Little Brother
By Maikafuiniel



Chapter 8
A Trail to Follow



Raphael walked for a little while straight down the pipe that lead to their home. He was watching the ground, the dirt, for footstep marks, and up until now they had been quite obvious. But then they had suddenly disappeared.

He looked up and around for where he could have gone and saw some scuff marks on a pipe just a little bit above him. He laughed, knowing that Mikey hadn't wanted to cross the disgusting waters that were coming up soon and had obviously decided that doing a little pipe-walking was in order.

Well, if he was going to find Mikey he would have to go on the same path! Jumping up he landed on a pipe, a bit too small for him to stand comfortably, but obviously his 'little' brother would have done just fine.

He jumped from pipe to pipe for quite a while. When he couldn't see scuff marks he would look instead for the pipe that would be hardest to get to. He knew his brother would want to prove, at least to himself, that he wasn't a child. That he could do things that were hard. And Raphael was right. After following an invisible path for a few moments he found scuff marks again.

But they looked… odd. It looked like he had stood in the same place for a moment, spinning. Following the marks he saw that Mikey had been standing behind a pipe. But why? Was he hiding? Watching?

Raphael could think of no other reasons and so stood where his brother had, looking out into the sewer. Looking out he saw nothing, and so kept following the tracks. But that was a short task as only a few seconds later he saw signs of a struggle.

'Aw Mikey,' he thought to himself, 'what did you go and get yourself into now?"

But it was only two obvious. In the struggle marks there was also shoe prints. Shoe prints he had followed before.

Rocksteady and Bebop.

Shredder had Mikey.

With that knowledge in mind he sped back towards the lair. He knew he had to get his brothers as soon as possible. Mikeys life could be depending on it.



Shredders Hideout

Shredder stood quietly in front of the large cage he had had Bebop and Rocksteady bring in. n the cage there was a small bed, and a small turtle laying on it, but nothing else.

He watched the small turtle for a moment in amazement before standing up again to talk to himself, as he always did, when something amazing happened.

"Another turtle," he mumbled to himself, "Another turtle, probably destined to become a ninja." He shook his head in confusion, "But where did he come from? What could have brought him about, and why haven't I heard of him? I was the creator of the substance that created the other turtles, and I know there is no more of that."

He started pacing then, one eye still on the cage where the young turtle was still out cold. "And there are no females of their species… this is impossible! Impossible!" He stopped and looked hard at the turtle for a moment before going back to pacing.

"And if I didn't create it, and the turtles couldn't have done it… somebody else has been doing genetic research on the turtles. But then it begs the question just why is it wearing the colours of the orange turtle, Michelangelo?"

He stopped, took a swig of water from a nearby bottle and paced again. "The only possible reason he exists is because somebody was doing genetic research. Obviously the turtles got wind of it and saved it not to long ago, or I would have known about him.

"He probably latched onto the orange one, and that's why they share a colour. Michelangelo was raising him… though how such a… silly one could be trusted to raise a child is beyond me."

He sat down again, staring hard at the turtle. "And now what do I do with it? Use it as bait? …No," he reconsidered, "I've tried that before, again and again, and it has always failed. To try again would only prove that I can not consider my plans. But how else to use it, hurt the turtles, and still have it useful to me? This is a once in a life time chance."

Shredder started as he noticed the small turtle shift. He had moved from unconsciousness to sleep obviously, and wake soon from a headache.

"Perhaps I can use him. Perhaps… perhaps I can use him to find the location of their lair, if not more. When he wakes, I will make sure to be on his good side. Perhaps then he'll offer information."



Mikey rolled over to his side, trying to go back to sleep. 'Ow,' he thought to himself quietly, 'What happened to me? Where am I?'

Without opening his eyes he thought back to what had happened. He remembered… a rat. He had been freaked out by a rat, and then…

Two figures. Just shadows to his eyes, and even less to his memory. 'I've been captured!' he realized with a start, and had to make a supreme effort to keep his eyes closed. 'Okay,' he thought slowly, 'Remember what Master Splinter said. When you've been captured and black out, make sure you don't let them know you're awake. Just… listen. Figure out as much as you can first.'

He listened as hard as he could, but his headache and nausia was making it much too difficult. The most he was able to gather was that he was with Shredder, and Shredder had no idea who he was.

'So just figure out a new name,' he thought to himself, 'If Shredder doesn't know who I am, I'm not going to just volunteer the info! I can even stick with the whole renissance theme!'

And just before he could keep his eyes closed no longer, just before the nausia became too much, he settled on the name Giovanni.

The name itself wasn't all that great, but at least Shredder wouldn't think it was odd considering how the rest of them were named.