AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. There may be some moments were chapters may be delayed, but I will do my best to get them done and published every weekend or at least every fortnight. I thank you for your patience and hope you enjoy this chapter.
In some kind of misty darkly lit part of the sewer, Leatherhead emerged from the water.
In another part of the sewer, Danielle was just walking down the pathway.
LEATHERHEAD: We spend all our lives, building walls to keep us safe. But the walls do not work, when the enemy is within.
Suddenly two shadowy figures appears behind both Dani and Leatherhead, causing them to gasp in fright. Leatherhead tries to swim away from his, but it jumps right on top and tackles him deep under the water.
Danielle tried to fly away, but the shadowy figure quickly catches up and grabs onto her, forcing her to land roughly on the ground and she begins to struggle against her assailant.
DANIELLE: When you are defenceless, the enemy shows itself. And he or she, is a monster.
The shadow kicks Leatherhead right out of the water and sends him crashing into the roof. Danielle manages to break free and catches up with Leatherhead. They both run away from the shadows, trying to escape but found their paths blocked by the gates and they can't open it.
The turn around and shout in fear of the shadows, "No! Get back! / Stay away!"
DANIELLE AND LEATHERHEAD: It is our fate that the thing we fear the most, is the thing we carry deep within ourselves.
The shadowy figures reveal themselves to be angry, monstrous versions of themselves as they attack.
HUNTED
Danielle and Leatherhead were in Master Splinter's room, sharing a pot of tea together. Splinter poured the hot drink in Leatherhead's and Danielle's cups before pouring some in his own. Jazz had moved out of the lair a few days ago and was finally settling into April's apartment.
"I can't tell you what a welcome relief it is to be amongst friends." Leatherhead said gratefully. "Master Splinter, your hospitality knows no bounds."
"I can't thank you enough either for letting me stay here as well sensei." Danielle said with a small smile.
Splinter smiled at them both and said, "You're both welcome to live here with us, as long as you wish."
The sliding door then opened and Leo was the first one to ask as he held two bamboo sticks, "Danielle, could you help me practice my sparring?"
Donnie then entered and asked while holding a tool in his hands, "Hey LH, can you help me with this hydro-compressor I'm working on?"
Raph was the next one, "Croc-man! Wrestle re-match!"
Danny was the next one, "Hey Dani, how about we work more on your powers and then a round of DOOM?"
Mikey was the last as he presented a comic book, "Danielle, Leatherhead, the new issue of Justice Force vs Team Solaris just came out! I'll let you two read it."
With a slight chuckle, Master Splinter said still smiling, "As you can see, we all enjoy your company….perhaps a little too much."
Leatherhead and Danielle smiled at the group, but Leatherhead suddenly felt something break in his hand. He turned to see he accidentally smashed the cup he had into pieces.
"Master Splinter….." Leatherhead began to apologise, but when he turned his tail accidentally knocked over the teapot and also smashed it as well. "I'm sorry! I…I didn't mean to…"
Dani placed a hand on his shoulders to try and keep him calm, but Raph came up and joked, "Just like a giant croc in a China shop."
Dani suddenly growled as her eyes glowed green. She suddenly stood up and held up her hand at Raph to tell him off, but suddenly an ecto-blast shot right out of her hand without her meaning to and Raph quickly ducked as the blast headed straight for where his head was and ended up hitting the wall behind him.
Dani gasped in shock and looked at her hand fearfully. She looked back up at Raph with tears and suddenly fled the room.
"Good thing turtles are good at ducking their heads down." Raph joked lightly.
Leatherhead's eyes suddenly changed and he shoved Raph back as he snapped, "That was not funny you know! I did not mean to break it and Dani didn't mean to fire that blast!"
"Woah! Leatherhead I was just joking." Raph said, trying to calm his friend down.
"Everything is not a joke! We're not jokes! WE'RE NOT JOKES!" Leatherhead roared and then ripped the sliding doors wider as he walked off in anger.
Danny and the Turtles looked to where the two had left. Donnie then asked, "Is it just me or did Leatherhead and Danielle overreact to those jokes just a little bit?"
"I don't know, but there's something going on. I mean Leatherhead has always had better control over his animal instincts and Dani's control over her powers seems to be off lately, ever since we rescued them from Bishop." Danny answered.
"Come on. We better go see what we can do." Leo said.
