Author Note: This chapter is the calm (such as it is) before the storm. I'm sorry it took me so long to put up! I kinda lost my way with it for a while. But now I know what I'm up to again. I hope to have the next chapter up before the new year. I got kinda distracted by my new fic, 'In Too Deep', which is the sequel to 'It Had To Be Blue'.

I'd like to thank whomever nominated for 'Choosing Destiny' for a fanfic award! I didn't expect that at all and I'm really proud and pleased - I phoned everyone I knew about it! Also, thanks to those who nominated for 'Blue' and 'Deep' for awards, as well as my one-shot 'Alone'. Four awards! Four! Can you tell I'm chuffed to bits? You guys rock and I hope you all get lots of excellent xmas pressies this year. Oh, and because it's unlikely I'll get round to posting before the day - HAPPY CHRISTMAS! May all your pressie dreams come true.

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There was nothing Casey Jones enjoyed more than fighting bad guys, keeping the streets safe from the scum who preyed on weaker people. He was only one man and knew he couldn't take down every gang member in New York, but maybe knowing that there was someone out there unafraid of taking them on would make a few of them thing twice. And it wasn't every gang in New York he was interested in. The most powerful were the Purple Dragons and Casey had a personal reason to see every last one of them taken down.

So when one of the short guys mentioned the Dragons, he grinned beneath the hockey mask. He knew the blackout would be too good for most criminals to resist and seeing their silhouettes on the roof of the museum, he had thought they were just oppertunists. A museum wasn't a typical Dragon target. But maybe they were branching out. There was a lot of money in antiques.

It wasn't until the four attacked that he realised there was something unusual about these Dragons. They didn't fight in the street style that the other gang members did, leaping at him rather than rushing at him with weapons, using kicks and punches like something off a Bruce Lee movie or something. He barely ducked aside in time to avoid a kick and blocked a punch with his baseball bat, swinging it at his attacker, who flipped out of the way. A glint of silver caught his eye and he raised the bat again. A chain whipped around it and for a second Casey thought he was on more familiar territory, until he realised that this was no ordinary chain; there was a spiked ball at the end of it. A brief tug-of-war between bat and chain ensued until Casey was jerked forward. And found himself face to face with a creature from a nightmare.

The blackout meant that the only light available was from the moon, but his eyes had adjusted enough that he was able to make out the guys face, which seemed almost green tinted - make-up or something? A couple of nasty scars ran from eye to chin and his mouth was far too wide, the grimace caused by the healed scars displaying oversized teeth. As the guy yanked the bat from his suddenly loose grip, he saw that the guy had some kind of armour plating on his chest and was carrying something large and round on his back.

What the hell had he got himself into here?

"No weapons," said one of the other fighters sharply. "No unnecessary attention."

"Spoilsport," muttered a third, leaping at Casey, who dived to one side and snatched at his golf bag, grabbing a hockey stick from his arsenal. As another figure approached him, he swept it low and took the guys feet from beneath him, before scrambling up and assessing the situation. The four of him could take him down, weapons or no, but there was no way he was going to run from a group of thieving Dragons.

He raised the hockey stick and charged. He narrowly missed hitting one of them in the head - he thought it was Scars - and let the momentum carry him in a circle, catching another one in the solar plexus. The shock that travelled up the stick startled him. Usually, connecting with flesh wouldn't cause that kind of reaction. Maybe they were all wearing the same armour plating.

Protected or not, the figure doubled over momentarily and Casey used the distraction to hit him in the back of the knees with the hockey stick, taking him down however briefly. But then Scars was back, punching him in the gut and knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled backward until he hit a wall.

The pair he had knocked over were already back on their feet, joining the other two in a group before him. Struggling to recover, he took several deep breaths.

"Come on guys," said one of them - the leader by the way he sounded like he was used to being obeyed. "We need to get back to headquarters as soon as possible."

Casey felt anger rising as they turned to leave. Did they think they could just walk away from him? He reached into his golf bag and found a cricket bat, running after them, determined that these creeps were going down tonight.

Hearing him, the leader turned and grabbed something from his waist before reaching to the weapon on his back, swords by the look, three of them. He pulled the centre one from its sheath and held it out in a defensive stance. . .

And Casey saw a flash of radiance that blinded him before feeling some kind of blast that knocked him off his feet, flying back against the wall and landing in an untidy heap on the floor, totally stunned. He could no more have got back to his feet than he could have grown wings and flown after them. The light died down and just before the blackout made him sightless again, he could see through the dancing spots before his eyes that the four figures were gaping in shock at the weapon in the leaders hand.

The sudden light had robbed Casey of his night vision and he blinked a few times, trying to clear his head without actually moving it. He had smacked himself a good one when he hit the wall. But he could hear the hushed tones of the four, still there.

"What the shell was that?"

"I - I don't know! I just thought it might cut the bat in half or something and it just blasted - I didn't do anything!"

"Is it magic or something?"

"Magic? Hardly. Probably just a random oscillating sonic vibration frequency."

"Well that clears up everything."

