Michelangelo leads me to his hideout. It's nice place compared to the small garage. The front entrance is a hole in the wall, hidden behind a tall trash can. The building is placed perfectly behind a larger structure, out of sight from any strays.

   As we climb inside, I realize the place is much bigger than it seems. Three old couches decorate the area. A fireplace is off to the side, providing light for the lonely place. Also, a beat-up refrigerator is on the other side of the room.

   Michelangelo takes Ice Cream Kitty's carrier from me and walks over to the fridge. He tugs the freezer door open and pats her head after placing her inside.

   "Aw, who's a good little kitty?" he coos as she rubs against his fingers. He licks an ice cream drip off of her cheek and shuts the freezer.

   Leonardo is the first one to catch my eye. He is spread across one of the couches, staring blankly at the ceiling. His arms and legs are splayed out awkwardly, which is strange for a form-obsessed freak like him. It's as if his life doesn't have meaning anymore.

   I cautiously approach him. "Leo?" I say quietly.

   The blue-clad turtle slowly turns his head to look at me. He's silent for a long time, and then he finally says, "Oh, you're back." He sounds uninterested.

   I am slightly offended. While I was out crying over missing my brothers, he had been lying around without a care in the world. It's as if he had wanted me to die at the hands of the Shredder.

   I was already starting to get angry with him for his monotone behavior, but that crosses the line. Anger flares up inside me and I prepare a sharp retort.

   But I never get to unleash it, because Elizabetta  suddenly pulls me away. "Don't, please," she warns me softly. "He's got some issues to work out."

   "Oh yeah?" I grumble, rubbing one of my arms to hide my embarrassment. "Well, I'll gladly give him some more issues."

   Elizabetta's sad expression makes my anger subside, however. I can't yell at Leonardo in front of her. She's been so worried about him ever since his grief started. He barely even notices her anymore, so she must be hurting. I decide to give it a rest.

   But that doesn't stop my heart from hardening against our once-great leader.

   A familiar dog races up to me, her icy-white eyes gazing up at me.  Her fluffy tail flows side to side with happiness as she watches me.  She lets out a tiny yip to get my attention.

   Confused, I take a step back.  I really don't like dogs.  They have too many devilish thoughts crossing their mind.  Then again, maybe we aren't much different from each other after all.

   A short, blonde girl steps up beside Lilac.  She's just below eye-level with me, but I can still make out the joy in her gray depths.   "You're alive," Lucy breathes in relief.

   "Why do you care?" I grunt, experiencing a wave of uncomfortableness.  I had only cared about finding my brothers, not Lucy . It feels weird to know that Lucy was worried about me, regardless of the fact that she drives me crazy.

   Lucy blinks, her face shifting to a slightly sad expression.  "In times like this, it's easy to get attached to those that you hardly know.  I couldn't face losing someone else," she answers solemnly.

   I'm taken aback by her words.  I guess she's right; it is very simple to become worried about people nowadays, especially if they're in your own survival group.  I know her caring is nothing special, but a slightly warm emotion rises up my spine from it.

   "Hey, Mikey," Donatello's voice travels into the room. He climbs through the hole of an entrance, his eyes fixed on the binoculars in his hands. "We're-" he pauses when he looks up and sees me, his russet eyes instantly flooding with joy.

   "Raph!" He runs forward and gives me a quick hug. "You're alive!"

   I smirk up at my tall brother. "It hurts that you would expect anything different," I reply.

   Donatello smiles at my usual cheek. April comes inside after him, her blue eyes lighting up at the sight of me as well.

   "Raph! How did you get out?!" She exclaims, throwing her arms around my neck in greeting.

   I shrug her off, not wanting Donatello to get jealous. "Well, I had a little help from some old friends," I explain.

   Casey's voice leaking through the entrance startles me. "Old?" He pulls himself through the entrance as well and the rest of his companions follow him in. "I'm not much older than you, dude!"

   "Casey!" April gasps. She hugs him tightly, causing his cheeks to turn a light shade of pink.

   "Wow, Red," he laughs awkwardly. "Maybe I should get kidnapped more often."

   "Leatherhead!" Michelangelo exclaims, throwing himself at the mutant alligator.

   "My friend," he rumbles lowly, his large hands nearly covering the little turtle up completely. "I wasn't sure I would see you again."

   "How did you find me?" I ask Slash as he comes inside. I was so sure I had outrun them.

   "Let's just say that we weren't far behind you," Slash replies with a tiny smile.

   Charlotte appears in the entrance, tugging knots out of her dark hair. "Ugh, why did you have to pick this place?" she whines. "Couldn't you have at least found somewhere with a real door?"

   The irritation I always felt when she is around crawls its way into my heart again. I let out a low growl, only just managing to stop myself from snapping.

   "Char!"  Lucy shouts in her light tone, rushing over to meet the darkhead.  Lucy engulfs her best friend into a hug, though she is so short that she barely makes it to the girl's abdomen area.  Lucy squeezes her so tight that a tiny smile pops into Charlotte's face.  "I thought you left me," she mumbles softly.

  "I'd never leave you," Charlotte murmurs back, her arms dangling around Lucy's waist.  She swings her side to side playfully, earning a giggle from Lucy and a light bark from Lilac.

   Donatello brings our attention to him. "It's convenient that you're all here. I had a mission I wanted to carry out, but we didn't have sufficient manpower."

   "What's the mission?" I ask him eagerly. It will be fun to fight by my brothers' sides again, especially if it has something to do with the Foot.

   "There's a laboratory not far from here," Donatello explains. "Some of New York's best scientists are working on something huge there."

   I narrow my eyes. "And why do idiots running around in white coats have anything to do with us?" I question.

   "They don't, but I think they might be involved with the Kraang," Donatello replies.

   "But we blew the Kraang up!" Michelangelo protests. "Don't you dudes remember?! All of Dimension X went boom!"

   "Yes, I remember, Mikey," Donatello sighs in exasperation. "I don't mean that they're working with the Kraang. I mean that they've acquired some of the Kraang's technology."

   "I saw it, too," Elizabetta chimes in from her position beside Leonardo. "They seem to be building machines out of the alien technology."

   A low growl sounds from Leatherhead. "No one must obtain the power that the Kraang possessed. We must destroy the items before they fall into the wrong hands."

   I curl my lip. "How much you wanna bet that Shredder's paying them some good, hard cash to do that?" I growl.

   Donatello shrugs. "I don't know about that, but I do know that if they create something with enough power, they could put the whole world in mortal danger."

   I pound my fists together. "Who wants to go smash some Kraang tech?"

Everyone except Charlotte and Lucy let out excited shouts. Evidently, we shake Leonardo out of his thoughts, because he sits up to look at us.

   "What's going on?" he asks, though he doesn't seem to care if he gets an answer.

   Michelangelo bounces over to the blue-clad turtle excitedly. "We're gonna go save the world! Wanna go?!"

   Leonardo slowly pulls himself to his feet. "Sure," he mumbles, heading for the exit. "We're all gonna die sooner or later, so it might as well be now."

Elizabetta lets out a soft whimper and her green eyes swim with pain. She watches the blue-clad turtle exit as she chews on her lip, obviously hurt by his pessimism.

   As everyone files out after him, Donatello and I cast each other worried glances. There was a time when Leonardo never would have said anything like that. He would have stayed strong until the very end.

   Now he is different. Ever since Master Splinter died, he refuses to make any final decisions. He is quiet and doesn't care about being leader. But he is doing more than grieving.

   It's like he has completely given up.