Here's a new version to "Escaping the Past", like I promised. I changed a couple of things which you'll notice as the story goes forward. The main thing that's different is.. a really big plot point actually, so I'm not going to tell :'D Thank you for all the "ETP" readers that decided to check this story out as well! Updates happen on Mondays (hopefully).

Chapter 1

"Me and my brothers. It has always been us against the world. The first few years – I don't remember much of it. Only the danger, the cold and the unfair. The hunger and hurt. The feeling of not belonging. It never bothered me. As long as my brothers could be safe. As long as I'd be with them, and as long as I managed to protect them. Nothing else mattered back then.

But then he appeared. From nowhere. He was not fazed when he spoke to us. He was scary – yes. But Mikey was sick. We had to take the deal or he'd die. The man offered to help us to keep our little family together, alive and healthy. He promised to make us strong.

The next years are a blur of training, rules and punishments. The next thing I actually remember is managing to impress our master by accidentally killing one of his soldiers in training. I apologized crying. He was impressed, and made me join in patrols and train harder so I could accomplish more. I was ten.

I stopped counting the people I had killed when I turned 15. Numbers had always been confusing to me, not so much to Donatello. He had achieved much with Baxter Stockman, experimenting and stuff. I don't really understand what they're always working on.

Me and Raphael were always distant. He was jealous that the master recognized my talent, and left his skills unnoticed. That was because his flaring temper. And he hesitates always before the killing blow. He has potential, but he doesn't work enough.

I am Oroku Leonardo, a proud member of the Footclan, run by Oroku Saki, my master and father."

Foot HQ; Friday September 8th 2012, 8.20PM

Walking the empty long hallways was stressful. He needed action, adrenaline, blood in his hands..

"Leonardo!" The dark blue masked turtle turned around, facing none other than Tigerclaw. A huge tiger mutant from some part of Japan. He was honorable warrior, and dangerous as well. Leonardo respected him, but was above him, which the tiger didn't find pleasing at all.

"I expect you to use more respectful tone when talking to the second in command." Leonardo's voice was firm, and extremely cold. The tiger didn't seem fazed, but continued in a calmer tone.

"Master Shredder requires your presence in his throne room. Your brothers are there as well."

Leonardo nodded quickly, before walking past the mutant, he, however turned around to look into Tigerclaw's yellow eyes. "You are beneath me, never forget that." He walked away, not letting the tiger to say anything in his defense.

When he arrived to the throne room, all his three brothers were there already.

Michelangelo - the youngest of the turtles. He used to be the goofball, now he was the one who couldn't stay focused to the simplest of tasks. Nevertheless, he was the fastest of the brothers. His skills in stealth weren't too bad either. His weapon of choice was nunchaku.

Donatello – second youngest. The inventor, as known as the nerd. He had the largest brain, at least he thought so. Yet, he used the simplest of weapons, a Bo staff.

Raphael – the volcano. You never knew when he'd explode, but it could happen at any second. You always needed to watch your back, and keep an eye out for his deadly sais. He was the strongest of the brothers, no doubt of that.

None of them liked him these days. So without glancing them for too long, Leonardo walked into the large room and bowed in front of his master. "Master Shredder, how can I serve you?" He immediately heard snickering behind him, and after turning to look at the direction of the noise, saw Raphael and Michelangelo looking at him with smug faces.

"Silence!" The Shredder roared, making the room go deadly quiet. "This is why you don't usually work together. You behave like bunch of children! But not with this mission. This is far too important, and you'll understand your match up soon enough. Leonardo, stand up."

The turtle in blue did as told, and rose to his feet rather suspiciously. He had nearly never worked with his brothers in the Foot. It was just too chaotic. None of them listened to him. Whenever he was in charge, he turned to a joke, and it made Leonardo's blood boil. He was the second in command, and he deserved to be respected. And feared.

"You know your brothers Leonardo. And I trust you to unite this team in a way it has never been united before. I trust in you – in your strength and capability to focus. And most importantly, to lead."

Leonardo bowed his head while he felt his brothers' gazes in his back – full of hatred. "And what Is this mission you want us to unite to?" Leonardo asked calmly, ignoring the hate.

"That is not currently important. First I want you to play as a team, to fill other's mistakes. You're opposites. They can be useful within battle, but also destroy eachother." The Shredder's cold gaze met Leonardo and Raphael. "In this following week, you'll learn to fight like you've fought together for years. Because to defeat this enemy, you need teamwork, stealth, planning and the ability to do the unexpected. I want you to be merciless. I know that some of you aren't yet familiar with taking a life, and that is a huge problem in this clan. It's a dog eat dog world out here, and if you don't kill, you'll get killed. If not by the enemy, by me. I'm expecting each one of you in the dojo at the morning exactly at 5am. Each second you're late, one push up. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes master Shredder." All turtles answered in unison. They all left the room not saying a word or even looking at one another.

Unknown, Friday September 8th 2012, 9PM

"Father please! It's only nine, and I studied the whole day like you asked me to. Trust me, I know every detail about the winter war between the Finns and the Soviet Union, can I please go..?" A dark haired girl begged. Her amber eyes shined brightly, while her father chuckled at her over the top begging.

"Alright then. Why did the Finns do so well?" The man tested her daughter who immediately raised her hand grinning. "The other side wasn't prepared to the extreme cold conditions and the Finns knew the land better than they did. Overall, Finland had better strategy. Can I please go now?"

The man chuckled, "alright then. But you have to be home by midnight, you know how the streets of New York get when the dark falls. Who are you going with again?" The girls smiled happily. "A couple of classmates of mine. We're planning on going to a movie, and then to eat somewhere. I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone!" She gave her father a tight hug, and put on her jacket to cover her from the cold autumn winds. "I'll see you in couple of hours. I have a key, so you can lock the door before you'll head to bed." She waved her hand before closing the door and stepping into the elevator. This was going to be awesome!

