Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.
Chapter Four:
What started out as a reluctant game of Monopoly turned into an all out war.
It started out as good-natured bickering because Donny was looking to complete his railroad monopoly while Mikey had the last piece of property that Donny was after. Things got ugly from there, and Leo tried to mediate. Most of the time it worked, but when Donny refused to help Leo out with his monopoly the gloves were off and it was each turtle for himself.
Chassidy had bowed out of the game early on; selling her property to anyone whom would take it, and then folding when she ran out of money.
She was glad later on because she had retreated to the sofa and out of range when the fists started to fly.
The wrestling match started when Donny, still sore about the railroad property Mikey was stubbornly sitting on, as banker accidentally forgot to pay Mikey his $200 for passing Go. Mikey got mad and accused Donny of doing it on purpose, and even though he did, he got irate at being accused of it. Leo was snickering and got an elbow jab for it.
Chassidy perched up on the back of the sofa when the three brothers tangled into a mound of straining green limbs, grunts and curses filling the room.
"Shizukani!"
Everyone in the room flinched at the barked order, even Chassidy who didn't understand the word.
Splinter walked slowly into the room, his face stern and disapproving. He said something in the same language to the three brothers. They tumbled away from each other, and plodded towards the bedrooms. It took her a moment to realize they had gone to the room they had been in earlier because not long after the kiyas started up again.
Chassidy felt nervous being the only one left in the room, though she hadn't done anything wrong. Splinter sighed.
"Kids."
Chassidy gave a soft smile and nodded. When they acted like that it became very obvious that they weren't that old.
"If you don't mind me asking, Master Splinter, how old are they?"
Splinter creaked his way to the sofa Chassidy was still perched on and she slid down the back to sit beside him. "About sixteen. We were not always the way you see us today. I used to be the pet rat of a Japanese man named Hamato Yoshi. He was a great master and practitioner of the secret art of ninjitsu, and I spent many hours mimicking his movement from my cage where it hung in his dojo..."
Chassidy was still in shock to realize that the turtles that were protecting her from the threat of Stone and/or the Foot were the arch nemeses of the late Master Shredder. She had known that 'freaks of nature' had defeated him because Stone came home yelling about it and kicked her around for a while before he drunk himself into a stupor. She just figured that the group that had taken Shredder down was faster and better than the Foot, who were more enthusiasm than ability. Stone had gone from thug to full fledged Foot member in about a month and by the sound of it, the Foot were ninjitsu, which, like all martial arts, took years to become a black belt.
If everything that Splinter said was true, that the least safe spot for her to hide out from the Foot was in their enemy's territory. What she needed to do was get out of here and go somewhere else. Maybe even home. Not, her parent's home, but where she had lived before her family came to New York City. It couldn't be that far away.
The only downside to that was Stone knew where she used to live, because she had once trusted him and felt she could tell him everything.
So she was stuck here until she could think of a safer place to run to.
Chassidy became aware of the fact that Splinter was staring at her, his expression considering. She leaned backwards slightly, not wanting to be under inspection. She turned her head away, and couldn't help the animal-like rolling of her eyes from Splinter to the far side of the room.
Splinter got up, and she couldn't hide the relaxing of her muscles. She had been expecting him to either demand that she talk about what she was obviously thinking about, or ask her to share her past like he had just shared his.
"What do you wish for breakfast?" Splinter asked, a safe, comfortable distance from Chassidy and the sofa.
"Huh? Oh. I'm not hungry."
Splinter sighed. Stubborn teenagers surrounded him. But he let her be; she would ask for food once her stomach got the better of her. He shuffled to the part of the living room that served as their kitchen and took out a portable gas stove and began the process of making breakfast.
"This Stone that Danny spoke to us of. He is part of the Foot?"
"Yeah. Since the beginning, almost."
"Then he has spoken to you of them?"
Chassidy realized what he was - quite tactfully - asking. He and the others were enemies of the Foot so any little tidbit of information that gave them the upper hand was always wanted. She had no loyalty to the Foot so it was with great relish that she betrayed what she knew to the mutated rat.
"Not very much. Stone kept me in the dark about pretty much everything, but he'd talk about it over the phone with them, and I would listen in. I don't know where their headquarters is, but I know that they're trying to bulk up their numbers again. So far they've recruited about thirty, and still have more prospects. I know that their head quarters aren't in the city limits because he would call to make sure I was home when he on his way and it took him about forty-five minutes after he hung up. Follow Stone, and you'll find their headquarters."
Splinter considered this, his attention drawn inwards though his hands moved purposefully as if he knew the motions to go through without seeing what he was doing. They remained in silence together until the turtles finished their punishment. All of them were sweating, old towels around their necks, wiping away the perspiration.
The scents of rice and some kind of soup wafted underneath her nose and she regretted denying that she was hungry. At the same time pride kept her mouth shut and her expression disinterested.
The boys trooped to the area Splinter was working in, and the clatter of dishes (though very mismatched) and silverware joined the sound of boiling water.
Chassidy watched in silent awe at how the four mutants moved around each other with no little amount of unconscious grace, and depth perception. They seemed to be utterly aware of where the other was so they didn't bump into each other or drop something. Their pseudo kitchen was a mass of writhing limbs and twisting heads, but in the end they each stood in line, two bowls in hand, their gazes glued to whatever it was the Splinter was making.
Splinter stared at Donatello who was first in line. Donny stared at Splinter back in curiosity. One of Splinter's ears flickered towards Chassidy and Donny glanced in her direction.
