Chapter Two

Capture!

By the way, since I've never quite figured out what April in the original series actually does for a living ,I've kept her as a reporter. I know she's an ex-labbie for Stockman, but what after? The turtles are all their original selves 'cos frankly the old series kicked ass and the new one is a pale wishy-washy thing in comparison. It's okay, but they couldn't even be bothered to get the turtles colours right (in the original they all are different shades of green). But Casey and Irma are probably around. So it's a bit of a mishmash.

They searched the dock area briefly, knowing that of all places Finn wasn't likely to be there. But it had to be done anyway, just in case they'd missed something. Unsurprisingly, they hadn't and they regrouped after a mere few minutes.

"You okay?" Don asked Mikey who was rubbing his leg with a scowl.

"Yeah. One of the Foot got a whap on the nerve. It'll be grand- it's just seized up." Don knelt down to have a look at it. As the closest thing the team had to a medic he felt entirely justified to grumble at Mike for not mentioning it earlier. Mikey shrugged. Don sighed.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Just don't strain it for a while"

While this exchange was going on, Leo and Raph were quizzing April about the attack.

"Where did you come from, April?" asked Leo. "You were attacked at the pizzaria?" She nodded and then chuckled ruefully, shaking her head. "Attacked in a pizzaria! Man, I'll never live this one down." She shook herself, telling unco-operative brain cells that they could collapse and gibber later. For now there were more important things to worry about. Like… Finn!

"Finn! Come on, guys! We need to get back there! Maybe they left…I don't know… some sort of clue…" her voice faded over her shoulder as she started moving determinedly back the way she had come. The turtles followed quickly.

"Do you know who these guys were? Regular Foot? Shreddergoons?"

"Uh…yeah. I guess so. We were just covering the opening of the new pizza-place - very slow news day, guys! Packing up and suddenly a bunch of Shreddergoons jumped us. We had to run for it. We split up- I thought they'd come after me- I really did.." Here her voice filled with fury and anguish. "…but the last I saw they were dragging her away. And I had to keep running to get help. Dammit!" She hit the wall with the back of her fist in fury, mostly talking to herself. Don put his hand on her arm to stop her punching any more walls as she glared at her scraped hand.

"Hey Ape, it wasn't your fault. You stayed there- you'da been captured and no-one would have raised the alarm. Don't kick yourself over this- we'll get Finn back."

"Yeah, well if she's workin' for Channel 6 she might wanna get used to this sorta thing happenin'. You guys seem to get all the weird stuff." groused Raphael from up ahead as they ran quietly through the night, with Mikey muttering at his unco-operative leg as he followed in the rear.

They halted a street away and conferred over what to do.

"They won't have hung around, but there's just a possibility that they've set some sort of trap up ahead." Leo started. "We're not going to just walk into it. We'll approach from the rooftops, different sides, get a visual on the ground. Anyone sees anything suspicious- keep the shellcells on an open-link. Okay?"

"Yeah, we gotcha, Fearless." said Raph, already looking bored with the speechifying.

"Hang on. April, will you stay here? We'll call ya if it's safe." said Leo, turning to the only civilian of the group. "And Mikey- you shouldn't be jumping around roofs with your leg- you were limping on the way here. You stay and make sure nothing happens to April." April frowned at the idea of needing a babysitter but inwardly felt rather glad. She said nothing- recognising that this would also keep Mikey and his leg out of trouble too. An injury was a liability- especially when it came to rooftops! Mikey frowned too seeing the effort for what it was. But he couldn't complain; the attack had been on April and she needed the extra protection.

Leo, Don and Raph melted into the night like the trained ninja warriors they were and April and Mikey were left behind, one looking morosely at the rooftops and the other glancing around nervously.

"D'ya really think they're gone?" asked April. "I mean, why did they come after me anyway? To get to you guys?"

"Maybe," answered Mikey, now paying rather better attention to his surroundings. The others would definitely never let him hear the end of it if they- or anyone else- managed to sneak up on them! "They've tried that particular trick before, dudette. Not that it's ever worked."

