Chapter Twenty-Six
Planning The Next Move
Meanwhile, topside in the Chicago City Hospital, two nurses stood outside the room of the Hate Preacher who lay in his bed asleep, because of his babbling and screaming he had to be restrained and sedated.
One of the nurses, a short haired blonde frowned.
"I can't see why we should help a scumbag like him Mary." she said to her companion, "That bastard don't deserve it!"
"Agreed Wendy." the other nurse agreed stroking the end of her dark broad hair that was done in a plait "The way he spoke of people who aren't white or Christian, I'd say he had it coming, that treatment of him."
"I got no idea who might have done all that torture to him." Wendy said "But he sure as hell deserved it!"
"Ladies!" a voice interrupted their conversation making them turn around and they saw the Senior nurse standing there, a short but slender woman wearing a headscarf showing she was a Muslim. "You're needed in Ward 5."
"Yes sister." they said together quickly walking away from the Preacher's window.
The Senior Nurse watched them go then entered the Preacher's room to check the machines he was hooked up to.
She gave him a disgusted look and analysed the gazes that covered his skin from where Callum/Diablo had carved those bloody symbols.
"You reap what you sow." the nurse said then made a few notes on his progress "I've always believed in karma! The way you speak about us being terrorists, and evil, if I had my way I wouldn't even think about helping you, but I have a job to do, and refusing to help won't make me a better person."
She placed the clipboard at the end of the bed then walked out of the room to continue her duties.
"I wonder who did that nasty stuff to him?" she thought "As much as he deserved it, it is worrying there is someone who would do such things out there."
Back in Mutopia, Callum was in his room, looking at the family photo he had stolen when he confronted the Hate Priest.
He smirked as he looked upon the wife and children and wondered what he could do to punish them for their beliefs.
He knew the children would have been brainwashed and were not to blame for their views, but he wondered if he could scare them enough into thinking that what they had been lead to believe would draw the devil in.
"Going after the Hate Preacher's wife," he thought "I think I could have some fun with her, and give those brats a scare too!"
He opened up his laptop where he clicked on a website to catch up on the news, and to his surprise yet delight, the news report on the Preacher's attack came up.
"Good evening Chicago, I'm Ruth Peters, followers of the Straight Truths Baptist Church located in the Down town area of the City, made a terrifying and gruesome discovery when they found their Head Preacher attacked and crucified to his own alter and threatening messages were written on the wall behind him in his own blood."
Callum smirked as he listened.
"The Preacher was taken to hospital, according to doctor's he will survive his encounter, but so far he was unable to identify his attacker not speak of it, since his ordeal has driven him insane." The Reporter took a breath then the a split screen appeared and it showed a female reporter outside the very church with followers and the public observing the area as well as shouting cruel words and protesting at each other.
"We now go live to Sally Banners on scene, good evening Sally!"
"Thanks Ruth! Yes, I'm outside the church right now, so far there hasn't been any updates on what happened with the church, all the police have found is the Preacher before he was taken to Hospital and evidence of blood, I have spoken to a couple of witnesses which include his wife and younger brother, both are equally shocked and devastated and say the children are just as upset."
The screen then changed to show the wife of the preacher and the brother being interviewed by the same reporter as she asked them about how they felt to see the Preacher attacked and what they said next made Callum's bood boil.
"Whoever attacked my husband will be damned forever!" the wife said despite having tears in her eyes, she looked so angry "They will go to hell! My Husband was attacked for speaking about his beliefs! And the truth!"
Then the brother spoke.
"I'm sure whoever did this was a fag! Or some Muslim terrorist! This proves my brother was right!"
The reporter then spoke with a confused tone.
"How do you know if it was a Muslim or a Homosexual or any of those people your brother denounces in his sermons?"
"It's a fact!" the brother argued "Those bastards out there are out to get us! And they're beginning a war on us!"
The Reporter looked shocked.
"That's really sick." she said.
"Take it or leave it honey!" the brother retorted.
Callum glared then looked at the photo.
"So you think a homosexual or a Muslim attacked your brother hmmm?" he asked quietly "Well, haven't you got a rude awakening coming." he paused the video then looked at the photo then at a piece of paper which showed an address he had ripped from an address book he had found in the Preacher's office.
"I think I know where to go next after this..." Callum smirked "You'll soon find out it wasn't who you thought it was...but rather Diablo!"
He looked towards his bedroom door, and he knew he would have to leave again when everyone else slept, like he did before.
"Just a few hours to go." he thought as he rested back on his bed "As long as I continue to act natural and no-one suspects me, I can continue in my goal, and my new purpose," he looked up and ceiling and smirked again.
Meanwhile in the Dojo, Tyroth had called the Turtles, Mona, Jake and the Knights together to talk about what Hugh had told them.
"So what do you propose Boss?" asked Jack.
"We should be vigilante when patrolling." Tyroth said "And keep our eyes open for any other related activity."
"Related activity?" asked Sharky "But this is one, if not the only incident we've heard of, it's like something completely new!"
"The Shark's right." Leonardo agreed "Even in New York we've never had anything like this, Hate Preacher's being attacked in a gruesome way."
The other turtles agreed.
"We've had murderers, burglaries, rapists and drug dealers, but never religious extremist violence." Raphael commented.
"Scratch that." Donatello commented "We've had some gang violence against Jews but never the other way round."
Michelangelo snapped his fingers as he remembered and the Knights looked at the turtles.
"When was that?" asked Sarah.
"It was some weeks ago." Mona explained "The turtles and I were patrolling when we came across some men standing outside a Jewish Church and hurling abuse as a Rabbi and his followers were leaving after evening worship and they started blocking their way and pulled out knives to rob and assault them."
