Chapter 9:
"Hey guys, you ready to crack some dragon skulls?" Casey asked as he walked into the lair with his group of sport articles over one shoulder and a blonde toddler in the other arm. The toddler seemed to agree with him and clapped her hands in her father's excitement.
"Will you stop talking about violence in front of your daughter?" April frowned from the computer screens and walked up to Casey. She lifted the toddler out of Casey's arms and lifted her in the air which earned a squeal of delight, "Daddy is living back in his glory days again, isn't he, Shadow?"
"What do you mean back in my glory days?" Casey asked a little deflated.
"Don't worry Case," Raphael came up behind him and patted him on the back, "We still love ya."
"That's so comfortin'," Casey frowned and walked with Raphael over to the screens where he saw the two young women from the night before. He hopped on the counter and leaned back against one of the screens, "Analise, Deidra! How you liking the lair?"
"It's a lot more comfortable than a lot of people may think a lair to be," Analise smiled, "I mean, I got my own room. More than I was hoping for."
"You have your hockey mask ready, I see," Deidra looked at the man and his sports equipment.
"Always," he smiled and looked at April before he gave her cheek a kiss, "Are you coming out with us tonight, babe?"
"Not tonight," she shook her head and balanced Shadow on her hip, "Someone's got to watch the baby and I promised the girls that I would help with some research on the killer. Or at least on one of the suspects."
"You think he's got something to do with the dragons?"
"You heard Hun last night," Leonardo said as he and Donatello walked back into the center room of the lair. Deidra smirked in Leonardo's direction and he smiled shyly back before he took on the leader role, "We are going to have to split into teams tonight. More than likely the dragons are the distractions for the real bad guy out there again tonight."
"I've discovered a subtle, nearly transparent, pattern to his selection of victims," Donatello smiled at his achievement.
"How?" both Deidra and Analise asked as they had worked on a pattern since Deidra had begun to pick up facts on the case.
"It's difficult to explain and I will go over it with you when I get back," Donatello explained and gave April a disk, "I put down all I could about the beast on this disk. Hopefully you girls can get closer than I could on identifying it."
"Oh we will," Analise stretched out her fingers and accidentally popped a few of them making her shake her hands out, "Ow."
"I think that Casey and I can take on the dragons," Raphael leaned on Casey's shoulder and Casey smirked to agree.
"I agree. You two can handle those guys with your hands tied behind your backs," Leonardo nodded, "Donnie, Mikey and I are going to try to track down the killer and hopefully this Alfred guy as well before any other girls go missing or found dead."
"I can fight too if you need some help. Deidra is out of commission until that leg injury heals up- I mean, she'll probably be fit as a fiddle tomorrow, but…" Analise began to say before someone pushed her back into her chair. She looked up and Michelangelo looked down at her.
"Not tonight, dudette," he shook his head, "You can kick butt for sure, but we got to find that ex of yours if he is the one out hunting you and Deidra. Not to mention a whole lot of other girls. You could be more of a target than anything else and we need some direction on where we're going out there."
"As Mikey said, you two can fight extremely well, but we need someone at center control," Leonardo explained, "You two know this guy better than any of us. And with Analise's background in biology, maybe we can narrow down on that animal that attacked you two. April will help with logistics of Don's system."
"Sounds good to me," Deidra nodded and put on a headset that Donatello let her, Analise and April borrow, "Let's get this bastard before he kills another girl."
"Let's go turtles!" Leonardo yelled and they all split up in separate areas of the lair. Michelangelo hugged Analise quickly and she hugged him back tightly before he could get away. Leonardo looked pointedly at Deidra who gave him a slight smile before he left. She hadn't told him an answer and he wouldn't pressure her for it until she was ready. Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo piled into the Battleshell and flew out from one of the sewer exits.
Casey looked at Raphael as they ran toward the other garage, "What are we taking out today?"
"What else?" Raphael jumped into the garage and onto his motorcycle.
