Turtlefreak121: Okay then - working on managing time and so on (salutes) Wish me luck - until then, please read!
Thanks for the reviews, guys!
The Dark Half
Chapter Ten
By Turtlefreak121
Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT
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An Enemy from Before
It looked just the way he would have pictured it to be. Then again, why shouldn't it? After all, this was Leonardo's home - his home, and as much as Leo's family would resist to ever admitting it - they had to agree. This 'stranger' already knew where everything was - where everything should be. They also had found out that this creature could know what they were doing at all times and almost 'read their minds' to discover if they were even think of trying something. And their brother's 'twin' would not tolerate something like that.
"Rat..." he hissed in Splinter's ear - causing a shiver to run through the elderly master's body. "Get my katana from the top of bureau - you have two minutes. I'm entrusting you this much only because I know you're smarter than to try and pull something on me. And don't even think of getting your master's sword from the mount on the wall - I already know about it..."
Splinter looked at the dark turtle, but his eyes already asked his question before he could muster a word.
"I know because I helped you and Raph hang it when we moved in here..." he said with a twisted smirk.
"You lyin'--" Raph growled as he tried to charge at the turtle, but was held back by Don who had just sat the unconscious Mikey on the couch.
"Raph..." Don tried to calm his brother.
"Me 'n Leo hung dat up for Splinter's birthday!" he roared, neglecting his brother's warnings.
"Raphael," Splinter said as he glared at his son.
"'N you dare to say that YOU hung dat wit' me?" Raph exclaimed in rage. "I hope Leo gets outta dat tether and comes ta kick yar--"
"He's not here, fool!" the turtle hissed. "Else he would have already been here!"
Raph froze - in that small moment of silence he listened. There was no noise - definitely a sign that no one besides them was in the lair. He should have known that, though - Mikey had said it, and so far Mikey had proven to be always right about these things.
"Where is he?" Don asked in a rush of panic - if this cold-hearted creature could do this to Mikey, who was in some ways his brother, what could he have done to Leo - someone he had openly showed hate for.
'Leo' snorted. "Looking for Max - he still doesn't get it..."
"Get wha--"
"You're wasting my time!" the impersonator snapped before Don could complete his question. He looked to Splinter. "One minute - go or I'll slay your remaining sons before your eyes and then remove your bowls as you breathe..."
Splinter's eyes widened. Remaining?
He couldn't ask, though - he had to protect his other sons by obeying their captor. He quickly took off to his room.
Stopping to glance at the mount that his sons had made for him his past birthday, Splinter realized had this turtle not warned him about not getting that sword, he very well would have gone with his instincts and gotten it.
Shaking his head in confusion, Splinter quickly made his way to the bureau where the evil sword had been placed. His hand hesitantly reached out and grabbed hold of the sword before running back out - his mind occupied with how this turtle had known about Splinter's basic instincts.
Splinter looked up and saw that Leo's 'twin' was grinning evilly at him.
"Didn't I tell you?" he said in a proud manner - almost like the time when Leo was thirteen and successfully preformed his first double-snap kick.
Not bothering to answer, Splinter held the metal blade out which the turtle gladly took and rose into the air so that it would gleam and cast his reflection into it. He gave a toothy smile.
"I love my swords - always have, haven't I?" the turtle laughed softly before sheathing the katana and looking over to his 'brothers' - Don struggling to hold Raph back from attacking Leo's yin. "Remember that time you helped me make my swords once again after the Shredder attacked me?" he asked Raphael.
Like a bull facing a matador, Raph glared at the dark turtle and gave a deep breath. "I made swords for my brother, Leonardo!" he spat. "He was unhonorably attacked by da Foot and I NEVER want ta hear ya say it was you again - got it?"
"Raph, we're not in a position to be making demands!" Don growled at his brother.
"Listen to Donatello, Raphael!" 'Leo' chuckled. "At least while you can..."
"What are you talking about?" Don demanded with a small sample of his hatred for this impersonator leaking through.
"My master needs a new home..." the yin explained as there was an earth-shaking rumble throughout the whole lair. His smile broadened and he began to laugh. "And seeing as how my old home was demolished - as was his - then I invited him to stay with us!"
Before Splinter, Don, or Raph could say anything, a series of rumbles occurred and knocked them to the ground. The pond in the center of the lair began to bubble and ripples were spreading out from the center. They looked in horror as it became apparent something was emerging from the watery depths of their home.
As they watched in terror, Leo's 'twin' began a roll of laughter.
"AND WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD!" he yelled out with a mergence of his voice and a screeching other one.
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Leo backed up from Max as the chubby man's jacket began to rip in shreds - the tearing noise overshadowed by Max's own screams of pain as the bubbling of his muscles and skin began to rip through his epidermis and give birth to a tentacle-like appendage that dripped with a mixture of yellowish 'goo' and Max's own blood.
"You've turned yourself into a monster, Max..." Leo said as his heel collided with the floorboard of the opposite wall.
As he grabbed the sides of his tibbly hat, Max glared up at Leonardo - his back arched and his glasses reflecting the ominous red glow of his eyes. "YOU THINK I WOULD DO THIS TO MYSELF?" he spat as he began to froth at the mouth. He jerked his body in pain as more spasms of 'muscle' movement took hold of his lower back.
"You wanted power, Max..." Leo stated as he gripped his katana tighter. "You got it!"
"And everything comes at a price, huh?" Max chuckled to mask his pain. "Guess I didn't look ahead like you..."
Leo froze. "What are you talking about?"
