Leonardo jumped the roof tops of New York City in the darkness of the early morning. He landed without a sound as he looked over his shoulder as her shadow in the window disappeared. A smile lifted in his face as he jumped another roof top trying to beat the sun.
He felt a presence behind him, but when he looked around he saw nothing. He jumped another roof top where there was a chimney and hid behind it. He waited crouched down to hear anything. His sense perked up as he heard the pounding of heavy boots coming towards him. He slid his shell against the chimney and waited for the right moment and stuck out his arm closing lining the follower. He was about to draw his swords when he recognized the outfit. His eyes narrowed at his brother standing before him in his Nightwatcher outfit.
"Raph? Are you kidding me? You're out again after you… Master Splinter trusted you with this decision and you still have the…" Raph stood up and growled in his helmet spin kicking his brother across the face sending him back against the cement edge of the building. Leo stood up shaking away the shock from his face keeping a space between him and his brother.
"I had reasons to be out, I was checkin' up on Samantha, but I guess you had that all taken care of!" Raph said taking off his helmet.
"You all wanted me to go speak with her so I did."
"It takes all night to speak with someone now?"
"I don't have to justify my actions to you, Nightwatcher." Leo said before turning away.
"Maybe you should justify them to your other girlfriend then?" Raph called after him.
"Karai and I have nothing. I've told you this before."
"Yet, you let her walk right into our home, and I'm the one that is disturbin' the safety of our family? Yeah right Leo, you're so caught up in your own little world still you have no idea what's goin' on around you. Just as long as you're happy, that's all that mattas."
"This family means the world to me."
"I guess that world don't mean all that much to ya then."
"I had nothing to do with Karai and the Foot coming to our home Raph, I was just as surprised as anyone else!"
"You let them walk right in, and then you blame Sam for everythin' like it's all her fault for gettin' the shit beat out of her by Karai? And then, then you have the nerve to go to her apartment and woo her with whateva bullshit story you made up and all is forgiven right Leo?"
"We talked."
"Yeah, talked right into her bedroom."
"I know what this is about, you're just jealous."
"Ha, jealous? Of what? Please. I have nothing to be jealous of big brother. Believe me, once Sam finds out the truth she'll see which of us is the betta brother."
"The truth about what?"
"You and your little Shredder Junior. You think I don't see how you look at that sorry excuse for a woman? It's pathetic!"
"That doesn't happen…I was confused and…" Before Leo could finish, Raph quickly closed off the space between them slamming his gloves fist across his face. Leo stumbled back catching his bearings and took a stance towards Raph as they started to circle one another.
"Confused? You were confused? You knew what she was Leo and you still thought of her as somethin' other than an enemy? You don't deserve to have Sam's trust! She's way too good for you!" Raph growled at his brother. Leo's eyes narrowed and could feel himself getting filled with anger. He swallowed it down and unclenched his fists.
"Raph, I apologized for my accusations. What more do you want from me?"
"Nothin. I don't want nothin' from you Leo. But, if you hurt her. If you bring the Foot back to our home I don't care if it was your fault or not. If it happens again, I just might let my actions speak for themselves. Understand me?" Raph said moving closer to his brother, inches from his face.
"You can't throw empty threats at me Raph, I'm not scared of you." Leo said staring Raph in the eyes evenly, standing strong.
"Believe me Leo, they're not empty. You hurt her, I hurt you." As Raph turned he nudged his brother's shoulder dropping down a fire escape opening up a manhole to drop down.
The sun was coming up as the sky was turning a beautiful shade of orange. Leonardo stayed on the roof top trying to control his thoughts and anger before he followed his brother to the lair. They needed time to breath, as they always did after a fight which seemed to be more often than he'd like lately. Raph was going out more and more at night without his brother's. They were a team, and Raph was destroying everything he tried to hard to work for as a leader in keeping this team, this family together. He'd go out without telling anyone showing up early in the morning with bruises. Splinter begged his second eldest son to stop this and work with his brother's. Raph did listen, not wanting to go against his father's wishes. Then he discovered the Nightwatcher, taking his brother's identity. There wasn't anything more he could do as a leader or a brother. He didn't want to give up on Raph because he knew that he was doing it for good. But to put their family in danger…But Raph was right. Leo had put their family in danger just as Raph was doing being the Nightwatcher. His actions weren't any different.
I shouldn't have mentioned jealous. That was petty and stupid. He shook his head and turned to jump another roof to take an alternative root home and was faced with Karai's katanas. He stumbled back and exposed his own blade towards her.
"What are you doing Karai?" Leo asked his voice deep and fierce.
"Did you have a good sleep over Leonardo?"
"Leave Samantha out of this."