They all stood behind the lounge chairs and pillars, watching as Dani sat in front of the now calm Leatherhead with her head resting on her arms and knees. Leatherhead was fixing the tea cup in his hands, looking down in shame.
Raph then slowly walked up to them and began to apologise, "Uh Dani, LH? I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to….."
Leatherhead cut in though and said, "No friend. I'm sorry. My temper has become so much worse, since the tortures I endured in Agent Bishop's laboratory."
"Me too Raph. I'm sorry as well." Danielle said, lifting her head and wiping the tears from her eyes. "I could've really hurt you there, but my control over my powers has been bad since Bishop's experiments."
Raph gave Danielle a hug first and then patted Leatherhead on the shoulder as he said, "It's okay. I understand. You know, some guys say I have a little problem keeping my cool."
Leatherhead smiled a little bit and so did Dani, knowing that Raph had a short temper. Mikey then began to comment, "Yeah you do Raph. But man! Leatherhead and Danielle were like a couple of raging Wolverines with a….."
Leo slapped Mikey on the head with a frown, causing the orange mask-wearing turtle to yelp and rub his head.
Dani looked down at her hands and said, "For some reason, my powers have become more powerful and hard to control. It's like….my emotions have been connected to them and I get angry, it spirals out of control. It has to be something Agent Bishop had done to me when I was….well….I won't go into details."
"Danielle is right." Leatherhead said, sharing Danielle's feelings. "I too seem to have no control over my temper. Whatever Bishop did in his genetics laboratory, it is like a part of me is separated from my mind. My animal side grows stronger. I am sorry. I do not know what to do."
"It's going to be okay guys. We'll work through it." Leo said, kneeling down beside them.
"We'll work through it. Everything is going to be alright." Danny assured them.
"Except for that teapot." Mikey said.
Donnie flicked Mikey in the forehead and then Danny yanked Mikey's head back his mask hard, causing him to yelp in pain again.
"WHAT?!" Mikey whined.
In the sewer tunnels, the rats surrounded a footprint left by Leatherhead and a pair of footprints left by Danielle. The rats then ran off as they could hear footsteps approaching the area.
A man wearing a hat and a moustache looked down at the large footprint and spoke with an Australian accent, "Well, well, well. Looks like we came to the right place."
Another figure then entered the scene. This one wore a brown trench coat, a white shirt with a black tie, black pants and black business shoes. He pulled out a scanner and scanned Danielle's footprint, it beeped in a green light.
"Definitely. Looks like you can believe everything you read in the papers." The man said as he pulled out a couple of ripped newspaper clippings that read Giant crocs roam sewer and Ghost's in New York!
The name of the Australian man was Bruce and the name of the man in the trench coat was Tristian. Both of them had the same occupation. Hunters and were both interested in Leatherhead and Danielle.
Standing in between the two was a robot on wheels and in Bruce's hand was a high tech rifle gun. The man grabbed the ammunition from the robot and placed it onto his gun as he said, "Now, let's get Betsy here geared up for the game eh?"
With his rifle loaded, Bruce was definitely ready. Tristian reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a gun, only this one was more advanced than Bruce's and he placed glowing green bullets inside.
"Let the hunt begin." Both Bruce and Tristian said with grins of anticipation.
Master Splinter watched the news as the Mayor of New York handed keys to the city to both Oroku Saki and Vlad Masters as the man reported, "And in a ceremony today, the Mayor gave the keys to the city to our newest heroes. Entrepreneur and inventors Vlad Masters and Oroku Saki has pledged their time and unlimited funds to help rebuild our fair town. With friends like Oroku Saki and Vlad Masters, New York City will be back to her full glory in no time at all."
The old mutant rat glared at the smiling men on the television, knowing them better than anyone else. There was no way their enemies would willingly help others unless it was for their own personal gain. The question is, what were their true intentions?
It was now the middle of the night. Everyone was sleeping in their beds. Raph snored and scratched his head as he slept in his hammock bed, Donnie and Leo lightly snored in their rooms as they slept, Danny rolled slightly before remaining still once more and Mikey mumbled as he scratched his head and rolled over.
In the living room, Danielle was lying down on a mattress and Leatherhead was sleeping on the fold out bed of the couch. Suddenly both of them began to groan and toss and turn in their sleep, as nightmares began to plague their minds.
INSIDE DANIELLE'S HEAD
Danielle found herself in the darkness. She looked around and couldn't see anyone anywhere. There was only her and her only.