"Guys." The leader seemed to have regained his composure somewhat. "Let's get this sword back to Master Saki, before he wakes up and decides he wants to fight some more."

"I like fighting."

"Let's just go."

"Do you thing Sensei will let me have a closer look at . . ."

The voices died away but Casey stayed put, trying to regain his senses. That had not been the typical Purple Dragon encounter. Usually they attacked with street weapons and he could beat them easily. Those four had been different and not just the way they looked - and what had been up with those disguises anyway? They were hardly inconspicuous. And that weapon that looked like a sword had been freaky. Come to think of it, they had seemed just as surprised when it had fired as he had been.

Finally, Casey made it to his feet, retrieved the weapons that he had dropped and decided to call it a night. He'd had enough of fighting for now. As he made his way home, he considered what he had overheard the little weirdo's saying. Master Saki? Wasn't Hun in charge of the Dragons? Perhaps it was some other gang after all, in spite of them knowing about the Dragons vigilante troubles.

Whatever. The next time he saw them, Casey was going to get some payback.

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Much later, Leo had been left to explain to Saki what had gone on when they had gone to retrieve the Sword of Tengu while the others returned to their rooms. Or rather, they all returned to Donnie's room, where they discussed what had been going on.

"No wonder he wanted that sword," muttered Mikey. "We could have killed that guy!"

"But we didn't," muttered Raph, mildly annoyed. He had been threatening to take down the vigilante as soon as he saw him and he hadn't done, thanks to Leo's 'no weapons' order. What had that been all about? If any of the Dragons found out about this, he'd be a laughing stock.

"But now it's in Master Saki's hands - aren't you worried about what he's planning to do with it?"

"I wanna know how he knew about the Sword in the first place," replied Raph. "If anyone found out about it, they'd have kept it for experiments, not put it in a museum. If it's some kinda heirloom, how could some guy a billion years ago have the know-how to make something like that?"

"Do you know anything about this Donnie?" asked Mikey, stretching himself out on the chair he was sat in. "I mean, unexplained stuff is your area."

"Speaking of unexplained stuff," added Raph, raising an eye ridge as he looked at Don. "You said something the other night, about sneaking about behind Saki's back. Mikey and me trusted you with what we knew about Splinter. So, what is it you've been doing?"

Donnie looked embarrassed, pulling out his nagitana and swinging it around, a sure sign that he was agitated. "Um. . . I don't really know how to descibe what happened. . ."

"Start from the beginning and go from there," suggested Raph.

"Um. . ." Donnie sat, the nagitana still in his hand. "The thing is, it wasn't planned, it just kinda happened."

"What 'just kinda happened', huh?" asked Raph.

"I was working late one night at Stocktronics. . . " began Donnie and told them everything about April, the mousers and Stockman, including how hard he had tried to detract attention from the redhead when she had refused to leave.

When he finished, Raph and Mikey were dumbstruck. They had never expected something so sneaky from their quiet brother. Donnnie sniggered, not knowing what to expect, turning back to his computer and typing in a search.

"Donatello! You sly turtle!" said Mikey eventually. "But what happened to what's-her-name, April?"

"As far as I know, she's still above the antiques store," replied Donnie, still messing with his computer. "I just have to hope that Stockman doesn't notice someone's been playing with his computer."

"You know, if Saki finds out about this, you're in big trouble," said Raph, frowning. "And if this lab assistant goes shooting her mouth off, he might take a closer look at what we've been doing the last few days."

"I know." Donnie indicated at the computer. "I'm not too worried about that yet though. I've pulled the police records about the bank robbery and so far there's been no mention of any involvement by the mousers, nothing about Stocktronics at all."

The other two crowded around the computer, unsurprised that Donnie had gotten into the police computer - he had been doing it for years at the insistance of Master Saki. Sure enough, there was nothing about the company, merely witness reports of strange noises, footprints and holes. Forensics claimed that something with 'a metal blade' had made the holes, but had been unable to narrow it down further.

"I did a search of the cold case files last night too," added Donnie, typing rapidly. "Check this out."

He pulled up a page detailing a report of a brutal murder, a man discovered lying in a pool of his own blood, the door knocked off his apartment. There was a list of injuries inflicted before death that made them all wince. It hadn't been interrogation, it had been torture, pure and simple. Cause of death had been two deep stab wounds that punctured his heart.

The man had been a Japanese immigrant by the name of Hamato Yoshi.

Mikey let out a breath. "So that part of his story checks out."

"And now we have three problems." Raph sat and rubbed his temples. "One; we dunno if we can trust Master Saki. Two; we dunno if this Splinter's telling the truth or not. Three; we have some psycho broad to worry about."

The three exchanged gloomy looks and fell into silence. Mikey was about to break the quiet when he paused, hearing something outside.

There was a knock on the door and then Leonardo entered. "Hey guys. I gave a report to Master Saki. I didn't tell him about the guy who jumped us though, who wants to look bad, right? You wanna - hang out?"

The other three exchanged looks. Then Mikey got to his feet, stretched and yawned. "Nah. I'm beat."

"Me too," said Raph.

