"Are you sure this is the right address?" Mikey peered over the lip of the roof they were on at the building across the street.
"Yes, Mikey, I'm sure. This is the address April gave us. The dog's owners live in one of the apartments in this building." Raph answered, bored. "And if you ask me again, I'm going to march you across the street and implant your face against the number plate on the building so you can see for yourself."
"Look, Mikey." Leo knelt down next to him and smiled at him reassuringly as he directed Mikey's attention down towards a man and two children sitting anxiously on the steps, constantly peering up and down the streets. "I bet those humans there are Rousby's owners that April had called. The kids are up awfully late otherwise. I bet after April called him, the dad woke the kids up, just so they'll be really happy once April and Casey walk around that corner."
"Oh, I bet you're right Leo!" Mikey wiggled with excitement, watching the humans' faces intently. "I hope they like the bow I picked out!"
"April and Casey should be here by now." Donnie frowned, glancing at his phone and worrying. "You don't suppose the dog got away from them, do you? I mean, he's obviously already broken one leash before. I knew I should gone with a reinforced material for the new leash instead of that store bought one Casey said he had."
"Donnie, stop worrying. That's my job." Leo stood up and punched the taller turtle's arm playfully. "I'm sure they'll be here any minute."
As if on cue, the kids gave a cry of delight as April, Casey, and a freshly washed golden retriever sporting a rather overly large glittery green bow stepped around the corner.
"Rousby Woof! You came home!"
The turtles could hear the kids' overjoyed cry from even their rooftop perch, and Rousby Woof barked excitedly, yanking Casey along to plow into them. The father, sporting a grin that almost reached from one ear to another, jogged up to join his two children, now rolling on the ground with the ecstatic dog who's tail seemed to be a blur. He quickly turned to April and Casey, and was obviously thanking them profusely, though the turtles couldn't hear what he was saying.
"Dawwwww." Mikey gushed, chin in his eyes and watching the scene unfold with a huge grin on his face.
Leo couldn't help the smile growing on his face as well. Sometimes they saved the world from an alien invasion. Sometimes they just got a lost dog home to his humans. And both types of victories felt immensely gratifying. He put his hands on his hips, proud of his team, and gave his best 'Captain Ryan' voice. "Turtles? We did good today."
"Yeah. Guess it wasn't a total waste of time after all." Raph was leaning against a wall, but a grin was on his face as well.
"And I made sure the official I spoke with was aware of just how high a priority it was to clean up that chemical spill. He assured me it would be looked into right away." Donnie nodded. "I would say that tonight was a positive. Even if we didn't get my astronmic conversion amplifier." he sighed with a tinge of regret in his voice.
"Dude, even if we didn't find your thing, I got myself plenty of awesome swag!" Mikey said enthusiastically, scrambling over to his stuffed Hello Kitty bag. "Did you guys want to see?!"
Leo chuckled and walked over to take a seat next to him. "Alright then, Mikey, show us what you got."
Mikey dove into his bag happily, pulling out various items, and explaining his reasoning for each item. Some old frisbees for the frisbee disk course he wanted to set up in the sewer, a snowglobe of the Statue of Liberty so he could take the statue out and use it in the diorama of the Godzilla scene he was recreating, some metal cogs that he thought would come in handy at some point for Donnie, an old checkered tablecloth that he was going to use for a super secret sewing project that he couldn't reveal just yet (which made all three of his brothers nervous), some rope, a couple of forks and spoons with unusual patterns on them, a rubber toy fish that squeaked when you squeezed it, and, a red contraption about the size of a breadbox that had the words 'Astronmic Conversion Amplifier' on the side.
"Mikey!" Donnie half gasped, half squeaked as he scooped up the device. "My astronmic conversion amplifier! You found it!"
"Ooooh!" Mikey's eyes lit up. "So THAT's what we were looking for! Ha!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And I just thought it would be a good doorstop for my bedroom door!"
"You... you would use a astronmic conversion amplifier as a doorstop?!" Donnie looked horrified, and sputtered. "Do you... do you even know what it is?! How valuable it is? How long I have wanted one?!" He clutched the red box close to his plastron and pet it lovingly. "With this baby, I'll be able to accurately double the effectiveness of my subsonic power couplings!"
"Uh huh, uh huh, so that's interesting..." Mikey obviously wasn't interested at all.
"So, Mikey, did you know that was what Donnie was looking for, or did you actually stuff something random in your bag that turned out to be the right item?" Raph frowned.
"To be honest, I kind of tuned Donnie out when he was talking about it." Mikey admitted cheerfully, putting his treasures back into his bag. "I just thought the thing looked cool."
