Chapter 4

Splinter's Encounter

Some time in 1992

He found Donatello in a far section of the tunnels close to the subway. I was further than they were allowed to go by themselves. Without letting Donatello see him Splinter drew closer and called out to him.

"Donatello!"

Splinter watched as Donatello winced at the sound of his name. "Sensei!"

Splinter strode forward, and looked harshly at the little turtle. "Where have you been? You and your brother know you should not stray so far from the lair. You have been gone for far to long!"

Donatello dutifully hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry, sensei. We were playing hide and seek, and I can't find Mikey."

Splinter frowned at that. "Did you not call for him?"

Donatello nodded. "Uh huh, but he didn't come out." Again he called, "ollie-ollie-oxen free!"

Splinter called as well. "Michelangelo! Michelangelo! It is time to stop playing and come home!"

There was no answer. The only sounds they heard was the dripping of water, the rushing of the underground river nearby, the distant roaring of a subway, and the squeaking of the rats around them.

Splinter didn't like this one bit. "Either your brother is in serious trouble, or he is laying in ambush for us." Knowing Michelangelo it was very possible this was one of his pranks. "I believe it is time we had a lesson in tracking. Where is your base for hide and seek?"

Donatello led Splinter to a set of three sewer valves where Splinter began to track Michelangelo seriously. "Here, Donatello, there are your brothers foot prints. His stride is longer than yours, and he tends to traverse his terrain randomly." Sure enough not only were there foot prints but the occasional hand print from where Michelangelo had performed a flip.

They tracked Michelangelo to the waterfall that lead to the underground river. "He should never have come this way," Splinter said sternly. "This river is too close to the storm drain leading to the upper world."

"That's why I didn't look down this way," Donatello said uneasily, but the tracks didn't lie. This definitely had been the path that Michelangelo had taken.

"Here he touched this ladder," Splinter said again seeing where the dust had been disturbed. He looked up to where a manhole was. "But he did not disturb this manhole cover." Again he called. "Michelangelo!"

"Mikey?" Donatello notice a tunnel close to the rushing river. It was too dark to see inside, so Donatello drew closer. "Mikey? Are you in there?"

"BOO!" Michelangelo poked his head out of the tunnel startling both Splinter and Donatello.

"Michelangelo!" Splinter cried harshly.

Donatello completely off guard and frightened, jumped backwards onto the very ledge of the river. He teetered trying to get his balance, but he slipped, and fell into the rushing waters below.

"Donatello!" Splinter cried out.

Michelangelo, with his head still poking out of the tunnel looked stricken. "Sensei, I didn't mean-"

Splinter didn't waste any words on the prankster. "Michelangelo stay here!" He ordered as he flung himself into the water.

Like most rats Splinter could swim relatively well, but he was no match for the rapid, roaring river. He came up once for air then went back down refusing to give up looking for his son.

Suddenly hands came over him, and threw him up out of the water. He found himself ten feet downstream. Michelangelo who had followed above was instantly at his side.

"Sensei, did you find Donny?"

Before Splinter could finish spitting water, and tell Michelangelo the horrid news a strange female voice said, "Is this your Donny?"

Splinter rose his head and looked. Donatello was before him unconscious on the floor. His head was in the lap of a strange young woman. She had soft turquoise blue eyes, and flaming red hair. She was dressed in a soft silk aqua halter, her lap was covered in soft pink scales, ending in a fin like tail.

Splinter hardly knew what to think, the air was heavy with algae, he knew they were somewhere near the storm drain leading to the ocean, but what was this creature doing here. Motion to his side reminded him that Michelangelo was still with him. He glanced down at the young turtle only to see Michelangelo staring at the mermaid with a strange longing fascination. A sudden thought occurred to Splinter. Did this mermaid desire his young sons?

The mermaid turned her attention to Michelangelo. "Come here little one." She gestured for him to come to her.

A wave a fear overcame Splinter. "Michelangelo, stay by my side," he ordered, but Michelangelo was already advancing towards the creature.

"No!," Splinter cried out. He tried to stop Michelangelo, but the mermaid glanced at him, and he found his own body frozen unable to move. He was forced to watch as the mermaid spoke softly to Michelangelo.

"Is Donny gonna be okay?" Michelangelo asked the mermaid. From his voice, Splinter could tell that he had absolutely no fear of this stranger, no matter what he had taught them about the surface. "I...I didn't mean for him to fall in the water. I was just playing."

"Do not fear, little one. He will be fine," the mermaid said. She gently stroked Donatello's forehead, and he sighed in his sleep contented. "I have to go now."

"You gonna take us with you?" Michelangelo asked. He sounded so hopeful it nearly broke Splinter's heart.

"No, please, do not take my sons from me!" He tried again to move forward. He only wanted to snatch his two turtle children from this being, but her eyes were still on him, and his body would not obey him.

