Okay. If you thought last chapter was a lot to take in...think again. Enjoy and please bear with me. AGH!

PS. A little bit of objectionable language in this chapter. (one word, actually) Nothing to worry about. If you don't like it, just substitute a cleaner synonym.

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When Raph reached the end of the hall where Donnie and Mikey were waiting he shoved them forward.

"What about Leo?" Don asked concernedly.

Raphael grit his teeth. "Just keep moving, brainiac!"

"We can't leave Leo behind!" Mikey said, panicked, as he tried to turn back.

The red-masked turtle grabbed Mikey's arm hard enough to leave a bruise as he held the youngest back. His neon green eyes were flat and sparkless as he commanded coldly. "Keep moving, Michelangelo."

Tears tumbled down freckled green cheeks as Raph shoved him towards the exit.

Leo...

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As soon as they got to the Shell Raiser, Raph began raiding his weapons stash in the back of the vehicle. He put on his shoulder straps and immediately began filling them with shuriken and smoke bombs. Finally the hothead stuck his kama into the holsters and turned to face his younger siblings.

Donatello regarded Raph curiously as he moved about Shell Raiser gathering weapons. But when Raphael turned to them with fire in his eyes Donatello knew exactly what his older brother was doing. His brown eyes flashed. "You can't go alone. We're brothers, we stick together."

Raph refused to meet his gaze. "I promised Leo I'd get you guys out okay." The hothead lowered his focus to a point on the floor. "Well, I've done that. Stay here. Stay safe. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, or if the guards come searching down this alley-"

"Raph, don't even say it. We go together or you don't go at all." Don stated with his hands on his hips.

"Nice try, Don." Raph said grimly. "I think we both know that you won't be able to stop me." His neon green eyes glinted dangerously. "And I'd rather not waste any more time on this argument. I'm going in to get our brother back. You wanna help? Stay here." The hothead shoved his way past Donatello, only to come face to face with Michelangelo. "Mikey, please move."

"Donnie's right, Raph, we can't let you go alone!" There were tears in Mikey's baby blue eyes.

An emerald green hand landed on Mikey's shoulder. "Trust me, little brother. I've got a plan."

There was a long moment of silence as the orange and red-clad brothers stared at each other. Donnie's hands clenched into fists as Mikey tensed. But they immediately fell open again as Mikey stepped to the side and let Raphael go. It wasn't until about thirty seconds after Raph left that Donnie recovered enough to ask, "Mikey-what are you DOING? Raph-"

"-has a plan, Don. We need to have faith in him."

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Raph's POV

I swiftly navigated my way back into the building. I passed an open door with little to no thought, but then doubled back and ducked inside as I realized what it was. It was a security room with several monitors and images from the hall cameras. Okay...not originally part of the plan, but this works. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to playback the footage. I watched as those guys in tech-armor lifted my brother out of the debris. Leo put up a fight of course. Rage exploded from within me as I saw one of them corner and inject my big brother with some kind of drug. I growled.

But my anger was cut short by footsteps approaching the door. I ducked into the shadows, my eyes going white. A man stepped in and the door slid closed behind him. The footage I had been watching suddenly fizzled and began playing in a loop.

"What the-?" He muttered. In this position his back was to me. Good.

I shot forward and pinned him flat to the console with an arm behind his back, threatening to snap it. He cried out and I pressed a knee against his back, holding him down. "You'll shut up if you know what's good for you." My other arm brought my sai up to his line of sight. "Now you listen real carefully buddy, because I'm only gonna ask this once." I tightened my grip on his arm and he whimpered.

"O-O-Okay! Okay!"

"Where's the turtle?"

"The turtle?!" He parroted, his voice filled with fear.

I pulled away and slammed him back into the table. "The turtle! Where is he?! Where have they taken him?!"

He groaned and grimaced, trying to twist away from my grip. I brandished my sai. "Don't make me use this." He shuddered. "Tell. Me. NOW!"

"Alright, alright! He's in the East Lab! Two halls down from here, o-o-on the right!" He said, terror sparkling in his eyes.

