Disclaimer: I don't own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; as much as I'd like to.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm going to try to keep updating as often as I can. I live off reviews so keep'em coming! This chapter is kinda slower than the others, sorry. Don't be mad at me! cringes

Chapter 3

The Story, The Meeting

After a short rest Hero was sipping tea while resting his aching muscles. All the turtles were sitting in various spots within easy view awaiting his finish. He'd already eaten an adult-sized bowl of noodles, several apples, some of Splinters carrots, and even delved into the unknown world of sushi. His stomach slaked he rested the mug on his legs and sighed as he leaned against Splinter, who was sitting next to him. For some reason he found instant comfort in the old rat and had huddled in his arms after their first encounter. Curled up next to his leg was Mikey's cat Clunk, purring contentedly.

"Done?" Splinter asked warmly and Hero nodded meekly. He took the mug from Hero's hands and placed it on the table. Then he smiled at him. The other turtles crept in closer.

"Now that you are feeling better, perhaps we might ask a few questions?"

Hero looked at all their expectant faces one by one and gave another meek nod. Donny was the first to speak, his question had been running around in his brain."What was that language that you spoke at first? Where did you learn it? How do you know English? How..." Splinter held up his hand, eyeing Donatello to let him know that that was enough for one breath.

Hero looked down at his hands, which were clenched in his lap. Then he suddenly realized himself and looked at the big purple turtle in the eye. His mother said it was impolite to look away from the one you were speaking to. It meant you were lying. Taking a deep breath he spoke. "Mamtu." All the turtles quirked eye ridges and Raph harrumphed for the millionth time, still keeping his distance from the pipsqueak.

Hero saw their questioning looks. "It is turtle-language. Mamtu, it is what I was raised on. All my family speaks it, even Aunt Kit. I learned English from my Aunt Shasha, she knows it best. Mama knows a lot, though Aunt Kit isn't very good at it." He couldn't help looking at his hands again as he thought of his family and tears threatened to burn his eyes again. Then he looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "How come you know no Mamtu? Your mutant turtle, so why not?"

"We weren't raised as you." Leo cut in. "We know English and Japanese, but that's it. My turn, where do you come from? Who are your family?"

Hero looked confused for a moment. "I come from forest. What do you mean who is my family? My family is my family." He pondered the meaning of the question.

Leonardo kneeled by the couch at eye level with the child. "Ok, rephrase. Where is your forest home? Where is your family? How'd you get here?" He waited patiently as he absorbed the questions.

Looking up into space he answered the questions: he held up one finger "dont know," two fingers "don't know" three fingers "skinny Bishop man in metal bird."

"Bishop!" Raph growled. Hero startled a little and Raph's eyes turned friendly and warm for a moment. Then Mikey looked at him and snickered. Realizing what he was doing he turned slightly away, grumbling "hate kids...freakin' Bishop."

"Well, if Bishop's involved then we had better look into it. He probably wanted the DNA of a child and a female." Don surmised, stroking his chin.

"DNA?" Don turned at the child's voice. Hero was looking at him with wide eyes. "What's DNA? He's looking for me, for my family! Will he hurt them?"

"Great Don, just scare the kid why don't you?" Mikey put in, glaring at the purple turtle.

"Don't worry Hero, nothing will happen to them. I promise."
"How do you know?" Hero inquired.

That put Don at a loss. Suddenly Raph grunted. "Don't listen to him, kid. He might be a brainiac, but sometimes he's an idiot."

"Raph!"

"My sons! Let us focus on the matter at hand." Splinter cut in. "Obviously the child is tired. Let him rest..."

"No!"

Five pairs of eyes turned to the boy. He scrambled off the couch. "I can't! I heard the human's say they were looking for my family! I have to find them!" He planted his feet on the floor and looked each of them in the eye, as though daring them to dispute his words. "All of my family has helped me and saved me. Now I hafta find them. They could be hurt!"

Leo knelt down beside him. "Now now. You need your rest. Besides, your too young. You could be hurt. Me and my brothers will go off to look for them."

"I gotta come too."

He shook his head. "Just stay here in the lair. Master Splinter will be here with you."

Suddenly Hero dodged out of Leo's way and headed to the entrance. Raph caught him.

