Chapter Sixteen: Steak Out Gone Wrong
The battle shell was pretty quiet except for Leonardo going over his plan with the group. Delaney sat up front in the passenger seat next to Raphael who was driving. Donatello and Eros sat together on one side of the vehicle as Callista and Amity sat across from them. At the back Leonardo and Michelangelo kept having some quiet talk after Leonardo stopped preaching his semi-plan to everybody. They wouldn't actually know what to do until they saw the factory. Delaney looked back at the group a few times and focused on Mikey each time. Once he caught her looking back. He gave her a small, hopeful smile before he continued talking with Leonardo. She turned forward and looked out the windshield, focusing on the far off docks.
"You know, he misses you too," Raphael said quietly from the driver's seat noticing her backward glances. She looked up at him and made sure that no one else was listening, "Don't worry, no one will listen in. You should really talk to him."
"Raph… I admire and love that you're trying to help," Delaney said and touched the pocket that had Michelangelo's letter in it, "And you have to know that I still care."
"So what's the problem? He's hurting big time. And Mikey isn't one to get hurt that badly."
She took a moment to think about his question and took a deep, nearly cleansing breath, "It's not that I hate him or that I blame him. I have forgiven him… it's just that…I can't forgive myself. I know I hurt him. And he has never deserved it."
He took a breath and shook his head slightly, "It ain't your fault. We all lose our tempers sometimes. Take it from a guy who knows."
She looked over at him and gave him a slight smile, "Now I can definitely see why she likes you so much."
She watched his grip tighten around the steering wheel and his whole figure become stiff. She restrained herself from laughing at him, but it was taking a lot or work. He began to lightly chuckle to himself and nervously took a look at her.
"What are you talking about?" he smiled, "You hit your head recently, Delaney?"
"Don't worry, Raph," she smiled and giggled to herself, "I'll keep it under wraps for you."
He shook his head and chuckled, "Thanks."
"You really think that I wouldn't know my best friend that well? To know when she was in love with somebody?"
"You really think she wouldn't know when you were?" he quirked an eyebrow at her and then looked at the buildings ahead, "Looks like we're here."
As everyone began to move around and get ready to move out, Delaney reached over and touched Raphael's arm, "Thank you."
"No problem," he patted her on the shoulder, "But if I ever catch you telling anyone about my you-know-what with you-know-who, I'll have to kill you. Even if my brother may be head over heels for you."
"So noted, but I never said anything about you liking her," she smirked at him. He froze in his spot as Delaney slipped out and made her way out of the battle shell. She tightened the bracelet around her wrist and kissed it lightly for good luck. She also tightened the tie material around her hand to make sure it would stay on.
She caught up with Leonardo outside the battle shell and smoothed out her jacket. They had parked in a small alley between the two of the warehouses a few dozen feet away from the Watanabe fish oil factory. Everybody started to get into their pairs and get their things organized. Every turtle checked their shell cells and nodded to one another. The girls broke away for a few minutes and gathered in a small circle. They draped their arms over each other's shoulders, which Amity found a little difficult with the huge bag filled with modified versions of Donatello's inventions slung over one shoulder.
"So, you girls ready to do this?" Delaney asked the group and glanced around the tight circle.
"As ready as you are, Brandeen," Callista said with a grin using a secret nickname that only the two of them used.
"Let's go for it," Eros chimed in.
"Everybody's in," Amity nodded.
"Well then, let's see what those guys are up to in there, huh?" Delaney smiled and they all took their arms down, "We're family. No matter what happens."
"True to that, sister!" Callista put her hand up and Delaney gave her a high five, "True to that!"
"All right, girls?" Donatello called over to them. They all nodded their heads and walked next to their partners chosen for the mission.
"Okay," Leonardo pulled out the schematics of the warehouse that Donatello picked up on the Internet and spread it on the hood of the battle shell, "According to the schematics here, the factory has two floors, but keep your mind open. What'd you got Donnie?"
Donatello put on some new goggles and looked toward the building, "Looks like workers to me. Upstairs looks mostly like business offices where no doubt most of the actual work gets done. Don't see our ninja friends as of yet, though."
"Good, we don't need or want to see them until we absolutely have to," Leonardo nodded.
"Speak for yourself, bro," Raphael spun his sais and grinned, "I'm looking forward to saying hi."
"Raph, this is strictly observation. Remember what Splinter said."
"Don't worry, Leo," Callista leaned on Raphael's right shoulder and pushed down Raphael's arm that was twirled the sai, "I'll keep him in check."
"Yeah right –what are we on?" he asked Callista trying to stare her down.
"We're on v, but it's my turn, vomit face."
"Gotcha, wax brain," he smiled getting back into the game.
"Right… back to the plan," Leonardo looked at both of them and then at the schematics. Delaney and Eros giggled at the pair and turned their attention to the plan. Amity rolled her eyes from her friend's immaturity.
