Ch.4: Fires In A Shadowed Past

Morning rose with the promise of training to come, but Master Splinter was aware at first glance of his students that they had not rested well. All of his sons seemed distracted by something he could not name, the worry reflecting clearly in their eyes. Taking a deep breath, Splinter calmly began to speak.

"My sons" said Splinter "You are distracted, troubled, and that is no easy feat. Tell me, what is wrong?"

There was silence for several seconds before Leonardo dared to speak.

" Master" said Leo " last night we ran into the Foot, and they were searching for Raphael, or rather his Nightwatcher persona. They said they had been hired to do it, but we don't who they work for,"

" Someone you would never want to meet," said Raph.

"What?" said Don, turning to his brother. The others gazes followed as well, Raph stayed silent.

"You found something out didn't you?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, last night," said Raph.

"What?" asked Mikey.

Raph ignored the question and answered with one of his own.

"You remember that time I said I was going to help Casey fix up the old farmhouse?" said Raph.

Leo nodded, it was just before he set out on his pilgrimiage.

"Well" said Raph, with a sigh " I didn't really make it there,"


(Flash Back)

Heart racing a mile a minute, Raphael pounded his legs onto the sturdy studs of the roofs, leaping and bounding across the tops of the New York buildings with the flawless grace of a cat. The cold night air stung his skin, as the full moon glowed brillantly on the velvet night.

"I need to get away" thought Raph " just away for awhile to clear my head. I won't be there when he leaves. I won't watch him abandon us!"

Sweat trinkled down Raph's face as he trailed on, seeing flashes of the breif moment that had led him out to his run. Leo was going away to South America for an entire year to complete his training, breaking the family apart, and leaving the rest of them alone.

Raph would not be there to watch his brother leave. Instead, he made up the excuse that Casey needed his help to do some repairs on the farmhouse outside the city, and wouldn't be back in time to say goodbye.

When in truth, Casey would never accompany Raph all the way to farmhouse, Raph would go there alone. Just long enough to clear his head about the horrible truth that was about to occur.

Finally arriving at the Brooklyn Railyard, Raphael sneaked onboard what he thought was the right train, and smoothly fell asleep as it clattered its way down the tracks.

The sun rose and fell, making Raph wake with a yawn as the entire train suddenly stopped in its tracks. Thinking he arrived in the country, Raph opened the doors to see that he had arrived in a horrific looking city that come to ruin with crimes and rot.

"Okay something isn't right here," said Raph and explored the train, making his way to the head car. Barely noticing the crates of ammunition as he walked past.

When he finally arrived in the engine room to speak with the conductor, Raphael found the poor man tied and unconious with a bleeding welt on his head. The realization of the situation hit Raph all at once. The train he was on had been robbed! But why?

The answer came sooner than the red-masked turtle thought, as the shadows of five wicked looking men outside stampeded towards the train with guns in their hands. That's when Raph did notice the boxes of ammunition as he ran to stop the theives from purlioning the cargo.

Gripping his sais tightly, Raph lunged at the men, knocking them down before one could get a single shot off. As he smacked the third guy in the chin, the man dropped to the ground and pulled the trigger on his gun. No sound came out. There was no a bulllet in it!

"No wonder they wanted to rob the train," thought Raph, knocking out the last two before taking a break.

Quickly finding some rope to tie up the would be robbers, Raph stashed them in the cargo hold, and locked the padlock tight.

"When the egineer wakes up" said Raph " he can take these scum back to jail, but until then, lets see what's around this town,"

(End FlashBack)


"It was worse than I thought when I walked in" said Raph to his brothers " I could never believe that humans would be so careless as to trash their own cities,"

"Don't we wonder all," said Donatello.

"Shhh!" said Mikey, clearly on the edge of his seat " Come on Raph, tell the rest of the story!"

"Well...," said Raph, and continued.


(FlashBack)

The smell of the putrid air stung Raph's nose as he strolled through the city. His eyes narrowing in disgust at the scenic sights he walked past. He had never seen a town so horrible.

"Scum must love this dump," thought Raph.

A scream for 'Help!' only confirmed that statement as Raphael ran towards the source of the sound.

"Go away for a little vacation, find a fight" said Raph, as he pounded towards the scream " story of my life,"

Of course it was in a dead end alley where he had finally found the scream, but he stopped in shock when he realized the scream wasn't coming from an innocent victim, but a crook. And it was almost rediculous to see that the crook was cowering at what looked like an 80-year old man.

"Please" begged the thief to the old man " I won't ever steal from you again,"

"You'd better not" said the pops, and then knocked the theif out cold.

"Wow," said Raph, before he realized the old man had heard him.

Turning around quickly before Raph could disappear, the old man spotted the gaint turtle and looked surprised, not afraid like Raph was expecting.