April smiled slightly. "Nothing that lot ever do seems to work. They're a bit of a useless shower."

From the distance came shouts and the noises of battle. Trap, then. Mikey felt his muscles tense as he fought down his immediate reaction to go help his brothers. But he couldn't. He had a duty and for a ninja honour and duty is everything and true honour is the fulfilling of ones duty. Splinter's dry voice echoed through his head and he shook it in irritation. Man, he hated that word sometimes. He tensed, glancing around- why was he so jumpy? There was something weird about this place…

"Useless, huh? We'll see about that girlie." He whipped around as a voice hissed through the air.

"April! Get down!" he yelled and she dropped without even looking around. It was her reactions that saved her life as a sharp pointed shuriken imbedded itself in the wall above her head where she lay.

Silently four ninja moved out of the shadows. Man, these guys were good! They had had to have been there all along- no-one had come since they'd arrived. Uh oh….obviously the turtles really were that predictable.

Mikey moved into a fighting stance, 'chucks at the ready. April looked around her desperately and lunged for a piece of wood. The Ninjas didn't move, although April got the feeling that they could have stopped her easily. Mikey wished he could keep April behind him in relative safety but, unfortunately, there was no relative safety as the Ninja stood foursquare around them. It was a standoff with April and the orange turtle standing back-to back, wooden weapons at the ready and the surrounding ninja in their black and grey outfits standing so quietly and menacingly around them. Mikey wanted to start things off but knew he couldn't leave April. Whichever one he went for, that would leave three to attack April.

"Ape?" he hissed quietly enough that only she could hear. "can you hold one off with that plank for a minute?"

"I can manage." she hissed back.

"Okay then. Good luck." During the short whispered exchange the two in the middle never took their eyes from their attackers while in the distance battle still seemed to be raging.

"GO!" he yelled, as he threw one pair of nunchucks at one attacker and the other at the one diagonal to the first, catching both around the necks. Both gagged as they tried to get the deadly twisting chains away from themselves. Weaponless, he threw himself at the third who grinned mockingly, sparing not a glance for his stricken allies as he waited for battle with drawn katana.

April waited for the last attacker to come to her. He made a sudden rush, whipping out something that flashed once in what small light there was and she automatically ducked and flung herself at the knees of the ninja as he attacked. He flew over her and landed heavily and one of his knees crunched. She swung around, screaming in fury at these people who attacked her and innocent colleagues and for an instant her eyes seemed to flash with rage. Her fury leant her extra strength as she whipped around, the plank an extension of her arm and it thudded into the side of his head as he struggled to rise. He fell and didn't move again. For a moment only she was lost to incoherent and unthinking anger as she brought her arm back for another blow. But before she could bring her arm back for the fatal attack, her eyes cleared and she realise the man was not going to hurt her again. He was badly injured. Not dead yet- but in urgent need of help. She almost dropped the wood that she was holding. It wasn't easy to admit just how much she had lost herself in those few insane seconds when there was nothing in the world but herself and her enemy and the driving, overwhelming urge to clean up the world with a plank of wood.

She glanced up. Mikey had dealt with his first assailant and was taking down one of the ones on whom he'd lost his weapons. Wait - shouldn't there be…? She started to turn as she heard a shout from her companion but….whump… A burst of white light then nothing.

This guy was good. Mikey had to admit as he tried to get an opening. He didn't dare take his attention off the man as much as he wanted to make sure April was doing okay. He heard the thud of wood against skull and smiled grimly. Go on April! he silently cheered. In his second of distraction the man lunged with the deadly blade, Mikey twisted out of the way, grabbing the wrist and elbow of the ninja as he whistled past and threw him over his shoulder. With his own weight helping to send him spinning through the air the unfortunate ninja hit the opposite wall with an audible thwock and lay still.

Mikay spun even before the man slumped to the ground to find the third man.

