getting a deep, cracked chuckle in reply.

You need me, and you know it.

No, said Athira. No, I don't.

She tuned out of her head, realising Raph and Zoe were both looking at her.

"Thira?" said Zoe, looking concerned. "You okay?"

"Fine," said Athira. "Why?"

Zoe moved over, taking her arm and running her fingers over the runes. "They flashed for a moment, I... I wasn't sure."

"Zo," said Athira, taking her hand. "If I go crazy, don't hesitate to lazer me. Okay?"

Zoe gave her a sad smile. "Kay, Thira."

Athira swallowed.

"Whatever happens, I'm sorry I caused you three so many problems," she said quietly. "You did nothing but give me the best two and a half years I could have asked for, and I still don't know what I did to deserve it."

"You shouldn't have had to do anything to deserve it in the first place, Thira," said Zoe, soft fingers on her shoulder. "I don't think we did anything special. We only tried to give you what you should have had all along."

Tears pricked Athira's eyes as she blinked them away. "It was special to me, and I feel like I ruined it."

Zoe wasn't the only one that hugged her this time. Raph wrapped his arms around them both, sandwiching Athira between them.

"You didn't ruin anything," he said. "You just made it better. You're making it better, and we're all going to get through his. Together. Got it?"

Athira couldn't stop the tears this time, and they choked off her words. Instead, she just nodded, feeling safe for the first time in a week despite the monster in her mindscape and Felicity's chaos driving her for no reason other than Raph and Zoe were with her.

"We can do this," said Zoe, releasing the hug. She smiled, a dim glow from her skin lighting the room. "We'll get through it."

"Happy time over?" asked Drale, leaning in the doorway. They stepped apart and faced him. "Good. We've got work to do."

*+*+*+*

The hallways of the Underground were a complete and utter maze that seemed to lack any logic or reasoning to their patterns aside from confusing people. Even Athira found it difficult to relax inside the confining walls, despite the knowledge that she could escape them at any time.

The walls lit Blue in the wake of the runelight that escaped her cloak, upping the creepy scale a few notches, but it was Zoe's presence beside her that made it bearable. If her mindscape boiled over, if the monster's claws sank too deep into her skin, she took Zoe's hand and hung on.

Raph had volunteered to play potential hostage, and so he brought up the rear with Drale, Athira and Zoe in front, moving under Drale's ever-growing list of directions. Left. Left. Down. Right. Up. Down this corridor, stop halfway and go through the secret door. The damned things never ended.

They walked past two others, kids Drale claimed to have in place as lookouts. They gave him reports of the all clear, of Felicity's movements as he passed, flicking them a tiny vessel of Colour each time.

Finally, they reached a door.

It had a Colour-reading pad, just like the rest. It was about two people wide, a sleek grey and would slide back into the wall when opened. There was nothing special about it--nothing except the fact that Drale had stopped in front of it.

"This it?" said Raph.

Drale gave a jerky nod. "She should be in there. If she's not, then she's caught on to the plan and we're in trouble."

"Sounds super," said Athira. "Can you open it or shall I?"

"I will," said Drale, stepping closer to the Colour-pad.

"Why are we face checking the door?" asked Raph. "Thira, go around the side--poke your head through a wall or something."

Athira moved to do just that when Drale's hand went on the pad and lit up the screen.

"Sorry, can't do that!" said Drale as the door slid open. "Go, now!"

Hands shoved her in the back, sending her stumbling forward. Instinct had Athira floating above the ground inside the doorframe, but Zoe's hands slapped the floor as she hit it too hard with a grunt of pain.

Behind them, Raph shouted, and the door slid shut.

"Raph!" called Athira, already reaching out with her Black and covering the door.

She ripped it clean off, but she was too late.

In the seconds she'd lost sight of him, Raph was gone.

It didn't make sense. There was no way--

"So nice of you to join us, Athira," said Felicity's voice. "I mean, I had to have you escorted again, but still. It's that you're here now that matters, right?"