"She is the only reason we're in this. You should have not brought your family into this Leonardo. Now, you've left me no choice." Karai said stepping closer to Leo, he moved back with each step she brought forward. Her eyes were locked and dark on his. He felt his heart pound as she dropped her blade putting it back in the strap on her back. Leo kept his blade close to his side, looking over his shoulder at two other members of the Foot. "You trust too much, Leonardo. You should have known better. Listened to your brother." She smirked. Her body was close, too close and Leo tried to push her away, but she grabbed his forearm bringing his body into hers. He resisted glaring at her and she stepped closer with a firm grip still on his arm as she stabbed a poisons dart into his bicep. He looked at it and then at her as she pushed him down. He stumbled at first, as everything around him started to blend together. He tried to fight it, have a clear mind but the poison was stronger than what he thought and over took his senses leaving his body motionless on the concrete roof top.
Samantha woke up abruptly grabbing a gun she had taped on the side of her night stand. She put her hand on her head looking around her room at her Casey staring at her in shock.
"Whoa! Easy Sammy! This thing isn't loaded." He said putting down his bat. Sam rolled her eyes and gripped her sheets closer to her body that she just realized was still exposed.
"What are you doing here Casey?" She asked irritable, her voice still having the essence of sleep attached to it.
"Have you seen Leo lately? He went missin' after the guys had a fight with him last night. Raph said he saw him early this morning topside but I guess didn't go back home." Sam's head looked up and met Casey's concerned eyes. She looked over at her clock and it read nine o'clock. It couldn't have taken him that long to make it back to the lair? She was only a few blocks away.
"He came here last night, but left early this morning. He couldn't of possible taken that long to make it back to the lair something had to of happened?" Sam said her voice turning to worry. Casey stepped back and looked at his childhood friend. Her hair was a tattered mess on her head, and the sheet she held a death grip on lay right above her chest, exposing bare shoulders. Casey grinned at her. "What?" She said to his irritatingly goofy look.
"You and Leo huh?"
"Shut up."
"Really, I thought he might be your type and all but wow…"
"Shut up Casey! This is serious!" He rolled his eyes and handed her a tank top that lay on the floor.
"I'll let you get situated." He chuckled leaving her room. She glared at him as he left and got up putting clothing on. As she went to her living room she stepped over broken glass and frames lying across her hallway. She noticed Donnie, Mikey and Raph sitting on her couch. She immediately smoothed out her hair, worried they'd figure out what had happened. She wasn't ready for that yet and she knew Leo wasn't either.
"Wow, you look like shit." Raph said looking over at her.
"Yeah she had kinda a rough night." Casey chuckled. She walked past him hitting him in the gut. His laugh was cut off by the wind getting knocked out of him.
"What happened to your hallway?" Mikey asked looking past her.
"That doesn't matter. What are we going to do about Leo?"
"We tried looking for him, but we can't really do much without being seen." Donnie said putting his head down in worry. Mikey sighed too, getting up from the couch and pacing. Sam watched him and tried to weigh the options in her head. She knew who this was. She knew who he was working for. She just didn't know the where. She broke her glare from the floor snapping her head up at Casey.
"Do you guys have any idea where the Foot keeps their members? Or take prisoners? Like an old factory or warehouse?" Warehouse… She thought to herself. "Wait a minuet." She said aloud. "He owns…Oh my god! Why didn't I realize this before?" She ran down the hall stubbing her toe on a metal frame. "Ow, son of a…" She turned her computer screen on in her office and searched the files she had access too. Don and the others walked in after her. Donnie leaned over her shoulder.
"Whoa…How'd you break that code? Those are government files."
"I worked for them remember. I have access to these codes."
"So what are you trying to find?"
"There's an old warehouse outside the City that he has the deeds too. Every time we think he's in New York, or in this general vicinity we get a warrant and search the place. But by the time we get the warrant it's empty. Seeing as though I don't work for the government anymore, I don't need a warrant." She smiled looking over at Don. "Here!" She said pulling up the deed, blueprints, location, address and picture of the man that captured their bother. She leaned back in her chair gleaming with achievement.
"Do you mind?" Donnie asked putting out his hand to help her out of the chair.
"Oh, not at all. You're probably better with this stuff than I am. I usually have people just give me the papers." She smiled getting up as he sat down. She leaned against the desk, as her bare arm touched his. He looked at it out of the corner of his eye and quickly back towards the screen.
"So, ok. This is the address. Security would most likely be outside these doors here, and here." He said pointing to the blue prints of the building. "The only thing is we don't know how many and of what form they are in. Are they Foot, are they his guys, do they have guns excreta."
"So what are we gonna do bro?" Mikey said leaning off his older brother's shoulder and looking at Casey and Raph.
"We're gonna go there and bust some heads." Raph said crossing his arms tight against his plastron. Sam smiled and it slowly faded. She ran out of the room again towards her bed room. Raph looked down the hall at her as she paced back and forth in front of her door. She was on the phone, talking to someone, using hand gestures laughing occasionally. He leaned in the door way trying to over hear both sides of the conversation but only got hers.