"It's looking good, Raph. You did a nice job on it," Casey looked the bike over.
"It's almost done and I can't wait to see just what this baby can do," Raphael patted the bike and revved it up just as Casey got on his own. They both popped on their helmets and gave each other a thumbs up, "Let's ride."
Deidra's head popped up a little as she heard the first cycle rev to life, "Is that an 1198 R Course Ducati Special Edition?"
"Yeah, Raphael has been working on it since he saw it in a junk yard about a month ago. Somebody nearly totaled it," April nodded and began to type even with Shadow in her lap, "He just needs to settle on a color on it and it will finally be done."
"Nice," Analise nodded, not really knowing what kind of bike they were talking about. From Deidra's expression it must have been some bike. Analise was a little too distracted by the little bundle in April's lap, "How old is she?"
April looked from Analise down to Shadow on her lap, "She's just over ten months."
"She's adorable," Analise waved at the baby who gurgled.
"Thank you. Do you want to hold her?" April held out Shadow.
"Sure," Analise lifted her to her lap and began to bounce her one knee. She cooed a little and played a little game of Peek-a-boo with the baby on her lap.
Deidra smirked at her friend, "No matter what you do, you are acting more and more like your mother."
"You can't say no to this face," Analise held up the baby to Deidra's face, "It doesn't matter if my mom was a nanny or not."
"Right," Deidra rolled her eyes and looked over the schematics of the block that Alfred used to live on.
Analise looked over the information and then down at the little girl on her lap who began to play with her hair. She focused on the blonde hair and the bright, blue eyes as they focused on between Analise's hair and her orange tank top. Analise tilted her head in thought and looked back at April and then at the baby again.
"Did you and Casey adopt Shadow?" Analise asked out loud and then gasped at herself, "I'm sorry. I'm prying; I shouldn't have asked that out loud."
"Very perceptive," April nodded with a smile, "Shadow isn't mine or Casey's. Her father was killed about eight months before she was born and her mother died giving birth to her. Casey adopted her and I fell in love with her as soon as he brought her home."
"I could never imagine a tough guy like him adopting something this adorable," she hugged the baby and made them both giggle.
"He has a soft spot for adorable," April laughed a little bit.
"I am not the only one!" Casey said over the radio channel, "Raph does too!"
"I do not!" Raphael yelled into his communicator in his helmet, "Let's stop this baby talk and get to business, huh?"
"Then get off the frequency," Deidra smiled into the microphone on her headset. She clicked off his set and saw that they were where the Purple Dragons were supposed to be. He and Casey would be having fun in a few seconds anyway. She shifted her eyes to the screen pertaining to the other half of the team, "How are you doing, Leo?"
"Are we close to the plotted route that Donatello set out?" Leonardo's voice rang in her ear.
"You're a couple blocks away," Analise looked quickly at the map.
"And we may stay that way," Donatello popped in and leaned over the front seat to point out the front of the windshield, "We just spotted that animal from last night."
"I'll try to track your movements from here. Keep up with that thing," Deidra clicked on the map and the blimp that represented the Battleshell along with the camera out in the front of the vehicle.
"Get some pics if you can," Analise handed Shadow back over to April and began to type on the files that Donatello had gathered. Her eyes flew over the information as she and April both tried to get some pieces of the puzzle fit, "I need a little more on this thing."
"What have you got so far?" Donatello asked as Leonardo turned to follow the huge animal down a side street.
"It definitely has canine DNA in its structure from that blood that you gathered from some of the weapons," Analise groaned as she typed as fast as she could on the profile, "The fur was that of a timber wolf-"
"That guy killed a wolf for this thing?" Deidra asked with a bit of anger burning through.
"He might just have," Analise nodded, "That's not all. I see male, human DNA. A good portion of it."
"Wait, a man and a wolf? You telling me that we have a werewolf in New York?" Michelangelo asked from the passenger side, "Where have I heard that before?"
"Stay in the moment, Mikey," Leonardo struggled to turn the Battleshell in sync with the animal.