The ember in Athira's chest flared.

"What did you do with Raph?" she said, Black up to her elbows as she spun around to face Felicity. Zoe's light was scattered over the walls, her Yellow at the ready. "Where is he!"

Felicity wasn't the only one in the room with them. A man that towered over her and made her look like a child stood beside her, his calm gaze assessing everything about her. Athira gave him her usual glare that left most adults unsettled, but this man merely grinned.

"Oh, she's going to be fun to take down a few pegs," he said in a deep, almost soothing voice.

Too bad for him, Athira barely heard it. "Where is Raph, Felicity!"

She merely shrugged. "With Miela by now, I suppose." Athira's skin crawled. Felicity gave her a thin-lipped smile. "Oh, not in that way, but give it a few minutes. I figured I'd give them one last chance to tell eachother how much they hate you before they die."

Her final word flared the ember.

Athira's runes blazed.

Black spread from her fingers in twining tendrils that coiled through the air like the monster in her thoughts, reaching, grabbing, writhing towards Felicity's body as they--

"Shutdown," said Felicity. "Put an end to this nonsense."

"With pleasure."

The man beside Felicity, Shutdown, reached out with a hand.

The air turned violet.

Athira lost her Colour.

Her bones melted inside her muscles for all they did to hold her up as Shutdown's aura took effect. The Black crystallised and shattered against the floor. The Colour searing under her skin vanished, leaving her with about as much feeling as the stone of the floor.

Athira's knees gave way. She hit the ground, leaving a dull thudding ringing through her spine, right up to the base of her neck.

Beside her, Zoe was hunched over but standing. Any glow was gone from her being. Felicity didn't seem to be faring much better.

"You would be infinitely more useful if you could localise that aura of yours," said Felicity, straightening again. Athira's vision had blurred, but she didn't need to see Felicity's expression. She knew that smug gloating face too well. "Though it seems to have had the intended effect. A certain someone doesn't seem to be able to function without her Colour."

Zoe's laboured breathing smoothed as she crouched beside Athira, shaking her shoulder. "Thira? Thira, get up!"

"Oh, that's not likely, sweetie," said Felicity. "The strongest ones can barely function without their Colour. It's too much of a shock to their system. They get so used to it that having it taken away is about as good as knocking them out, only they're still conscious. Barely. Isn't that great?"

"Athira!" Zoe was screaming in her ear, but she found it hard to concentrate. It wasn't just her vision blurring anymore. Her thoughts were muddled. Somewhere in there, she knew some of them weren't hers, but she couldn't make them out among the buzz of noise inside her head. "Athira, get up or I swear I'll--"

"You'll what?" said Felicity. "Pull her hair? Slap her? Maybe I'll give you a few minutes to try and get her functioning. It might be fun." Felicity's sigh echoed off the walls. "But then again, we're on a time limit." She turned to a screen. "You have the kid with the mum yet?"

"Yep," came the on-screen reply.

"Finish it," said Felicity. "We're done playing games, and the boss has decided you're no longer worth our time, Athira. I warned you. Shutdown?"

The man was walking over.

He was standing over them.

Zoe's foot lashed out, faster than Athira's eyes could track. She saw the result in her friend's action as Shutdown's mass stumbled, his upper body lowering until Zoe's fist rammed into the bottom of his jaw with every speck of her momentum behind it.

Shutdown staggered away. Athira sat there, watching him.

Still, the aura didn't fade.

Zoe's frustrated cry was louder than anything else in Athira's mind as she got to her feet and hooked her arms under Athira's.

"Damn it all, Athira, you will get up and you will walk!"

Somehow, Athira was on her feet. Zoe's arms were propping her up, a grunt of effort with every step she made them take as they turned towards the door.

"Awh, look. They're escaping. Shutdown, go put them out of their misery, please."