I growled. "I hope you're telling the truth. Cause if you ain't," I turned him around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, tossing back against the table, "I'll come back to get ya!"

He blanched. I grabbed my sai and turned it around, hitting him over the head with the butt. Not enough to kill him. Just enough that he won't be sounding the alarms any time soon. I dragged him off to the side, behind a table, that way it would be a while before anyone discovered him.

I followed his instructions, and found myself in front of a door where scientists were rapidly coming and going, with astonished looks on their faces. That had to be it. Right around the corner from where I'm standing now.

There were two of those tech guards in the entryway. Damn.

I glanced further down the hallway I was in. Hmm. Is that...a fuse box? Sure looks like it. Hm. I made my way over to it. Locked. Well that can be easily remedied. I pulled an old paperclip from my belt and shoved it into the lock. I'd always been good with locks. At least, the old fashioned ones. When it came to electronic ones, Don was the expert. I opened the fuse box and wasted no time in crossing two of the wires, shorting out the electricity. Fortunately for me it was exactly what I'd hoped, the fuse box controlled all the lights in the area, and now that it was out of commission. It made it that much easier for me to get my brother back.

I back-tracked around the corner and wasted no time in sneaking up on the guards and knocking them out. I used their identification to get into the lab. The scientists were all standing still.

"Bob, have you figured out why the lights went out?" Someone asked.

"No, I'm sorry Brenda, but it seems there's been a blackout." The guy named Bob replied.

"Aren't their back-up generators for this place?" A different voice asked.

One of them somehow got their hands on a flashlight. They moved it around the room and I caught a brief glance of the scientists' faces. They were all standing around a table, and on it was... "Leo!" I whispered quietly, unfortunately not quietly enough.

"What was that?" Bob asked. Moving the flashlight around.

"I didn't hear anything." The one I now knew as Brenda asked.

"What about the freak, is he secure?" Okay, I definitely do not like that last guy. Nobody talks about my brothers like that. My mind is made up. That guy goes down first. I moved with all my ninja prowess through the darkness, coming up behind the guy who just spoke. I knocked him out and dragged him to the side.

"Did you hear that?" The one called Brenda asked, glancing around frantically.

I watched silently from the side as Bob nodded. "Don't move. Joe, same goes for you." I struck again, this time taking Brenda into the darkness. "Joe?" Bob asked. "Joe?" He repeated nervously as whirled around, flashlight in hand.

I stood directly behind him and when he finally whirled around to face me he shrunk back. "Joe can't answer you." I growled dangerously.

Bob stared at me in awe. "Who-who-you can-speak?" He stammered.

I glared and stalked forward until he was cornered against the wall. He held up the flashlight threateningly. "Don't come any closer!"

I smiled and easily knocked the flashlight out of his hands. Then I grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Now you listen to me. You're lucky that I'm not in the mood to do much more than knock you guys out. But if you ever, EVER harm one of my brothers again, I will kill you. Understand?"

Bob nodded frantically.

"Good." I stated before conking him over the head and knocking him out. I glanced around briefly and made sure they were all completely unconscious. Then I ran to the table and took in Leo's current state. I carefully removed all the tubes and needles they'd attached to his arms. I shook him gently. "Leo...Leo...Leo..."

All I got in reply was a groan. Worry creased my brow and I lifted him into my arms. I glanced around, looking for the best way out. Probably not the way I came. They'll be expecting that. I looked all around. There was no other way out except an air vent. It was about wide enough for the two of us, if Leo was laid out on my carapace. That'll have to do.

I made my way over to it and yanked it out of its spot. Then I shook Leo gently. "Leo."

He groaned and his eyes opened into narrow slits.

"I need you to wrap your arms around my neck and hold on. Okay?" I was afraid that he wouldn't understand me, but I crouched and he did as I asked. It was difficult, but after a while I was finally able to pull myself into the vent. I reached back and pulled the grate back into the place. Doing the army crawl with the added weight of my older brother on my back was a grueling task, but I was determined to keep going. It took me almost fifteen minutes to lug Leo and myself through that air vent to the outside.