"Hello?" She called out. "Danny? Leo? Master Splinter? Raph? Mikey? Donnie? Leatherhead? Anybody?"
There was nothing but silence after her echoes had died down. But then suddenly, all around only one word could be heard…..
"FREAK!"
Dani gasped at the word. She spun her head around trying to find the source.
"MISTAKE!"
She kept looking around, trying to find the voices. But the words continued to come.
"MONSTER!"
"SOMEONE OUGHT TO DISSECT HER!"
"DESTROY THE CLONE!"
"DESTROY!"
Suddenly she found herself surrounded by Bishop, Shredder and Plasmius. All three of them suddenly punched and kicked her, sending her flying across the room. She crashed into something and fell to her knees.
She turned around and suddenly gasped as she saw…..herself! Standing before her was herself in her ghost form, her eyes glowing a pupiless red.
Bishop, Plasmius and Shredder then appeared and all three of them ordered, "Destroy her!"
The second Danielle smirked and suddenly, fired a deadly ecto blast straight at her chest….
INSIDE LEATHERHEAD'S HEAD
"Leatherhead!"
A deep eerie voice called out, waking the mutant crocodile up. He found himself in a green-lit, misty, version of the lair. There were graves, a rickety fence, a fire place, moss and the ground was cracked. Truly, it looked like a terrible, horrifying place.
He sat up and looked around as the voices continued to repeat, "You are a monster! A monster! A monster!"
"Where am I? What's happening?" Leatherhead asked, truly horrified by the scene.
He suddenly heard a spine chilling laughter behind him and turned to see it was a monstrous version of Bishop, holding a gun in his hand. He heard more laughter and gasped to see also the Shredder, Stockman, Plasmius, Bishop and Danny and the Turtles!
He held his pillow like a shield and pleaded with fear, "Stay away!"
Leatherhead ran as Bishop fired his gun, the bullet hitting the pillow instead. Shredder came up to him and punched him right in the gut, sending him into the arms of Stockman who held him still as Plasmius then blasted him with an ecto-blast, sending him falling to his knees.
Donnie then attacked him with his staff, he threw the table at Leo but the sword wielding ninja turtle merely cut the table in half with only one of his swords before running up and kicking Leatherhead towards Danny who froze his feet in place before punching him right in the face. Raph laughed as he then slapped him to the ground.
Mikey hovered over him laughing as he said spinning his nunchuck, "Wake up Leatherhead. You and Danielle are having nightmares."
Mikey then hit Leatherhead with his weapon…..
Leatherhead and Danielle woke up from their nightmares, but their eyes were different. Danielle's were now a pupiless green as she changed into her ghost form and grabbed Danny by the neck and held him against the pillar.
Leatherhead's eyes were now slits as he growled and grabbed the real Mikey's wrist.
"Guys! Wake up!" Mikey called out.
"Danielle….stop!" Danny chocked as Danielle began to squeeze.
Leatherhead held Mikey over his head in his arms. Mikey tried once again, "It's me Mikey!"
"Danielle! It's just me! Danny! Wake up!" Danny tried.
Suddenly Danielle threw Danny to the ground and before he could react, she fired a powerful blast hitting him right in the back causing him to scream in pain before falling unconscious. Smoke came from his back as there was now a hole in his shirt and a burn began to form.
"DANNY!" Mikey shouted, but Leatherhead roared as he slammed Mikey right onto the ground knocking him out.
Leatherhead roared and then suddenly, Danielle's and Leatherhead's eyes changed back to normal as they fully woke up and saw the damage they had done to Mikey and Danny.
"Oh my gosh! Danny! No!" Danielle screamed as she changed back into her human form and knelt beside Danny.
She saw the burn mark and screamed, not wanting to touch him. Tears began to fall down her face as she saw what she done.
Leatherhead looked at Mikey and held him in his arms as he said with regret, "What have I done?! Michelangelo! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"Michelangelo! Danny! My brothers! My sons!" The voices of Leo, Raph, Donnie and Master Splinter could be heard as they were woken up by the noise and could see their family members hurt.
They were about to go and help, but Splinter held them back for a moment and asked the two, "Leatherhead, Danielle, what happened?"
"We did this. We're monsters! Nothing but horrible monsters! Don't come near me! I don't want to hurt any more of you!" Danielle shouted as she ran from them and headed to the sewer tunnels.
