Ch.4: Hero Patrol
Deep in the sewers, all the way to the turtles lair, grunts could be heard coming from the garage as Raphael tweaked his old Nightwatcher motorcycle to make sure the baby still ran clean and smooth. He might not be playing the hero anymore, well not as often, but that was no excuse to neglect a sweet ride.
"Perfect," stated Raphael, as he tightened one last bolt.
Standing up off his knees, Raphael directed his gaze downward and observed his creation, marveling in its silver beauty. The Nightwatcher bike looked as cool as ever. David Merryweather would be proud.
Before Raph could think back to the good times he had shared with the old man though, his eyes caught sight of a familiar shadow trying to hide behind the garage door.
"Come on out Mikey" said Raph " What do you want?"
Mikey came out of the shadows, and when he did the red-masked turtle's eyes almost widened in shock to see that his younger brother was dressed up in his Turtle Titan costume. A feeling of dread came over Raphael as he practically guessed what Mikey was going to ask.
"No," he said.
"Ah, come on Raph" said Mikey " just one patrol. The TV is all reruns, and I've already beaten every videogame I have, twice! I just need a little excitement to get my mind off things,"
"What did I start?" thought Raphael in his mind " Now Donnie's the only one without a super identity!"
Mikey's begging skills didn't help make Raphael's decision any easier, and he eventually gave into his young brother's whims.
"Fine" said Raph " I'll do it, but only this once. Let me gather my gear first, and then we'll go,"
"Yay!" cried Mikey in joy.
Shaking his head all the way to his room, Raphael stopped and looked towards the left wall, where his Nightwatcher armor was displayed. He hadn't put it on for a quite a while now, ever since the last adventure had taken its toll.
After the battle with the King Yomi was over, and Raphael finally earned his master status, the red-masked turtle was surprised when he received permission from Leo and Splinter to keep the Nightwatcher suit around. It was part of his identity, he had the right to keep it.
"Hey Raph" came Leo's voice, stepping in just as Raph picked up the Nightwatcher helmet " I was wondering…Oh, are you going out again?"
"Yeah" said Raph " at Mikey's request. My number one fan wants to go on at least one patrol with the Nightwatcher, and he's even dressed up to boot,"
"Ah" said Leo in understanding " I was wondering what he was up when he walked into the kitchen. Seems little brother wants to follow in your footsteps,"
"Their your footsteps too" stated Raphael " or have you forgotten Mr. Ghost of the Jungle? Good thing Donnie's not catching this bug, one of the advantages of being a nerd,"
"Don't know" said Leo " he may catch it sooner or later. Face it, it would be a lot better than tech support,"
"Uh" said Raph " I never liked it when he had that. Both he and Mike deserved better. Too bad I was too upset to stick around more,"
"We all have our regrets Raph" said Leo, turning away " I'll go tell Master Splinter not to worry. You and Mikey enjoy your patrol,"
"Yeah" said Raph " we'll do that,"
Adrenaline pumped through every one of Mikey's veins as his excited mind reveled in the awesomeness of this late night patrol. Cape flying behind him, and a red hood covering his orange mask, the city's newest hero, Turtle Titan made his debut, skulking the roofs for crime.
Following right behind his brother, clothed in silver armor, the Nightwatcher joined the patrol. Grinning a bit underneath his helmet, Raphael watched as Mikey did countless flips and jumps, clearly enjoying his first run as a hero.
Stopping on a rooftop a few jumps later, the two heroes paused to rest, and Raphael pulled off his helmet to breathe.
"Ah" said Raph " that feels good,"
"Yeah" said Mikey, pulling off his red hood " it's great to be a hero,"
"Don't get to used to it" said Raph, looking at Mikey " This is only a one time thing you know,"
"Yeah I know," said Mikey, then let out a sigh.
"Hey wait a minute" said Raph, just noticing a bandana tied around Mikey's arm " This wasn't part of the costume you showed me before,"
Instantly, Mikey looked embarrassed, taking the bandana from his arm.