"Oh! Do you want breakfast?"
Chassidy, overly aware of Splinter and her words earlier, she nodded her head, hating the blush on her face. "Yes please."
"C'mon up." Mikey prodded. "You get to go to the head of the line because you're a guest."
Chassidy swallowed and stood, shuffling into the 'kitchen' and quietly accepted the bowls that Donny placed into her hands. While she turned to Splinter, the bowls proffered, Donny turned and pulled out two more bowls and more utensils.
She watched in interest as Splinter heaped a helping of rice in one bowl and the soup in the other. "Miso soup," he explained. Chassidy nodded and retreated to the table.
It wasn't until Leonardo places a spoon and a fork in front of her that she realized she hadn't picked them up in the kitchen.
Because it was obvious the turtles weren't going to wait until Splinter had been seated to eat, Chassidy followed suit. The soup wasn't bad, though it did taste different; mild and subtle with little blocks of squishy white stuff that didn't really have any taste at all.
The combination of the soup and rice was a pleasantly light but filling breakfast.
Once Splinter had finished his meal he turned to his sons and told them what he had learned from Chassidy.
"I wish you to follow this Stone and find the Foot's newest headquarters. If we stop them now, before their numbers have grown overwhelming, we are in no danger. The snake's body still writhes even after the head has been chopped off."
"What time is it?"
All eyes turned to Chassidy. She shrunk and turned her attention to her mostly empty bowl of rice.
"Well, Stone has a routine. Since he doesn't have a job he goes to see the Foot after he wakes up and doesn't come home until midnight. When he wakes up depends on how much he drank the night before, so I can't tell you when exactly."
They stared at each other, then turned to Splinter while Chassidy played with some rice that had fallen on the table.
"So, we get to do a stakeout?" Michelangelo sounded way too happy about the idea. Splinter nodded and he whooped.
"He is at the Foot headquarters by now," Chassidy warned. They shrugged; it was something to do.
They collected their weapons, got Stone's apartment address and license plate number from Chassidy and bidding her and Splinter farewell they raced off into the sewers, heckling and shouting happily at each other.
Shortly after their voices could no longer be heard, Raphael came out of his room, filled a bowl off the table that one of his brothers had used with miso soup, gulped it down and then shoveled a helping of rice into his mouth with amazing speed. He already had his weapons on a belt around his waist, and with a flicker of his gaze to Splinter, he left in the same direction as his brothers.
Splinter stared at the mouth of the den for a long moment, then shook his head.
He turned to Chassidy. "Come, child. Let us meditate while we await my sons' return."
"This is the place." Donny stated the obvious as the three brothers stared at the apartment complex from a storm drain.
"I think the big sign with 'Sunnyview Apartments' on it might have tipped us off, Don." Mikey said, sarcastic humor in his voice. Donny reached behind Leo to hit the smart-ass.
"Hey!"
"Quit it." Leo leaned back to neither of them could hit each other behind his back and held his hands at the ready in case they tried to hit at each other in front of him.
"Stakeouts look so much more interesting on the television."
"Everything looks more interesting on the television."
"Quit it. We're going to go back to the den if you guys can't get along."
"Yes, Mommy." Donny and Mikey chorused. Leo rolled his eyes.
A noise sounded in the tunnel they'd crawled down to get to the storm drain, and the three of them tensed. The storm drain didn't have much room to maneuver so fighting down here wasn't an option. Leo slid the manhole above them to the side while Mikey passed Donny his nunchucks since he was the only one with small enough weapons to use in the cramped space.
They let out a loud, collective sigh as they spotted Raphael crawling towards them.
"Geeze, Raph, give us a heart attack!"
Leo shifted the manhole back into position and they shifted over so Raphael could join them.
The silence returned, but this time it was curious and aimed at Raph. Don and Mike hadn't seen him since his temper tantrum, and Leo didn't think he would be up to socializing for another week.
"I'm bored." Raphael stated firmly, the anger in his voice daring any of them to challenge him.
They knew it was more than that, but no one was going to suggest otherwise. Not when he was this touchy.
The turtles turned their attention to the apartments.
"This the place?" Raph wondered aloud. Donny shot a hard look at Mikey and Leo glared them both into submission.
A few hours passed and Raphael started fidgeting. Leo stifled a groan. Raph was a monster when it came to sitting still for long periods of time. If it had something to do with looking cool and machismo, he could be a stone statue, but when it came to being bored, he'd shift and wiggle until he popped - at them.
In the hope of holding off the inevitable, Donny handed Raph the nunchucks he was still holding. Raph glanced down at them, confused then irritated but boredom overruled. He snatched them from his brother and started to whip them around.
This, of course, annoyed Mikey because Raph's form wasn't in the least bit right. Mikey started to correct Raph's movements, here and there. Raph reached over and let a nunchuck pop Mikey on the arm.
"Hey!"
"Quit being a nag."
"Quit doing it wrong."
"Guys!"
"Yes, Mommy?" Raph jeered, still twirling the nunchucks, an evil gleam in his eye asking Leo to give him a reason to pop him one too.
"We're going to be here for a while. Can you please try to behave?"
"He started it." Raphael sent Leo a shit-eating grin, and Leo had to close his eyes to keep from leaping past Donny and ripping Raph's eyes out.
"Be mature and don't respond, then." None of them were really sure if Leo said this to Raph or to himself. Probably both.
Silence descended once more save for the whistle of the nunchucks rotating.
It was going to be a long night.