Chapter 5: Before the Dawn

With all the silence and grace of a spider, I slid through the metal tunnel set up in the ceilings of the building. I was a ninja moving through a compound of fellow ninjas. I realized just how difficult and dangerous this would be.

Master Splinter... please, let your spirit be with me!

Thankfully, it was a fairly good sized venting system, allowing me to creep along without the sides of my shell scraping along the side, but it was a confusing labyrinth. More then once, I found myself hitting a dead end and forced to turn around and backtrack.

Every so often, a vent would allow me glimpses of the rooms below. I had entered in at around the second story, which appeared to be mostly offices and meeting rooms and a lot of hallways. Occasionally, I would see crimson-clad ninjas walking casually together, not on patrol, but merely going about daily business. Those must have been the Hamato grunts, the rank and file of the clan. I tried to listen in on them as they walked underneath me, completely unaware of a stealthy turtle hiding in the vents above, but most of the time they had moved on before I could catch anything. What little I did hear was just small talk. At one point, I noticed one crimson-clad ninja trying to operate one of a row of crazily high tech, complicated looking vending machines. I was close enough to hear him muttering quietly about how 'Of course they couldn't get normal vending machines. No, Master Donatello just had to make these, and all he wanted was a damn bag of Fritos!'. Apparently, Donnie had taken time from being a busy Chuunin to upgrade the break rooms for his ninjas.

Thankfully, from what I could hear, there was absolutely nothing being whispered about a mutant turtle, especially one that might have escaped. It seemed like so far everything involving me was thankfully going unnoticed.

Suddenly I froze mid crawl through the vent, and held very still, listening over the thud of my heartbeat.

I could familiar voices.

The Hamato brothers.

I flattened myself and listened for a little bit.

I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. They were obviously still a little ways away, and the sound was muffled and echoed a little in the vents.

If... If I could get a little closer, maybe I could hear more. Maybe, if they were talking where they didn't know I could hear, I could learn what their true motivations were regarding me.

Carefully, I slid forward, figured out the direction the voices were coming from, and finally found a vent looking down in the room.

And there they were. Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

The three brothers were sitting in a control room with a wall covered in monitors. A quick glance showed me that these were the feeds from the cameras scattered across the garden room I had been held in. There was the pond, and the hut, and the flower beds, only in black and white now due to being in night vision mode.

Were they spying on me?

The room looked like they had been camped in there for a while. There were blankets and pizza boxes and empty cans of soda everywhere.

Currently Raph was sitting back, munching on a large bowl of seasoned popcorn, while Donnie was curled comfortably in a beanbag chair against the wall, obviously hard at work as he typed away at a laptop. Mikey was right up at the monitors, closely examining each screen.

"Mikey..." Donnie said patiently, not looking up from his screen. "I'm not going to tell you again. You're going to hurt your eyes being that close to the monitors."

"I'm trying to spot Leo!" Mikey complained. "And my face isn't any closer to these screens then you are to your laptop screen."

"That's completely different." Donnie huffed, though he did scoot his laptop back an inch or two.

Mikey exhaled, leaning back and frowning as he scanned the screens. "I tell you what, guys. Leo's going to be awesome when we play hide and seek. It's all 'Where's Waldo' hard-mode here."

"He's survived twelve years alone out in the city." Donnie reminded him. "Leo has probably had to be good at hiding."

I could see Raph's face darken, and he muttered, "I really wish we had found him earlier. Like, a LOT earlier."

"Me too." Donnie's jaw tightened a little as his typing grew a little slower and more forceful. He looked up, eyes narrowing. "I don't even want to imagine all that he's been through over the years. All the scars on his body... he didn't get those accidentally. He's been cut and stabbed. Repeatedly. I actually found bullet holes in his shell."

I remembered getting shot. I had jumped in and shielded a woman and her small boy as her furious abusive and drunk boyfriend pointed a pistol at them and fired. And for my troubles, I had gotten shrieked at and pepper sprayed in the face. That had not been a good day. Master Splinter had scolded me for hours while carefully prying the bullets out.

My chest tightened a little at the memory of the patient and worried rat sternly lecturing me while tenderly doing his best to ease my pain.