"Go ahead, Leo," Amity put a light hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, um…" Eros cocked an eyebrow at Leonardo's sudden flustered attitude, "Right… Raph, you and Callista take the back rooms on ground level."
"Gothcha, bro," Raphael saluted his brother and he and Callista were off.
"Donnie, you and Amity see what you can find on the factory floor. I doubt that fish oil is the only thing that they are manufacturing in there. See what you can dig up on the machinery."
"Will do," Donatello nodded and took a new looking machine out from his bag, "Time to try out my new baby."
"Yeah, just slow it down, Don," Amity patted him on his shell and snuck off to the side entrance of the factory.
"All right Delaney," Leonardo looked up at her, "If your old friend Yukio was here, where would he be?"
Delaney stepped up to the drawing of the building and looked over the top floor of the factory. She pointed to the meeting room, "Here. If I know him well enough, he would want to know about everything going on. At the top of the hierarchy, you know?"
"Then we'll start there for a paper trail," Leo nodded, "Mikey, you and Eros check the other rooms up top. Yukio may not be here, but some of his friends may be."
"No problem," Michelangelo nodded, "We'll stay in touch on the shell network."
"Okay, let's get to work," Leo folded the schematics and set them on a section of his belt.
All four of them went around the back ways of the factory and up the fire escape. Leo led the way up followed by Eros with Delaney keeping a close eye on her friend. Michelangelo guarded the back of the group, just in case. As Delaney tried to watch her friend she momentarily forgot about her own concentration and lost footing on the ladder. She let out a squeak of surprise until she felt Michelangelo catch her and pushed her back up to grab hold on the ladder. As they reached the top Delaney wiped the dust off her hands and looked at the metal of the fire escape.
"Thank you, Michelangelo."
He squinted a little from her voice. She was still using his full name, "No problem… it's my job."
It was now her turn to squint in pain. Is that all that's left of their friendship? Was Raphael wrong about Michelangelo's feelings? Was she wrong? Have things changed that much? Was she now… just the job?
"Okay, this is where we split up," Leonardo checked the window to make sure there was no arming mechanism or security device installed on it, "There is another window just on the other side. It should lead to a major hallway. Start there."
"Yes sir!" Eros saluted and walked with Michelangelo onto the ledge and toward the window on the other side of the building.
Delaney stepped through the now open window and Leonardo soon followed. The meeting room was not as big as she thought it would be. The huge table, like she had expected to see inside huge corporation business meetings, took up most of the room. Along with the dozen or so chairs surrounding the huge table, there were a few dozen filing cabinets and screens for projections that lined the walls.
"Hey Leo, maybe we should check these for that paper trail, huh?" Delaney pointed to an overstuffed file cabinet toward the west side of the room. He nodded, but stopped short in his tracks. Before Delaney could ask why he stopped, she knew.
Some one was coming toward the room from down the hall. The turtle and girl looked at each other and then quickly around the room. They didn't have the time to search the room for hiding places before. Leonardo pulled Delaney by the hand into a nearby closet filled mostly with papers and what looked like an extra large ventilation tube that looked like that even Leonardo could fit into. The tubing ran horizontal along the bottom edge of the small closet space. As the men entered the room Delaney pointed to the tube and Leonardo followed her lead. They both made it into the tubing by a panel that opened easy enough and laid on their stomachs so they could close the hatch panel. There were nicks and cuts in the tubing that were gratefully big enough to look through. One of the men opened the door and threw more files to the side of the closet.
"I'm guessing he wants us down there pronto, huh?" the man asked over his shoulder, as he stood halfway into the room. He seemed to be in his early thirties with a lean body. His voice sounded a little deeper than expected from a guy of his size.
"Yeah… he said it has to do something 'bout the girl," another voice said from the room, "And from what I hear, Yukio ain't going to be too happy about it."
Leonardo looked at Delaney for a reaction to his name, but she didn't even flinch. As they prepared to get out of the tube to head down to the factory, the guy in the closet flipped a switch and stairs appeared from the back of the closet.
'Maybe this place isn't as run down at some people think,' Delaney thought to herself as the two guys walked down the stairway. After a few seconds the passage way closes up again.
"I think we just missed our chance," Leonardo let out a breath.
"I don't think so," Delaney shifted her weight, "This tubing continues to where ever they're heading."
"How do you know?"
"I saw the tubing along the staircase wall," she said plainly as she began to descend the ventilation system, "Let's see what good things they're saying about me, shall we?"
As they followed the tube down the tube itself began to grow as it turned a different direction and eventually got big enough that they were able to crawl instead of drag themselves. After a few minutes the tubing began to turn back toward the direction they thought the staircase was and began to take a steeper slant. They slowly tried to climb along the tubing without sliding down the old metal tube.
Leonardo took out his shell cell, "Heads up, turtles. We found a secret staircase heading toward the backside of the factory."
"The case of the secret staircase?" Raphael came back over the cell, "You sure you weren't seeing something, bro?"
