Leonardo strained to open his eyes. Wherever he was, it was dark. Maybe even underground. He took a deep breath, and musty air filled his nostrils, leaving a stale taste on his tongue as he exhaled. As his vision returned, so did the memories of the night before. He could remember the Foot on a CCTV feed on one of Donatello's computer screens. He could remember Mikey insisting on having "Riding Dirty" on repeat as they rolled out to the warehouse. The last thing he remembered was Raphael screaming as the smoke bomb went off, and the swallowing darkness that had followed.
His head ached, and his mouth was painfully dry. He reached to touch the sore spot on the back of his skull, where he assumed someone, or something, had struck him unconscious, but he couldn't move his arms. Leonardo was trussed upright, held by shackles at his wrists and ankles. The turtle strained against the bonds that held him, to no avail.
Leonardo was imprisoned in a windowless room, which was lit only by glaring work lights. The turtle strained his eyes to see in the glaring light, and realized the only door was guarded by two foot ninja.
"Shit," he muttered.
The guards glanced to the turtle. Leonardo watched their shadows flicker on the floor as they rapidly gestured to one another. Shortly after, the metal door slid open, and a lithe figure black emerged from the dark without a sound.
"Chunin," one of the guards began. "Are you sure -"
He was cut short by a swift blow to the throat. "How dare you question me in front of our most honored guest?" The unmistakably female figure snapped as her subordinate pitched forward, clutching his throat.
The guard struggled to straighten himself again as the woman turned towards Leonardo. He squinted in the glaring light, but was unable to make out her face. Before either of the Foot ninja could speak again, she raised her hand. The guards snapped forward, bowing curtly before they disappeared into the shadows and out the door.
As Leonardo squinted in the harsh, fluorescent light, his captor came into focus. The cold unnatural light, and the taut bun her hair was drawn up in, highlighted the severity of her face, casting shadows across her sharp features and defined cheekbones. Her lips were colored a deep blood red. He had seen her before, heavily armed and swathed in scarves, but tonight all she wore a black ensemble that contoured to her body,which was punctuated with minimal armor.
Why would she dress for stealth if the Foot were going to go so far out of their way to show up on the turtles' radar? Leonardo felt something sink in the pit of his stomach. They had fallen right into her trap. He had fallen right into her trap. The turtle hung his head.
"Hello, pet," the woman gloated in an acrid tone.
"Where are my brothers?" he growled. His captor grinned as she took Leonardo's chin in her hands, and lifted his heavy head to look upon his face.
"Now now, no need to be so hostile," she chided, drawing one of her nails across his cheek. As her captive grimaced, her blood red lips blossomed into a smile. "Remind me. Which one are you again?"
"I am Leonardo," he said.
"And I am Karai, Chunin of the Foot Clan." She announced. He could see the pride she took in her position. She held her chin high, looking down on him with dark brown eyes.
"So you're only second in command," Leonardo observed cooly.
The turtle watched the heat rise in Karai's face, coloring her pale cheeks as hot pink as flaring cherry blossoms. In an instant, there was a blade at his throat. She leaned in so close that Leonardo stiffened; he could feel the heat of her breath on his face. The Chunin deftly applied pressure to the blade, and Leonardo felt his own breath catch in his throat.
"I could kill you where you stand, pet." She hissed in his ear. "But Father wouldn't like that," she said, bitterly. She withdrew, giving her captive a measuring glance. Leonardo met her gaze with defiance, and she smirked. "Though, he did not specify the condition in which you were to be delivered."
Karai tossed the small blade into her left hand, and her right hand shot towards the turtle's throat. Leonardo felt a sudden pressure on his neck, and he instantly sagged in his bonds. The Chunin smirked as she nonchalantly pushed the knife into her bun.
Leonardo heaved, straining to keep his head up after Karai's pressure point attack. "Attacking a defenseless captive…"
Karai's brow raised in surprise. "Fascinating. That would have knocked an ordinary man unconscious."
"You know no honor!" Leonardo finished, unwilling to allow Karai's musing to keep him from making his point.
"Do you know what ninja means, pet?" She tilted her head and one of the red sections of hair that framed her face fell gracefully across her cheek. " The ninja is an instrument of sabotage. Infiltration. Assassination." She stated. "Ninja have no honor. We are much more efficient that way."
