Undiscovered Power

~

   The docks were silent when the two disguised turtles arrived, except for the gently slapping of the small waves on the wooden poles standing the pier upright. They had seen or heard absolutely nothing on arriving in this area, it was completely deserted, and everything was locked up, seeming as though nothing had been touched for a while. But it was damp around, as though it had been raining lightly, and it seemed darker this side of town.

   "Do we split up?" Donny asked quietly, hands stuffed in his pockets as they walked in-between a garage and a larger one, looking straight out onto a pier.

   "No," Leo said lowly, glancing around, hands also in his pockets. "We stay together, if we're anywhere near Shredder's hideout, he's gonna have some sort of warning system alerting him to intruders, and I don't think he'd send his clan out for a welcoming party."

   They stood silent for a few seconds, looking about the damp place, before Leo moved off to the left of the pier and started walking in that direction. Donny followed after a second of watching him, and the identical bulky figures with hands stuffed in their pockets started searching quietly every boathouse, ever garage, ever careful of the noise they make, and ears pricked for sounds of anything not made by them.

   After an hour of searching, senses almost bored with nothing to detect, they stopped and looked at each other.

   "It's been way to quiet, even for these docks," Donny said, glancing to his left, and then to his right.

   Leo had the smallest of frowns on his face. "Maybe the docks area is not where Shredder is located. It could just be coincidence that this area had become quiet for four months."

   "Or not," Donny said, reaching for his Bo Staff that was sticking out of his coat. Leo whirled around to see behind them a small group of black clad familiar foes. There weren't many, and this fact seemed to tug at Leo and Donny's awareness. Shouldn't there be more? They could knock these guys out three times over if they wanted. Where were the rest? One thought came to Leo's mind that maybe Shredder didn't think the 'intruders' caused much of a threat . . . but then, why would he send out a group of Foot members to deal with what he guessed were just human trespassers?

   "Hiya guys," Donny said with a smile on his face as he shifted into a better stance, weapon held towards them warningly. "Ready for lesson two?"

   As if in answer, the foolish Foot members rushed forward to get their butts kicked, and Leo and Donny eagerly met them halfway in the few meters distance they had created since appearing from the semi-darkness of the boathouse, minus the boat.

   "One – two!" Donny counted as he hit two soldiers in the face with either end of his Bo, and they fell down on their backs, kicking their feet up. Donny grinned and turned to the others, seeing Leo standing calmly on his spot, a comical look of boredom on his face as he lashed out with his fists at two Ninja's coming at him on his left and right. He glanced at Donny and raised his eye ridges at his brother and smiled with a look saying 'pathetic!' These guys should know when there were not enough of them to take down two of the turtles. In less than three minutes all seven of the Foot members were groaning and stirring on the cold concrete floor.

   "Well, I guess the docks was a good place to look," Donny said, stepping on a Ninja to get to Leo.

   Leo gave a quick tilt of his head. "Yeah, now we just gotta get an address from our happy welcoming party here."

   "Wonder why ole Shred Head didn't send out more," Donny thought aloud.

   "He probably thought we were just a pair of humans," Leo convinced him.

   A man on the floor, whose facemask had been pulled off revealing short dark hair, sniggered from the floor.

   "Of course our Master knew it was you turtles," he half grinned. "He knew you'd come looking." The sick tone of high respect of the Shredder was evident in the man's voice.

   Donny looked up from him to Leo with a frown. "Well why would he only send these few to us? What was the point? He'd know we'd mop the floor with these . . . guys . . ." He suddenly had a very bad feeling, one which was currently making Leo feel the same.

   "Distraction," Leo whispered, staring at the floor. He looked up at Donny, and they took off for the exit of the boathouse, with the man's cruel laugh fading. Once outside, Leo said, "To Prida's," as his brother opened his mouth to ask. Without another word, they both sped away from the piers, away from the docks, and carried on running until they had to slow to a fast walk, by which time their chests were heaving, and a stitch was throbbing in their sides. It had taken them too long to get from the docks to the familiar street they were coming up to, but they started to run again only a block away from Prida's house, and knocked someone over as they rounded the corner and quickly barged through the gate to the big house. They immediately saw that the door was open, and they rushed through the opening to find Mikey huffing and puffing on the floor on his hands and knees, a blood seeping wound on his right upper arm. He looked up as they ran in, and let his head flop back down when he recognized them.

   Donny moved to Mike's side as Leo stopped to glance at his brother in orange, and, seeing no serious damage, moved further into the house, searching the rooms, which were now in a mess.

   "She's not there," Mikey panted as though he had been running very far. There was a dribble of blood from his mouth, but he wiped it away. "They took her – there were way too many for me to fight off, they coulda killed me."

   Donny got up and quickly disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a medic kit. He started swabbing Mikey's arm, and bandaged it up.

   "How long was it since they left?" Leo asked, crouching down next to Mikey, who was now sat against the wall.

   Mikey shook his head. "Ten minutes, maybe less. You didn't see them then when you were coming here?"

   Leo shook his head. "We were distracted by a smaller group of Foot soldiers, and we only realized what they were playing at when it was too late."

   Donny taped his brother's bandage together and then relaxed his arms. "Where's Raph? Is he okay?"

   Mikey nodded, moving his arm and testing the work his brother had done. "They didn't even go in the basement, they just arrived, beat me up and took Prida. How did they know she was alive?"

   Leo shook his head this time. "No idea, probably the same way he knew WE were alive: Spies or something." He frowned angrily and looked at the floor and then back up. "And Raph didn't even wake up? Geez."

   "I'm awake now, your big mouth carries ya know."

