Chapter 2: Noise
Leo's POV
The cool night air blows gently against my face as I run, and I breathe deep, feeling refreshed after the stale and stagnant air in the sewers. My mask tails flap behind me, softly striking my shell with the rhythm of my footfalls. Run, run, run, leap! Run, run, run, leap! It is a rhythm that has become second nature to me after all the nights I've spent traversing the rooftops of the city with my brothers. I cannot help but feel a sense of pride in the absolute silence of my movements. I am one with the shadows. No one would ever be aware of my approach, if it weren't for. . .
"Booyakasha! Donnie, did you see that? That was a totally perfect double back flip, bro!"
I groan inwardly. Despite all our years of ninjutsu training, my youngest brother still hasn't grasped the concept of stealth. I briefly consider reprimanding him, but that conversation tastes stale from overuse. I decide to ignore it this time and don't even bother glancing back at him. Instead I share a knowing look with Raphael who is keeping up my pace directly beside me.
Together we leap across a narrow alleyway, and as we land on the next rooftop I spare a quick glance of concern toward my immediate younger brother. I must've been doing that a lot tonight because Raph rolls his eyes in annoyance and says, "Shut up, Leo. I'm fine!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"No, but you were thinkin' it."
Okay, so that's true. It's been less than a week since Raphael was laid up with a badly sprained ankle, courtesy of FishFace. I was hesitant to let Raph come out on patrol with us tonight so soon after his injury, but Donnie declared him fully recovered. And indeed he is showing no sign of weakness or pain whatsoever. Donnie has explained before that the mutagen in our systems helps us to heal faster than humans do, so I guess Raph has that to thank tonight.
As we continue to race across the rooftops, I turn my attention back to the streets far below, keeping a lookout for any sign of suspicious or criminal activity. Apart from the never ending chatter from my loud-mouthed little brother, the night is quiet. I listen carefully to every sound coming from the streets below. A car horn beeps. Tires screech. A man hails a taxi. A woman calls to her friend. A cell phone rings. A door slams. All these sounds together make the normal hum of the city. Just ordinary people going about their ordinary business. There seems to be no sign of the Kraang, or the Foot, or -
"Not even any Purple Dragons out tonight!" Raph growls in frustration. "My first night out all week and there aren't any heads to bash!"
Okay, I know that I should be glad that there aren't any bad guys out hurting people or causing trouble. A peaceful night is a good thing, right? But the truth is, Raph has been cooped up in the lair all week, going stir crazy and driving everyone else nuts. I admit I was hoping for some action tonight, if only for Raph to have an opportunity to let out his pent-up frustrations on someone other than Mikey. And, yeah, I guess I do enjoy beating up a few bad guys myself. . . But it doesn't look like it's going to happen tonight.
"Alright, guys," I call over my shoulder without slowing my pace. "We'll split up and make a perimeter around China Town, checking for any Purple Dragon activity. Donnie and Mikey, you take the east side, Raph and I will take the west. We meet on the opposite end, and then head home."
Raph nods in disgruntled acquiescence. But glancing behind me, I doubt whether my two youngest brothers heard my order at all. Donnie is moving along with mechanical precision, but his face is vacant. His mind clearly elsewhere, he has succeeded in tuning out all noise around him. And no wonder. Mikey has chosen him as the audience for his latest fantastical story.
"Dude! You should've seen it! Ice Cream Kitty was all like, 'Hyaaaa! Hya! Wah!' and she totally kicked butt on those mutant pandas with her brain-freezing powers. And then I was like . . ."
I turn around again with a sigh. Is there anything that could make Mikey be quiet? I sigh again as I leap across another alley and land on the next rooftop before halting and turning back to watch the other three follow suit. Mikey manages to execute a handspring and a back flip across the alley, all without pausing the unending flow of his chatter. He lands in front of me, still directing his words at the unresponsive Donatello.
". . . And then the pandas came back with new recruits and you'll never guess what kind of mutants they were!"