"Apr…!" he yelled as she started to turn and the man behind her swung his weapon, a katana, like that of his own brother. He flung the nunchuck, catching the man around his neck again, but not before the ninja had struck his target. Luckily, Mikey's intervention had thrown the warrior off balance enough that it was only the flat of the blade that connected with the woman's head. He saw her eyes roll up as she sank to the ground. He leaped over to her pausing only briefly to punch out the choking ninja.

"April! Are you okay? Wake up!" She moaned but didn't stir. He checked her head where the blade had connected and winced. He leaned down to pick her up before a sixth sense made him throw himself to the ground, shielding the other's prone body. A silvery blade whispered through the air over his head. The second shurikin joined it's mate in the wall.

"Not bad." came a voice from the shadows. How many of these guys were there? "Some of our best ninja were in that group. Of course, they won't be joining us again." Mikey stood up again, weapons ready, trying to gauge the number of opponents. Too many. He shifted his stance, trying to keep as many within line of sight as possible while standing over April. Why were they after her anyway?

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to stall for time. He couldn't take this many alone, though if he had not been protecting the unconscious woman he might have been tempted to try.

"Her. At first. But you and your brothers are much better prizes. She was a trap and you, foolish turtles, walked right into it." One man walked forward, into the light. He wore a costume unlike that of the ordinary Foot. In fact, now he came to think of it, there were subtle differences in the uniforms of these people. A new gang? The man looked up from beneath the low-brimmed hat, perched above the dark grey cloak and Mikey nearly left the ground entirely. Those eyes…the pupils were tiny and- a funny shape… As he watched in growing horror the pupils started to expand. There were no irises, no colour variations. The man- no, whatever he was, he wasn't a man- the creature laughed, a throaty chuckle that was almost more terrifying for its normalness then any cackle or crazed laughter. The pupils had expanded to cover the whole of his eyes now. Pits. Empty. Eyes were said to be the key to the soul but the flat emptiness of these orbs made the…thing as soulless as any mythical demon. Demon? Where had he gotten that word? He backed away, still trying to keep April behind him.

"What are you?" he asked, his fear transforming to anger and bravado.

"I?…" the voice was different too. Mikey's eyes watered as the shape in front of him seemed to shimmer and he wondered for a second how he had ever thought this evil to be human.

"I am Nightmare…"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"April? Mikey! Uh…guys?"

It was Donatello who arrived first on the scene. He looked around in confusion, his eyes widening at the remains of battle. There were bodies strewn about the narrow alley entrance. April and Mikey were nowhere to be seen.

"Guys! Leo, Raph- get over here! Hurry!"

Leo and Raph had been lagging behind, having a fairly good-natured argument over which had accounted for more in the battle they had just won.

"Ah, come on, bro! Ya can't claim that one- I did all the dirty work- you just bopped him on the head. I'd already worn him down!"

Leo opened his mouth to respond but Raph would never know if he'd be awarded that one or not as Donnie's voice floated back from the alleyway where they'd left Mikey and April. He sounded scared and immediately they broke into a run, the scorecard forgotten.

"Woah…" whistled Raph as he arrived. "Man, can't that guy ever keep himself outta trouble?"

Donnie was searching through the…bodies. Some of them had obvious wounds- either inflicted by nunchucks or…his forehead wrinkled as he considered the others- a staff? He nodded in comprehension when he spotted the length of wood on the ground. April's weapon. But others- they appeared to have died from only relatively insignificant injuries. One for instance appeared to have only a minor wound to his left temple- a glancing blow. It should barely have stunned him. And yet… For the first time he looked at the face of the soldier he had turned over and jumped back with a gasp. The man's face was frozen into a mask of utter terror. He looked around himself at the other bodies and suddenly wondered how he hadn't noticed it before. They all looked as though they had seen some unimaginable horror.

"Guys?" he called the other's attentions and pointed it out. He focussed on his brothers' faces trying not to look around. It seemed that whichever way he looked one or more of those faces were staring at him with that same look of complete terror frozen forever on their faces.

Raph shuddered as he looked also. Where the shell was Mikey? And April? What had happened here?