"We're a lot alike, Leonardo!" Max said as his shoulders took turns dipping into the air before stiffly jerking back up. "You want control...power - and so do I!"
Leo's eyes narrowed and he held his right katana out and rose his left behind his head. "We're nothing alike - I have a family that I love and wish to protect - You? You live with your hatred and cowardliness. Now that you have a little bit of edge you want to chew others up and spit them out like they did you. That's not how things work, Max!" Leo growled.
"Maybe not for you!" Max growled before one of the tentacles flew from his back and knocked into Leo's head and sent him flying across the air before skidding against the ground and pummeling into the small bit of wall between the corner of the hall and the stairwell door.
Leo rolled over to his stomach and got on his hands and knees. His head hung low and groaned as he reached up to his temple with his left hand and shook his head.
Max slowly waltzed towards the turtle and snickered. "But it works perfectly for me!" he laughed.
Quickly putting things together, Leo saw that he had only dropped his right katana at impact and that it was only inches from his hand now.
As Max swooped down with his mass of snake-like appendages, Leo dodge rolled diagonally to Max's right and grabbed his katana as Max's 'weapons' busted through the hardwood floor and sent splinters flying into the air.
"This is for Mikey!" Leo growled as he jumped up and slashed at Max's back with his metal blade.
An alien noise escaped from the tentacles that were severed and Max, himself, added to the chaos by screaming in sharp pain.
Landing and sliding half a foot after the attack, Leo quickly rose up and held his katana out in a readied position.
Max quickly turned and glared at Leo with his bulging red eyes - foam flowed off his round chin like a fountain. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, TURTLE!"
"Wake up, Max!" Leo yelled. "You're not going to win! You're blinded by rage!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Just tell me what you meant when you said that I 'looked ahead'? What were you talking about?" Leo demanded.
"You refused Aku..." the man finally bellowed as he turned and - like a drunk after a long night - stumbled to find a wall to lean against. "I didn't have the strength...but...in the end I guess he got us both, huh?"
This had been one too many times he had heard Aku's name. This was one too many times that Max was part of the loop and he wasn't. He wasn't scared anymore - he wanted to know. He wanted to know what was going on and why he had to be part of it!
"Who is this 'Aku'? Is he the one pulling the strings or are you?" Leo demanded.
Max snorted. "Aku is the darkness of your heart... The monster in all of us in a physical form. I was the unlucky bugger to find him and...for a time I thought that I was in control..."
"Now?" Leo asked with an arched eye ridge.
"Now I'm not so sure... Not so sure of anything at all..."
"What makes you think he's got me, too?" Leo demanded.
A twisted smirk curved itself into the wrinkled, chubby face of the man. "Because you answer his calls... Because that seed he planted into your soul all those months ago has grown so fast in your little 'mad slump' that it has consumed you and you are attacking those you love as we speak..."
Leo's eyes widened and then narrowed again. He was ticked now. "SPEAK! What are you talking about, villain?"
Max stood straight finally and glared at Leo. "After these months you have already forgotten about your little friend in the basement of the old..."
Suddenly, Max's voice faded into oblivion and the screeching, horrid voice of Aku took control of Leo's mind once again.
HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THOSE WONDERFUL TIMES IN THE C.F. VOPELHART BUILDING, LEONARDO?
Leo fell back and into the floor in a daze. "Y...yo...you!" he exclaimed in a wide-eyed epiphany.
Images flooded back into his memory. Almost nine months ago Angel's brother had been missing and they went looking for him...
They went to his excavation site and looked through the old mansion - the C.F. Vopelhart mansion.
Angel accidentally opened a secret staircase and they went inside unwittingly where they were attacked and eventually saved by an old man - a man that would turn out to be the nearly three hundred year old Vopelhart himself who was under the power of an evil alien that lived within the catacomb-like caves underneath the mansion.
Within the monstrosity's lair his brothers and him were captured and repeatedly tortured with the twisted alien's versions of their greatest fears - his own had been his master and father's death.
Then, the monster made itself known and attacked them - it was only with a spear that Vopelhart had given them that they could destroy the monster, but as Leo prepared to make the kill, the monster did something... Something strange...
It entered Leo's mind and whispered to him a promise - a promise of the world... And Leo almost accepted. But he got over it and finished the job - or so he thought...
"A stupid phone call..." Max growled under his breath as he looked down to Leo's shocked form. "A call from a pay phone no less...I had no business answering it, but I did - and I met Aku..." Max's face softened and almost looked sad. "I was taken in at once... So many desires...so much pain. Everything - anything seemed better than my life and I traded it for a living nightmare..."
"Then stop..." Leo stated as he slowly got to his feet. "Stop and refuse anything more..."
"But..." Max closed his eyes tightly.
"He's only as strong as you let him be, Max!" Leo stated.
"It's not that..." Max said to Leo's surprisement. He then looked up at Leo with a sudden and unexpected sinister smirk. "I LIKE IT!" he yelled as his tentacles flew at Leo who could not move fast enough to avoid them and was soon held up on all sides - his arms and legs stretched out in the air by the tentacles.
"MAX!" Leo spat as the chubby man bent over and picked up something. "YOU UNHONORABLE SORRY SON OF A--"
"Now, now - no name calling. Don't wanna hurt my feelings do ya?" Max chuckled as he spun the handle of his revolver around his fingers. He then squinted his left eye and held the gun up at Leo's chest. "Dodge this, Hoss!"
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Turtlefreak121: I hate hangnails - they make it impossible to write! Not to mention when your dog tugs on them-- Oh! My bad, you don't care (sweat drop) Moving on...
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