"Mikey!" I'm quite annoyed with him at this point, but he takes no notice whatsoever.
"They were centipede fish with laser swords!"
Oh, he is seriously lucky there are no enemies out tonight. "Mikey!"
Finally, he stops talking and turns toward me, his mouth still partly open. Noting the disappointed glare on my face, he has the decency to look sheepish. "Oh, heh heh. Sorry, Leo. I guess I was being too loud, huh?"
I simply raise an incredulous eye ridge at him, but Raph scoffs sarcastically, "Ya think?"
"Okay, maybe I should have been quieter, but Donnie wanted to hear the end of the story, right Donnie?"
"What?" splutters Donnie, who obviously doesn't appreciate this being pinned on him when he hadn't been listening to Mikey at all. "Wait a minute! I never said. . ."
"Forget it, Donnie." I wave my hand dismissively. Now that I finally have their attention, I repeat my order to split up and scope out China Town.
Mikey mock-salutes me with a grin. "Sure thing, bro!" And in a flash he is gone, bounding over the rooftops in the direction I indicated, with Donnie close behind him. Well, he may be obnoxious, but at least he follows orders without question.
Raph and I traverse the west side of China Town in complete silence, now that Mikey is no longer with us. An unuttered competition arises between us to see who can be the stealthier ninja. We disappear almost entirely into the shadows, until it is even hard for me to detect where my brother is. No one else would have a clue we are even there. This fills me with a sense of pride and satisfaction at our mastery of this skill. I roll and duck into the shadows, moving swiftly along the roof of a particularly long apartment complex. We are nearing our rendezvous point now.
Suddenly, at exactly the same instant, Raph and I come to a complete halt, on opposite sides of the roof, standing absolutely still in watchful silence. Something in the alley below has put all our senses on high alert. We are both hidden almost entirely in the darkness, and yet acutely aware of each other's position. From our vantage point we can survey the back of the abandoned fortune cookie factory across the alley. Almost instantly I see the source of our unease.
Deep in the alley below, a darker patch in one of the shadows shifts slightly. The shape of a claw moves into deeper darkness. A few feet away I catch a glint of steel and slimy scales reflecting the light of a street lamp. I glance over to Raph, who meets my gaze with an excited grin and nods. Rahzar and FishFace are hiding below. In one silent bound, I am at my brother's side, gazing down at the evil mutants. He has a better view from here, and I can see that the two goons are staring at the roofs in the opposite direction, as if they're waiting for something. They seem to be preparing for an ambush. I wonder whom they're waiting for, but then it occurs to me. The building they're staring at is a location where we've often run into them before. They must think we'll appear in that place again.
"They're waiting for us," Raph says in an almost inaudible whisper.
I nod in agreement.
"Well, then, let's give them a surprise and ambush them!"
I grin at my brother, for once in agreement with his plan. Raph's sai glint in the street light as he readjusts his hold on them. I reach for my katanas as we both crouch down in preparation to spring on our enemies.
"Booyakasha!" The silence is shattered. I close my eyes in exasperation as my youngest brother bounces up behind us, completely giving away our position. So much for being stealthy. . . Raph growls in equal annoyance, noticing our enemies' heads turn sharply in our direction.
"Dudes! Donnie and I totally stopped a robbery back there! There were these Purple Dragon guys, and they were acting all suspicious around the antique store, and I just knew they were about to rob it, and then - "
"Mikey!" I don't even try to hide my severe annoyance this time. "Can't you ever be quiet?"
"What? I was just - " He is cut off abruptly as Rahzar makes it to the top of the roof. A second later FishFace stands beside him, grinning his evil, fishy grin. Realization dawns on Mikey's face, and the four of us react with trained swiftness. Before anyone can blink, all our weapons are drawn and we've assumed a defensive battle stance.
"You two were about to ambush these guys, weren't you?" Donnie directs his question at me and Raph.