"She's right. Stay back and keep away from me! I'm not safe! Not safe! I'M A MONSTER!" Leatherhead shouted as he too followed Dani into the sewer tunnels.
Donnie held Danny in his arms, while checking his back. Raph in the meantime held Mikey and pleaded, "Mikey! Oh no! Danny come on! Say something."
Mikey suddenly smirked and said, "I guess I'm lucky you didn't give me mouth to mouth."
Raph groaned and dropped Mikey as he said annoyed, "He's fine."
"OW!" Mikey said rubbing his head.
Danny groaned as he woke up. The burn already started to slowly heal. Donnie asked as he helped him stand, "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine. Just need to cool the burn more to help heal it." Danny answered, reaching his arm back and creating a thin layer of ice to the burn to help cool it down.
"Will someone please tell me what happened?" Splinter asked as Mikey stood up.
"Leatherhead and Danielle were having nightmares. Mikey and I came out to check up on them, when they suddenly went nuts and attacked us." Danny explained. "They must've been still asleep somehow."
"Where are they? We gotta see if they're okay." Mikey asked.
"They disappeared into the sewers." Leo answered.
"I think they think that you two are…you know." Donnie said, not wanting to say the word.
Danny and Mikey got the idea and Mikey said, "Ah man! Poor Leatherhead and Danielle."
"They both must be pretty angry with themselves." Danny said, looking down.
"We gotta find them and let them know both Mikey and Danny are okay." Raph said.
"Yes, but be careful." Splinter warned. "There are parts of their nature they can no longer control. Particularly Leatherhead. He may see you as brothers or as enemies and Danielle's powers are growing stronger that they have become connected to her emotions. She may accidentally attack without meaning to."
Danielle collapsed from exhaustion as she and Leatherhead walked down the sewer tunnels. Leatherhead picked her up and carried her. She covered her eyes and began to cry, "I can't believe I did that….I….I'm…..I'm nothing but a monster created from a lab."
"I know how you feel young one. I too am a savage. A horrible monster." Leatherhead said in sadness. "There can be no home for me."
The two were unaware that the hunters were not far behind. They stopped to inspect the tracks left behind by Dani and Leatherhead.
"Incredible! This ain't no ordinary croc. This thing is walking on two legs." Bruce said, amazed by the discovery.
Tristian once again scanned the footprint and then noticed a long piece of black hair left by Dani. He placed it on his scanner and his eyes widened as the results showed.
"This is not just a ghost I'm hunting. This hair indicates that what I'm hunting is half-ghost, half-human. I don't believe it! If I capture her alive, this will the scientific discovery of the century." Tristian said in awe.
Bruce turned to the robot on wheels and commanded, "Amelia, deploy sentries."
The robot beeped in response and with its robotic arm, throwing high tech sensors and cameras around the tunnel. Bruce said as he activated them and made them hide in the darkness, "We better watch our backs. We don't want that croc and ghost sneaking up behind us."
Tristian nodded and added his own touch of technology. He threw small discs on the pipes and activated a cloaking mechanism to hide them as he explained, "These will pick up an ecto-signatures following us."
With that, they continued on their way down the tunnels. A few minutes later, Danny and the Turtles caught up to where Bruce and Tristian were last following the tracks. They looked down at the tracks and Raph said, "It's definitely Leatherhead and Danielle's footprints."
Danny looked at the bigger footprints and said, "And I don't think they're alone. These footprints don't belong to either of them. Looks like they're being followed by a couple of people."
"Who could be down here?" Leo wondered.
"I don't like this." Donnie said, getting a bad feeling.
"We better stick to the shadows." Leo said.
Mikey struck a pose as he said, "We can do that. We're ninjas, remember?"
As they continued on, using the shadows, they were unaware that the sensors and cameras picked up on them, alerting Bruce and Tristian of their presence.
Bruce looked down at his watch, showing the inferred images of Danny and the Turtles running past.
"What's this? Five more creatures prowling in the sewers?" Bruce said in wonder.
"And my sensors indicate one of them is definitely another ghost." Tristian reported.
"Looks like this is turning into the hunt of the century. Let's go and check it out." Bruce said and they all headed back down through another tunnel.
They stopped to see the Turtles and Danny's footprints. Bruce was amazed by the scene and said, "Woah! These certainly aren't croc tracks. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."