"With pleasure, Felicity."

*+*+*+*

When the door shut, Raph knew he was in trouble.

When Drale's arm had looped around his neck before he could react, distracted by the door, he knew he'd been too slow.

He morphed a dagger of Red to his hands and tried to ram it into Drale's arm, his side, anything--but he couldn't get the angle. Drale's other arm clamped down over his mouth as the two boys that they's passed earlier in the hall appeared from the corner.

Raph expected them to go for him. Instead, they reached out, brushing the space between them and the closed door with their Purple-lit fingers.

He heard Athira call his name as Black covered the door, ripping it clean off its rails. He saw her eyes lift, searching and knew that she'd fix it, that they'd underestimated her, when she looked straight past him.

Felicity was said something Raph didn't hear, too busy thrashing against Drale's hold as his feet were lifted off the ground, effectively choking him. As Raph's one free hand was forced to hold himself up on Drale's restraining arm and Athira once more demanded to know what Felicity had done with him, Raph knew they'd been lured here and trapped.

With Athira's attention turned, one of the boys who's maintained what Raph guessed to be an illusion ran over and took Raph's thrashing feet, holding them firmly together.

They were too well practiced, the way they carried him down that hallway and into a nearby room. Drale and friend's steps were too in sync to have not done this before, and Raph was not surprised when the third kid opened a door and pulled out some kind of cord, tying his hands and feet with a rare expertise that there was no wiggling out of.

Raph glared at him. It was all he could do. "I knew we couldn't trust you."

"And yet, here you are," said Drale, smirking. "Like anyone would ever go against Felicity. We don't have a deathwish, let alone anything she'd do to us. Have fun with that!"

Another man from the corner of the room stood up, walking over. "C'mon you lot, out. You did your part, don't ruin it."

Drale and his buddies grumbled something and left, but Raph wasn't interested in them anymore.

In the corner of the room, the side of her head bloodied and tied just as he was, was his mum.

He wriggled onto his knees, crossing the floor like some kind of mutated caterpillar, calling to her, wanting to see her look up, to see her eyes gleam the way they did when one of them came home at night.

"Mum!" Nothing. "Mum!" Nothing. "Miela!"

Still nothing.

The man in the room with them snorted with laughter before walking over to Raph. He tried to kick him, bite him, even going against Athira's rule of no headbutts ever unless you're planning on throwing yourself off a cliff afterwards in an attempt to disrupt the man. The man snorted again and rolled Raph over with his foot before dragging him across the ground by the arm and dumping him infront of his mum.

"She's a little out of it," said the man, leaning against the wall. "Wouldn't stop being a pain in the ass once she found out we were bringing you here."

It made him want to hurt things, seeing his mum like this. Raph struggled to his feet much to the amusement of the man watching them. He nudged his head under his mum's chin, and when her head stayed up, her eyes flickering open, it was like his lungs were freed from iron bindings. He could breathe.

But her eyes held no gleam. They were terrified--not for herself, but for him.

"Raph," she said, voice hoarse. She cleared her throat. "Raph, oh, Colours, please, no."

He gave her an awkward smile. "Um, we came to rescue you?"

Her shoulders shook once, some parody of a laugh. "Raph, leave me. Get out of here."

"I can't do that, and you know it."

"For more reasons than one!" called the man. "Neither of you is going anywhere unless--speak of the woman." He lifted a hand to one ear and said one word. "Yep."

"Raph, get out--"

The man walked over, interrupting her, splitting them apart with a casual shove that sent Raph crashing to the ground. "Yea, no, too late for that, sorry." He offered them a casual shrug. "Felicity's given the order, this gig's over. Time to clean up the loose ends." His eyes flicked to Raph. "And y'no, I think I'll get more fun out of this if I start with you."

"No!" said Miela, desperation tinting the word as she thrashed against the cords. "No! I swear, if you touch him, I will--"

"Yep," said the man with a feral, toothy grin. "Definitely more fun starting with you and making mummy watch."

