~~ Um, love? I'm very sorry that I was gone for so long, and sorry that I'm not working on the sequel too. (And okay, maybe that last part was a lie, but I'm being a very nice and kind person!) I didn't have much muse for that so I started on this story without any objective in mind and actually got something really good, that I hope you guys will enjoy. Please don't hurt me for being gone so long! I should be much more active and on time with updates, which ought to make yal happy. Also, if any of you TMNT fans out there have also watched Wolverine and the X-Men, I'm working on a fic for that show as well, in case you're interested. Thank you for being incredibly patient, expect more updates(possibly some on the sequel as well), and review away! I'm still giving out cookies for reviews!

Oh yeah, all credit goes to the creators, blah, blah, blah, not mine, etc. If the turtles were mine, then I wouldn't have let the artists who did the last two seasons into the studio, thank you very much. The first five were much better. Anyways, review! ~~

Chapter One

"Where's Leo?" Raph was bored. Nothing good was on TV, Mikey was dead to the world, and Don was in his lab. Consequently, he had no video game buddy, his fists were sore from going at his punching bag for three hours, and Master Splinter was meditating. Thus, he had nothing to do and no one to talk to. Except Leo, who wasn't to be found.

Nobody heard his irritated question either. Mumbling, the sore and sweating Raph got to his feet and went for Mikey's room, where he found the turtle sleeping. He wasn't even snoring either, which made Raph snort. For all of his claims of Raphael snoring like a chainsaw, Mikey was not giving him anything to work with. He picked up a comic book and threw it at the orangeclad turtle, whacking him neatly on the head.

"Wha! I'm awake! Five hundredth and seventy-third upper arm block, Master Splinter!" Mikey jerked upright, flying into position and making Raph laugh. It felt really good.

"You idiot." He said, always relieved that the affection that made him laugh at his silly, not-very-intelligent little brother couldn't be heard in his sarcastic voice. Mikey realized where he was and sank down into his sheets, groaning and throwing a dramatic hand over his eyes as Raph flipped on the light and demanded,

"Where's Fearless Leader? Haven't seen 'em since mornin'." Mikey pulled the sheets over his head, curling up into a ball, and shot back,

"No idea! He hasn't been in here! Been 'sleepin' since mornin', thank you very muchhhh..." And he fell asleep mid-sentence, leaving Raphael awestruck.

"Dang, Master Splinter must've worked him hard yesterday." The red-clad turtle muttered, striding out of the room and turning off the light as he went. Next, he went into Don's new lab, where he was bent over the air conditioning for Leatherhead's place. When Raph tapped him on the shoulder, Donatello spun around, pliers pointed in his face.

"Whoa, lower your weapon, genius." Raph said, startled and trying to avoid getting pliers shoved up his nose. Realizing who it was, Don put the pliers down, exasperation in his voice as he pulled off the goggles necessary for his work,

"Well, give me more of a warning then!" Raph snorted.

"Yer a ninja. Act like one." He said waspishly. Don snorted right back, not to be out done by his older brother.

"Funny. Like I could hear you over the machinery." He jabbed a thumb toward the puttering computer, who was obviously protesting its current use.

"True 'dat." Raph admitted, cocking his head and getting back to the point,

"Where's Leo?" Don shrugged.

"Not a clue. I haven't seen anyone in here, except Master Splinter and now you. I didn't even notice he was gone. Do you think he went out on a training run?" Don's concern made Raph sigh. So he wasn't crazy. Learn something new every day. He shrugged in reply.

"Don'tcha think he would've said somethin' 'bout it first?" Don shrugged back, making the other turtle glare, irritated. Enough with the shrugging!

"Leo doesn't exactly answer to us, does he? As long as Master Splinter knows where he is, then he's fine, right?" Donatello's logical mind made sense enough to Raph, but he wanted to check and make sure. Something just didn't feel right to him.

He strode out of the lab and headed for Master Splinter's room, where he could already see the lit candles through the walkway. The ninja master was sitting, in deep meditation, in front of his small table, that Raphael knelt in front of. Master Splinter raised his head slightly, to acknowledge his son's presence there, but didn't say anything. Raph knew it was a test of his patience, but he couldn't help but tap his finger on his muscular leg impatiently, annoyed.

Two minutes later,

"Master Splinter, Leo's g-"

"Raphael." His sensei's voice was sharp. "Patience is a virtue that you must learn to express." The turtle gritted his teeth and nodded, trying to look like he was agreeing. The rat eyed his son.

"Now, what were you going to tell me?"

"Master Splinter, Leo's gon-"

"Sensei, the pool's on fire!" Mikey shoved his head inside the doorway, practically jumping with a panicky look on his face. The two frowned in unison at the flustered turtle.

"Come again?" Raphael was now both frustrated and confused. How can the pool be on fire?

"The pool's on fire! It's burning! The water is burning! We're all going to die!"

