Shi...
The four woke up the next morning knowing fully what faced them. On their way out of the old subway, it appeared as if Splinter was not aware of their actions.
"I snuck some Nyquil into his dinner last night." Mike confessed to Leo. He fanned through the money he took before sticking it into his duffel bag. "I hope he'll forgive me later."
Yep, definitely hell-bent, Leo sighed. But here I am going along with them.
They weren't sure too sure what Splinter was going to do when he discovered they'd left. The final outcome, they decided, was not going to be good. The four traveled to the nearest train yard, hoping this plan will work out.
"Is it going to do this all day?" Raph looked up into the dark sky, tasting the cold rain. The weather had been like that for days now.
"Is it five in the morning?"
Mike nudged Don to ask about a train car.
"Yeah, that's the line, and there's one with the door open." Don surveyed the train.
Leo wiped the rain off his face. "Be careful, some bum might be in there too."
"Whatever, I just need more sleep than this..." Mike headed toward the car.
Splinter proved his suspicions as correct when he finally woke. His faithful four left anyway. The letter he found fully explaining their dismissal meant nothing to him. Michaelangelo, I thought you would've known better. The distraught rat looked up with a sigh.
Time and time again he told them not to do such things for a good reason - for the sake of their own safety, not just about being a ninja. He loved them like a father. They're very existence in his life meant a lot to him. After Hamatto Yoshi was killed, Splinter thought he would never know the comfort of love again. All the same, he felt guilty to use them as tools to avenge the man who killed his owner. It was his honor for Yoshi that drove him to seek revenge. What a contradiction it seemed. Did his sons still hold the same honor for him? What was it that turned them against his advice? The fact they were kids, tempted by the freedom of adulthood explained much of it. They would soon figure it out, the hard way.
The old master still felt strongly the four turtles were no match for top-notch criminals armed with guns - unlike Oroku Saki, packing only the gunpowderless weapons of ninjutsu. Not yet. The only hopes he had for his sons now were that they better know their ninjutsu and how to avoid the bullets. That was his only regret, the fact bullets move faster than they do. Splinter walked back into his part of the subway car to think. Maybe this time the four will learn. Maybe this time.
A couple of hours had passed as the train they rode pressed ever westward into upstate New York. A couple of the guys had dozed off from sheer boredom and the cold dampness. Only Raph and Don made an effort to stay awake. They didn't want to miss the point where they get off to hop onto another train. The final destination was a town called Obernburg. However, the train could go as far as Youngsville. It was almost one in the afternoon when they jumped from the train there.
The four walked downtown on a sidewalk by Main Street. Mike sighted a diner kind of restaurant and suggested they get something to eat. Once inside, the hostess seated them in a booth by the window.
Leo looked over the menu before speaking. "Obernburg's a few miles from here, right?"
"Yep, and we're walkin' all the way there," Don confirmed.
"Oh no, we're not!" Raph pulled his coat and gloves off. "Damn, I'm burning up in this mask an' shit"
"How about getting some service. This place is making me uncomfortable." Leo looked around Raph for their waitress. "Are you guys ready to order?"
Don nodded, then glanced over to Mike. He didn't seem to be paying attention to them. "Hey, Mike, decide on what you're going to have?"
"Yeah." Then he nodded his head in the direction of the booth behind him and Don. "These guys behind us, they're talking about horses and racing." Mike lowered his voice, "I'd swear one of 'em's the trainer of the black girl horse--"
"Y'mean a filly?" Don interrupted.
"Yeah," Mike agreed, then narrowed his eyes. "Have you been studyin' the dictionary again?" He noticed Raph and Leo where interested in the news now. "Anyway, I think I recognize one of those guys, like the trainer I met at Belmont Sat'rday."
Raph leaned toward Mike. "If you're sure that's a trainer of a racehorse, go an' talk to him!"
The waitress finally came to their table to ask for their orders. Immediately, the four hid their hands under the table. Since they took their gloves off, the true skin showed. As soon as she left, Mike turned around to look at the people behind him. One weathered face did look familiar. This middle-aged man sat on the side of the table that faced him. In the seat right behind Mike's sat a man and a woman in their early thirties. Maybe it was the toddler sitting in the high chair at the end of the table that threw him off.
"Okay," Mike cleared his throat and turned around, "Hiya there." He suddenly felt stupid when they halted their conversation to stare at him.