The mermaid looked at Splinter sadly. "No, little one. I do not think your elder would like it if you came home with me. You and your brother should stay here, with him.

"All right," Michelangelo said passively. He was still looking at the mermaid longingly as if he wanted to go with her.

The mermaid kissed Michelangelo once gently on his forehead, then bent down and kissed Donatello. She then offered her hand to Michelangelo, and drew him to his knees, so she could hand Donatello off to him. "Goodby, little turtle child, and remember be more careful then next time you play," she said softly. She leaned over to where the underground river flowed. In the next instant she was gone, with only a splash to indicate that she had been there at all.

The moment she was out of sight Splinter found that he could move again. He moved to where Michelangelo held Donatello, scooped both of them into his own lap, and held them.

"Sensei?" Michelangelo said softly, as he struggled to be more comfortable in Splinter's arms. "Sensei, why are you shaking?"

Splinter suddenly realized that he was frightening Michelangelo. "I am fine, Michelangelo," Splinter said hastily. He tried to get control of his own emotions. "I feared that the mermaid creature would take you from me."

"Is that why she told me to stay?" Michelangelo wondered out loud. He turned back to the water, his little brow furrowed in thought. "But, I wanted to go with her. I belong with her."

"No! Splinter forced Michelangelo to look at him. "You do not belong with her. You do not know her. You belong here with me, and your brothers. Do you understand?"

Michelangelo squeezed up his face frightened. Splinter knew that he had never spoken so harshly to any of them before, but he felt that he had to nip this notion that Michelangelo belonged with the mermaid in the bud now, before Michelangelo was old enough to seek her out.

Even frightened, Michelangelo choose the simplest path. "Okay, sensei," he said weekly.

"We will speak no more of this," Splinter said sternly. He took Donatello from Michelangelo and rose to his feet. "Come, let us go home." He took three steps towards the tunnel leading to the lair then looked back. Michelangelo was still staring at the water, a strange torn expression on his face. "Michelangelo, Come," he called again. With a sigh, the little turtle followed behind Splinter as they made their way home.

"After that I sealed up the tunnel to the underground river. I...I believed that if you had no access to the river you would never see her again." Splinter said sadly. "I feared that if you four encountered her again, you, like Michelangelo, would desire to be with her, and not me."

Leonardo didn't know what to think. He felt torn in two. Part of him knew that Splinter had only done these things to protect them, but yet another part of him was resentful that their beloved sensei had lied to them, and kept them from her.

Now why would I care about something that?

Raphael punched a nearby wall. "Are you telling me you kept us from going to her? To where we belonged?"

Splinter looked up at Raphael stricken. That enabled Leonardo to figure out what was wrong in his mind. He glared at Raphael, and got between his brother and Splinter. "Are you saying you want to be with her? Five days ago you didn't even know she existed. Why would you want to drop everything and follow her?"

He wondered if Raphael was going to blow at him, but the question seemed to take him aback. Raphael suddenly looked confused, and sat down on the step. He brought his hand to his head. "I...I don't know why. It's just that..." Raphael trailed off and shook his head trying to clear it. He turned to Splinter and said, "sensei I didn't mean what I said, it's just that she..." Again he was unable to finish the sentence.

"Something inside of you is telling you we belong with her," Leonardo said sadly. "or at least that we should obey her. I can feel it too. Ever since I laid eyes on her all I've wanted to do is what she wanted."

"It is said that Mermaids hold sway over all males and the creatures of the sea. Even though your original forms were that of fresh water turtles, perhaps some of her power can affect you as well." Splinter said. "That is what I feared the most when I sealed the tunnel."

"Now it all makes sense," Leonardo said sadly. "It's not just a legend. Mikey said something about her opening my instincts up all the way. And she....she said that we couldn't help being what we were, and that her people were our guardians and sovereigns. We're forced by our very natures to obey them."

"That's crazy," Donatello insisted. "We're just not any turtles, we're teenage mutant ninja turtles! We're sentient beings. Are you telling me just because we're aquatic reptiles that a mermaid has complete control over us?"

"It's not just control, Don" Leonardo tried to explain. "She's didn't really do it too me. I did it to myself. Something that I never knew was inside of me, just responds to her. I can't trust my own thoughts anymore, because I can feel these...these instincts just tearing me in two."

"Which is possibly the reason Michelangelo kept her a secret from you," Splinter said. He sighed and looked to the video monolith where normally Michelangelo would be splayed across the sofa watching his favorite show. "His own nature has always had the duality of being sentient and yet still subject to the mermaid's wishes. As long as you three were never exposed to her true power he felt safe enough to trust your judgement."

"A good idea while it lasted," Leonardo said still moody. "Now that Raph and I were both exposed to her, does that mean we can't trust our own thoughts anymore? And what happens to us if the next time it's Don who sees her?"

"That is something we four should try to avoid," Splinter said firmly. "And I am sure Michelangelo will agree with us in that respect."