Kate glared angrily.
"Bastards!" she growled.
"We took care of them luckily." Michelangelo said looking equally angry, "We stunned them with some smoke bombs and after making sure the Rabbi and his followers got away, we gave the attackers a good beating and left them tied up for the police to find."
"Great work!" Amber praised.
"What happened to them?" Percy asked.
"According to what we found out afterwards." Donatello said "They were arrested and imprisoned to four years, not because of that one incident, but there were others as well, they had a history of burglaries, robberies and assaults on Mosques and other places of worship."
"Good riddance." Heather commented and Kate nodded in agreement.
Jake was silent throughout the whole thing as he thought hard.
"You okay brother?" Mona asked.
"Hmmm?" Jake looked at Mona "Oh sure, I'm okay."
Mona placed her hand on his shoulder and Jake smiled softly.
"I've never been faced with something so complicated." Tyroth admitted as he looked at everyone "I'm just so torn, in a way, I believe that what the Preacher got, he deserved everything he got, but at the same time, if whoever it was who did that to him is still out there, will he strike again?"
"If it's another Hate Preacher, or one of his followers?" asked Sephie "More than likely they'll go after them?"
"Possible." said Tyroth "Hugh hasn't told me anything else, so far there's no other evidence, and the Preacher hasn't woken up and said anything, at the moment he's been sedated because he was so traumatised."
"So what should we do now about this situation?" asked Jack.
"Right now?" asked Tyroth "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Everyone exclaimed.
"Why Hun?" asked Sephie.
Tyroth took a deep breath.
"I'm leaving this to Hugh." he said "I'm going to talk to him later, right now, since there are no leads on who might have done this, we can't go looking or observing right now, all we can do is wait to hear back from Hugh."
The others looked at each other in question then Leonardo spoke up.
"Big T's right." he said "We shouldn't go looking until we have more evidence and leads, once Hugh knows more, he'll let us know."
"Exactly Fearless." Tyroth said with a nod.
"So how long do we have to wait?" asked Percy in a bored voice.
"As long as it takes." Tyroth said "If we can't do anything right now, we just need to sit tight and wait."
"Master Splinter's often telling us that." Michelangelo said resting his chin on his hands.
Raphael groaned.
"And here I was hoping for some more action."
"You'll get it soon enough Raph." Leonardo snapped.
"Be quiet you two!" Donatello hissed.
Tyroth sighed.
"Listen guys, once I hear anything from Hugh, we'll have another conference okay?"
The others agreed reluctantly and stood up as Tyroth dismissed them.
Everyone left to go about other activities but Sephie stayed behind to be with her mate.
"I just don't know how to go about this." Tyroth confided in his mate "As much it angered me about that preacher and like I did before to those robbers in New York, I want to scare him to death, but I can't put Mutopia in danger or risk anything worse happening if I do something."
"Believe me hun I know." Sephie comforted placing a hand on Tyroth's cheek "I understand, look, like you said, we'll wait to hear from Hugh, then we'll go on from there."
A few hours later, the whole of Mutopia was silent as it's residents slept.
For the rest of the day, Tyroth's thoughts tortured him, and he felt frustrated when Hugh didn't have any updates on the incident, since the forensics were still working on what they found at the scene and the Preacher hadn't spoken.
Yet throughout the whole thing, and all he could think of who would have done such things to the Preacher, he never for a moment suspected Callum, and the Raven due to his observation still practised using his wings, or just continued to be in his own company.
By the time it came to bedtime, Tyroth just couldn't think any more, he almost wanted to go and meditate but Sephie insisted that he come to bed, to which he reluctantly agreed.
Seeing the whole sanctuary was deserted and quiet, Callum snuck out of his room and began to make his way to the entrance.
He was flexing his taloned hands and smirking, hoping to do to the wife and brother the same as he did to the Preacher.
Looking around in the darkness and seeing that there was no-one around, he left the residential area and went straight for the exit of the sanctuary making sure his taloned feet didn't make too much noise as they scraped across the stony floor.
"I got the address of that bastard's wife and hopefully I'll find out where his brother lives and go after him too!" he thought to himself "This is going to be so much fun!"
As he walked away from the area, he didn't know that Pandora had woken up just before he left his room to use the toilet and was just walking back to her allocated room and she had seen Callum walking down the hallway.
At first she was terrified, with it being dark in the hallways and seeing a large dark shape, and had hidden behind the door of the bathroom area, but she soon saw it was her Raven uncle when a crystal light showed his feathers and beak.
She narrowed her eyes as she watched him, wondering why he was leaving the residential area, she almost wondered whether to confront him, but she didn't know whether she should or not, mainly because since he mutated, Callum had been so moody and angry and he never even attempted to speak to her or Kemeko and her parents and uncles had told her to leave him be.
Walking back to her room, Pandora wondered if he was having a walk, or going to the kitchen area, as she sometimes had seen Michelangelo go into the kitchen for midnight snacks, and if she was awake she would be lucky to join him with the promise of not telling her parents about his activities.
Yawning, Pandora climbed into her bed and snuggled down clutching one of her bears in her arms, yet she played with the thought of talking to Callum when Mutopia was awake.
So Tyroth has decided that nothing can be done until he hears back from Hugh, yet he is still disturbed about the whole thing.
Meanwhile Callum's decided to go and target the Hate Preacher's Wife and brother and even his kids! After what he did to the preacher, who knows what he might do to the family?
But he's been spotted by Pandora! What will be the result of that? Well, keep checking back to find out!