Raph grunted as Macaster slipped the muzzle back over his head. He had so wanted to tell the man off, but he knew what would happen if he had. If he fought back, cussed at the man or did anything like that; he would go three days without food and with two extra hours of training each day as well as letting the vet examine him right before he got a bath. Macaster left, and Raph was alone for two hours before he heard a voice.
"Raph, are you okay?"
Raph snarled; Becka. He moved to the far corner of his cage, glaring as the brunette drew closer. Becka knelt down beside the cage, tears running down her face. "Raph, I'm so sorry. What I said before…Raph I'm sorry." She covered her face in her hands and began to sob quietly.
Raph began to soften. Staying mad at Leo, even Mikey, was easy; but Becka? Could he stay mad at her? He wanted too, but couldn't. He inched forward until he was at the front of his cage. He reached through the cage bars and began to gently rub the girl's back. Becka looked at him through wet, red eyes. That was it; his heart melted. He wanted to say something, say anything to get her to stop crying, but the harsh muzzle prevented him.
Becka suddenly stood up and left, leaving Raph in darkness. Raph starred at the closed door, his eyes wide. What? She came to him, asking for forgiveness, and when he tried to accept her back, she walked out on him; literally. His shoulders slumped in defeat and he stayed that way for the rest of the night.
It felt like he had just fallen asleep when the light blinked back on. He rubbed his eyes and starred as Macaster walked towards him, a small portion of lettuce and vegetables for his breakfast. He swore that when he got out, he would never touch anything not meat again. The food was slid between the bars as Macaster reached through and removed the muzzle so he could eat.
"Good morning." Macaster said with a smile on his face. "After you're done eating, we have a busy day ahead of us; a few extra hours of training to prepare for the show tonight. Also, you get a bath. I can't have my main attraction looking filthy," he pointed the dirty straw that stuck to Raph's dirtied shell.
"Don't touch me." Raph growled. "I can wash myself if it means that much to you."
"Oh no," Macaster shook his head. "Animals can clean themselves, but they can't get all the dirt off. Thankfully, my daughter has agreed to wash you. I would like to do it, but the tiger handler won't be able to get all the tigers washed in time. And I don't trust my daughter around them, no matter how well trained they are."
Raph brightened. At least Becka would have enough curiosity to respect him. He stuck a carrot in his mouth and crunched on it. When he was finished, Macaster put a leash on him and led him to a private training area. The area had a sand covered floor and had a tent around it for privacy.
Raph hate training, but at least he was allowed exercise. The man attached a long lunge-line to his collar and backed towards the middle, making Raph circle him like a horse. They were at that for an hour until Raph's stomach settled down enough for him to do more staining work. Macaster unclipped the lunge line and put a shock collar on top of the metal one; that way if Raph tried to run he would get zapped before he took three steps.
"Flip!" Macaster shouted. "Front, front, back!"
Raph knew the routine by heart now. He performed two front flips in a row and then quickly shifted his body into a back flip. He really missed Splinter's back flip punishment. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he spun into a high kick until he was facing the other side of the arena and performed the same task. When he was done, he did a back hand spring and landed on his feet where he quickly dropped onto his shell.
Using his feet, he got momentum and spun a few times on his shell before jumping back to his feet. He did a few more high kicks before flipping out of the arena. He was done. It was a quick, easy act. Macaster wanted it easy for the first time.
"Well done Raphael." Macaster clapped at the turtle as Raph walked back into the arena. "I think you're done for today. It seems I taught you well."
"You didn't teach me nuthin." Raph snarled, his chest heaving. He could take him and make him perform, but he was never going to take credit for what Splinter had taught him. "My master taught me."
"Ah yes." Macaster as though it made perfect sense. "Your "master" taught you everything. Tell me where does he live? Perhaps I aught to invite him as well."
"Who else did ya invite?"
"Hun, most of the purple dragons, some of the Foot," Macaster started listing of the names. "And the leader; I believe his name is Oroku Saki."
Shredder! Raph gasped as he stumbled back. If Shredder caught him, he would be recaptured and killed. Or used as bait for his brothers. "NO!" the words stumbled out before he could stop them.
