Disclaimer: Haven't done one of these in a while. I don't own any characters except for Sarah, Joseph, Leeroy, Diana and, I suppose, a little bit of Raphael. Bonesteel and Venus belong to Saban while the TMNT belong to two lucky guys.
Chapter 10: Bonesteel's Calling Card.
2 months later. London, England.
Diana's wails traveled through the entire lair, once again causing her mother to come running. A long minute passed and Venus still hadn't calmed her down. "Leo! I need your help here!" she called him. Immediately Leonardo abandoned teaching Raphael's ninjitsu lesson to come and lend assistance elsewhere. Over the past couple of weeks, the turtle clan had to move several times due to numerous sightings, so it was absolutely important that they remained as quiet as possible. Easier said than done when there was a baby amongst the family.
The little boy pouted with annoyance as he watched the commotion, slowly becoming envious that Diana had been getting most of the attention lately. Raphael stubbornly crossed his arms and plunked himself on the ground, trying his best to patiently wait for his teacher to return. Michelangelo noticed this and gave a chuckle when he saw the boy's expression. Observing that Leo wasn't going to return anytime soon, he decided to approach the four-year-old.
"Hey Raphy. How are you doing?" Mike asked with a smile. The child didn't respond and only jealously peered over towards Venus and Leonardo. "Raph, I'm sorry that you're being ignored these days. But you have to understand that babies need a lot of care and time," Mike explained. The angry expression on the boy's face disappeared and instead he focused his eyes on the floor. Mike sighed. He was starting to get frustrated by the baby as well. "Would you like to get out for a while? Play a game of cricket?" he offered. Raphael immediately looked him in the eyes and smiled in agreement.
Grinning, Mike picked up the plastic cricket bat, three planks of wood and the tennis ball that lay in a corner of the room. Long gone were the days where he would play American football, basketball and baseball. After seeing so many games on television at Sarah's place, cricket had quickly become Mike's new favourite sport. He had managed to snatch the bat and ball during a food raid one night while the pieces of wood were just gathered in the storm drains.
The two turtles ventured out of the lair, desperately wanting to escape the constant cries of the baby. They walked down only a few tunnels; far away enough that the irritating wails were only faintly heard, and sufficiently close so that Leo could call them back whenever he wanted to continue Raph's lesson. Mike walked to the wall and lined up the three small planks of wood to transform them into wickets. Raphael backed up, tennis ball in hand, opting to bowl first. Mike didn't blame him, especially when the plastic bat was nearly as tall as Raph himself. Besides, it was helping his aim; a much-needed skill if he was to learn either of his parent's weapons.
Raphael ran up, performed a little gallop before clumsily throwing the ball. Mike expertly hit it, making sure that the round object wouldn't fly too far off, giving Raph a fairer chance of getting him out. While the boy chased the ball, Mike ran to a certain spot before hastily returning to the wickets. He then repeated the action. Mike was about to make another lap but thought better of it when Raphael picked up the tennis ball. "I got two runs that time!" Mike boasted. Naturally it wasn't a proper game of cricket, just a contest to see how many runs someone could score before they got out by having the wickets hit. Raphael threw the ball again, only to get the same result. "Four runs!" Mike grinned.
"Hey, Uncle Mikey?" Raphael started before he threw the ball again. "How… how far can you hit?" Raph wondered.
"Well throw the ball and I'll show ya," Mike enticed. The child did as he was told. A loud whack was heard and the green tennis ball speedily rolled past Raphael and down into the depths of the tunnel. Raph immediately took chase while Mike cheekily performed a few more runs.
Raphael's little feet pounded along the concrete, hopelessly following the accelerated rolling ball. As he came to the end of the tunnel, he exhaustedly watched as the green sphere rebounded before rolling downhill into the next cement corridor. The child groaned and continued to chase the ball. Thankfully, at the bottom of the tunnel was a cross section of paths with a flat floor, where the ball quickly ran out of energy and slowed to a standstill. Puffing, Raphael walked the rest of the way down, too tired to observe his surroundings. Breathing hard, the little turtle towered above the ball and was in process of picking it up when suddenly Bonesteel grabbed him from behind.
