Chapter V
Disclaimer: I do not own The Gargoyles, The TMNT or any characters there in. Nor do I own anyone's opinions or takes on these characters. This is simply my view on certain characters, and any semblance to other fanfics is completely unintentional. Note: Alone is the second fic in my gargoyles/TMNT series which will soon split into a co-authored fic world (run in fear!). This happens 5/97, after 'The Logic of Dreams' but you don't have to read that for this to make sense. I hope you enjoy;) Thanks to Deana for telling me the name of the ninja outfits! And thanks for all the great reviews so far everyone, only one more chapter to go!
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The flashing red and blue lights lit up the rain filled alley. Grim looking police officers set up barrier tapes and outlined the bodies of the ninja with white chalk while the CSI took pictures and examined the area for evidence, tasks which were made infinitely harder by what was rapidly becoming a tempest.
Elisa stepped out of her car and pulled the collar of her jacket a little tighter and jogged through the rain towards the first cop on the scene. Reaching the young uniform clad woman, she flashed her badge, then waited for the thunder to fade before speaking. "What happened here?"
"Don't know, Detective. If there are witnesses, they were long gone by the time I got here." The rookie looked down the alley and shook her head. "It's like something out of a horror movie or something. Think maybe we've got a gang war on our hands?"
Elisa looked critically at the Asian girl before her. "I somehow doubt that any self respecting gang in New York city is going to starting blundering around wearing black pajamas..."
"Shinobi shozoko."
Elisa looked over her shoulder at the cop that had just walked up. "What?" she asked in a confused tone of voice.
"The 'black pajama's, they're called shinobi shozoko. They're the traditional 'uniform' of a ninja, not to be confused with the dogi, or training suit." the Asian woman shrugged slightly. "The insignias been torn off all of them, but that could be the winning clan getting 'trophies', since all the gi look identical, it's a fairly good bet that this is all the same clan, which means that whoever they fought was good enough not to be killed... or made sure to take their bodies with them."
The rookie stared first at one, then the other elder cops a faintly gob smacked expression on her face. Elisa, for her part, couldn't get her jaw hinged as she stared at the woman before her. "How..."
"Oroko Shen, nisei - second generation Japanese to you. My uncle was involved in clan politics and knew ninjitsu and my father tells me about it sometimes."
Elisa nodded. "So... You know a lot about..." she waved at the crime scene "...all of this?"
"I know a small amount."
Elisa frowned as the body bags began to be zipped closed and carried by. "Well... I hope we don't have any more... incidents... like this. But if we do, expect to be pulled in to help stop them."
Oroko Shen nodded. "Hai. I'll do my best to stop a scene like this from occurring again though. I much prefer that to the alternative."
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Brooklyn ran with his wings slightly open, instinctively trying to block some of the stinging, blinding rain. Beside him ran the turtle with the red mask and the mutant rat, Splinter. Between the deep puddles they were running through and the seemingly solid wall of rain, all of the fighters were soaked to the bone, their skin slightly numb from the stinging, blinding, rain. "How much further?" he asked, dodging around a pile of... things better left undiscovered.
"Not far now," Splinter said, stopping suddenly as they reached Eastman and Laird, then glanced at their strange companion again. Everything he had heard about gargoyles pointed to them being honorable, trustworthy beings, followers of Bushido and protectors of any in need... But every instinct he'd gained training to become ninja railed against revealing the only street level entrance to his home to this unknown variable... Splinter's eyes slid from the gargoyle, Brooklyn, to the limp form he carried and the aging sensei felt his resolve stiffen. To save his son, he would take this risk, or any risk.
After a quick check of their surroundings, the three indistinct forms darted across the street to the seemingly abandoned warehouse, then stopped for a moment as Raphael ducked and carefully lifted the garage door just enough for Brooklyn and Splinter to slip inside
While the white haired gargoyle watched, Raphael walked past what looked suspiciously like a green, suped-up armored truck covered with a much patched and very frayed tarp and a red motorcycle, hidden from outside view by the truck. Raph pushed aside a seemingly loose board, revealing a hand scanner and keypad, he glanced over his shoulder at the gargoyle, then shifted slightly so that the brown-red gargoyle couldn't see the code that he typed in. He put his hand on the scanner then shifted the board back and stepped back as a clear circle of floor suddenly split and opened, filling the warehouse with light as a glowing chamber rose up out of the floor, a door opening downwards to form a ramp within.
Brooklyn couldn't help it, he gaped. "Where... Who are you people?!"
