Leo followed Vicky back through her small, but comfortable home and back into the lair not long after. A small bemused smile on his face still. He decided he liked goats, maybe if he had room for one...
"Shit's pretty messed up." She said quietly to Leonardo as she settled down onto the couch next to him.
He responded to her presence by placing an arm around her shoulders. "You noticed."
Casey walked over and flopped himself down into the recliner next to them. "Now that we got that out of the way, someone mind filling me in on what exactly is going on?"
"More than we originally thought." Leonardo informed him. "The recent Purple Dragon activity has more to do than them just pulling heists. They were preparing for him to come over."
"And trying to get rid of the guys." Vicky added. "I guess he didn't want to come here with them still running around causing mayhem to his goons."
"No, that was not his intent." Leo agreed as he moved closer. "He didn't want to come here with you being able to interfere."
"Then why did he?" Casey asked. "I mean if Hun failed, for the past what...sixteen years...to get rid of them, why is he still interested in coming here?"
"Greed, I would assume. That and his patience has wore thin waiting. Add also the fact that we...abandoned him, it cut into his timing. He's had to retrain new seconds, since we were no longer available to him."
Ari was looking thoughtful at us as she sat on the floor nearby watching TV. Her eyes had narrowed then widened. "That's it!"
"What's it?" Leonardo asked her.
"I knew there was something we were overlooking." She mumbled then looked at Leonardo. "Hun, he didn't come onto your radar until after Aunt Vicky had her first run in with Bishop, right?"
"True. Before then we hadn't even heard of him, or of the Dragons."
"Now that I know about you..." She glanced at Leo. "And how you came to be here, is it safe to assume that both were sent here around the same time? You to take out our fathers and Hun to, so to say, scout the area and the layout of the land?"
"Yes, little one, that is exactly how it was supposed to play out." Leo said somberly.
"So Hun has had close to twenty years to figure stuff out, who you are, how you operate, what you can do, and he has been reporting it all back to Shredder."
"And he now thinks he knows us well enough to move against us himself..." Leonardo said quietly as he looked at the girl who just pieced it all together for him.
"The only thing he didn't know about...was us." She agreed. "We are the unknowns in his equation. He has no idea really about anything concerning us teens."
"Because we kept you hidden from Hun all of these years." Vicky said thoughtfully and Ari nodded.
"And in doing so, he has no idea what we can do." Then she grinned wryly. "And our first run in with Hun probably didn't set us in the 'turtles we need to worry about' category, we were pretty incompetent."
"Only because you were inexperienced and not used to working as a team." Leonardo told her as his eyes took on a thoughtful tone as he looked at her, then let his gaze wander over her cousins who were starting to emerge from various parts of their home and move closer to listen.
Then his eyes seemed to decide something and he stood up and walked over to them. He met all of their eyes intently a moment before he took a deep breath, then spoke. "There was a time when we tried to shelter you from the dangers out there." He began. "Now, I found that, without your help, recent events may have played out completely different. You have all grown quickly, shown that you can think quick and look out for one another. We originally trained you so you would be able to defend yourselves, never really wanting to thrust you into this life we lead, but knowing the dangers of being what we are. I would have never of forced you into this, but you accepted it when this life came to you." Even Leo had to admit these teens were quick, and capable. Just from the little he's seen so far. "You actually sought it out on your own when you snuck out that night. Know this, we will always be there for you if you need us, will still give you our guidance and advice, but from here on out, you are your own team. And you, my son," Leonardo placed his hand on Ty's shoulder. "I charge you with the task of leading them."
His eyes grew wide as I said that. "But...Father...I-I can't...why not let Thane do it?"
"Hell no!" Thane protested.
"Watch your mouth!" Cris snapped.
"Because I see in you the same thing my father saw in me." Leonardo ignored the laughter that outburst caused. "Ty, you have the potential, I know you do. To stand up to your own Father when he's acting like a fool tells me a lot about what you can do."
"Besides," Vicky smiled as she joined them "it's in your genes."
"That too." He grinned at her. "But I wasn't going to brag about it. Seriously though, you are more ready than you think you are, more ready than I wanted to see. But my eyes have been opened to it in recent events, and it's time to let you go out on your own. To keep sheltering you will only weaken you and right now we need the strength you have." He looked at them all one more time, his eyes unreadable. "Are you ready to accept this burden?"
"Pfft, what burden?" Ari grinned back at her uncle. "I'm ready to kick some Purple Dragon butt all over this town."