Central Park, 9.30PM

She arrived just in time, running the last couple of steps over to her friends. "Karai! I'm so glad you made it!" A red haired girl said happily when she appeared from the shadows. "Me too April! It was close, my father really wanted to keep me inside. I managed to convince him though."

"Obviously." It was a new voice, this time a boy. A boy with a dark hair and a gap between his front teeth. "Hey Jones. Apparently you made it as well. What a shame." Karai grinned, and punched his shoulder lightly. "What can I say, you ruined a perfectly good date setting," he sighed while the girls looked at each other with tired expressions.

Chatting, they started to make their way to the movie theatre.

Foot HQ; Friday September 8th 2012, 10.50 PM

Are you fucking kidding me. A mission with my brothers. No offence to them, but they grew up immature and naïve. I just can't really stand them anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'd protect them with my life, but rather not watching them in the process.

Leonardo paced around his small room. A small candle light gave the room some light and warmth, but It surely didn't give any to the young leader. Why should he listen to the insults, or take the questioning his orders. That's the reason master separated them in the first place, why in the fuck would he put them back together when the last time was so disastrous.

He sat down, and took a small pocked knife to his hand. It was sharp enough to cut a small wound to his wrist. He hadn't cut since last time leading his brothers, seemed fitting to do it once more. It wasn't terrible feeling, the blood slowly travelling with the rules of gravity before finally dripping to the ground. The mess was a pain to clean.

Leonardo put the blade away, and wiped the wound so it wouldn't bleed onto the floor any more than it had to. Then he took his journal.

"One becomes four once more."

It was all that he could write, that's all his empty head managed to sum up. Everything felt so confusing and unfair. He missed the simplicity of killing. He had no time for empty relationships or trying to keep his brothers in line. Footbots were easy to control and easy to give orders to. Unlike his annoying little brothers.

Leonardo closed the journal and stared at it for a couple of seconds. It held his thoughts and motives, written in ink to the blank pages. It held pain and suffering, but also moments of celebration and success. He opened the book once more, and started from the beginning. First pages were his brothers' birthdays. How Mikey learned that backflip he'd wanted to master for so long. How Donnie managed to make a potion that healed wounds in hours. And how Raph beat him in training. The father he went, the journal was more about him than his brothers. Leonardo frowned. That how it was supposed to be. He closed the book and threw it to his shelf, that mostly held martial art books in it.

A knock on his door.

Leonardo turned around, and opened the wooden door. His face switched first to confusion, and then annoyance when he saw Michelangelo standing there. He clearly noticed Leonardo's reaction, and stepped in before his blue banded brother could stop him or close the door.

"Leo, what's gotten into you?!" He hissed, and stared into his brother's deep blue eyes. Leonardo only stared back, and revealed his teeth to a deep growl. "What's gotten into me, eh? What's gotten into you three?! I don't know why Shredder thought it would be a good idea to team us up once more, but I'm against it. When I last time said that I never want to work with you again, I meant it. You three betrayed me, and made me look like an absolute fool in front of my master!"

Mikey stepped back, but didn't seem fazed by his brother's rather aggressive behavior. "That's how you remember it, but you can't put your own mistakes on us! If I remember correctly what happened before the incident, that was entirely your fault and lack of -..", his sentence was caught short by a hard slap to his cheek. Mikey's hand was on it immediately. It hadn't hurt too much, but it definitely stung a lot. "What happened to us, Leo?" He whispered. His voice wasn't sad, but somehow distant.

"I'll tell you what happened. We might have been brothers in the past, but now we're living the present. You three can fuck around all you want, but I'm not like you. I've always been better, that's why I am the second in command and not you. I don't need a team, especially not any of you. You take nothing seriously, and everything is a game to you. I'm tired of leading a team of misbehaving children."

"I would have never thought you'd be the one turning on us. You were the caring one, but now he's gotten to you. You've never been the same after the first kill. Leo, you're blind to..-", Leonardo growled deeply. "I see better than any of you three. I said it fifteen years ago, and I say it again; This is the only place for us to live. The only way. And if it means killing off some worthless human beings, then so be it."

He pushed Mikey out of the room, and left the orange banded turtle staring at him in the doorway. "We handle this mission," Leonardo hissed between his gritted teeth. "And then I never want to be in touch with any of you again."

Foot HQ; Friday September 8th 2012, 11.40 PM

"I mean, can you believe it?" Mikey sighed deeply. He had walked immediately to the lab area, where Donatello spent every hour of his life.

"Actually, Michelangelo, I can. He has been a jerk to us for how many years now." He put the screwdriver down, and looked at his brother. "I don't understand why we should act any different towards him than what he is to us."

"Because he's still our brother for god's sake." Mikey groaned. "Shredder changed him, remember when he was just a little?" Donatello rolled his eyes. "I do, but it was a long time ago. People – and mutants – change Mikey. And in this case not for the better. After that night he just hasn't been the same. How long has it been now.. two years?"

"Two years, four months and 5 days dude."

"Right. What I'm trying to say, is that he decided his path, and that path sucks. But I couldn't care less about him right now. It his problem, not ours. Talking about 'ours', how's Raph? That wound he got from training at Wednesday was pretty ugly."

"Better I suppose. I saw him earlier today, and he wasn't happy about training with Leo either." Mikey sighed, and leant to his brother's working desk. Donnie frowned at this and pushed him softly away. "Don't. Any smallest reaction with this chemical could be disastrous. I'm still trying to understand how it actually works." He moved a clear bottle of green goo to another metal table, and lifted a clear glass cover on it. "Whatever you do, don't touch anything in here. All could be potentially dangerous."

"You got it boss." Mikey grinned.