Disclaimer - Yes, this is a repeat. I goofed. Blame the fact that I numbered my chapters differently and will, from now on, start my prologues as chapters. To do otherwise only begs for mistakes like this. The previous chapter (10) is a new one, POTC centric, in fact. Enjoy.

Anyhew, where was I. Oh, yeah...let me know when Eastman and Laird put the copyright for the Turtles up on EBay. Until then, they own them, I don't. I don't own EBay, either (darn it).

Thanks to Cynlee for beta reading, too. Her reaction to the end of this chapter made my day. Hope it makes yours! (inserts evil laugh).

I deny all responsibility for any heart palpitations caused by the reading of this chapter. And, it only gets worse from here, folks…for a while, anyway. (Snicker)

Chapter 11 - The Shot Hear 'Round the - Cave

"Michelangelo, KING of the world, the CONQUEROR of many, the MIGHTY ruler of all, stands before his humble subjects and DECREES…"

'thwak'

"Ow, Raph, cut it out, I was just…"

"Making a fool of yerself, Mikey!"

"Am NOT, Raph. I'm jus'havin' some fun." As his brother chuckled, Mike retrieved the crown Raphael had just knocked off his head with the well-aimed gem. After shoving the royal diadem back on again, the chuk-wearing turtle picked up the tossed jewel and rolled it around in his hand, "I didn't know rubies could get so big. This one's almost as large as my palm!"

"An' yer brain, it seems," Raph snickered, picking up a wide-banded bracelet and inspected it, before shoving it onto his arm.

"Funny, Gator-bait."

"Thought so, m'self, Half-wit."

Earlier, when they had first explored the cave, they discovered several oil-soaked torches strewn along the ground. Piling rocks around each to help keep them upright, Donatello used his lighter to ignite their flammable top end. Now, flame-induced light danced merrily along the walls and upper reaches of the cavern. It joined the scant bit of sunlight piercing the holes high up in the ceiling and, combined, they revealed the stalactites hanging there. It had given the cavern a surreal beauty, but the treasure mountain situated in the back center of the grotto soon overwhelmed three of the four brothers' curiosity. They spent the next half hour exploring the amazing trove of riches.

As he stood before a pile of assorted treasures, Leonardo held up a sword. Where he stood, a beam of filtered sunlight knifed through one of the holes in the ceiling above and reflected off the silvery blade. An assortment of precious jewels adorned the pommel of the hilt, each gem set in gold. With the handle and quillion free of any decorations, however, it easily allowed Leo to take hold of the implement. Then, his amused expression faded to something more serious. As he stood at the ready, he took a few cleansing breaths. Then, Leo hesitated slightly, bowing his head towards the blade, which he held upright in front of him. In the next moment, he launched into a simple one-sword kata.

Leonardo worked the weapon through a series of exercises, now, turning in circles, cutting through the air with the sword, and testing the rapier's weight and balance. He increased his speed for a moment and then, finally, slowed to a stop, apparently satisfied.

"Well, Leo?" Raphael asked curiously from the other side of the cavern.

"It's a good sword, beautiful, too, but - " Leonardo reached back with his other hand to unsheathe one of his beloved katana, it's 'shring' echoing sharply within the rocky confines of the cave. Compared to its bejeweled relative, it seemed plain and drab. Now, holding it out in front of him, and comparing the two, "it's not even close to equaling mine, though. It's heavier, for one thing, and awkward." Leo smiled, "I'm sure it would look nice over a fireplace, though."

He then gave the decorative weapon one last regard before respectfully laying it back down on the pile from where he had found it. Assessing his katana, Leonardo then returned it to its scabbard, strapped along his carapace.

As for Don, he didn't care for the treasure as much as he did for what appeared to be discard antiquities littering the ground. He wandered the less-cluttered part of the cave, picking up different artifacts, such as short swords and out-dated clothing. After inspecting them, he would put them back down, only to move on to the next interesting find.

Occasionally he would come across a skeleton or two, with their bones scattered, as if blown apart. It puzzled him, but he ignored it, figuring the local crabs had something to do with the skeleton's disperal. With most of the flesh eaten away, then, it didn't surprise him, but there was something else that did. Don recalled the cave in New York, where they found the three mummified skeletons. Their dried skin and retained hair proved they had been in an airless environment and for some time. But, here, though, in this cavern, the bones looked freshly cleaned, not even a strand of hair remaining on the skeletons. They should have been brown with age. It was strange and just a little bit unsettling for Donatello.

Seems someone else found this cave, too, which means there might be a town nearby. he murmured.

Don held out hope for that, of course, but decided to explore the cave a bit more before mentioning it to Leo.

Then, as he looked across the shallow channel of water from where he stood, he suddenly spied something. It was a stone chest. Yet, what intrigued Donatello most was the intricate design decorating the object. The carvings looked all too familiar to him. Unfortunately, though, where it sat situated on a raised platform of rock and, therefore, elevated, it was hard to see what the chest contained. With his interest piqued, Don waded through the narrow saltwater stream, soon climbing up to where the large coffer sat waiting.

