Chapter Seven

Returning Home



A week had passed since that fateful day. Rioting continued in the city, and it became apparent it was no longer safe to work or go to school. A city wide evacuation was issued by the mayor and many packed their belongings and left. Only those that were still filled with rage had stayed.

Casey had decided that day that it would be best if he and April took Samantha to his grandmother's house upstate. The Turtles were all crushed to see them go, but it was much safer for Samantha. April gave the Turtles the phone number and tells them she will be back, without Casey or Samantha, in two weeks.

Leonardo, in the meantime, was in a constant state of worry. He couldn't stop thinking of Linda. He had not heard or seen anything about her in a week, and the thought of leaving her behind to die in all of that chaos broke his heart into a million pieces. He knew she wasn't dead, it was just the fear of it that killed him, to know that if he had gone back to help her, she would be with him.

He spent more of his time in the dojo, practicing his skills and sitting in deep mediation for hours at a time. His brothers began to worry about him. Even Splinter was beginning to worry about his sons' state of mind. Raphael, on the other hand, thought Leo was wasting his time. He didn't want her to come back at all. He knew his older brother was just setting himself up for a lot of pain and suffering.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *



Leo sat still, his eyes closed and his legs folded in a lotus position. He heard no sounds, he felt no movements. Only the calm peace of his mind. He had been in a deep mediation for an hour, but it seemed longer. He no longer kept time, which had run his life in the past. Time did not matter anymore. He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. There, seated in front of him was Rapheal.

"God Raph!" Leo jumped and clutched his chest. " Don't do that! You'll give me a heart attack someday." He jumped to his feet and began to stretch his legs.

Raph returned to his feet and sat on the wall ledge across from where Leo stood. " Why are doing this to yourself? I wish you would snap out of it."

"Snap out of what?" Leo slowly kicked his leg in the air. " I'm just getting some extra practice in, that's all."

"Extra practice my ass!" Raph growled. " You're in here 15 hours a day! You hardly eat anything, you hardly sleep! You need to get over that Linda chick, Leo. She ain't nothin but bad news."

Suddenly, Leo grabbed Raph's arm and pulled him up to his face. " What is your problem?! Why can't you just lay off of her? She hasn't done a damn thing to you!"

Raph narrowed his eyes and pulled away. " Do that again and I'll flatten ya."

"Yeah, right." Leo turned around and began to walk away. He made it five steps before he found himself on the ground.

"Get off of me Raph!" He flipped around and grabbed Raph's shell. Placing his foot on Raph's stomach, he flipped Raph over his head.

Raphael landed on his side, but quickly jumped back to his feet. He rushed at Leo and slammed into his brother's back as Leo returned to his feet. As they both landed on the ground, Splinter entered the dojo and ran to them.

"This must stop NOW!!" He grabbed the two and flung them apart. Leo and Raph stood apart, breathing heavily and staring each other down.

Splinter shook his head sadly. " Why must you two act like children? Why is there so much hatred between you?" He looked at Leo. "You, Leonardo, I am very ashamed of you. As the oldest, you should set the example."

Leo lowered his head in shame. " I'm sorry, Master."

Splinter then turned to face Raph, but found he had run from the dojo. " You must not hate your brother, Leonardo. He is only looking out for you, as you do for him." He placed his hand on Leo's shoulder. " He is worried about you."

Leo sighed. "I just don't understand why Raph hates Linda. He has no reason to." He glanced at Splinter. "Does he?"

"Only Raphael knows why," Splinter walked Leo out of the dojo. " And only Raphael

knows the reasons for his thoughts.."



"Hey Leo! Wait up, bro!" Mike shouted out.

Leo stopped and turned around. He had decided to go out into the sewers on a training run. Michelangelo decided he would go too, just to keep an eye on Leo.

"Mikey, I told you, if you can't keep up, don't come with me!" Leo took off again, running at top speed through the sewers. Mike stopped and panted, holding his body up with his right hand against the brick wall.

"Man, I gotta lay off the stuffed crust pizza," He looked up and noticed Leo was once again gone. "Not again! LEO!!!" He than began to run again.