Raphael tried to kick, yet he was too small to get out of his hold. The hunter greedily smiled and swiftly covered the turtle's mouth with a cloth. Raph's body filled with fear when he realised that Mike was too far away to hear his muffled cries. Tears of horror streamed down his face as he started to feel more and more lightheaded; the cloth was soaked with chloroform. Bonesteel finally softened his hold when the turtle's body went limp with unconsciousness.
Michelangelo stood by the wickets after completing too many runs for comfort. He stared worriedly down the tunnel, hoping to see Raph's competitive face. His ears strained to hear anything in the disquieting silence. "Raph?" Mike called out suddenly. There was no reply. "Raph this isn't funny…" Mike said, wishing that it were just a prank. Noticing that something wasn't right, the adult gripped the bat tighter, planning on using it as a weapon as his tonfas were back at the lair. He steadily moved in the direction that Raph had gone; going to the end of the tunnel before heading down the next.
Mike warily entered the cross section, checking the various dark paths only to find absolutely nothing. Cautiously steeping backwards, the turtle nearly tripped over the single tennis ball that was still harmlessly lying on the ground. Looking down, Mike worriedly picked it up, but then he spotted something else; something that answered all his fears. Michelangelo tenderly studied the business card that had been purposely planted underneath the lonely ball. His heart skipped a beat when he read the words 'Simon Bonesteel'.
Mike quickly looked around and still couldn't see anyone else in the sewers. He read on. 'Animal skinning, hunting hardware and trades. Charleston Rd. Wharf 5, Building 2, London. Business hours 9 – 5pm. Not open Sunday. Ph: 212-555- 0674'. A panicked sweat rolled down his forehead as reality began to sink in. "RAPH!" he cried out. "RAPH!" he yelled again, yet there was still no response, only silence. Anger clouded his mind, causing him to nearly rip the card up into tiny pieces, but he didn't. Tears formed in his eyes quickly transforming his mood from furious to remorseful and oppressive. 'What are Leo and Venus going to say?' Mike wondered woefully.
He slowly trudged back to the lair, doubly making sure that he wasn't being followed. Mike's gut churned with worry as he saw Leo and Venus watching over the sleeping form of Diana. The two gave him a welcoming smile but their expression soon changed when they observed Mike's unusually glum face. "Raph's gone…" Mike said, allowing a few of his built up tears to drip down his face.
"What!?" Both Leo and Venus uttered in surprise at the same time. Mike walked forward and showed them the business card. His gut churned faster, his heart beat more rapidly and his legs felt like jelly.
"I found this where I think he took him," Mike said sorrowfully. It seemed that Leo and Venus had read the card in less than two seconds, as they gave him another worried look in no time.
"How?… How did you let this happen?" Leo said, sounding annoyed more than anything else. Venus simply said nothing but her depressed and shocked expression told him everything.
"We… we were just playing cricket. I hit the ball and he went after it… I never heard anything… Leo, I'm…" Mike couldn't find the words and he started to choke up. Leonardo was about to yell at him and remind him of his stupidity, but a simple touch on the hand from Venus held him back. Leo sighed, knowing that they should be concentrating on how to get Raphael back, not arguing with each other.
"What are we going to do?" Venus' voice trembled with worry for her only son.
"Well… we'll just have to go to this address," Leo said grimly, referring to the business card.
"But… It looks like a trap!" Mike exclaimed.
"Of course it's a trap! But what else do we do?… We'll have to go there sometime…" Leo said. They were silent for a few moments.
"But what about Diana? We can't take her with us…" Venus fretted.
"Then I'll go. By myself," Leo proposed. Mike and Venus gave him a shocked look.
"What about me?!" Mike asked.
"You're staying here with Venus and Diana… If something happened to us Mike, then Venus…" Leo trailed off, thinking about the last time that Venus was left alone with a baby.