As he reached the chest, Don quickly recognized its exterior design as Aztec in origin. Then, when he peered inside the stone container, his eyes widened with surprise and he couldn't contain his excitement.

"Hey, guys, you're not going to believe what I just found here!"

"What is it, Don-san?" Raph asked, slipping a second band onto his other forearm. Pearls and diamonds encrusted the three-inch wide bangle. In fact, it matched its twin hugging Raph's opposite arm, where he had placed it just below where he had tied his red bandanna.

At first, Don just stared at his brother, not quite believing his rough and tumble sibling would even bother with jewelry. He wanted to smile, laugh even, but he realized that all of them were rather smitten with the enormous wealth in the cave.

Finally, Donatallo collected himself and pointed to the item in front of him, "I've found a chest filled with gold coins!"

Not wasting a moment and easily confirming their growing lust for wealth, Raph and then Mike raced through the stream to where Don stood in front of the stone container. There was a great deal of splashing, too, as they forded the waterway. By the time both turtles reached the other side, where their brother in purple waited, they were dripping wet.

The moment Leo caught up with them from the opposite side of the mountain of treasure, Raphael's eyes were already wide with greed as he stared into the large cache of gold.

Suddenly, Mikey's exuberant voice broke the silence, "Wow, would ya look't that!"

Leo glanced over at Raphael and Mike and shook his head, "Seriously, guys, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're both bewitched with all this treasure."

"No we're not, jus…curious, s'all."

"Well, seems like it's more than that to me, Raph."

"It's NOT, Leo, but look 'round ya; have ya eveh seen so much loot in yer life? I mean, even the crown Mikey's wearin'll probably bring a half-mil on EBay and now this…this gold?" He pointed towards the chest's contents.

"Well, I doubt very much we could get an internet hookup out here," Don interrupted, "and without it, the only ones we have to barter with locally are the geckos - and I don't think they have anything worth trading for."

Don thought of telling Leo about the skeletons, then, but before he could, Leo chuckled, "Okay, guys, let's focus for a moment. Even if we could take some of this…stuff…back to New York with us - provided we find a way off the island in the first place," Leo sighed, "where oh where would we go to trade it in? And in doing so, would we end up creating more problems?"

"What d'ya mean, Leo?" Raph folded his arms across his chest and huffed.

Leo continued, gesturing with his arms, "I mean what if we do get back home and take some of the treasure with us - even these gold coins. Who knows how long any of it has been here…" Leo glanced around, "Some of it looks as if it's been here for awhile, yet it's obvious there's treasure here that isn't very old at all. What if it's stolen merchandise and it's important." Leo thought about the decorative sword he had held only a moment earlier. "If we go and sell it on EBay and where we'd probably have to go through April to do it, if any of it is suspect, all we'd end up doing is getting April in trouble, because…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Leo," Raph sighed, defeated, "because she can't tell anyone about us and because of that, she'd end up under arrest for selling 'stolen' property." He slipped the armbands off and dropped them reluctantly to the treasure-strewn floor. Sighing, Raph watched them as they rolled against a golden chalice, its brilliant yellow hue providing a radiance all its own.

"Right, and there's no way I want to get her in trouble, regardless of how rich we might become. It's not worth it." Leonardo shivered suddenly and he looked around, quite startled. The air was as humid in the cave as it had been outside, but now it felt…different, somehow. That's strange, he murmured quietly, why do I feel chilled all of a sudden.

However, Mikey's pleading interrupted Leonardo's momentary distraction.

"But, Leoooo," the youngest whined and took a small step towards his leader brother, the crown still firm on his head, "Can't we take something back with us, something that won't cause April so much trouble?"

Leonardo went over to his youngest sibling and smiled, gently removing the diadem, "No crowns, Mikey," and sat the headpiece down on a pile of tarnished silver plates. He turned towards his brother in red, "and no large bracelets, either, Raph. Maybe a small one, to give to April, as a gift, but nothing like what you were wearing a moment ago."

Raph smiled a little, somewhat appeased, "That works fer me, Leo." He looked around and spied a thin gold bracelet laying on top a cluster of pearl necklaces. With the delicate bangle embedded with emeralds, he knew it would be the perfect gift for their red-haired friend. Raphael quickly plucked it from its resting spot, "I think this'll do for Ap," and tucked the band into one of his pouches where he had stored his share of fruit.

"Okay, guys, whether we take anything back with us or not, what about this chest of gold?" Don looked at the treasure again.

"I don't know, Donnie," Leo took a step closer and stared at the gold in front of him, "There's just something unsettling about this chest, something not quite right, as if there's more here that what we can see; a force of some sort." He looked back at his three brothers, "Don't you feel it?" He rubbed at his arms, now, "I didn't feel it before, not until I got closer to the chest. It's almost like a chill, a crawling sensation, an electrical feeling. Master Splinter always told us never to see just with our eyes, but with all of our senses."

"I'm quite certain that nothing is wrong here, Leo," Donnie reasoned, "It's just your imagination."

