"Donnie!" Leo screamed, trying to reach out for the long gone tot.
He could still feel the horrible wound on his shoulder, which throbbed at the memory like it was alive.
He was vaguely aware on some level that the pain he was feeling was simply a memory, but his rational mind seemed to have been overwhelmed by panic.
"My son, please listen to my voice." Splinter begged, kneeling beside his son, who lay prone on his hands and knees, shaking and gasping for air that he somehow was not taking in. "Hear my voice, my son, it is not real. Please listen to my voice."
"Sensei?" Mikey asked from the doorway of the dojo. "What's wrong with Leo?"
Raph pushed through his youngest brother to kneel next to his older one. Though he would never admit it out loud, he was thoroughly freaked out by his normally composed brother's sudden break down.
"Leo! Leo, knock it off!" Raph yelled, grabbing his brother by his shoulders and shaking him like he would to get bugs off his stuff.
"Raphael, that is enough!" His father commanded, pushing a finger into the pressure point on Raph's neck.
immediately, Raph felt the loss of control on his muscles and he fell forward, saved from a face-plant by his younger brother forcing his uncooperative body into a sitting position.
"It's okay, Raphie, I gotcha." Mikey said soothingly, laying his practically frozen brother against the wall to keep him upright.
All Raph could manage through his unresponsive mouth was a low growl that he managed to hiss from his clenched teeth. Mikey should have known better than to use that nickname. At the ripe age of six, Raph had made it very clear to his two brothers that the nickname 'Raphie' would no longer be tolerated in the Lair, as he was old enough that he no longer wanted the childhood name.
Mikey, seeing the growing tension in Raph's muscles, quickly realized his mistake and backed away from his older brother, chuckling nervously at the death glare he was receiving.
"My son, are you alright?"
Mikey's attention was temporarily diverted to his eldest brother as he returned to his side.
Leo's eyes were wide and disbelieving as he stared at everything around him, as if he didn't trust what he was seeing. One hand was clenching his shoulder in the same spot that the arrow had pierced.
He had an odd tendency to do that when he was upset.
"Leo?" Mikey murmured hesitantly. His brother was acting like he had just seen a ghost and it had them all on edge. What could possibly make their 'fearless' leader so afraid? "Leo, what's wrong?"
But his oldest brother didn't answer, instead shaking his head and drawing in a quick, raspy breath.
"I apologize, Leonardo, I should not have suggested this." Splinter sighed heavily. "It was reckless and selfish of me, and I am very sorry my son."
Mikey shared a look of confusion with Raph, who was beginning to show signs of movement as he slowly tested his feet on the ground. Raph looked just as equally confused as Mikey as he made his way beside his family and kneeled beside his brothers and Sensei.
"No, I wanted to do it." Leo answered, quicker than any of them thought he would respond, practically tripping over his words to reassure his father that he held no blame. "I needed to see it."
"Uh, dudes, what're you talking about?" Mikey asked, not following the conversation at all.
"I wanted to remember what happened that night, when we lost Don." Leo explained. "I wanted to see if there was anything that could help us find out what happened."
There was a moment of silence at that as Raph and Mikey processed this information and Splinter and Leo thought over what they had seen.
"So, did ya?" Raph finally asked, both dreading and anticipating the answer.
"I-" Leo sighed. "No, nothing helpful."
But something tickled in the back of the leader's mind as he admitted this, something that he felt was important that he was forgetting. The same feeling that he had gotten when he saw the Foot ninja with that-
The Kusarigama.
Cold dread washed over Leonardo as he realized the crucial information and it's meaning and he bolted upright and stood.
"Leo?" Raph asked. "Leo, what is it?"
"Dude, what's wrong?" Mikey asked, standing beside his brother in case he fell. Leo didn't really look that stable at the moment.
"The ninja with the Kusarigama! It was him!" Leo breathed out, looking back at his brothers, who seemed to have come to the conclusion that he had lost his mind. "The man- what was his name? What did the turtle call him? Guys!?"
Leo's voice had rose an octave in frustration at his brother's continued silence.
"Guys? What was his name?!"Leo demanded again, turning toward his brothers and father.