"It's another mutant," Deidra whispered as she looked at the screen with the feed from the Battleshell camera. It was so low that many on the radio didn't hear her, but Analise caught it and looked at her.
She mouthed a question to her friend, 'Another?'
Leonardo looked out the front windshield and watched the wolf-thing jump off one side of a building and toward a busy nightlife district, "He's heading toward the nightclubs."
"He's sending his pets to gather new victims," Deidra spoke into the headset, "We got to keep the people in those nightclubs, otherwise there could be a dead girl on the street tomorrow morning and another one on a surgeon table."
"Got it," Michelangelo smiled big and opened up a panel on the Battleshell and waited until he got the pattern of the phone poles passing by.
"What are you planning, Mikey?" Donatello asked.
"I've always wondered if werewolves were real," Michelangelo chuckled and jumped from the Battleshell and onto a phone pole, which he launched himself into the air and onto the large werewolf creature, "Woohoo! Ride him ninja cowboy!"
"What the hell is Mikey doing?" Analise asked as she saw the grainy picture from the Battleshell show the creature try to buck and claw at the turtle on his back.
"Being stupid," Leonardo said as he stopped the Battleshell.
"Being Mikey," Donatello corrected and jumped out to the street, "He stopped the thing from continuing."
"He's going to get hurt if he doesn't get off of that thing," Leonardo growled and yelled up to Michelangelo, "Eight seconds! Times up!"
Michelangelo watched for the front claws of the creature and then jumped off of the monster and to the ground, "I give myself a nine point three on that ride."
"I can only imagine what Analise is going to give you when we get back to the lair," Donatello could still hear her from the communicator in the Battleshell.
The creature turned toward the Battleshell and the three turtles in front of it. It began to pace between one side of the street and the other in front of them to size them up. All three turtles took out their weapons and waited for the thing to charge. The three women at central control watched the thing with interest.
"That definitely is not a known species of canine," Analise shook her head, "This thing has to be a mutant."
"And I bet I know who's behind it," Deidra frowned.
The creature growled and barred its teeth at the three turtles in front of it. It looked over its shoulder at the nightclubs only a block away. A large piece of debris hit him upside the head and it snarled as it stared back at the four turtles.
"Don't even think about it, dude," Michelangelo held another large brick in his hand and wasn't afraid to use it.
"You throw that, and I will be having turtle soup," the animal growled and snapped its jaws at Michelangelo who dropped the brick.
"Did that thing just talk?" Analise asked and pointed at the screen.
"I think it did," Deidra nodded.
"You hunt girls tonight and we will hunt you," Leonardo said with a strong voice and stepped toward the animal, "I don't think you'd want that."
"Too many distractions," the animal snapped at the three turtles. He growled to himself and then turned from the nightclub area and back the way that it was coming, "I will hunt again another night."
"Not if we have anything to say about it," Leonardo and the others ran to the Battleshell and followed the animal.
"We can't lose this thing!" Deidra yelled into the headset.
The Battleshell kept good tabs on the creature until it stopped and looked directly back at it on its tail. It roared at it and jumped over it and into an alleyway behind them. Leonardo jumped out and ran into the alleyway after it. He stopped in the sudden darkness and let his eyes adjust as he scanned for any sound. He heard something struggling against some metal and looked up at a fire escape only to see a man putting out a large bed sheet to dry on a line. Michelangelo and Donatello join him in the alleyway and looked around with weapons ready.
"Where'd it go?" Michelangelo asked and didn't even see any claw marks on where it passed through.
"It's like it… disappeared," Donatello sighed in annoyance.
"The girls aren't going to like this," Leonardo shook his head, "Let's head back to the lair."
As the three walked back to the Battleshell the man that hung the sheet let out a heavy breath he was holding. The jump to the fire escape was risky transforming back to his human state. He wouldn't have the energy to hunt again for a couple of days, but he could use those days to his advantage. He had some turtles to dispose of before he could reach his true goal. He jumped down to street level once the Battleshell sped away and went to a pay phone.