"So you're still here then? Great! You know my apartment building. Ok, good. Do you have your things? It wouldn't be you if you didn't Frankie." She laughed and let the other person speak. "Ok, good. I'll see you in a few then. Bye." She clapped her cell phone shut and looked up at Raph with a smile. He raised an eye ridge to her as she walked by. "I found our saving grace." She said patting Mikey on the shoulder as she walked back into her office. Don turned around in the chair as Raph walking in after her.
"Who's Frankie?" Raph asked standing next to Casey.
"Old friend. I partnered with her in a lot of missions. We worked really well together and then became really good friends in the process. She grew up in Boston, another City girl like myself. She's exactly what we need for this. I taught her everything she knows, believe me your brother is in amazingly good hands." Sam said crossing her arms.
"Isn't Frankie a boy's name?" Mikey asked. Sam laughed as Donnie spoke up.
"It's short for Francis Mike."
"Oh…awesome."
"She should be here soon. By night fall we'll have everything we need to get your brother. It shouldn't take any longer than tonight. If she comes well equipped like she said she would." Sam said her voice changing to concern.
"Equipped?" Don repeated.
"Ha, yeah. She likes to keep a various amount of weaponry on her at all times. She's up to six now I think?" She counted in her head. "Yeah six."
"How many can you have?" Raph smirked.
"Ten. Usually. Wearing the right outfit twelve." She said her voice and face completely serious.
"How?" Mikey asked.
"Straps, belts, pockets, hand bags, bras, boots, sleeves. Things like that." She smiled.
"Whoa…" They all said in unison.
"Where's your beloved Samantha now?" Karai said as she chained Leonardo up in a concrete room in an abandoned wear house outside New York. His cheek was bleeding from a failed escape along with his eye being swollen and a few bruises along his arms and legs.
"You're never able to get away with this Karai." He growled. "You know my brother's will be here. You know Samantha will too. And I pray for you when she does because I doubt after what you've done to her she will show you any mercy."
"That's what we hope for. She comes here, and you get to watch her suffer." Karai said kneeling down and cupping his face with her hand. He narrowed his eyes and spat at her. She slapped him across the face and wiped his spit away. "Disgusting creature. Death will own you soon." She said as she walked out of the room. Outside she took one of her Foot Ninja's sleeves and wiped her face again. "You two stay here and don't let anything in or out. If you see anyone other than myself come down this hall, kill them." She said leaving.
"This will lure her for sure." Karai said as a large portly man about age of fifty joined her in her stroll through the hallways of the warehouse. He wore a white suit as the soles of his dress shoes hit the floor as he walked down the hall to an open area. Foot Ninjas and his hit men worked to fill boxes of weapons and put them around the warehouse.
"If it doesn't, be grateful darlin' that your father and I knew each other well. Other wise, you'd be dead by my hand. And it would be a pity to waste sucha pretty little thing like yourself." He said in his southern accent. Karai glared at him as he walked away to check his inventory. Karai cursed her father's name in her head. If it wasn't for him she wouldn't have this stupid vengeance for those damned turtles. She pushed aside a Foot Ninja and walked into her office slamming a door. There was a small monitor that shown Leonardo struggling to get loose of his chains. Finally he gave up and put his head back against the concrete wall, his chest raising and falling with his heavy breathing.
He stared at the cement ceiling thinking, trying to come up with a way to get out of this. He was tired, exhausted. His body was giving up on him even though he pushed himself. Pushing himself made it worse. He tried to concentrate on the thought of getting out, putting more pressure on the metal around his wrists trying to break them apart. He felt his muscles stretch as the trickle of blood started to fall into his palms. It was useless to harm himself this way. It was useless to tire himself, they were going to need him soon enough.
His breathing started to shallow as his thoughts rested on his brothers, his brother. The words they shared to one another before he encountered Karai. The fighting he had to withstand physically and mentally with his brother and with the Foot. As he awoke from the poison Karai injected, he tried so hard to get away. Five against one are never good odds. His heart throbbed for his brother as his mind screamed for a reason why he put himself in this place. Karai was right. He's too trusting. He was too trusting of someone that he knew shouldn't and didn't trust someone he knew he should. He was confused and scared. It wasn't like him. Tired. You're just emotionally, physically, mentally tired. He sighed, putting his head back and trying to get as comfortable as this concrete slab between his back and where he sat would allow. He closed his eyes letting the throbbing pain in his head subside.
Author's note:
This story is taken place before Leo leaves for South America. Raph creates the Nightwatcher while Leo is still home because his leader ship skills are slipping. Which is why Splinter tells him to leave and find himself, and make himself better for the family. This is why Leo is so disoriented and confused. There had to be some reason why Splinter sent him away.
