Turtlefreak121: I'm having too much fun with these dance-mat things! I have to stop before I actually get into shape! Anyway, thanks for waiting, I know that it was a while compared to my other updates. Anyway, here's the next chapter! And may it be known that that stupid mouse is still squeaking... (glares at computer mouse)

Thanks to: Rat Queen Valarian, coldsunshin, Pi90katana, moonie016, Lunar-ninja, Tewi, RAPHAELFAN02, TheIncredibleDancingBetty, and Flame Guardian for the worthwhile reviews!

The Dark Half

Chapter Four

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT.

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Banker and Bystnader

After watching Leonardo's nervous twitches for the longest time, Splinter had finally asked his eldest son to get something from the kitchen to calm his nerves - but Leo knew better. He leaned against one of the beams not far from the master's room and listened to the conversation they had - had about him. It was hard, but he did it.

"Leo can't even talk right, Sensei!" he heard Don declare.

"Yeah - the whole way home he was like speakin' another language!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Gibberish is what it was," Raph grumbled as he looked through the screen door - he could make out Leo's silhouette leaning against the pillar.

Splinter rubbed his chin. "What was it that frightened Leonardo so?" he questioned.

"Something about them dying by his hand..." Mikey said rather quietly compared to his usual tone. "Leo took it like they were talking about us."

Sighing, Splinter nodded. "Such a threat would unnerve any of us..." he stated wisely.

"But Leo had been acting strange ever since that incident with Weasel and Big Tony," Don complied.

"Maybe even b'fore then," Raph added.

"It is definite that something it troubling your brother," Splinter agreed. "However, we must not pressure Leonardo to do anything against his will."

That was the end of it - at least for tonight. And Leo was very glad for that. He returned to his bedroom before his family could come out of Splinter's room and headed straight for his bed.

To sleep was to dream, and to dream would to be getting rid of this nightmare he was living in at the moment. Or so he thought...

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She tip toed nervously up the stairs - she had to get that stupid cell phone out of last night's coat pocket before it was time for the meeting and she was already running late!

Quickly jetting across the floor and reaching the door to enter the third story of apartments, she raced across the floor to reach her room's door. It would have taken her less than two minutes to work her key into the door lock, unlock it, grab her cell phone, and then exit and lock up once more usually. Today would be different, however.

As she zipped past thirty-four, thirty-six, and nearly reach thirty-eight, she heard a bone crushing thud on the other side of the door across the hall.

Turning on her heel, she looked at the door aptly named thirty-seven and glowered at it for scaring her so when there was a scream of absolute terror.

"NO! NO! PLEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!" a man cried out from the other side of the door.

Her eyes widened as the door knob jiggled before slinging open and revealing the beady-eyed, sweating, bloody man on the other side. He was on his stomach and trying to crawl away from his own apartment as tears gushed down his eyes when two red eyes glowed from the shadows of the room.

"H-h-help me!" he screamed so loud people in their apartments began to click their locks before opening the door just enough to peep at what was happening.

Just as she began to scream, six tentacles of a pale red color with yellowish slime slinging off of them flew out of the room and wrapped around the waist of the man.

"NO! NO! NO!" the man shrieked as the tentacles began to pull him back - his nails digging so deep into the floor boards, they began to chip and his fingers bleed.

Screaming even louder and pouring tears from her eyes, the man disappeared into the darkness of the room and there was a sickly crunching sound as well as a man's last, painful cry.

The mid-twenty-year-old was so frightened she broke down and fell down against the wall - tears flowing down her face and onto her new white blouse. She looked into the darkness of the room and then saw the red eyes again.

Her eyes widened and she held her hands up to her face. "NOOO!" she screamed "NOOOOOO!"

Then, the red eyes got closer and closer until they showed a pudgy man in his forties. His brown hair covered by his tibby hat that matched his blue suit. He smirked evilly at the young business woman as she pleaded and sobbed for her life. Power - he liked it. He fed from it, and it definitely suited him well. He smirked as he walked closer to the girl who tried to push herself further into the wall - his brown shoes only two inches from her.

"I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!" she cried out. "I WON'T TELL A SOUL! I WON'T CALL THE POLICE!"

He bent over and showed her his glowing red eyes. "I know you won't, Doll-Face..." he hissed before pulling out a switch blade.

Her face absolutely horrified the girl shook her head and tried to knock on the door behind her - they were out. "NO! NO! NO!" she screamed.

Yar letting yourself get caught here, Maxie, he told himself. Yar gonna let yourself and Aku down because of some pretty-faced valley girl-wanna be who happened along.

Despite his lust for pain, Max cut through the woman's throat with one swift, effortless motion. She reached up to her throat but stopped halfway and held on to her chest as the blood throbbed out of her throat and the sticky crimson liquid flowing onto her torso. It pumped quickly due to her heart so her eyes automatically closed half way and rolled to the back of her head as she fell to the floor.

Max smirked and stood up before flinging the blood from his blade and then placing it back in its proper place. He could feel the peeping eyes all directed on him.

Pulling down his tibby hat, Max smirked and held out his .45 revolver. "Anyone wanna be another witness?" he roared.

Quickly, all the doors slammed and dead locked themselves as the at least twenty people on this wing began to swiftly dial 9-11.

Smirking, Maxwell Earwins calmly walked down the hallway - mashing his foot into the woman's blood as if it were a cigarette butt. He then whistled as he walked to the stairwell and made his way out.

The police would revive ten minutes too late and discover the mangled corpse of Jonathan Reed and sliced body Rebecca Stratton. No connection except the floor they lived on - never once said more than 'hi' to each other but suffered a death from the same man described by each witness.