"Hun, pack it in," he huffed into the phone, "No dinner for us tonight. The hunt was a bust. Bring your boys in for the night. We will try again soon."
Raphael and Casey watched as the Purple Dragons suddenly dropped their weapons and ran for the doors. This wasn't what they were expecting.
"You pansies!" Casey yelled at their retreating backs and threw a few crowbars that were left behind at them. He looked back at Raphael who had just finished with one of the punks who didn't get away, "What do you think made them do that?"
"Distraction time was over," Raphael guessed. He walked over to his bike and helmet and put it over his head, "Hey, the dragons ran scared. What's goin' on?"
"Welcome back," Analise said into the headset, "Come on home, boys. There are no victims on tonight's agenda."
"Hun called off his dogs," Raphael waved Casey over and got back on his bike.
"Yeah because we got some more info on that thing you guys fought last night. And you'd be surprised at what we found."
"I can hardly contain myself," Raphael muttered.
"Just get your tail back to the lair, huh?" Deidra asked into the headset and then took it off. She looked at Analise who smiled back at her, "This night blows."
"You win some, you lose some," Analise shrugged, "At least he didn't get another girl."
"He still has one locked up somewhere," Deidra put her head to the cool keyboard in front of her, "I just hope she's still alive."
Analise closed her eyes and tried to concentrate real hard on the last victim that he had abducted. She imagined the older lady's hair and eyes and the picture that Deidra had of her. She felt a slightly elevated heart rate, but at least it was still there, "She's alive."
"How do you know?" Deidra turned her head to her friend.
"Trust me," she nodded, "She's scared. But alive."
"Ladies," Splinter entered the computer area.
"Good evening, Splinter," Analise bowed her head slightly toward him as the other two women did the same.
"Busy night?" he looked at the dozens of information windows on the screen.
"Beyond so," Deidra nodded.
"I must ask you two a question," Splinter looked at Analise and Deidra and turned from them, "Follow me, please."
"Sure thing," Analise hopped off of her chair and followed Splinter with Deidra right next to her. April smiled after them, but stayed at the computer just in case the guys needed something. Both girls entered his room and he motioned for them to kneel down on the pillows in front of a small table with a large pillow for him on the other side. On the table was a tea pot and three small cups.
"Leonardo came with a request for me before he set out tonight," Splinter said gently as he poured out the tea, "He proposed you two as students."
"For ninjitsu?" Analise asked excitedly and took one of the cups that Splinter handed her.
"Indeed."
"I would be honored," Analise bowed her head and then looked back at him, "If that is an offer."
"You have expressed interest," he nodded, "It is a very long and sometimes treacherous path to take. You have pain and agony, pleasure and accomplishment, but in completion you have balance. Do you think you can take these on your shoulders?"
Deidra and Analise looked at one another and then down at the tea in their hands. They thought over his words and took a deep breath from the scent of the tea.
"You have described life itself, Splinter," Analise commented and nodded her head, "What better thing could you do with your life other than live it?"
"I feel the same way," Deidra put her cup down with Analise on the table in front of them, "Life isn't safe. But it is the only thing that is certain. How you live and progress through it is the question. I would too be honored to be a student."
"Why did you both put the tea back on the table?" Splinter eyed their cups while his was left empty.
"Because it is just warm water," Analise smiled.
"It isn't ready yet," Deidra added.
Splinter smiled proudly at the two girls and pointed to their two cups.
"This tea is now only water, it will need certain spices and ingredients to make it a tea," Splinter looked at the pot and then poured tea into his own cup, deep red in color, "At this time you are both cups filled with water. With time and the right ingredients, you will both become a strong and bold tea."
"Can we be taken as your students?" Analise asked with hope in her eyes.
"I will take you both as students in ninjitsu," Splinter nodded.
Both Deidra and Analise smiled at one another and then bowed their heads to the floor, "Thank you, Master Splinter."