"Yeah," I answer, annoyance still strong in my voice. "We were, until Mikey gave us away with his loud mouth!"
"Who cares?" Raph shrugs, spinning his sai in preparation of battle. "I've been itching to hit somethin' all night, and these guys are my favorite punching bags!" He looks positively excited that these mutants showed up.
"What are you doing here, Raphael?" asks FishFace angrily. "Shouldn't you be in bed, writhing in agony?" He glances at Raph's recently healed ankle.
Raph scoffs derisively. "And miss an opportunity to bash your ugly face in? I believe I owe you a beat down!" And with that, he leaps at FishFace, brandishing his sai.
I turn my attention to the skeletal dog growling menacingly in front of me, my body tense, ready for anything. The grunts and shouts and other sounds of Raph and FishFace clashing in combat a few feet away do not distract my focus. My katanas, held threateningly toward Rahzar, flash in the light of a nearby building as I glare at the mutant.
"You turtles are going down!" he growls. "For good this time!"
From behind me, I hear Mikey laugh mockingly. "Oh really? Well, I hope you brought some more friends, then! It takes more than your two sorry butts to take us down!" His nunchucks twirl as he prepares to leap at the former martial arts legend.
"Just you wait, turtle," he snarls in response. "I'm going to silence that obnoxious voice of yours forever!"
Okay, I know that five minutes ago I was wishing myself that Mikey would be silent, but it is something else entirely to hear an enemy threaten him like that. After all, we all know what he really means by that, and if he thinks I'm going to sit passively by and let him kill my baby brother, he's got another thing coming.
With a yell, I charge at Rahzar, my blades singing as I twirl them and strike with perfect form, the product of years of practice and discipline. As my body moves with smooth precision, delivering stroke after stroke, I feel strangely alive. The joy of practicing my beloved art, the pleasure of the battle, the satisfaction of a blow well struck, all these feelings course through my body on the back of adrenaline as my heightened senses pick up everything around me.
A clang and a grunt as Raphael's sai blocks a blow from Xever's switchblade. A yelp from Rahzar as my blade nicks his shoulder. A shout from Donnie and the twirling of his bo as I am suddenly aware of the presence of new enemies. Never taking my focus off the mutant dog I am engaged in fighting, I spin around to check the status of my two youngest brothers. I am not surprised to see the rooftop swarming with dozens of Footbots. Apparently the mutants did bring some friends along. Donnie and Mikey are in full battle mode, taking down bot after bot with systematic ease. Mikey laughs in their faces, shouting "Booyakasha!" as he takes down three at once with his kusarigama.
I return my full attention to the skeletal dog attacking me. My brothers will be fine. Any of us can defeat Footbots with little effort. Rahzar, on the other hand, takes a bit more concentration.
Bradford swipes at me with his claws, but I easily duck and dodge to the left, intentionally moving several paces along the rooftop, hoping to lead the mutant canine away from my younger brothers. They have enough to deal with at the moment. It seems to work, as he lumbers toward me with a growl. As I continue to flip out of his way, I pass by Raph just as he triumphantly stabs his sai into the joints of FishFace's robot legs, causing them to short circuit. This leaves the fish mutant flopping helplessly on the rooftop. Raph gloats over him a moment, then turns around just as Rahzar bears down upon me.
Seeing that Mikey and Donnie have already nearly defeated all the Footbots, Raph joins me in the fight against Rahzar. With the help of my sai-wielding brother, I soon send the mutant dog wounded and fleeing from the scene, dragging FishFace helplessly along with him. I watch for a few moments to make sure they're gone. They won't be taking out any of my brothers tonight!
I turn toward the two youngest, grinning in triumph at our victory, expecting to hear another "Booyakasha!" - one I'd finally approve of. Strangely, it doesn't come.
Wait, where is Mikey? As I turn around, all I see is Donnie standing there alone, surrounded by the twitching bodies of disabled Footbots, the last one emitting sparks from the naginata still embedded in its head. Mikey is nowhere to be seen.
