I'm so sorry! I implore your forgiveness! I tried everything I could whilst on vacation to get this up on time, but alas, my attempts were in vain.

Anyways, again, I have discovered another difficult chapter to write. But it must make it to paper!

(sighs) I can't think of any fun author comments today. Can you just deal with a 'hi, how are ya' and a 'I hope you enjoy'?

No? Oh… Sorry to disappoint. Maybe the chapter will make you feel better!

Here we have Leonardo. Betcha thought I was saving him for last, huh? Nope. But he's in for something that might be a bit worse than Raph's discovery…

Might. Might, I say! I don't know which is worse… (shudders)

Beta read by Janajyo.

Disclaimer: I am but an ant on the sole of the great shoe that is Eastman and Laird. I write stories, but I do not own the great TMNT dynasty.

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New York City. November 26, 2306 AD. 11:50 AM.

As the first of the monsters came at him, head-on at his chest, Leo instinctively crossed his katanas over his plastron to defend himself. Hitting them, his adversary dropped to the ground and immediately opened its mouth to nip at his right leg.

Getting him directly below the knee, Leo winced before sweeping one sword down and cutting into the skin of its hind. Growling, the creature backed off before trying to attack again.

This time, however, Leo was able to move away in time. As the first attacker shifted out of the picture for a moment, he turned his attention to the one that was left.

It was proving to be more cautious than the creature ahead of it. For this reason, it scared him the most.

Fear. That was definitely something that the ninja felt he was permitted to partake in at this point in time. But he'd long since learned not to show it, only to be aware of it, so he could control the outcome of the fight.

There was a reason for this; a feeling Leo was starting to get about these creatures. Like there was much more to them than met the eye- that they possibly shared the intelligence of which he and his brothers acted, but in a more dangerous way.

Yes, he wasn't just fighting an animal. With the battles he'd been in, the blue-clad turtle had learned to tell the difference between his enemies. This thing before him, as well as its ally, knew what they were doing.

Unlike an animal though, this one, at least, thought about its next move. It was cunning, and therefore had motives and desires for the closing of the combat. Yet, like the animal it appeared to be, those wishes were based more on bestial needs and the want of blood. The two thoughts conflicted to reside oddly harmoniously in one being.

It made it unpredictable.

And that's what made it frightening.

Somehow, he knew. These alien-like qualities spelled it out for him in his gut. They were Ardors.

Breaking himself away from this second one's penetrating gaze, he suddenly turned to block the first one's next attack.

But it had learned from its past experience. This time, the creature leaped farther upwards, mouth open and ready to clamp onto his head. Breathing in quickly, Leo dropped to his knees, avoiding it once more.

However, the minute he was down, its buddy was upon him. Landing on his shoulder, it brought one claw up before lowering it into the flesh of his right arm, raking it over his skin, just above the elbow.

Crying out once, Leo made a fist and connected it solidly to the thing's jaw. It let go, falling not too far from his body, instantly rising back to its feet.

Doing likewise, the teenager backed up a little, rubbing his knuckles for a second. He'd hit people and other beings before in hand-to-hand combat; after a while, it didn't really hurt.

But with this thing, he felt as if he'd just slammed his hand into a rock. It stung, but he didn't think anything was broken.

This is enough. Before he was going to fight these animals again, he was going to have a strategy. That required time to think one out, and with them attacking him in such a fierce and quick manner, he couldn't do that.

Therefore, it was time to run. Taking off unexpectedly, he turned the corner and ran as fast as he could. Soon, he came to a wall. There was a door.

End of the line. Paying no more attention to the animals behind him for now, Leo threw open the door and shut it behind him the minute he was inside. Almost instantly, he felt the weight of the things slam into it, rocking the door slightly.

Noticing a hinged lock, Leo closed it, sealing the entrance. Cautiously, he backed away, testing the lock's strength. When the Ardors hit the door again, it remained shut.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, the blue-banded ninja slowly began to back up, still not wanting to risk anything, as he sheathed his swords. As he did, he took in his surroundings, trying to put a name to the room, which seemed far too warm.

It smelled horrible, yet, oddly, familiar. He wanted to gag.