Tristian immediately scanned Danny's footprints and grinned at the results. He stood up and said, "What do you know? Another half-human, half-ghost. This is definitely turning out to be our lucky day here Bruce. One halfa to experiment on and one to hang up in my trophy room."
"I couldn't agree more with you Tristian. Which means this calls for something a little extra special." Bruce said, turning to Amelia. "Amelia, what do we have that will do the job and still enough of the animal to stuff and mount on the wall?"
He put his hand in Amelia's storage and pulled out a circular device and said with a grin, "This might work."
Tristian reached into his bag and began looking around for something to capture Danny. He grinned as he found something and said, "This may help as well."
Danny and the Turtles continued to follow the tracks. Mikey then suggested, "Danielle might be flying or something since we haven't seen any more of her footprints yet. Leatherhead's tracks are faint, but whoever these dudes that are following them are, they're sure easy to track."
"Yeah. Almost a little too easy." Donnie commented.
Raph walked to the side and suddenly, crossed a laser which immediately activates a trap. Several poles appeared out of the ground in front of them and began firing right at them. They pulled out their weapons and began deflecting the shots. Suddenly more poles appeared from behind them and began firing at them.
Danny turned and formed a shield, blocking the shots from behind. Leo then ordered, "Let's take these things out!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Raph agreed and immediately took action.
He leapt and threw his sais at a couple of the poles, destroying them immediately. Leo and Danny sliced them in half with their swords, while Mikey and Donnie took out the ones firing behind them.
"Woah! What were those things?" Mikey asked.
"More importantly. What were they doing there?" Donnie asked as they began walking through the shallow sewer water.
"Whoever's tracking Leatherhead and Danielle, they're playing for keeps." Leo said.
As they walked down the tunnel, Raph suddenly stopped as he saw mines in the water. He then began to warn, "Guys be careful! This tunnel is loaded with…."
Leo suddenly felt he stepped on something and suddenly froze with horror as he realised what he just stepped onto. Raph finished, "Mines."
They all looked in fear as it began to beep, knowing that if Leo moved his foot, the mine would go off and it was goodbye Leonardo.
As Leo remained as still as possible, making sure to keep his foot on the mine, he berated himself, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I can't believe I stepped on a mine."
"That makes two of us." Raph commented.
"Donnie, any way of deactivating it?" Danny asked.
Donnie pulled out his staff and a shuriken as he said, "Okay, this is going to take a steady hand, a great sense of timing and a whole lot of luck."
He handed the staff to Mikey and they both walked over to Leo. Donnie bent down and placed the shuriken in position near the mine. He then instructed Mikey, "Mikey, the bo staff and hold the top end of it."
Mikey did what he was told and held the top end of the staff, while Donnie held the bottom and placed it on top of the shuriken. He then instructed Leo, "Leo, step off after three. One, two, three!"
Leo took his foot off as Donnie quickly slid the shuriken onto the mine and when it didn't go off, it meant his plan worked. He stood up and stepped back a bit with Leo as he told Mikey, "Mikey, keep constant pressure on that bo staff."
Mikey did what he was told and then asked, "Okay. Now what?"
Donnie smirked as he began walking away with Leo, Raph and Danny and joked, "Now Leo, Raph, Danny and I go get some lunch."
Mikey's eyes widened as she shouted with panic looking at the staff and the mine, "Guys! Don't leave me here. Guys! It's not funny!"
Knowing they had enough messing with their brother, Leo said, "I'll get him."
Leo went back over, being careful not to step on any more of the mines and grabbed onto the staff. He then told his younger brother, "Go on Mikey. I'll be right behind you."
Mikey nodded and went back over to Raph, Danny and Donnie, all of them taking cover for when the mines went off. Leo took a deep breath and launched into action, he flipped using the staff and threw the mine in the air. It immediately exploded, causing the rest to explode as Leo ran. Danny grabbed him and pulled him behind the broken pillar taking cover as the last of the mines exploded.
They came out and looked at where the mines once stood. Raph then said, "Next time Leo, watch where you put those big feet of yours."
"What kind of whack-bag would leave mines in a sewer?" Mikey asked.
Donnie narrowed his eyes and answered, "The kind of whack-bag that knows he's being followed."
They continued on down through the tunnels, carefully watching out for any kind of trap. Danny didn't know he stepped on a small button and suddenly before he knew it, a glowing blue net suddenly sprang underneath him and trapped him in the air.
"DANNY!" Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey all shouted.
Danny tried to phase through the net, but only to end up getting an electric shock.