"One of the reasons I'm hoping that we can get him to communicate with us." Raph had bristled up with the topic. "I need a list of faces to smash in. NOBODY hurts my bro and gets away with it! EVER!" He threw a few pieces of popcorn in his mouth while slouching down grumpily.

Donnie sighed and ran his hand over his face, leaning his head back against the wall. "And then we, his own family, hired the bounty hunters who tranquilized him off of a roof, taking a chunk out of his shell. No wonder Leo probably distrusts all humans."

"We never should have listened to Bradford and hired those goons." Raph testily picked through the bowl of popcorn as if searching for something. "Fat lotta good all those promises on paper not to hurt him were. If we had found Leo first, we damn well wouldn't have shot him off a fucking roof!"

I was surprised by the intensity in his words and voice. He was sincerely upset about my shell.

"We had been looking without success for six years." Donnie reminded him wearily. He gave a wry laugh and shake of his head. "I was beginning to wonder if he even existed."

Mikey was silent for a moment, then glanced back at his brothers. "What are we going to do if he really can't talk or understand us?"

"Take care of and protect him?" Raph shrugged, and tossed a particularly buttery piece of popcorn that he had found in his mouth. "Doesn't matter if he talks or not. He'll still be our bro."

"Of course he's our brother!" Mikey scoffed as if that was an obvious given, turning back to the screens. He touched the screen and was quiet for a long moment, blue eyes searching. Then turned back to his brothers with a shy grin. "We've only known him for less then a day... Is it strange that I already love him so much?"

Raph gave an amused snort and merely ate some more popcorn, but his expression clearly showed that he knew exactly how Mikey felt.

I swallowed hard, not sure how to take this. They... actually sounded sincere.

"I'm going to bake him muffins." Mikey decided out loud, turning back to the screens. "I bet he'd like muffins."

"I still haven't determined how much of his digestive system has changed from his beginnings as a turtle, so nothing with any dairy product in it." Donnie mentioned absently, typing away at his laptop. "It's very possible that he's lactose intolerant. Also, no chocolate or processed sugar for now."

"Hm..." Mikey's eyes narrowed, still looking for any hints of turtle on the screens. "A challenge, then. I accept."

"I really wish he had eaten something earlier." Donnie's brow furrowed in concern, even as he continued working. "He seems underweight, and who knows what his diet's been like out there on the streets. I'm worried about malnutrition. I've been planning on putting together a dietary plan once we figure out what foods he likes."

"Hey Dee, you still working on bringing Dad here?" Raph asked Donnie curiously, popping another piece of popcorn in his mouth.

Donnie nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Yeah, I'm just finishing up the final details now. I think he'd like to be here with all of us, and I really want him to meet Leonardo." He gave a wry grin. "It's not everyday that you find out that you have a long-lost son, after all." He went back to typing. "It's going to take a week or two to get everything set up, and then I'll head over to Japan to bring him over."

"Cool." Mikey tilted his head and leaned in close, obviously spotting something interesting on one of the screens, before decided it wasn't a turtle brother and going back to searching. "I know Dad's going to love Leo as much as we do."

I exhaled silently, and then started backing away from the vent. As much as I wanted to stay and listen to them longer, I wasn't safe here. If I wanted freedom, I had to keep moving.

I clenched my jaw, and starting creeping down the vents once more.

I didn't belong here, I reminded myself.

I didn't belong with them.

They were humans, and I had learned the hard way a long time ago that it was never a good idea to get involved with humans.

It... it was for the best.

I carefully pried the vent off, and peeked out, sniffing eagerly at the cool fresh air combined with the smells of the city.

A snowflake landed on my snout, and I looked around the dark and abandoned street.

I was outside!

I was free!

Slinking out of the vent attached to the side of the building, half hidden behind some dumpsters, and looked up at the building I had just escaped from.

I had made it! I had outninja'd a ninja clan! Ha! Take that, humans!

Huh. I remembered seeing this building from a distance before, a stone structure that almost resembled an old stone castle. I had been intrigued by it, as it was supposedly a dojo, but never investigated it. I never would've guessed that there was a whole complex hidden deep underground.

