Who am I? - CH19
The Secret Meeting in the Dark
Disclaimer: TMNT isn't mine and this is just a fanfiction writing. No money is being made on this story.
(TMNT CC are AU based on 2003 version and events, the turtles are in their late 20s.)
Warning: It has horror elements.
Rate: T
Drama, family comfort/hurt, and heartache...
Summary: A hero... to the rescue?
The noise of the city polluted the night sky while he leaned against the warm brick wall that bathed in the dipping sun before he arrived at that location.
The darkness giving him coverage under the bright moon, he waited patiently, flicking the blue mask's tail off his to the side under the hood that covered his face.
With injuries that were still a hindrance and not wanting to announce his return, he hid his figure with human clothes.
Any of the rooftops could have a Foot soldier posted, to spread the word like a fire.
The less evidence that they were back, the more time they had until Bishop was at their doorstep, even if that rash move could be unlikely for political reasons, he didn't want to take the chances all the same.
With him standing there for far too long with his contact running late, of course, when timing mattered the most, wasn't helping his paranoia of the feeling of being watched. He could swear eyes were on him, yet he couldn't determine from where or if it was his imagination.
He was planning to make this quick since he had other engagements before the night was done.
To top it off he had convinced Raph he was heading out from the security of their home to have a talk with Leatherhead in person other than over the phone. Which was a cover-up to a point not mentioning to his recently overprotective brother, he was taking a detour beforehand, heading topside and having a midnight stroll of sorts...
What spurred on this reckless decision that would be seen as foolish was the events that followed after arriving at the lair.
It wasn't even one foot on the familiar concrete floor of home, Donnie a ghost in the wind, retreated quickly to his lab like some hermit that they will not see for the next couple of days.
There was no exchange of words, nor sign of what was running in his mind, the door closed to the rest of the world when he passed through the lab's threshold.
As for the other two brothers who in turn only shrugged it off decided to pretend it never happened, ignored the cold shoulder from Donnie, and instead got the bright idea to start the grand tour of the lair to have Adam feel comfortable and make him know it is home to him too.
With his brothers distracted and Adam included, Leo with that itch growing fierce ever since the closer they got to New York, couldn't hold in his desire to put into the process to crack this mystery of the card now, not later.
"He is late," Leo grumbled, losing what little patience he had, if a minute more he knew Raph would grow worried and send a search party, revealing he lied of his destination…
well more like a detour. He was planning after this to head directly to Leatherhead's place since he still had to talk to him either way, to cover his current agenda and also it was a good idea to have Leatherhead up to speed before facing Donatello.
In the distance, a lone siren went off with others followed not long after, catching his attention to focus on that direction, scanning the area of anything that could be an issue for him. It wasn't until movement came to his right, that his gaze broke. Leo let out a sigh and moved out of the shadows to greet his contact at last, not a moment too soon he muttered under his breath.
There, standing under the light of the moon was a dark figure of a man wearing a black costume with red gloves and boots, with the equally dark city sky behind him that partially camouflage him.
"Nobody," Leo greeted, suppressing his annoyance at how tarty the hero/detective was.
"Leonardo, I wasn't expecting a call from you or with such discretion than normal," he returned the greeting curious over what the turtle wanted. Especially the part over how Leo was adamant that this meeting was between them only and never to be mentioned to his other brothers.
"Sorry, but there is a reasonable reason for that I wish not to get into. I need to ask you a favour," Leo started hesitantly, which piqued Nobody's interest and skepticism.
"What kind of favour," he asked suspiciously.
"As you are aware, I do know you work in the field Nobody and you have connections that I need you to utilize, but who I want you to investigate is unfortunately is or was working for Bishop," Leo flatly told him, not sugar-coating it. It was in both their best interests that he made it clear what threats could apply if the favour was taken on.
The name like poison, didn't sit too well with Nobody who remained silent studying him before answering.
"That would be quite a favour, do I dare ask why? Or why you think I could help you or willing to risk much to dare to intervene with that… man?"
Figuring that would be asked, he put his cards onto the table, to a point without pulling Nobody into this mess and giving him too much information without his willingness to take this on, allowing him to walk away if he chooses so.
"There is someone I need intel on. Like I have mentioned who had worked or is working for Bishop. She is of high importance to my family's safety and the more I know who she is and what connection she has with Bishop, the easier it would be for me to protect my family," Leo explained keeping it vague as possible, but enough to get his point across, seeing the man was contemplating if he should get involved or not.
