Fear not the Night: Release

Read after Fear not the Night and Fear not the Night: Bottled

Second installment in the One-shot series of Fear not the Night.

Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT.

"Well, fuck me long and hard." Leo announced aloud from his place at the computer. He sat at the dining table near the window of the apartment. The glow from his computer lit his pleasantly amused expression. Naito glanced at him with a sigh and an expression that said: "was that really necessary?"

"What has you so… You?" Naito asked as he approached the table from his place on the couch.

"Well take a look at the message our deranged surgeon left on body number three." Leo said as he turned the computer to Naito. The older terrapin stared at Leo quizzically. "How did you get the entire binary code off the body? It was only on the screen for a few seconds."

Leo tapped his skull with an arrogant smirk. "Photographic memory—and it's not the entire thing. Anyways, the bunch of "0's and 1's" on the victim's body means something when you decode it; I assume you're smart enough to know that right?"

Naito shot him an exasperated look. "You assume correctly. What does the message say?"

Leo pointed a pen at the screen. "Well, each character is made up of eight digits. These eight digits, when converted into decimal form, correspond to one character or letter, if you will. This entire binary code, when translated, reveals quite the message that reads right up your alley." He said with a wink.

Naito's face turned to indignation as he knew that Leo was making fun of him for something. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked and his gaze narrowed suspiciously.

Leo smirked. "Dangerous turtle. Writing hopeless romance. Wasting my talent."

Naito blanched before glaring at his twin brother. "You were going through my Haiku book?"

Leo grinned but ignored his question. "Well, crudely, I was able to make out some of the words in our dearly deranged friend's message: …Nebulous slayer… murder him unlatching… begin to receive. Now, this isn't the entire message, but I think we've got a good idea of what our surgeon was trying to say. He's trying to scare someone into doing something for him, saying that this "nebulous slayer" will be receiving dead bodies and messages until something happens." He pondered aloud.

"This is a speculation, of course, and your opinion is highly valued." He commented the latter as an afterthought.

Naito sighed. "Sometimes I think you just like to hear yourself talk. Anyways, we should probably try to find a pattern in his kills before we start jumping to conclusions; remember what happened with that prostitute?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "As if I could forget. You never leave me alone about it. It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know it was just a 'toy'?"

Naito raised his brows. "You're the award-winning scientist."

"Yeah, for my genealogy research, not for knowing the difference between a torture device and a," He began heatedly.

Naito waved his hands. "Okay, enough, back to the topic. Is there anything that overlaps in his victims? Any prior connections to each other or a single source? Are we dealing with a professional surgeon or a skilled taxidermist?"

Leo glanced back at the screen. "It's too little evidence to tell now, but there might be something. We'll see. Why don't you go ahead and scout his kill sites while I look up on his meat bags? And by that I mean his victims."

Naito sighed at Leo's morbid sense of humor as he started for the window. He opened it and perched on the sill, favoring his left leg. "I'll be back in a few. Should I also pick up dinner?"

Leo was already typing away on his laptop but he nodded. "Yeah, get me a few cheeseburgers. Make sure they don't put onion or pickles and a lot of lettuce. Get me a chocolate milkshake, and don't forget to get the cookies and the napkins. Oh, and the straws."

"Anything else, your highness?" Naito asked with a raised brow.

"Well, if you'd like to also get me some spicy ketchup sauce and a deranged surgeon, that'd be fantastic."

Naito rolled his eyes. "If it were that easy," He muttered before leaping out of the apartment and into the night.

01010000010000010100100101001110

Two police officers stood outside the perimeter of yellow tape that closed off the building that the victim had been found in. They were tired, agitated, and lazy. Naito was able to slip by them, unseen and undetected, through a window despite the constant pain and pressure in his left leg. He made his way into the library and towards the center, passing by troves of books and shelves that reached nearly to the second floor of an open aired three-story building. He found bright yellow markers scattered throughout parts of the library, but saw nothing useful at these markers other than a few misleading dropped pens and pieces of chewed gum.

He frowned and sighed. This was definitely not going to be an easy task. The forensics lab rats had already come by and sifted through everything. He wasn't sure what he'd be able to find. Naito shook his head and went to the area where the body was found. He looked under tables and chairs but found nothing other than a single book.

Naito reached underneath the table and removed the book. He stood up and glanced over the cover. He stared at the smiling turtle on the cover of the book.

"Secrets your pet turtle wants you to know." Naito read aloud. He rolled his eyes and flipped through the book. "The most common name for a turtle is George."

"Turtles don't have vocal cords and they carry salmonella. Well… alright then. I'm done reading that." He sighed with a shake of his head. He tossed the book on the table but noticed a slip of paper fall from the book. He frowned and knelt to pick it up. He unfolded it and looked it over, standing as he did so.

