Disclaimer: I own them… Yes, I'm being sarcastic… Can't you take a joke?

Author Note: Huzzah, for the story's climax after only five years of work!

Wow, that's a horrid realization celebration but at least the story is all down hill from here! Almost done! Hopefully it won't take me another couple of years to piece together :/


A Most Deadly Game

Chapter 8: Gain and Losses


The knuckle of his sai slammed repeatedly into the soft flesh, breaking through the skin easily. Still he didn't stop, he didn't dare stop. His victim was still twitching and there was no way he was going to let up until he was sure it was stay put and stayed dead.

Finally it stopped moving and Raphael moved away from the now overly squished body, breathing hard and trying to calm down. Shell that thing had been the size of a dinner plate and he had woke up to it sitting on his stomach. Murderous gun tooting maniacs, triceratops from space, heck even a zombie apocalypse he was sure he could take with little to no problems (actually he dealt with one on almost a nightly bases and another was old news). But the fragging bugs in this place were down right huge and fragging terrifying.

Not that he was even going to admit that out loud.

His heart no longer racing and his breathing back under control, the dark green terrapin stood up and overlooked what he could see of the forest from the tree branch he was balanced on. It had been three days since he had woken in the rain forest and he hadn't seen any sign of his brothers. He was beginning to wonder if they were dumped out here like he had been.

He sighed and tucked his sais into his belt, hoping down the tree from branch to branch until he finally reached the forest floor. He needed to find his brothers. Maybe it was time that he had a nicely little chat with one of those guys trying to hunt him down and ask them politely where the shell his brothers were. His stomach took that moment to growl at him.

And he needed to find one of those patrols and get some grub, he was starving.

Raphael chose a direction and began to run in it. He knew the sounds of him crashing around in the forest brought those wannabe hunters light moths to a flame. They were almost too predictable even if it made his self-appointed task easier. The more of these boneheads he managed to drop the fewer of them there would be to go after his brothers, wherever they were.

A sound of a branch snapping came from somewhere off his left and Raphael smiled as he drew his sais.

It really was too easy.

-Break-

Even after five minutes Leo knew he had a stupid grin on his face and knew that the occasionally chuckle kept escaping him. Michelangelo may accuse him of being a mother hen but he held the all-time hen title, especially when it came to food. Seriously, one of them would come down with a cold or sprain an ankle and Mikey would have buckets of chicken noddle soup to pour down their throats within fifteen minutes of Don's diagnosis.

When he had brought Mikey down to his little hideaway, he didn't know what he had been expecting, but Mikey flipping out about both him and Don not eating for two days was not it. His little brother had thunked him in the head with a wooden spoon and called him an idiot in about eighteen different ways as he fluttered about the fire and somehow put together a thick stew with what he had taken from the hunters earlier. Leo wasn't even sure where he had hidden half the stuff he dropped into the soup he whipped up.

After forcing Leo to eat two bowls, Michelangelo had then literally kicked him out of the side cave, and told him to go find Raph. Thinking of the whole situation again had Leo chuckling to himself as he moved towards another entrance to the cave system. Donatello would be fine. Michelangelo would make sure of it. Even if he would be a bit over fed by the time he came back with Raph.

Of course that would be when the real challenge began. Getting back to New York sounded easy but Leo knew from experience that it was a pain in the shell to accomplish. When he had finally started back home from South America initially, he had had to wait three days in port for a ship to dock that was going to be stopping in the Big Apple. And while onboard he was constantly dodging fire and security patrols that moved about the ship as they were underway. If it was so tedious with just him he couldn't imagine what it was going to be like with the four of them, especially with Donnie's injuries.

He didn't want to drag April or Casey into this but he might have to ask their two human friends for help. Considering that they weren't out here too, Leo could only assume that Throne didn't know about them or Splinter and Leo wanted to keep it that way if he could. Throne wouldn't hesitate to have them killed to get at Leo and he knew that there was no way to protect all of them every moment of the day.

Of course, thinking about them and his father made guilt rise up in the back of his mind. He had been so busy trying to find and rescue his brothers that he hadn't thought of somehow sending them word on what had happened and where they were. Their Father and friends back home were probably beside themselves with worry by now. Leo sighed, they should find some way of contacting them when they reached port, at least to let them know that they were alright and on their way home.