The floor and the walls around him were tiled; white and peach shades fading. Now, they were all mostly a rusted brown color. Left of the door, the room stretched on for about forty feet; there were five, small porthole-like windows looking outside. As he continued to move backwards, Leo noticed that there were a few, once white lawn-chairs in here, some overturned.

Suddenly realizing that this was an indoor pool, he decided he should probably turn around to make sure he didn't fall into what would inevitably be behind him.

Too late.

With his next pivoted step, his foot was plunged into the pool. Luckily for him, since he'd now realized what the room contained, he'd been focused enough to regain his balance.

But that wasn't what he was worried about. Taking three steps forward, figuring it was now probably better to keep his face ahead, he stared down wide-eyed at his left leg.

It was warm and sticky. What he had stepped into had been too thick to be clean, or even dirty pool water.

No, from the middle of his calf down to the sole of his foot, he was covered in blood.

Swallowing, Leo gagged. Here, the smell was at its worst.

Only then did he realize why it was so familiar. Every bathroom he'd been in so far had smelt exactly the same.

He hadn't dipped far into the pool. It had been filled, nearly to the brim. And Leo had no desire to see exactly how big it was.

What the hell is going on? He wondered, disgust filling him as he scanned the room, searching for any other clues besides what lay behind him.

Anything, as long as it wasn't behind him, though he knew that, before he left this room, he'd force himself to examine it.

Now, he noticed that not all of the tiling had that rust color. It was only in certain places; almost looking like the stroke of a paintbrush wielded by a small child, they seemed erratic, splattered here and there.

Only there was too much of it. Leo could now see that several battles, not just one, had taken place here, over the span of time. Whether that period had taken years, months, weeks, days, minutes, or seconds, he was unsure.

But he prayed it was the latter one.

Caught up in his thoughts, he suddenly realized he'd been neglecting the Ardors outside his door. They'd stopped pounding.

As if on cue, he picked up on noises coming from the circular windows. Scratching.

With a bang of its head, one of the creatures broke the weakened glass open, prying any remaining pieces away with a claw like they were but dandelions, ruining its lawn. That accomplished, it leapt into the room.

Seeing how its companion had done, the other followed suit, though it didn't care to take the time to remove stray fragments of glass. Once it was in, it sniffed the air and licked its lips.

Leo shook his head in disgust, carefully taking out his katanas once more. They truly were monsters.

This time, the ninja was the first to attack, a move that appeared to surprise the Ardors. Rushing at them, he swung one sword widely before them, just below their heads.

He hated to kill. But he feared that this time, if he didn't, he or his brothers would be the next casualties. From what he could tell, they were already on their list.

These creatures were faster than he could imagine. The second they saw the flash of steel coming closer, they'd gotten defensive, arches of their backs rising. Still, when they didn't move when he got closer, Leo was sure he was going to get them.

He'd thought wrong. Immediately, the two were out of his range, six feet away from him.

The more intelligent of the two hissed at the other before looking at Leo. Glowing eyes fixed on the turtle, it moved forward, cautiously sauntering, back and forth, claws tapping impatiently into the tile surface.

Then it stopped; glaring at him while it took two more steps forward. Like the other, it sniffed the air. When it brought its head back down, licking its lips, it was smiling.

Leo's eyes widened. Shit. We are next.

Placing one sword before him, he watched as, in the blink of an eye, the Ardor attacked him. Shrewdly, it went for the hand that wielded his weapon, biting hard.

The pain was sharp, Leo nearly dropped his swords in an attempt to pry off the creature. Refusing this inclination, he flipped one katana around in his free hand and brought the hilt down into the animal's back.

There was a loud and short bark of agony from it; opening its mouth, his hand was released. He had no time to recover, however, for in the next second, both of the monsters were upon him; the one he'd just defeated going for his legs, knocking him down, as the one that had been forced out leaped onto his plastron and tried to rip out his throat.

Trying to pay less attention to the pain that was starting to explode in his shins, Leo focused on the beast that was breathing hot air in his face. He watched, one katana protecting his face, as it snapped its jaw open and closed, missing the turtle's jugular vein by mere inches because its opponent was able to put up a fight.

For now.