The man's fingers turned Green.

Raph knew he was in trouble, and with the cords, he couldn't fight back. He tried, but the man's foot hit his stomach and pressed down, and Raph was helpless.

The man let his lip slide through his teeth. "You wanna see what my Colour does, kid? I mean, you're a Red, right? So you ain't ever going to see anything as cool as this before you die." More teeth. "Mainly because that's about to be now, and we're out of Shutdown's aura range."

The man grabbed something off the floor--spare cord. Upon touching his Green-lit fingers to it, the cord sizzled at first, bubbling and writhing on the surface before it crumbled and flaked in blackened pieces to the ground.

"Oh yep," he said, drinking in Raph's fear. "This is going to be good."

Raph wriggled across the floor and away as the man stalked towards him grinning, but eventually, his back hit a wall. A corner.

"Wiggle wiggle wiggle," said the man, leaning down, Green-touched fingers swinging closer and closer and closer to Raph's skin like an executioner's blade.

They made contact with Raph's forearm.

Raph screamed.

Colours surround, the pain was blinding. The world literally centered around that one point of pure agony on his skin, bubbling and writhing exactly like the cord. It was pressing deeper, harder, digging into his skin, and Raph twitched on the floor, looking for something--anything that could help him.

One person.

"Mu-u-um," he managed between shattered breaths. "P-plea..."

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM."

Raph's skin still burned, but the pressure faded. He rolled onto his side, attempting to get further from the pain with that basic survival instinct that drove him until he realised it wasn't coming anymore.

His mother was bathed in Yellow.

It didn't glow like Zoe's, but it was ten times more powerful, far beyond anything Raph had known she was capable of. It radiated strength, control, manipulation--and she turned every drop of it onto the man who stood over Raph.

The Yellow crashed into the man and knocked him off his feet, but it didn't go for his skin. It invaded his mouth, his nose, his ears, his eyes and shoved its way inside, showing through every pore in his body as it began to crumble, exactly like the cord.

A few seconds later, and the man was nothing more than ash across the floor.

His mum's Yellow retreated back to her body, highlighting every inch of her features in a strange hue. Her shoulders were hunched, but the Colour wasn't subsiding. Wasn't sinking back in.

Raph was becoming an expert at getting back on his feet while bound. He jumped over to his mum's side, trying to find her eyes, to get a confirmation that they were going to be okay. "That was pretty cool."

"Heh," she said, but her voice was strained. "Yea, I guess it was. A breaking point with complete Colour manipulation. Who knew I had it in me?"

Two words froze Raph. "Breaking point? Mum, you--"

"Raph, when I let this Colour go, I'm going to fade with it. Do you understand this?"

Raph's voice cracked. "No. No, you're going to be fine. We're going to get out of here, and then--"

"Raph," she said gently. "This is my breaking point. You're smart enough to know what that means, honey."

"W-why?" said Raph. His face stung. He couldn't make the words come out without shaking. "You know what happens when you hit a breaking point! I could have found another way, I could have--"

"Shh." She brushed her cheek against his hair. He leaned into her, finding that spot in her shoulder where his head fit just right. "Raph, my gorgeous boy, I have no doubt that you're going to go on and do great things. If you become a Keeper, you'll be one of the greatest. You'll help so many people, and you'll make this city a better place. You and Zoe and Athira--you're all amazing, and I'll never be prouder of anything else that I've ever done in my life than raising you three--especially you."

"I can't do this without you." Her shirt was wet where his cheek lay. "Mum, please, don't--"

"Look after eachother," she said, squeezing the side of his head with her own. "That's your greatest strength. Build a team, a life, around the people that you care about, and never be afraid to screw something up. I did several times, and I ended up with the best thing in my life--you."

