A/N: - No waffling from me this time, you lucky readers! Enjoy and review! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!
"Mikey? Donnie?" Leo realised he'd been separated from the others. They must've gone the wrong way or something. Now he was faced with a dilemma: he could either go and find Mikey and Donnie and then find Raph or he could go and find Raph and then find Mike and Donnie. Damn these tough choices, he thought, bewildered. He stood and pondered his options for a few moments before he heard movement nearby, "Who's there? Show yourself!" he drew his Katana and stood ready to fight if he needed to.
"You know, I should kill you…it would please my brothers and redeem me for my insults of Oroku Saki…" one of the brothers stepped out from the darkness.
"You're Reginald, right?" Leo inquired, trying desperately to keep calm.
"Yes, and I know you to be Leonardo. My brother – well, my adopted brother – mentioned you when he believed you and your brothers to be dead. And I may have played a part in the night that almost had you killed."
"You did? I didn't see you at any of the battles," Leo thought carefully through the list of battles they had fought in against the Shredder but could remember nothing of Reginald being there.
"Me and my brothers were all there that night on the rooftops of the city. You made rather a dramatic entrance when we returned you to your friends."
"I don't recognise your weapons…"
"You wouldn't – we leave our other weapons at HQ. They bring back too many painful memories,"
"Wait a moment…" Leo looked at Reginald in a new light, "You and your brothers are the Foot Elite!"
"Wondered when you'd solve it. There are eight of us – me, my brothers and my cousins. We were all the Foot Elite but Oroku Saki only really ever used me and my brothers as our cousins were only training to be the Elite. They got their official uniforms the night before Oroku Saki died."
"Why work for your own brother? What reward was there?"
"He paid us well, never allowing for us to slip into debt or to fall out of high society. He may have had no honour and have been a ruthless killer but he was still generous with money…even if he did kill my parents after they'd taken him in. We were little more than beggars back then – why am I even bothering to tell you this?" Reginald raised his sword and his staff.
"Because you are the only one of your brothers with honour?" Leo ventured, hoping to break through to Reginald.
"What? You think I have honour?"
"Well, do you?"
"I like to think so," sighed Reginald, "I long to do something for the world; to right all the wrongs I committed as an Elite. And I shall start by giving you my allegiance."
"I don't want you on the same side as me."
"But----"
"No buts, I'm sorry – but you can do one thing for me,"
"What would that be, turtle?" scowled Reginald.
"I want you to help me find my brothers and free them from any traps they have fallen into. Or if you can't do that then at least lure your brothers away from us."
"You denied my allegiance – why should I do anything for you?"
"If you were truly honourable then you would. Alternatively, you could turn yourself in for all the trouble you've caused and admit to being part of the crime wave that swept New York while the Shredder was alive."
"I am sorry that we could not have been on the same side, Leonardo. But if that is truly not what you want then I cannot force it upon you. However, now I will be forced to kill you."
"And lose what little honour you have?" Leo hissed venomously.
"Honour? What is honour if you cannot avenge your dead brother? What would you do if one of your brothers was killed – would you just knock the killer out and turn him into the authorities or would you take the chance to kill the killer while he was there in front of you?" Reginald snapped harshly, lurching forward and aiming to slice Leo's throat but his attack was blocked and allowed Leo to get an attack of his own in. He knocked Reginald out and began running back to where they had first realised Raph was missing.
When he reached the small clearing, he heard Mikey's voice not far off. Man, he is so loud! Leo laughed softly to himself as he followed the noise and reached the pit surrounding his two youngest brothers.
"Leo!" Mikey cried joyfully, "we were hoping you'd find us before Shredder's rellies did!"
"I think I can get us out of here with a little help from Leo," Donnie muttered, thinking through a plan, "Leo, can you climb that tree over there and crawl out along the branch so your directly above the pit, preferably without falling in…"
"I'll try, Donnie," Leo looked apprehensive as he began climbing up the tree Donnie had pointed to. He was lucky as there were a lot of foot-holds and he was soon at the start of a thick branch. He edged out until he was above the pit and as close to his brothers as he could get.
"Ok, great," Donnie grinned, "now, catch my Bo staff and then hold onto it really tightly. I'll use Mikey's Nunchuks as a step-up and you can pull me up."
"Got it," Leo nodded. He did as Donnie had said and soon Donnie was sat on the branch with him.
"Mikey, you need to hook your Nunchuks over my Bo and we'll pull you up until we can either grab you or you can get hold of the branch."
"Okey-dokey," Mikey winked at his brothers, following their instructions. Donnie used the Bo to raise him higher and higher until he grabbed hold of Leo's hand. The shuffled back along the branch and climbed back down the tree as quickly as they dared under the circumstances, with a moat of razor sharp spikes below them ready to skewer them and turn them into turtle kebabs as soon as they lost their grip. As soon as they were all safe, Mikey dropped to the ground and began kissing it in his happiness.
