Rachel was tumbling out of the car and running along the sidewalk as soon as the vehicle slowed down enough for her to bail.

Hearing where the driver was foolishly taking her was enough to snap her out of the shock that had set in. The buzzing in her ears was gone in an instant. That guy was Not going to take her to a hospital.. 'No way '

That's the first place the gang was going to look for her. Hospitals were never safe for the people on T.V.- And this sure as hell felt like some hollywood bullshit to her.

What usually happens? Well. The victim always survives long enough to get medical care and think they're safe. Then they get caught and killed while some well meaning nurse goes to call the cops or to get some coffee or some such nonsense.

Though this was certainly not a soap opera, she knew it would still be the first place that she would look for herself if the roles had been reversed and she was desperate to find someone who could point her out in a lineup. Not that 'they' necessarily were desperate, but , just in case -Clinics and hospitals were no go's tonight.

So what to do? -No way was she playing sitting duck at the local ER.

Her place was probably unsafe as well. -If they had her wallet -and she was sure that they did. Then they knew where she lived and would soon be watching for her there as well.

Snarling she continued to search for someone to help her. How could there literally be -No One- out yet!? She passed by several more darkened shops as she darted down alleys and through the streets.

This is supposed to be the city that never freaking sleeps for Gods sake!

Her every muscle was screaming at her to stop moving. Just take a break. Her skin stung, pin prickles of pain everywhere and nowhere, a million imaginary ants biting at her every time her feet hit the wet, frozen concrete. Auburn hair lashed at her face in the chill wind as halo after halo of street lights passed overhead.

She was running out of steam and she knew it. The cops were looking like her best bet. They could keep her safe. Once they knew what had happened surely they would agree that she had made the right choice by going straight to them?

Her mind flashed several other options as well.

Meghan's place was quickly dismissed. She wasn't about to bring her friend into this shit if she could help it. Plus going back to where it all started seemed infinitely stupid. What she needed to do was stop looking for places to hide and take control of the situation. -Act, not react. Reporting what had happened to the police and getting their protection was what she was supposed to do.

Her bare feet tore up the cracked concrete as she flew past potted city trees. Lights were still out in every shop she past as the dark grey clouds began to seem a little lighter -the sun was rising somewhere up there.-

How had she managed to find the one manhole into sleepy suburbia? -Fucking Murphy's Law.

The adrenaline fueling her escape was nearly depleted and her lungs struggled trying to supply her body with much needed oxygen. Her pace began to slow as burning muscles she had been able to ignore before were slowly beginning to cramp. She stumbled several times as her legs buckled. The stitch in her side was now screaming for her to stop and rest. But flight mode was still holding strong in the survival center of her brain nowhere near ready to quit.

There had to be an officer around here somewhere.

Her lips had chapped and cracked in the winter chill and the taste of copper filled her mouth for the second time in so many hours.

Her face throbbed with her rapid pulse and her bare feet felt raw from running but she kept going. Hobbling now as fast as she could as her body's strength waned with the steady loss of adrenaline but she didn't stop. Couldn't give up. But damn if there wasn't a strong part of her that wanted to.

That's when she spotted her salvation just ahead on the corner. Just past a few more homes the tiny shops gave way to a larger intersection. A few early morning commuters could be seen as a few cars passed through the green light. No more than a block. She could make it.

An older model patrol car was crawling to a stop at the corner ahead. It was slowly panning a search light into her direction.

Did they Know what happened? Were they looking for her?

Had the man who picked her up called the police when she ran from his car? Or was it Meghan?

Spots danced in her vision as she stumbled, nearly falling. She could feel as well as see the blackness gathering at the edge of her vision now.

Just a little farther.

Her legs gave out as the blinding light of the flood lamp fell on her. Landing heavily on her knees and unable to go a step farther she leaned her head back and forced her gaze skyward panting, fighting tears of relief and grinning like an idiot as she choked in air. Thanking whatever deities would listen that someone was looking for her or at least would be able to help her now. As she struggled to get air past her scorched throat and into her burning lungs the patrol cars door flew open and a dark figure emerged and opened what appeared to be an umbrella he jogged toward her. The flood of relief at seeing she was finally safe washed away what adrenaline she had left snaking through her system and she knew fighting back the darkness of exhaustion and what was most likely a mild concussion was no longer an option.

