Summary: - Remember how the Shredder was destroyed in Biggest Battle of Their Mutant lives? Well, this is my sequel. Somebody wants revenge - but will the many sources be friends or foes when the time of judgement comes?
Disclaimer: - I don't own the TMNT, much as I would like to! Kev and Pete - you are too cool!
A/N: - I promised everyone a sequel and I am here to deliver the goods! The reviews you sent me for the last chapter of BBOTML were so amazing and I loved reading them! I hope this can be as good as my last story! I've been writing it for about a month now and keeping it ready for publishing, writing and re-writing it! It's kinda hard to believe that I've been on for an entire year now and this story is to mark that - I hope you enjoy it – and this Mikey-centric chapter is dedicated to Lioness Goddess. Now, enjoy and review at the bottom whether you liked it or not!
"Of all the lazy, uncooperative, smarmy little----"
"Talking about me again, Raphy?" Mikey raised an eye ridge as his furious elder brother raged through the lair.
"Damn right, I'm talking about you! What, in your twisted little mind, possessed you to paint our room bright orange?!"
"I thought I was being quite creative," answered Mikey earnestly, "and you're always so gloomy that I thought a different, brighter colour would cheer you up nicely."
"Oh yeah, you did a real good job, nitwit! But why the shell did you pick orange?"
"'Cause everyone knows it's the best colour."
"Why you little…!" Raph leapt at his brother and tackled him to the floor, holding one of his Sais to Mikey's throat.
"Take it easy, Raph. Ok, so what colour do you want our room to be?"
"I want it red!"
"Sorry, no can do – red inspires anger and resentment."
"Fine, I want it green!"
"Ok, but you're helping this time."
"I don't think so," Raph growled, "you messed up the room so you can fix it by yourself."
"And what if I don't?" Mikey dared, a mischievous grin creeping onto his face as he saw Splinter enter the living area behind Raph.
"I'll pummel you into oblivion!"
"You will do no such thing to your brother, Raphael. His intentions were good when he decorated your room and the least you can do is to help him repaint it after he went to all that trouble only to be threatened by you in an unfair and childish manner."
"Yes, Sensei," Raph sighed; knowing that to argue with Splinter would only mean that he would have to paint the room by himself. Splinter nodded and left back to his bedroom to meditate.
"Well, Raph – we'd better get started," Mikey cheerfully held up two paint brushes and led the way into their now orange room. It was a very vibrant colour and it matched Mikey's personality perfectly…unfortunately, Raph was a little less vibrant and good-natured so this colour just succeeded in enraging him! Mikey looked round but seemed to have encountered a problem already.
"What's up now, Mike?"
"We don't have any green paint,"
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Nuh-uh, there's no green paint anywhere. I have a lot more orange but no green." Mikey frowned, "Casey's coming round tomorrow to see us before he goes on his honeymoon, so we'll have to send him out for some."
"Oh no, there ain't no way I'm sleeping in this room tonight when it's bright orange! It reminds me too much of you!"
"Aw, you don't mean that,"
"Yes, I do – now come on, we're going topside," Raph snapped, grabbing his and Mikey's trench coats and hats and thrusting Mikey's into his arms.
"Alright! Hey, do you think we could pick up some pizza on the way back?"
"Yeah, why not," Raph climbed out of the lair and was followed by an excited Mikey. It had been a whole fourteen hours since his last slice of pizza and he didn't think he could last much longer!
"What shade did you get?" Mikey asked as Raph came out of the store conveniently named 'Paint Palace'.
"Take a guess,"
"Dark green?"
"Nope,"
"Light green?"
"Nope,"
"Middle green?"
"Nope – Turtle Green," Raph smiled at his youngest brother, "Now, what do you want on the pizza?"
"I feel like a Pepperoni Feast with extra cheese – and get four of them!"
"Why four?" Raph stopped walking and looked sideways at his brother.
"I'm not sharing mine!" Mikey shrugged, "and Sensei said he never wanted to see another pizza until we'd cleared away the boxes from our pizza party we had."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," grinned Raph, remembering two nights before when they had invited April and Casey round for a pizza party where there was at least twenty pizzas. He walked in and got the pizzas and he and Mikey began to make their way back to the lair.
"Can we play a game?" Mikey asked when they were halfway home.