"But what if you get caught?" Mike questioned.
"I won't" Leo said with determination.
"No, seriously. What if you get caught?" Mike repeated, not taking his brother's stubbornness for an answer.
Leonardo sighed, not wanting to think of that possibility. "Then you, Venus and Diana will have to come. It'll be pointless if you came after me by yourself," Leo said.
"You know… we could always just phone the number…" Mike suggested hopefully. Leo gave him a small smile and shook his head. "You better get going then," Mike accepted the inevitable. Leonardo gave him a grim nod of the head.
The next five minutes were spent looking at the tattered paper map of the city that they had collected, to learn of the exact location of the wharf. When the road, address and the surrounding area was memorised, Leo equipped himself in preparation for the perilous journey. Almost ready to slip out the door, Leo looked back at his family and studied Venus' worried expression. Sadly she approached and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. "Be careful, okay," she ordered softly. Leo nodded and then turned to Mike.
"If I'm not back in two hours then…"
"I understand," Mike said.
*****
Wharf 5, Building 2, London.
Raphael woke up with a start, snapping violently out of his dreamless sleep. He tried to open his eyes, but all the colours were muted and mixed, making his vision blurry. His head pounded in pain, but it started to ease the more he regained consciousness. Raph moved onto his hands and knees, feeling the coldness beneath his limbs. A noise was heard. Raph's little heart beat faster in panic, still not having perfect vision. He quickly tried to crawl away but his head bumped into something in his hastiness. Timidly reaching out with a hand, he felt the metal bar that he knocked into. Then, moving slightly to the left, another cold, solid bar was felt, then another. Tears stung his blurred eyes when he realised he was trapped like an animal in a cage.
A raspy laugh caught his attention. He had regrettably heard that voice before, nearly every time his family was chased out of home and forced to relocate and make a new lair. It was the person he feared the most. Bonesteel. Raphael sat down and shivered as he leaned against the bars. The laugh was heard again. "Stupid animal," the human murmured.
Raphael heard a door open and another person enter the room. The little turtle blinked his eyes a few times and rubbed them with a hand, slowly getting his vision back. "So you've finally caught one after all these years," Leeroy commented to Bonesteel. The hunter gave him a sly smile in return. Leeroy was Bonesteel's most trusted dealer, and both of them had been in the black market business for years. Bonesteel hunted, while Leeroy searched for a possible buyer. That was how it worked.
"So do you want me to start phoning…" Leeroy began to ask, but stopped when he noticed that Bonesteel wasn't paying any attention to him and was instead staring intently at the little turtle in the cage. "…Simon…" Leeroy tried to make him look his way by calling him by his given name. As though Bonesteel had heard him the first time, he shook his head in response.
"More will come," he said simply, not removing his intimidating eyes from the turtle. Raphael curled up into a ball and hugged his knees, still shivering from the sight of the hunter.
"What do you mean?" Leeroy questioned.
"The rest of the turtles will come for him. Just you wait," Bonesteel informed him, eyes still burning into the little four-year-old turtle. Leeroy simply shrugged and sat down beside the hunter.
Raphael shuddered and looked away from the two leering humans. The smell of death filled the air of the dank warehouse. Numerous animal skin rugs and mounted heads littered the area. A table stood to the side with a half-skinned fox lying limply on the surface. The image made Raphael shudder even further. He looked away, only to lock eyes with another lifeless mammal that had also suffered in the hands of a taxidermist. Not only were there dead animals but piles and piles of weaponry; guns, bullets, tranquilizers; the list went on. Yet a particular item caught Raph's gaze and fear.
The little reptile noticed the large coffee table resting underneath Bonesteel's feet. It was a giant turtle shell, approximately the same size as Leo's and Mike's. Raph's eyes grew wide when he realised that it was indeed his own species; it just looked too similar. As much as it scared him, he couldn't look away. He observed the rough battle scars along the carapace, the chipped scutes and, most oddly, the bullet-sized hole that pierced through both the front and back. The shell was shiny, obviously from being polished, and four ornate legs were attached to the back, making the plastron the table's surface. All of a sudden Raphael felt really sick in the stomach.