"Hey kid, calm down. You can't go off half-cocked...OW!" Hero kicked at Raph's shin in an attempt to get away. Angrily Raph grabbed his shoulder, only to be kicked in the other shin. "OW! Man do I hate kids! Why you little..." He picked him up by the shell and glared at him. Hero stared back. Tears making his eyes glisten. "Uh, um." Hero sniffed.

Gently Raph placed him down and squatted in front of him. "Look, kid. It would be too dangerous. We've faced Bishop before, we know what he's capable of."

"But we promised."

Everyone looked at him.

Hero reacheddown and opened one of the pouches on his belt. Hepulled out what appeared to be a glass egg.Curious, everyone gathered in. Apparently the object was hollow, forthings were inside of it. Hero explained."This is a family egg. Wheremy family came from, when a family actually stayed together, which there wasn't a whole lot, then they made a symbol." Hepointed towhat appeared to be a white flake encasedin the egg. "That's me."

Mikey chuckled. "A little small, isn't it?"

Hero shook his head. "Nosymbolizes me. It is apiece of my egg."

Don studied the object. "You mean, the one you hatched from?"

Hero nodded."And that" he pointed to an arrowhead "Is myMama." The arrowhead hada silver gleam to it and painted on it in glossy black was a symbol.

"What's the symbol mean?"

"That one means family and," he turned the egg over to reveal the other side. "That one means love." Then pointing what looked like a hair, so shiny it appeared to be glowing, he said "That's Aunt Shasha."

"A hair?" Mikey giggled. "Is your aunt hairy?"

Hero looked at him, confused. "No. It's a weapon of some kind. It cuts things, like a razor, only it looks like a hair."

"Ah." Raph commented, and Mikey shuddered.

"Man! She sounds like an assissin!"

Hero looked at him. "A what?"

Leo distracted him. "Maybe it's best you don't know." Then he glared at Mike, who grinned sheepishly. "What's that last one?"

It looked like a miniature Christmas bell. "That's my Aunt Kit. She's funny, we're not actually related though. But she's still family." He looked up at all of them. "Family sticks together. That's why I have to go with you."

Leo shook his head. "Sorry. It's too dangerous."

Raph snorted. "A pipsqueak like you would only get in the way. There's no friggin way I'm dragging a little kid with me."

"I hate kids." Raph grumbled as he moped behind the foursome.

Mikey insisted that Hero ride him piggyback and was now doing everything imaginable to make the ride fun. Hero clung to his shell as he leaped from one rooftop to the other. Seeing a clothes line he seized opportunity. Grabbing a blanked Mikey slid down the length, building up speed as he went. "Yoohoo!" Heaving his arms, he launched himself from the blanked just before they reached the end of the line and nearly collided with Don.

"Hey! Watch it!" he staggered out of the way.

Leo whirled on them. "Mikey! We're not out here to play games! Hero's family is missing!"
Mikey grinned and shrugged as a shaky Hero slid off his shell. "Yeah, I know. Just having some fun!"

Leo glared at him and they continued. They were headed to the underground warehouse where they last faced Bishop and his creations. Little did they know they were being watched.

"How could you let them escape! They were only girls. Weak females." Bishop demanded angrily, lifting the terrified man off of his feet by the scruff of his collar. "Those three females were vital! I need their DNA codes!"

The man felt cold sweat drip down his neck. "Sorry sir! B-but they were everywhere! The one in yellow crashed an entire helicopter. We could hardly get a visual on the second one, and the other one killed three men!"

Bishop glared at him, his eyes like flaming coals. Leaning close to the man's face, he whispered "Unless you want to join them, I suggest that you find the female freaks." He let the man drop to the ground. The man scrambled away, glad to be away from him.

Bishop stood there for a while, collecting his thoughts. Which wasn't easy, considering how furious he was. Losing the turtle child was bad enough. He'd hoped that the capture of one of the females would make the loss easier, but they had failed in both accounts. Punishments had already been handed out. What he didn't understand was how the females escaped capture. After all, they were females. He knew them well. The weaker sex. The child he had underestimated but that wouldn't happen again. Children were almost as bad as women in his opinion. They never do what you want. Still, what did kill those men, and crash that military helicopter? He didn't care about the losses per say, only how they came about. It was something to think about.