Karai turned away from the tressed up turtle and sauntered across the room. Leonardo's eyes lingered on her, watching the way her hips swung back and forth. She bent slightly over a table where his weapons were splayed out, and the material of her leotard tightened, revealing the way her thighs curved as she crossed one leg behind the other. Leonardo swallowed hard. He suddenly understood why Raph was always staring at April. He shook his head, abruptly ending that trail of thought.
The Foot ninja's attention was held only by the arsenal of weapons before her. She grinned, and took up one of the katana. It was clear the Foot had wasted no time in relieving him of all of his weapons, including both of his katana and a small reserve of shuriken. Leonardo's felt his chest tighten as she wrapped her fingers around the pommel of his katana and drew it from its scabbard. The blade sang as she swung it through the air in a biting arc. The turtle's eyes widened as he watched her, her eyes fixated on his weapon. She held the blade before her, rotating it with a slight jerk of her wrist so that it caught the light. The turtle summoned all of his strength, and his thick, muscled arms flexed taut as he strained against the bonds that held him.
"A beautiful blade," she whispered in admiration. "Perhaps I'll keep it."
"What do you know about the katana," Leonardo spat at her.
"You might be surprised," she said, almost playfully. She thrust the sword before her, with a swift precision that made Leonardo's eyes widen. She withdrew just as precisely, seamlessly transitioning into a series of shorter, tighter thrusts at different angles. A feeling of awe swelled up in the turtle; it was clear that his captor had had years of formal training. No common thug could execute those positions so quickly, or so cleanly.
"The hidden door…" Leonardo murmured, unable to conceal his admiration.
Karai sneered, obviously pleased by how quickly her captive had recognized her togakure-ryu technique. At this point in a training exercise, the master and the pupil would bow to each other, but instead, Karai only let Leonardo's blade drop, and proceeded to tap its edge on the toe of her steel-toed boot. The Foot ninja traced the edge of the blade with her finger tip. When she realized Leonardo was watching, her blood red lips twisted into a smile.
"You want this, don't you?" She asked, letting the blade fall across her thigh.
"Huh?" Leonardo sputtered. It took him a moment to realize she was talking about his katana.
"You want your katana. You want to cut me down," she snapped, holding his gaze with fierce eyes.
The turtle's eyes lingered on her for an instant. Karai's harbored a deep animosity, but not just for him. He could see it in her eyes. He could hear it in the way the words shot from her mouth, sharp and harsh as poison darts. But there was something more, something under the surface. Leonardo's lips pressed together. "No," he replied ruefully. "I only want to go home."
His captor frowned, but her expression had already betrayed her. For a fleeting moment, her brows knitted together in confusion, as if she could not conceive how her captive could possibly be above bearing her ill will. In one fluid motion, she flipped the blade on its side, pinched it with her long, elegant fingers and snapped the katana back into its sheath at her hip without so much as a glance. Unable to look away, Leonardo watched transfixed as her hips swung with the motion of his sword.
Karai drew closer to him, and the turtle felt his plastron tighten against his bamboo chest-plate. Her scent filled his nostrils. She was so close he could taste her. He was overwhelmed by the scent of faded floral perfume, and kohl eyeliner, and the faintest tinge of smoke - or was it gunpowder? And something else; something he had never smelled before. Leonardo couldn't quite place that last aldehydic scent, but whatever it was, it sent something surging up his spine; it left his skin tingling.
Karai traced the rim of the blue NYC button on the leather strap across Leonardo's chest with the tip of her finger. "Do you love New York, Leonardo?" She asked, her tone alarmingly conversational.
Taken aback by such a simple question, Leonardo was speechless for a moment. In an attempt to distract himself from watching how her fingers caressed his button he said, "Well, yes."
"Why?" Karai asked, craning her neck upward to look at him. Brown eyes met blue, and Leonardo realized that her intense brown eyes were ringed with gold. "How can you love something that will never love you back?" She demanded.
If Leonardo was not so tightly bound, he might have shrugged then. The question was so simple it was almost absurd. "Because it needs us," he said, in the unapologetically sincere tone that made his brothers grind their teeth and roll their eyes. "Because love is about putting the needs of others above your own."
"You are a fool," Karai snapped. She diverted her gaze, but she did not withdraw. Instead, she stayed close, drawing her thumb across the NYC button again. Leonardo swallowed a little too loudly.
He hurriedly cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Karai asked, sourly.
"For whatever happened to you that made you this way."
