I am SO SORRY GUYS!

It was a busy weekend and I couldn't get it up in time, and I didn't have the internet working yesterday either.

I hope I can get the next chapter posted on time this week.

Chapter 26

Where are you going? You can't escape me by running. I will find you anywhere.

Raph growled. This guy was seriously starting to get on his nerves.

"I don't need to escape you. You killed my brother. I'm not running away from you."

The tunnel opened up into another much larger one. Raph felt wary. Anything could be in here. They'd found Snakeweed in the sewers, after all. And they thought he was dead. He'd been electrocuted! How did he keep re-growing? Now he was shattered into a million little pieces, and for the record, Snakeweed was the least of his worries at the moment.

Sticking to the shadows, he edged around the middle. Instinct, really. If there was something in here, it wouldn't see him in the shadows. Hopefully not. Raph kept his eyes and ears open for anything.

You're following me.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Didn't you figure that one out hours ago? You're the one in my head, reading everything I think of. Thought you would've noticed that before now."

I do have better things to do than patrol your inferior mindscape. You are smarter than your brothers give you credit for. But you aren't very hard to read. It was easy to sift through your thoughts and find out what you were doing, even when hours of thoughts had gathered.

Raph froze as something skittered out of the shadows on the other side. Then he relaxed. Just a sewer rat. Not as bad as cockroaches. But he knew to be wary of it.

"One of yours?"

That one? No. The three stalking you on the pipes above that you noticed two hours ago, yes.

"Great. So not only are you slowly making me go insane from sheer annoyance, you're stalking me. That's not creepy at all."

And you're 'stalking' me.

"I have a reason. You're just doing it for the fun of it."

No. There's much more to it than that. Much more.

Raph rolled his eyes as he reached up to an overhead pipe. He grabbed onto it, scaring one of the rats back away from his hand, and swung himself up into the side tunnel. A grunt announced his rather rough landing, and he crawled down the tunnel, ignoring the sludge beneath his hands and knees.

You doubt me?

"No, I'm just mocking you. I'm pretty sure every single 'villain' out there has said that. And they always lose. That's why I'm mocking you, Falco."

Why do you continue to insult me with that name? I am the Rat King now. Victor Falco is dead. I am a new person now.

A small smirk let loose some of the devastation he felt. He lost his brother. Why did he even bother smiling? But Raph just shook his head and straightened up as the tunnel opened up again. This guy never failed to amuse him with the way he thought so high of himself.

"'Cause it annoys you. That and 'Rat King' sounds like some cheesy comic book character that Mikey would worship."

You really believe that simple annoyance will drive me off of my course?

Raph lost the smirk and growled again. Now he was starting to annoy him.

"No, it just makes me feel better to irritate you. Mikey isn't here to do it."

Your plan is flawed. You must know that now. You can feel it. The closer you get, the tighter my grip becomes. You know that when you reach me, you won't be able to fight me off.

Seriously?

Raph sighed and jumped down onto the next level. He couldn't see where he was going anymore. This part of the sewers didn't have a lighting system. But it didn't matter. He was sure of his feet. He was so used to walking around on the slippery sewer floors that the unfamiliar grounds here didn't bother him. He still felt a stupid wariness in his chest, but that didn't bother him as much as the headache did.

But he had to keep going. He knew he was going the right way because his head started throbbing. He welcomed it, in a sort of unnatural way. The more his head hurt, the closer he got. The closer he got to Falco, the closer he got to solving this. Donnie couldn't be his only target. He had to have a different plan. The tighter Falco's grip got on his mind, the more he could see and figure out. The tighter his grip got, the more of his mind opened up to Raph's. And that he could use to his advantage.

If only the dude would buzz off and leave him alone.

So that's your plan. You know, you're smart. But not intelligent. You aren't as smart as you believe you are.

"So you can't see what I'm thinking until I think it? Can't you think ahead of me and figure out what I'm going to think?"

Don't be naïve. I know what you are thinking. I know what you're doing. I know what you're going to do. But I don't know what you're going to think, because you don't know what you're going to think.

"How did you even get in my head anyways? You're the so called 'Rat King'. Turtles aren't rats."

I'm going to answer that with a question of my own: How long did you believe it was going to be before I realized I wasn't limited to only rats? I could control every being on the Earth if I felt like it. But holding a grip on multiple minds is much more difficult.

"Huh."

Raph peered around a corner. No. Not that way. It felt wrong. He turned left and followed the tunnel. So this is what being blind is like. He couldn't tell the difference between his eyes being open or closed. Is this what Murokami felt like every day? How was he able to cook faster and better than every other chef that could see?! It boggled the mind.

It had to be three in the morning by now. He felt a bit tired, but he was used to this. Falco on the other hand didn't seem so accustomed to the lateness of Raph's excursion.

Don't you ever sleep?

"Yeah. During the day. We can't exactly go out in broad daylight and walk around the city. What, you thought that I'd be sleeping? Heh. I won't be sleeping for a while."

You're bent on revenge.

"Not exactly. My reason's better."

Is it now?

"You murdered my brother. I'm not letting that go."

Everyone dies eventually. Why not speed up the process?

"There are plenty of reasons why. Splinter taught us to never kill unless we have to. He says that every life is worth protecting. Vengeance isn't a good enough reason to kill. That's the thing that you and the Shredder can't get through your thick heads. You don't kill because you feel like it. You kill when you have no other choice."

Wise words from such a young mind.

"I was taught well."

I can see that. But you're wrong. Vengeance is plenty of reason.

Raph clenched his fists, his annoyance getting the better of him. He looked up into the darkness, eyes narrow.

"If revenge was a good enough reason, then why didn't Splinter go after the Shredder when he lost his family? He lost everything. But he didn't go after him. He didn't take a life. Splinter's not trying to hunt Shredder down the way Shredder is hunting him. Splinter didn't even hurt Shredder, and he's being hated and hunted for everything. Shredder killed his entire family. Do you see Splinter going after him? No. Because he knows that revenge isn't gonna solve anything."

Then why are you hunting me?

"Because I still have a reason to. If I don't, you're gonna go after what family I have left. I can't let that happen."

What a noble deed. You all overestimate yourselves.

Raph shook his head, although he knew nothing was there to see it. Even the rats following him couldn't see him in this darkness.

"No. You underestimate us. It's not noble, either. I don't have it in me for that sort of stuff. Heck, I didn't even think I could get this far. It's not noble. It's called responsibility. I'm supposed to take care of them. I've already failed that much. I'm not failing again."

Foolishness.

Raph didn't bother replying. He just kept on. And after a while, he became aware of the silence in his head. Even his headache was wearing off. Maybe Falco had gone. After a few minutes longer, and the silence continued, Raph couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. It was late. Or early. Whichever way you put it. He was tired.

The curvature of the wall didn't fit his shell very well. But it worked, at least. Not as comfy as his bed, of course. Raph just leaned against the wall. He hadn't realized that the entire trek had taken so much out of him. Then he remembered. The fight, earlier. That would've made him just as tired as he was now. And then all the walking along with it.

Raph sighed and leaned his head back. He didn't even remember closing his eyes or relaxing. Sleep overtook him in a wave, and silence passed through the tunnels once again.