He was crouched high in the tree, one had holding onto the trunk as he surveyed the structures below him. Off in the distance, the storm grew closer. It's lightening strikes growing in intensity as it blasted the ground below.
Mikey ignored the storm. For once, he was solely focused on the current mission. He, along with all the others, were tired of this situation and he wanted to finally end it. He was strangely solemn as he sent out rapid hand signals. He had found the entrance. Now, it was time to go in.
That, was Raph's department. And once Mikey gave him the all clear that there were no guards. On the outside anyway. They had no idea what was inside this small bunkered area. So therefore, a surprise attack was needed.
He came out of the tree line with a mighty roar and running full speed ahead shoulder rammed his way through the thick metal door and all three charged inside.
.
.
He had just left her rooms and Leo looked over the plans once more, internally starting to wonder if Karai was slowly losing her reality in this fantasy of her making. Why did she cling so much onto the way things were so very long ago? He had been young and easily impressed with her inner strength, her dedication, and if he were completely honest with himself, her fighting skill. And he was completely smitten with the fact that she...had wanted him.
He sighed and pushed the battle plans away in mild frustration. His new habit now, he looked towards the screen on his desk. Smiling at the sight of Vicky being, well, Vicky. At the moment something had upset her and she was having an extensive argument with...what looked like her hair. She had just come out of the shower and brushing it was always a struggle for her, even with a brush instead of the fingers she was forced to use now. Leo silently promised her that when they got home he would tend to her hair immediately once they were alone.
Normally watching his somewhat eccentric lover, he was a little at ease. Seeing her alive and moving was the best balm for his soul in this situation, but not tonight. Tonight he thought back on events that happened so long ago but effected her now.
Her troops beaten and lying all around her, Karai narrowed her eyes as she held her sword up even with her head, obviously ready to use it on him.
Leo didn't back down from her. He may be a pompous ass as Raph liked to proclaim to everyone, but he earned the right to that confidence. Numerous times over. By fighting against her Master.
Now, it seemed as if the student wanted her shot at him.
Their eyes locked, blades held ready on both sides. The silence was then finally broken when she rushed him.
Leo was much to experienced to let her just bowl him over. And it became very obvious very quickly that he could overpower her easily. Still though, he really didn't have a real desire to hurt this woman. He wasn't going to let her skewer him either though.
Soon enough, he had her disarmed. Her Katana had been slapped out of her hand in one direction while her tanto flew in another. The only steel left in the fight rested against her slender neck. And still she refused to back down, her brown eyes defiant as she looked up at him, unafraid.
"If you expect me to yield, I will not." She raised her chin proudly.
"I don't expect anything out of you." Leo told her calmly. "But if you insist on trying to empty this warehouse, you may be in for a very long night."
Karai looked him up and down, her eyes seemingly appreciative despite her hostility. "Something I am sure you can handle very well if your stamina is any indication."
Leo raised a ridge at that, not missing the look she gave him at all. The sword spun and slid back into it's sheath with a fluid motion that not even Karai could resist an approving expression at how his body moved. Oddly enough...she was beginning to intrigue him. "If it came down to that, my stamina would be the least of your problems."
Now her fine black brow lifted, mainly in shock that the sword was pulled away from her neck. "Ah yes," She smiled faintly "your swordsmanship should also be very impressive."
He looked at her, his face unreadable. Even if he did catch on to her hidden meaning. "Take you ninja, and go." He told her. "And don't let me catch you here again."
"Of course, mighty Leonardo." Her voice purred lightly as he turned away. "Whatever you desire will be yours."
He stopped, turning to look back at her with those unreadable eyes. What she couldn't know was that the turtle could smell something on her, something he hadn't noticed aimed at him before.
Lust.
They stood there, just looking across the sprawled bodies at each other. Karai's smile an open invitation, and Leo's stoic expression not revealing his own thoughts.
He finally left her there. Not sure really what to do about her obvious teasing. The warrior side of him refused to let her use it as a weapon against him, but there was a different side of him that had been awakened. Her found himself suppressing a growl as he thought of her teasing words and the scent that had come from her. A growl that came forth because his instinct was to go back to her.
Over the course of a few weeks, they kept meeting over and over again. At first to battle, and with Leo always wiping out her men. Then, it began to shift to her causing trouble on her own just to draw him out. All that happened was their banter remained...stiff towards each other due to their circumstances, but the growing attraction was becoming undeniable.