Leo shook his head in disbelief. Was his youngest brother really as clueless as he acted, or did he just pretend because he got a huge kick out of watching his brothers panic constantly over his seemingly mindless decisions? Seeing how amused Mikey seemed to get watching them freak out, Leo often found himself wondering.
Noticing that Casey and April seemed to be saying their goodbyes, and the human family, now with their dog once more, were heading back inside, Leo stood up, brushing himself off.
"Alright, turtles. I think we're done here, but it's still pretty early in the night. What do you say we get a good training run across the rooftops in?"
"Maybe another night, Leo." Donnie said absently, still looking over his new toy. "I need to get back to my lab, hook this up to my computer, and see how this baby runs. It looks like it's in excellent condition, but I might need to make a few tweaks to it before I can really start getting the power boost I'm looking for. Ooh!" His eyes sparkled as he thought of something. "I should ask April if she would be willing to help!"
Raph thumbed down towards the humans below. "Me and Casey were going to hit the rink together for a bit tonight. He wanted to work on his hockey practice and his fighting skills." Raph gave a wicked grin and slammed his fists together. "I figured I'd help him out with both."
"Mikey?" Leo turned towards the youngest hopefully.
"'Ultimate Titan City Rampage', brah!" Mikey stuck his tongue out playfully and flashed the 'hang loose' hand sign. "Don't think I've forgotten about that sweet cellophane plastic still waiting to be ripped off the case."
Leo frowned. "Aw, come on, guys. We haven't done a rooftop run, all four of us together, in over a week now. We need to keep in shape!"
Raph frowned. "Is that an order, mighty Sensei?"
While he kept his normal, sarcastic tone, there was a slight undercurrent of tenseness in his voice. While Raph had long ago accepted and followed Leo as a leader, Leo as sensei was still sensitive territory for them all at the moment. Leo had been trying to walk that tightrope carefully, and had built up enough authority to know that if he pushed it tonight, they would reluctantly obey, but they would also greatly resent it. His brothers were keeping up with their training fairly well, and he was not going to make a scene and force them to drop their plans just because he missed running with them.
Leo sighed. "No. I'm not ordering you guys as your Sensei, Raph. I plan on taking that run regardless, and I was just hoping for some company." He arched an arm over his head and pulled it a few times, stretching the muscles. "But as your leader, I will give the following orders; Raph, make sure you and Casey don't get into too much trouble. Donnie, I know how you get when you're looking at a new toy that way, please keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Mikey, don't sit too close to the tv, don't eat too much junk food, and I am making sure you take a short break when I get back, just so you're warned."
Mikey narrowed his baby blue eyes in challenge. "You'll have to pry the controller from my hands with a crowbar, big bro."
"I'll figure out a way. Don't doubt that." Leo smirked as he finished stretching, then his face grew a little more serious. "See you guys back in the lair later, then. Stay in the shadows, guys, and stay safe."
"You too, Leo." Raph nodded, his cocky smile relaxed and friendly once more as he stood up and cracked his knuckles. "I'm off to go get Casey."
"And I have GOT to show April this!" Donnie was still turning his new gadget over in his hands, only half paying attention to everybody else. "Later, Leo!"
Leo nodded, smiled at them, and then he was off running, disappearing over a roof.
Over the railing, one, two, three steps over the roof, a leap off the edge and a flip to align his body to the perfect angle required. His foot tapped the brick wall, knees coiling and snapping forward to powerfully rocket him in the new direction, between two buildings. Bounce, bounce, lightly from wall to wall, gaining height, twisting his body about to grab a railing, legs swinging up and over his body, arms straightened, muscles working perfectly to propel himself up into the air, knees tucked in for a somersault, landing lightly on the next rooftop, and then with not even a scrap of the gravel below his feet, he pushes forward again, as silent as a shadow as he flew across the buildings.
Leo felt his breath expand his lungs every time he inhaled, and he reveled in the feeling of his strong muscles working in powerful harmony, his body being honed to perfection, a living, dangerous weapon able to respond and react to whatever task he asked of it.
He couldn't understand why his brothers didn't find training as exhilarating as he did.
Grabbing the metal railing of a ladder on a wooden water tower, he paused and hung there for a moment, catching his breath and enjoying the feeling of the cool night wind against his green scaled skin. Even with the ever present sounds of the city whirring and honking in the background, it still felt so quiet and peaceful up here. Then his face grew a little wistful. Maybe a little too quiet lately. It was times like this, sitting up here by himself on a rooftop in an unfamiliar part of the city, that he realized how lonely it could be.
His third eyelid slid over his sapphire blue eyes, giving his eyes that now rather infamous white, pupil-less glare, dangerous and feral.
