Disclaimer: We don't own the ninja turtles, just some harmless borrowing to do a little fan fiction.

A/N: Another ridiculous delay, and for that I apologize.

Chapter 5 written by pacphys. Go read her stories.

Seis

pacphys:

(Leonardo's POV)

New York spread before us, spilling into the ocean with the water beyond stretching to the far horizon. The surprisingly clear evening was a welcome change from the cramped, Raid infused lair we'd spent the day in. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh air... well, as fresh as Manhattan air gets at any rate. Still, for a brief moment, Mikey and his crazed pooch didn't exist, and Raph wasn't testing my nerves for a change. Actually, he had been rather well behaved today... after he'd finally gotten home. It was Mikey who had well and truly tried everyone's patience, not just mine and Raph's. Master Splinter had walked out almost upon learning of Maggie's existence. Something that, had I realized it was an option, I would have probably joined him in. Even Don's patience had been pushed in the attempt to clean up Satan's poodle. Don't tell Mikey I called her that though.

Raphael walked away without a word. He rarely told us where he was going, but I had no doubt that he was headed back to Casey's. To be perfectly honest about it, after today, I'm not sure I would have said no to a strong drink. I sighed as he walked away from us. Don and Mikey either didn't notice or didn't think much of Raph leaving again. His going off like this bothered me more than I would ever say, but I pushed it out of my mind for the time being.

I knew that I would be searching relentlessly for lost dog signs that could be referring to Maggie over the next few days. If we couldn't find this thing's home, I had a feeling that it would find itself adopted into ours, and I didn't want that at all. Maggie was still wearing the tutu, yellow ribbons and matching ninja mask. Personally, I couldn't figure out why the monster had not yet managed to worm its way out of them.

We had been sitting on that rooftop for some time after Raphael left when Donatello did something that scared me more than anything in recent history. He did something that made being surrounded by the Foot Elite, Mystics, Hun, Shredder, the Purple Dragons and any other foes who might be on the prowl seem like a day at the beach by comparison. Maggie had escaped Michelangelo's grasp and had pranced her way over to our purple masked brother, and Don hadn't chased her off. In fact, he reached out and pet her on the head. Maggie took that as an invitation and moved closer to him, apparently having had enough of Mikey for a while. What truly frightened me was that Don didn't object, he just let her stay! I was frankly as terrified as I had ever been. I could just see it becoming progressively more difficult to get rid of flea-bag. I pulled my shell cell from my belt.

(Raphael's POV)

From: SwordBoy cell
Saturday 10:15 pm
12-3-05
Think I can come with you and Casey 2nite? Don's playing with the dog! O.O -Leo

No way that was ever going to happen. I went out with Casey in big part to get away from ol' Fearless. There was just no way he was coming along. He would just put a major damper on the evening. In fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to dignify his request with a response, though I could understand if he felt a need to get very, very drunk at the moment. Getting the dog out when Mikey liked it while the rest of us stood as a united front would be difficult enough, but if Don was going over to the dark side and playing with the dog then it would just made things that much harder.

All the same, we had bigger fish to fry at the moment. We still had to deal with the missing leader of the trio that had attacked Casey... and that infernal beeping, what was that noise anyway?

"Hey, Case, wasn't there another of of these bozos?" I asked as I reinstated my search for the beeping.

"Uh... Yeah, yeah there were. Where'd he go?" Casey was also looking for the source of the noise. "Uh, Raph?"

I moved to see what Casey was looking at. A red '00:00:30' was illuminated on the box emitting the noise.

"What do ya suppose it does?" Casey asked as the '30' switched to a '29' then a '28'.

"I dunno, but I don't wanna be here when the time comes to find out." I was mentally counting down as I raced for the exit. I could feel Casey close behind me. Now, maybe if Donnie was here he could have turned the thing off, but he wasn't here so run it was. I leapt through the window and bounded to the rooftop and across to the next one. Casey managed to stay hot on my heels the whole way. Amazing what 'run for your life' instincts can do for that man.

I continued counting down until I got to zero, at that moment we were on the next rooftop and behind a concrete barrier... nothing happened. I began counting up. 1... 2... 3...

"Maybe it wasn't a bomb." Casey suggested, and I had to admit that I was almost inclined to agree.

8... 9... 10... "I still ain't gonna go back in there just yet." 13... 14... 15

Still mildly worried about his home, and the fact that he still didn't have on nearly enough clothing to be considered 'decent' by New York City human standards, Casey finally brought conversation back to what had to be done.

"Hotshot got away." I said shortly. "What happened back there?"

Casey filled me on the part of the attack that I had missed, and it seemed that I would be calling Leo back after all. I wasn't gonna invite him for a night on the town; not that I really believed it was what he wanted anyway. A good mystery, like that of Casey's little attack here would be much more his style. This wasn't exactly something that could be explained using a text message, but I didn't want to try to explain on the phone either. I sent another text message.

Got a problem here, can you all meet me at April's? And leave the dog at home. -Raph

When I looked back toward Casey, I couldn't help but notice that Scooby had begun 'shaking in fear'. I might be used to running around New York City at night in naught but a belt and pads, but Casey sure wasn't used to running around the city in his skivvies.