The clouds above choose that moment to let loose another torrent of freezing rain, and she shook violently as a layer of liquid ice soaked her through to the bone.

Her vision flickered and she fell to the side in a heap of shivering flesh. Her body having given out as the uniformed man ran toward her, frantically calling out over his radio in some language she either didn't know or was simply incapable of understanding.

The warmth of sleep and unconsciousness tried claiming her as she felt herself being lifted. She needed to tell him what happened before she passed out but she couldn't get much out other than a few words. Her eyes closed and she felt herself go limp.

Dan Daniels hadn't been on the force for a long time. But one thing that he learned quick was that this City could throw you some really weird shit. Psychos were everywhere and there wasn't always an answer as to why people did the things that they did.

"Attacked" "Sewers" and "Help" were the only things he could make out as the woman shook in his arms. Eyes dilated and wild as she clung to him. She barely said three words before she passed out completely.

Yupp.. Psychos were everywhere in this jungle. They came in all shapes colors and sizes.

This poor girl was no exception. At least she was too pooped to give him a fight. He counted his blessing there. Sometimes these whack jobs could give you a real convincing story. Or a real good work out.

Almost have you believin' em and their crazy shit. One of the hardest things was ignoring someone who really believed what they were saying.

One guy almost had him convinced he was really being hunted down by someone. At least until the guy started dropping words like pink aliens and giant sewer monsters. That's when Daniels knew he was dealin with another fruitloop.

At Least they caught this one before anyone got hurt, least of all herself any more so than she already was. Pulling a blanket from his car her wrapped it firmly around her and confirmed with dispatch that he had the runaway.

A physician was supposedly standing by at St. Mercy's to treat her once she turned up.

The message they got back at the precinct informing the authorities of her specific illness had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. The 5th generation Italian had a powerful urge to spit onto the ground to cast off the evil that plagued the poor girls mind least he fall ill to the insanity spreading through the city himself. God help him if he ever starts believing any of these nuts. He couldn't imagine being so vexed himself as to not know reality from nightmares. At least she would be safe at Mercy's.

That place was a God send these days. -They never turned away anyone.

"Always room, for One more Soul." That's what they always say.

Though it amazed him that they never seemed to run out of room.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the wailing of sirens as the 'Bus' pulled up to the curb nearby. Red and whites lighting up the whole area as the medics piled out to load up the nearly naked woman. Only a nut would be running around in bed sheets in this weather.

Double checking the mug shot and photos with her face to be sure she was the one he was looking for he checked for the birthmark noted to be on her right shoulder blade. The tiny red hummingbird shaped mark was there. This was her.

"Takin her to St. Mary's Boys. They're waitin." One of the two EMT's, a middle aged man he'd known for ten years or more and who Daniels knew to be an incurable jack ass smiled cheekily at him as he helped lift the woman onto the gurney they pulled from the back of the truck. " This how you meetin woman now, Dan? " Daniels just shook his head as they loaded into the back. Knowing he wasn't serious Dan helped them out and as soon as the back doors were shut and the older man was buckling into the front to drive he tapped on the passenger window as he made his way back toward his car and waited for the glass to slide down. At the other mans questioning look he simply said," Nah, I don't need to look for ladies on the streets. Ill leave that to you J. Me on the other hand? I got your sister waiting for me at home." Winking, the officer backed away smiling cheekily as the paramedics face fell into a severe frown and he raised his middle finger in response before pulling away from the curb. The wagons sirens covering the litany of expletives the fellow was probably murmuring from the drivers seat.

What Dan didn't see was the other man calling his sister to make sure Daniels wasn't serious.

Leo stalked back into the lab quickly. Re-tightening his mask tails and wondering not for the first time what he had done to deserve this shit.

Especially after dealing with his younger brothers brawl. Raph was ready to kill Mikey over god only knew what ridiculousness and Leo was nowhere near to understanding why since neither seemed ready to dish up any of the details at all.

Raphael even going so far as to flip him off and offer to show him exactly where he could shove it.

And all of this on top of the fact that Leo still had a handful of missing citizens to locate before they turned up dead. Again. And now this woman who knows where they live to capture and interrogate. He still had a feeling she could lead him to the missing people somehow.