"Mikeyy..." Raph could hear Don's groan from the other side of the main room. "Water can't burn. Its particles have no adhesion to..." He must've seen Mikey's confusion through the back of his head because he stopped and sighed, while Raphael and Splinter walked into the room and stared in shock at the flames now rippling across the water's surface. Don was attaching a nozzle to some kind of machine as he explained,

"That's not water burning, it's oil. Somehow, oil got spread all over the pool and it's burning. I'll put it out in a second." While Mikey panicked, his brother turned on the nozzle and efficiently sprayed smoky air that extinguished the fire. He looked quite proud of himself.

"Why is there oil on our pool? Who put it there?" Raphael demanded, wanting answers and wanting them now. "And will someone please tell me where Leo wen-"

"Look!" Mikey was pointing upwards, toward the rafters of the room. Hanging on a wire was a bucket that was still dripping oil. They all gaped at it, while Raphael tried to refrain from putting Mikey's head in the nearest brick wall.

"Who put that there?" Mikey wanted to know. "It's, like, twenty feet in the air. How did someone put it there?"

"The aliens did it. They always do." Donatello told him. Raphael gritted his teeth again and said, as calmly as was possible,

"Mikey. Get it down, er, please." Michelangelo looked stunned.

"Do mine ears decieve me? Did my dear brother just use the word please?" His dear brother was trying to keep from having a frustrated coronary.

"Just get it down and soon!" He snapped, and Mikey quickly took Don's bo staff and bent it, propelling himself at the bucket and grabbing it neatly as he shot by and swung onto a rafter. He tossed it to Don and, a little nervously,

"So, uh, how do I get down?" Raph smiled.

"You don't." He enjoyed the horror on Mikey's face before Don intervened and reminded the upset turtle that he walk across the rafter to the wall and climb down it. Shamefaced, Mikey made his way down the rafter, walking like a tight-rope walker. Watching him, Raphael made sure to keep his small anxiety in a hidden box in the back of his mind, and casually asked Donatello what he thought of the bucket.

"What I think? It's a cheap brand, for one thing. I don't know if it has any fingerprints, but I'll check once Mikey gets down. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that someone set this up. He'd need a source of fire to light up the oil of course, but someone had to set this up. Someone was trying to scare us."

Raphael snorted, but Master Splinter held up a finger and the two turtles listened raptly to his wise words.

"Think, my sons. Who would want to do this?" Mikey skipped to their side and scratched his head.

"The Foot? The Purple Dragons? They probably haven't forgiven us for last time." Don disagreed, saying,

"They want to kill us, not scare us. Why would they bother with this, when they could simply attack us outright, or hire an assassin? This probably doesn't involve either of them. They hate us too much to set a fire in our house and not push us into it." Raph nodded, eyes narrowed. He sincerely wished Leo was here to be doing the hard thinking. Wait..

"Guys. You don't think this has anything to do with Leo not being here?" He looked at Splinter. "That was what I was trying to ask you. Do you know where he is?" The rat shook his head, troubled.

"I do know that he went out for a training session, but that was two hours ago." Mikey's eyes were wide.

"We know he's an overachiever, but that's a little long, even for him.." Raphael gritted his teeth, flexing his aching jaw. I'm gonna to lose a tooth if I didn't stop gritting them. He thought, before saying decisively,

"Okay, that settles it. We're going to go out and find him. But first, Don, you try and get finger prints or a label off that tub. Mikey, you call April and Casey, just to make sure he isn't at their house. I'll call his shell cell." They all nodded, the younger turtles going to their jobs while Splinter stood still and watched as Raph dialed and put the phone to his ear. It rang and a deep voice, much deeper than Leo's and definitely not his, answered.

"Who's this?" Raphael demanded instantly. "Why d'ya have Leo's phone?" The voice answered calmly,

"If Leonardo is a walking turtle, then my answer is: I took it from him. I suppose you have a problem with that?" Splinter watched Raphael's face go from worry to surprise to fury in all of five seconds with concern. He knew something was wrong.

"Like hell I do! What'd you do to him?" The voice went even deeper, if possible.

"Not much, but why don't you ask him yourself?" Before Raphael could say anything, he heard Leo's voice, alarmingly weak, say,

"Raph? Whatever you do, don't come after me! There's-" The sound of flesh hitting flesh and Leo's grunt made Raph's jaw muscle flex until he thought he was going to snap a tooth.

"Back off!" He yelled into the cell. "Leo, someone tried to burn the lair! We're coming after you, whether you like it or not! So where are you?" Before his brother could answer, the deep voice came back onto the phone.

"He isn't able to answer your question right now. I'd suggest you follow his advice and stay put. It'll make this a lot easier on you." There was a click as he hung up. Raph struggled to remain calm enough to draw in a breath, turned, walked slowly to the brick wall under his Master's concerned eye, and then punched it, as hard as he could. Ignoring Splinter's startled protest, he ran past a confused Mikey and into Don's lab.

"Get the fingerprints lifted, now. Then get the elevator ready to take us to the truck. Somebody thinks he's gonna get away with kidnapping Leo and he's got another thing coming."