"01010010," Naito began reading quietly but swiftly stopped as a headache built up between his eyes. This was what he'd been looking for. He'd definitely found something from the Binary Butcher, but what it was, he didn't know. He couldn't read binary code and he found that he didn't want to. Instead, Naito tucked the slip of paper into his belt and looked the place over once more before nodding and starting for the exit.

He froze and whirled around at the sound of movement. His crystalline gray gaze narrowed and he reached over his head to wrap a hand around a katana.

He leapt aside as a book smacked the bookcase he had had his shell to. He unsheathed a katana and searched the darkness around him. He turned at the sound of window opening and spotted a slim silhouette outlined in the moonlight. The figure stood there for a moment before slipping out into the night.

Naito stared after it.

01000111010100100100000101011001

Leo's gray gaze searched the glowing computer screen across from him.

He'd found very few similarities between the victims, but what he did find was perturbing. He didn't like it. Every victim had gray eyes at one point. The first two had had their eyes removed and empty sockets had been left in place. This last one, however, had kept his eyes. The previous two died in the hospital shortly after.

Leo sighed and drew his hand across his face. It didn't make any sense to him. Why target people with gray eyes? What was the killer trying to do?

Leave a message?

He searched over the reports he had typed up on the killer and froze. He stared at the screen.

"Shit." He muttered.

He reached across the table for his coffee but his hand brushed against something warm and soft like flesh instead. He swiftly rose to his feet, knocking his chair over as he moved back.

Agent Bishop stood across from him, a smirk on his features. "I always liked how oblivious you are when you work." He said as he removed his hand from the table and took a step forward.

Leo's gaze narrowed and his gray eyes scanned the room for anything other than Bishop. "What are you doing here? I don't owe you anything anymore."

Bishop's smirk grew and he leaned on the table with both hands. "I want your information on Naito's mutation."

Leo glared him down. "No."

"No? I can order for the both of you to be contained for the very same genetics experiments that you designed." Bishop replied smoothly.

Leo studied him. "No you won't. You need me for your super soldier project as well as the maintenance of your failing body problem."

"I have Stockman for that." Bishop said, adjusting his shades.

"He's intelligent, but lacking. I figured you would know that."

"I see that no agreement will be made presently on your brother's information."

"You presume correctly." Leo replied.

"Fine. I'll be back later, perhaps when your brother is here alone. I hear he's… having more trouble climbing these days."

Leo stared him down. "I stand by him. Should you act against him, I act against you."

Bishop straightened and nodded. "I understand perfectly. Until we meet again, Leonardo." He said as he turned and exited the room through the front door. Leo stared at the door and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

Leo nearly jumped out of his shell. He whirled around, coming snout to snout with his twin brother. Naito clung to the edge of the open window, holding a bag that smelt of greasy-fried-food. His crystalline gray eyes watched Leo worriedly.

"Give me a heart attack, would you," He muttered in irritation, moving back to sit at his computer.

"I think the food would do that first." Naito muttered dryly.

Naito entered the apartment, wincing as his leg shot up in icy pain. Leo glanced at Naito, recalling Bishop's words about his brother's injury. He turned back to his laptop, trying to ignore his brother's limp.

Naito set the food on the table and his gaze scanned the apartment. He glanced back at Leo.

"Leo."

"What?"

"Is there anything you think I should know?" He asked.

Leo's gaze rose to meet his. Naito did not look worried or suspicious. He looked at Leo with an unreadable expression. Leo dropped his gaze to the laptop.

"No. Did you get the milkshake and the cookies?"

Naito nodded and removed a slip of paper from his belt before handing it to Leo. His younger brother took the paper and unfolded it. His eyes scanned over the paper swiftly for a moment.

"Well, what does it say?" Naito asked as he moved into the kitchen area.

"I don't know yet." Leo lied as he stared at the paper. He could read binary code, it didn't take him long to figure out what the paper said. He didn't need to decode it. But the paper didn't help him at all, not with his suspicions.

He turned back to the screen. Lisa Gregory. Eli Yusof. Orlando Withers. The three victims in order. It wasn't anything more until he read only the first letters of their names.

L.E.O.

He glanced back at the paper and felt something cold wrap around his heart.

"Riddle me this. Riddle me that. Snap the trap on the tail of the…" The paper read. There was a missing word. It was a rhyme.

He froze, staring at the paper, having figured out the missing word easily.

"Rat." He muttered under his breath.

A/N: And from here we move to the sequel. I'm almost done with my other projects, so in a few weeks the sequel should be up. Please review :) I'm curious to know if you guys know who the killer is... or at least have an idea of who it is!