"Donny. Update."

Leo watched as a dozen monitors switched images as his brother typed away at his keys. Donny tended to multi-multi task.. Weather, sports, finances, science, some official looking forms and even some strange looking screens scrolling matrix-esque lines of what Leo's imagination supplied as 'code' all going at once and then flashing to something else periodically. Leo picked the largest screen to focus on as a radar image was pulled up of New England and zoomed into the upper east coast. The tapping of keys was cut off as Donnie began searching for something under the piles of papers and junk on his desk finally unearthing a pile of flash drives and digging through them one by one quickly as he spoke.

"Well. The hurricane just turned north east and-"

The deafening rumble of thunder interrupted Donny and as the lights flickered for a second. Leo felt his eye twitch.

"Is heading for us. " His brother finished absently as he tossed three more drives back into the pile.

"What are you looking for? and I meant the Girl Don, not the weather, I know it's raining, thunderstorm remember."

"Not anymore. That tropical storm changed directions and is heading this way."

"Are we safe?"

"Yeah. ...Yes, i'm fairly certain we should be fine... !Chances that the Lair's drylock system will fail are next to nil." Finally finding what he was looking for donny slid back into place in his chair and inserted the usb drive into a port on one of the many computer towers stacked at his side. "I've sealed all of the necessary tunnels and diverted the water flow but we may be stuck down here for a bit until the flood waters subside if it gets that bad. Unless we want to flood the lair. I haven't had time to finish the floodable airlock yet with everything that's been happening lately."

"Its ok Donny, I know your doing your best, well get through this."

One thing at a time right.

"And the girl?"

"She's in custody headed for St. Mercy's Institute for mental health. Its not far from here, we can get there quickly tonight if the weather permits." Don's tongue made an appearance as he worked telling Leo his brother was deep in concentration as he typed. "If all goes to plan, they'll think she's just another crazy person." His fingers glided across the keys as he hacked into the institutes system. "They had a very sophisticated firewall actually! It took me a minute to get in at first but I'm slipping them everything they'll need to hold her for now. I mean, I can't make her a real patient -nor would I ever do that to someone! The ethical-"

"Don!" Leo snapped, slapping the desk with his palm. Maybe a little harder than what he meant to. He didn't mean to snap but he had to stop the brainiac's line of thought before he could go off on another tangent about the Hippocratic oath and medical ethics in the new age. His little brothers gaze left the screens and snapped to his. Tortoise shell glasses hiding surprised eyes and Don swallowed loudly.

Leo knew he probably looked as tense as he felt right then but he didn't have time. He felt like he had long since been out of time and the clock was laughing at him.

Don nodded in understanding. "Right. Well, everything i'm doing is fake obviously, and if they search hard enough and actually do their jobs they could figure it out. I don't intend to let them do that," he said smiling at Leo and raising his fist to his brother.

Leo fist bumped donnie and smiled, having a genius brother made things so much simpler sometimes. At Least for the rest of them. He couldn't imagine being Donny for a day. He listened to the other turtle finish.

"So long as she isn't there long and with the help of this storm and a sneaky virus or two they won't be able to get anything digitally. Phones will be out as well. So they'll be blind. Thinking she's been transferred from an out of state clinic and escaped in the city during the night from her caretaker."

"What if she tells them anything?"

"They wont believe her. Read this." Donne pointed to a screen with a patient file.

Leo skimmed the information quickly. Half of it made no sense to him or was inconsequential. The name however was not. The one they found in her wallet was of a Rachel -something or another, but this file would name her as an Alice Kraze. The photo however was of Rachel -whateverhernamewas. Skipping a few lines he caught words like Paranoia. Delusional. Hallucinations. Dissociative and Rage. Whoever the real Alice was he was glad to not know her. Thankfully they were only borrowing her identity for a short time.

"This might just work." Leo said thoughtfully. Clapping his brother on the shoulder he made to leave. "Keep me posted. I'm going to meditate for a while."

Nodding an affirmative the tech savvy mutant got to work.

Within a few minutes after the older turtle left, Don had everything in place. Files planted, emails sent. Everything was set. All he had left to do was maintain a connection with the security systems and watch the girl until nightfall.

This was going to be a long day.