My thirty minutes were almost up. I could hear the alarms beginning to ring through the building.

I lost all regard for subtlety as I literally kicked the grate off that led to the outside and jumped out, pulling Leo back up into my aching arms. I have to get to the Shell Raiser before Donnie and Mikey leave.

Leo groaned, breaking my focus and I looked down at him. "R-Raph?" He asked, his voice weak.

"Shut up, Fearless, I'm rescuing you! You did ask me to do that, remember?"

He smiled. "Yeah...I remember." He closed his eyes and sighed.

I turned back to the task at hand. "Hang in there, big brother." I told him as I climbed a fire escape and began to run all the way back to the Shell Raiser.

And somehow, despite the added weight of my older brother, I managed to run faster than I had ever run in my entire life.

When I dropped down into the Shell Raiser, the engine was already running. Just in time. They'd been about to leave.

My younger brothers jumped in shock as I 'dropped' in.

"Raph!" They exclaimed, both of them sounding relieved. Then they saw the form in my arms. "LEO!" Donnie rushed over and took Leo from me. I nodded at him and ran to the driver's seat.

"Everybody hold on!" I yelled to them as I threw her in gear and rocketed off down the alley and away from that horrible lab.

Phew. That was too close.

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Rouge's POV

I wasn't going to go back. But they called me and told me something that gave me no other choice. They'd captured another mutant freak. A male. A turtle, they said. Since it was specifically my area of research they asked me to come back. I told them that I'd come and take a look.

But by the time I got there the alarms were blaring and the freak was gone. They couldn't even manage to keep him captive for more than an hour. The imbeciles. That idiot Bob said that another freak had come to spring him out. So...the freaks are banding together. Then something in the room caught my eye. The grate on the vent was loose.

Hmm...so. They really think they can get away that easy?

I rapidly made my way up to the roof and across the building where that vent came out. This way I could have a bird's eye view. I reached into my shoulder bag and pulled out my mask and utility belt, quickly putting them on. Less than five minutes later there was a loud thud and the grate of the vent came flying off. I watched with narrowed eyes as a red-masked turtle freak emerged, then lifted the blue-masked one into his arms. The blue one seemed to be drugged. So the blue one was the captive and red one the savior. How pathetic.

"R-Raph?" The blue one murmured.

"Shut up, Fearless, I'm rescuing you! You did ask me to do that, remember?" The red one grumbled, seemingly focused on figuring out which way to go from here.

"Yeah, I remember." Blue replied meekly.

Then the red one's eyes locked on a fire escape across the way and he said something I never expected to hear:

"Hang in there, big brother."

My eyes widened and for a few moments I stared in shock. A whole family of freaks?

I slowly overcame the shock and my eyes narrowed dangerously: Not if I have anything to say about it.

I jumped after the two turtles, determined to follow them back to their home, where I would obliterate them. I watched as the turtles got into some kind of huge vehicle and I reached onto my utility belt, grabbed a little device and threw it at the giant car, truck thing. I took out my phone. One press of a button and I could track everywhere they went. My blood red lips bent into a smirk.

Gotcha.

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Don's POV

Wouldn't you know it? We're less than twenty minutes from home, in the old abandoned subway tunnels, and what happens? The Shell Raiser breaks down. Dammit! I knew I should have given her a tune up two weeks ago, but I just couldn't find the time and now...Urgh.

I gave Leo a drug that should counter-act whatever those scientists gave him. In short, he's feeling sick to his stomach at the moment, but he's awake at least. Awake and aware. And able to walk, thankfully, so we won't have to carry him back to the lair. When he asked how long it had been since he was captured, I had no choice but to tell him the truth.

Let's just say that Raph is definitely getting a lecture when Leo gets better. After all, he meant for us to come back for him, not for Raph to go storming in there all on his lonesome. But, I don't think Leo will be able to reason with Raph much. Because, implausible as it seems, Raph's hotheaded and impetuous plan to break Leo out actually worked.

Much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to leave the Shell Raiser here and walk the rest of the way. Unfortunately.

