Bright
part 1
"Ah ha! Took mine down first bro'," Mikey called out jubilantly.
"Yeah? Well I got mine hog tied first so I win," Raph responded. Lying on the ground next to him was a Purple Dragon thug, his legs and arms trussed together like a calf in a tie-down contest.
"Aw man," Mikey whined. He made quick work of securing the Purple Dragon that he'd caught before asking, "What's this week's count up to now?"
"Fourteen for me, twelve for you," Raph chortled.
"Count later, hunt now," Leo chastised, drawing their attention back to the job at hand. "You on them Donny?"
"Yep, they just turned the corner," Donatello answered. "You'd think they'd drop the money; those coins are slowing them down."
"Greed dude," Mikey observed, bouncing up next to Don. "Are they still running?"
"They're trying to," Don said, jogging along behind Leo.
"What kind of stupid criminal breaks open parking meters and then tries to get away on foot?" Raph asked, catching up to his brothers.
"The Purple Dragon kind," Mikey supplied helpfully.
"I think one of their bags broke," Don told them, pointing at a coin lying on the sidewalk.
"Just like bread crumbs," Raph said, spotting another coin ahead of them.
"This is exactly why so many of the meters have been converted to card reader systems," Don said. "Not only is it more convenient, but there is no profit in breaking them open."
"Gives ya' something new to geek over," Raph said with a grin.
Don glanced at him as they ran. "I've never had to use a parking meter, thank you very much."
"Yeah, you just double park the Battle Shell," Mikey said.
"Focus," Leo called out from his position several feet in front of his brothers.
"There are only two of 'em left, Leo," Raph said, although he sprinted in order to come up alongside his brother. "It's not like we're gonna have to break a sweat catching up to them."
"Never underestimate an opponent, especially a desperate one," Leo reminded him. "A trapped animal always fights hardest."
"Ancient Japanese wisdom?" Mikey asked in a teasing voice.
"Nope. Common sense," Leo said. He saw several coins spaced out on the sidewalk and pointed at them. "They know we're still pursuing them, otherwise they'd stop to do something about that broken bag."
"Should we be worried they'll call backup?" Don asked anxiously.
"The old Dragon's maybe, not this new batch," Raph said. "I got it on good authority that Hun's started coming down on guys that fail the way his old boss the Shredder did. It's easier on them to get beat up by us and then lie to Hun by saying that there wasn't any money in the meters than it'd be to have to call for help."
"Why anyone joins that gang is beyond me," Don said.
Leo halted suddenly, lifting his hand to stop his brothers.
"What is it?" Raph asked, peering around Leo's shoulder.
"Open ground," Leo told him. "They're going into a construction yard."
"Shouldn't there be a guard on duty to stop them?" Don asked.
The brothers stood together, pressed against the side of a building as they watched the two men they were pursuing push open the construction yard gate and run inside. Half a city block had been torn down and work lights illuminated the large pit that was being excavated in one part of the space. Such a well-lit open area wasn't ideal for ninjas who survived by being unseen.
"Not only aren't there any guards, there aren't any locks," Mikey said. His eyes swept from the gate to the tall fence that surrounded the construction yard.
"We ain't gonna let them get away, are we?" Raph asked, studying Leo's profile.
"No," Leo said, his voice resolute. "I just wanted to make sure no one else was around. Donny, can you tell if there are any cameras?"
Don had already extracted the binoculars from his bag and was perusing the yard. "I don't see a single one," he announced. "This is really odd, Leo. There's some very expensive equipment lying around and it's completely unprotected."
"You know what else is odd?" Mikey asked rhetorically. "Where'd those guys go? There's only one gate and that's the one they used to get inside. I never saw them climb the fence to get back out. Did any of you?"
"No," Don answered, looking to Raph and Leo who both shook their heads.
"Maybe they went into the pit," Raph suggested. "Could be hiding down there thinking we'll miss seeing them."
"Hun's scraping the bottom of the barrel if he's recruiting guys that are that dumb," Mikey said.
"Or this is a very elaborate ambush," Leo said grimly.
"Ambush from where, Leo?" Raph asked, waving his hand towards the construction yard. "Where is there for anyone to hide? Ya' could squeeze maybe two into the cab of that crane and two in the excavator but where's the rest of the threat gonna hide? Inside the pit?"
"I don't know," Leo said, frowning as though trying to grab an elusive thought. "Something feels . . . off about this whole thing."
Tucking the binoculars back into his bag, Don said, "There are no cameras, no security equipment of any kind, and no one at all in that yard. What do you want to do, Leo? We could give the police an anonymous tip and call it a night. There's a bigger mystery to why this site is so abandoned and that's something for the authorities to deal with."
"Suppose the Dragons have rigged the yard with explosives?" Leo countered. "Do we really want the police to stumble into something like that because we got spooked?"
"That would be a big no," Raph said. "I vote we go in. Ain't no way we should give the Purple Dragons the idea that we're chicken."
"I'll go if Donny does," Mikey said with a grin, slapping his genius brother on the shoulder. "He's never met an explosive he can't disarm."
Don smiled and patted his bag. "Have tools, will travel."