"Darn it! This thing is ghost proof!" Danny grunted in pain from the shock.
Suddenly more poles came out and began firing blue lasers as Danny. Danny moved as best he could in the net to dodge each shot, but one of them grazed his arm causing him to yelp in pain. He looked to see smoke coming from the mark where the laser hit him.
Donnie and Mikey immediately began to take out the lasers, while Leo and Raph used their weapons to cut Danny free from the net. Danny climbed out of the net and shouted, "EVERYONE DUCK!"
The Turtles all ducked as Danny charged up his sword with his ecto-energy and spun around, creating an energy strike taking out the rest of the lasers completely destroying them. Danny stopped, placed his sword back in its scabbard and changed back into his human form.
"Donnie is right. These whack-bags aren't messing around and know we're following them." Danny said.
Danielle and Leatherhead sat down at a dead end of a sewer, weeping in sorrow of their actions. Unaware that the hunters were drawing closer.
"I shouldn't even have been created. I'm just a mistake. A clone mistake with these….I hurt Danny. Something I swore I would never do again." Dani cried, burying her head in her knees as her tears continued to fall.
"Michelangelo. How could I have hurt him? It's all too horrible! What have I become?!" Leatherhead cried, gripping his head.
The scene of both Danny and Mikey lying on the ground dead kept playing in their minds as the same word spoken by Bishop repeated in their heads, "You are a monster / Monster! / Freak of nature."
"I'm a monster! I AM A MONSTER!" Leatherhead roared as he slammed his hands onto the ground and continued to weep.
Bruce and Tristian came round the corner and aimed their weapons at both Leatherhead and Danielle, finally ready to bring the hunt to an end. They both noticed them and then Leatherhead was the first to speak, "Good! Whoever you are, I'm glad you found me. A monster such as myself, deserves to be hunted and destroyed! Oblivion would be a welcomed outcome to such a grotesque life!"
Danielle then didn't even bother to look at Tristian as she said, "Just do it already. I won't resist. I don't care whether you decide to destroy or take me to a lab to experiment on me. After what I've done, I don't deserve to remain in this world anymore."
"We are going to be famous girls, Tristian! We got ourselves a talking croc and a half-ghost." Bruce said, eager than ever.
"I know and you know what, once we bag those other four creatures and their halfa friend, we are going to be superstars." Tristian said, sharing Bruce's enthusiasm.
Dani's and Leatherhead's eyes widened as they mentioned them and realised, they were talking about Danny and the Turtles. They were also going to hunt down their friends.
They both stood up as they said, "Our friends? Hurt our friends?!"
Dani's eyes changed to a pupiless green and she screamed as she changed into her ghost form and tackled Tristian to the ground, lighting ecto-energy into her hands. Leatherhead roared as his eyes changed into slits and he charged at Bruce, ripping the gun from his hands and began biting down on it to destroy it.
"No Betsy!" Bruce called out to his precious weapon and immediately pressed a button on his watch.
The gun let of an electrical charge, hitting Leatherhead hard until he fell unconscious. Dani's eyes changed back to normal as she turned and saw Leatherhead.
"Leatherhead no!" She cried out, Tristian took the chance and pulled out a high tech taser, hitting it into Danielle's stomach.
She screamed at the pain from the shock, before she was forced to change back into her human form and fell unconscious falling to the ground besides the ghost hunter. Tristian stood up and said, "That'll keep you from using your powers for a couple of hours girly."
Bruce picked up the gun and rubbed it as he said, "You okay Betsy? You gave him a nasty shock didn't you girl? That's my good girl."
"It seems those other creatures and the halfa are friends of these two." Tristian said.
Bruce grinned as an idea formed in his head, "Sounds like a perfect opportunity. We better hang these two where their mates are sure to find them. Amelia, Betsy, Tristian and I would love to witness such a touching reunion."
Danny and the Turtles continued to walk through the tunnels, watching everywhere for any more surprises from Tristian and Bruce. They came to a stop as they saw ahead were a bunch of lasers, crisscrossing each other.
Donnie picked up a pebble and threw it at the lasers to see what would happen, the pebble hit the laser and immediately became dust.
"Just one false move…" Donnie began and Mikey finished, "And it's mutant flambé."
Raph then decided to joke, "Can't be any worse than Big Feet Leonardo of the land mines."
Leo crossed his arms and growled at Raph for that joke. Raph nudged him and said, "Just kidding bro. Why don't you go first?"
