Chapter 10

Raphael was on his last stop of the night. Nothing useful had been found and he had required no assistance from Brandon on getting into the places. So of course, the last place, the ninety-nine cent store, just had to be locked. He grumbled to himself about the old turtle luck kicking in once again, and pulled out his shell cell to call Brandon.

"What?" Brandon whispered into his phone after the second ring.

"The ninety-nine cent store's locked and I can't find another way in. can you pick the lock?"

"Kinda busy. Give me five minutes." The line went dead. Raphael was curious as to why he was whispering. A thousand thoughts ran through his head as he waited. Maybe Brandon found a bomb, maybe he got caught, maybe…

Brandon rounded a corner of the ninety-nine cent store, running, and ran straight in to Raphael.

"What'd you find?" his voice came out harsher than he intended it to. Brandon gave him an inquisitive glance.

"Nothing."

"Well what were you all secretive for?"

"'Cause unlike you, I had to go to the gas station that's open twenty-four/ seven. I was sneaking in the air duct right over the employee break room with two people in it when you called."

"Oh," was all that Raphael said, not too concerned. He waited for Brandon to pick the lock and without so much as a thanks, walked into the store.

"Are you finished with your places?" Raph asked as he jumped behind one of the registers and started looking around.

"Yeah, came up with absolutely nothing," was the reply as Brandon started to walk around and examine the walls for any loose pieces.

There was silence for a few moments as Raphael continued to search behind the counters and Brandon picked the lock and let himself into the back room. Raph was getting sufficiently frustrated by the lack of evidence. He stopped down to check a suspicious looking dent in the floor, only to discover that it was nothing.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath, straightening out again.

"Whoa!" he heard Brandon call from the back room. Raphael rushed to the back of the store, excitement etched on his face.

"What?" he asked, stopping in his tracks. Brandon had jimmied the lock on the safe and was putting a portion of the money in his pockets. Raphael rolled his eyes.

"Can you focus?" he hissed through gritted teeth.

"I am focusing, shush!" Brandon demanded, silently counting the money. Raphael walked over to him and slammed the safe door shut. "Hey!"

"We have more important shit to deal with!"

"I don't care!"

"You will when you get killed!"

"So? I guess I'll care then. Right now, I don't!"

Raphael punched the wall above Brandon's head, leaving a dent. He cursed as he saw the plaster fall down; now the people would know they were there!

"Let's just get out of here. It's not here, anyway," Brandon finished putting the money in his pocket and walked out. Raph could not believe the guts this guy had! To commit a crime right in front of him when he knew how much he hated it. Things were definitely going to have to change in the next week.

Michelangelo and Daniel were faring no better in their searches. Daniel had quickly searched the small stores on his side, coming up empty handed. Michelangelo still had one small abandoned warehouse to search left, and so the two decided to look together.

"There's nothing here," Daniel complained, swiping aside a cobweb angrily.

"Yeah," Mikey agreed, smashing open a rotten wood crate and finding nothing but a large quantity of dust that flew into his nose. "Let's go and call Raph."

The two exited quickly and Mikey pulled out his shell cell, dialing Raphael's number.

"Did you guys find anything?" Raphael's voice came out over the speaker phone that Mike forgot he had left on.

"Nothing. You?"

"Nope. Meet us back at the lair," Raphael said, his voice laced with frustration.

"No problem, dude. See you in a bit," Mikey hung up his phone and put it back in his belt.

"What time is it?" Daniel asked aloud, searching his pockets for his own phone.

"Too late for a freak and a little boy to be out alone," a deep voice sounded behind them.

The pair turned around quickly, Mikey already pulling out his nunchaku. A group of about ten men, all in black, were standing about six feet behind them and grinning menacingly. They started to advance slowly, pulling weapons out of their pockets.

"Not cool, dude," Mikey shook his head, but a faint smile played on his lips; he needed a little excitement after so much boring work. Daniel gulped, but did nothing else as Mikey jumped forward and initiated the fight; he knew he wasn't a great fighter and wouldn't willingly jump into the fight just to get beat up. However, the battle soon came close to him and he was enveloped as well.

Mikey was having a great time, blowing off steam and letting his frustration out. Three of the guys were upon him, swinging clumsily at him with chains and missing horribly. He laughed as one of his wildly spinning nunchaku slammed into the gut of one of the thugs, sending him to the ground curled up in a ball. Mikey wasn't made for meticulous plans and hours of boring searching, he was made for action and excitement!

A fourth came upon him suddenly, seeming to have come out of nowhere. He was much more skilled than his comrades, but Mikey still had the upper hand. Swinging a nunchaku to the left of the man, he brought his right foot up and kicked him back into the wall. He heard Daniel grunt someone not too far off. The skilled opponent leaped off of the wall and ran to where Daniel was feebly trying to raise himself from the ground. A swift punch to the side of Daniel's neck sent him reeling into unconsciousness.

With his only partner down, Mikey was swimming in a sea of the thugs. They rushed upon him on all sides, punching and swinging weapons. He put up a good fight, but realized the opponents were just to many. He had a decision to make, and he knew it. Without missing a beat, he negotiated the fight over to the wall, deliberately backing himself into a corner. He ducked down to the ground and jumped up, catching the bottom of a fire escape and flipping himself over it. He pulled out his shell cell and called Raphael's number, still running up the ladder.

"What?" Mikey had never been so glad to hear Raph's growling tone.

"Raph! We have trouble here! Corner of Sachet and Washington, Daniel's unconscious and we need help!" he hung up abruptly and launched himself back into the fray, standing directly in front of Daniel's prone form and protecting him.

The battle that ensued was frantic and fast paced. Mikey couldn't keep track of all of the trachea's he crushed, or how many temples he smashed. Nor could he keep count of the numerous bruises and cuts he himself had acquired. He was unable to support himself with his left foot, having had it bludgeoned with a baseball bat earlier. Apparently, the few thugs from earlier had called for reinforcements, as there were now more people there than when the fight had first began.

"Any time, Raph," Mikey panted as he dodged to the left in order to avoid a chain wrapping itself around his neck. No sooner had he resumed his place in front of Daniel than he heard a very familiar phrase from an even more familiar voice.

"Damn!" he heard and smiled. The tables had just turned.

Sorry this one took a while! Every time I think I should start to have time to update, something comes up...

Alora-Okay, I'll give you the better villains, but Batman is all "woe is me" and such...While he's off being all emo and brooding, Spiderman could come in and kill him!

I'm sorry it started a fight between you and your brother(It started a fight between my best friend and myself too!) But have you seen the new Batman yet?? It's AMAZING although Spiderman is still better ;)