"What sort of game?"
"I spy?"
"Ok – I spy, with my turtle eye, something beginning with…B,"
"Box?" Mikey guessed.
"No,"
"Bench?"
"Yes – your turn."
"I spy, with my turtle eye, something beginning with…with…A, S, F, L, P, T, B, A, S, R, T, S!"
"How the shell am I supposed to get that? What is it?" Raph elbowed Mikey, who almost dropped the pizzas.
"A seriously freaky looking person that bears a striking resemblance to Shredder!"
"What?!" Raph span round to where Mikey was pointing. Sure enough, high up on the roof of an office block, there was someone wearing a bladed suit. They could only see the silhouette but even that was enough to scare them witless. But there was one thing that puzzled them more than anything else. How the shell could that possibly be Shredder?
"Dude, was Shredder always that skinny?" Mikey asked shakily as they ran.
"No, but I expect he's been living off next to nothing since we supposedly killed him!"
"But how the hell did he survive? We shot him and everything – we threw him in water and there was blood pouring out of him!"
"I don't know – come on, we gotta report this to the others!" Raph picked up his pace and Mikey followed close behind him, holding onto his precious pizzas tightly.
"You are certain of this?"
"Almost positive – only one person we know wears a bladed suit like that," Raph had just finished explaining what had happened to him and Mikey.
"But that's impossible, isn't it?" Donnie looked round at his brothers and Sensei. Splinter looked mildly confused, Raph was clearly frustrated, Mikey was jumping around nervously and munching on a slice of pizza, but Leo just sat in silence, head slightly bowed, listening but not talking.
"What are you thinking about, my son?" Splinter asked his eldest son in concern.
"I'm thinking through the night we killed Shredder. It can't be him again – we shot him and drowned him. No-one could've survived that, not even the Shredder."
"There was one thing I forgot to mention…" Raph trailed off, thoughtful.
"What is that, Raphael?"
"This Shredder was a lot skinnier than the one we knew. And I know I said he must've been living off next to nothing but his armour wouldn't have shrunk, would it? This has to be someone out for revenge – there's no other explanation!"
"But who would want revenge for the Shred-head?" Mikey questioned, bewildered, finishing the last slice of his pizza.
"I hate to say it but he's right," Leo said, "if this Shredder was skinny then it wouldn't have been Hun. And the Foot are no more – they're all either locked up or have fled to Europe."
"Then who could it possibly be?"
"Who else do we know that was in league with Shredder?" Donnie asked, more to himself than to anyone else. After a few moments' thought, his eyes widened in a sudden realisation. How could he have missed it?
"What is it, Don?"
"I know who it is…" Donnie trailed off.
"Then quit stalling and tell us, brainiac," an impatient Raph half-yelled.
"It's Marcie – she's the only one with a motive for revenge that I can think of."
"Then we gotta do something!" Raph rose from his seat, twirling his Sais.
"No, my sons. She is no threat to us for the moment. She has no army so it would be impossible to find her. We shall leave it until the danger is a little greater." Splinter said.
"Ok, Sensei, but I still don't like this…" Raph growled.
The next day was spent relaxing and Mikey was painting his and Raph's bedroom. Raph had gone off to get more paint and Mikey was stuck. Raph had said he wanted every wall green but Mikey wasn't sure whether he should paint the wrestling posters or not. They were on the wall, weren't they? Eventually he decided to paint them and then break for lunch.
"NO!" Raph shrieked as Mikey entered the room again, after leaving to wipe the paint off his brush as it had become all clotted and sticky when he'd taken a break for lunch and not cleaned it.
"What? Dude, I thought you'd like it!"
"You painted my wrestling poster green?"
"You said you wanted every wall green,"
"I didn't mean to paint over the posters, numbskull!"
"Then you should have made that more obvious when you gave me the instructions, seeing as you left me on my own this morning."
"I went to get more paint!" Raph slapped his youngest brother round the back of the head with a paint brush, fortunately with no paint on it.
"Oops – uh, I should probably run now, screaming like a woman, right?" Mikey began to back nervously out of the room.
"You got it," Raph clenched his fists and, giving Mikey a five second head start, chased after his brother in orange.
"Raph, why is Mikey running round like a headless chicken again?" Donnie asked as he watched in utter puzzlement as his brothers ran round the house.