Leo smiled and said, "My pleasure."
Leo expertly got past the lasers doing only two flips and landed safely on the other side, without even touching a single one of the deadly trap.
His brother applauded him as Danny commented, "Nicely done bro."
"Come on." Leo said.
He watched as his brothers used the same tactic as he did, also making it across the other side swiftly and safely. Leo clapped as he said, "Show-offs."
Above the swirling whirlpool where they had fought against the Foot Tech Ninjas for the very first time, they looked from their hiding place as Leatherhead and Danielle were tied together, dangling upside down and were still unconscious.
"What the shell?" Danny and Leo said.
"Come on! We gotta get them down from there." Raph said.
They jumped out and landed on the bridge and began making their way towards Leatherhead and Dani to free them. All of them were unaware that Tristian and Bruce were aiming their weapons right at Mikey and Danny first to take them out once and for all.
"Look what our baits bought in. Seems we'll be adding giant turtles and a half-ghost boy to our trophy room." Bruce commented.
"It's time to end this hunt once and for all." Tristian said as they prepared to fire the deadly blasts.
Leo could sense their presence and turned his head to see them aiming their weapons for Mikey and Danny.
"NO!" Leo shouted as he grabbed Danny and Mikey and pulled them both out of the way just as the two hunters fired their weapons.
The shots missed and they all charged at the hunters. The two began to fire their weapons at them, each of them dodging the shots. Leo kicked Bruce, causing the shot to hit Amelia the robot.
"AMELIA!" Bruce shouted as he fell and accidentally let off another shot, this one cutting the rope and sending both Leatherhead and Dani into the waters below.
Danny and Leo both tackled Bruce and Tristian. Mikey then shouted, "We gotta save Leatherhead and Dani!"
Mikey, Donnie and Raph dived into the water and grabbed onto Leatherhead and Danielle as they tried to swim against the powerful current caused by the giant fan below. Danny then head-butted Tristian before throwing Tristian down the bridge. He then snapped the weapon in half and threw it away before diving into the water to help the others. Leo shoved Bruce down into the bridge, his weapon hitting the metal causing it to go on the fritz as Leo dived into the water.
Leo and Danny held onto Dani and Leatherhead with the others and tried to swim against the current, but it was too strong and it was pulling them closer to the fan. Donnie and Danny then nodded at each other and swam closer to the fan. Danny created a long staff out of ice while Donnie pulled out his staff and they both drove it into the fan, they both held onto their staffs tightly as it broke them a bit, before finally they jammed up the blades and the fan stopped moving.
With the current now gone and the water now still, they swam Dani and Leatherhead back up the surface and laid them down on the floor. Leo then used his swords to cut their ropes and set them free.
Both Dani and Leatherhead coughed as they regained consciousness. They opened their eyes to not only see Raph, Donnie and Leo, but Mikey and Danny as well, alive and okay.
"Are you guys okay?" Mikey asked.
"Michelangelo! / Danny! / You're alright! / thank goodness!" They both cheered with relief and smiles as they hugged them both.
"We're okay guys." Danny said as he hugged Dani back.
"We're a pretty thick skinned bunch." Raph said as they helped the two stand back up.
Leatherhead and Dani's smiles dropped as they remembered Tristian and Bruce. Leatherhead began to warn, "You all must be careful. There's a couple of hunters and they…."
"We know. Let's just get you two out of here." Leo said, looking up at the bridge where Bruce and Tristian were last seen. "We'll deal with them."
They climbed up to the bridge and saw that Tristian and Bruce were gone, leaving nothing but their hat and trench coat.
"Looks like the big bad hunters up and skedaddled." Mikey guessed.
With that in mind, they began heading towards the exit. Only to find their paths were now blocked by Tristian and Bruce. Bruce aimed his now critically damaged weapon at them all and Tristian held up his own watch as it began to beep.
"Don't move! We finally got ya! You lot hurt Amelia and Betsy here, she's going critical." Bruce spoke as he and Tristian walked back onto the bridge. "She's not going to make it and she's taking us all with her. She's just that kind of girl."
"And this shall be my last gift to this world." Tristian said as he showed them his watch. "I've now overloaded my watch which will explode and take us all down. But I don't think we mind at all, do we Bruce?"