"I think it likes my coffee table," Bonesteel said to Leeroy with a cruel smile. They both starred at the boy for a while longer until Bonesteel looked at his watch with impatience. "Something's not right… they should have been here by now…" Bonesteel sensed with a crooked head and a cocked eyebrow. Without saying another word, he gathered his beloved weapons and equipped himself once again.
"What are you doing?" Leeroy asked.
"Initiating Plan B," the hunter answered gruffly then made a raspy giggle, excited with the thought of catching more turtles, and more money. "Keep a close eye on the little one. Have a tranquil nearby. One of those stupid animals will come for him," Bonesteel instructed before he left the warehouse. Leeroy rolled his eyes at his eccentrics, yet did what he was told anyway as a precaution. Although Bonesteel may be weird, he definitely had good instincts.
Raphael stared at Leeroy, and Leeroy stared back. Neither speaking, neither moving. Half an hour passed and nothing of interest had occurred. Leeroy looked at his watch in boredom. Sighing and beginning to believe that Bonesteel wasn't coming back that night, the human put down the tranquilizer dart gun at an arm's length and lighted a cigarette to pass the time. That was what Leonardo had been waiting for, for the past ten minutes.
Totally distracted by the cigarette in his hand, Leonardo easily sneaked up behind Leeroy and rendered him unconscious by the hilt of his single katana. Leo smiled at Raph's delighted face while he searched the human's body for the keys. Finding them in under a minute, Leo opened the cage's door and was greeted by a strong hug from Raphael.
"Daddy…" he sobbed, finally releasing the tears from the torment of the ordeal. The little turtle hugged him harder when Leo wrapped his arms around boy's shell for comfort.
"Shh… It's okay Raphy, it's okay," Leo whispered in a soothing tone. "C'mon. Let's go home," Leo invited warmly. Gently breaking away from the comforting embrace, Leo looked around the room one last time. That's when he saw the coffee table.
His finger's clenched in fury, his teeth gritted together. Leonardo knew whose detached shell that was in an instant. He glared at the object, infuriated with what Bonesteel had transformed the remains of his brother into. Leonardo wanted nothing more than to smash it to pieces, so that his enemy could never use the shell as a piece of furniture ever again. But he didn't. He couldn't find it in himself to destroy the final remains of his brother, Raphael. An overwhelming sense of grief entered his mind when he accepted the truth of the matter.
Leonardo looked down and noticed that the boy was also looking fearfully at the table. "Let's go," Leo repeated through clenched teeth with a gentle pull on Raphael's arm, not knowing what to do with the transformed shell at that particular instant. Hand in hand, the adult led the child out of the warehouse and safely into the sewers.
As they cautiously walked home, Leonardo noticed how shaken Raphael was. 'Poor kid,' Leo thought glumly. 'He's only four years old,' he reminded himself. Leo observed how his little hand trembled in his grip and how his eyes darted fearfully at every dark and mysterious corner or shadow. With a small smile, Leonardo gently picked the child up and cradled him in his firm arms. In an instant Raphael calmed down, feeling a tremendous deal of safety in Leo's presence. The adult kept walking in silence. When Leo looked down at Raphael in his arms again, he was peacefully asleep. The smile returned to Leo's face.
Quietly, Leo rounded the last corner and entered the lair, hoping to see the rest of the family. But they weren't there. The smile disappeared from Leo's face when he observed the scattered objects across the floor. Their ninjitsu weapons were amongst the mess, left in such a careless disarray so to remind Leo that something serious had occurred, as Mike and Venus wouldn't have left them behind. An unsuccessful tranquilizer dart was found on the floor. Leo recognised it as one of Bonesteel's. The turtle snarled as he pieced the scene together in his mind, and in an instant, he knew where to find the rest of his family.