Angered by the ninja, the Ardor temporarily switched its focus from Leo's neck to his face, growling as if its noises were words; its way of saying 'sit still so you can die a long and agonizing death'.

Whether or not that was actually what it meant, it gave Leo the opportunity he needed. As soon as the creature moved, it left its neck in the clear. Seeing this, Leo brought his injured hand under his sword and gripped its neck. Feeling the windpipe beneath his fingers, he grit his teeth and squeezed.

It was a lot harder than it should have. As he'd learned earlier, these animals weren't just abnormally fast, they were freakishly strong. He was starting to believe that their built had something to do with this.

Skin feeling like a thick piece of leather, Leo was afraid he wouldn't be able to kill it. His hand, already weakened and bleeding, was tiring, but he put its last remaining strength into it and continued.

With the beast's remaining efforts, it tried to claw his face. Luckily, his katana kept it far enough away to prevent that. Just as Leo was beginning to believe that he might be losing this battle, he felt its windpipe collapse beneath his hand.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Leo turned from one problem to the next. Bringing his head up, he threw the dead Ardor to his right, hearing a sickening splash as it fell into the pool, and looked at the live one.

His struggles had prevented it from making a buffet out of his legs, but they still hurt like a bitch.

Oddly enough, the second the one creature left his grasp, its ally was chasing after it, pursuing it. Rolling over onto his stomach, Leo followed it with his eyes as it ran over to the pool.

From this vantage point, he couldn't see the blood- though he could smell it. The heat of the room made it nauseating, and the sight he was accompanied with made it worse.

Though the blood wasn't visible, a few other things were. The only reason why Leo even realized they were there was because of the Ardor, who, stopped by the pool, was nudging a lump in it tenderly with its nose. Leo at first thought it was going to feast upon it, but instead, it sat back, and, to his surprise, softly howled in mourning like a coyote. Leo almost felt sorry for it.

That was when he noticed that there were other lumps in the pool. Because of his position, he couldn't tell what they were, but he had a good idea. Rage boiled in his chest, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

He had more important things to think of right about now, like keeping himself alive long enough to make sure his brothers wouldn't be joining the eternal contestants of the butterfly stroke in the scarlet sea before him.

That was the single, most important thing in the world to him right now. That was also partly why he was sympathizing with this beast right now. Leo had the feeling that it had been close to the one he'd just killed. It could very well have been its own brother.

Though he hated to think about that, though it twisted his stomach into tight knots of fear and agony, he had to wonder if his brothers were dead- if they'd been done away with in such a manner.

There was a high possibility of this. Since Leo had been last to leave the safety of their room, he had no idea as to where his family had run off to. He hadn't even seen them on his way here.

Were they hurt? Were they in pain? Were they dead? The questions assaulted him, injuring him more than the bites and abrasions on his body.

He had to find them.

This thought driving him, Leo placed his palms on the ground and easily brought himself up to his feet. Breathing heavily, but quietly, he started to leave.

His departure, however, seemed to have been noticed by the Ardor. It looked like his search might have to be put on a pause for the moment.

Green eyes narrowing to slits, it growled demonically and burst forward at high speed towards him.

Sighing, Leo cursed before moving over to the door of the room and forcing his wounded legs to proceed, thanking that they weren't in shreds. Soon, he too was running, trying more to lose the creature than to face it again.

Such a fight would result in more injuries, ones that might prevent him from helping his brothers. Before he dared to combat with these things again, he had to make sure that they were okay.

Behind the turtle, the Ardor was racing after him, making savage noises he could only relate to the fiercest of animals; predators that tore their prey limb for limb, even if they didn't need its meat for nourishment.

Rage was powering this beast now. Gone was the well-thought out precision of its actions, gone was the controlled vigilance of its demeanor. Patience had departed its body and left it filled with raw hatred and loss. It was possessed by the need for revenge and was willing to do the most brutal of deeds to get it.

Leo had the feeling that if he soon found out that his brothers had been killed in such a manner, he was going to follow that vicious path himself.

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Evil, I know. I am so evil.

Ah, now only Mikey is left. What horror do I have in stow for him? Come back in ten days to find out!

And please review!