Although Echo had said she'd take the city streets, she swiftly changed her mind the minute upon realizing how much faster it was to just stay below the surface.

The speed at which Echo could run, even after nearly being killed by a truck, was somewhat alarming to the ninja turtle as he sprinted after the girl through the passageways of the sewers. Despite some areas of the tunnels having puddles as long as she was tall and ankle-deep in certain spots, each stretching step was light and quick; the soles of her feet barely seemed to touch the ground.

"Hey, slow down!" Raph would call out from a couple yards behind her. It was like trying to keep up with a Central Park squirrel high on caffeine. "You have a concussion! You shouldn't be moving this fast! Your body isn't ready for that kind of stress yet!" But every time he'd voice his concerns, Echo would just laugh and glance over her shoulder.

"How do you know what's good for my body, ninja-boy?" She teased and made a hard right turn when they reached a split in the passage. He felt his cheeks begin to heat up at the sound of her comment; Raph had never been so thankful for the darkness of the sewer.

"You know what I mean, Blondie!" He shouted back after a second of getting his nerves under control and he felt himself slowly slipping into a similarly playful attitude. Maybe it was his first breakfast in a year that wasn't algae, or an adrenaline rush still pumping from his nightmare last night. But all he knew for sure was that he never had this much fun chasing his brothers around the sewers as he was having right now. "Wouldn't want you needing me to save your neck like I did yesterday!"

"I don't know what you're smoking, buddy," She sprinted a few more yards before disappearing around a left corner. "But that's not how that went down!" Her voice echoed along the walls of the tunnels, her laughter filling the air like a melody. "Race you to the hippy van!"

As much fun as this game was, there was no way he'd be able to beat her to the complex that van was being held. At first he'd thought she was just running from one passageway to the next at random, but looking back at her turns, they were definitely on a correct path to their intended destination.

But it wasn't the fastest.

With the light tapping sound of Echo's footsteps drifting in the distance, a small smirk slid across Raphael's lips and he came to a halt, his eyes watching her form with her hair flying behind her, before backtracking a few steps and disappearing down a different corridor. Her memory of surface streets and ability to apply said-memory to the sewers below was impressive, but she had no idea of the shortcuts he had up his sleeves- or arms? Shell? Raph shook the figure of speech from his mind and made his way through the sewer system.

She may have had an incredible sense of speed, but his brain would beat her brawn in this challenge.

***

Her lungs were screaming and the pit in her stomach was tightened to a point she'd never felt before, but the endorphins in her brain felt too good to slow down. Raph was right; she probably should've walked or stuck to a slow jog, but the minute the chemicals started kicking in, there was no stopping it. 

Ever since she was little, she'd always had some form of depression or anxiety with the only form of free help in that area being physical activity. After she and her mother split from her father and her sister at a young age, there was a part of her mind that still struggled to cope with things even ten years later. And when the doctors said she was too young for anti-depressant pills, walking or any physical movement in general became her temporary cure.

Her mom bought Echo a treadmill for her seventh birthday since little kids going for a jog by themselves around New York was frowned upon, and that had been her outlet that kept her off the deep end whenever April wasn't around.

And since April wasn't around now with the metaphorical deep end looming ever so intimidatingly, this heart-pounding, gut-clenching explosion of physical movement was her escape. 

Despite the smell, the sewers were actually an amazing place to run as long as you timed your turns correctly and stayed out of the puddles. There were no people walking around like there was on the surface and there was no need to worry about being too close to the road and oncoming traffic. It was secluded, quiet, and free of anything distracting (save for the sporadic appearance of a squirrel, rat, or stray cat foraging for food). The discovery of this new potential jogging route made Echo want to stay in the city even more, oddly enough.

As she approached the final turn that would take her to Clancy Avenue, the street where the rental complex was holding their rescue van, she called over her shoulder.

"Hurry up, slowpoke! I'm gonna win!" Echo taunted. There was only a block left before she'd reach their destination and she was ages ahead of Raph; there was no way he'd catch up now.

There was no believable explanation as to why she found Raphael's company so entertaining, or at least none that didn't make her sound like a complete weirdo. Maybe it was because she'd never had more than one real friend or that she'd never been overjoyed with a normal life, but Raphael's true-neutral nature seemed to blend in well with her chaotic-good one in a way she rarely ever blended with April.

Whatever they had going on was beyond anything she'd had before, therefore out of her realm of knowledge and ability to fully explain.

She'd nearly reached the manhole cover when something reached out and caught her by the ankle, sending her falling forward toward the disgusting puddles of sewage before her. A yelp of shock leaped from her surprised mouth and she reached her hands in front of her to break her fall, attempting to minimize the potential sewage-impact. But the fall never came; it was then that she realized the strong grip on her waist, catching her in a sort of reversed dip with her body facing the ground instead of the turtle holding her. A faint chuckle sounded closely to her ear.

"Looks like I win, Blondie."

***

With a quick flick of his arm, Raphael flipped the girl around and smirked at his recent catch. Despite the darkness, it wasn't hard to tell she was the one blushing now; as a reptile, he could feel the warmth of her body moving upwards towards her face. This was payback for her comments earlier and the revenge felt good.