"Look what he did to my posters!" Raph yelled, gesturing frantically towards the room he and Mikey shared, "geez, sometimes I wish I was sharing with Leo!"
"Whoa," whispered Don as Raph ran off after Mikey again, "he must be really peeved,"
"You bet he is, Don – he's out to kill me this time!" Mikey cried, sprinting past Donnie for the second time, "all I did was paint over his stupid wrestling posters – why does he have a problem? He clearly told me to paint every scrap of every wall thoroughly!"
"You painted over his posters? Casey gave him those ages ago – you're in for it this time, Mike!"
"I'm in for it every time – it's always me! ARGH!" Mikey was knocked backwards as he ran straight into the livid form of Raphael.
"Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't pummel you,"
"I'm your youngest and most adorable brother!"
"Next," Raph rolled his eyes. The first excuse was pathetic.
"I didn't mean to paint over the posters – you really weren't very clear with your instructions."
"And?" Raph knew the second reason was valid as he should've known that Mikey would follow the exact instructions given and only think after he'd painted the posters green.
"I'm really sorry and I'm sure Casey can get you some new ones somewhere and I promise never to do it again and I'm----"
"Ok, enough grovelling already. I'll let you off this time," Raph folded his arms and walked back into the half green bedroom to continue painting.
"That went well," laughed Mikey as he stood up and brushed himself off.
"Extremely," agreed the surprised Donnie. Raph should've pummelled Mikey – not that Donnie wanted that to happen – but for Raph to let it slip was unnatural. He shook it from his mind and continued his research. Leo had gone off to the dojo to practice the newest, and most difficult, of the Katas they had been shown that month and Donnie didn't feel that Raph's kindness of heart was not an important enough matter for disturbing Leo and facing his wrath in some sort of challenge.
"Leo?" Donnie asked as he heard the springs of the bed under his creak.
"Yeah?" was the hushed reply.
"Where are you going?"
"I heard something and I'm going to investigate."
"Hang on, I want to come too," Donnie eased himself out of bed and down the ladder to the floor, following the alert and wary Leo out of the room. They crept round the entire lair looking for the source of the sound but, after a long and tiring search, they found nothing to prove that someone had been there. Donnie was ready to sleep but Leo was convinced that it was more than just his family that was in the lair.
"I know I heard something."
"You're probably just tired. We should go back to bed. And anyway, if something had got into the lair then it would have had to get past the perimeter alarms first, and they are in every tunnel surrounding the lair – you know I always turn them on extra-sensitive when we all go to bed so that we don't take any risks."
"I know Don, and you're probably right, but I just can't help thinking we've missed something…"
"Look, I'll check the status of the alarms if you're that worried," offered Donnie, willing to do anything to stop his brother panicking. It was either do something now or go on a search of the entire sewer network the next morning.
"Thanks, Donnie,"
"No problem," Donnie logged onto his computer and found the map of the sewer which indicated which alarms were on or not. Scrolling down the list he began to stop reading and let the lines on the screen blur as he yawned.
"Stop!" gasped Leo. Donnie snapped out of his daze and looked at where Leo's finger was pointing. One of the alarms had been disabled and another destroyed. They whipped round and scanned the living area but couldn't hear or see anything of a suspicious nature. There was a small sound as someone…or something…stepped on an old pizza box and slipped, causing another pile of boxes to tumble. Whatever was buried beneath them was digging itself out frantically.
"Whoever you are – give yourself up," Donnie said, trying to sound threatening in spite of the panic setting upon him.
"Relax, dudes…it's me!"
"Mikey!" Leo scolded, "What were you doing sneaking around?"
"I heard something and Raph wasn't in his bed."
"He wasn't?" Leo looked worried.
"That explains it…"
"Explains what, Donnie?"
"The alarms can only be disabled from this computer – Raph would have disabled one of the alarms so he could get out and go topside. But the destroyed alarm was the next tunnel along from the disabled one so it suggests that when Raph was coming back he must've got into a fight and the other alarm was destroyed…"
"So why isn't Raph back yet?" Mikey asked.
"That's what worries me…" Donnie trailed off, biting his lip in concern.
A/N: - No more waffle from me for the moment. All I want to say is I hope you liked this first instalment and please let me know what you thought!