Macaster raised and eyebrow. "No?" he rubbed his chin at the turtle's expression. "You know him?"
Becka walked in, a leash in her hands. She gave her father a worried look. "Father are you okay?"
Macaster was startled at his daughter's sudden appearance. "Hi baby, ready to wash him?"
Becka nodded as she walked up to Raph. Raph noticed her hands shaking as she put the leash on his collar and led him away while her father went back to thinking.
"Raph," Becka whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of her father. "What happened last night, I just wanted to say sorry. I was at fault."
"Becka," Raph whispered as he held her hand. "Never apologize to me. You're an angel compared to me," he wrinkled his nose when they came to the bathing area.
Becka sighed as she fixed the straps to Raph's collar, making his stand still. "Sorry…I mean…." She sighed hard. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah," Raph studied her hard and for the first time, he felt like he could trust her a hundred percent. Before he didn't know whether she was playing nice to get information or whether she really cared. Now he knew. "Becka, can you keep a secret and do something for me?"
Becka studied him as she adjusted the hose nozzle to warm water. "What is it?"
"Becka," Raph took a deep breath. "I'm not the only one of my kind." He whispered.
Becka about dropped the hose in shock. "What?" She whispered back.
"I live here with my three brothers, who…are all like….like…me."
"You have three brothers?"
"Yeah," he gave her a wiry grin. "Leo, my oldest bro; he's kinda the leader out of us for. Then there's me, I'm the second oldest. Donnie is under me, he's the genius of the bunch. Finally Mikey" he sighed hard. "I'll have to be honest when I say I miss him the most." He gave Becka a small grin. "He's the youngest and a joker. I mean joker as in whipped cream in my pillow case; glue on my weapons and stink bombs in the bathroom and in my bed."
"Wow," Becka laughed softly as she began to spray him down. "Mikey must be a joker. I might have to try that some time." She had a mischievous look in her eyes. "So there are four of you."
"And my sensei Master Splinter."
"Is he also a turtle?" she gently started to rub his shell with a sponge.
"No, he's a rat."
This time Becka did drop the bucket. Water and soap sprayed all over her jeans and shirt, but she didn't notice. "You're teacher is a rat?" she said softly, remembering to whisper.
"Yes. He's also the only father figure I've ever known." Raph got a dazed look in his eye as he remembered walking out on his father's teaching. If only he'd stayed…
"Okay, then what do you need me to do?" Becka asked.
"I need you to find them tonight. They'll be in an old abandoned warehouse at the corner by that old fashioned diner."
Becka replied. "How will I get them to come here? Don't I need some kind of proof?"
Raph thought for a second before replying. "Tell Mikey that Cody has Helix Three. Tell Leo that the weapon is as only as good as the one who holds it. And tell Don that I'm sorry I punctured a whole in the bike."
Becka nodded. She had always had a good memory. "Who is who? I saw you come in with a red mask on."
"Leo is blue, Don is purple and Mike is orange."
"Got it."
"Hello?" Becka called out later that night. "Anyone here?" she was beginning to feel a little nervous. What if they weren't there? "Leo? Don? Mikey?"
"Who are you?" A blue masked turtle stepped out of the shadows, two long swords in his hands. Becka took a deep breath. They were Raph's brothers and they wouldn't hurt her.
"My name is Becka-" she began when an orange masked turtle bounded out of the shadows.
"Cool name!" he had a childish tone to his voice.
"Mikey!" a purple masked turtle stepped out behind him, a long stick in his hands. With one quick sweep, it bounced off the youngest turtle's head.
"OWW!" Mikey yelled as he held his head.
"Michelangelo!" the blue turtle yelled. The orange one quickly quieted down. "Okay Becka, how do you know who we are and that we would be here?"
"I know you brother, Raphael." She told them. They all starred at her. "He told me to meet you here."
"Do you have proof?" the purple masked one asked her.
"You're Don," she pointed at the one wearing purple. "Raph said he's sorry for the whole in his bike." She pointed to the orange. "You're Mikey. Raph said something about Cody and Helix Three."