"We're just going to have to wait for Mikey to come back," Donatello said evenly. "I don't think we can learn anything more about this mermaid unless he tells us."

"And how can we trust him?" Raphael said, folding his arms. "He's kept this from us for ten years, and most likely he's been obeying this mermaid since then."

Splinter frowned at that. "And what does that mean Raphael? Is he not still your brother who fights by your side? " A sad expression crossed their sensei's face. "He knew the mermaid had saved your brother's life. He took on the burden I should have shouldered, and aided her."

"He said we owe her," Leonardo speculated. "Even more than you know, sensei. We have no idea how she's helped us over the past ten years."

"We will have to trust that Michelangelo has our interests in mind, as well as that of the mermaid." Splinter said. "And that he will come home as promised."

"He will," Leonardo said assuredly. "That was one thing they both kept reassuring me about. He'll be home before dawn just like all his other vanishing acts."

"Then we shall wait until the dawn." Splinter looked down at Leonardo. "You are still troubled by this all, Leonardo. I suggest you go meditate, and clear your mind."

Leonardo nodded. "Yes, sensei" he said sounding not very convinced, but he did go up to his room.

Donatello went back to his lab ,and Raphael followed. "I've never seen Leo so shaken up before in his life." Raphael said as he sat on a nearby bench.

Donatello shrugged. "Tell me about it, Raph. In fact you're going to have to. You were exposed to this mermaid too. I don't know what he's feeling inside." He gave a worried glance up to Leonardo's room, and on impulse put on an MP3 he had recently stolen from Mikey. The sound of the roaring surf

Raphael was trying to figure out what the mermaid had done to his own head. "I think she did to me something different. I never forgot who I was or anything. I was more focused on her, and being with her."

"And how do you feel now?" Donatello asked.

Raphael yawned and stretched out on the bench. "Weird," he said evenly. "It's like there's two sets of thoughts in my head now. One is me, kick butt take names later, but there's something else there now. It's like part of me belongs to her, you know what I'm saying? It's bugging the shell out of Leo, but it's not a bad feeling. It's just strange."

Donatello frowned. "I guess she did something else to Leo, something more, but still can you actually say you trust yourself now? "

The ocean sounds were mellowing Raphael as much as Donatello hoped they were calming Leonardo. Raphael closed his eyes lazily. "I don' t know, I mean Leo's right, if she asks I don't think we can help but do what she wants, but I don't think that makes her a bad person. What did she do? She helped me out, and she might have scared Leo, but she didn't really hurt him. I don't think she's our enemy."

"Maybe," Donatello said, "And maybe the half of you that's talking right now is the half that belongs to her."

"Ahhh your probably right, Don." Raphael said. "Pay no attention to the turtle falling asleep behind you." With that Raphael rolled over on his side and fell asleep.

A few minutes later Splinter walked by. "You know the sounds of the ocean will lull them to think of her, and her power over them."

"I know," Donatello said as he went over several mythological web sites, "I didn't know it would still affect Raph, but I thought Leo needed some calming down." He looked at Raphael uncertainly. "Do you think they'll ever fully recover from this?"

"I do not know. It is one of the many questions I have for Michelangelo when he returns.

"Raphael likes it a little," Donatello felt he needed to tell Splinter that. "Whatever the mermaid did had some kind of tranquilizing affect on that temper of his. It brought him down to almost normal levels. He knows it isn't normal, and it is wearing off, but part of him liked it. He doesn't think Mikey's friend means any harm."

"I have thought much on that tonight," Splinter said. "The mermaid might not mean harm, but what she is has an affect on the four of you that even Raphael does not trust completely. I do not advise you to seek her out."

"No worries on that account," Donatello said firmly. "I have no intention of becoming a willing servant of some underwater witch." That seemed to satisfy Splinter who went back to his room. Donatello had plans though, and best to do them now, while Raphael and Leonardo were sleeping. He opened his shell cell and placed a call. "Hello April? Are you busy tonight? I need your help with something."

Coming next: The Capture

The moment April had sprung the trap the room became alive with lights and sirens. Donatello had rigged the security system to go off if April sprung the trap. It was that noise that began to wake them all.

"I can't leave you!" The mermaid cried out.

The moment Donatello moved to wake April was at his side. "Don! Wake up! I've got Mike, but the mermaid is still free!"

"Huh? What?" Donatello grabbed his bo, and leaped for the one figure moving about in the lair. "Stay where you are!" He ordered, and then looked up to face his opponent.

"No! DON DON'T LOOK!" Michelangelo shouted!

It was too late. Donatello had come face to face with the mermaid. He froze like a statue, staring into the mermaid's face.

"Awwww shell," Michelangelo said dejected.
The noise was waking the others.

"Donatello," the mermaid said, looking directly at him. "Please, let me go. The others should not see me again."

Donatello stood there frozen a second more. He then dropped his head, and lowered his bo staff. "Go," he whispered."