Of course, being alone wasn't always so bad.
Now the question was, how did he let this scenario play out? Did he keep on pretending he wasn't aware, and try to turn the tables on whoever was shadowing him? Ambush the ambusher, so to speak? Or did he call them out and confront them?
He had wondered at first if it had been one or more of his brothers. Maybe they had a change of heart, and decided to test his skills with some impromptu ninja practice. Or maybe, he had hoped more then he'd admit, Karai decided to come out to play, something she hadn't done in ages.
But he since had ruled all that out. Whoever it was that was following him, it was not Karai, nor any of his brothers. In fact, it didn't move like at all like a ninja, which made the fact that he was having so much trouble sensing anything about it all that more frustrating.
It's unnatural abilities to blend into the shadows was one of the reasons he was reluctant to try to double back and sneak up on it himself. He had no small opinion of himself as a ninja, but there were just too many unknown variables here. There was no guarantee he could even succeed at such an attempt, or what he would find if he did. He briefly considered calling his brothers, but if he were honest with himself at the moment, he had absolutely nothing to go on except his sixth sense telling him that he was being skillfully shadowed. His brothers wouldn't be entirely thrilled to get pulled away for an emergency call with no evidence that there actually was an emergency.
No, he finally decided. He couldn't run away from whoever this was all night, but he, obviously, couldn't head home until the situation was dealt with. His best course of action would be to end to this game on his terms, and see how this all played out.
Not wanting to give away the fact that he was alerted to his stalker's presence just yet, he casually stretched, shook, then took off running again, this time heading towards the junkyard on the hill they had been at earlier. There would be a good place to make a stand, he had a variety of options if things went bad. The junkyard could make for a strategic battleground if the worst should happen, it was close to a sewer opening if he found the need to take cover there, or, if things went really, really bad, he could turn and run back into the city buildings if a flat out 'tactical retreat' at top speed turned out to be the best option.
He leapt off the final building, swung around to grab the fire escape, and gracefully slid down the metal ladder rails. One leap took him to the top of the chain link fence surrounding the junk yard, and then he was running along top of it, moving along the thin metal bar as easily as if it were a stroll down a street. There was a large tree up ahead, and he launched off the fence to land in one of the branches.
There, hidden in the shadow of the leaves, he crouched, waiting and watching.
A gust of wind blew some old papers and a plastic bag around in a whirl, and down by the pond, he could hear the bullfrog starting its croak once more.
It was quiet, and every indication seemed to point to the fact that he was the only one out here.
He didn't feel foolish, though. He trusted his instincts.
There. A rustle of dead leaves that wasn't caused by the wind. A whisper of a shadow that didn't quite match the flickering branches in the street light.
Leo silently drew a sword, white eyes narrowed.
And then the creature stepped out of the shadows into the light, and Leo gripped his sword even tighter, his breath hitching.
For as silent and stealthy as that thing had been, it was huge, probably almost seven feet tall, and it was terrifying. Eight large spindly legs extended from the thick, bulbous spider body, and while it had a rather humanoid torso with a pair of arms with four-fingered hands, bringing its limb count up to a staggering ten, it's features were far from human, with its face bearing large mandibles in place of a mouth, and black, multi-faceted eyes that glittered like polished gemstone in the light. Its exoskeleton was a charcoal grey, and its torso was draped in a black and grey cloth sash, pinned in place by a metal clasp.
Clothing. That meant that it was probably from an intelligent race. Leo frowned as he studied it from his sheltered perch. It didn't look like a mutant, at least any that he and his brother had come across. An alien, perhaps? The closest thing he could think of to describe it was a drider, the spidery hybrid creatures from the fantasy adventure novels that they had collected over the years in their lair.
The drider, for Leo wasn't sure what else to call it, stepped cautiously closer to the tree, but paused a fair distance away, as if unsure what to do next. It finally crossed its arms over his chest and gave a slight bow.
Leo watched it for a moment. Obviously, it knew he was up here, and it hadn't made any hostile movements so far. In fact, everything seemed to indicate that the creature desired a peaceful interaction. Sure, the gigantic spider creature looked terrifying and scary, but how many humans thought that about him and his brothers at first glance? Was it really fair of him to think of it as a monster just based on its looks, considering the circumstances of his own family? Leo debated his options for a moment or two, then sheathed his sword and cautiously dropped from the tree. With a blink, his nictitating membrane slid back in his eyes, revealing the sapphire blue irises once again, and he watched the drider warily, but politely returned the bow.
There was a moment of silence as they stood there. Leo couldn't read the other creature's emotions with those bright black glittering eyes, and it unnerved him a little.