With a moment of silence, Nobody shifted before taking a step towards Leo, "I don't feel comfortable investigating anything that's involved with Bishop for his connections-"
"I understand, I'm sorry for bothering you," Leo cut in moving back to turn around, only to have his one foot in the air to step onto the edge of the roof before being stopped.
"However, on the other hand, I do owe you and your brothers for my life," he continued with Leo turning back to him, "The fact you're risking assisting to use my services means you don't have much to go on. Even so, I have to wonder on why not rely on Donatello before coming to me? He is more than capable. May I ask why, before I accept this?"
Sighing Leo crossed his arms, "For Donnie has his limitations, he isn't a detective nor has the skill set as you do, besides I know he would be biased if he bothered, being how delicate this is. You on the other hand wouldn't and will recover what I need without overlooking the small details that could be crucial."
"Understandable," Nobody nodded, not bothering to ask more, seeing how hard it was for Leo to say that much. The ninja was obviously hiding the true nature of why he was coming to him not allowing his family to have any acknowledgement of this arrangement. In the end, it wasn't his place or his business to find out more about why.
"Who is she? This woman that you want me to recover her background on?"
Hissing through his teeth Leo answered, "That is one of many problems, I don't know. The only thing is I have this." Leo took the key card from his belt and handed it to the man who turned it over giving Leo a grim look.
"This isn't much to go on, half the text has been worn off and the image is a bit damaged as well," Nobody pointed out, noticing that some of the face was blurred out from age or some chemical? Even so, there was enough to start with, he might have to reconstruct what was there to have a full image of her face to work on. If he didn't there was a high probability he might have multiple hits, making him have to sift through his findings to figure out who she is to get anywhere. One small detail of her face could be critical to perform a background check on her.
"I know… that's the reason I came to you, can you work with that?" Leo inquired, knowing he recognized the image being Adam's human side, but knew it was little to go on for someone that hasn't seen him. Leo could have taken a picture of Adam but feared giving an up-to-date image could be risky in many ways.
"I can see what I can dig up on this woman, but I can't make any promises Leonardo."
"Anything will be better than nothing, I would even settle with a name," he told him.
"Then I guess I will get to work then, but-" Nobody turned his attention to Leo who was standing close by, yet now was gone. With a sigh, he shook his head, "If it gets too dangerous, I will have to bail out… but you already know that don't you?" Nobody told the air, turning around and making his leave as well, as Leo watched through the shadows.
"I know, I know... Be safe, Nobody and sorry for asking you to do this…" Leo sadly whispered to the wind, feeling guilty for involving the friend. He feared what threats will befall him if caught by Bishop researching this mysterious human, but it couldn't be helped and he knew if there was anyone that could shed some light it was him.
His eyes large as saucers gawk at the large reptile who stood still not making any sudden movements.
"His name is Adam? He remarkably looks like you Raphael," the nervous alligator asked again, a bit confused with the double that was slightly different with muscle mass and eye colour. The scent too was off that he couldn't put his finger on what it was, something familiar yet was out of place.
Even so, that wasn't as confusing as to how Raphael and Michelangelo reacted when he entered the lair. On first entry, always considered he was welcome at any time, was welcome with panic and surprise. Then followed by a warning all too unusual, with Raphael frantically begging him not to move and reframe from speaking. He would expect such an event unfolding within Donatello's lab but not when entering the lair. Then there was the shock of the double and how the two brothers were trying to make sure 'Adam', they called Raph's look-alike, was fully aware he was a friend.
After the talk that didn't last long, Adam broke away heading directly towards Leatherhead.
The green eye turtle stood there like a deer caught in the headlights while everyone nervously watched unsure what he would do next. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Adam's face bloomed a large grin playing on his lips and his eyes changed, becoming lively of excitement.
"Wow, that was quick," Raph blink bewildered by how easy it was for the kid to accept someone new.
Adam moved toward Leatherhead circling while examining him, inch by inch with those eyes.
Seeing how the brothers reacted, Leatherhead had the deep feeling he wasn't out of the woods and refrained from moving, still allowing the curious turtle to do his thing.
When Adam reached his right side, he stopped and extended his hand as if wanting to touch his tail that was partially raised.
Leatherhead debating the correct approach, he exchanged looks with the two others who were not much help. Taking a breath, he moved his tail slowly towards the turtle that touched it. "Leatherhead," Adam smiled happily.
