Cross-pollination

"Get up," Leo ordered.

The ninja surveyed the cramped and dark alley and seeing that he was surrounded did what he was told. Unexpectedly the thugs who had been unconscious during the fight awoke and fled from the alley. However the turtles paid no attention to the fleeing thugs.

"Why is the Black Lotus searching for us, what are you guys trying to do?"

"The Black Lotus want complete control of the city and with the Foot soon to be disposed of, you are their main hindrance and must be eliminated. Our leader wants nothing to stand in his way for the conquest if New York City and other major metropolitan cities."

Each turtle looked at him intently, trying to determine whether or not he was speaking the truth.

"Even if he is telling the truth what are we going to do about it?" Donatello asked rhetorically.

He asked the question everyone else was thinking. Everyone contemplated hard for a few minutes until Leo answered.

"There is only one course of action we can take, we must strike first and kill the Black Lotus leaders."

"Did you and Raph switch bandanas today?" Mikey asked jokingly.

Everyone understood that Mikey meant that it was unusual for Leo to advocate to such aggressive measures to eliminating their problem.

"I'm serious. We can not let the Black Lotus take over anywhere and I'm guessing that the head of the NYC takeover or whoever calls the shots is nearby. So if we get of him and his chief subordinate the Black Lotus will not last much longer after that. They will probably split up into rival factions because of struggles for power, then rival Lotus gangs will be formed from within and they will become so weak that they'll be out of 'business' permanently."

"He's right, we can't hide in the sewers and wait for the mayor or the FBI to take care of this. I mean when was the last time they ever did anything to stop the Foot or anyone else?" Don added.

"So what are we gonna do with him?" Raph asked.

The ninja remained completely motionless during their discussions.

"We can't let him go or he'll the others and the cops can't bust him for anything... damn we might have to kill him," Leo said.

Leo was not going to kill him; he was only trying to scare the ninja into revealing the Black Lotus' hideout. However, the ninja's eyes widened when he heard they were considering killing him. Now John regretted joining more than ever, he only joined the gang so that they would stop harassing his brother and so he wouldn't have to join. However now he would rather have to fight to protect him everyday than stay a member. If he died his mother would never recover from the grief of losing her eldest son and he would be leaving the family unprotected. He did not know what he was getting himself into when he joined; he thought that oversized turtles fighting New York City crime was only an urban legend. If John knew he'd forced by the Black Lotus leaders to fight these freaks he would have tried to quit.

John lived in a two bedroom apartment with his twelve year old brother, Kenetsu (Although everyone called him Ken) and his mother. He was an eighteen year old, high school senior who was eight when he began learning how to fight at the martial arts dojo near his home. His sensei became like a father to him and he learned karate, kung fu, and various other martial arts to spend time with him. His sensei would undoubtedly be disappointed in him if he were here today. John decided he would give the turtles any information they wanted if they would let him live so he could protect his family.

"Hey you!" Raph shouted, interrupting John's thoughts.

"Huh? .... Oh, what do you want?"

"Will you give up the location of the Black Lotus HQ or what?" Leo demanded.

"Of course, if you promise not to kill me."

"How can we trust him?" Donatello asked Leo.

"We have to trust him; he's all we got. Fine, we promise we won't kill you."

John looked up into the night sky and realized how late it must be; if his mom was awake and knew he wasn't home she would be furious. He hoped it hadn't reached midnight yet.

"I'm sorry, but I can't show you the hideout tonight, I have to hurry back home."

"I bet he's just setting us up for a trap," Raph said.

"You have to believe me; I need to get back home. I never even wanted to become a Lotus; I was forced into joining. They said they would either hurt my family or force my brother to join. But that doesn't matter now, I'm quitting, I should have done this a while ago. I would rather be fighting to protect my family from evil than fighting on its side."

"I think we can trust him," Mikey said.

John removed his mask to express his sincerity.

"Here take my uniform if you don't think you can trust me."

John peeled off the top and bottom parts of his uniform and handed them to Raph.

"If I am lying then going to headquarters without a uniform is going to be pretty risky."

"What's your name kid?" Raph asked.

"My name is John. Tomorrow night around eleven meet me at Sunset and Glass here in Chinatown."