"Uh, Mikey? You're kissing the ground…" Donnie pointed out nervously.
"What? Oh – EW! Yuck! Peh!" Mikey jumped around, spitting the mud and dry leaves from his mouth as quickly as he could.
"Mikey, quit mucking around," said Leo seriously.
"Dude, you spoilt the moment!"
"What moment?! Sorry, Mikey – it's just, I found out something about Shredder's relatives…" sighed Leo.
"What? What did you find out?"
"They've been at every battle we've had with the Shredder since that Christmas time…they were the Foot Elite. Well, his brothers were the Foot Elite and his cousins were training to be the Foot Elite…and I found out that Shredder isn't directly related to them. He was adopted into their family when they found him half dead. Apparently, he wouldn't let them treat him but he accepted their offer of hospitality and he gladly joined the family."
"Who told you this?"
"Reginald – then he asked to join our side."
"What did you say?"
"I said no…what do you take me for, Don?"
"Just checking. I didn't want to find out that I'd said something to him and then find out you'd said the opposite."
"Excuse me?" Leo frowned.
"Reginald paid us a little visit as well. He said he wanted to join us and he wanted our allegiance, and he said he'd help us over the pit if we agreed. I told him no…"
"And I think you're both crazy! What if he really is on our side?"
"Not likely, Mikey. Anyway, can we please concentrate on finding Raphael for the moment?" Leo began walking into the woods.
"Leo, you're not going the way we came…"
"I know – but that seems to get us nowhere and there's a load of booby-traps on the main routes…so I think we should brave the forest. That way we can climb trees to get look-outs and we have a better chance of hiding."
"Ah, I see your point! Well then, let's go!" Donnie followed his older brother into the woods.
"This reminds me of one of those Jungle movies where the explorers go exploring and then get lost and then a mysterious spirit splits them up and kills them one by one, leaving a trail of body parts through the woods to lead the others to it. When he runs out of body parts he kills someone else…hmm…" Mikey muttered to himself, before stopping abruptly and realising that his brothers had gone, "Uh-oh…Donnie? Leo? Wait for me!"
"Are we there yet?"
"No,"
"How about now?"
"You just asked that ten seconds ago! I told you where we're going and how to tell when we're getting close so shut up and listen for anything suspicious!" Leo snapped at Mikey. He had been asking increasingly annoying amounts of questions for the past half an hour and it was beginning to drive Leo and Donnie ever so slightly mad!
"Aw, but I wanna be there now!" Mikey complained.
"Look, Mikey," Donnie said gently, sensing that Leo was really going to blow in a minute, "we know you're fed-up but can you please make some sort of an effort to stay quiet – just for a few minutes?"
"Ok, Don," sighed the downtrodden Michelangelo, trying to distract himself by thinking of a way to pull some sort of prank on his oldest brother when they got back to the lair.
"We're here!" Leo gasped, looking up at the wall from which they had jumped off not too long ago.
"Finally!"
"So, how're we going to scale that thing, Leo?"
"I was hoping you would have a suggestion, Donnie. Mechanical work isn't my specialty," Leo grinned sheepishly, remembering the time he'd tried to fix Mikey's game guy after Raph had thrown it at a wall. However, he had found out afterwards that it could've been easily fixed by Donnie or Splinter but not after it had been tampered with by him!
"Yeah, dude – it took me ages to find a new game guy!" Mikey said, mock anger lining his voice but with a playful smile on his face.
"I have one idea…" Donnie said reluctantly.
"Why so hesitant, Don – it's gotta be better than anything I could come up with!" Mikey chuckled.
"It's just – it's a little – well, a little dangerous…"
"Donnie, whatever we decided to do is going to be dangerous! So how dangerous can this be compared to everything else we're doing?"
"Very."
"What?" Leo whipped round, feeling a little put-out with Donnie's answer.
"Well, it's a sort of suicide if we fail." Donnie waited for the impact of the blow he would receive from Leo saying that getting killed was not an option – but it never came.
"We have to risk it," was Leo's only answer, uttered so softly that Donnie could barely hear him, let alone take in what was being said.
"O…k…we need to climb up the trees as far as we can and get to where that ledge is jutting out. Do you see the ledge?"
"Yeah,"
"Yup,"
"Good, then-----"
"There's only room for one on that ledge," Leo cut in apprehensively.