Finally, he spoke up. "Who are you? Why are you following me?"
The drider tilted its head, then shook it and began chittering in some insect-like language that Leo couldn't begin to understand or mimic.
"Um, okay?" Leo's muscles were tensed and ready to move quickly if needed. He tried to keep his tone calm and neutral. "I'll be honest here, I can't understand anything you're saying. Can you understand me?"
The drider looked at him, and Leo thought he could detect some uncertainty in the creature's features.
"Do... you... need... help?" Leo enunciated each word slowly and carefully.
The drider looked undecided for a moment, then sighed with obvious frustration. Leo got the feeling that it couldn't understand him any more the he could understand it. The creature took a step towards him, and he tensed and put a hand up on a sword hilt. Seeing him react so negatively to its advance, it stopped, holding up its hands in front of it and chittering again in that language. It shook its head while pointing at Leo's swords, and then gestured towards Leo, then itself, and then down toward the pond at the base of the hill they were on.
Leo frowned, trying to figure out what the creature wanted. Finally, he shook his head. It was time to call his brothers. Maybe Donnie could make some sense of this. Mikey wouldn't be a bad idea either, his youngest brother seemed to have a way of connecting with large, terrifying creatures. Raph... Well... Hm. There were few that could match his hot headed brother in battle, but this situation involved diplomacy and a gigantic creepy crawly. Two of Raph's weaknesses. Maybe Raph could be convinced to bring up the Shellraiser? From a distance?
But as Leo reached down towards his belt towards the tPhone, the drider tensed up and hissed. At this aggressive sound, Leo's hand instead shot up to his sword hilt again, and he took a step back, ready to draw the steel at any second.
The drider shook its head emphatically, then once again pointed at Leo, itself, then down by the pond, though this time more insistently.
"You want me to go with you somewhere." Leo eyes widened as he realized what the drider was trying to tell him. Then he narrowed his eyes stubbornly and clenched his jaw, his hand still ready on the sword hilt. "Well, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without my brothers. If you want me to go somewhere, then you let me get them and we'll discuss it with them."
The drider's black diamond eyes seemed to narrow with dangerous determination, and once again, it pointed at Leo, then itself, then down the hill. And this time Leo got the impression that this was not simply a request, but a non-negotiable demand.
"No." Leo said flatly, drawing his sword, eyes turning white once more.
Down by the pond at the bottom of the hill, the bullfrog continued its song, and a cool night breeze rustled through the cattails, causing them to bob and wave in the laziest of dances. The water lapped up against the muddy landing, and a few insects buzzed around each other, before darting off somewhere in the night.
At the edge of the water, a small pond turtle slowly made its way across the thick mixture of mud and clay, leaving small footprints in the soggy clay that quicky filled with minute pools of water as it dragged itself up towards the long weeds that grew thick here. A broad leaf dangled from the small grassy bank, waving temptingly in the breeze. The small turtle eyed the leaf hungrily, then slowly stretched out it's neck, extending from its shell to take a bite of the enticing greenery.
WHOMP!
Leo grunted as he was slammed down hard on his shell into the mud, inches from the pond water, with the drider pinning him from above. The impact was enough to knock his sword out of his grasp. Oh, god, this thing was so much faster and stronger then he had expected! And legs! There were so many legs to keep track of!
It hissed at him as it pinned his arms down in the mud with two of said limbs, and Leo's eyes widened in horror as the drider's hands went down to its sash, pulling out two wickedly sharp looking knives and deftly plunging them down toward's Leo's chest! Leo quickly calculated its center of balance and kicked up towards its thorax, hoping to throw it off, but already realizing that he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to prevent the knives from striking first.
There was a harsh tearing noise, but surprisingly no pain, then Leo's kick connected with perfect accuracy, sending the drider teetering then tumbling. But instead of getting knocked off of him, the drider twisted to grab him by the plastron as it tucked its body skillfully to turn the fall into a graceful roll. As Leo was pulled along and out of the mud, he felt his sword belt and gear slide off, left behind in the mud where he had been slammed.
The drider had used its knives not to hurt him, but to cut the leather straps of his gear, Leo realized with cold shock. His remaining sword, his shurikens, smoke bombs, grappling hook, tPhone, everything. It was all laying back there in the mud! With one move, he had been almost completely disarmed!
Leo gave a grunt as their roll ended up with him pinned plastron down underneath the drider in the grass, the creature's knives deftly sheathed once more. Well, it seemed like it wasn't trying to kill him. That was good. Leo couldn't understand the stream of hisses and clicks, but if he had to guess, he'd bet the spider creature was muttering curses at him, so it obviously wasn't happy about how the situation was playing out. It grabbed his arms, forcing them behind his back, and began binding his hands with some sort of lightweight, silky rope. Leo struggled and cursed, but couldn't get free.
