Searching for April O'Neal

Chapter 12: Shredder's Lair

Shredder's Lair

Mikey wanted to scream at the man. He wanted to attack him and demand that he was wrong. But before Mikey even had time to process what the man said, he'd disappeared back into the darkness of the sewer.

"Wh-who's Shredder?" Jamie asked. "And who was that? And..what even is going on?"

He couldn't find the words to answer her. But he did know that if he went back to his own lair now to get his brothers and Casey, there wouldn't be time to go save April.

Was this what Tang Shen planned? For him, and only him, to hear about the location of April so that only he could go? But how did she know that he would be here?

She knows about the Lair, Mikey thought.

Now he just wanted to puke.

"Mikey?" Jamie inquired. "You okay?"

The turtle forced himself to take a deep breath. He would call his brothers, and start heading to Shredder's Lair, and they could meet him there. And then they could get April. And everything would be fine.

"We have to go," Mikey said, turning around.

"Wait..where?"

"To save April."

"Right. Yes." Jamie paused to catch up to Mikey. "What's the plan, then?"

"I call my brothers and they think of the plan."

"Great plan."

Mikey couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but didn't really care at the moment. He dug out his phone from his pocket, and stared at it while walking.

The last time he'd used this phone was when he was talking to Raphael on it while he was with Shredder. A tear almost slipped down his face before he quickly wiped it away, and called Raph.

...

Raph was soundly sleeping when his phone suddenly went off.

"Who the heck--" Raph mumbled, picking up the phone to see who it was. He was officially going to murder whoever it was.

Mikey??

He never called. He never used his phone anymore at all. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong.

Raph answered, saying, "What's wrong?"

"I-I know where April is," came Mikey's voice.

"What?" Raph sprang out of bed.

"The..the man. The man that Casey had seen..and who t-took April," Mikey explained. "He was..here."

"IN THE LAIR?!" Raph exploded.

"I'm not in the Lair," Mikey responded.

"WHAT?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

He heard Mikey let out an exasperated breath. "H-heading f-for Sh-Shredder's Lair."

"WHAT?! WHY?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"Th-that's where T-Tang Sh-Shen is keeping A-April."

"How did you figure that--"

"J-just get D-Donnie and Leo and m-meet me there."

"Mikey, you can't just walk out there alone--" But the phone beeped, telling Raph that Mikey had already hung up.

...

As Mikey hung up, he cursed under his breath. His stupid stutter had come back. Probably because right now, he felt 100% terrified.