"I know, and this is where it gets dangerous. One of us, probably you Leo, will climb onto the ledge and try and find some way to get up to the top using whatever footholds are available. Then we'll follow."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"Let me finish, Mikey – there's a ledge visible quite close to the top but it will only hold out for a couple of seconds once Leo steps on it. This means that Leo can get to the top but will have to find something to wrap his legs around while he leans over and pulls us up." Donnie waited for the approval of disapproval of the plan, but complete silence greeted the end of his plan. Eventually, Leo spoke as softly as he had done a few minutes before.
"We'll do it, Donnie. The only other way to get in would be round the front and up the stairs but we'd be risking open attacks and it would be near impossible to get past all the booby-traps safely."
"Aw, man, don't I get a say in this? I say we make a plan that doesn't involve risking our shells." Mikey shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking up at the wall fearfully.
"Sorry, Mikey, but we need to get Raph out as soon as possible."
"How do we even know he's in there?"
"Because if he wasn't then we would've heard him from miles off, being as loud as he is…" Leo trailed off, a smile threatening to curve his lips into a sarcastic smile.
"Let's go!" Donnie exclaimed, just about covering up the fear that had gripped him. Mikey did have a point – what if Raph wasn't in the Headquarters? What would happen then? Would they be captured and killed.
"What ya thinking about, Donnie?" Mikey asked brightly.
"I'm just thinking that maybe one of us should stay here in case Raph shows up."
"That's too risky…but if you want to stay then I can't stop you." Leo sighed. Donnie froze – since when did Leo give them an option for a risky move where one would be on their own. He shook his head in disbelief.
"Uh, Leo, are you feeling ok?"
"I'm fine, Don, but I know that either way we're risking dying so it's a case of which option you feel is more dangerous. If you want to stay here then that's your choice." Leo looked away from Donnie and the purple clad turtle knew that his brother was looking away to hide his emotion. What am I thinking? Donnie thought, realising what he'd been suggesting, weird what pressure does to you…
"I'm coming – I don't know what I was thinking," said Donnie quietly.
"Then let's get moving." Leo ordered, climbing up the tree to get to the higher footholds on the wall. His two brothers watched from the ground, Mikey biting his nails nervously and Donnie flinching every so often and making a few calculations about the height of the wall, reassuring himself that the plan was perfectly sound.
"Donnie! I'm done, what next?" Leo called from the top of the wall.
"Mikey will climb up to you. You help him up onto the wall, but make sure you've got a secure foothold so you don't fall."
"Ok, and then you'll climb up, right?"
"Right! Now, you next Mikey," Donnie nudged his brother.
"No problemo, Donatello," Mikey stood to attention and saluted his brainiest brother. He climbed up the tree and leapt across to the wall, confidently grabbing hold of the hand holds and steadying himself. Edging his way slowly and carefully up the wall, he was almost able to reach Leo's outstretched hands. He took one more step and felt the wall below him give way. He managed to grab hold of Leo just as the ledge totally vanished from beneath his feet, "Phew!" he exclaimed, "thanks, dude,"
"Mikey, let's get you up here," Leo managed, straining under of the weight of his youngest brother. He heaved Mikey up onto the wall and then sat back, breathing heavily and rubbing his feet, which had been hooked around a part of the collapsed wall.
"We'd better tell Donnie that we're ready for him," Mikey said, leaning over the edge, "Donnie, we're----" Mikey paused, "uh, Leo? Donnie's gone…"
"WHAT?!" Leo jumped over and looked over the edge of the wall, "great, now what?" he sighed when he realised that Donnie really was totally gone.
"I guess we gotta find the old Foot HQ, right?"
"Yeah,"
"You know where we're going?"
"Yeah,"
"What's up?"
"Apart from the fact that two of our brothers have totally disappeared without trace? I'm not sure that this plan is going to work. I think we're being led to believe something other than the truth…"
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Don't worry – I'm probably making something out of nothing." Leo shook his head and began weaving in and out of the collapsed pieces of wall and moving slowly up the path with Mikey directly behind him.
"How far is it?"
"Excuse me?"
"Before we get there?"
"Oh…well, I don't think it will be too far. A couple of hundred steps more yet though." Leo answered his little brother, glancing round at him. Mikey had noticed Leo's eyes flicking back to him more than was normal. Guess he's unnerved by Donnie and Raph disappearing… he thought.
"Finally…" Mikey gasped as they reached the top of all the stairs at last. They had been fortunate enough not to encounter any more traps and were extremely thankful for it, even if nothing else seemed to be going their way.
"It's changed," was Leo's only comment. The building had, indeed, changed dramatically. It now had a shining new coat of white paint and a new insignia painted on it. It was the red Foot insignia but with a black serpent coiled round it, which had gleaming gold fangs and sapphire eyes.
"It's certainly got creepier, that's for sure,"
"We need to be careful from here on in, Mikey. We need to stick together and make sure that neither of us gets taken."
"You got it, Leo,"
"Let's get this over with…"
