Disclaimer: This story is neither created nor endorsed by Mirage. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michaelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, and April O'Neil® are registered trademarks of Mirage Studios USA. Echoes of April itself is fan domain and may be freely recopied and archived.
To that kind, wonderful species known as reviewers: Since this is a completed story, it might be easier for both of us if you read straight through and just review the last chapter. Don't get me wrong though; I'll take reviews in any order whatsoever. (Smile.)
It was just one shadow among many, silent among many others in the deserted lab. No darker, no deeper; no less threatening. And like the others, it might have faded by morning... were it not for its heart, a heart that had never been stronger than now, when every pulse was pain.
Alarms and passwords posed no threat to this wraith. It disarmed them deftly, hands floating over dialpads and keyboards, extracting sensitive information at will. The computer hummed obediently, yielding its secrets, and the shadow took the disk and went silently down the corridor.
A soft light, somewhere off to the side, and the shadow flinched; hesitated. No! There was no fear of anything but failure. There must be no turning back --
It was only a genetics lab, light filtering through liquid-filled tubes to spill across the hallway. The shadow gathered itself, calculating a dash across the danger zone --
... and froze.