As soon as they escaped underground, Raphael took his hand away from Dalilah's mouth and grabbed her arm to prevent her from running away.

"Let me go!" Dalilah shouted, trying to yank her arm away from the red-masked turtle. He just returned her feeble attempt at escaping with an eye roll.

"Just as I hypothesized," Donatello observed. "She's scared of us."

"Am not!" she argued hotly. "What do you want from me? Are you gonna kill me? Or take me to Hamato Yoshi so he can?"

Leonardo and Raphael exchanged glances. Leonardo replied, "We were actually trying to rescue you from Shredder."

"Shredder's the good guy," Dalilah protested with a glare.

"Actually, no, he's not. He, ah..." Abby began casting Leonardo a fleeting glance. She didn't think she should be the one to explain what Shredder had done to their father.

Understanding the message, the eldest turtle finished her sentence. "He killed our father's wife, and almost his child too."

Dalilah looked shocked, but then her expression hardened. "You're lying," she spat.

Raphael glared at her. "We are not. Shredder burned down Splinter's home and took his family down with it! And then he took Splinter's daughter, who was assumed to be dead, and raised her as his child."

"I'll bet Shredder told you what he told Karai: Splinter is the killer," Donatello concluded.

Dalilah eyed the turtles warily, when she noticed there was a human amidst their group.

"Who're you?" she asked curiously. The other human shifted uncomfortably, looking up at Dalilah and revealing her yellow eyes. Dalilah soon saw the ears on the other girl's head and the tail behind her.

"Uh, I'm Samantha," the girl introduced.

Dalilah growled at Raphael. "I bet you turtles put that tail on her, didn't you?"

"No, they didn't!" Samantha hurriedly answered. "The Kraang mutated me."

"You were captured by them too?" Dalilah asked, frowning as memories of her childhood in TCRI resurfaced.

"Yeah," Samantha mumbled. "These turtles are my friends the Kraang are their enemy, and Shredder works with them."

"They've tried to take over the world more than once," Abby added.

"And the Kraang have been experimenting with new types of mutagen," Donatello explained.

"Mutagen?"

"The green goop that makes things like us, Rhazaar, and Sam," Abby quickly summarized. Dalilah didn't know who Sam was, but she assumed it was the fox-girl.

"Right. They have been inventing new ways to mutate people and animals. The original mutagen just turned people into a mutant version of the last living thing they touched," Donatello told Dalilah, waving an arm at his brothers. "Now, they've created Mutagemia, which includes the DNA of someone. When this mutagen is injected into the person who owns the DNA, that person will be under the control of the injector. That's what they gave to our friends."

"They also made a mutagen that only mutates specific areas," Abby pointed out, gesturing to Samantha. "You met Kayla, right?"

Dalilah nodded hesitantly, and she thought she saw sorrow flicker the the female turtle's eyes for a moment.

"Well, she's one of my best friends, and the Shredder used the Kraang's Mutagemia to control her."

Dalilah scoffed. All of what the turtles were saying seemed sincere, but Shredder hadn't shown any signs of evil that Dalilah noticed. The mutants in front of her could be lying, and they kidnapped her! Though, the mind-control seemed to explain why Kayla had been so blank during training...

"Liars. It's pathetic, really," Dalilah accused. Raphael growled threateningly, but she didn't back down. "Shredder hasn't hurt anyone."

Abby's eyes flashed with anger, something no one expected. "He hasn't hurt anyone?" Abby laughed hysterically, as if it was a joke.

"Well, if you're so confident he has hurt someone, prove it," Dalilah retorted sharply, still not believing the turtles and their fox-mutant ally.

"Other than Teng Shen, their father's wife," Abby began, "he's mutated his own adopted daughter, who he also lied to and manipulated, and he took over our friends' minds."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Dalilah countered. The coral-masked turtle inhaled sharply in frustration.

"Look, you don't have to believe anything we say, but we just rescued you from Shredder instead of saving Kayla, so you better hope you believe us soon before we give you back to the Kraang," Raphael threatened. Dalilah's eyes widened, her fear finally showing through.

"No! Please, don't take me back there," she begged. Abby arched an eyebrow.

"How did you get to Shredder, anyway, dudette?" Michelangelo asked curiously. "I mean, you were with the Kraang, and they probably traded you for something Shred-head could give them. Like Pokemon cards!"

Leonardo's bandana rose as if he was raising his eyebrows. "Mikey has a good point, actually. The Kraang gave you to Shredder for a reason, and it wasn't because they felt like it."

"The Kraang would've had to communicate with Kraang Prime before they made any major deals with Shredder," Donatello remarked. Abby's eyes brightened.

"The Orb! Maybe we can see some of their conversation with... uh," she paused, realizing she shouldn't know who Kraang Prime was. Abby waited for someone to finish her sentence.

"Kraang Prime. She's the leader of the Kraang," Donatello explained.

"But wouldn't the Orb have alarmed us if there was something going on?" Raphael pointed out, his glare not leaving Dalilah as she tried to slip out of his grasp.

"U less they didn't use the orb," Leonardo pondered. "It's worth a shot, and it's our only chance at proving that we're not lying to Dalilah." He glanced at the Foot-in-training. He knew they needed her inside information on Shredder's hideout. "When did you start working for Shredder?"

"I'm not telling you until you admit you're on the wrong side. You're father is the evil one!" Dalilah insisted.

"Splinter did nothing," Abby argued, her voice warning Dalilah not to keep it up. It silenced the young girl's mouth, but not her glare.