"Explanations can wait," Splinter said firmly, quickly heading onto the lift. "Leonardo can not. Quickly." the door lifted up and closed behind Raphael and Brooklyn as they entered, and chamber sank below the city streets, below the sewers themselves. As the glowing chamber descended, Raphael glanced worriedly at his unconscious brother and crossed his arms, glaring at the door.
As soon as it opened, he headed out at a fast jog. "DON! MIKEY! GET YER SHELLS OVER HERE... AN' BRING DA MEDICAL SUPPLIES!"
Donatello looked up sharply from his computer, then, typing quickly, he excused himself from his chat session with Bludmgs_Bbysis and ran towards the lift, grabbing the first aid kit he'd compiled a while back as he went. "Mike went out to get... a... pi...zza..." the purple bandannaed turtle skidded to a stop as Brooklyn stepped out of the lift behind Raphael. "You're a... you're not... Man, you're tall, I mean, you're... LEO!" Forgetting for a moment who held his unconscious brother, Don sprinted the last few feet and quickly checked Leonardo's pulse, paling slightly as he finished the check. "Dammitall... Quick, uhhh, whoever you are. Follow me. We've got to get Leo to his room."
"Where's that?" the brown-red oni-like creature asked.
As much surprised by the question as the fact that this strange creature spoke with a Brooklyn accent, Donatello pointed up to Leo's room on the second story. "It's there, but the stairs... are... over..."
Donatello trailed off as the creature ran forward and suddenly leapt forward and up nearly four times it's height, hit one of the walls feet first, braced for half a second, then leapt again, wings flared, to land just in front of Leo's door.
"Whoa..."
Three jaws dropped in response to THAT little display, then Raphael suddenly shook himself and grabbed Donatello's arm. "Come on, Donny! We can gape later!!
The technologically minded turtle nodded and the two brothers raced up the fire escape they had installed on the wall in place of stairs and to Leo's room. Reaching the alcove, the quickly jogged in, Donatello kneeling beside Leonardo's bed and opening the medical kit, while Raphael went over to stand beside Brooklyn.
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Time passed slowly for those that could only watch. Brooklyn's tail slowly swung from side to side as he watched the purple bandannaed turtle, Donatello, and Splinter carefully stitching and wrapping injures in gauze, trying to save the blue-bandannaed turtle... Leonardo, if he remembered the names correctly.
Michelangelo sat on Leo's table, the box of pizza he had gone out to buy before the others had come out laying soggy and forgotten on the floor. After a few minutes he glanced over his shoulder at Raphael, who hadn't so much as twitched in all the time he'd been here. Mike sighed and looked back to his other brothers and sensei.
For a split second the brick walls and old, self repaired Japanese furniture of Leonardo's room seemed to vanish, replaced by the weathered wood and old, slightly moth eaten bed of one of the guest rooms of Casey's Grandmother's house. Michelangelo shook his head sharply, and the room faded back to how it was supposed to look. He crossed his arms and watched as Splinter and Donatello finished their work, then slowly got to their feet, Splinter pulling a blanket up over Leonardo's still form.
"Michelangelo."
"Yeah, Sensei?"
"Watch Leonardo, call us if his condition changes... For better... or for worse."
Michelangelo got to his feet and quickly walked over to Leo's bedside and sat down, hesitating for a moment before putting a hand on his unconscious brother's shoulder. "You got it."
Splinter quietly walked out of the room, gesturing for the others to follow.
"Come. We have much to discuss, I think."
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Goliath stared out into the rain filled night. Lightning tore the sky asunder, etching the clouds in sharp contrast even as thunder threatened to shatter every pane of glass for miles around.
"There's no way he'll be back tonight, lad. This storm will keep him grounded no matter where he is. Ah doubt he'd be fool enough to stay out in the open."
Goliath frowned out at the storm again, then shook his head and turned to face Hudson. "You're right, old friend."
"GOLIATH!"
The two gargoyles turned as Elisa's voice echoed across the rain filled courtyard. They could just make out her form as she waved at them. "Come it! I need to talk to you!!"
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A short while later, in what was once the great hall...
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"I fail to see what this 'ninja war' has to do with us, Elisa. We will simply be more cautious and observant when we have patrols in that area."
Elisa sighed and shook her head. "You're right, Goliath, you don't see. If this is what Oroko Shen thinks it is, then neither side is going to want to be 'protected' and they'll be hard to find... and stop."
"We can handle them," the towering gargoyle leader rumbled, crossing his arms.
Elisa sighed once again. "I'm not so sure of that, Big Guy, that is..." Elisa tailed off suddenly, then did a quick head count. "Hey, where's Brooklyn?"
"He stayed behind me to finish up out patrol," Lexington clarified. "Probably got caught in the storm."