"Hello," the trainer tipped his old ball cap. The woman also turned around to see the bunch of teenagers. He and another wore hockey jerseys, while the other two in sweatshirts were Asians. They certainly didn't look like anyone she knew.
"I don't know if you remember but, I'm Mike. We've met before at the Belmont Racetrack, on Sat'rday?" Mike explained, inconspicuously pulling his sleeves over his hands.
"Yes," the trainer wiped his mouth with a napkin once. "I vaguely remember meeting you. You were, ah, looking at Over and Out. What a coincidence we meet again." He looked once to the couple before asking. "So, what brings y' out this way."
Mike turned away to cough instead.
"So, you're the owner of Over an' Out?" Don turned around now that the ice was broken.
"Oh, no. No. I'm her trainer," he nodded his head towards the other two. "This couple in front of you owns her."
"You're the young man who's fascinated with the disappearance of racehorses?" the woman asked Mike. She swept her brown bangs from her eyes. Sunlight glinted from the rims of her gold-framed glasses too.
"Yeah," Mike cleared his throat. He also caught sight of the wedding ring on her finger. Damn. Then glanced over to her husband with short red hair. "We all are, actually."
Mrs. Edgley looked up to the other three. "Your friends? Interesting."
"Are you from this area?" Mike wondered.
"More or less, we're somewhere between Rome and Utica. We're on our way back from Belmont." she smiled. Her face was clean and natural, without a trace of make-up.
Don pulled his sleeves over his hands, then leaned on the back of the seat to listen. He looked once at Mike, who seemed to be fascinated with the lady. Mike, must you flirt with every lady you meet?
"Uh, we're not quite sure where the...criminals could pop up next, but I wonder if it be possible if we could stay someplace at your farm. Y' know, since it's in the horse racing scheme of things." Mike spit out a spontaneous idea.
"Mi-key!" Don protested. That was not in the plan.
Leo and Raph sat up, upon hearing this request.
"Oh, um," Mrs. Edgley turned around to face her husband and the trainer, then looked back to them. "I haven't heard any troubles of the like happenin' around here, to tell you the truth."
Leo whispered, "Forget it Mike, we don't even know the--"
"I thought we were goin' to Obinburg." Raph added.
Don started to understand Mike's motives now. "Yeah, we were going to Obernburg to find a horse farm. But we got one right here now."
Mrs. Edgley looked at her husband next to her. He hadn't said much about all this yet. "What do you think?"
"In a way, they seem as if they have no place to go," he softly spoke, so they couldn't hear him. "Are y'sure they're not just a bunch of run-away kids?"
She gave that a thought. "We'll make sure they don't cause any trouble. I may just make use of them on the farm. Y'know how Mick is about needing more help." He just looked at her, the silent kind of okay. He rubbed his auburn mustache and nodded. The wife got Mike's attention, "It'll be okay for now. But, you can stay in the barn, someplace warm. We want you to work for your keep, though."
The waitress brought out the food the four had ordered earlier. That temporarily broke up the matter at hand for a few minutes.
Leo glared at Mike, as he chewed on a french fry. Just when he thought he had him figured out, he does this.
"Had our reasons--" Mike told him, "tell ya why later."
"Whatever it is, it's that we're in for some drastic measures to not let them know...and that ain't goin' to be a picnic!" Leo argued, quietly.
"So? What's wrong with tellin' them? They seem like the type." Mike reasoned. At the moment, he really did not want to argue over anything until he stopped his hunger pains.
"So?! So what if they don't believe us? Y'know how irrational small-town people are!" he tried to keep his voice down. Mike just gave Leo a look as he ate his hamburger.
Raph banged his glass down. "Leo, just shut up and eat. They look like they're leavin'."
"Let them know when you're ready," the trainer informed them. After he told the couple he'll be on his way, he left. The young family had drove separately.
Mike stuffed the last of his burger into his mouth. "I gotta go t'the bafroom real quick." He mumbled to the others.
Leo paid the tab and the others came back from the restroom, they joined the young family. "You're lucky we came in our van, " Mrs. Edgley lifted her son from the high chair.
"Heh, you're lucky we're traveling light, " Don slung his backpack over his left shoulder. He then pulled his bo from under the table.
She gave it a curious look.
"I strained a muscle in my leg...it's my walking stick," Don told her.
They approached an old, blue Astro van in the parking lot. It turned out to not be big enough, though. With the child's car seat and their luggage combined, it was a tight fit for all seven. Then Mrs. Edgley told the four the trip ahead may take a couple hours.