"Bart, I think." Mikey supplied hesitantly. And his brothers said that he was hair-brained?
"No, shell for brains," Raph snapped. "It was Baron. Why, Leo?"
Leo took this opportunity to begin to pace the dojo floor, something he often did to help him clear his mind and think.
"That ninja, Baron, was there that night. They went after Don when he ran." Leo muttered, not really talking to his family but more thinking out loud.
"And it's a pretty odd coincidence that the next time you see him, he's with a talking turtle with our brother's name, isn't it?" Raph asked.
Leo stopped his pacing, glaring at the floor.
"That's not what I was trying to get at, Raphael." Leo growled under his breath.
"Leo, it's pretty obvious what's going on, ain't it?" Raph asked, trying for his brother's sake to keep his irritation at bay. Leo was in denial was all. And though no one had ever accused the red banded turtle of being the voice of reason, he knew that he would have to try for his older brother.
"No." Leo said, so quietly at first that no one heard him right away. His eyes snapped up furiously to meet those of his immediate younger brother. "No, Raphael, it is not obvious what's going on. For all we know, they held our brother and studied him-"
"Shut up, Leo!" Raph cut in, his eyes blazing with fury.
"And after that, they murdered him." Leo continued; his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. "And they used him to study, to make a new mutant that will do whatever they want."
Leo glared around him as the rage that was so unlike him filtered through his system.
"That's what happened."
A burning rage rushing through him like adrenalin, Leo walked out of the dojo and quickly ran into the sewers.
Slowly, his rush of fury dissipated, leaving regret in it's place.
He had just yelled at his family that their hope was ridiculous, not only that, but painted images in their heads that belonged solely to Leonardo's mind. Those thoughts had been circling in his mind since he had seen the turtle and heard his father's explanation. Thoughts that he had never wanted to share with his family, much less with his father.
What was wrong with him?
It wasn't long before Leo felt someone following him as he walked through the sewers. Sighing, Leo stopped walking and turned toward his brothers, who were following behind him quietly.
"I- I'm sorry, guys." Leo apologized. "I shouldn't have said any of that."
Raph's arms were crossed over his plastron and his expression was like stone, impossible to read.
Mikey, on the other hand, wore his emotions in plain sight. He attempted to hide his watery eyes by lowering his head, but Leo could tell by the somber emotion around his normally goofy little brother that he had been hurt.
Leo sighed and wrapped an arm around his youngest brother and held him like he used to when they were little. Still holding his brother, Leo turned to Raph.
The hothead's expression was still unreadable, but Leo thought he saw a glimpse of sorrow there.
"I'm really sorry, Raph." Leo murmured.
"Is that what you've been thinking all this time?" Raph asked quietly, his tone lacking it's usual rage.
"Just... thinking, I guess." Leo lied halfheartedly.
Raph gave a small nod and Leo felt the mood relax as Mikey's tears dried.
"So, this Baron dude." Mikey asked, eyes bright once more.
"What made you remember him?" Raph asked.
"The ninja from that night had a Kusarigama, but he wasn't very skilled with it. He didn't know how to hold it right. And now, this Baron is wielding it like it's second nature." Leo shrugged. "And even if it's not the same guy, he's still in with Shredder. Maybe he'll have some information."
"And how're we gonna get it from him, Leo?" Raph asked with an air of skepticism. "He's one of Shredder's goons, he's not exactly going to spill his guts just 'cause we asked nicely."
"That's because we won't be asking nicely." Leo said, eyes locked onto Raph as he understood.
"Then how exactly are we gonna ask?" Raph inquired, eyes narrowed.
"However we need to." Leo vowed, looking from Mikey to Raph and back again. "This has been eleven years too long. We're gonna get some answers."
Raph nodded, resolute, and squared his shoulders.
Mikey glanced between his older brothers and gave them a silent agreement of a nod, for once not speaking his mind.
"Okay, first, let's go up to the surface and get ahold of April, she'll be able to tell us who this Baron is." Leo said.
His two younger brothers agreed and they headed up to the surface so the phones April had gotten them could work correctly. Being underground tended to mess with the reception of their phones so they were really only useful on the surface.