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The blue smoke filled the small chamber like London fog. A shadowy figure laid down the blood stained knife next to the body of his victim on the alter, idly picking up a clean cloth to clean the worst of the blood stains as he walked towards a huge cauldron, picking up a black bound book as he walked.
"Now let us see... Death of nine children, innocent of sin... Check. Blood of the ones I wish to affect... Check. Holy place, now wreathed in death... Check." the black clad figure carefully placed the book on it's stand, opening it to the page he desired. Glancing every now and then at the page, he carefully added herbs and powdered bone and stone to the massive cauldron, then carefully held up the page on which he'd written what he desired. "Sticks and stones... Bones and words... Iron to affect the sidhe, lifes blood and torture to affect the mortal. Gargoyle's skin, blood of friends... With this spell, I break you from what you will need to destroy me! Mistrust, treachery, and all that you love. Now I tear asunder!"
The page of paper with the written spell burst into flames, and anguished screams echoed and reechoed through out the room... then with a blinding flash, not of light, but of darkness, the mist was gone, the spell sent to worm it's way into the minds of the targets.
"Well now, day walker... I wonder what the future will bring now."
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"That's just what I was wondering," Brooklyn grumbled, crossing his arms. "I mean, my history as an individual is fairly confusing, but there's several gargoyles world wide... What... or HOW... Did you end up here? You're not one of the three races."
Donatello couldn't help it. He stared blankly at the gargoyle, the sighed and shook his head. "My friend, I'm afraid that you, like several other people fail to realize that humans, while differing in appearance are actually, on the genetic scale, really one race, so theref-"
"I know the humans are one race. I'm talking about Gargoyles, Humans and the Sidhe. The first, second and third races." the white-haired gargoyle tilted his head to the side suddenly. "Unless... Are you guys halflings or half-breeds?"
Raphael gritted his teeth and took another sip of his green tea, determined not to get involved in this discussion... Though he had to admit, he had a feeling he was going to be hard pressed to do so. He glanced over at Splinter, who looked faintly amused for some reason.
"Sidhe? Oh come on, don't tell me that you actually think fairies are REAL."
Brooklyn looked at Donatello, eyes serious. "They're as real as the air you're breathing. Puck. Titiana, Oberon, Coyote, Avalon... They're all real."
"How can they be real? There's no evidence that can prove them to be so! If Avalon exists why can't we see it via satellite?"
Brooklyn sighed and rolled his eyes. "Man, I thought EVERYONE knew this. Sidhe are creatures of pure MAGIC. They can appear to be anything they like, they can make themselves invisible to anything they wish... And Avalon can only be reached by magic, how could you see it on a satellite?"
Donatello frowned and picked up his own cup of tea, glaring into it's depths as if by doing so, he could make this strange ally understand that everything in this world could be explained by science, those that didn't understand it simply thought it was magic.
Brooklyn, for his part, simply picked up the last remaining cup and sipped at it, trying to warm up a bit... He was cold to the core, and he was still soaked through... He paused slightly as he saw a crimson stain on the side of his cup, his eyes darted to the hand that he had caught the strange sword blade in.
It was still bleeding, though sluggishly, and it looked deeper now then before. He clenched his hand and took another sip of the tea, trying to ignore the pain that had suddenly increased a hundred fold when he'd seen the injury.
Raphael drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, looking from one person to the other as Splinter made polite chit-chat and everyone drank tea like white haired demons drinking tea and trying to be macho about injuries happened all the time. He sighed, then slammed his cup of tea down, surging to his feet. "Alright, that does it! I'm tired of dis polite bullshit! Who an' WHAT are ya, an' what is da deal with dis white knight shit?"
"As subtle as head trauma, Raph," Donatello sighed, putting his own cup of tea down to bury his face in his hands.
Brooklyn's eyes glowed for half a second, then he regained control of his temper and calmly stood up to his full height, well aware that he towered over the five foot turtle. "I am Brooklyn of the Wyvern clan, largest clan in all Scotland before the massacre. And I am a gargoyle. And gargoyles protect." The clan-second looked down his beak at Raphael. "And who and what're you?"
Raph blinked, then smirked for half a second, crossing his arms as best he could given his injury. "*I* am a mutant ninja turtle. And I..."
"Am about to sit quietly while your brother fixes the wound that you had let me forget about," Splinter suddenly said, pointing in an accusing manner at the gash on his son's arm. He looked critically at Brooklyn and sighed, pointing at the chair. "And you need your injury wrapped as well." He watched as the two sat down, grumbling, and let Donatello clean their injuries and wrap them in clean gauze. 'Kids.'