Leo huffed to himself and started through the forest's undergrowth. That would all come later after he found Raph which should be easy. With his violent temper and one minded track to protect his brothers, Raph would probably be trying to draw attention to himself in an effort to keep the attention off the rest of them. It was a strategy he had used before in the past and Leo wouldn't put it past him to use it again, especially in such circumstances.

He just hoped that he wouldn't end up as badly hurt as Don was. He remembered a night that had been oh so long ago but that was still fresh in his mind rose up, where Raphael had gone up against impossible odds and had somehow remained standing protectively over a concussed brother and despite his injuries. Leo had been pissed as all shell when he realized that Raph had been hurt and hadn't told anyone but his one track, self-sacrificing mind had saved Donatello that night.

Leonardo touched the hilts of his sword for a moment as a silent promise to himself. If Raph was hurt half as bad as he had been that night, he was going to give Throne even worse injuries than he had given Hun that night. He already had a list going of hat he wanted to do to the man and this would just be a nice icing on the cake.

Leo growled slightly in the back of his throat as he headed towards the area he had last seen Raph's trail where it had crossed with Don's. He doubted that it had survived the heavy rain from the previous night but at least it would give him an idea of a direction to start looking. He had been lucky finding Mikey as quickly as he had. His youngest brother had been standing not even thirty feet from the opening he had chosen to come out of that time around.

Leonardo debated heading up into the trees and then dismissed that idea. While he could move faster through the trees, there was a chance that he might miss Raph's trail if his brother decided to double back and head southwest. With his other two brother patiently waiting for him to bring back the third, he didn't want to prolong the happy reunion any longer than necessary. Besides, despite the time he had spent here, South America would never be his home.

Where ever his family was, that was his home, and their Father and friends were still in New York.

-Break-

This was starting to get old.

After dealing with the first group of hunters (and liberating breakfast from them) Raphael had come across a group closer to noon and had selected one of them that seemed like a reasonable gentleman with a sai under his nose and a demand for where his brothers were right up until he slumped in a dead faint. Seriously, Raph wasn't that scary. He hadn't even been trying to scare him yet.

Wuss.

Still, maybe he should opt for plan 'B', regardless if he didn't know exactly what plan 'B' was yet. If the rest of these hunters were at the same caliber as the majority of the ones he had already dealt with, then asking them where his brother were wasn't going to work without a certain amount of finesse. He was tempted to just go to that big compound he had seen on the far side of the valley, kick in the door and demand answers, but decided that was probably not the best idea he could come up with. He didn't need to get close to that place to know that would be a very stupid idea.

Maybe if it had been night and he had a better idea of the layout…

Raphael shook his head and stood up from the tree he had been leaning his shoulder against to look about at the surrounding landscape. There was always the chance that if these boneheads didn't see him he could get some answered. There were some smaller trees in the area that had the whip like qualities that he could use and some of the branches higher up were strong enough to act like a fixed pulley system.

Raphael smiled and proceeded to get to work.

-Break-

"Mikey, if you make me eat anymore, I think I am going to throw up."

Michelangelo eyed his bedridden adversary for a moment. Don was always claiming that they were the worse when they were bedridden but not even a grumpy Raphael could compete with Donnie. Because he handled all family medical things, Don always thought he knew when he could start doing stuff again, but Mikey wasn't letting him get away with it now. That time Donnie fell over the railing with a broken leg because he couldn't wait for him to bring up breakfast was still fresh in his mind. Thank shell Casey just happened to be standing where he had been so he could cushion Donnie fall. He had a goose egg on his head for his troubles and a whole chocolate cake that Mikey whipped up later that day.

That had just been proof that Donnie occasionally needed some tough loving, just like now. "Don you have to eat something. If you don't eat than you're not going to get better anytime soon."

His older brother gave him a withered look, "Mikey, I've eaten four bowls of this soup since this morning which is a little over five hours ago. It's not like I haven't eaten for the past two days."

Now that he could use to his advantage, "But you didn't. You already said you were too busy running about in circles trying to lose that group of hunters that nearly got you to try and eat anything."