Right. I exhaled, my breath misting in the cold air, and looked around. I needed a plan for what to do next.

I needed to disappear. Forever. New York wasn't safe for me anymore. I needed to go someplace far away, remote, where nobody could find me.

I could head down to South America, disappear into a thick, remote rainforest in the Amazon Basin somewhere. It... it was a plan that I had considered before. The city wasn't exactly an ideal place to remain hidden from human eyes, and the only reason I hadn't left was that every time I considered it, I thought back to Master Splinter's body buried behind a sewer wall near our old lair, and I would suddenly feel like I was abandoning him.

But the time for sentiments were over, and my three-fingered hand was forced. I would be safer if I left civilization behind completely, and the climate down in the tropics would probably be more suited for a turtle like myself. I wouldn't have to hide all day, I could actually wander around in the day and do what I wanted. I would be left alone.

A noise startled me, and I turned to see that a brown furred rat had overturned a can, sniffing inside it curiously.

I stared at it blankly for a long second, watching it find an old apple and begin gnawing on it.

"You should seek out my old master and his sons. They are your family as well, and you could learn much from them."

I scoffed and turned away. I was not a pet anymore. I did not want to live my life in a cage. The Hamatos may have meant well, but I didn't belong there.

"Our Dad's blood runs through your veins, just as surely as it runs through our own."

This was insane. Why was I hesitating? I couldn't stay here, I would get caught!

"Leo... you are our brother!"

I looked to the rat and swallowed hard.

"I know Dad's going to love Leo as much as we do."

I looked down the street, catching glimpses of the city beyond, glowing with a thousand brilliant lights in the moonless night. A city that held millions of lives and yet I felt so alone. A city where, no matter what I did, I couldn't ever find a place to belong.

Right?

I growled, startling the rat a little, and pressed a hand against my forehead, rocking as my thoughts raced.

Donatello had said that they were bringing their father here in a few weeks. Hamato Yoshi was coming here.

It was foolish and probably one of the stupidest things I ever considered, but still, this might be my only chance ever to fulfill Master's Splinter's last request that I try and meet his former master. I could just meet him, and then make my escape. Then I planned on never being found by anyone ever again. I would spend out the rest of my days carving a living out for myself in a jungle. Alone.

Not that I minded being alone, of course. I didn't need anybody. I was a trained ninja warrior, after all.

I looked back at the vent I had crawled through. I now had an exit available if things went bad. I knew I could escape.

And the Hamato brothers seemed to more interested in adopting me then experimenting on me. Who knew, perhaps after a while, the novelty would wear off and they would tire of their 'turtle brother' like many humans seemed to tire of their pets, but I would only be staying a few weeks at most anyways. I would leave long before they could grow bored and sell me off to a collector or the EPF.

I supposed I could tolerate being the Hamato's pet for a short while. I would meet this Hamato Yoshi, the human my Master adored. Master Splinter had been the only father I had ever known. I hadn't been able to take care of him in life, and this would be what he wanted. I owed him this much.

Then I would make my escape for good, travel to Ecuador or somewhere similar, and be lost forever, never to deal with any humans again.

The rat looked up and watched me nervously as I stepped forward, its whiskered nose twitching as it sat back and tried to figure me out. I gingerly dug in the dumpster for a second, until I found a paper bag from a nearby fast food restaurant with several french fries still inside. I carefully put them on the ground, and the rat eagerly pounced on them.

A short time later, I was back in my 'sanctuary', as Donnie had called it, with no one the wiser about my ability to leave this room at will. If I played my cards right, my secret would remain safe, an escape route for me if things went bad.

I studied the shadow-hewed garden for a long, quiet moment, the only light coming from the twinkling artificial starlight above.

And then I slowly made my way over to the table with the food left out for me, and grabbed some fruit and a few vegetables. I settled down in a place where I knew I would be in full view of one of the cameras, and slowly began to eat.

Author Notes:

Inner Logical Leo: *Lists all the reasons why he shouldn't mess around with humans, how the most important goal should always be focused on survival, and reminds himself that loneliness is just a state of mind, and he doesn't really need anybody.*

Inner Chibi Leo: *perks up hopefully* Wait? I can has brudders?