A/N: - Here is the next chapter and thank-you to everyone who reviewed! No waffle this time, just straight into the chappie: -
Ten minutes later, they arrived outside the Foot HQ. As sure as his word, Splinter was there, keeping a look-out for his sons and any enemies that might appear.
"Sensei!" Mikey grinned as they reached the old rat.
"Master Splinter," Leo bowed, "we have a lot of things to explain to you."
"Then let us go inside," Roshiri led them up the stairs and into the main hall of the Foot HQ.
"So, my sons, kindly explain to me why we are sitting in the Foot's Headquarters as if it is perfectly normal?" Splinter looked sternly at each of his sons.
"Sensei, this is Roshiri, Ramakha, Ronald and Reginald – they are Shredder's brothers and also wish for revenge against Marcie. Since the Shredder dies, they have had control of this building and now a temporary truce is in place so that we are able to work together to defeat Marcie." Donnie took on the job of running through the most important facts; though he decided, for the while, to leave out the part about the human brothers being the Foot Elite.
"And they also helped you find Mr. and Mrs. Jones – my best wishes to both of you," he bowed to April and Casey.
"Yes, they did – it seems they have reason to despise Hun too," Leo grimaced.
"But they seem familiar…I know them from somewhere…"
"We must first offer you our deepest apologies, Splinter-san, and say that we hope this will not affect your willingness to work with us too badly," Roshiri sighed, "but we must reveal that we have been partly responsible for the near-death of one of your sons, the destruction of Mrs. Jones' shop and also…for the death of your Master Yoshi." Roshiri finished, waiting for the reaction. But none came; Splinter remained collected, although his eyes seemed to glisten slightly at first.
"Sensei?" Leo tested, looking a little concerned.
"You gonna say something?" Raph added, exchanging a worried look with Leo.
"How can I make an appropriate response to news such as this?" Splinter finally said, though more to himself than to anyone else.
"Splinter-san, we apologise again,"
"Silence," Splinter held up a hand to silence Roshiri, "you are telling me that you destroyed April's shop, nearly killed my son Leonardo and were partly responsible for the death of my Master Yoshi. And those are only the more serious charges by your names. There were many more encounters which ended badly for us. You have caused my family as much pain as your brother himself with your heartlessness and your inability to stand up with honour for what is truly right. The Shredder has nearly killed each member of my family at least once and you four often had a crucial part to play, and you expect an apology to be enough? I can never forgive you for what you have done, and I admire my sons greatly for being able to work alongside you and put their quarrels with you aside so that you can achieve one goal."
"Please, Splinter-san, you must understand this: the Shredder was our brother and we could not leave him to fight alone. There are regrets we have, but anyone who stood up to the Shredder was killed; he would not have spared us simply because we were family to him. You do not understand"
"I understand," Splinter interjected once more, "that I do not wish to join forces with you. However, I will stand by my family and stand by my sons; they are still too young to fully know the consequences of everything they do and every choice they make. So, I will offer my services to this cause, but do not, under any circumstances, consider yourselves forgiven of your wrong-doings towards my family."
"Thank you, Splinter-san, you have been most gracious. We will allow you to return to your home now and ask that you can be here tomorrow at Ten O'clock in the morning."
"We will be here," Splinter answered icily, leaving the building, closely tailed by Leo. Raph, Donnie and Mikey stayed behind and waited for Casey and April before following their Master and their brother out of the building. April's lips were pursed and she glared coldly at the four human brothers as she flounced out of the building, a tense Casey at her heels. It was going to be a long time before she would be willing to help the human brothers; and even longer if the turtles told her the deal they had made regarding the temporary truce…
"My sons, I am uneasy about the truce; there is something you are not telling me, am I right?"
"Master Splinter – we made a deal with them. We said that if they helped us get rid of Marcie then they could seek their revenge on us for the death of their brother afterwards."
"Leonardo, I am disappointed that you would agree to such a thing when you are putting your entire family in danger." Splinter scolded his eldest son firmly, eyes hard and gleaming with disappointment, "you will have to be punished for this rash course of action without consulting me…but not until we have secured our safety."
"Sensei, don't punish Leo – I started the whole thing. They were gonna kill Mikey and Donnie if we didn't agree and I originally suggested it," Raph admitted, giving Leo one of his 'you owe me one' looks.
"We're all to blame, Sensei. I mean, we didn't exactly protest, did we?" Mikey blushed; he couldn't let Raph and Leo take all the blame…or all the credit for their honesty on the issue!
"Then I am at a loss for what to do." Splinter sighed.
"Splinter, dude, ya don't have to punish them…" Casey trailed off, "this might still work out…"
"Mr. Jones, I appreciate that you stick up for my sons with the best intentions, but this deal should not have been struck. They should have asked to speak with me first."
"Sensei, we may have been rash but we were just worried that if we asked to consult you then they would have killed us without trying to negotiate further. At least this way we get rid of Marcie and then only have to hide from one enemy." Leo pointed out.
"I hate to admit it but Leo's right, Master Splinter – and we don't got a choice any more because the deal has been made," Raph continued for his brother.