"TPhone! Activate the emergency distress signal!" he snapped out, and felt a twang of gratification as he noticed a red light start blinking from his belt laying down by the water. If he got out of this, he would have to remember to thank Donnie for programming in the voice command features. He could faintly hear pulses of buzzing down there, and knew that it was his silenced tPhone vibrating instead of ringing, his brothers' attempts at calling him.
His brothers would get here as fast as they could. He just needed to hang on until then.
The drider hissed, and quickly plucked Leo up off the ground as if he were nothing more then a toy, backing away from the pond and eyeing the buzzing belt anxiously. Obviously, it had no idea what the tPhone was or what it's purpose was, and it seemed almost afraid that it might explode or something.
It carried Leo to what it obviously considered a safe distance, then put the bound turtle down, still eyeing the tPhone suspiciously. After a moment, the drider shook its head, then turned to examine Leo. Leo glared right back at him.
All of the turtles reacted differently to being captured by the enemy. Donnie would try streams of logic and reason on his captors as to why this was all unnecessary and why there could be a peaceful resolution to this, while his brilliant mind spun up elaborate ways to escape. Mikey would be nervously chatting non stop over the most random of subjects, a tactic that usually either annoyed or confused the captor enough that it was surprisingly effective. And, of course, Raph would've been cursing and threatening to the point that even a hardened old pirate would've blanched at the language used.
But Leo? Leo grew silent and glared.
His silent treatment had a few strategies behind it. First and foremost in Leo's reasoning, and so he told his brothers, it was so that when he did escape, the captor would be less likely to notice the sudden absence of noise from their prisoner. And then there was the simple fact that Leo didn't want to give his enemy any information whatsoever, even the satisfaction in knowing just how upset he really was. But probably the main reason, one he probably wouldn't even admit to himself, was that being captured basically caused Leo to fall into a full fledged sulking fit. Being captured usually signaled failure, and he hated to fail at anything.
To make matters all the more aggravating, as the breeze blew past them, he realized that his face felt strangely naked, and then realized with a start that, besides his gear, he had somehow he had lost his mask as well. It must had gotten caught and ripped off during the struggle, though by the drider or a piece of bramble that they had been rolling through, he had no idea. The thought of it added more fuel to the smoldering flames, though. The mask was a symbol to him and his brothers, first given to them when their father had officially graduated them to full fledged ninjas. It was just a strip of cloth, admittably often replaced, but Leo felt like it also held a bit of his identity. Losing that was almost as distressing to him as losing his swords.
The drider's shoulder's drooped a little when he looked down at the seething turtle, and it put a hand on his shoulder as it knelt down, chittering at him. Leo waited until its face got close enough, then suddenly he snapped his now-bare head forward, right into the creature's face between the eyes.
The drider cried out in pain at the crunching headbutt, stumbling back, and Leo rolled away up to his knees, struggling against his bonds as he tried to lunge away. The drider recovered quickly, though, and grabbed Leo by the shell, ending the last ditch escape attempt by hoisting him up like a doll in air in front of it and snarling at him, a trickle of black blood dripping down its face.
It quickly took a deep breath and regain its composure, then growled at Leo as it tucked him under one arm and got up to its eight feet. He cursed inwardly at being carried like a belligerent toddler, and kicked out at the drider, but realized quickly that he was unable to get any purchase or leverage in this position, and thus grudgingly went limp, saving his energy for when he actually would have an opportunity to use it.
Securely bound and helpless to do anything, Leo hoped his brothers could track them as the drider carried him back down the hill, skirting widely around the broken belt laying in the mud with the still-vibrating tPhone, and then, with eight spider legs, easily clambored up into the drain pipe with its prisoner under arm. The drider ducked as it crawled into the culvert, and then they both disappeared into the inky blackness of the sewers.
Author Notes:
My apologies for the lame antagonist. If we're lucky, this is the last we'll ever see of him! I'm sure Leo's fine. Also, my apologies for any geographical errors. I know next to nothing about actual New York, so I make a lot of stuff up. It'll happen a lot throughout this story. And finally, apologies to all Leo fans out there on how easily he got stomped. Seriously, I loves me some badass ninja turtles, Leo especially. Today just wasn't his day
Hm. Probably also should mention that Rouseby Woof is an homage to one of my favorite novels, and not actually a name I came up with. And this will probably be the last we'll ever see of him! Don't worry, he lives happily ever after, I'm sure.