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A week had passed and Leo was still terrified to go to the surface. Sure he went, but each time his trip got shorter and he would force himself and his brothers to turn back. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was terrified of what was up there. What was on the terrain that not but a year earlier they had all done their best to sneak out of the lair for. The freedom they had had become the eldest turtle's burden.

He hated it.

It was no surprise for the three younger brothers to find their leader on the couch sitting straight and watching the news with a determined look on his face at a quarter past nine and the oldest turtle had not moved a single inch since dinner.

Raph growled and leaned against the back of the old couch. "Are ya goin' topside or not?" he demanded.

"It's going to rain..." Leo said with but a small tilt of his head before turning back to the television.

"So?" Raph asked. "That means less people out, right?"

"Maybe..." Leo stated. He felt a little better due to his brother's statement. Less people meant less of a chance their 'mystery stalker' was out and about. He actually felt a lot better now.

"Well, we're gonna go whether yar commin' or no," Raph stated before heading towards the elevator where Don and Mikey were waiting.

A fear flew through Leo like he hadn't felt before. "Raph, WAIT!" he yelled in pure terror before running after his brothers - if he wasn't there, then maybe this thing could hurt them or...worse...

"So yar comin'?" Raph smirked.

Cursing his brothers' knowledge of him, Leo nodded and stayed back as his brothers went into the elevator before him. With a final sigh, he stepped into the elevator and waited as the motion of going up began to take hold.

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That night had indeed turned out to be a wet one. Quite wet in fact. It was nearly drenching by the time the vote finally shifted to Leo's favor and the other three terrapin mutants decided to head back as well.

Everything seemed to be going fine until there was a scream. They quickly turned heel and ran towards the other direction.

"Street fight..." Raph smirked as they stopped at the ledge of the building and looked upon the scene below. "Nuttin' but some rookie Dragons with anger issues and fists..."

Mikey began to spin his nun chucks and Don pulled out his Bo.

Leo nodded - it was regular enough. "Okay, take them out quick - they're young so no hefty damage; just enough to hopefully change them," Leo ordered.

"Finally! Yar actin' like yar regular orderly self," Raph joked before they jumped into the alley.

The gang of vandals stopped their minor brawl and their eyes widened. They had all been warned by senior members of the Purple Dragons about the four green men that would beat them to a pulp, but they had never thought of actually seeing them! The silence was a wave of a terror to the Dragons, but amusement for the four turtles.

Suddenly, a brave jacket-wearing one with dreads pointed forward. "I bet whoever gets dese bums 'ill get in good with Hun!" he exclaimed.

Now with a new-found courage, the 'mini-Dragons' began to close in.

"Purple Dragons one-o-one, Newbies!" Mikey yelled out. "Don't pick a fight with the green dudes!"

The four turtles took suit and started to combat with the Dragons.

Leo ducked under one scrawny Dragon's fist and then elbowed him hard in the chest and sent him falling back on his butt. He then round-house kicked three more before leaping over the crowd and getting a better view of his brothers.

A larger Dragon - a six-foot, muscle bound maniac - had a club and was beating it slowly into his hand. This was an older Dragon that must've been with the newbs to weed out the 'chickens'.

Smirking, Leo summed up the odds - they weren't in the big guy's favor.

Leonardo unsheathed his two, metallic beauties and curved his right leg out and pushed his left foot deep into the ground as he held the katana out - his favorite stance. He wouldn't harm the guy - that wasn't his motive - but he knew that the guy wanted to harm him!

"Yar goin' down, Tutle," the guy growled.

Great, Leo thought, an ogre...dumb and big!

It didn't take much, Leo began to jolt forward, ducked to the left of the swinging club and then slid under the man's arched arm and then stopped just in time to leap into the air and kick the idiot in the back of the head and sending him flying forward. He then landed softly on the tips of his toes.

Now roaring, the man turned and lunged at Leo.

Leo saw that he was in front of a wall and decided to wait just long enough for the crack-head to really crack his head.

Only seconds before it was time for Leo to move, the screeching voice returned.

YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FROM ME, LEONARDO! I NEED YOU AND YOU NEED ME!

Raph looked over to check on his brothers - something he did sparingly enough so that it seemed that he never did it, but enough to comfort himself. He nearly allowed one of the punks to punch him when he saw Leo drop his katana as a large guy lunged at him.

"WHAT DA SHELL ARE YA DOIN'?" Raph yelled as he punched a guy in the face and watched as his older brother fell to his knees - his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The guy had been expecting to jump Leo, and when the turtle fell to the ground he was already airborne causing him to kick the turtle in the face before landing behind the unconscious turtle.

He stopped and waited for a second in bewilderment before a Bo staff flew out of nowhere and knocked into his mouth and throwing him into the opened trash bin.

"LEO!" Don yelled out before kneeling next to his out-cold brother who was no bleeding from his mouth due to the kick.

"What happened?" Mikey asked - allowing the last of the Purple Dragons to escape behind him.

Suddenly, Leo began scratching at his neck - he began scratching hard enough to cause his green skin to make a scraping sound.

"Leo, stop it!" Raph yelled at his brother before him and Don each took one of Leo's hands only to watch as some blood seeped from the scratches on the sides of his neck. It wasn't a lot of blood, but it made them wonder what would've happened if he had been alone while he was attacking himself.

"Rebecca Stratton..." Leo mumbled in his sleep. "Bystander..."

The three looked at each other with bizarre, twisted expressions.

"Johnny Reed..." he continued. "Bank..."

Raph looked at Don and Mikey in need of an explanation. "Who?"

Leo repeated in his sleep. "Rebecca Stratton...bystander...Johnny Reed...bank..."

"I don't know what's going on," Don stated. "But I don't like it - let's get him back to the lair!"

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Turtlefreak121: And going and going and going - stupid batteries. They won't die... (glares at batteries) Don't they see I want an excuse to go to Wal-Mart?

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