The Home Front

"You ready Raph?" Leo asked.

"Are we leaving now?"

"Yup."

"All right just give me a sec."

Raph wiped the sweat off from his face that formed during his dream and grabbed his sais and a couple of shurikens. All the turtles were solemn, even Mikey wasn't joking around for a change; if John showed up then tonight would be their first time ever to use lethal force. Even when they were fighting the Foot the turtles had never killed anyone, the only person they ever had to kill died by Splinter's hands and not their own. Of course this was not the only thing that contributed to the turtles somber mood. They knew they would have to use every last bit of energy if they were going to defeat the Lotus. Donatello was replacing his usual wooden Bo staff with a metal one and attached pike heads to both ends. Michaelangelo did the same to the ends of his nunchakus and loaded up on extra shurikens.

The turtles were determined to end the Black Lotus' reign over the city for good. They left the lair and began walking down a sewer tunnel that leads to Chinatown. They arrived at Sunset and Glass, but John was nowhere to be found. Heavy fog hid the turtles in the darkness, but it was not an advantage because visibility was hampered even more due to cloud cover.

"Do you think he's gonna be able to make it? His mother did just pass away," Don said.

"He'll get here," Raph said without hesitation.

However ten minutes later the turtles weren't so sure and were considering heading home. That was when they saw the silhouette of a person through the fog and shadows running toward them.

"Hold up! Don't leave." the person said.

In a few short seconds John stood next to them panting and out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late. I had a tough time convincing my brother to sleep. He's been a little paranoid lately, but I think he'll be all right."

"Ok. So where is the Black Lotus base of operations?" Leo asked.

"They have a front company that goes by the name Matada Drugs Corporation. Matada produces placebo pills called Cerderex. Cerderex is organic so they don't worry about any FDA inspections. The pill is supposed to improve memory, but of course it does nothing. All this was so easy for the Lotus to set up because they have been using Matada as a front company in Japan for years. The FDA assumed they were legit and Matada was able to open a New York branch, this allowed many high ranking Lotus officials to come to New York without any problem."

"On the company grounds the Black Lotus use two huge warehouses: one to house illegal materials valuable to the organization. The other is used to train Black Lotus members. Meanwhile Matada uses a third warehouse to store surplus Cerderex. Also, the plant where Cerderex is produced is on the far end of this compound. There are three chief officers in charge of the Black Lotus; they will most likely be inside the five story building that is Matada's headquarters. If they are there we will find them on the fifth floor."

"All right we need to start moving," Raph said.

The Matada Drug Corporation was just outside of Chinatown and six blocks from Sunset and Glass. To pass the time John asked them how they came to be and Donatello divulged their origin to him. By the time they finally made it there, Donatello was finished and it was eleven-forty.

"How can you be sure that the chief officers will be here so late?" Don asked.

"They will be planning more aggressive measures to get rid of the Foot and taking complete control of the city before their Japanese superiors inspect their progress next month."

Accepting his answer the turtles tried to devise a plan to get in without being noticed, but John interrupted them.

"There isn't any other way inside other than the through the front doors, the Black Lotus made sure of that by setting up an alarm that is triggered when someone attempts to enter through the fire exits and side doors. And they placed alarms in the ventilation shafts as well."

"So much for the element of surprise," Leo said.