Suddenly a guard came in. "Sir, the motion detectors are picking up movement in the next alley."

This perked him up. Now was something that he could deal with. Intruders. He followed the guard to the security room. He would have preferred to use cameras instead of mere motion detectors, but he wasn't allowed to. Normally that wouldn't have bothered him a bit, but with his position with the President being precarious as it was, he didn't want to risk stretching things to the breaking point. As much as he hated being under that slime.

He scanned the screens and saw their blips. They were nearby, another 50 feet or so and they would be in range of the camera, though he had an idea that he knew who was coming. Hopefully they brought the child with them. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. Maybe it would be a better idea to go and greet them himself. He grinned to himself. He'd been looking forward to a rematch with the turtles.

They approached the next alley. Very. Slowly.

All of them had the distinct feeling that something was wrong. Keeping on their toes, they slowly crept forward, hidden by the darkness of the shadows.

Unseen in the shadows, a gun trained on the group; Hero's face showed up in the viewfinder. Bullseye. The finger squeezed the trigger and the dart came out, hardly making a whispering sound due to the silencer on the barrel. It sang through the air quicker than the eye, straight for it's target.

Something siezed Leo and without warning he whipped out his katanas. A glint of moonlight reflected in his vision and he saw the gunman. Immediately he swung his katanas in an arc, slicing the dart neatly in half just a foot from the child's body.

With a little 'eep' Hero hopped behind him as all the turtles drew the weapons and got ready. Bright spotlights boomed on, illuminating the group in the uncomfortable glow. Bishop laughed as he came into view.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" He chuckled again and eyed them. "You should know better than to go off on your own like this. But then again, it may be a good thing. I may have gotten samples, but I haven't been able to conduct all the experiments that I'd like. Thank you for donating yourselves to this cause. And I see that you conveniently brought the child. You'll have the pleasure of seeing him undergo what I plan to do to him."

The turtles didn't say a word. Hero recognized him immediately and clung to the nearest leg to him. He looked up to see Raphael. He looked down at the child and pushed him behind himself without a word.

"Sorry that I don't have any new mutants ready for you to battle yet, I suppose that these commandoes will have to do."

Immediately laser blasts filled the air and the turtles jumped into action. With their ninja reflexes they zipped here and there, dodging the blasts. They let the ninja stars fly, accurately hitting the people weilding the weapons. Once within range, each leaped and attacked the people, disabling the threat. Bishop looked on with narrowing eyes, realizing that he might have jumped in too soon, being unprepared.

Furious he jumped into the fray himself. In all the previous encounters with the turtles they'd hardly been able to touch him. He jumped behind Leonardo, who was distracted dodging the blasts of three and kicked him viciously from behind. Mikey saw what was happening and jumped in to help. Bishop grabbed his wrist and hurled him to the ground in one smooth motion. Immediately he looked for the child. That was the real prize.

Raphael, being the turtle nearest to him, had already swiped up Hero and placed him on his shell. Now he was fighting with his back to the wall in a slight corner, trying to keep him safe while surviving the attacks. He already found himself missing his favorite leaping attacks, something he couldn't really do with a turtle tot on his back.

Suddenly Hero screamed in his ear and pointed, Bishop was closing in. It was just the warning Raph needed. Pushing ruthlessly past the men he swept to the side, dodging Bishop's attack. Without missing a beat Bishop pivoted and came at him again. Raph blocked and tried to close in with his sai to his unprotected stomach. With familiar lightning quick speed Bishop blocked, striking his wrist so hard that the jarring knocked his sai out of his grasp. Then he grapped and twisted sharply.

A slight cracking could be heard andRaph cried out as he instinctively turned in the direction of the twist. Gritting his teeth he growled and made a fist. With a short, piston like strike he punched Bishop in the right kidney and with a slight grunt he released his wrist.

Bishop glared at him and lunged, only to have to stagger to the side to avoid an attack from Donatello. Suddenly Leonardo and Michelangelo joined the fray, all of them attacking at once from different directions. Even for a skilled martial artist as himself this was a bit more than he could handle. As he dodged, blocked, and parried the attacks from the four oncoming tutles he searced for a way out. He saw one. Shoving Mikey aside he leaped over the bunch and yelled to his men, "Blast them!"