The Yellow began to fade, bringing her features back into focus, out of their weird Yellow hue. She leaned away from him, looking into his eyes like she'd save the picture for the rest of eternity. Raph took in every detail--every glint and gleam and speck in her eyes that he wasn't ready to let go of.

"I love you, Raph, and I always will."

"Please," begged Raph. "Please, mum, I love you, no--don't--"

The Yellow faded.

Miela slumped in her chair.

The lump in Raph's throat choked up through the tears, resurfacing every time he swallowed it, every time he breathed. Nothing seemed real--a dream. A nightmare. That's all it was--yet every time he opened his eyes, it hit him again and again, knocking him back down until his nose was running and his eyes were so blurry the room was nothing more than a splodge of muted greys.

The sound of the door opening followed by footsteps than ran up behind him barely mattered. He was helpless--he couldn't do anything anyway. At this point, he wasn't sure he cared.

The newcomer crouched beside him and pulled him away, hands always on his shirt or cords, never touching Raph's skin. Something soft wiped Raph's eyes and the rest of his face, and after a few blinks to clear it away, Raph saw the wet stain on the shirt of the blonde kid who'd spoken to them before Drale's unfortunate introduction.

"I'm sorry," said the kid, hands on Raph's shoulders. "I was too late. I tried, but Drale put too many of those other idiots in the way. What Colour are you?"

"What... what Colour?"

"Yes. Colour. That stuff people use to try and kill each other around here. What Colour are you?"

"Uh--Red."

"Red," said the kid, placing his hand on Raph's bare forearm, followed by a strange sensation. "Red is good. Thank everything you aren't a Blue or I'd be doing this blind."

Raph's head spun. The kid formed a dagger of Red in his hands and started working away at the cords around Raph's feet. "You're a Red too?"

"Sometimes," said the kid. A snap and a release of pressure later, and Raph's feet were free. He moved to the ones around his arms. Another snap. "I tried to tell you not to trust my brother. That ass will do anything to move his way up the ranks. At least father dearest won't consider one of us a failure at the backstabbing business."

The kid's words went in one ear and out the other. Raph had moved over to the slumped form of his mother, her hands now cold. People who embraced their breaking point were different to those who died of other causes. Their bodies were drained of Colour in that one, final blaze of glory--and Raph couldn't stop staring at her.

She'd done it for him. To save him. If he hadn't screamed, maybe--

"Hey, buddy," said the kid, grabbing Raph's shoulder. He placed his other on Miela's skin and frowned. "Look, I know this is hard. I know that's your mum, but she sacrificed herself for you. She hit her breaking point judging by the lack of Colour, and she'd have only done that if she really, truly cared about you. You can't repay that by sitting here and waiting for the next guy to capture you."

"She's gone," whispered Raph. "I just... she's really gone, isn't she?"

The kid took a sharp inhale.

"Yes," he said. "She's gone. But you know who isn't? Those two friends of yours. They're still alive, but they aren't going to be for much longer if we don't get over there and help them. I know it's hard, I know it sucks, but you need to get up now and move."

The kid held out a hand right in front of Raph's face.

Raph took his mum's hand one last time, memorising the shape, the feel before he returned it to her knee and took the kid's hand.

"Any idea where they'd be?"

The blonde haired kid nodded. "I felt Shutdown's aura on the way over. I know the general direction, and if I'm right, he's going to herd them outside, assuming he doesn't catch them first."

"What's his aura do?"

The kid grimaced. "Blocks Colour entirely. It's a huge shock to people with stronger Colours, almost disables them entirely. If your friends got up and moved, they have a chance. He's slow when he's maintaining the aura."

Raph heard the bad news in the kid's tone. "But?"

"If they have any Colour strength at all, it won't be long before they're both lethargic," said the kid. "And Shutdown doesn't have to be fast. He's an elemental."

*+*+*+*

A/N - it's hard to see the screen when they're ninjas cutting onions around ._.

I'm sorry >_<