From The Shadows || TMNT 2012 FanFiction (BOOK 1)

Chapter 11. The Hole in the Wall

     "So why would we find anything?" Mikey questions.

     "The police would've taken anything leftover as well," April adds.

     "I get it. But it's better to look than not to. It can't hurt us, it can only help."

     "Alright. Let's head over there," Leo says.

     April smiles. She's always up for a mission, even if said mission had a high possibility of being completely pointless. "Great! I'll go change."

     Leo shakes his head. "You have to stay here, April."

     April frowns, and her shoulders drop. "Why?"

     "I know we haven't known Carrie as long, but we've known her long enough to know that she would never let Donnie just run tests on her. She doesn't trust us enough to let that happen, even if she is tired. You have to make sure she doesn't go snooping around."

     April eyes the ground, trying to think of a reason Carrie wouldn't care. She's known Carrie for a long time and realizes Leo is right. "Darn it."

     "Thanks. Now let's get moving."

     The four turtles left April in the lab. Donnie was the only one who had any sort of clue about what they were looking for. The others figured to look for things that looked science-y but they also figured that that may be hard considering Noah is a scientist. That's all Noah does. Science.

     The police had blocked off the apartment with yellow tape. To put it simply, it was not hard to get in.

     The turtles ducked under the tape that had been placed on an open window into the apartment. It had been cleaned but signs of struggle remained. Mostly everything had been cleared away. Their chances of finding anything were slim, but it was worth a shot.

     The four found their way to Noah's office. While the police had begun to pick up and clean the apartment away, they sure were taking their sweet time. This room had the most damage. Scratches lined the walls, pictures had been knocked off the walls, lamps broken, papers upon papers scattered around the floor.

     "Well." Donnie clasps his hands together. "Get reading."

     Mikey and Raph groaned as they chose a section of the room and began rummaging. Donnie already had his mind set on taking anything he could back to his lab, but he figured prioritizing information on the formula was much more important.

     Mikey stared up at the ceiling. "This is so boring!"

     "Stop complaining and keep looking," Raph grumbles.

     "But there isn't anything here!"

     Raph picks up a book and throws it at Mikey. The youngest turtle flinches and cries out a loud "Ow." Raphael throws another book at him, but Michelangelo ducks beneath that one. The book hit the wall behind Mikey and the fighting broke out.

     Mikey and Raph began arguing, yelling over each other.

     "Would you two please shut up!" Leonardo yells. "We have work to do!"

     "No!" Mikey says. "This is stupid! There is nothing here!"

     "Everyone stop!" Donatello shouts.

     Silence falls over the room as Donnie walks over to where the book hit the wall. He knocks, listening closely. He knocks on the wall adjacent to the one that had been so rudely hit.

     "Mikey, give me your kusarigama."

     Shrugging, Mikey hands the weapon over to Donnie. The three brothers watch as Donatello uses the weapon against the wall, hacking into it. The others were confused but they never once questioned their smartest brother.

     Donnie managed to tear apart the wall, leaving a hole. He peaked inside, smiling widely. He picked up the box, took it out of the wall, and placed it on Noah's desk.

     "Your anger pulled through for once, Raph," Donnie says.

     Raph rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

     The brother's stared down at the box. It was well hidden. This could be all they needed.

     "Are we just going to stare at it or are you going to open it, Donnie?" Mikey asks.

     Donatello opened the lid slowly. He was nervous about what was inside. It could be everything he needed and it could just as easily be another dead-end. His heart dropped when he opened it and the contents were revealed.

     All that was inside was a gold necklace with an oval locket and many, many, photos.

     "This is it?" Donnie shook his head. "Come on, Noah. You'd think he'd hide his most precious work in a wall."

     Leonardo picked up the locket and opened it. On one side there was a picture of Noah and Carrie. On the other, a woman. Leo guessed it was Carrie's mother. He closed the locket, set it aside, and began flipping through the pictures.

     "Noah probably destroyed all of his work and never even tried to recreate it," Raph said, shrugging. "It's what any sane person would do."

     Donnie crosses his arms. "But now we're stuck. Oh, except Shredder has the one person who could help us."

     "Yeah, and we have Carrie. She is the only person Shredder could possibly use as leverage against Noah," Raph says.

     "Noah said he was getting help in Japan," Mikey points out. "I'd say this is still a win. And now we got cool pictures!"

     "What are we going to do with these?" Donnie asks, rolling his eyes.

     "Photos tell stories, my dude! And now we have so many of Noah's!"

     "We should give them to Carrie," Raph suggests.

     "Hold on," Leo interrupts.

     As he had been flipping through the pictures, he noticed writing on the back of them. It was disconnected from each picture and in the few he could piece together, he couldn't tell what the language was. It certainly wasn't English or Japanese, the only languages he did know.

     He laid the pictures face down on the desk, showing his brothers, but mostly showing Donnie.

     "Fascinating," Donnie mumbles. "I haven't seen anything like it."

     "Maybe it's code," Mikey says. "'Maybe Noah was a cool undercover spy and-"

     Raph covers Mikey's mouth. "Stop talking."

     Donnie gathers the photos and placed them back in the box. "Let's go."

     Before the team took off, Leonardo pocketed the locket. He didn't know when on earth he'd find the right time to give it to Carrie but Leonardo knew that he had to.