When April entered the lair all of the turtles were in their rooms, asleep. Well...almost all. Raphael was stretched out on the sofa hugging the television remote to his chest. The TV was left on some gory horror film with blood spewing everywhere that made April want to hurl. She walked over and turned off the television manually, because she knew she'd never be able get the remote away from Raph. Asleep or not, they were still ninjas, and April had no desire to get in a fight with the green-eyed turtle this early in the morning, or at all.

As soon as the sound of the television vanished the red-masked turtle began to stir. "Naw, Sensei, please five more minutes. I'll go to bed when it's over I promise." One large green eye opened and closed, sleepily. Oh, it's only April. Both eyes snapped open and the turtle jumped up to a standing position. Raphael's muscles tensed, his deep green face settling into a carefully guarded expression, but April could still sense his concern. "April? What are you doing here? It's two thirty in the morning! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But Earth isn't." Raph canted his head, confused. "Can you wake the others?"

Raphael's smirk was pure evil. "No problem." The teenage mutant ninja turtle cracked both sides of his neck as he moved down the hall to his brothers' rooms.

He headed towards Don's room first, but found it empty. Must have fallen asleep in the lab again, Raphael thought, rolling his eyes. Then he headed into Leo's room. Raphael used his stealth training to move silently over to Leo's bed, carefully circumnavigating the few comics and books that lay strewn about on the floor. He loomed over his sleeping brother, his bright green eyes glowing in the dark like a cat's. And then he pounced, pulling Leonardo into a headlock so he could give him a noogie.

To the red-clad turtle's surprise, Leo twisted in his grip and elbowed him in the stomach before throwing him to the ground. Raphael heard the gentle sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath and suddenly found himself pinned to floor, with a ken pressed against his throat. "Seriously, Leo? How long have you been sleeping with a ken under your pillow?"

The short blade was immediately lifted and thrown to the side. Leo offered his younger brother a hand and pulled him up. "Raph what the shell were you thinking! I could have killed you!"

"But you didn't, Leo."

"That's beside the point Raph. I almost..." Leo stood with his fists clenched.

"I did it because I knew you wouldn't, Leo. Hit first, ask questions later, that's my style bro, not yours. You like to know exactly what you're up against." Silence filled the air. Despite the guilt Leo felt at having almost hurt his brother, Raph's words gave him comfort and reassurance.

Leo then realized something else, Raphael was in his room. "Raph, what are you doing in my room?'

"What do you mean bro, I come in here all the time." It was true, Raph often came into his room when he needed something-or-other, and when he left he'd leave some kind of calling card, usually a post-it note with 'Raph was here!' or 'Red's my favorite color.' or 'Red rules, Blue drools!' scribbled on it.

Leo's brow furrowed. "Yeah, you sneak in my room and take my stuff, but you're supposed to do that when I'm not in it!"

Raph smirked. "Oh yeah? Who says?"

Leo's deep blue eyes narrowed fractionally, "Stop it Raph. Why are you in my room?"

"April's here."

"Now?! Why?"

The younger turtle threw up his arms in an over-exaggerated shrug. "Gee, why? Oh, I don't know, maybe she just dropped by to give us pizza at two in the morning. She didn't tell me. She asked me to wake up you guys. You get Mikey, I'll go to the lab and get Donnie. The brainiac wasn't in his room."

"Wait a second, why do I have to get Mikey?" Leo asked just as Raph was about to go out the door.

"Because it's two o'clock in the freaking morning and if he annoys me right now I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from putting a permanent dent in his head."

Raph walked back into the main room. April looked up at him from her seat on the sofa. The emerald green turtle answered the unvoiced question that hung in the air between them. "Leo's getting Mikey, I'll get Donnie. Should I get Splinter too?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll get Donnie, if you can get Splinter." Raphael nodded, and headed off towards the dojo.