Mikey's mouth dropped open as he two eldest brother's glared at him.
"I thought you said you never brought any games from the future Mike." Don frowned at his younger brother.
Mikey squirmed. "Yeah well…I was in the middle of it and…OWW!" the stick hit him again.
Becka went on. "You're Leo." She pointed at the remaining turtle. "The weapon is as only as good as the one who holds it."
Leo's mouth dropped open. "You know where our brother is?" he whispered.
Becka nodded her head. "Yeah, he's going to be shown at our first show in two hours. He said that he had wanted to contact you sooner, but he wasn't sure who to trust."
"And
he chooses you." Leo said. "Why?"
Becka blushed deeply.
Mikey's eyes went wide and he let out a little whistle. "Bro's
got himself a girl!" he whooped. The orange clad turtle managed to
duck
in time from the bo staff, but not in time from Leo's hand. "OWW!"
"We can talk about this later." Leo snapped, eyeing his baby brother. "For now, we need to focus on how to get Raph out."
"Raph said he sent you guys a note in, um, numbers."
Don pulled a small sheet of paper from his belt. He handed it to Becka. "Here, we understand it, but we can't figure out how to use it to our advantage."
Becka read the note. THIRD-TENT-IN-KEY-HANG-OUTSIDE-UNDER-BONE-GUARD-TEN-MIN. Becka read it again. "What don't you get?"
Don took the paper back. "Well we get the part where it says third tent in, but form which side? There are tons of third tents, depending on where you are in the area. Second, what does under the bone mean? And guard ten min? We think he trying to tell us something about a guard every ten minutes, but that really doesn't help us."
Becka gave them a small grin. "What he's trying to say is he's in the third tent from the entrance. Second, the key hang outside under bone means that there's a spare key under a mat with a bone on it. And guard every ten minutes in a two sided message. A guard's shift begins at ten and he patrols the area every ten minutes."
Don palmed his forehead. "Well I feel like a dud." He muttered.
Leo gripped his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry about it bro; we know where Raph is and where to spring him."
"Oh yeah," Becka remembered the last part Raph had told her right before she left. "He said something about a foot and a shredder."
Leo perked up instantly. "Shredder and the Foot!" he growled.
Becka sensed anger and fear radiating from them. "Care to enlighten me at any time."
Leo scooped her up in his powerful arms. "Hold on to me tight I'll explain on the way." He told her as he rushed outside. He jumped and began to climb a fire escape. Becka let out a startled squeak; dang for a turtle, it sure moved fast! "Okay, Shredder is an old arch enemy of ours. He killed our master's master, Hamato Yoshi, in Japan years ago. His real name is Oroku Saki."
"Hey, isn't he that guy whose trying to help out the city though?"
Mikey growled. "More like try to take it over; he's just trying to gain power over the city by slowly gaining the people's trust. Then the major is suddenly going to "die" and then who will be our leader?"
Becka caught on instantly. "Him."
"Yep; so for years now we've been trying to defeat him. The Foot is his gang of followers." Mikey showed her him arm, a long jagged scar, even though they were sprinting across the rooftops. "See this scar? This is from what the Shredder gave me when he captured me."
Becka paled. "So that's why Raph is so scared." She whispered. "The Shredder is an enemy and if he finds Raph there, he'll…" she couldn't finish the thought.
"Or use him as bait for us." Don told her. "That's what happened with Mikey. Thank goodness we had April and Casey though… speaking of which." He yanked out his shell cell and pressed a few buttons.
"Talk to me." A voice said over the speaker a few rings in.
"Casey Jones!" a woman's voice said annoyed. "With a mother like yours, you'd think you'd know how to answer a phone. Hello? Don?"
"April, we found Raph and we're going to need your help."
They could hear a whoop in the background, a loud crash of glass hitting the floor and smashing, a loud sigh from the woman, and an "Oops" from the man.
"I'll show you oops." April muttered. "Okay Don, we're both listening. Tell us the plan."
"Okay guys, here's what we'll do."
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