Chapter five:
Me and Casey get up trying to not wake Leo. We go to the window and look around outside. Casey even grabs a nearby flashlight to shine around in the dark. We're about to think that maybe there isn't something there when we catch a brief glimpse of movement.
The movement is gone when Casey steadies the light on that area. That spot leaves areas that lead to parts where we can't see. That means whoever it is, I have a feeling who it is, could move around without us seeing.
Casey searches to see if he can spot anything else only to find nothing. "Shit." He hisses quietly. "You stay with Leo. I'll check the back." He hurries away taking the flashlight.
I move to sit by the bed Leo is on. I pull the blanket over him to make sure he stays warm. I turn hearing someone attempt to open the front door. I am thankful that it is locked. I go to the front door to talk to who it is. I won't show fear as I'm ready to protect Leo no matter what. "You know. You're making it pretty tempting to just let the human authorities catch you. And we have the upper hand. We have Casey. So we won't be revealed but you surely will." He knows that those words should not sit well with Splinter.
There is no answer from the other side. In fact other than the storm going on it's quiet.
I peek through the peep hole and see a figure disappear into the darkness heading away. I sigh softly as I think that worked. I turn as Casey comes back. "He tried but couldn't get in. I managed to scare him off with a threat that the human authorities could come find him." He tells Casey who sighs in relief.
"We'll stay up a little longer just to make sure." Casey suggests and I nod my head. He closes the curtains to the window this time.
We sit on the couch for now waiting to make sure that the coast is indeed clear.
Luckily it doesn't seem Leo has woken up yet from all of this.
The storm passes and everything falls very silent.
We decide that it should be okay now. We head back to bed.
I lay by Leo who slightly stirs. I see him blink at me half asleep. "Everything's okay." I assure him with a confident smile. "Go back to sleep."
Leo's eyes close and he does go back to sleep.
I can't bring myself to fall asleep for awhile longer. I think it's early morning by the time I pass out. When I awaken this time I feel rested and find Leo must be up already. I don't see him. I get up and see Casey is gone too. I head to the kitchen figuring that they must be there. I turn out to be right as I find Casey leaning against the counter, and Leo is sitting at the kitchen table.
They glance to me as I enter.
"Morning." I greet them accepting a cup of coffee that Casey offers me. I chug it down then join Leo at the table.
"Do you wanna eat some breakfast? I can make you some cinnamon sugar toast. You know I'm not good at cooking." Casey offers to me.
"Sure." I figure that I'll eat something before I'll plan to head out. I think the earlier I get this done the better. I'll stop at Aprils to tell her first then get Mikey and Donnie to meet me elsewhere. I don't think it's a good idea to tell them at home.
Casey makes it which is simple.
Butter on toast, cinnamon and sugar then put on to which it's mixed plus spread around.
I thank Casey and eat it since it isn't bad. I finish and prepare myself to get going.
"You'll be careful right?" Leo's voice catches my attention to which I turn to him. He is worried about me.
I reach over placing a hand over his own. "I promise. I will be careful." I tell him. "I'll take steps to be extra careful." I see him nod which he does look to be a little less worried. Soon enough I am about to head out with Casey and Leo seeing me off. "I'll message you both with updates." I tell them so they won't worry as much. I know Leo will worry a lot more than Casey will.
"We'll keep everything locked up here. And we'll stay here." Casey tells me as Leo nods his head. "Good luck."
"Thanks. I'll talk to April then get Mikey and Donnie to meet me somewhere." I tell them and Leo does look a little better about that. I turn to leave glancing over my shoulder. "See you two later." I head off with Casey locking the door behind me. I smile to Leo who is watching me leave through the window. I speed up afterwards to get to Aprils place quicker. I stay alert for any signs of Splinter.
A little unexpectedly everything is quiet as there's no sign of him.
I hope that Mikey and Donnie are okay. I make it to Aprils place finding her sitting out front on a chair.
April looks up and is surprised to see me. "Raph? Well good morning. I didn't expect you to visit."
"Yeah. Listen can we go inside? I need to talk to you about something important."
April blinks then nods. "Sure." She leads me inside, I make sure to message Casey and Leo that I made it safely with no sign of Splinter, to which we sit down in the living room. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I know that this is going to be hard to hear." I admit to her as she listens. "However you need to know. I do plan to tell the others too today." I take a breath. "Something horrible has been going on. And none of us knew it for the longest time. Listen Splinter is evil."
"Raph! Whatever makes you say that?"