We'd been walking for about two minutes when Raphael stopped and glanced behind us. I raised an eye-ridge at him, but he brushed me off. Mikey and I were helping Leo walk and Raph was scouting ahead, so we all noticed the strange look on Raph's face. About two minutes later he did it again, only this time, Leonardo tensed as well.

I caught the look in their eyes. Aw shell. We're being followed.

Leo brought his hands in front of him and said 'sewer' in hand signals. Raph nodded.

Good. This is a good plan. With Leo down, we can't really risk a fight, especially since we don't know who the enemy is. Maybe we can ditch whoever it is in the sewers.

We wandered around the sewers for almost twenty minutes, and I could already tell that those drugs were really beginning to take their toll on Leo. But our pursuer was still hot on our trail. All the attempts we made to ditch them failed.

I thought maybe it was possible that they were tracking us. Wait a second...what if they placed a tracking device on Leo? I immediately whispered my suspicions to my brothers and they all tensed.

"So what do we do?" Raph asked, sounding concerned.

Leo's eyes narrowed and he straightened as much as he was able to. Always the leader, I thought with a sigh. "We go to the tunnel junction where we first washed Xever and Bradford away. Maybe we can trick him into revealing himself."

All of us nodded.

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Mikey's POV

I don't know who's following me and my bros, but I certainly hope it isn't any of those tech-armored guard dudes. We got to the tunnel junction and got all set up. Leo and Donnie ducked into the shadows of the tunnels and Raph and I sank into the water. We watched from below as a dark figure approached the water. If it weren't for the white lab coat and blue gloves, we might not have been able to see him at all.

I looked at Raph and he nodded. We rose out of the water slowly, letting it drip off our shells.

I saw Raph's hands tighten around his sais. I smiled and pulled my nunchucks from my belt.

"Who the shell are you?" Raph growled menacingly.

He-er-she laughed and it made me shudder. "Your worst nightmare." She growled.

Raph smirked. "I doubt that." He replied cheekily, immediately throwing himself at her. She dodged one blow, but the other hit her right in the stomach and sent her flying backwards. "Worst nightmare, huh? I ain't feeling too scared." He said with a smirk.

The mystery woman stood and clenched her fists. "You should be, Freak! All my years of research, all my experiments, I have one goal and one goal only! To obliterate all Freaks! Starting with the little lizard who ruined my life!" She shouted angrily, lashing out and putting some distance between them.

Raph's eyes went wide and he stepped back. But it wasn't her actions that had stunned him. "Lizard?...Mona Lisa." He whispered. He glanced over at me and then over in the direction where Leo and Donnie were hiding. I nodded and my eyes narrowed.

Now we definitely had to do something about this chick. Because there is no way I'm gonna stand by and let her hurt my sister! Well, she's not really our sister, but you get what I'm saying.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "You know where she is." It wasn't a question. She must have realized from our expressions that we knew exactly who she was talking about. "You will tell me."

Raph snarled. "Never."

"Leave my family alone!" Another voice interjected.

Raph and I both tensed as Leo emerged from his hiding spot, Don doing the same not long after. Leo's still kinda drugged up. He's in no condition to fight!

My big brother jumped down to stand between me and Raph. Both of us curled inward protectively, but he pushed past us to stand across from the human. Raph and I exchanged nervous glances.

"You harm them...I kill you." Leo growled.

My eyes widened. I've never heard Leo threaten anybody like that before.

She laughed. "I never would have guessed this was possible, you know. A whole family of freaks! Well let me tell you something, Blue." She sighed goadingly. I suddenly realized what she was trying to do. She was trying to get Leo to come at her. "I will kill each and everyone of them." Leo growled at her, but she went on. "I will make them suffer." The muscles in Leo's hands and legs tensed, as his lips pulled back into a snarl, still she went on. "And I will make you watch." She spat, emphasizing every word, to make it even more biting.

Leo let out a battle cry and his eyes went white. He was unarmed, since his katanas had been taken when he was captured. She smirked as he charged her and I knew something horrible was about to happen. I tried to move forward, but my body wouldn't respond. All I could do was watch the scene playing out before me.