A few hours later, Leo and Mike entered a section of the sewer systems they hadn't seen in years, the old subway station.

"Hey, I remember this place!" Mike exclaimed. "We used to play hide and seek in here. Splinter would get so mad cause we came here." He looked at the old subway cars, more rusted and decayed than they had been years before. Leo studied the ceiling, surprised it was still intact.

"This should have caved in years ago."He pointed upwards. "We better be careful."

Mike nodded in response and the two explored farther into the subway station. Leo headed up the old staircase and Mike opened the doors to one of the subway cars. He found the door opened with ease and entered cautiously. He looked around, remembering this was the car he always hid in, the one place Raph could never find him in. His favorite spot was underneath the seats. Mike chuckled to himself as he opened the inside doors. A sudden creaking noise came from behind him and he stopped moving.

"Leo?" Mike whispered. Before he could turn around, he was kicked to the ground and he grabbed at the arm that was wrapped around his neck. "Hey! What the-agh!" The arm tighten its grip. Mike went for his nunchunks and felt his hand smacked away by a piece of metal piping. His breath was slowly depleting, and he felt very light headed. But then, the arm let go and Mike fell forward onto the ground. He regained his breath and rubbed at his neck.

"Man, who the hell-Linda?!"

Mike turned to find Linda standing behind him. She was very thin, her clothes torn and dirty, and they hung loosely on her. Her face was also dirty.

"Michalangelo?" She dropped the pipe she held in her hand. " Oh my god. I'm so sorry! I thought you were-"

Linda's sentence drifted off as Mike grabbed her in a tight hug. "I am so glad to see you, dudette! Leo's been worried sick about you!"

Linda had tears welling in her eyes. Hearing Leo's name was like heaven to her. She looked around the car. "Is he here with you?"

Mike grabbed her hand. "Yeah! Come on!"

They walked out of the sub car and found Leo standing on the top of the staircase studying the trap door in the ceiling. Leo was unaware of them, his back was turned towards them. He reached up and began to pry the door open.

"Leo! Look what I found!" Mike's voice boomed in the station, startling Leo. He dropped his hands and clinched his fists in annoyance.

"Mike! I don't care what you found over there and NO, you can't take it to the lair."

Mike turned his head to the side and scratched his head. "Huh?" Linda looked at Mike and shrugged her shoulders. Mike then got an idea and started to laugh.

"Oh, please Leo! This is something REALLY special!" He stifled his laughter with his hand. Linda also muffled her giggles.

"Mike, why do insist on bringing junk home?" Leo again reached for the ceiling.

"No, Leo. I promise this is good. Even YOU will like it." Mike and Linda were about to bust.

"Mikey, I seriously doubt that I will-" He then turned around and saw Linda standing with Mike. She smiled as she continued to laugh.

"Like it." Leo finished.

Then, before she knew what happened, Linda found herself in Leo's tight embrace. He held on to her tightly, silent tears of thankfulness streaming down his face. Linda sighed in relief and melted into his arms.

"How long have you been down here?" Leo asked, finally pulling back. He looked her over. " You look horribly thin. How long has it been since you ate something? Does your father know you are down here? What about-"

"Leo! Calm down bro!" Mike grabbed Leo's shoulder. " Take a deep breath."

"I'm sorry. I was just, just so worried!" Leo looked into Linda's eyes. "I am so sorry, Linda. I didn't mean to leave you behind."

Linda placed her hand over Leo's mouth. "Leonardo. It's okay. I'm fine now." Then, her eyes rolled back and fell to the ground.

"LINDA!" Leo shouted and knelt at her side. Mike looked over Leo's shoulder.

"Is she okay?" Mike bit at his fingernails.

Leo felt her pulse on her neck. "Yeah, she just fainted. She's really weak. Come on, let's take her back home. Splinter will know what to do." He picked Linda up and placed her over his shoulder. As the turned to leave, Leo once again eyes the trap door. Mike looked up at the ceiling with him.

" What is it?"

Leo shook his head. " It's nothing. Let's go."