Leo, Mikey, and Raph situated themselves atop of a familiar rooftop while Leo dialed April's number.
Just when it was about to go to voicemail, she answered.
"Hey, Leo!" April's bright, chirpy voice greeted him. "What're you guys up to?"
"Hey April, sorry this isn't a casual call. We need you to search up a name for us." Leo said, suddenly hesitant that she wouldn't be able to do it.
Leo heard shuffling on the other end of the phone and April answered. "Sure, what's the name?"
"Baron." Leo responded immediately.
Leo heard April's short laugh on the other side of the phone. "Uh, I'm going to need more than that, Leo. What's his last name?"
That one stumped him. Leo, nor Raph or Mikey, had thought about how difficult it would be to track down someone who's last name they didn't know.
"We, um, we don't really know his last name." Leo admitted, embarrassed that he hadn't thought this far ahead.
"Well, I can start looking up some 'Barons' and see if they're who you're looking for." April said. "Can you guys come over?"
"Yeah, we'll be right over." Leo answered and hung the phone up and turned to his brothers.
"We're going to April's, come on." Leo said.
They knew the rooftops like the back of their hands and making their way to April's couldn't have been any easier than if they were blindfolded. The run also gave the leader time to think. If- no, when- they found Baron, he couldn't allow himself to lose control over himself like he had at the Lair. How could he be expected to lead his brothers if he didn't have control over himself? He had to act better and put everything into order.
When they jumped onto the building of April's antique shop/home, Leo and Raph let Mikey climb through the window first.
Turning to Raph, Leo asked, "The other turtle didn't mention anything about the ninja's last name, did he?"
Raph cocked his head to the side for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. He just kept saying Baron."
Satisfied that he hadn't possibly forgotten, Leo motioned for Raph to go through the window. Once his brother's shell was out of range of the window, Leo effortlessly jumped through the parted glass and shut the window behind him.
Leo hadn't even gotten to fully turn around before April was there, hugging him around his too-sore plastron. He didn't quench the hiss of pain in time before April let go, stepping back with wide eyes.
"What happened to you guys?" She demanded, looking between the three brothers with growing worry.
Leo wasn't really surprised. Between the cuts on his plastron and Raph's own wrapped up plastron, well, they looked like they had been through the ringer.
"Nothing, April." Leo lied uneasily. He took no pleasure in lying to the woman that he considered a sister, but he knew that nothing good would come of an overprotective, mother-mode activated April.
"Right." April scoffed, glancing between the three mutants who suddenly couldn't look her in the eye. "It looks like you ran into the Shredder."
"No, no." Mikey assured her quickly with a dramatic wave of his hands. "Not the Shredder, just some mutant relatives of Sensei, a very teed off ninja with a super cool weapon, and a new ninja turtle."
Raph sighed. Of course the bonehead would spill about the turtle. Granted, at this point there wasn't a doubt in Raph's mind who that turtle was, but even he knew that that was a story best left for another day if they wanted to get things done here and not have story time.
"It's a long story, April." Leo said almost apologetically to April, who was staring wide eyed at Mikey. "Look, we need to find Baron. We think it might be useful if we can talk to him."
Recovering quickly, April gave a firm nod and sat down at her computer.
"So you don't know his last name?" She confirmed, glancing up at them.
Leo shook his head.
"Okay, so could you tell me if you see him?" April asked.
All three turtles nodded and April typed in the name. The three brothers held their breath as April scrolled through the pages upon pages of Baron's, most of them with pictures, and came up empty. Deciding that it was safe to say that the man lived in the area, April typed, 'Baron New York' into the search bar. Though the results were significantly fewer than what they had started out with, it was still far too much to search through.
Mikey was the only one helping her now, adding in little comments on this or that to make her laugh. Leo was pacing and had been for the last hour, his seemingly immortal patience wiped away. Raph was sitting on the couch, giving off loud, obnoxious sighs every now and then to let them know that he was thoroughly frustrated with the situation.
"Ugh, look at this dude. Baron Fratulia, arrested in December for selling without a license." Mikey laughed, bringing April back from her thoughts. "Imagine naming your kid a cool name like Baron and then he gets arrested for selling without a license and looks like that!"