Don nervously grinned at the tawny haired next to him. He had that kind of grin that gave Don the creeps. Great, I'm sitting next to Dennis the Menace.
Then Mike started cracking his gum to ease his own tensions. Man, these people better be as good as they seem, or I'm up the creek. And I'm stuck next to Raph.
"Cool it wit da gum, will ya." Raph jabbed Mike's arm.
The van drove through more fields, hills, and simple towns. Mr. Edgley lessened his concentration on driving to find out a little more about their guests. "So, where in New York City are y'from? On the island, or near China Town." he asked, since it was Leo and Don who had Asian characteristics on their masks.
"Nah, we're from a place between Brooklyn and Queens," Mike replied. He certainly wasn't going to tell them exactly where, of course.
"Oh, yes, I Gary and this is my wife, Steve." Gary though to introduce themselves. "That's our son Todd."
"Um, call me Mike, and he's--" Mike pointed to the seat behind him.
"Leo."
"I'm Don."
"Raphael."
"Get that?" Mike asked with a sniffle. Oh no, not another sneeze, no...
"Shouldn't you be in school?" Steve adjusted her glasses. "You look like high schoolers, that's why I ask."
"We're still on Thanksgiving break." Don nodded.
"Hmm, your school must have a long break. The kids in our area go back on Monday." Gary rubbed his chin.
"How did you get involved in this crime stopping?" Steve still didn't believe their horse story.
"It just...sorta happened," Don replied, not giving that question much thought.
"What's your technique for it?" Steve relayed another question.
"Technique? Like what?" Don misunderstood. Talk about playing a hundred questions... He leaned on the back of the seat between Mike and Raph.
"How do you stop the criminals? Do you corner the criminal and call the police in?" Steve clarified, now looking back at them.
"Yea, just like that." Mike agreed with her suggestion, grinning. They better change the subject. She's getting too close.
"Martial arts, you boys are into some kind of martial arts." she felt she was getting very warm, from the expression on a couple of faces. That helps explain Don's injury and his 'walking stick'. It wasn't like she hadn't seen a bo before.
"There are ten-something types around: which one in particular do you mean?" Don smartly questioned her close call.
"I give." she groaned. But she didn't give. Not in her mind. She still sought an answer. Her assistant manager studied a form of Japanese karate and the sword. From what she had picked up from his conversations, the world of martial arts was not alien to her.
Mike finally gave up on his internal battle against his sneezing fit. The force of the discharge made it his mask uncomfortable. Fortunately, it changed the subject towards something else.
"That doesn't sound at all good." Steve turned around and narrowed her eyes.
"Na, just gettin' ovaa dis flu ting." Mikey hoarsely replied. He stayed bent over, his hands covering his mask face. C'mon, turn back around.
"Yeah. Real bad, with everything." Don emphasized the fact. Mike groaned in protest.
Steve finally turned to watch the road again.
On cue, Mike turned around real quick and whispered to Leo, "Y'gotta help me...my mask's a mess now." He leaned over the seat back. "Getta Kleenex from my bag, and..."
Don realized the situation and created a distraction, "What's the name of your farm?" he asked the Edgley's.
Leo looked at Mike, "You want me to wipe your beak?"
Raph turned around for a quick look. He settled back down into the seat with a grin.
"Yeah, quick." Mike whispered as he carefully lifted the bottom half of the latex mask. "Gah, this mask sucks..."
"You owe me for this..." Leo groaned.
"It's Rising Dawn Stables. An 80-acre farm with twenty horses. We also have a couple of stall barns, a half mile track, and a small indoor riding arena." Steve briefly described their place.
"Hmm, we have a friend who has a nice farm up in North Hampton." Don remarked.
"The facility's fairly new, as a training facility for thoroughbreds, even though the farm itself is old. She owns the farm while Mick trains the young-uns for the racetrack." Gary replied.
"That's neat." Mike settled back down in the seat.
"You okay now?" Steve asked him.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I had somethin' in my eye..." Mike rubbed one of his eyes.
But he was more interested in what he heard about the farm. He asked what the stable's colors were, out of curiosity. He had wondered about them when they were at Belmont, so he could spot Over and Out on the racetrack.
"Oh, it's purple and orange- the colors that stand out in an early sunrise." Steve explained. "But, the colors the jockey wears are just white and orange."
"Um, where's your horse?" Mike brought himself to ask.
"Ah, she's being taken care of by Mick, the trainer you met earlier. They left as a separate party from New York." Gary explained to him.