"I must meditate on this situation. Nobody is to leave the lair until I return."
"Um, what about us?" April asked nervously.
"You and Mr. Jones may leave and return home. You must want to spend some quality time together."
"What about your honeymoon?" Mikey cut in anxiously.
"We'll re-schedule. I think any attempt to leave good old New York City now would only end in disaster again!" Casey laughed hollowly, clearly still concerned for the safety of himself and April.
"We'll see you tomorrow, guys," April smiled gently, waving at them before glancing at Splinter's retreating back, "we wouldn't miss it – and good luck," she whispered the last three words to them, patting Donnie on the shell and then leaving with Casey, who gave them a final salute.
"Man, this sucks," Mikey huffed as he flopped down onto the sofa. Raph growled and threw himself down next to his youngest brother.
"We have to figure out a way to make Sensei agree to this deal. We haven't got a choice; if we back out then we get killed on the spot and if we stay in then Sensei will be mad at us and then we'll end up dead anyway," Leo paced up and down the living room.
"Dude, if you're gonna pace, can ya at least pace somewhere else so you're not blocking the T.V.?" Mikey grumbled as he tried to see round his brother.
"Ugh, you're hopeless! Watching T.V. when there's a really important dilemma that needs sorting out?" Leo's eyes widened in disbelief, "are you even listening to me?"
"Take the hint, Leo, we ignore ya enough times; no-one ever listens to you!" Raph smirked. Leo growled and launched himself at Raph and sofa fell back, causing Raph and Leo to tumble over in mid-fight while Mikey just landed with a 'thud'. The door to Splinter's room flew open and he strode out and separated the two brawling turtles roughly, pulling them to their feet.
"Go to your rooms – both of you! I am trying to meditate so that I can fix your blunder in your recent judgement and decisions!" Splinter watched them both storm off to their rooms, still glaring daggers at each other, and then sighed as he watched his two youngest sons set the sofa the right way up again and settle down to watch cartoons. He walked slowly back to his own room and continued his mediation.
"It's so quiet without Leo and Raph fighting," Donnie whispered to his brother.
"I know, it's actually kinda creepy," Mikey replied, stifling his laughter.
"What do you think their doing now?"
"I think Raph will be attacking something with his Sais and pretending that it's Leo, unless it's something belonging to Leo that he's attacking!"
"Yeah," Donnie laughed, "and Leo will be thinking of all the ways to get back at Raph in practice or just thinking of ways to get him in trouble."
"Or maybe he'll be reading or imagining the day where Raph admits that Leo is better than him and swears that he will be Leo's slave for a week and never insult him ever again for as long as they live!" Mikey's imagination was in full swing now.
"Do you really think that's gonna happen?"
"Oh yes, for sure," Mikey nodded solemnly. Donnie chuckled and Mikey spluttered as he burst out laughing, "the day that happens is the day I give up pizza and the day you forget what a screwdriver is, dude!"
"I see your point. So, you wanna see if there's any pizza?"
"Definitely, bro – you wanna sit outside Leo's room and talk loudly about how good the pizza is and about how right Raph was in the fight. And then sit outside Raph's room and sing 'I know a song that'll get on your nerves'?"
"That's going a bit too far, Mike," Don frowned.
"Yeah, I guess so – I'll settle for just a pizza with extra strawberry sauce and gummy worms!"
"You got it, bro," Donnie stood up and made his way to the kitchen to get the pizza. When he returned, he found Mikey watching the News channel.
"Mikey? Are you sick or something?" he asked, cautiously approaching his brother.
"No…I was just flipping through the channels and I saw this. Come and take a look,"
"A mysterious scene was found at the small cottage of Marcie Saki today. She claims to have been attacked by some strange creatures. In this interview, she said: 'From what I could see, they were half-man, half-turtle. They were hideous!' On close examination, mutated DNA has been discovered on the scene and a full investigation is now underway. Back to you in the studio."
"No way…LEO! GET YOUR SHELL OUT HERE NOW!" Donnie yelled. Leo emerged from his room, looking sour but curious at the same time, and Raph also emerged from his to see what all the fuss was about.
"What's going on, Donnie?"
"Marcie was on T.V. claiming to be attacked by man-turtles. They found mutated DNA on the scene – how long now before she says she saw them go down a manhole?"
"WHAT!" Raph snapped, "I'm gonna kill that stupid b"
"RAPH!" Leo growled loudly, "save it! We need to talk to Ramakha and the others tomorrow before we come to any decision on this, got it?"
"Yes, your highness," Raph remarked sarcastically, "as you…command!" On the last word, Raph aimed a punch at Leo's stomach but was blocked and then promptly flipped onto the floor.
"I thought I ordered you boys to your rooms!" Splinter sighed as he entered the room.
"Sensei, look at the T.V." Donnie pointed to the screen where the report was still showing and going into further detail.
"I see we have no choice," Splinter inhaled deeply, not believing what he was about to say, "but to help the Shredder's brothers."
A/N: - There you have it, people – hope you liked it! Review please!