"Wait! What did you just call him?" Raph whipped his head at Adam flabbergasted.
"He called me by my name, Raphael," Leatherhead was the one that answered having Raph put his hand up to stop him from saying any more.
"Did you?" Raph questioned Adam. Confused Adam turned his head away from the alligator for a moment, giving a nod.
"I don't-" Leatherhead started.
"LH," Raph cut in, "We only called you LH, not once we said Leatherhead around him…"
Still not understanding what was going on, Leatherhead reframed in saying another word, while Mikey finally joined in the conversation and whistled, "Shell…" then turned his attention to Adam, "Bro do you have a Leatherhead back in your dimension?"
The question slowly seeped in with the realization coming to the surface, Adam stood there for a moment, then looked up meeting eyes with the giant before slowly shuffling away with a whimper, "You not… him…"
The reaction as would be expected, Raph approached Adam and placed his hand on his shoulder to ease him and prevented the turtle from running, "So you do, was he like ours?"
Adam nodded, then sniffled, "But he left…"
"Left?" all three asked as Leatherhead was trying to piece together the situation at hand.
He had little to work with only pointing out the obvious, that this Adam appeared to resemble Raphael in appearance only, not mental or personality. In the past, there was much discussion with Donatello on other versions of the brothers out in other universes, with some looking similar while others were not, however, there were as many similarities as there were variances.
"X…" all Adam could whimper out.
"X?" Raph asked not catching on what 'X' referred to, yet could see there was much hurt in the kid's eyes and decided to drop it. When Adam was comfortable and not trying to retreat, Raph turned his attention back to the very perplexed alligator, "Okay, so LH are you here to talk to Donnie-Boy?"
Flipping the conversation to another point of interest was the best he could do and Mikey too didn't seem to mind not ushering any of his questions that was reflected on the previous conversation.
"It wasn't my first intention. I only came to say hello, since I came by the other day and found the lair was empty. I happened to come by and noticed you are home." Leatherhead admitted getting a raised eyebrow from Raph.
"Wait… didn't Leo talk to you?" Raph inquired, now starting to understand why the big guy was puzzled over Adam's presence and it would also explain why Leo never called him to prep Adam before Leatherhead arrived, as it was agreed upon.
"No, was he heading to my place? I didn't leave too long ago and would have run into him if he took the normal route."
Raph's face turned red as he whipped out his shell cell cursing under his breath, "He better have a good excuse, or he will have my fist up his ass!"
Grumbling all the more, the atmosphere became sour with the rising anger. The threatening presence of the hot head brother with burning golden eyes, made everyone surrounding him inched away in worry that fury would be targeted upon them.
The shell cell ringing with no answer, Raph's eyes narrowed pressing the 'end call' button firmly before darting his head towards his little brother, who slightly jumped, "Mikey get LH up to damn speed! I'm going to go drag fearless's fucken shell back home. Damn that idiot and he dared to lecture me! Fucken hypocrite."
"R-right…" Mikey gulp wanting to try to simmer that fire down just a tad to ensure his older brother wasn't dragged back in pieces after an unfortunate accident by yours truly the hothead. Regardless of how much he did want to, for some reason he couldn't for those eyes were dangerous, so much so his brain was blank and his throat locked up watching helplessly and praying to any gods for a safe return for both while he watched Raph storm out of the lair.
"Leo… trouble?" Adam squeaked with a nod from Mikey and an answer from Leatherhead.
"You could put it that way," the alligator sighed, unsure if he was to intervene or not and why Raph would be this agitated, Leo was a capable turtle more so than any of them, he could take care of himself, why so much concern?
"Sooo…. LH, here is the breakdown, Adam will help right?" Mikey included the turtle to help him to get used to Leatherhead at the same time.
"I will…"
"Thanks, I will need all the help to get LH knowing what's up dude, before talking to Donnie," Mikey smiled, knowing more what was going on than Raph or Leo knew of. He had overheard of the conversation that night, not voicing he was eavesdropping on the two brothers. He too was concerned over how 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' as Raph put it, that Donnie has become.
Maybe Leatherhead would be a good idea to help his brother, things were spiralling out of control and he had no idea either how to put it back on track, but one thing he did know for sure, he didn't want his family to crumble around him anymore then it has, seeing Adam and how he was alone, made him strongly not want that outcome. He couldn't imagine in his most darkest nightmare being the same boat as Adam, alone and with no family… It would drive him mad he was sure of it.
TBC