"Me three," added Donnie.

Leo glared at them and folded his arms, suddenly sick of the silent routine they were giving him. "Why are you all avoiding me?"

"We're not avoiding you," said Mikey.

"You are!" Leo glared at his brothers. "You're all keeping secrets and I thought. . ." He looked at the floor, trying to keep his emotions in check. "I thought we were brothers. I thought we could always rely on each other. That the four of us would remain united no matter what. That if you had problems, you could talk to me about them - but no. You don't trust me, none of you! You think I don't see that? You think I'm blind? You can trust me enough to lead but you can't. . ."

"Leo! ENOUGH!"

Donnie and Raph blinked as Mikey lost his temper. Mikey never lost his temper. But now he was standing up to Leo, face screwed up in anger, the scars on his face pale and pulling up his lip into the permenant sneer that was so unlike their brother.

"You lead us? Yeah, you always led us well! You're too tied up with the Foot Clan and Karai and turning yourself into a minature Saki that you can't see what's going on right under your nose! Instead of feeling sorry for yourself and complaining and trying to make us feel guilty, why don't you try opening your eyes and taking a look around! You don't see anything, you don't question anything, you're just a - a drone, who can't think for himself!"

Leo tried to grab Mikey's arm as he stormed out of the room. "Mikey. . ."

"Leave me alone Leo!"

"Michelangelo, come back here!"

Ignoring him, Mikey left, slamming the door closed behind him so hard that the other three winced. For a few seconds, there was silence in the room.

Raph looked at Leo's shocked face, still staring at the door, and decided that it might not be the best time to continue the conversation. "I'm gonna hit the sack," he said, going over to the door.

"Me too," added Donnie, following him quickly.

"Uh, Donnie, this is your room."

"Shut up Raph."

They left hurriedly and Leo was alone, still unable to believe his brother had just screamed at him. Raph he could have believed, but Mikey? He wanted everyone to get along, was the most likely to diffuse arguments between the other three. Where had he suddenly got a temper from?

Sitting on Donnie's bed, Leo tried to make sense of what Mikey had said. true, Mikey didn't know he had found out about Splinter but did he really think that Leo would just follow Saki's orders blindly, without question?

They all think that. That's why they didn't tell you about him in the first place.

And if Mikey really felt so strongly about Saki, if he despised him so much, there was no way he could hide it for long. Mikey was like an open book. He wore his emotions all over his face and had never learned the art of subterfuge. In the unlikely event of Master Saki not noticing the contempt, Mikey might do something stupid. Like ditch the Foot and head off on his own. The way things were looking, Raph and Donnie might decide to join him, although they didn't seem as convinced of their Sensei's motives as Mikey. And then the Foot would have to chase them down and Leo would have to choose between his brothers and his clan.

Trying to remain objective about the whole thing was hard work. Leo felt more than a little hurt by Mikey's outburst, not to mention that his brothers hadn't trusted him even before that. Raph and Donnie hadn't even tried to talk to him after Mikey had left, had just about broke their necks to get away from him. Was it even worth trying to repair their relationship, or should he just give up and let them do what they wanted? He'd still have the Foot and his life here, which he'd never felt dissatisfied with before his brothers decided to take a detour through high security.

No. They were brothers and that meant they were in this together, the four of them, whether they wanted his help or not. He wasn't going to let them rush blindly into anything based on the words of a mutant rat.

So what's the plan then, fearless leader?

I have to let them know that I know about Splinter and that I haven't told Master Saki. But first, I have to talk to Mikey.

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Shredder laughed as he weilded the Sword of Tengu, revelling in its power. The metal from which it was made was attracted to other items made from the same substance, a substance which could not be replicated on this planet. The only beings who could have any of the strange metal, apart from himself, were his ancient enemies, the captors he had escaped a long time ago. He had sworn revenge on them, but they had proved elusive. In Japan he thought he'd trapped them, many times, but they had always proved elusive. Both sides had their protectors, the Foot and the Guardians, both sides reason to hide themselves from the world.

Saki was tired of hiding. Secrecy was only good as long as it got him what he wanted. For now, it suited him to be accepted by this world, but it irked him that his enemies could do so in an identical fashion. But now he had the sword - all that would change. He could seek them out, discover the limits of their tecnology and then dispose of them all. The Guardians were good, but they weren't the Foot.

He had shown none of his glee when Leonardo brought him the sword of course, merely listened to the turtles report and dismissed him. He was pleased that they had achieved their goal without problem and equally glad that of late, there seemed to have been a widening rift between the four. There was such a thing as a team being too good. When that happened, they couldn't adapt to a loss of a member or work well with a replacement. And he wanted their allegiance to be to him rather than each other. He had a feeling that things were going to change for his young charges soon - and not all of those changes would make their lives better.

But first things first. He needed proof that his enemies were in the city, as he suspected they were. Now he had the sword, he could locate that evidence and decide how to progress from there. And he knew just which group of reptiles he was going to send out to find that proof.

He would find the Utroms. And their discovery would lead to their destruction, at his hands. It was going to be a pleasure.