Leo was quiet for a moment as he studied the yard. His brothers remained silent as well, knowing that Leo was formulating a plan.
With a sigh, Leo finally said, "Maybe I'm paranoid, but it's better to be safe. We'll separate and jump the fence in different locations. Avoid the gate completely. Watch for trip wires, for discolored patches of earth where S-mine's might be hidden, for laser lights. You guys know the drill. We'll converge on the pit. Call out if you see anything or anyone. Otherwise don't make a sound and watch for my signals."
His brothers nodded in acknowledgment and Raph said, "Let's do this."
Following Leo's example, the turtles crouched low and darted across a wide expanse of road, separating as they reached the sidewalk in front of the construction site. Once they were a good distance from each other, the brothers jumped over the fence, landing in a squat and examining the area around them before proceeding forward.
Stepping gingerly, Mikey kept his eyes on his brothers while he moved, making sure to also watch where he was going. The last thing he needed was to lose a foot because he wasn't focusing. At this point, chasing down a couple of Purple Dragons over a hundred bucks in stolen coins seemed pretty absurd.
When Mikey reached the pit unscathed, he exhaled heavily in relief. None of them had encountered any traps and they hadn't seen a single person.
Thin metal rods had been driven into the ground all around the pit and yellow tape with the words "keep out" printed on it had been attached to the rods. A section of the tape was broken, right at the point where the top of a ladder showed.
The brothers came together at that spot, all of them looking down at the gaping maw that had been opened in the ground. Although there were work lights in the area, they did nothing to pierce the darkness beyond a couple of feet under the pit's rim.
"This is a fresh break," Don said in a low voice as he examined the ends of the yellow tape.
"They leading us on?" Raph asked. "Why climb down into someplace ya' can't see into?"
Don fished his flashlight out of his bag and switched it on. Shining the light down into the pit barely illuminated the space that was about thirty feet in diameter. There was a fine mist near the bottom that Don's flashlight had a difficult time penetrating, but it didn't appear to be occupied.
Raph snorted. "So maybe they didn't go down there after all. Maybe we just missed seeing them get out of the yard somewhere else."
Mikey squatted near the top of the ladder and scooped something up from the ground. Standing, he displayed a pair of quarters to his brothers.
"They went down all right," Mikey said. "I saw fresh mud on the rungs of the ladder."
"So then where are they?" Raph asked, starting to get frustrated.
"Maybe they fell," Don offered. "If they lost their balance they could be lying down there under the mist, too injured to move. That mist indicates moisture and could be the reason construction came to a stop. This pit isn't large enough to be part of a sub-basement, but it could have been meant as a footer for the new building."
"That don't sound like they were setting us up for a trap," Raph said. "Sounds more like a couple of head cases thinking they'd find some kind of escape route down there."
"This could be a potentially big liability for the builder," Don said. "No guard, no locks, and not enough light on this pit is just asking for a lawsuit."
"Yeah, maybe the Dragons saved us some effort by falling in and breaking their legs. They can sue and make more money than they can by busting open parking meters," Raph said sarcastically.
Leo was looking back towards one of the streets that ran alongside the building next to the construction site. He turned his head to catch Don's attention. "Could this be where they were going to tap into the city sewer system?" he asked. "There's a sewer opening not far from here."
"Yes it could be," Don said, sounding animated. "If that's the case, then there's a chance they already built the connecting tunnel."
"That's why those guys went down," Mikey said. "They knew about a tunnel and wanted a shortcut out of here where we wouldn't see them leave."
"Only one way to find out for sure," Raph said, crossing over to the ladder and swinging down onto it.
Don handed him the flashlight and Leo said, "Take it easy bro'. We could still run into something down there."
Raph gave him a curt nod and started down. As soon as there was enough room, Leo took to the ladder and followed, with Mikey taking the third position and Don coming down last.
As they neared the bottom the visibility actually became somewhat better, due to the flashlight reflecting off of the mist. One by one they stepped off the ladder, the cool mist swirling around their calves.
Playing the flashlight along the ground showed the brothers that they were alone. Something gleamed near the bottom rung of the ladder and once more Mikey bent down to recover a coin.
"Someone just dropped this 'cause it's not covered in dirt. There's a trail of quarters moving away from the ladder," Mikey said. "Hand me the light so I can follow it."
Raph passed the flashlight over to his younger brother who used it to track the trail of coins across the ground. The others followed along behind him, both wary and watchful.
The air felt damper as they walked, the ground beneath their feet turning squishy. Leo stopped and squatted down, calling out, "Hold on, Mikey."
Turning, Mikey shone the light onto the ground in front of his brother. "What is it?" he asked.
"Footprints," Leo said as he stood up. "Two sets. Keep going."
After a few more paces Don said, "I think there's an opening in the wall ahead."
Mikey lifted the light and they could all see that a tunnel had been dug through one side of the pit. The mist was rolling in from the tunnel and when Mikey tried to see farther into the interior, a heavy blanket of fog blocked his view.
"Do you suppose they stumbled in there without a light?" Don asked.
"I don't know," Leo said. "Let's all be quiet for a minute and find out if we can hear them."