"And what dimension do you come from?" asked the man to Raphael.

"New York," said Raph, with a grin.

"Aw" said the man " then you have come a long way to Harlem,"

"Harlem huh?" thought Raph " so that's where I am,"

"I wasn't coming here at all" said Raph out loud " my destination was the country, not this dump,"

"Careful what you call it" said the man " this dump happens to be my home. Although people like him now seem to think this place is theirs,"

Raphael looked down at the unconious thief, wondering how a city could get this run off. And why didn't this man quiver in sight of him? You think he would have seen a mutant turtle walking around before.

Obiviously the old man sensed his thoughts, as he invited Raphael back to his own house, and began explaining the tale of his life as a superhero,"

(End Flash Back)


"A real live superhero!" shouted Mikey in amazement " Wow!"

"What this old man's name?" asked Don.

"David Merryweather" said Raph " a real tough ol' coot by the looks of it. He was almost as bad as Mikey explianing the whole summary of his superhero life. And he showed me two things that I was really interested in. The motorcycle and the costume,"

"Ah" said Splinter " so that is how you got those things,"

"Wow!" said Mikey " I always wondered where you got those things! They're so cool! Keep going Raphie, what happened next?"


(Flash Back)

After the scenic tour around Merryweather's house, and endless lecture of his past superhero life, the subject finally moved onto what happened in Harlem. David claimed that Harlem had been at peace for years, until a new mob boss came by the name of Edward Grind.

The ''Seed of Hades'' as some liked to call him planted his way right into the heart of Harlem, posioning the entire system from the inside out. David was getting older, and he could not keep up with the crime, so within a few months, Edward Grind completely owned the whole town.

All of the smart citizens moved away to another city when the crime started getting out of control, but Merryweather chose to stay behind. He had been living and protecting this town for 80 years, there was no way he was leaving it behind.

Raphael was intrigued by the old man's story, and promised to help take down Grind before the old man died. Merryweather took Raph's offer greatfully, little knowing of the severe danger he was in.

The thief Merryweather had knocked out earlier had awakened and ran back to his boss, reporting that there was still one defiant citizen running around in town. Edward Grind immedaitely announced his punishment, and a squad of armed goons trekked their way over to Merryweather's house.

Raph was sitting in the garage admiring the bike when the thugs decided to break in. Without ammunition for guns, all they they had to bring to the party were knives and clubs. Raphael immedaitely set to work on saving Merryweather from the thugs, but just as he knocked four of them down, his Shell Cell began to ring.

"Now is not the right time," thought Raph as he saw the call was from Leo, but he answered it anyway.

"Hey Raph" said Leo over the phone " just thought I'd let you that I'm leaving for my training trip now. How are things going at the farmhouse?"

"Fine, just peachy," grunted Raph, blocking a swing from a club with his sai.

"Good" said Leo " I not wanting you and Casey to get into to much trouble when I'm gone. See you in a year bro!"

"Yeah," said Raph, and hung up, and just as he did, the sound of a gunshot blasted through the house.

Knocking the last thug out his way, Raphael saw that one of the thugs he had previously knocked down had pulled a gun out of his pocket and killed Merryweather. The old man now lay on the ground lifeless, bleeding on the floor.

In anger Raph stabbed the fallen thug making the gun fall from his hands. The owner of the gun's intials stood out clearly in the pale light; E. . The boss had loned his personal gun to the crooks and it was loaded! If only Leo hadn't distracted him with that phone call, Raph would have noticed the threat and Merryweather would have been alright. If not for stupid Leo!

Fighting back the tears that threatened to come to his eyes, Raph stood one moment longer looking at the fallen Merryweather to the gun that had taken him away. Fire burning bright in his soul, Raphael donned the old man's legacy and went to take down Edward Grind.

(End FlashBack)


"Whoa" said Mike " did you catch him?"

"No" said Raph " otherwise he wouldn't be in New York. I put a dead stop to his operation in Harlem. He's obivously come to New York to start a new one,"

As the brothers talked, Master Splinter left the dojo and entered his room.

"Then when you started playing Nightwatcher around New York" Don guessed "Grind recgonized you from Harlem and ordered the Foot Ninja to capture you,"

"Makes sense," said Leo.

"Yeah" said Mikey " but what are we going to do now?"

"I got an address to where I think Grind is hiding out" said Raph " we need to go there,"

"Then" said Master Splinter, re-entering the dojo " you are going to need this,"

All four brothers stared in surprise as Master Splinter held out the Nightwatcher helmet towards Raphael. Raphael looked at his sensei shocked, not knowing what to do or say.

"Take it my son" said Splinter " it is time you finished what your friend began,"

Raphael took in the metal helm carefully, glaring into its empty vise. Memories of promise coming in like distant shadows. The Nightwatcher was reborn!