"Imagine being named Baron and you kidnapped someone's brother." Raph cut in with a snarl.
April glanced up to see Leo's piercing glare and Raph's shrug before she turned back to the computer.
So many results...
"Why do you guys need to find him, again?" April asked, perfectly aware that they had not told her a first time.
"It's, uh, it's complicated, April." Raph said uncomfortably, averting her eyes to anywhere but in her direction.
Raph uncomfortable? April never thought she would see the day.
Mikey opened his mouth to speak when Leo cut him off.
"He's working close with Shredder." He explained. "And need to find out what Shredder's doing with all this mutagen and we think he'll know."
April nodded and went back to her results, searching more vigorously.
She didn't see was the simultaneous glares that Leo received from his two younger brothers at the enormous lie, but the leader only gave them a shake of his head in response and his meaning was clear: don't tell April.
Another hour passed and still no leads on the mystery Baron. The turtles passed the time differently. Raph was too tense to sleep, so he went to the spare room where April kept a punching bag for him and Casey and took his anger out on the inanimate object. Leo meditated in the hopes of regaining his lost peace and tried to find his center. Mikey was the only turtle who hadn't moved from his spot, unsarcastically staying beside April as they went through the endless results.
"Dang man, how many Barons-" Mikey broke his question to yawn for the second time in two minutes. "-can there be in New York?"
"Mikey, you can go take a nap. I'll be fine doing this by myself." April assured the youngest turtle, not for the first time in the last hour.
Mikey hesitated, the comfort of the couch clearly calling him.
"Go, Mikey." April laughed and pushed him out of his chair.
"Okay, I guess." He relented at last, standing up with a yawn as he stretched. "Wake me if you find anything."
April nodded and watched as Mikey dropped into the couch like a sack of potatoes and clumsily grappled for the TV remote. April chuckled under her breath at the sight. For such a formidable ninja, that remote was giving him a heck of a run for his money.
Bringing herself back to the task at hand, April once again looked over the ridiculous amount of searches she still had to do. Currently she was looking over the list of Barons that had a prison record, already having ruled out any breakouts by that name. For what felt like the thousandth time that night, April sighed at the impossibility of the task presented to her. For all they knew, this Baron was simply an alias. Or the man was a ghost and had everything on him wiped. At that point it would be impossible to find him. Not like their current search was proving any results.
Mikey fumbled for the remote and turned it on to the first station he could find- a news station. Boring, Mikey thought, as he heard someone who addressed himself as the police chief come onto the screen. Just as he was about to change the channel to something entertaining, he felt a grip on his wrist, tight yet not enough to hurt. Surprised, Mikey looked up to see his oldest brother's eyes on the screen with a mix of horror and shock.
Taking a closer look at the screen, Mikey wouldn't have believed his eyes if Leo wasn't there beside him.
"Raph! Raph!" Mikey yelled. "Get your shell out here!"
Leo had been trying to find his center when he had heard it, that voice, seeming to come directly from his nightmares and into real life. Of course, the problem with his nightmares was most of them were memories, so he couldn't talk himself down from them afterwards.
He bolted up on shaky legs and practically ran to the couch, clenching Mikey's hand in a death grip to stop him from changing the channel.
His youngest brother looked thoroughly confused until he looked back at the screen and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Raph! Raph! Get your shell out here!" Mikey yelled.
April and Raph both came running into the room, Raph with his sais in hand and prepared for a fight.
"What's the emergency, bonehead? Why you screaming like that?" Raph demanded, but a quick pointed motion to the TV served to answer his question.
Baron, chief of police for New York, stood behind a podium that overlooked a ring of reporters.
"We will ensure this city's safety. And allow me to assure the public that the rodent problem that menaced the city late last night has been handled and this city is safe once more..."
Leo saw Baron's mouth moving, but it didn't match the words that he was hearing.
"Over here!"
"Do you hear that?"
"Come on!"
Shaking his head, Leo forced himself to listen to the live feed.
"Are you looking into the incidents revolving around the Purple Dragons?" One reporter asked, brandishing her microphone in Baron's direction.
Leo wanted to puke at the smile that Baron wore on his face as he answered.