Linda fluttered her eyes open. Her vision was blurry and she had a hard time focusing on anything. She heard voices, distant at first, but soon they became clear.

"Sensei! She's awake!"

"Ah, that is good. Watch her while I prepare her some soup. She needs to get her strength back."

Linda reached up to rub her eyes and a sharp pain shot through her head. "Oh, my head," she moaned quietly and closed her eyes. Then, she felt the light touch of someone's hand caressing her forehead.

"It's okay. Everything's okay now."

Linda opened her eyes again. "Leonardo?" She turned and looked, her eyes meeting with his.

"Hey," Leo smiled.

"Hey." Linda smiled back at him. "What happened? Why does my head hurt so much?"

"You fainted," Leo brushed her hair back. "And you head broke your fall." Leo laughed slightly.

Linda let out a small giggle. " I don't remember." The pain burst through her temples and she closed her eyes again.

"Do you want anything for it? Like aspirin?" Leo jumped up and started for the door.

"No." Linda reached out to him. "No, I just need some-"

Leo turned back to her. "Linda?" He walked back to her and discovered she had fallen asleep. He smiled again as he pulled up the blanket over her. Leo watched her sleep, then leaned over and kissed her forehead. As he stood back up, he heard a slight movement behind him. He turned around sharply. Don and Mike stood in his bedroom doorway.

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?" Don asked, giving his brother a weird look.

"No." Leo cleared his throat. "What's going on?"

"April's on the phone." Mike pointed his thumb towards the living room. "It's about that freaky Jonas dude."




Hours later, Linda slowly opened Leo's bedroom door. She looked down the long hallway, noting that Raphael's door was shut. She could hear loud rock music blaring from his door. She pulled the door back and started to step out. Just then, Raph flung his door open and saw Linda standing there, looking like she was just caught in a trap. They stared at each other for a few minutes before Raph glared in her direction then slammed his door again. Linda rolled her eyes then made her way down the hallway. She entered the living room and saw Mike, Leo and Splinter sitting on the rug in front of the coffee table. Mike noticed her first.

"Hey!" He threw his hands in the air. "You're awake!"

Leo turned to her, then rose to his feet. " Do you feel better? How's you head?" He grabbed her hand and guided her to the rug.

"It's better." She took her place beside Splinter and Leo sat closely next to her.

"It is good to see you feeling better, my child." Splinter bowed.

Mike leaned back and pointed down the hallway. "Is Mr. Attitude still blaring his Metallica?"

"His what?" Linda looked confused.

"It's Raph's favorite band." Leo rolled his eyes. " It's his anger management music."

"Okay guys." Don walked into the living room, carrying his laptop in his hands. "I finally got through to April. With all of the stuff going on topside, it's hard to get any kind of connection." Don sat on the other side of Leo and began typing.

Okay, April. I'm with the others. Go ahead.

A few seconds went by, then April's message appeared.

Hey everyone! Sorry about the phone earlier. Lines are down throughout the entire state. But, I wanted to tell you that Jonas has made himself public and wants all mutants run out of the city.

Don shook his head. Where does he get the right to say that? Is he blaming mutants for all of this madness?

Well, chaos is more his term for it, but he does blames mutants. He was never on their side. It was all a cover-up. And, no, he has no right. But no one is there to stop him. He has someone helping him get this power.

"Yeah, the Foot probably," Leo crossed his arms over his chest while Don typed onto the computer. Leo's words made Linda gasp and she then remembered her discovery. She tugged at Leo's arm.

"Leo, I have something I need to tell you."

I don't think it's the Foot, Leo. April typed back. Their numbers are still small. There has to be something bigger behind Jonas.

"What is it, Linda?" Leo turned to her, a concerned look over his face.

"It's about the Foot," Linda began, but then stopped as she saw Raph standing over Don.

"What's the pow-wow for? And why didn't anyone come get me?"

Leo looked up at his brother. "You were too busy pouting. We didn't want to disturb you."

Raph sat next to Mike. "I'm already disturbed." He glanced at Linda.