"Look, I don't- OWTHATSTINGS! -need to be patched up, the sun will heal me, and it's only a few minutes to sunrise - NOT THAT TIGHT! -...if that..."
"Say WHAT?!"
Brooklyn looked from Raphael to Donatello. "I said, the sun'll heal it. Stone sleep DOES that."
Raphael blinked, then asked, in a slightly confused tone of voice, "Come again?"
"Stone. Sleep. At sunrise, all gargoyles turn to stone and our injuries heal."
"That's... that's impossible, no living species can turn into stone, it's biologically impossible... not to mention a suicidal evolutionary turn, if it were possible!"
"Oh really? This is coming from the five foot, walking, talking tur-"
The turtles froze in shock as, with a faint sound of crunching gravel, Brooklyn suddenly turned to stone. "Wh... Wh... ...It's not... There's no way... HOW DID..."
Splinter smiled and got to his feet, picking up the cups of tea and placing them on the tea tray, then carefully picking it up and heading towards designated kitchen area. "No one knows," he said calmly as he went. "I am going to go check on your brothers... Be careful not to break him!"
Donatello looked desperately to Raphael as the only sane person present. "Bro, WHAT is going on?!"
"Whut are ya askin' ME for!?"
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Author's Notes:
Thanks again to Deana and Doppleganger for the help in names of both people and objects;) And thanks bro, for telling me that the (generally white) training suits are called dogi. Okay, I hope I haven't confused anyone TOO badly. This stuff will actually be mentioned in the stories as it goes on, but I'm keeping this here so people can get a quick summery of the history in 'my' realm. The year is currently 1997. The Goliath Chronicles did NOT occur here. The gargoyles portion of this fic-series goes off on a parallel course after Hunter's Moon. The Quarrymen do exist, as does the P. I.T. crew, however, most of the human populace think the gargoyles were just an elaborate hoax, someone creating robots again in the shape of monsters. The remainder of the public is torn between hating and loving the gargoyles... and just wanting them to go away. Jason Canmore has joined the CSI. He's still in a wheelchair, but he's enjoying the desk job (more or less) he has in the laboratory and is slowly proving himself to be a trustworthy. Robyn Canmore has been given parole and is job hunting and Jon is still MIA (actually, he's in charge of the Quarry men under the assumed name John Castaway).
This is for those of you that are actually reading this... Pay attention to Oroko Shen and the shadowy figure, they WILL be important later on... In fact, ONE of them will be vital for the Exile Series. I know most of you will catch the 'Oroko' reference, but how many of you know who the first name seems to be referring to? *evil laugh* Oh, BTW, no, it's NOT his biological daughter, that's been done WAAAAAY to many times. I'll explain it all the next time Oroko Shen shows up, don't worry;)
I'm using the new TMNT TV series for this crossover (primarily because it's following the comics, but I like the gadgets and tone of it a bit better then the comics... Never thought I'd say that) Since the show isn't over yet, I'm using what has occurred so far in the series and mixing it up with the comic book history, first and second movie and my own imagination. The new series seems to be taking place in 1995 (cell phones, DVDs, etc) The Purple Dragons are a bit more like the gang we see in the first NT movie. There's a silent crime wave going on as the Purple Dragons recruit teenagers and teach them the basics of breaking and entering, pick-pocketing, etc. The better fighters in the Purple Dragons are being taken in to be taught ninjitsu. Tatsu (yes, the grunting guy from the movie;) is in charge of training the foot, while Hun is in charge of their deployment. The Purple Dragons aren't aware of who they're working for, so even if the police break them up, there's no way of connecting the crimes to Oroko Saki, the respected business man.
No, the gargs and turtles aren't really aware of each other. In the comics and new series, most of the turtles actions are happening very quickly topside, inside buildings, or underground, while the 'Gargoyles' action occurs in hard to reach places, on top of secluded buildings, or in midair. The odds of the gargoyles or police realizing that there is a 'Foot' clan are somewhere between very low and flat out impossible.
In the year since Hunter's Moon and Logic of Dreams/Alone, Demona has gone seemingly MIA and has done nothing illegal, so though Elisa and the others are watching Nightstone Inc, there's nothing for them to find. Leo and Raph have been getting a bit more aggressive towards each other, but it has yet to reach a head. Goliath is following the route he seemed to be taking in the Goliath Chronicles and is pushing for the clan to take on more human customs and let the public know about their presence. Meanwhile, also following his GC 'path' Brooklyn seems to be resisting the changes, and openly disagreeing with Goliath about revealing their presence. Or at least, that's my take on the circumstances;)
And yes, Splinter STILL kicks ass;)