"We are working on breaking down the Purple Dragon structure as we speak. We will not let those criminals pollute this city any more."
"How-" Raph seethed. "-does someone like that become police chief?"
April shook her head, dumfounded. "By being a good liar, I suppose. I was looking up felons or criminals that go by that alias. I didn't think..."
"You couldn't have known, April." Leo assured her. "Can you get us his address?"
April nodded, happy to finally be of some use.
Getting the address was fairly easy, that was the beauty of public officials. But, as April explained to the turtles, just because a house was registered in his name didn't mean that he actually lived there. The house could simply be a rouse for public appearances.
"We know," Leo assured her. "But it's worth a try. And if anything, we'll just follow him."
"Worked once." Mikey confirmed with a wide grin as he slipped out the window.
"When I get ahold of that man, I'm gonna-" Raph started but was quickly cut off before he could go farther.
"Raph!" Leo cut him off with a stern look.
The hothead grumbled something unintelligible and slipped out the window after his youngest brother.
"This is personal, isn't it?" April asked before Leo could follow his brothers. She had never seen the brothers so anxious for one person, aside from the Shredder.
"Very." Leo said, his fingers clenching the window seal.
April wanted to tell them that it wasn't a good idea, that they needed to think this through, but she knew that when their minds were made up, there was no arguing with them.
"Be careful." April pleaded instead.
Leo gave her a simple nod before following his brothers out the window. Their mood was solemn as they raced across the rooftops toward the address that April had given them. Though each of them wanted nothing more than to barge in and find the ninja, they made sure to stop a few rooftops from the large uptown apartment to watch and observe.
"How do we know if he's even in there?" Raph asked with obvious irritation after only ten minutes of watch.
"We don't." Leo admitted. "We just have to hope that we see him."
"Great." Raph growled. "Just great. We have to wait until god knows when for Mr. Turtlenapper to come home to his fake house and hope he doesn't give us the slip."
Leo let the 'turtlenapper' go for the moment, not in any mood to restart their earlier argument.
"Guys!" Mikey said, far too loudly in Leo's opinion, and pointed to the building. "Look!"
Leo and Raph's heads snapped toward the large apartment to see Baron, dressed in a suit similar to what they had seen him in the night before, step into the apartment.
"Okay, Leo, he's in. What now?" Raph asked with a not-so-subtle air of aggravation. "Are we going to go in or are we going to have a little teatime while we wait for him to escape?"
"We go in." Leo muttered, ignoring his brother's jibe. He turned to his brothers and motioned for quiet. "Silence. This is still a ninja, use all caution and do not let your guard down."
They checked the outside of the building for any kind of traps and finding nothing unusual, quickly slipped inside.
Using the shadows as their cover, they slipped about the house to find Baron, covering the second floor before carefully making their way down to the first.
After several minutes of searching and coming up empty, an irritated Raph turned to a confused Leo.
"What the shell, Leo?" Raph hissed. "Did he already slip out?"
Leo only shook his head. "How could he? No, he's got to be here."
"I'm gonna wring his neck when I find him." Raph vowed. "Then I'll make him tell us where Don is."
"For the last time Raph, stop with that. You're gonna get Mikey started-" It was then that Leo realized that his overtalkative brother had not offered his input to the conversation at all.
"Mikey!" Leo hissed, swerving around to catch sight of his brother, only to see the blinding darkness instead.
Raph, realizing Leo's sudden concern, raced up the stairs as quietly as he could, letting off a low, "Mike! Mike, this isn't funny!"
After clearing the second floor and still finding no sign of his brother, Raph came back to Leo with a shake of his head.
"Where is that bonehead?" Raph demanded.
"I don't think you want to use such harsh words, Raphael."
Both brothers raised their weapons defensively and turned toward the voice, trying in vain to see through the shadows.
Leo knew that voice now and let a low snarl of fury escape him before he could hold it back.
There was a shift and the turtles turned with caution.
Baron melted from the shadows with their youngest brother in tow.
"Now, I want you to be good turtles and drop the weapons. Now." Baron advised, tightening his grip on their youngest brother.