"Mikey-"

That was it, time to break out his ultimate weapon when dealing with stubborn older brothers.

"-seriously I'm not half starving-"

The puppy dog eyes.

"-like you're trying to…"

Donatello sighed and took a sip of his soup.

It worked every time.

Michelangelo beamed a sun filled, radiant smile at his older brother but sneakily glanced around to locate the nearest bucket, just in case. Donnie did have a point now that he really thought of it and he didn't think that Leo's turtle cave had much in the way of cleaning supplies. He didn't want to think about trying to clean that up with just water and a cloth. There would be no way to get the stink out of the cave. How the dog's by products didn't make the whole cave smell was beyond him.

Wait.

Dog?

Mikey twisted around to face the door, going from his knees to the balls of his feet in one swift move. His hands fell to his nunchakus as he watched the door out into the cave proper. Behind him he could hear Don moving about to face the door too but he ignored it, listening pass the sounds of the fire. Sure enough there it was again. There was a dog barking in the cave judging by the echo.

Don suddenly slid out of bed, winching as he put weight on his injured leg, and grabbed the medical kit next to him. "Mikey-"

"I know," There was only one reason why there would be a dog down here. One of the hunters must've gotten it in his head to track them down by scent. They were going to have to abandon the turtle cave. "Can you walk?" He knew he could carry Don but Mikey would rather be ready to fight if they were overtaken.

"Yeah, not too sure about running but I'll try." Don answered in a strained voice. Mikey was amazed that Don was actually admitting to possibly needing help in the first place. Usually he pulled a Leo and denied actually being hurt until he passed out on the kitchen table at breakfast.

"Cool, stay behind me. I'll check it out." Mikey took a step towards the door before pausing and handing Donnie one of his nunchakus. Don wasn't the best with them –to be honest he absolutely sucked using them- but at least one of them was something. He couldn't imagine what Don had to be feeling like being hurt, weaponless and possible facing bad guys. He waited until his nunchuka was taken before dropping one of the batons on the other one and spinning it, read to strike as he peeked pass the cloth acting as the door.

He waited a moment, holding his breath as he listened for anything out of the ordinary, but everything remained quiet and peaceful. It was unnerving. Mikey gulped noisily before turning back to Don to tell him how creepy the cave suddenly was only to catch movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn't even get a chance to scream as the large black dog leapt at him from the shadows but his nunchaku was already moving. Whipping across and slapped the beast away with a loud yip and the sound on a dull crunch that Mikey knew was the sound of a bone breaking. He had heard it too many times before and for a brief moment felt bad for the pooch he had most likely just severely injured if not outright killed.

What he wasn't expecting was the other dog right on its companion's heels. It landed on his chest, jaws snapping at his face. With his balance compromised with the extra weight and trying to avoid getting his face bitten, Michelangelo toppled over onto his shell, crashing through the two large clay pots Leo said stored water and sending a small torrent of stale water cascading across the floor and along the natural slope of the floor right out the door. He ignored the damages for the moment and punched the dog in the side of its face to avoid another snap of its jaws as he got ready to whip around his nunchaku only for the one he had given to Donnie to slam into the side of the dog's jaw.

Mikey winced as he shoved the large hunting dog off him. Poor puppy. He hated to see it dead but at least he still had his face and neck enacted. He was about to thank his older brother and suggest they get the shell out of there when he heard Donnie give a pained gasped. Thinking he had hurt himself somehow, Mikey looked over to him quickly only to have a sinking feeling raise up through his stomach. He and Don both looked at the dart sticking out of Don's arm for a moment before Don's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he flopped over onto the ground, half on and half off the bed he had vacated just a minute ago.

Before he could move to check on him, a stinging pain in his left shoulder told Mikey that he had stayed still too long. He looked down already knowing what to expect and managed to gasp out a small 'uh-oh' when he saw the dart in him before he fell over too. He struggled to focus as a man dressed in black stepped into the room, leading with his gun obviously primed with another dart. "All clear, Benedict." He said in a heavily accented voice. "Only the two of them."