Suddenly a familiar looking spark erupted from one of the weapons. It was the same zapper they used to knock them out during the Triceraton invasion when they were trying to rescue the fugitiod. The spark stretched over them and disbanded, surrounding them as though a in a strange cage. All of them tensed as the familiar pain laced through thier bodies. They were going to be captured again.

Raph angrily refused to let that happen. He wasn't going to be tied up like some animal! Before the laser had a chance to branch out his eyes searched, found the weapon, and let a ninja star fly. Then the lasers surrounded them and they all screamed, but in the meantime the star was true to it's course. It struck, going straight down the barrel with it's velocity and the man weilding it dropped it in a panic as it exploded in a small flash of fire.

The pain stopped and the turtles slowly crumpled from their feet. They weren't passed out like before, it wasn't on them long enough. Instead they felt lethargic, as though they couldn't move. Chuckling Bishop glided over to them. Looking down at them, he laughed again. "I believe you have something that belongs to me." He reached for Hero. Growling Raph tried to reach for him but his limbs felt as though they weighed a million pounds. The others tried as well but to no avail. There was no stopping him.

His hand was scant inches from Hero's still body when suddenly an arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself in the direct center of Bishop's palm. He stared at the quivering arrow in the middle of his hand and let out a shrill yell and gripped his wrist in pain. Viciously he snapped the thing in half and yanked it out, blood spurting slightly from the wound. With a snarl on his face he looked to see who did it. All he saw was a green foot. The foot collided with his face and his body was hurtled backward. This was the first time he'd been taken by surprise twice in a matter of seconds and whoever did it was going to pay.

He glared at the dark figure. A beat wasn't wasted. Immediately after the kick the figure spun, not losing an ounce of momentum from the last blow and delivered another spinning kick. Bishop grabbed the slim ankle and twisted ruthlessly but she allowed her body to spin with the block and landed on her hands. She pushed off and nearly caught Bishop's chin full force with two joined heels. He dodged to the side and it merely clipped his jaw, slapping his teeth painfully together. He spun low with a sweeping kick, attempting to catch the riffraff in the head but she spun on her hands, swinging her legs in a helicopter motion, forcing Bishop to break his kick in order to avoid being hit.

Suddenly he sensed another presence behind him and ducked just as a wicked looking knife slid through the air where his neck just was. The figure crouched a huge knife spinning on some type of device on each of her wrists and lunged forward just as the one he'd just been fighting pulled out from behind her what looked like a spear and did the same. He dove out of the way and looked for his men. What his eyes saw was some spitting, hissing menace that was viciously attacking all of his men with incredible speed and reflexes that he'd never seen any human do. Meanwhile his own attackers were closing in and he saw the four turtles beginning to get up shakily. The odds were quickly turning against him. This time he had no choice.

Sprinting he got out of striking distance and glared back at the turtles. "Until next time freaks! Don't expect it to be so easy!" The men, eager to get away from the terror they were fighting, eagerly joined the agent in flight. Just like that they were gone as quickly as they came.

Leo wobbled to his feet, still feeling incredibly jelly like. He looked for the ones who attacked Bishop. They deserved some thanks. Hero got shakily to his feet beside him and looked. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again.

Happiness erupted on his face like an explosion. "MAMA! SHASHA! KIT!" Without his legs even being land-worthy yet he raced to the trio. One of the female turtles, the one with the spear, scooped him up in one arm and kissed him. They murmured that gargled language of theirs. The other two were just as excited but diverted the mother's attention to the four turtles approaching them.

Leo and Don smiled, Mikey giggled ecstatically and Raph did an odd sort of smirk. Leo held out his hand to her...only to geta rude surprise.

The wickedly curved blade of her weapon was pressed against his unprotected throat, so close it bit at him slightly, a tiny line of blood welled at the point. Hero stared at her. "Mama, no!" But all three of them stared at the turtles, with deadly intent in their eyes.

Sorry I have to leave it like this, but I believe I am running out of page-space. (review) I'll update again as soon as I can though. I'll be at Myrtle Beach with my husband for the next few days so it might be a while. (review) Tell me what you think of this chapter.Reviews make one eager to update, you know! (review) Is the trick working yet? teeheehee Ask all the questions you want and I'll answer them to the best of my ability without unduly revealing anything. Thanx! Toodles!