He had Mikey in a choke hold, not tight enough to keep him from breathing, but enough to keep him stationary. The bladed end of his Kusarigama poised against his exposed skin probably helped to reinforce the idea of not moving.
"Let him go." Leo demanded, taking a step forward.
Baron merely smirked. "I don't think so, you two drop your weapons or he dies."
"Not like you haven't done it before." Leo snarled.
Baron tilted his head slightly and observed them.
"Is that why you're here?" He asked with an air of amusement.
"Let him go, or I'm going to introduce you to a new definition of pain." Raph hissed; his grip so tight on his Sais that his green skin had turned white.
Obvious only to his brothers, Mikey slowly brought his hand to his belt and retrieved the shuriken he kept there. His eyes were imploring, begging his brothers to distract him.
"I don't think that worked well last time." Baron observed, eying the wrappings on Raph's plastron with something akin to glee. "Well, either times, I suppose."
Raph let out a furious snarl of rage and made to lunge when Leo's katana blocked him. He was only too aware of how close Baron's blade had come to Mikey's throat when Raph had started his advance.
Leo leveled a glare at the ninja. "It doesn't take lot of skill to attack children."
"Freaks." Baron corrected.
Leo watched out of the corner of his eyes as Mikey gripped the shuriken tight in his hand.
With a speed that only Mikey was capable of, he drove the shuriken into the hand holding the Kusarigama.
Baron let out a string of cusses, both English and Japanese, and reflexively released Mikey and dropped his weapon.
He realized both mistakes too late as Mikey quickly dove out of the way, scooping the Kusarigama off the ground as he did.
There was nothing ninja-like about what happened next, it was pure rage and adrenaline fueling their moves.
Raphael's punches were so hard and forceful that it was a wonder that he didn't break his knuckles with every hit.
Leonardo was barely any better, swinging his katanas hard enough to rattle his bones with every strike.
Baron was a skilled ninja without his weapon, but he was no match for two infuriated, desperate mutants and it quickly became apparent when Leonardo leveled his sword at the ninja's throat.
Glaring venomously, Baron sunk to his knees and raised his hands above his head.
"Mikey, you okay?" Leo asked as Raph retrieved his sai'rs that had been inbedded in the wall. Leo didn't dare remove his eyes from Baron.
"I'm good, Leo." His youngest brother responded quickly.
"Tie him up with your nunchucks." Leo said and pressed his katana deeper into Baron's neck. "And don't you even think about moving."
Baron didn't speak but Leo knew that the man took him seriously and didn't so much as twitch as Mikey bound his hands together in front of him.
Raph came back to them twirling his sais' and stood next to his older brother, willing to follow his lead on this one.
Leo didn't lower his sword, even though the ninja obviously no longer posed a threat.
"You were there, in the sewers. When we were kids." Leo hissed, hating how cut up his words were, but he couldn't seem to find any other way to voice them.
"Put that much together, have you?" Baron replied, his tone dripping venom.
"How did Shredder keep finding us?" Leo asked, ignoring the jibe.
Baron pressed his lips together in an obvious refusal and glared at the three brothers.
However we need to, Leo reminded himself as he steeled himself toward what he had to do.
Leo removed his katana from Baron's neck and gave him a moment to breathe before plunging the blade deep into Baron's leg.
Baron screamed, his body straining against his restraints and his cuffed hands struggled to clench the new wound. Blood seeped from the ugly wound over his pantleg and onto the floor in a rapid pace as he fought against the pain.
"Leo!" Raph breathed behind him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Normally it was him who would have to be pulled back by Leo to stop him from maiming their enemies in his moments of rage, not the other way around. Never before had he ever seen Leo like this, so infuriated, so driven by his rage. It was like looking in a mirror, and Raph didn't like it. Was this how his brothers felt when he allowed his rage to take over? And the blood! Now, Raphael had seen plenty of blood in his lifetime, of course he had. And he and his brothers had killed their fair share of villains. It was sometimes unavoidable with the enemies they gathered, but to maim an enemy who couldn't fight back...
Leo turned his glare to him and had he been a lesser turtle, he would have cowered at the look of fury on his older brother's face. But he stood his ground, giving his leader a glare of his own.