   All three turned to the forth who was supporting himself on the wall in the hallway that lead to the basement. His hand was bleeding lightly from having torn the drip out, and Donny opened his mouth to say about that, but Raph spoke before him.

   "What the hell happened?" He asked as his eyes fell on Mikey's blood stained mouth and bandaged arm.

   "The Foot came," Leo informed him with a tone that said Raph should have known, not slept through it. "They took Prida."

   Raph stared with no change of expression. "What?"

   Leo sighed irritably. "The Foot just broke in and kidnapped Prida while me and Donny were checking the docks for any clue of Shredder's location. Now, we're going to rescue her."

   Raph stared unblinkingly. "Why the hell have they kidnapped her?"

   Leo felt his temper getting shorter. He stood up. "Because she's the key to unlocking this power of the artifact – and Shredder has the artifact!"

   "Hell, Leo, she should have been in the lair, why was she here of all places then?"

   "Looking after you," Leo said through gritted teeth. He looked down at Mikey. "Are you okay Mike?"

   Mikey nodded and stood up, followed by Donny. "Yeah, it was just the scratch on my arm, that's all. I can still fight."

   Leo nodded once, and then looked at Raph. "Raph, can you walk?"

   "How d'y' think I got up here?"

   Leo stared slightly coldly at his brother. "Good, you can go down to the lair and tell Master Splinter what's happened. Me, Donny and Mikey will –"

   "Hell no!" Raph interrupted. "I'm going with – "

  "No you're not, Raph," Leo said in a dangerous tone that made Mikey and Donny look at him. Leo couldn't help being angry with Raph; he didn't know why the sudden anger towards his brother. He felt it was partly Raph's fault Prida had been kidnapped, but Leo stopped himself at that and told him it wasn't his fault at all. Yet he was still angry. He knew in fact it was because he had allowed himself to be distracted, so he blamed himself for Prida's kidnap.

   Mikey stepped in. "Splin'ner said we could use all our strength," he said to Leo. "Raph can walk at least."

   "It's the collapsing part I'm thinking about," Leo said, still glaring at Raph, who was glaring back, wondering why the sudden change of Leo. "He could go down at a bad time, plus it's an extra person to protect and we can't afford that when we've got Prida."

   "You don't need to protect me," Raph said lowly, through his teeth. "Mike's right, you'll need m-"

   "It's better if you informed Master Splinter," Leo argued further, "and April or Casey – maybe they could help by bringing a van around for an easy escape. In case you've forgotten Raph, it's only been a few hours since you nearly died."

   Raph just glared, but he quickly glanced at the clock through the doorway to the living room on the VCR.

   "Splinter will want to see you anyway," Leo added, spotting something on the floor of the living room, and walking over to it. "I'll expect he's got some tea that might help you." He picked up the object on the floor and walked back to Mikey, handing him his other nunchuck.

   Raph growled, but Leo interrupted what he was going to say after.

   "C'mon then, Raph," Leo said, folding his arms. "Let's see you walk here. If you can make it without falling over I might let you come."

   Raph growled again. "I don't need your permission to save someone, Leo." His hands went automatically down to where his Sais would have been, but they weren't there, and he looked down for a second before realizing Prida must have taken them off him while he was in the basement. His anger was beginning to boil stronger than Leo's.

   Donny and Mikey exchanged glances. It wasn't like Leo to start the argument this way.

   "Look, while you're here arguing, Prida is being taken to the Shredder," Mikey cut in, an edge to his voice that made Leo and Raph take their eyes off each other and look at him. "Leo, I think Raph should come, we need all of us." He went over to stand by Raph's side, and crossed his arms, He himself was getting a little bit angry with Leo and Raph's bickering.

   "Mikey, there won't be an 'all of us' if Raph gets killed," Leo said bluntly. "Not just because of his reckless behavior."

   "Leo," Mikey said, looking his brother dead in the eye. "You KNOW Raph's not gonna sit this one out, so there's no point in arguing, we're wasting time."

   To see Mikey serious was rare, yet it also seemed to be the only thing to ease back Leo's new anger, and he realized what Mikey said was true. No way was Raph going to follow his order and 'sit it out'. So Leo's shoulders dropped and he tilted his head slightly, giving Mikey a look that said 'I hate to admit it, but you're right'.

   Leo glanced from Mikey to Raph, and said shortly without a change of expression or without moving, "Okay."

   But Donny insisted that before they left, Mikey should take a drink for the small blood loss of his wound to replace fluids, and while he did so, Donny checked Raph over, and winced at the results of his still high temperature.

   Before Donny could read it out, Leo, who didn't want to hear anything that would change his mind, turned his shell on them and moved towards the front door.

   "Let's go," he ordered, taking the trench coat on the coat rack off and throwing it at Raph, who caught it, gave his brother a glare, and pulled it on. His hat was also on the rack, and he put that on while his brothers still had their baseball caps. His vision was not the best, and he still felt like hell, in fact he almost considered giving up in the argument, but no way, he didn't give up. After finding his Sais, they shut the door to Prida's house and, glancing at the gray cloudy sky, started walking.

   "How is ShredHead gonna get this power thing?" Mikey asked as the walked in an uneven line down the deserted back streets. "I mean, if Prida has to open it by saying something, or by thinking, then he'd have to force her to."

   "I have no idea, Mikey," Donny said, pulling his trench coat collar straight. "I just hope he not putting her through any form of torture."

   Mikey shivered, and they all quickened their pace.

~

Okay, voici, the beginning of where I start making it up with no planning, eek, I just realized I don't even have an ending to the rescue. Damnit. Oh well, thank you for the reviews. I got college to go to now, so I'll be busy and I might not update as much, but no worries, I WILL update as much as I can.