"Over here- April!" Leo was kneeling beside the woman who was nearly at the back of the alley against the wall. The others ran over, hoping she could tell them what had happened and, more importantly, the whereabouts of their brother. She stirred slightly and her eyelids opened enough to show a thin line of green between them.

"Come on- we'll get her to the Lair. Raph! What are you doing?" Raph was walking up and down the alley, peering at each of the bodies with barely disguised revulsion on his face.

"I'm trying to see if any of these are still alive. Have info - know where Mikey is…"

"They're all dead, Raph. It looks like most of them had…massive heart-attacks, I'd say. Come on- lets get April back to the Lair…" Donnie led his brother away as Leo picked up April.

"What happened, April?" asked Leo, pacing worriedly as April sat with an ice-pack pressed to her forehead.

"I…I'm not sure." she replied shakily. "After you left, we heard the fight- four of these guys surrounded us. I don't know- they must have been there all along or something- they didn't sneak up on us. You saw what the alley was like- blind and leading onto a well-lit street form one side and the dock where you went on the other. And they didn't come from the roofs or the ground either. One second they weren't there…and then…" She shook her head and then frowned as she remembered something. "They let me arm myself." she said with confusion. "They didn't say anything. Mikey took out the two to either side- temporarily anyway and attacked one and I got the other…" she winced as she remembered the anger bubbling up and the blind fury which had led her to hit that man so hard. "I got hit…and I don't remember much after that. Remember…a voice…" she trailed off and her face grew distant. She didn't seem to be seeing the turtles at all.

"April? Ape?" asked Don, worriedly. Master Splinter in the chair opposite held up his hand for silence, watching April's face closely. The ice-pack dropped unheeded and April began speaking in a voice entirely unlike her own.

"I am your fears made flesh, ever thought you were too scared to voice. I have always been here- long before you and yours. I have seen empires rise and made them fall. I will be here when you are dust and your names less then whispers on the wind…"

Her eyes were flat and empty, though still their normal brilliant green. Her voice seemed to be coming to them from far away. The temperature in the room had dropped by at least a few degrees and the room seemed to be darker. The three turtles backed away from where the young woman sat.

"Who are you? Where is our brother!" demanded Leo, shaking off some of the terrible spell. He wished he had not spoken as slowly the head of his friend turned to him and, though it was her face, they were not her eyes. There seemed to be another consciousness there. Something evil that mocked their fear and helplessness.

"I have been called many things throughout the years. You may call me…Nightmare."

"Nande kuso? Where is our brother!" shouted Raph, thoroughly unsettled and, yes, scared too. The face twisted into a mockery of a smile.

"Your brother is mine. He will be no more."

"What do you mean! What have you done with him?" cried Don, jumping to the fore. But it was too late… the other thing faded from April's eyes- that… knowing that was ancient and malevolent. April blinked sleepily, smiled around in a dazed manner and collapsed sideways. Don caught her, now afraid for her. But, no, she seemed to be only sleeping now. He draped a blanket over her and turned to the others. They were still frozen in attitudes of fear and horror.

"What was that?" whispered Leo, recovering first.

"Nightmare? What the shell kinda name is Nightmare? Who cares about what it is- let's go kick some butt and find Mikey!" said Raph urgently. He didn't want to think about what had just happened.

"No, my sons- Nightmare is more powerful then you know. You7 cannot cope with it alone yet."

"What happened there, Sensei. To April- will she be alright?"

"She needs to rest, Leonardo. Spirit-possession is exhausting for the victim. She will recover."

"Master Splinter?" appealed scientific Donnie, who couldn't cope with …spirit-possession - or what ever it was.

Splinter looked at his purple son sadly. Of all of them Donatello would have the most difficult time accepting that there were things out there in the world, both ancient and in any cases evil that could not be explained by modern science. Don always had the hardest time trusting his 'gut-instinct' if it didn't concur with scientific proof.