"And now we know who the Mikey is in this bunch." Raphael muttered.
"You didn't expect anyone else to be it did you?" Donatello grinned at him.
Ty looked at his sister and cousins, and nods met his unspoken question before he turned back to his father. "We accept, Father."
"It's all we've ever wanted to do." Lavi added. "To be able to help, in some way."
"They won't know what hit 'em." Thane grinned.
"Yeah they will, giant turtles." Michelangelo grinned back.
"Giant turtles with big sticks and pointy weapons." Ari joined in.
"Oh brother..." Raphael muttered.
Amy smiled at the younger turtles when she walked over to them, then threw her arm around her younger brother. "Welcome to the turtle patrol guys. It's about time you get to experience the thrills of going out and whoopin' ass on your own."
Ty just swallowed hard as he looked as his sister. "I just hope I don't screw it up."
"Spoken like a true son of Leo's." Raphael grinned at him. "Boy, your Father still hopes to this day he doesn't screw shit up. It's when you stop worrying about it is when you start really fucking up, because you grow overconfident."
"And I think it's time we reminded someone that he is indeed very over confident." Leonardo told them all. "Donnie, pull up whatever you can on that building down by the docks Casey told us about. Let's see if we can't figure out what they are actually up too."
"Then we get to do what we do best." Michelangelo grinned again.
"And what would that be?" Leo asked him curiously.
"Throw in a monkey wrench and watch it blow his plan all to hell."
"Now who's overconfident?" Cris asked archly.
"Not me. It's a known fact, especially if that wrench has 'Donnie' or any variation thereof written all over it."
They all groaned and rolled their eyes over that one.
Donatello then moved over to his lab to get started on the task given him and Leo walked towards Lotus' room. Holly just came out of it even as he took the first few steps. Then she stomped over to where Michelangelo was quietly talking to Vicky. Leo sighed when he saw the anger flash in her eyes and turned away from his destination to deal with what he somehow knew was coming. Once the embarrassment had settled she had time to stew. Not good.
"You!" Holly snapped at the orange masked turtle as she put her hands on her hips.
"Oh no..." Leo groaned. Where the hell was Raph? Couldn't he deal with this?
"Yes?" Michelangelo calmly looked back at her.
"You and that overgrown hatrack over there," She waved a hand at Thane who was nearby, watching amused "seriously think you can get away with calling me short? I'll whoop your asses you supersized brussel sprout!"
"Brussel sprout?" Vicky's eyebrow came up as she tried not to laugh. "Never heard you called that before."
Mikey grinned at her, then looked at Ari. "And? What do the rules say on this one pumpkin?"
The teen didn't even look up from her magazine she was reading on the couch. "Fair game. She started it that time." She calmly turned the page.
"Well now..." Mikey grinned even wider. "So...are you always this short tempered or are you just mad because you need help to step off of the curb?"
Leo was almost next to Holly, but he still wasn't close enough. Her arm lashed out in a swing at him. Michelangelo just easily leaned out of the way and it missed. Then she tried to do the same maneuver Ari did to Thane earlier and he calmly leapt up out of the way. Her face was turning red from anger when she spun and launched a kick to his head, then her eyes widened when he caught the leg in mid air...leaving her hopping uncomfortably on the other foot. "Had enough yet tiny?"
Her eyes narrowed as she hopped up with the other leg and tried to kick him with that one. He caught that one too and now she was hanging upside down, held up by the ankles of the turtle she was trying to beat the crap out of. Before she could even try and punch him Michelangelo tossed her up into the air. Her arms and legs pinwheeled wildly as she flew. She landed with a bounce onto the couch next to Ari, who didn't even flinch as she turned the page again. "You asked for that one." The blonde girl said.
Vicky calmly looked at the redhead, her eyebrow still raised and amusement on her face. "Word of the wise, Holly was it?, you may be tough as nails out there on the streets fighting thugs and goons, but these aren't thugs and goons. Don't start a fight you can't finish. Even I know better than that."
"Yeah...and she's more stubborn that you are." Michelangelo grinned.
Vicky turned at glared at him and he just gave her that cheesy ass smile. She laughed and shook her head.
"I thought you would have learned that by now already." Leo sighed at Holly as she still sat on the couch, looking a bit stunned.
She stuck her tongue out at him. Leo just rolled his eyes and turned to go back the way he was headed. If she wanted to learn the hard way, he wasn't going to try and stop her again. He did wonder how many times she would go flying across the room before it dawned on her that she was clearly outmatched here. Known her? He was counting pretty high.