But it didn't last very long when he also felt her hand reach up and grab him by the strings of his mask; ever so slowly, she began to pull his face down closer to hers.

"I guess you did..." She smirked right back in a tone that caught him off guard. His eyes grew wide as saucers. With his jaw dropped and mind blanking on how to handle the situation, he couldn't hide the nervous gasp that shot from his gaping mouth.

His reaction must've been the one she was hoping for; almost as soon as the moment began, she brought it to a startling halt with a sly chuckle and latched onto his wrist. Before he could react, she had his plastron pressed against the brick wall of the sewer.

"Thanks for the escort, but I can take this from here," Echo smiled and released him, then turned to the manhole above them and climbed the metal ladder to the top. "I'll see you back at the lair," She said with a wink before sliding the large circular slab of metal to the side, the light of day haloing her body, and disappearing into the surface above.

"Uh, y-yeah, I guess I'll-" Raph didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before she slid the manhole cover back into place, leaving him alone in the darkness with a warm, fuzzy feeling growing in his chest.

A feeling he didn't know if he was happy or angry about.

***

~Four Hours Earlier...~

The office was dark, just as it usually was with the curtains constantly drawn, and the only source of light being the glowing red luminescent lights along the borders where the walls met the ceiling. In the center of the office was a large stone desk barren of anything but a single computer screen and keyboard, each matching the color scheme of the desk and stone chairs in front of it. All things considered, the room was an intimidating sight on its own.

The man seated in it was a whole other level of dark, though.

Cold, heartless, wrathful- all words that hardly skimmed the surface of the individual seated in his temporary throne, staring at the dim screen with little interest as he scrolled through the weekly files and reports of his inferiors. Though his body was dormant, his mind and soul were rampant with fury and the consistent patience he'd grown accustomed to over the years. Always waiting, biding his time before his inevitable plan would begin. 

To his luck, his plan would start the second his office door opened.

"Master Shredder," He heard his door slide open and a large figure stepped into the vicinity, the light behind him casting a long shadow before the door slid shut behind him. The informant's voice was shaky, almost anxious in the presence of his superior as his hands fidgeted and his foot tapped beneath him. Shredder looked up from his computer to cast his overbearing gaze onto his latest victim.

"What do you have to say, Wong?" He growled from beneath his metal helmet. "I don't have all night to watch you quiver in my presence." His apprentice cleared his throat and straightened his posture, clutching a folder in his grasp.

"We've just received word from our allies in the United States," Wong stepped closer to Shredder's desk and set the file onto his desk. Despite the dim lighting of Shredder's personal cave, it wasn't hard for him to see as Wong flipped open the folder to reveal a photo within.

The scenery in the picture was simple, nothing too out of the ordinary: a woman dressed in jeans and a flannel was in a parking lot of what appeared to be a realtor firm, climbing into one of the multiple cars sitting by the building's wall. If the name of the firm and the license plates of the cars had been hidden, it would've looked like any stock-photo you'd find on Google images. 

At first, Shredder wasn't interested. This wasn't the first time one of his allies abroad had sent in photos of a person he had a bounty on. It was an affair his second in command and daughter, Karai, was meant to deal with. But then he saw the blonde locks and blue eyes that stirred something inside him he hadn't felt in years. He reached his gloved hand across his desk and slid the photo to the side, revealing a close-up beneath it.

The golden hair, sea-blue eyes, subtle smile and small scar on her right cheek was enough to knock the breath from his lungs. The comparison was undeniable. Despite having it been ten years, there was no other woman this person could possibly be. 

His wife.

"These photos were taken in Upstate New York," Wong continued. "They weren't sure if your offer still stood after all these years-" Before he could finish his sentence, the screeching sound of stone against metal shrieked through the room as Shredder suddenly got to his feet, towering over his desk and Wong with the eyes of an angry lion.

"Get them on the phone now," Shredder demanded and slowly began to walk around his working table, glaring at his apprentice with determination. "I want every bit of information you can find on where this woman is currently living, where she's been over the last ten years, every bank statement she's made and credit card transaction she's proceeded with within the past decade."

"Y-yes, sir-"

"I want her tracked and followed from this moment on. Where ever she goes, at least five of my men must follow," Shredder snarled with each step he took closer to his quivering inferior. Wong's eyes widened and he felt his knees growing weak as the monster grew nearer and nearer, like a predator eyeing its pray before it attacks. Wong's heart thundered in his chest. "If she ever so much as breathes in a way that seems alarming, I want to be told immediately."

"Y-yes, sir, right away-" Wong yelped out in fear as Oroku Saki's hands clamped down the man's shirt collar and lifted him up into the air.

"But most importantly," Shredder brought his horrifying face within inches of his pray's and whispered his next sentence in a way that reminded Wong of nails on a chalkboard.

"I'll have the location of my daughter, Oroku Madeline, within the next hour or I'll personally slice you in half from your scalp to your stomach."

Wong's petrified body fell to the ground as Shredder released his grip, the frightened man collapsing to his knees in pure terror. In only two strides, the leader of the Foot Clan had made his way to the exit with his cape flowing menacingly behind him. "And ready my jet," He called over his shoulder after the door slid open once more with a satisfying hiss.

"I can't be late for my family reunion in New York."