One night, almost three months after that first rooftop meeting, Karai was surprised in her apartment by a midnight visitor. One who had finally had enough of her hidden meanings and strode confidently towards her.
That night, Leo lost his virginity.
He snapped his mind away from those memories. What a blind fool he had been back then. Blinded by his own lust at having a sexual partner. There was a part of him now that regretted the fact that Karai had the privilege of guiding Leo down that path. But, he smiled to himself when he reminded himself that it was Vicky now benefitting from those lessons, not Karai.
It was such a small consolation now however. Because Karai now held his love. Leo snarled lightly as he snatched the maps back and poured over them again. His patience at playing Karai's game was rapidly dissolving. To the point he seemed more like a copy of Raph than his normal calm self. This had gone on too long. But until Vicky was found, there was nothing he could do.
Or rather, he could do with her permission.
Leo gathered his resolve and stood up again. It was almost time to depart to the Sack's estate. But Leo would not be leading this final, crucial, mission.
No, something was edging him to go in another direction. A hunch that this may be the final thread Vicky had left to live off of. A feeling that he learned long ago to heed. More and more it was becoming clear that it was more than him reuniting Karai's clan. Karai wanted him back by her side. He knew enough of her to know she would do anything to get that.
Leo realized that once her clan was restored, Karai didn't really need him anymore. Therefore, she didn't need Vicky.
He strode quickly through the halls. He had to find Michi. He wasn't exactly sure yet what he was going to to, but he knew the time had come to make his stand.
And it was not next to the clan as they infiltrated the last faction.
.
.
Raphael sighed heavily. They had torn the place apart. Not only did it not hold a missing Vicky, it didn't even look like it had been used in years. Vicky had never even been near this one.
"Dammit." He rubbed his forehead, the beginnings of a headache starting to edge in.
"We are close." Aloplex tried to reassure him. "Patience, Hot Stuff."
"I know." His hand went from his forehead to rub the back of his neck. "I just had hoped..."
"That she would have been there and all of this would end?"
Raph let his hand drop as Mikey bounded up from behind to rejoin them. "Yeah. I kinda did." The lightning of the early evening lit up his face, a face that couldn't really hide his disappointment. "Gonna be honest with ya, Foxy. This is starting to wear me down. Just the worry for the two alone is breaking me, not to mention them being gone this long. I..." Raph paused, his eyes downcast now "I miss them. And the longer we are out here blundering around, I feel like I'm not doing enough to find either one of them."
"They will know that, and understand." Aloplex reassured gently. Even going so far as to tenderly caress his side. Something she had done many of times during their relationship.
Raph stopped suddenly at the touch, his expression still full of the pain of his conflicting emotions. For a brief moment, they shared a moment of soft tenderness that they had shared privately in the past. Aloplex wishing once more that things had gone different. What would life be like with him today?, she quietly wondered. Her own regret filling her as she looked up into his golden eyes. His own hand had reached out to softly stroke the fur on her cheek.
"You were good to me." Raph finally spoke, his tone just as gentle as the moment. "And I'm so sorry things happened the way they did between us."
Mikey grew wideeyed at the apology, Raph hated apologizing, he remained silent however. Even he instinctively knew this had to play out between the former lovers.
"I know." She replied simply. "I understand now that none of us were ready for that kind of relationship. We all needed to grow up. And you did a fantastic job with your life. You have a woman who loves you, and a child. And you have grown from fighting constantly with your brother and leader to supporting him. If a part of that is because of us being together and learning from our mistakes, then I regret nothing." She gave him a whimsical smile and pulled him down by his harness, then placed a soft kiss on his cheek. The last one she would ever give him. "Come now, let us find her. I, for one, want to meet the woman who put's up with your brother's stuffiness."
Raph laughed openly and once more began to walk. As far as he was concerned, Aloplex would get that chance very, very soon.
.
.
Cris was ready. She had very carefully prepared and now all she had to do was wait. He still hadn't made it back to her house yet, so she had plenty of time to rehash her plan in her mind numerous times. Not far away, Beast's whinny sound out in the evening. Not a warning sound of coyotes approaching, but of impatience. It was as if the large black stallion fed off of her impatience. She smile a moment at her horse's eagerness, then placed a toothpick in her mouth adjusted her position on the porch rail she was leaning on, and waited.
Soon enough, she was rewarded with headlights finally coming down her drive.