"It's kind of hard to imagine something while crawling along it," Leonardo mumbled, "We're in a ventilation tube heading down. Something tells me that it leads somewhere other than the factory floor."
"We'll keep our eyes open, Leo," Donatello's voice came over the cell.
"All right, keep you updated."
"Leo, look," the tube finally began to flatten out and eventually opened up to a size that enabled them to walk. Delaney peeked around the curve of the tube to see a huge hole in the tubing and what looked like what would be a huge jump. She looked down to the floor to see at least twenty good feet down. The room looked more like a basement room that led to another room via some kind of elevator or metal doors, "This wasn't in the schematics, now was it?"
Leonardo took the schematics out and looked over them, "No, it wasn't. We are treading on uneven ground here, Delaney."
"Yeah, but we're not exactly on the ground, now are we?" she smiled and looked down on the two guys walking toward the metal doors on the other end of the room. They slowly watched the doors open and the two men went into the room. The door slid closed behind them and Delaney looked to Leonardo.
"So now what?" she asked and looked at the large hole in the tube and watched as he jumped almost effortlessly over the gap.
"You ready?" he asked out stretching his hand to her.
She looked at the gap, the distance between the floor and the tubing and then back at Leonardo, "Oh… no… You are not getting me to jump that! You must be nuts!"
"Either that or we go home," he reached out a bit further.
"God, why do you throw these twists into my life?" she looked up at the ceiling- which also happened to be the factory floor. Delaney took a step back and began to rush forward, pushing her feet hard against the ground.
She kicked off the edge of the tube and barely caught some metal from the other side. She made an iron grip on the part of the tube she managed to grab a hold of. She clung to the small piece of metal and struggled to try and pull herself up, kicking her legs helplessly. Leonardo reached down for her hand, but leaned too far forward and bent the piece of metal that Delaney was holding. She slipped from the metal piece and missed Leonardo's hand completely. She felt herself falling faster than she though was safe and began to try and grab any object that was close enough. There were a few crates and boxes that she thought could break her fall or at least slow her down, which some of them managed to do. After a few moments of flailing her arms in a wild attempt to slow down her descent, she landed on the floor right on her butt. She slowly stood up and rubbed her back end and grumbled.
"Nice catch, Leo," she grumbled louder and glared up at the turtle in the tubing.
"Sorry," he squinted and waved down at her.
"Yeah right," she started to move the different pieces of her body to make sure nothing was broken or terribly injured. She knew from her experiences that she would be getting quite a few bruises and a few more cuts from the edges of boxes that ironically slowed her descent enough to keep her from worse injures.
"Uh, Leo?" the cell started to relay a message from Michelangelo.
"Yeah, what is it Mikey?"
"We found the stairs and the vent… but you guys have some company coming at ya," Michelangelo growled.
"More goons?"
"Let's just say Yukio and some of his police friends are late for a meeting. It looks like he wasn't the only mole in the system."
"Right," Leo looked down at Delaney who was looking at a scratch on her leg, "You see anywhere you can hide?"
"Yeah, why?"
"We have some company," he turned back to the shell cell, "Mikey, I think you and Eros should get down here. Use the vent."
"No sweat, Leo. We're on our way. You might like some of the paper trails that we found too," Michelangelo hung up the cell and apparently made his way towards their position.
"Leo," Delaney called up to him, "There are some crates, but I don't know how well they'll do the trick."
"Work with it. Your friend is coming."
"Oh crap," Delaney ducked behind the crates as the door to the staircase opened. She peeked over the top of the crates to watch as Yukio and two other police officers she recognized from another department. He almost looked exactly the same from the last time she saw him, except this time he had a katana in a sheath on his hip and a very disgruntled look on his face. She took a deep breath and looked up at Leonardo. He had his eyes focused on the officers.
"So, what do you think they're up to this time?" one of the unnamed officers asked Yukio.
"You know I have no clue," Yukio grumbled and started to push the entry code to get into the next room, "but I don't care if the man's my father. If he pisses me off one more time I'll shoot him- in self defense of course."
The other officers laughed and began to talk quietly to Yukio and motion to different objects and things with their arms. The conversation between the three men went on for about three or so minutes until they began to talk a little louder. Delaney struggled to hear the conversation and only got a few words at the end of the conversation.
"So what do we do if we do have to… you know… dispose of Watanabe Sr.?" the shortest guy asked.
"Do like we always do," Yukio smiled, "He attacked us after we uncovered his other operations and well… things got out of hand."
The other officers laughed and stepped into the next room. Delaney shifted her weight, knocking some of the smaller tin boxes to their sides. She took a deep breath and put her back to the huge crate. 'Shit!' Leonardo's eyes grew huge and she knew then that he knew where she was. Yukio knew where she was. She heard the door shut and his shoes clicked against the cement floor. He stood right above her and leaned over the side of the crate.
"Delaney?" his voice drifted over her along with a deep chill.
'Oh shit.'