The trainer, Mike temporarily forgotten about him. But it was true many racehorses are known for their trainers than their owners. Other racehorse owners don't know beans about their animals. They just want the recognition as the owner of the horse if it does well; but if it doesn't, the poor animal is as good as dog food in its owner's eyes. They don't even give the horse another chance, or a better home. Luckily, there are others that want to know everything about their horse, are understanding with its development, and stay in contact with their trainer to see how things where going. Not to mention hiring the best jockeys for the horse. From what he learned about Gary and Steve so far, he was the second type of owner: kind and understanding. In these thoughts, Mike thought of something that would help them. It was something he mentioned to Don earlier. Like a shared brain wave, Don was thinking the same idea.
"Hey, Leo," Don nudged him, for he was dozing off. "I think I got one answer why those guys are taking those prime racehorses. It could be 'cause they are hungry for fame and fortune from those horses, after a little trickery on their part." he quietly explained the best he could. That was the latest mystery to them- why the horses were being stolen and smuggled.
"Don, that could be it." Leonardo accredited him, shaking a finger.
"Hey, I gave him the idea," Mike tried to get credit too.
They approached the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. But the clouded gloom from the rain made all the scenery look the same. Not much more that was significant was said, for the four turned onto road games.
Mike looked out to see a road sign. They were almost to the destination. He saw Raph leaning against the glass window, sound asleep.
"Raph! The door's ajar!" Mike tugged at Raph's coat sleeve. Considering the trouble between him and Raph, Mike thought for a moment that wasn't a good idea. But what the hell.
Raph abruptly leapt away from the glass, almost sitting on top of Mike. He came to his senses as Mike literally fell apart in laughter.
"Godda...Mike, I hate it when you...mmrggh!" he tried not to lose his temper in front of Gary and Steve.
"You really must've been out of it," Mike calmed himself down to a chuckle. "There's no door on your side."
Raph merely twisted Mike's arm until he was pleading in pain. At that time, the two had attracted some attention from the others in the van.
From what could be seen of it in the dark, were mostly many trees and a flood light on the barn. The house was back in the hilly wooded pasture, just across from their large barn. It looked almost like any good horse farm would look. Gary turned off the narrow road onto a driveway just as narrow and rough.
"There barn- we now home!" Todd exclaimed, pointing to the barn mostly hidden behind a light fog.
"That's ..." Mike turned to cough away from Raph.
Raph and Leo looked though the same window to see the place better. There was a tall half-stone, half-wood barn in the front of the farm. Its weathered stones and the dark red, wood planks continuing to the roof saw its old age. It also had a belfry at one end with a weathervane of a trotting horse on top. Behind this big barn was another wooden one that was more broad than tall. Enclosing many of the pastures was a network of old stone walls, with an extra railing of white fencing on top for height.
The van pulled into the two-car garage to the right of the house. A few yards to the right of the garage stood a broad barn. Mike noticed the truck and horse trailer parked outside the garage, next to the barn. Steve wanted to see how things handled for Mick, so she left for thew barn.
Don volunteered to take a small tack trunk to barn as well. He hooked Leo on the other end and followed Steve to the barn.
"Is it still raining out there?" Mike asked as he pulled his luggage from the back. "Like, not that it really matters."
"Tell me when you walk out." Raph pointed out the garage door.
"Funny," Mike walked by a shiny, red, Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited next to the old van. He noticed that the tan seats were even leather. Hello. Somebody's rich here.
Raph and Mike helped Gary carry luggage up to the house's back door, while the others returned from the barn. This house was an old two-story stone one with many tall windows in white trim. The stone was dark with age, but covered with vines and moss growing in some places, almost like that on the old barn and fence line. The back entrance had a small weathered wood deck before it, with small bushes and pine trees nearby. Most of the deck had a large rack of firewood taking half of the space.
Steve came up the stairs. "We do have a spare room upstairs we just use as a den. I'll letcha stay there, if that's all right with you. The weather's getting cold, and I can't see you staying anywhere else."
"Well, um," Leo thought aloud. This presented that certain problem again. "Would it be okay if we stayed in a barn? We're not going to stay long...maybe one night."
"If you insist, but I would feel better if you stayed here." Steve focused on Leo's dark eyes. "You don't deserve to be stuck in a barn when the weather so awful. At least stay in the house until you go to sleep t'night."
Leo looked at the others. They seemed to have the desire to go into the house too. C'mon, you guys...
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