"Not at all mate. That's the hunt. Sometimes you get the croc and other times, the croc gets you." Bruce answered, showing that they both didn't care whether that they were going to die. "But it's a shame really. No-one will know that with our last breath, we hunted down seven of the most amazing creatures we have ever seen."
Leatherhead and Dani weren't going to let that happen. Dani changed into her ghost form while Leatherhead's eyes changed and he roared. They both grabbed Bruce and Tristian and jumped off the bridge with them.
"LEATHERHEAD! DANIELLE NO!" Danny and the Turtles all screamed as they watched them fall into the water and suddenly, the gun and the watch exploded, causing a huge wave.
Danny and the Turtles held onto the bars as the water splashed over them. When it all cleared, Danny asked, "Can anyone see Leatherhead or Danielle?"
"I don't see them." Raph answered as they looked around.
When a minute passed, they realised that Leatherhead and Dani weren't coming back. They all looked down in sadness as Donnie said, "They gave their lives to save ours."
Suddenly they heard Leatherhead speak as he climbed back up, with Dani now in her human form on his back, "Actually, that statement would be an error Donatello."
"That's unlike you Donnie." Dani commented as they climbed back onto the bridge and smiled at their friends.
Danny and the Turtles cheered, relieved that they would no longer be hunted down by Bruce and Tristian and that Leatherhead and Dani were alive and well. They left the area and once again began heading down the tunnels.
"Let's go home guys." Leo said.
Leatherhead and Dani stopped in their tracks, causing the others to stop. Leatherhead was the first to speak, "No. I cannot. I simple will not risking staying with you. My temper, my anger….What if I can't control it? What if had really hurt Michelangelo? Or worse?"
"I feel the same way guys. With my powers on the mend right now, I can't predict what may happen each time I get angry or upset. I almost killed you Danny!" Dani said, her fear rising.
"Danielle it's okay. I can help you." Danny said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I wasn't exactly in control with my powers, but I learned to control them with a lot of help from Master Splinter and my brothers and I know we can help you as well."
"The same goes for you Leatherhead. We'll help you." Donnie said, assuring him that he wasn't in this alone. "You'll learn how to control it. How to live with it."
"Yeah. I mean look at Mikey. He's learned to live with that face." Raph joked, earning a glare from his brother in the orange mask.
"I want to stay with you, but I cannot risk it." Leatherhead said.
Donnie then came up with an idea for Leatherhead and said, "You know, I think I have a solution."
A few moments later, they headed to a locked up section of the sewers. Donnie then asked Leatherhead, "Leatherhead, if you would do the honours?"
Leatherhead used his strength to rip up the gates off their hinges and threw it away. They all entered and found a huge space to what appeared to be an old train station.
"Where are we Donnie?" Leo asked.
"It's an abandoned train station from the 19th century." Donnie answered. "I found it on some archived blueprints I hacked off City Hall's computers. I was going to do something with it, so I figured this could be perfect for Leatherhead."
"It's beautiful." Leatherhead said in awe.
"Here you'll be three minutes away from the lair." Donnie said.
"And it'll give you a little space for you to work things out." Raph added.
"I don't know how to thank you." Leatherhead said, touched that his friends found him a home. He then turned to Danielle and offered, "If you want young one, you can stay with me."
Dani smiled at Leatherhead and said, "I think I might take you up on that offer, but just not right now."
"You're heading off again?" Donnie asked.
"Not for long. Just for a few weeks until I get my powers under control once more and then when I come back, I'll come and stay with Leatherhead." Dani answered. "I still to find my own path in life, but I want thank all of you."
"Yes. Thank you all again." Leatherhead said, showing gratitude to his friends.
"You don't have to thank us guys." Danny said. "Us mutants have got to stick together. As a family."
Leatherhead and Danielle smiled at them all as they agreed, "Yes. Family."
THE END
NEXT TIME ON DANNY PHANTOM AND THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES:
Nuclear bombs? Alien hate-groups? Casey's mother?! While picking apples in the woods where Casey's barn house is, Danny, Raph, Mikey and Donnie discover a plot that could mean the very end of New York City thanks to a group of an alien hate-group known as H.A.T.E (Humans Against The Extra-Terrestrial) and not only that, Leo and Master Splinter have to help April when Casey's mother comes to visit wanting to meet her son's fiancé. Will Danny, Raph, Mikey and Donnie stop H.A.T.E? Will April be able to stand Casey's mother? Find out next time on Danny Phantom and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in: H.A.T.E!