~•~

"There's nothing here. Absolutely nothing," Abby groaned as she skimmed the messages from the Communication Orb. "How far can it trace?"

"It only shows us what happened between the last time the Kraang talked to Kraang Prime and when I stole the data, if they used their computers and not an Orb," Donatello answered, gazing at the words on screen. "If they did use an Orb, it should be here, because ours can pick up the same signals as the Kraang's."

"Dalilah was recruited recently," Leonardo pointed out. "Maybe whatever conversation they had happened after we broke in, and for some reason they didn't use the Orb."

"Because they know we have it," Raphael added. "They have to. Why else wouldn't they use the Orb?"

"You can't risk another stealth mission to get to the data, especially if they made your MGE," Samantha warned.

"How will we convince her, then?" Raphael questions with a look of annoyance at Dalilah, who was being held by Mikey.

"We can't," Abby replied simply. Dalilah was glaring at her captors (or saviors, depending how you look at it).

"I'm going to discuss this with Splinter," Leonardo announces before slipping out of the lab.

Dalilah eyes him as he exits, glancing up at the orange-masked turtle keeping her from escaping. "Hey you, I think I saw a Footbot over there," she informs Mikey, nodding to the opposite corner of the lab. The youngest turtle frowned, studying the area Dalilah had gestured to.

"I don't see anything," he shrugged. Dalilah pursed her lips, trying to think of a way to distract the mutant.

"There's a.... mutant squirrel over there, eating your stuff!" she blurted. To her surprise, Mikey's eyes lit with fear.

"SQUIRRELANOID?" he shrieked, jumping away to cower, and releasing Dalilah. She had no idea what a Squirrelanoid was, but as long as she escaped, she was fine with that.

The other turtles didn't spare Mikey's outburst a second glance, brushing it off as his crazy antics. Nobody noticed Dalilah slip out of the room.

As she snuck through the turtles' lair, she realized she could hear Leonardo speaking with someone in a room that looked like a dojo. She crept to the door, eavesdropping.

"We have no way to convince her, Sensei," Leonardo informed, as if he had just told a story and was now explaining their problem. "Donnie and Abby didn't find anything, and we can't go back to TCRI knowing we could get mind-controlled, too."

Dalilah cocked an eyebrow. Either the eldest turtle knew she was watching and was telling lies, or her master had been lying the whole time.

"Leonardo, sometimes people will believe whatever they are told. Miwa was tricked by the Shredder until she realized the truth, and came here," an older voice replied. Dalilah tensed, knowing this was the Hamato Yoshi who was supposedly evil.

"She will lead the Shredder here, Sensei," Leonardo told his father, and Dalilah peeked around the corner to see his shoulders slumped. Across from him was a rat mutant, a brown robe clothing it and a green walking stick of some sort in his head. Dalilah's breath hitched, and apparently the rat heard, because his eyes fell on her immediately.

"She will not," Splinter answered, studying Dalilah. He made no move to attack her, but remained watching her. Leonardo turned around, eyes widening as he noticed Dalilah.

"Mikey was supposed to be watching you!" he exclaimed. Dalilah shrugged, coming out of her hiding place.

"He got scared when I told him there was a squirrel mutant eating his stuff," she replied with a cocky grin. "Looks like I escaped."

Leonardo's expression hardened, turning to his sensei. "She was here the whole time?"

"Indeed," Splinter replied. Leonardo seemed to smile faintly before facing Dalilah again.

"You can go now, if you're gonna escape," he said, earning a confused look from the young girl. "If that conversation wasn't proof enough, there's no way to convince you. So just go."

However, Dalilah didn't move. She was frowning now, her mimd conflicted. Leonardo didn't know she was there; he was telling the truth that whole time. Which meant everything the turtles had told her was true.

"The Kraang gave me to the Shredder earlier this week," she began, finally telling them her story. "He told me he would rescue me from the Kraang if I became a Foot soldier, and I agreed, but after that he said something else. I was a potential warrior. The Kraang gave me to Shredder in return for...the turtles."

Leonardo frowned. "That doesn't make sense. He doesn't have us."

"He said once he got rid of you," Dalilah explained, gesturing to Splinter, "he would give the turtles to the Kraang."

"So the Kraang exchanged you for us, once Shredder got his hands on us," Leonardo summarized. "They traded you."

"This is very troubling. It means the Shredder is recruiting more soldiers to the Foot Clan," Splinter inquired. "Where did you come from?"

"I've lived with the Kraang forever," she replied. "I dunno who my parents are. I just know that my last name is Simmons." Leonardo's opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't get the chance.

"LEO!" Raphael called as he rushed into the dojo, anger evident in his eyes. "The girl–" He paused as he noticed Dalilah. "Never mind. You found her. Mikey got distracted and let her escape," he scowled. "I'll take her back."

"Wait, Raph," Leonardo ordered, stopping Raphael in his tracks. "Get the others and meet here. Dalilah has some important information we need to discuss." The red-clad turtle eyed the Foot-in-training warily before exiting the dojo to get everyone else.

"Dalilah, we think you're related to Abby."

~•~

OK YES HI ITS BEEN A WHILE! But not too long, luckily. ;)

This chapter was almost 2000 words :o Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me while I take forever to update. I WILL FINISH THIS BOOK SOON!

School starts soon, i cri. But I'll hopefully still have time to write, and I'll try to get stuff done as much as possible.

~DY