All four turtles went completely still, even to the point of controlling their breathing. Almost immediately Don noticed that not only couldn't they hear the two men they were pursuing, they couldn't hear any other sounds either. No traffic or city noises penetrated into the pit, nor did the noise that dripping water would have made.
"We should hear water," Don whispered. "The drip is almost constant in the tunnels. This fog can't happen if it's dry in there. Why can't we hear anything?"
"It's Hun, I guarantee it," Raph said with assurance. "He's got a new underground hideout and probably makes that damn fog to keep people from getting too curious."
"Well, it worked on this turtle too," Mikey said. "I'm totally not curious. I say let them have the coins and we'll catch them next time."
He started to back away from the tunnel but Raph planted a palm in the center of Mikey's carapace and shoved. "Uh uh, we don't let them get away with anything."
Don took the flashlight from Mikey's hand and approached the tunnel entrance. "The supports are all intact and solid looking," he reported as he checked the wooden beams that held the walls and ceiling in place. "They haven't poured the concrete yet, but the wire mesh is in place."
"We'll go in," Leo said. "If Hun does have a new base of operations, we need to know that."
Mikey swallowed hard. "You know, someone should monitor the situation from topside," he said. "I volunteer."
"Nope," Raph said, yanking on Mikey's mask tails to pull his brother along. "We wouldn't dream of letting you miss out on the fun."
Leo accepted the flashlight from Don and took the lead with Raph bringing up the rear. On their guard, the four turtles moved silently into the tunnel.
The white vapor was still only calf high but thicker than it had been inside the pit. Progress was slow due as much to lack of visibility as it was to caution, though the brothers were relieved that the tunnel was wide enough for them to maneuver within.
Their path was unbroken for nearly thirty yards and then they came across a T in the tunnel. Leo dropped to one knee to check the ground, finding that the footprints they were following had turned to the left.
Taking the left turn, the brothers moved on. The ground seemed to soak up the sounds of their footsteps, leaving a silence so complete that it made their ears ache.
In another twenty yards they reached a bend in the tunnel and followed it. The fog was higher at this point, coming all the way up to their thighs, and so dense it seemed like it could be cut with a knife.
Walking disturbed the fog and tendrils of it curled up around them, curving over their shoulders and lapping at their faces. The eerie silence was pregnant, maddening, and the turtles started to feel on edge.
Another bend appeared before them and again they flowed with it. The fog was now up to their waists, moving like waves around them.
In another fifteen yards they reached a solid wall.
"Shit!" Raph cursed, breaking the silence and nearly busting his brother's eardrums.
Leo spun in a circle, checking the other two walls without finding a break in them. Don and Mikey pressed their hands against the end wall and found that it was immovable.
"They must have turned around, gone down the other tunnel," Mikey said.
"There were no footprints going that direction," Leo insisted.
"Then where the shell are they?" Raph asked in frustration.
Leo lowered himself to his knees and placed his eyes near the ground. He could just make out two sets of shoed tracks and both were headed in; neither were going out.
Standing he said, "The tracks show them coming this way. There aren't any going back the way we came."
"Maybe they walked backwards in their own steps?" Don asked, though he didn't sound as though he believed it.
"Only one way to find out," Raph said, turning around.
"I don't like this," Leo said quietly, stopping his brother. "I have a feeling in my gut . . . ."
"What?" Don asked when he paused.
"We're getting out of here. Now," Leo ordered, pushing past Raph to lead the way.
Leo mentally counted off their steps, just as he'd done when they entered the tunnel. In fifteen paces they made the bend in the tunnel and found themselves once again facing a wall.
"What the heck?" Mikey exclaimed, touching the wall to make sure he wasn't imagining things.
"Did we miss a turn?" Don asked with a perplexed look.
"There weren't any other turns," Leo said. He got down on the ground quickly and located their footprints but there was only the set they'd just made.
"Go back," Leo said as he stood. "We can follow the fog. It gets lower the closer we are to the pit."
Urgency spurred them to move faster. Each brother could almost feel something ominous in the very air around them and had to fight the desire to break into a run.
It was a good thing they hadn't or they would have slammed into the next wall they reached.
"Okay, I gotta say it. This is not good," Mikey pronounced.
"Ya' think?" Raph asked bitingly.
"We can't be going in the correct direction," Don said, striving to stay calm. "The fog is getting higher. Let's just slow down and take our time."
Mikey moved in close to his brothers as they started walking again. "We should have marked the walls with something as we came in. Better yet, we shouldn't have come in at all."
"Shut. Up," Raph snarled at him.
"Don't snap at me bro'," Mikey told him. "I was the one who said . . . ."
He broke off when they came up against another wall. The four brothers stood next to each other, speechless as they stared at it.
"Back up," Leo finally said, his voice low. "Whatever this is, we need to keep moving."
"Move where?" Raph asked, backing away from the wall.
"Any opening we can find," Leo said.
They were still facing the wall when wisps of vapor began to pour in from around it, streaming down from the ceiling and pushing through the very earth itself.
"Go!" Leo shouted.
Turning as one the brothers started to run. They'd only gone a few steps when a bright, white light hit their eyes and blinded them.
TBC….