"My son, it is hard to understand. But if Nightmare has your brother then you must try. Nightmare is what it said through April- an evil from so long ago that no-one who ever lived would remember it's beginning. It is said that it came into the world on the day the Earth was born. It was much older then Earth though- even then it was ancient beyond all comprehension." Splinter paused to collect his thoughts.

"But Sensei- why would it want Mikey- want any of us? And why didn't it take April?" asked Leo.

"That is a very good question, Leo, and one which I cannot answer now. But I can say that this creature is very dangerous and cannot be defeated by strength alone. It's power waxes and wanes with the seasons and ages. You know of magic?"

"Magic doesn't exist!" blurted Don before blushing as he realised he had interrupted his Sensei.

"What do you think is magic Donatello?" asked Splinter. Donnie gaped for a second, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to come up with a reasonable answer.

"Uh…all that wand- waving and…fairies and witches and stuff I guess…" he trailed off.

"Then you are right. Magic does not exist. And yet we do. Some people call it religion, some Nature. Those things no-one can explain, like why we have personalities, why we all think differently- why we think at all. Why the seasons change."

"But…we know why the seasons change…" He went on to mutter about orbital tilt, rotations and other geological facts until Raph hit him to get him to stop.

"Raphael. This is hard for your brother- leave him be. Donatello- what you say is true, but why does this happen? Why should green ooze have transformed you not only in size and physical form, but also given you intelligence to rival any human? What is co-incidence? No, my son- magic, true magic exists. It is the air, the Earth. It is the core of every living thing. It is unexplainable and not all of it is good." Donatello nodded unhappily.

"Look Don- a very old alien creature has our brother. He also has technology we haven't discovered yet. Now quit arguing!" Don nodded a bit happier with this concise explanation from Raph. Splinter looked at his second-youngest son and rolled his eyes slightly. Raph shrugged and grinned sheepishly.

"As I was saying…Nightmare's power on this planet has been waning for some time. Superstition and ignorance are what it thrives on- his latest time of ascendancy was during the Dark Ages. He was the cause of them."

"So he was…what, defeated by science?" asked Leo.

Splinter nodded reluctantly. "In a way. But it is never truly defeated. And Science carries the seeds of it's own downfall, just as Nightmare does. In each Age of Reason science moves forward until it gets too self-confident. People have short memories and forget the lessons of the past. As the world grows smaller so do people get more greedy. Nightmare rises again, maybe from the ashes of war or famine caused by the misuse of science and the cycle begins again."

"Okay, makes sense I guess. But it doesn't sound like the sort of thing that'd… y'know have a real body and a tendency to physically kidnap people."

Splinter sighed.

"You are right, my son. There has not been a recorded case like this for a thousand years."

"And what happened?" asked Leo, leaning forward.

"The Dark Ages."

"Ah."

"Who was it?" asked Donnie, intrigued despite his earlier objections.

"A woman called Mione. She was captured and learned to control power to create a war that plunged the known world into darkness and chaos."

"What happened to her?"

"She couldn't cope with the knowledge of what she had done. She disappeared- suspected to have taken her own life, but nobody knows for sure."

"But what has this got to do with Nightmare now?" asked Raph impatiently. "We need to get out there and find out where that thing's taken Mike!"

"Patience! You need to know your enemy. And you cannot defeat it by force! Our main- our only- advantage is that never before have Science or Nightmare interfered directly- they are simply too powerful. Direct interference would destroy the world. No, they have to work through intermediaries. Like Mione. And now, possibly Michaelangelo."

"What about this Finn girl that Ape was talking about?"

Before Splinter got a chance to answer something stirred behind them. Thoroughly unsettled and on edge Raph spun, with one hand on a sai and the other poised to throw. April froze with her eye fixed to the tip of the blade where it juddered under her nose. Raph puled back, suddenly embarrassed.

"Uh…hi, April."

"Hi Raph. What happened back there?" Leo explained quickly and she paled a bit, obviously very unhappy at the idea that something could just take control of her mind and use her voice like that.