"Leo doesn't have 'n imag'nation, Don - remembeh?" Raph snickered.

His brother in purple hesitated for a moment, considering Raph's words and then he looked over at Leo, one eye ridge raised. It was obvious he was giving Raph's comment some serious consideration.

"Guys, quit it!" Leo rolled his eyes in exasperation, hands on hips, "I do too have an imagination, but - this isn't it, this is real, I'm sure something's wrong!"

Raph folded his arms across his chest and chuckled, "Nothing's wrong, Leo, get a grip for cry'n out loud, it's just a chest of gold."

"Anyway," Don interrupted, continuing insistently, "what's the harm in taking a few coins, Leo? April could say someone sold them to her at her shop or traded them in for something else and she didn't get their name."

Yet, before Leo could offer a reply to Don's question and before anyone could stop him, Mikey shoved one hand into the middle of the cache. When he pulled his hand out again, his fist was full of gold coins. "Hey, these are pretty small. Bet we could fill our pouches with enough to make us rich!"

"Mike, put it back. I'm serious about not getting rich!"

"Aw, Leo, com'on, what's the harm?"

"Mike, I - ah - I dunno, guys," Leo rubbed his left arm again and looked around nervously, "this doesn't feel…right. I know something's wrong with this place."

"Hey, Leo, yer startin' t'sound just like Mikey. You want cheese with that whine?"

"Knock it off, Raph, I'm serious!"

"So am I, and as soon as I find some, I'm stuffin' yer mouth with mozzarella!"

Don stared at the cache of gold doubloons, curious. There was something familiar with them, the way the designs were on the chest. Tentatively, he reached in and took one of the coins. Holding it between thumb and first-finger, he looked closely at the one side facing him. It showed an all-too familiar skull ringed with an equally familiar design.

"Say, this has the same motif as the wall carving we found back in the first lava tube." Donatello studied the coin for a moment. Positioning it within a beam of sunlight situated next to him, "It's that Aztec calendar with the skull face." Don's brow pinched together in thought, "It's the strangest doubloon I've ever seen."

"A balloon?" Mike chuckled as he took several of the coins from his hand and dropped them into his pouch, "is that what the Aztecs called money back then?"

"Not a balloon, Mike, dah'bloon," Don corrected tersely, a little exasperated with his brother's less than stellar knowledge about such matters, "and it was Spanish money, what they used as currency back in the days when they ruled the Caribbean, when our country first settled." Don was quiet for a moment, a sudden thought occurring to him. As he continued with his explanation, his words slowed, as if he was trying to figure something out, "It was a time of establishing colonies, of…conquering and…of…pirates?" He looked around more intently, now, his slowly widening eyes taking in every detail of the cave. From the bits and pieces of skeletons he found earlier, to the mountainous piles of treasure, then the decorated sword Leo had held a moment ago, to Mikey's crown, and finally the chest with the strange coins. "I bet this here, ALL of this," Donatello gestured excitedly with both hands to indicate the entire cavern, "is pirate's booty and now I know where we are."

"And where's that, Don?"

"We're in the Caribbean, Leo!" Donatello smiled, almost gloating, now that he had finally figured out where they were. He studied the coin a moment longer, his grin still plastered on his face, until he flipped the doubloon over. Then, his smile faded and his eyes went even wider with surprise. He took up another coin and then another, inspecting each the same way, but finding the same design every time.

"The hieroglyphic!" Don finally announced, his voice cracking from excitement.

"What hieroglyphic?" Leo took a step closer when he saw the shocked expression on his brother's face.

Just hearing Don mention the carving from the first cave and in the same breath as the coins had caught Mikey's attention. He stepped closer as well, "What are ya talkin' about, Donnie?"

"What I'm talking about, is that these coins have the same design on the back as the carving in the floor of the first cave! It goes with the strange Aztec calendar and the coin shows the rest of the hieroglyphic from where the first drawing left off, the part that was missing. I knew it; I knew there had to be more!" Donnie quickly pocketed the coin, as a smile spread victoriously over his face.

"So, ya think this gold here is a clue t'gettin' home, Donnie?"

"Has to be, Raph, I mean, what else could it be?"

Raphael plucked a doubloon from the collection and then worked it in his hand, flipping it repeatedly, as he studied each side. "Well, it's great to have the whole picture, but what does it mean for us?"

"It's probably a map, a way to find different portals; possibly even a way to get home, like you said." Don smiled at Raph and then handed Leo one of the extra doubloons. As his brother in blue took it and bounced the coin around in his hand, feeling its weight, Don added with a cocky grin, "And you thought something bad was going to happen."

As Leo opened his mouth to reply, however, a gunshot rang out suddenly, causing the turtles to turn towards the sound.

At the same time, Leo jerked and spun away, as if sucker punched, before collapsing unconscious at Donatello's feet. As his brothers watched in horror, blood now flowed freely from a bullet hole penetrating Leo's plastron, where his heart was. Yet a split second passed before his brothers realized what had happened and then...they were screaming his name.

And it was in the next moment when all hell broke loose.