Jonas did ask humans for one other thing.

What's that?

War.

Everyone sat in silence at the word April had typed. Don stared at the screen, not knowing what to respond with.

"Donnie," Raph nudged him. "Type somethin, man!"

War? On mutants?

Yes. On mutants. And I'm afraid it's going to happen. And I don't know who will start it. Mutants are very upset with humans as well. There is a lot of anger on both sides. Either way, it's going to happen. I just hope that- Just then, the screen went blank

"What happened?" Leo asked

"Dammit," Don pounded on the keyboard." Now we lost the internet! We have no way of keeping in contact with anyone!" Don stood up and slammed the laptop on the couch. "Stupid computer." He crossed his arms and sat back down on the floor.

They all sat in silence for what seemed like eternity. Linda finally broke the silence and surprised everyone in the process.

"I found the Foot."

Leo's jaw dropped. "Is that where that hole in the ceiling led to?"

Linda nodded in response. " I also found Saki."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Whatever! We got rid of that guy! We saw him die! There is no way in hell that he could have come back!"

"I know what I saw!" Linda shouted at Raph. "Why can't you just believe me for once?" Linda felt tears begin to stream down her face. "You don't know what I have been through the past week, Raphael! You don't know how hurt and betrayed I feel right now."

Raph stood up and walked out of the room. His bedroom door once again slammed with great force.

"Betrayed?" Leo placed his hand on Linda's back. " Who? Was it us?"

Linda shook her head. "It was- my-my father."

"What?!" The Turtles exclaimed together. Splinter looked at Linda in disbelief.

"I saw him there, in the Foot uniform. I know it was him." Linda held her face in her hands, trying to stop the tears. She leaned closer to Leo and he wrapped his arms around her.

Splinter bowed his head down and pressed his hands together. " I am having difficulty believing that is true, my child. Han was always a man of honor. He would never turn his back on his family, or on my master." He stood up and grabbed his walking stick. "I will be in my room. Inform me if you get a connection to April, Donatello."

Just then, Raph walked back out in a fast pace, his sais in his hands.

"Where are you goin, dude?" Mike asked him.

"I'm goin' go find Shredder." Raph reached for the door. " I ain't just sit here while that freak is still alive."

Leo ran behind Raph and grabbed his shell. "You're not leaving by yourself, Raph. We need a plan first." He gave his brother a weird look, then whispered. "So, now you believe her?"

Raph laughed. "No, I just wanna make sure, that's all."

Suddenly, the front door rattled and a loud knock echoed through the lair. Raph through his sais up while Leo slowly drew one of his kantana. He looked at Raph then reached for the door knob.

Throwing the door open, Raph jumped out, catching the visitor in the chest and dropping him down into the water. He shoved his sais in the mutants' face. The mutant, who resembled a chicken, who was dressed in some kind of combat uniform, placed his hands over his face.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I am a friend!"

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before." Raph grabbed the mutants' collar and pulled his face up. "Now, before I lose my temper, who are you and what do you want?"

Leo walked out, placing his kantana back in its sheath. "Raph?"

"What?" Raph growled at the mutant.

"Let him go. He's with the Mutant Militia."

"Huh?" Raph looked down at the mutants' uniform and saw the familiar blue and red MM patch. "Oh, sorry man. My bad." He dropped the mutant and returned to his feet. He replaced his sais in his belt and walked back into the lair. Leo grabbed the mutants' hand and helped him to his feet.

"I'm sorry about that. With everything happening topside, we have to take precautions."

The mutant brushed his uniform and saluted Leo. " It's understandable, sir. I have a message for you. The General would like to speak to you and your brothers at 09:00 hours tomorrow." The mutant reached around to his back pocket. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Leo.

"Here is a map to the base. Please come. Your country needs you." The mutant again saluted Leo and turned to leave. Leo stood in wonder, watching the mutant disappear into the darkness. He looked at the map, then turned and walked back into the lair.

Raph was standing in the hallway when Leo entered.

"So, what's goin on?"

Leo looked at Raph, a confused look on his face.

" I think we've just been drafted."