A man whose black hair was slicked back from his face and gave him a sleazy look that just screamed 'Big Bad Guy' stepped in behind him, glaring at the room in large before meeting Michelangelo's partially opened eyes with disdain. "Be grateful for my current orders, creature." Mikey gasped weakly as Benedict's foot connected with his lower stomach. He curled around the aching area as best as he could and wondered if he did end up puking would he be able to hit the man's boots. "You killed my best dogs and for that, I can't wait to have the privilege of gutting you."

Mikey's eyes finally slid closed as he reached for him.

-Break-

Leonardo had picked up his last missing brother's trail just after noon. Raph had been busy. Leo had located what looked like two previous fights that had injured hunters limping off to Throne's compound in the distance and Raph heading more westerly around the valley floor away from the compound. Thank shell for that, Leo didn't think Raph would try and take on the compound by himself but he also wouldn't put it past his hot headed brother to possible try if he ran out of options.

He slowed to a halt, confused as he looked over the path before him. Odd, it looked as if Raph had paced about in this area for quite a bit. Leaves were bent and small twigs had been crushed under foot but it wasn't as disorganized as it should have been for a fight. Raphael had stayed in this area for a while before moving on. The question was why.

As he began to move forward, something wrapped around his foot, and Leo realized what Raphael had done as he was pulled by his foot off to the side. He quickly drew one of his katanas and slashed through the lead of the snare as it pulled him off balance. The small whip like tree that he hadn't noticed bent over, snapped upright with the vine used as a rope dangling from its top.

Taking several steps backwards to regain his balance, Leo felt another snare wrap around his other ankle and start to pull him backwards. He drew his other katana as he twisted around and sliced through that lead, falling into a roll as he traded his balance for moving away from the area he had been in. Knowing Raph, he had at least four or five more hidden in the underbrush.

Leo rolled back up onto his feet when he heard a slight wisp of sound above him and off to his right. He glanced up to make sure it was just a net fashioned from vines and not his brother himself before swing his sword up and through the crude netting. As both sides fluttered to ground on either side of him, he spun and luckily managed to catch the twin sais aimed for his shell between the forks and stop his brother's lunge before it knocked him to the ground. "Raphael! Stop! It's me!"

Hearing his older brother's voice had Raphael immediately pulling back and looking over the cloth covered form in front of him. "Leo? 'The shell are you wearing?"

Leo pulled his hood back to prove that it was really him and put the slightly large terrapin at ease. "It's what I use to wear down here to disguise my looks." Leo gestured to the traps, both sprung and unsprung, around them, "By the looks of it you've been having fun with these hunters."

"They're as numerous as Dragons but three times as stupid," Raph slammed his sais back into his belt. "Seriously, it's like they don't expect us to fight back or something." He crossed his arms as he watched Leo put away his blades, giving his brother a long look before continuing, "You're not running off to find Don and Mikey, I assume you already know where they are?"

"You're not the only one that's been busy," Leo replied with a smile and turned partially away. "Come on, there's a cave system below ground. They're waiting for us down there."

"Good, I can't wait to see good old concrete skyscrapers and the New York skyline again. I've been here long enough to last a lifetime. Though I gotta tell you as your brother, Leo ," there was a rare infliction of humor in his voice that caused Leo to glance back at his smiling brother. He knew that look, whatever Raph was about to say would not be something he wanted to hear.

"That dress makes you look fat."

-Break-

Lisa frowned as she watched what was happening down in the courtyard from one of the higher windows in the compound. Benedict and his men had brought Michelangelo and Donatello into the compound. The two were obviously unconscious, judging by how they didn't resist being dragged out of the jeep and through the doors. She was a bit disappointed that all of Benedict's men were accounted for and not showing any injuries but she smiled when she realized that the two dogs Benedict had taken with them were gone.

There was one headache she wouldn't have to deal with.

Still that left Benedict's personally trained squad of macho men to deal with. Doable, but annoying. Raphael and Leonardo would be there probably just after nightfall and she still had one more phone call to make and poison to begin administering before their arrival. Something one of Benedict's men had caught her attention. She frowned at a pair of orange wrapped nunchakus he was holding out to display to another man as if they were a trophy.

Her eyes narrowed as she added retrieving them and getting them back to their owner to her list of things to do.

Seriously, a girl's work never seemed to be done sometimes.