"Did you forget what this monster did?" Leo hissed at him. "He hunted us! Killed Don! I told you that we would get answers however we needed to and I meant it."
"This- this isn't right, Leo." Raph argued. "It's not us."
Raph looked behind him to see Mikey's horrified expression that bordered on sick as he stared at the gruesome wound.
Leo looked between his two brothers. This wasn't something that they should have to bear.
"Take Mikey back to April's apartment. I'll meet you there when I'm done." Leo ordered in a no-nonsense tone.
Mikey and Raph shared a glance. Raph expected his little brother to take up the opportunity with open arms, but the seconds passed and Mikey still hadn't moved, only stared at Baron with a debating look before finally shaking his head.
"Mikey, go. You didn't sign up for this. You either, Raph." Leo reminded them.
Mikey gave one more defiant shake of his head. "We came here for answers and I'm not leaving without them. I need to know what happened to him, Leo."
For the first time since the thought had entered his mind, Mikey seemed to actually be considering that his brother was truly dead. And if he was, he needed to know everything about it.
Raph nodded. "We all signed up for this, we're not leaving ya."
Leo watched their faces for any traces of a lie and found none. Resigned, he turned back to Baron.
"How did Shredder keep finding us?" Leo repeated his question slowly, fully aware of the loathful look he was receiving from the ninja.
When he once again received no answer, Leo gripped the handle of his katana that was still imbedded in Baron's thigh and pulled slightly.
Baron held back his scream that time but couldn't help the gasps that came after.
"Tell me." Leo demanded, one hand still resting on the handle of his katana threateningly.
Through his rapid gasps for breath, Baron finally answered.
"Shredder had- been tracking- Yoshi for months- before he attacked." Baron managed. "He sent dozens of teams into the sewers, and at least one was searching at all times. If they found anything they immediately reported it and backup was sent.
"One night, our scout reported that he and you four were in one of the unexplored parts of the sewers. Master Shredder sent my team to kill you four and bring him the rat."
"But you didn't." Leo's voice was cold as he glared down at the ninja.
"We couldn't take down the rat. He wiped out my team and went after those two." Baron grunted and motioned with a bloody cuffed hand toward Mikey and Raph.
Even though Leo had already known this, had seen this, it still made his skin crawl to hear it.
"I knew my partner had injured you, so I followed the tail of blood until it stopped and we started searching the tunnels."
Leo's gut tightened and he didn't dare look back at his brothers now. He was afraid of what he would see.
"We heard running from a few tunnels away and we followed it. It wasn't very fast so it as easy to capture."
Leo couldn't help the growl that slipped through his teeth at the indifferent tone that Baron used, like it didn't bother him as all that he was talking about their brother. No, not indifferent. The smirk on Baron's sly face served to remind Leonardo that he was enjoying rubbing this in their face.
Leo had an idea of how to wipe that smirk off his face but refrained. They needed to know everything and he wouldn't be able to talk if he was screaming.
"My partner wanted to kill it but I decided to take it to Master Shredder instead." Baron looked at all of them before giving a slight shrug. "Dead bait doesn't reel in fish."
Raph let out a livid roar and shoved past Leo to ram his fist into Baron's face.
He got a few good punches in before Leo could scramble up and, with Mikey's help, pull Raph's furious, thrashing body away from Baron.
To his surprise, once he was away from Baron, Raph didn't put up much of a fight, seeming to understand that they needed to let him talk.
Trusting Mikey to hold Raph back in case he decided to make another go for it, Leo turned back to Baron, happy to see that Baron's smirk was finally gone.
Baron continued his story without probing, his tone considerably harsher.
"Shredder was going to use him to lure the rat out of hiding, but when he didn't come, he got a new idea."
"He killed him, didn't he?" Mikey asked from behind him, his voice small but steady.
Baron tilted his head, studying him, before finally answering.
"No."
It was like a vacuum had come and sucked all the air in the room away, for Leo could no longer breathe right. He quickly shook his head of the shock and pressed down on his katana handle, pushing the blade deeper into Baron's thigh.
"The truth!" Leo yelled.
"Why would I lie?" Baron snapped. "You saw him, who did you think he was?"