"It's um…um…," he sighed. Raphael immediately understood.
"It's Ninjara's isn't it?" asked Raph.
"Yeah" said Mikey, looking at the stars " I miss her a lot. Do you think, that she misses me too?"
Raphael didn't know what to answer his brother. Love wasn't really his thing. He had come to terms a long time ago that he would never find a soul mate considering what he was, but it looks like Mikey still had hope. Maybe it could work between him and Ninjara, but with the fox all the way back in Japan, it was a pretty big 'maybe'.
"Sure she does bro," Raph assured, and that was all he really could do.
The tension brought on from Mikey's question, was suddenly dismissed as a giant crash and the sounds of gunfire erupted from nearby. Knowing that duty called, Raph and Mikey replaced their hood and helmet, then dashed off towards the sounds. Their night patrol had just gotten much more exciting.
Meanwhile, back at Shredder's headquarters, Oroku Saki was in the middle of perfecting his own martial arts status, slicing various wooden planks and metal surfaces when Karai came in to deliver a report.
"Father" she said " there has been a report from Japan. Alopex has secured the item and will be shortly with a small squad of elite,"
"Good" said Shredder " And what about the experiment?"
"Mr. Stockman assures that it is ready" said Karai " Father, may I ask what you are planning with all this?"
"You will find out soon my daughter" said Shredder " and the turtles will pay,"
As if to emphasize his last statement, Shredder swung out his claws and tore another target apart, until there was nothing left but pieces.
"Raaahhh!" cried out an animalistic roar, as the large form of an alligator suddenly busted through the concrete walls of TCRI and landed in streets, shots firing behind him.
"Restrain him!" called out General Traag's force to his guards.
The guards continued to shoot relentlessly as the beast continued his escape, fleeing down the alleyways, looking for somewhere to hide. A hot plasma shot burned past, nearly shocking the gator right on the head.
Growling with new found rage, the alligator stopped over to a nearby dumpster, hefted it up, and then threw the massive load straight towards his pursuers. The missile landed down hard, pinning the guards painfully against the ground.
Yellow eyes unleashing one last glare of hatred, the alligator turned and fled down the next alley, disappearing into the shadows. There was no place to go now, but down into darkness.
"Whoa!" said Mikey, when he and Raph finally reached the scene " Looks like something major happened here,"
"That's an understatement," thought Raph, as he looked down at the destruction below. Even through his helmet he could tell that front end of TCRI was totally. One guy, obviously the boss, stood outside, frowning at all the damage.
"Yay!" said Mikey " This can be our first big case! Let's go down there and help him out!"
"Mikey! Mikey, wait!" yelled Raph, but didn't make it in time as his little brother was already jumping down "Uhh!"
A few seconds later, General Traag was started with surprise as the Nightwatcher and some other kind of superhero dropped down before his eyes.
"What the…" started Traag " Nightwatcher! What are you doing here?"
"Heard the commotion" Raph answered " What happened here? Monster got away?"
"In a word" said Traag " an experiment gone wrong. I sent my guards out to stop it, but as you can see they haven't returned."
"No problem dude" said Mikey " we got you covered,"
"And you are?" asked Traag.
"I. Am. The Turtle Titan!" Mikey declared boldly.
"Ignore my enthusiastic friend Mr…?" said Raph.
"Traag" Traag responded "General Traag. And I will. Nightwatcher, if you and your friend can find and contain this experiment so it can be brought back to me I'd be very grateful. Your reputation is flawless despite what media say. I know I can count on you do the right thing,"
"Thank you General" said Raph, then hit his partner on the shoulder " Come on Turtle Titan let's go,"
With that said, the two heroes turned and jumped out of sight, not noticing the severe grin growing behind him.
"Well, well, well" thought Traag " an opportunity opens. Lord Krang will be pleased,"