Leo was fast.

But Raph was faster. My red-masked bro had seen exactly what I saw: She was baiting Leo. She wanted Leo to react. And Leo did. He came down on her like thunder.

But Raph was lightning. Colors swirled together as Raph lunged forward, shoving Leo out of the way just in time. There was a horrible crackling sound and Raph screamed.

That scream plunged all of us into complete panic mode. That wasn't a cry of pain. That wasn't a yell. That was a scream. Raph had never screamed like that before. Not even when he saw a cock-roach. This was a scream of agony. Then, the weapon repelled him and sent him flying up to the second level where the turn valve for the water was.

"Raph!" I called out desperately. But he didn't answer.

She jumped up to the landing where Raph was now unconscious and bent down to grab onto his carapace.

We immediately jumped up beside her, even Leo, who I could tell was already blaming himself for Raph getting hurt.

"Don't touch him!" My eldest brother yelled angrily.

She chuckled and turned the wheel that let all the water come through, creating a whirlpool on the level beneath us.

Leo glared at her. "What did you do to him?" He demanded.

She chuckled again. "It's just one of my little toys. Electric shock pistol. Gives the target enough electricity to destabilize the heart and kill with a single shot."

Fire filled Leo's eyes as he began to stalk forward angrily. I reached out and held him back, but he glared at me desperately. I let go of his wrist. Injured or not, there was no dissuading him.

The chick was stronger than she looked. Freakishly strong. She hoisted Raph up by his carapace and held him threateningly over the water. We all froze.

She stared directly into Leo's eyes. "Each and every one of them, Freak. Don't forget it." We watched in horror as her fingers unclasped and Raphael's unconscious form plummeted down.

"Raph, no!" Leo jumped off and I jumped after him, grabbing his legs. I felt Donnie struggling as he suddenly found himself supporting all of our weight.

Leo reached out, but it wasn't enough. He missed Raph by less than half a foot. "NOOOOOOOOO!" He wailed.

I could feel the tears in my eyes. Raphie!

Then, from deep inside of me a dark flurry of anger came rushing out. Donnie had just barely set me down on the metal grating when I flew at the mystery woman. "You bitch!" I screamed furiously. "You killed my brother!!!!"

She lifted some sort of weapon, but I knocked it out of her hand and went at her with all the strength I had in me. With a ferocious battle cry I unsheathed my bladed hook and brought it down on her, not fully realizing what I was doing.

She screamed and shoved me backwards, her hand coming to her face to cup her left eye, which was now covered in blood. I was about to go after her again, when both of my brothers wrapped their arms around me.

"Don't Mikey." Leo said evenly into my ear. "She doesn't deserve it." His eyes narrowed and I saw a reflection of my own dark fury. "Having to live as a one-eyed Freak will be a much more fitting punishment. Let her suffer."

I considered his words for a few moments before I nodded. I was about to throw down a smoke bomb, but I paused as she began to speak.

"I will get you for this. I will kill you. All of you! I swear it!"

Donnie turned around to glare at her. "Then we'll just have to kill you first." He replied smoothly.

I threw down the smoke bomb and we all rushed away.

Donnie scanned Leo for any tracking chips or devices and there were none. He says that if its not on Leo then it must be on the Shell Raiser.

But we'll worry about that later. Right now, we have to go back to the lair. We have to report to Master Splinter. We have to tell him about...Raph. My shoulders droop and tears run down my cheeks. Raphie...

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up.

"I would have thought you'd be the last of us to lose hope, Mikey." He murmured.

I just looked away and shrugged his hand off. He pulled me into a hug. I tried to worm away, but he wouldn't let me. He whispered in my ear. "Trust me, little brother. Raphael is strong. He's alive out there somewhere. I can sense it. We just have to find him."

I nod absently, hoping beyond hope that my big brother is right.

Of course Leo's right. I tell myself. Leo's always right. I lie to myself.

Then I straighten with renewed determination.

Don't worry Raphie. We'll find you. I promise.

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