The ninja let out a laugh that rang out in the silence of the small room. "You think I'm some sort of victim, don't you?" A sardonic grin spread across her face. "I guess it must be hard for a boy scout like you to even conceive why someone would be bad by their own volition." Leonardo opened his mouth to speak, but Karai only continued. She leaned in close and whispered, "Maybe I like being bad."
"But you have a choice," the turtle said, simply.
The chunin looked him in the eye. "I was born to do this. It is my fate, just as much as it is yours." Her lips pressed together, as if it was all she could do to keep herself betraying her true feelings. "But sadly, fate is not the only master I am bound to serve."
Though she had worked so hard to control her expression, her words betrayed her. There was sadness there. He could hear it in her voice.
"You may have been born into ninjutsu, but you will always have a choice about what kind of ninja you want to be, Karai," Leonardo said.
She tenderly drew her hand across his cheek, allowing her fingers to brush against his lips. Leonardo felt the heat rise in his face. Her skin was so soft. Karai paused a moment, as if to consider his words before she spoke. "It is almost a pity you will have to die."
The metal door swung open abruptly, and Karai's stiffened, jerking her hand away from her captive.
"Chunin!" A faceless Foot ninja cried. "The police!"
A siren blared in the distance. Karai's wide eyes darted from Leonardo to the door, but she wasted no time in rapidly signaling to her subordinate. "Evacuate. We are too few to face the police," she said. Her tone was calm but her words were rushed.
The foot ninja's eyes lingered on Leonardo, but he said nothing.
"Leave him," the chunin said, coldly. "He will only slow us down."
The foot ninja's silence made it quite clear that they were all too familiar with the price of defiance, and even worse - failure.
Karai's brow narrowed. "I will answer to my Father for this. You have your orders. Go!"
The Foot ninja disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Karai turned to face her captive. Leonardo opened his mouth to speak, but what else was there to say? He clenched his fists, and waited what was to come. Would she kill him now that they had been compromised? All it would take was a stroke from the katana she still wore about her waist, or a precise cut from the blade she had tucked away in her bun. There were a hundred ways she could kill him, perhaps more. Karai was clever. Karai was quick. The turtle's entire body tensed in anticipation of her next move.
Instead, she only smiled at him and said, "Take care, Boy Scout. Remember - I know where you live."
Leonardo blinked and she was gone.
The turtle listened as a few Foot ninja scrambled to evacuate, but the sounds they made were few, and they faded as the shrill police siren drew closer. All Leonardo could do was wait.
A familiar voice rang out in the hall. "Don't worry, dude! It's just us!"
Leonardo called out to his brothers. Within moments, he was looking up with wide eyes as each turtle barrelled into the room. Raphael brandished his sai. Donatello adjusted his glasses. Michelangelo put his hands on his hips and declared, "What a dump."
"Where is she?" Raph growled, pushing Michelangelo aside in order to squeeze his hulking frame through the doorway.
"It's no use, Raph. Karai's gone," Leonardo swallowed.
"You ok, Leo?" Mikey asked, his exuberance somewhat subdued at the sight of his brother.
Leonardo felt his lips turn up in a slight smile. "Yeah, Mikey, I'm fine."
"Sorry for the wait; it took April longer than she expected to secure a car that we could pass off as a police vehicle," Donatello said, taking stock of Leonardo's bonds.
"Blah blah blah. Hop on it, Donny! I don't wanna keep my girl waiting," Mikey wiggled his eyebrows.
Raphael rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his plastron. He took up a guard position by the door as Donatello rifled through one of many pouches searching for his travel sized tool kit.
"It was a trap all along," Donatello said, pulling his goggles over his glasses before going to work on the shackles that held Leonardo. "This is a Sacks Industry warehouse."
With that, and a barely audible click, Leonardo was free from his bonds. He gingerly rubbed each wrist in turn. "I figured as much," he said, making his way across the room to where his confiscated weapons were splayed across the table. Leonardo gasped.
"What's wrong, Leo?" Raph asked, his usual gruff demeanor tempered with concern.
"She took my katana," Leonardo exhaled in disbelief.
"Don't worry brah, we'll get it back!" Mikey chirped, slinging his arm around his big brother's shoulder.
Donnie shrugged. "If it's any consolation, it's highly improbable that this is the last time we'll see Karai, or the Foot."
"We'll take care of it," Raph reassured him with a curt nod.
Leonardo nodded absentmindedly in answer to his brothers, but as he held his remaining katana in his hands, all he could think of were Karai's last words.
"Take care, Boy Scout."
