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

Chapter 18. A Couple of Hours

     "Get to the point," Raph snarls.

     "Don't worry. Your little family is still important, Raphael." Karai smiles. "I propose a trade."

     "What on earth do you have that we could possibly want?" Donnie questions.

     "Time, privacy, safety... at least for a little while."

     Leo rolls his eyes. "And what? We just hand Carrie over to you?"

     "Exactly."

     "You can't be serious," Leo scoffs.

     "Our Foot soldiers in Japan are getting Noah to work but it's slow. If we had Carrie, it would take the heat off of you guys."

     "Again. You can't be serious."

     "Just think about it a little harder. I'm not saying you sit back and just let Shredder win. All it does is give you guys time and space to figure out how you are ever going to defeat us."

     "This is the dumbest 'trade' I've ever heard of," Donnie mutters.

     "You four are running out of time. Noah is breaking and we will eventually have that power. It's inevitable." Karai smirks. "This deal just helps speed it along. Besides, it's better for both of them. We have no intention of hurting or killing Carrie. If we had her, Noah's torture could stop."

     The three brothers turned to their leader. There is no way they could ever accept this offer. It was too ridiculous. The turtles had the advantage. Carrie would have accepted this deal in a heartbeat. But Leo knew Karai had revealed too much. The progress Shredder made with Noah was slow. Time was on their side anyway and the plan they had just begun to unravel in the lair hours before could prove to be more effective than this horrible trade.

     "No," Leo says.

     "It was worth a shot." Karai shrugs. "We'll just have to do this the hard way."

     The turtles ready their weapons. None of them were worried. They had battled and beaten Karai and her Foot-bots plenty of times.

     April and Carrie had just turned the corner into the alleyway they were supposed to meet the brothers at. They thought nothing of the turtles not being there the first couple of minutes. But as more time went by, the two girls became worried. Walking alone through the gloomy streets of New York City was terrifying and dangerous, not to mention waiting in a dark alleyway. They hadn't worried about their safety as they had known the turtles were watching over them. But it was apparent they may not have been and the thought of that scared both April and Carrie.

     "Maybe they went down without us," Carrie mentions.

     April shakes her head. "They wouldn't do that. Leo, at the very least, would wait for us."

     "Then where are they? I thought they were ninjas? Shouldn't they be here by now?"

     April frowns. Carrie was certainly right. They should be, but they weren't. That could only mean trouble.

     April's training had not only increased her physical endurance but also enhanced her senses. She knew they were alone in the alleyway but she also picked up on quiet noises that were a little out of the ordinary. There were grunts and groans and, although very faint, they must have been close by.

     "You hide down here," April says, lifting the manhole cover for Carrie.

     "Where are you going?"

     "I'm going to go search for them. You stay down there and wait for us."

     "I'm coming with you."