"Can you tell us what else happened back there, April? You told us about he the four ninja you and Mikey took out. What happened after that?" April shrugged. "I was out for most of the rest of it. I remember being on the ground. Uh…Mikey came over…and then…that voice…" She shuddered at the memory. "He asked what it was. It laughed and said it was called Nightmare. He asked what it wanted and it said that at first it had wanted me but that Mikey and you guys were a much better catch. Then…I don't know! No, no, I do but I…I can't describe it!" She stared at her hands, working to control her emotions.

"It is alright, Ms. O'Niell. Take your time." April closed her eyes an talked in a flat voice.

"Mikey said something, I don't know what. He wanted to fight it I guess- we were surrounded, there was no way we could defeat them all. But if he could take out their leader then maybe we would have a chance. But…it just laughed and…I don't know how much of this is real and what I imagined. He did something, blew some sort of…dust, I think, at Mikey. Whatever it was he fell backwards and, I couldn't see if he was okay. He didn't move though. Then he summoned some of the ninja to take him. They…" She frowned. "I must be imagining this bit…I could have sworn they just walked into the wall and…vanished. Then…" she gulped, trying to swallow her emotions as her fist clenched with the horror of what she'd seen.

"He turned back to the injured ninja that we'd taken out and…

"I have no use for failures. You are not ninja." The tall figure blew some more dust from his hand. April briefly wondered where he'd gotten it . Then as it landed on the four fallen but alive ninja, she forgot such questions. Each of the four faces around her started to twist in fear as if they were all in their own private hells, none of them seeing their surroundings, but something that perhaps existed only in their imaginations. She stared at the man immediately across from her- the one that had hit her. His mouth opened in a silent scream, eyes staring and unseeing, before his head dropped to the ground with that same expression now frozen forever on his features. She couldn't lift her head to see the others but she had little doubt as to their fates.

"Now, little being. As I used you before, I will let you live. I reward the useful." He lifted his hand and swung. He did not strike her but she felt herself lifted into the air as if she weighed nothing. Her breath was forced out as she hit something large and solid and remembered nothing after.

"So…that's it…" she finished.

"What did he mean, he used you before?" asked Leo frowning. She shrugged then paled. "Finn!" she breathed. "He wanted Finn. And…" her face turned even whiter. "Oh God…I led her right to him. With that stupid pizza opening."

"That wasn't your fault." said Leo forcibly. "Don't blame yourself- we'll get 'em back."

"Ms. O'Neill. When you started speaking in Nightmare's voice, what do remember?"

"Uh…not much. It was like I was dreaming- lethargic, I didn't really hear him. I got flashes of…pictures, images after a minute or two though." She frowned, shaking her head. "That's all remember." Splinter considered this.

"It is very possible that Nightmare has been out of the world of Reason for so long that it did not realise you were receiving information from it as well." He paused again for a second. "Ms. O'Neill- the information you carry may be imperative to finding Michaelangelo and perhaps Finn also. It is also very possible that you know it in your subconscious."

"So how to get it out?" she asked.

"Hypnotism."

By the way, the Legend Of Nightmare is my on invention as are Mione and Finn. The Dark Ages were from around the 12th century onwards (I think) and were a time during which the Church had a lot of power. Life was hard and superstition and belief in witches and magic was the norm.

Nande Kuso- approx What the hell?

Sorry for taking so long to update, got a bit distracted with my other Turtles fic- Out On Your Own (hinthint). I am continuing with this one though!

To my wonderful reviewers (and I don't care if this is illegal now, 'cos it's a dumb rule. If someone explains to me why it isn't allowed then yeah, maybe I'll stop. But flips a birdie otherwise! Ya amadain bomantaich.)

Ahem, anyway…

Lioness-Goddess: Thank-you for my welcome and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! (And yes, it's dudette!)

Lunar-Ninja: Man, you're threatening me here too, dudette! (goes away and sobs "Nooobody loves me... sniff>...") Plus I'm still recovering from my attack of dragons. :)

Jessiy Landroz: Yeah, my mutant plot bunny has finally decided to make a reappearence. Thank-you!