I decide it might be easier if I just show her so I grab my cell. "It won't be easy to see this. But I think you'll understand better if you see it." I hand her it so she can see the video.
She gently takes it and watches the video. Her eyes widen as she watches. Her hand shakes and she actually drops my phone to her lap.
"April." I begin only for her to speak first.
"How long? Does he do that to you all?" April demands still looking shaken. She is still too shocked to actually turn to look at me.
"No. It's just Leo." I admit to her. "And it's been going on for a long time. Things are only getting worse. Don't worry we are keeping Leo at Casey's. Casey already knows." I tell her and finally she turns to me with wide eyes still. I try to stay calm for her. "I am going to be talking with Mikey and Donnie too. Something needs to be done. I had to reveal to him that I found out. I did it on my own and I've been trying to help. We had to get the proof first though. Look. Now he's trying to kill us both after I stopped him from trying to kill Leo. Trust me in that Casey and Leo can back me up on that. That's actually why we had ran to your place yesterday. Leo is a bit overwhelmed by the idea of admitting this. So I said I'd do it. That's why he's still at Casey's." I am suddenly hugged and hear April sobbing.
"This is horrible!" April cries to me as I hug her back.
"I know. I'm sorry we have to bring you into this. You know as well as us that there's no way we can stop this alone." I let her cry to me for a bit longer then she pulls away with a sniffle.
"I'll help in anyway that you need." April promises wiping her eyes. "Just tell me what I need to do."
"For now pretend that things are normal. Just be careful." I tell her. "I'm going to plan with Mikey and Donnie what to do." I see her nod with an upset yet determined look.
"Okay. You can use my place to talk to them. So you'll be safe plus away from where he might hear you planning."
"Thank you."
April nods and gets up heading to the kitchen after handing me my phone.
I let her have a little time and I text Donnie.
Hey. I want to explain things. Can you and Mikey both meet me at Aprils? Also please don't tell Splinter you're meeting with me. Trust me I will explain everything.
I wait for a little bit hoping for a response. I get one and I read it.
Okay. Whatever is going on we both want to know about it. We'll be there soon.
I turn to the kitchen. "They'll be here soon they said!" I call to April.
"Okay!" April calls back. She joins me in the living room just a little later.
Not long after that I go to let Mikey and Donnie inside.
April gets up and heads out of the room again as the three of us settle on the couch.
"Okay. Explain. What in the world is going on?" Donnie inquires as both he and Mikey look at me.
"It won't be easy to hear. I do also have proof of it all." I tell them causing them to look a little confused. "Something has been going on that we didn't even know about. Something really bad." I begin my explanation. "It's actually the reason me and Leo had to stay at Casey's. We kind of have to include everyone. I've talked to the others. Trust me if we could we would have dealt with this ourselves." I can see their eyes turn to worry about what might be going on. "I want you to brace yourselves. This will be hard to see. It'll just be the easiest way I can get you to understand." I offer my phone with the video playing.
I let them watch it and I see the horror streak across their faces. I glance away as it's hard to watch them have to watch what's been going on. I don't turn back the whole time that they watch it.
It is quiet for a long moment as the two truly let it process that the video is indeed real.
Mikey sobs and I close my eyes tightly at hearing this.
"I thought something was strange with some of his bruises." Donnie admits though his voice cracks. "Back when you two said you found and enemy and got into a fight. Especially that really bad bruise he had. I just never imagined that this was the reason."
I open my eyes and force myself to face them.
Mikey is crying with Donnie holding him close.
Donnie looks sad and angry about what is going on.
They both look like they now hate Splinter and have lost all respect and care for him. They are angry with him about what he is dating to do.
Donnie hands me my phone that I take. "So you two have been hiding from him at Casey's?"
"That and things got worse. So we kind of had to say something ahead of schedule." I admit which does worry them further.
"He's not trying to kill Leo is he?" Donnie demands as Mikey stares at me with wide eyed tearful eyes.
I nod sadly which causes Mikey to sob again. "I managed to stop it before he had a chance the first time. So he knew I knew. He's been trying to find a way to kill us both before we could tell any of you."
Donnie clenches his teeth and his eyes narrow. "Damn it." He hisses through his teeth. "We have to do something."
"But what can we do?" Mikey questions trying to calm his crying down.
"I wanted to discuss that with you." I admit to them and Donnie glances away thoughtfully. I watch him think things over as he even bites his bottom lip. I can see his eyes darting back and forth as he thinks it over. I hope that he might have an idea of what we can do. I reach over placing a hand on Mikeys shoulder.