Leo shook his head at what he was sure were lies.
"You're Foot, deceit is what you do best." Leo snarled. "Why would Shredder keep him around?"
"The kid was smart- really smart- and it got Shredder's attention." Baron managed to sound both irritated and admiring at the same time. "He managed to escape his cell three times in ten days. The third time, he managed to get to the security room and locked himself inside and shut the room down. He turned off the electricity to the entire building and found out how to lower the building's defenses. It took us over four hours to get in the room after that."
Baron smirk returned. "He caught Shredder's interest after that."
And suddenly, Leo knew that Baron wasn't lying or trying to decieve them. Because it was too true, too in character for Donnie to do something like that for Baron to make up on the spot.
And the lights...
Since they could comprehend the meaning of ninjitsu, their Sensei had taught them that a good ninja is always one with the shadows and that darkness is a ninja's most basic protection. And so when they were tots and something, even minor things, frightened them, Donnie would be the first one to turn off the lone light that he had fixed at one of their father's trips to the junkyard. And when their father returned, Donnie would turn know that it was alright to turn the light back on because their father would protect them.
Donnie had turned off the lights thinking that he would be able to turn them on again when Sensei came to get him.
There was no longer any doubt in Leo's mind that the same turtle that he had fought was the same one that he had once tried to protect. His brother...
"But he didn't recognize us." Raph snarled. "Why wouldn't he recognize us?"
"Shredder made sure that he wouldn't rememebr anything. He didn't want him... distracted." Baron smirked at the three of them.
Mikey shook his head. "No, Don's gotta be faking it. He's gotta rememeber us!"
He did let me go, Leo thought. But if he did remember them, why didn't he say anything?
"Shredder has his ways, and he makes sure that they work." Baron let out a pained chuckle. "Kind of ironic, isn't it? Your brother's alive, but he's not your brother anymore."
Leo should have denied it, retaliated, but his senses were too numb to react in any way. He was so numb in fact that he didn't realize that Baron had moved until he was pulling Leo's katana from his own flesh and raising it.
Leo barely managed to come to his senses and roll to the side before he got impaled.
Baron stood across from them, breathing heavily, gripping Leo's katana with bloody hands.
"Any more stories you want to hear?" Baron teased, his eyes flickering toward the windows.
It was only then that Leo saw the shadows that were beginning to gather there.
Baron had called backup, probably before he had even confronted them.
Straitening out of a crouch that he hadn't even been aware he had slipped into, Leo turned to his brothers.
"Retreat." Leo ordered, holding his remaining katana defensively.
"What?" Raph demanded, cracking his knuckles. "No way, I haven't even had a proper go yet!"
"Raph, look". Leo said, pointing toward the windows.
It only took a glance for Raph to reluctantly agree and they carefully backed off, Leo and Raph standing protectively in front of Mikey-as he didn't have any weapons- as they did.
They had barely made it to the next rooftop when a group of Foot ninja surrounded the building and entered.
They left quickly, taking the shortest route to the Lair as possible through the sewers, not wanting to mess with the rooftops.
But the closer they got to the Lair, the more Leo realized just how unprepared he was to face his Sensei with this news. What would he say? What would Sensei?
Leo stopped at the entrance to the Lair, hesitating. He didn't want to go in yet.
Apparently he wasn't the only one, as each of his brothers stopped beside him.
"What're we gonna tell him?" Mikey whispered, looking at Leo with such large, pleading eyes that it immediately melted Leo's heart and he managed a smile at his youngest brother.
"We'll tell him the truth." Leo told him softly.
"All of it." Raph agreed beside him.
Leo nodded and found that he now had the energy to open the Lair door and they all walked in.
The immediate, pressing darkness of the Lair sufficed to remind Leo of Baron's story and it nearly brought tears to his eyes but he shook them away and searched for his father.
"Sensei?" Mikey called out none too quietly.
"In here, my sons." Came a soft voice from the dojo that would be familiar in any crowd.
Leo shared a look between his brothers before opening the dojo doors.
I meant to publish this on Friday, but since I didn't, I will be posting another one today to make up for it. Hope everyone had a good weekend!