Leonardo wakes up the next morning feeling utterly groggy. He yawns, stretching his arms and working out the stiffness in his muscles before getting up, snagging his mask off his bedside table and tying it on as he walks to the kitchen.

Everyone else in the lair is awake already, or at least the other three turtles are. The only other mutant who isn't in the kitchen is Destiny, which Leonardo finds odd. Usually, she's up to help Michelangelo with breakfast, seeing as she finds it hard to sleep anyways.

At the thought of her, he mentally kicks himself and stops a noticeable cringe. He almost said it yesterday. He couldn't help it at the time, she looked so cute and innocent...

"Leo! Yo!" Michelangelo calls. "You want bacon or ham with your eggs?"

Leonardo snaps his head upwards, realizing that he's standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Michelangelo stands before him with a pan in hand, a bright grin lifting his freckled cheeks.

"Oh...uh, bacon," Leonardo answers.

"Sweet!" the orange-masked turtle chirps. He practically skips back to the stove, casting a quick look to the red-masked turtle seated at the table. "What about you, Raph?"

"Same," Raphael replies with a tired grunt.

Michelangelo hums to himself as he starts to whip the eggs together, occasionally sweeping his free hand over to lay bacon on a sizzling pan. Donatello walks into the kitchen, his lips puckered slightly. He looks around, scratching his head as he rests one hand on his belt.

"Hey Don, bacon or ham with your eggs?" Michelangelo asks, setting a plate of fresh bacon down on the table.

"No time for that, Mikey," Donatello says swiftly. "Destiny isn't out here with you guys?" he asks, although it sounds more like a statement.

"Nah. She's probably still sleeping," Raphael responds, snagging a piece of bacon off the plate and starting to gnaw on it.

"Yeah, she was pretty tired yesterday. Right, Leo?" Michelangelo teases, jabbing his brother in the side before dumping some eggs onto his plate. Leonardo rolls his eyes and reaches for his own strip of bacon.

"No, she isn't sleeping. She's not in her room," Donatello says.

Silence covers them. Leonardo's hand freezes over the bacon plate. Raphael stops chewing.

"Is she in the bathroom?" Michelangelo asks, the egg pan clattering against the stove top as he spins to face Donatello.

"No," the purple-masked turtle responds.

"Dojo?" Raphael suggests.

"No!"

"Anywhere in this lair?" Leonardo demands.

"NO!"

Leonardo stands up, hesitating for a moment before he grumbles under his breath and starts pacing back and forth across the floor. His hands rest on top of his head, his face tilting towards the ceiling as he taps his foot against the ground repeatedly. How did he not hear her leave? He almost always does.

There's a synchronized ringing as all four t-phones go off and within a few seconds, the phones are in the hands of each turtle. The brothers stare at the screen, where a mass text message from Destiny can be seen. One look at the message, however, proves that it is not from their wolf girl and someone else in possession of her phone.

D: Looks like someone's moved to the dark side. It's a shame, this phone of hers is brand new, isn't it?

"Dark side?" Raphael growls, his fist smacking down onto the countertop. "It's gotta be the Foot."

Leonardo's jaw clenches. He recognizes this sort of teasing, or at least he can guess. "Karai," he utters.

"How? We were with Des all night! There's no way they could've found the lair and snatched her without us noticing," Donatello says, his russet eyes squinted with concentration.

"It has to be some sort of lame trick!" Michelangelo insists, his voice starting to waver.

Another beep signals a new message.

D: I applaud the craftsmanship, this phone is a beauty. It's almost exactly like the one that got destroyed. Impeccable.

L: Karai, is that you?

D: Ooo, that didn't take you long at all. I'm impressed.

L: Where is Destiny? This doesn't have to be difficult. You pulled a cool trick, but we won't stand for it.

Raphael reads the message, then gives Leonardo an incredulous look. "Your negotiation skills are amazing, Leo."

Leonardo glares at him and returns his attention to the phone just as another message from Karai comes in.

D: Put me on speaker.

He doesn't have time to question it when the phone starts ringing in his hand. He answers it and puts it on speaker, stepping closer to his brothers so that he can lay the phone in the centre of their odd circle.

"See, isn't this better? Now we can all talk together," Karai says.

"Where's Destiny?! What have you done to her?!" Raphael shouts, leaning closer to the phone. "And don't be cute with us."

"Aw, you think we took her?" Karai laughs. "We didn't. She came to us."

"Des would never do that," Leonardo says.

"Hm...yes, she would, and she did." The turtles cast quick glances to one another. Karai sighs wistfully. "This must really hurt, her abandoning you like this."

"Diaval," Donatello mumbles. His brothers' eyes fall on him as he purses his lips. "Remember Diaval's magic? Maybe...maybe he somehow got to her."

"Solid guess, Donatello," Karai comments. Every bit of attention is latched back on the phone. "I guess you'll just have to find out. Bye bye." She hangs up, leaving the monotone droning of the dial tone behind.

Donatello groans and slumps into a chair. "She has to be telling the truth. She has Destiny's phone," he says.

"So we track it and get her back," Raphael snaps, getting to his feet. "Mikey, Leo, are you with—"

He looks to his left but instead of seeing his leader, there's an empty space. Michelangelo lifts his gaze to the spot, blinking a few times.

"Leo?" he echoes.

"He's going after Des," Donatello guesses. "We can still catch him!"

They dash out of the kitchen just in time to see Leonardo leave the dojo and head for the turnstiles, katanas sheathed against his shell. Raphael sprints to his brother, just managing to grab his wrist before he gets away.

"Raph, let me go!" Leonardo demands, tugging against the grip.

"No! We have to think this through," Raphael snaps back.

"Leo, dude, calm down," Michelangelo pleads. "Raph's right...for once."

"The last time we hesitated, Des was nearly dead when we got to her," the blue-masked turtle says, gritting his teeth. "I'm not abandoning her when she needs us, not again."

Donatello moves closer, giving his brother a stern look. "Leo, Karai said that Des joined them. If that's true, they won't be hurting her. All we have to do is find her and convince her to come back."

Leonardo takes deep breaths, breaths that get slower and calmer with every second. Raphael slowly loosens his grip until they're no longer connected, leaving Leonardo standing alone before his team.

"Come on, bro, what happened to the fearless leader?" Raphael demands.

Leonardo shakes his head. "I'm not fearless, guys. I'm scared right now!" he says, clenching his trembling hands against his legs. "I failed Destiny before. She's one of our team and teams don't leave people behind, but..." He shuts his eyes and swallows. "She got hurt last time and I couldn't stop it. What if it's worse this time?"

There's complete silence for a solid three seconds. Michelangelo steps forward, his bottom lip trembling as he throws his arms around Leonardo, burying his face against his brother's shoulder. The blue-masked turtle's eyes widen.

"I'm scared too, Leo," the youngest terrapin whispers. "I bet Desti-bear is really scared too, so she needs all of us to be brave and work together, right?" He pulls back just enough to look up at his brother. "Right?"

Donatello smiles, revealing the gap in his teeth. "It's not all on you, Leo. None of us could've stopped what happened to her. We have to focus on now."

Leonardo's sapphire eyes fall on Raphael last. The hotheaded turtle smirks and shrugs his shoulders, holding out his fist to him.

"You with us?"

Leonardo takes a deep breath and nods, bumping his own fist against Raphael's. "I'm with you."