Mikey looks to me doing his best to smile though it's clear he's still bothered by this.
Donnie blinks as he thinks of something. He also releases his bottom lip. "We all know we can't overpower him. However we can outsmart him." His words catch me and Mikeys attention as I pull my hand away from Mikey.
Poor Mikey is trembling a little though looks like he wants to help however he can. He does still show horror of this going on in his eyes.
Donnie also seems to still be heavily troubled by this truth. He's just trying to seem stronger for Mikey.
I really feel bad that I have to bring them into this. I wish that this wasn't even happening in the first place.
"We could lead him into a trap. It won't be easy however it could work."
I nod to this idea.
"I'm helping too."
We turn to April who sits on the floor to join us.
I turn back to Donnie. "How do we do this? He's going to be really cautious now."
"Well we can use my lab." Donnie offers to me. "There is a spot that's open. It should help calm him down. I also can move something that can hide you up above in a spot he won't think you'll be in. I can use a secret camera to put on me so you can watch from there. When we have him there we'll take him by surprise. I have something I use to hold things in place. It snaps on quickly. We can use it to hold his hands back." His idea is truly smart which isn't surprising as he has always been the smart one.
"Sounds good." I nod to this. "Just how do we get him there?"
"That's the tricky part." Donnie admits then April clears her throat.
We all turn to her.
"I have an idea. I think he should think that Leo and Raph are still not there. So after you Donnie ask him to help with something, Mikey can head out saying he's going to meet up with you Raph, Leo and Casey at Casey's place. Well of course have to act like everything is normal. Mikey will come to my place and we'll wait it out. If either of you message us that it's going wrong then we'll head to Casey's to help there just in case." She then continues with her idea after a saying that. "Donnie will lead him into that part and make sure he drops his guard. Acting like nothing is known should help. Plus I doubt he'll refuse after having already accepted to help you. If he does. Then you guys can spring the trap on him. Once you have him trapped I'm not sure what then." She adds and I think we all have an idea of what will happen.
"I think that'll work." I nod and I actually like it because it gets Mikey out of the way so he doesn't have to witness any of it.
"I may not like what will have to be done on moral stand point I mean." Mikey speaks up as we turn to him. He's managed to stop himself from shaking. "However I know we have no choice. We've been left with no other way." He also looks relieved that he'll be out of the way and not there for it. "You can do it. You know what I mean. We can't turn to anyone on the outside to help us. I know we have to deal with this ourselves. We have to." He shivers at the thought of what's going to happen.
Donnie hugs Mikey closer as they snuggle comfortingly to each other.
I take a breath. "I'll do it." I tell them. "Out of all of us I'll be able to handle it best." I see Donnie nod looking relieved that he won't have to do that part. I am glad that he has let me do this. "I'll tell Casey and Leo." I get up and leave the room. I know that Donnie will comfort Mikey and Mikey will comfort Donnie, plus April will help them. I text them both explaining the plan to them. I wait for them to respond which takes a few minutes.
Casey is first.
Okay. I'll keep Leo safe. Let us know when you all plan for this to happen.
Leo follows just a little later.
Please be careful. Don't let something go wrong.
I smile softly and reply to Casey first.
I will. We'll figure out the odd details. Thanks for keeping Leo safe while this is all happening.
I then switch to Leo.
Don't worry my love. We'll take every step we can to ensure that it goes by well. I promise you. We won't let it go wrong.
I don't want him to worry more than he already will be worrying. I return to the others who are trying to gather themselves to truly calm down. "They know." I tell them.
"We can do it today. Just let me get things set up then we'll sneak you in." Donnie offers to me. "I think the sooner that this is all over the better for all of us."
"If you're sure." I mention to which he nods.
"Please. I want this to be gone." Mikey pleads with puppy dog pleading eyes.
"Okay. You can head back and I'll wait on you telling me when you're ready. We'll figure out how to sneak me inside." I agree to this.
"We might be able to while he's in his room. We'll have to be quick and make sure that he can't see you." Donnie suggests.
"What about that cart we use to bring stuff in from the junkyard if we find a lot?" Mikey suggests which just might work. "We can hide him among things found there."
"Perfect. We'll put things on it and store it away." Donnie agrees to this. "When he sees it, if he even peeks out, then with us acting normal he'll think that it is just junkyard stuff."
"Go back when you're ready. We won't be rushing you." I add to which they give their nods of gratitude to this. I really hope everything does go to plan.