"Raph, come on, if it hasn't blown up yet, it probably ain't gonna."

"You wanna take that chance? Come on."

"Where're we goin'?" Casey asked as he self-consciously followed me along the roofs.

"April's, to meet the guys."

"APRIL'S?" Casey shouted in horror.

I couldn't help but chuckle at Casey's discomfort, though having the ol' boy show up at April's in his undies would probably be a bit uncomfortable for both of them. "I'll go in first and getcha a towel or whateva." I offered. Casey grumbled something at me that I didn't quite make out, and it was probably better that way.

(Michelangelo's POV)

How Raphael could possibly disapprove of Maggie's presence at April's apartment, I will never know! She's such a good baby. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Leo was rather relieved as well, and even Donnie seemed pleased to have her gone. How anyone could not immediately fall in love with that adorable face is quite beyond me, but all the same, Maggie was at home, locked in my room, the poor dear. But c'est la vie, looked like it was business time with what Raph was telling us. Something about baddies and bars and bombs... or not.

"A not-bomb?" I asked as they got to the end of the story. "And why is Casey wearing nothing but a towel? And why pink?"

Now, I hadn't really expected a response to this, but I tell you what, Casey Jones can BLUSH! In fact, his face was suddenly brighter than his towel!

"What's the matter, Casey?" Don asked, noticing the look on the man's face. "You wouldn't have anything embarrassing on under that towel, would you?"

When Casey blushed even harder, if that was possible, I decided that my life's mission would be to find out what was under that towel, sooner or later. Quite possibly I was focused on my plans for this for a little too long as the next thing I knew, one of my brothers was calling my name. It was Donnie, from the window. Time to move. I rather got the impression that someone, probably multiple someones, had been saying something that I probably should have been listening to, but it was too late now. Don't get me wrong, the not-bomb thingie in Casey's home was a big deal and all. I was more than willing to help out when the time came, but at the moment I had more important things to worry about... like finding out what was under that towel!

I hurried to the window and followed Donnie out onto the fire escape.

(Donatello's POV)

Now, I had seen people blush in the past, April has a very cute blush, but I didn't know humans could turn that many colors until I saw Casey blush that second time.

"Maybe it was just a dud?" Leo asked, referring to the 'not-bomb'. That was one explanation, unfortunately several others also came to mind. I pulled myself back to the conversation around me as Leo brought us back to the business at hand. That's our Leo, always on task and trying to keep us there too.

"That's possible." I agreed. "Or, perhaps it was never meant to explode." And this is where my entire family turns, most of them looking at me as though I have grown a second head. I could almost hear the unspoken 'it's a bomb, of course it was meant to explode'. It takes all I have to suppress the sigh I can feel building in my chest.

"There are any number of things that timer could have been counting down to." I explained, hoping to dissuade them of the idea that all bombs must blow things into a fiery oblivion. "An explosion is very messy and in a populated building like Casey lives in, it would really stand out."

"Not that the guns didn't." Raphael added. Well, ok, maybe he does have a point.

All the same, I did sigh this time. I just couldn't help it. There was a difference between eliminating a target with a bunch of bullets and taking out an entire building for one guy. Why didn't Raphael understand that?

"But it would make more sense to leave the building intact." Leo put in. "A random shooting in New York City isn't going to garner the attention that a bombed building would."

"Exactly," I agreed, "so it probably was a bomb, just not an explosive, maybe some sort of gas. Perhaps something inconspicuous like carbon monoxide. All they'd have to do is return later and remove the device. It would look like there had just been a gas leak."

"Which means they'll probably be back." Leo finished for me.

I couldn't help but point out that it was only one possibility and that the gas may be something far less common to normal households. It could be cyanide, sulfur dioxide (Wouldn't that be fun? Suffocate on the smell of rotten eggs before it has the chance to actually poison you) or any other sort of lethal gas. Just about anything odorless, colorless, tasteless and, of course, poisonous would do, and it fell to me to figure out what might have been in that gas bomb, or if it had just been a dud, or if it was something else entirely. I wasn't completely sure I could detect some of the weirder potential poisons, but the most likely culprits were definitely detectable. I voiced this and my reservations to the plan, but Leo and everyone else took them in stride. I know they trust me when it comes to this sort of thing, but sometimes I can't help but wonder if they just don't understand just how potentially dangerous some of what I suggest and point out really is. This time though... I'm pretty sure they understand. The kind of guns that Casey and Raph described were some serious hardware, and it would stand to reason that a bomb from the same group would be equally deadly.

"Alright then." Leo said in his rally the troops tone. "Let's go." He climbed out the window with Raph and Casey right behind him.

Mikey hadn't moved and seemed lost in thought as I made my way through the window. I hesitated half way through and called back to him. Anytime Mikey is lost in thought, something is going to happen to someone, and this time I had a hunch that it was Casey who would find himself at my crazy brother's mercy. Another hunch said that Mikey REALLY wanted to know what was under that towel. We should probably find Casey some clothes somewhere before we go too far.

"Hey, Mikey! Are you coming or not?

Alright, I'm done! Time for the next victim to take the Reins! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)