Chapter 2: Missing Persons

April never returned from her errands.

After four hours of calling her cell phone every ten minutes, Casey went downtown and dutifully filed a missing persons report at the local precinct, even though he knew how useless that would be. When he returned to the apartment, Raphael was pacing the living room like a caged tiger. "What'd they say?" he asked the second Casey was in the door.

"Said they'd keep an eye out. And to call 'em if we heard from kidnappers or anybody else."

"That's such total crap."

Nodding his agreement, Casey dropped heavily into an armchair. "Jesus, Raph. I'm really worried."

Raph kept pacing. "We're gonna have to take care of this one ourselves."

"I know that. I just don't know how we're gonna take care of it."

---

Mike set down the phone receiver and immediately went to the computer. He flicked the monitor on and waited for the system to boot up, drumming his fingers impatiently on the desk. Once it was up, he signed onto his email and typed as quickly as his thick fingers would allow.

Don! April's missing. Don't know any more than that so far. Need your help. Better come quick. Love, Mike

He marked the message "urgent" and, with a small prayer, sent it off into the murky void of the internet. Then he shut down the computer and headed for the door.

---

With a final graceful leap, Leo landed silently on the fire escape. He squatted and tapped gently on the window pane. It was Casey who let him in. Once inside, ninja instincts kicked in and Leonardo did a quick once-over of the apartment. He couldn't fail to notice the sai sticking out from Casey's television.

He turned to his human friend. "How long has she been gone?"

"Aw, jeez." Casey ran a shaky hand through his dark, longish hair. "I dunno, Leo. I guess about eight hours now?"

Leo nodded thoughtfully.

Impatient, Raph stormed over. "Well? What's the deal, Fearless?"

Leo rolled his eyes and ignored his brother. Instead he addressed Casey again, asking, "How long until Mikey gets back into town?"

"It's gonna take him a while. At least another several hours," said Casey, biting his lip.

"So we go lookin' for April without him," Raph cut in. "He can catch up with us when he gets here."

"Raph." Leo's voice was gentle. "We can use all the manpower we can get."

Raph crossed his arms over his chest. "So we do nothing? Sit on our butts?"

"No," Leo shot back, "we come up with a plan. Which we will have carefully detailed and ready to put into action for when Mike arrives."

Raph looked ready to argue further, but Casey put a hand on his shoulder. Raph looked up, and Casey slowly shook his head. Sighing the beleaguered sigh of downtrodden younger brothers everywhere, Raph turned back to Leo and gave a curt nod.

---

They'd decided, based on the time-honored principle of know thine enemy, to start with some basic surveillance. Raph paired up with Casey, taking the east side of the city, and Mikey paired up with Leo to check out New York's west side.

Silently Mike and Leo leapt across rooftops. Mike felt on edge and not just because April was MIA. It had been months since he'd last seen Leo. Since that fight that had sent Mike packing to live at the farmhouse for a while. Now, back in the city after a longer absence than he'd expected, he didn't know what to say to his eldest brother.

Suddenly Leo skidded to a stop and held up a hand, pointing. Mike stepped beside him, his eyes quickly scanning the area below. Ah. There. A woman in an alley, clutching her purse protectively in front of her, while a half dozen Purple Dragons closed in on her. Mikey glanced at Leo, and Leo gave a single brisk nod.

Time to party.

Leo jumped down, and Mike reached for his nunchucks. The wood felt warm and familiar against his palms. As he leapt down to join his brother, he whipped out the weapons and gave them an experimental spin. He grinned. Just like riding a bike.

Up ahead he saw Leo drop a Dragon with a round-house kick. A second Dragon lifted a baseball bat and aimed for Leo's head, and Mikey rushed forward, knocking the bat out of the goon's hands with a simple flick of his wrist. As the Dragon turned to face this unexpected attacker, Mike's other chuck smashed into his mouth.

Before the unconscious goon even hit the ground, Mike had moved on to the next bad guy. Out of the corner of his eye Mike saw Leo flash him a grateful smile. Before Mike could smile back, he caught a sudden glint of steel and smiled back-flipped onto the lid of a nearby dumpster to avoid a stab from a Dragon with a knife. Leo whirled around and, with a clean sweep of his katana, took out the Dragon. Meanwhile, Mikey jumped off the dumpster and landed a flying kick into the stomach of a fourth Dragon. By the time, Mike looked up, the remaining two gang members were already rounding the corner at a full-out run, desperate to escape.

"Wimps," he called out, laughing. But the laugh died in his throat the second he heard a gun being cocked.

He glanced over at Leo, whose eyes were large and laser-focused. Leo was staring at the woman with the purse, now holding a small pistol, her finger on its trigger.

Mikey's mouth went dry. "Now, lady, we aren't gonna hurt ya," he began softly.

"Shut up, freak," she snapped back in a trembling voice, pointing the gun straight at Leo's plastron. Then there was a flash, and the woman let out a startled shriek—the gun was gone. All three people in the alley (who were still conscious) looked up to where the flash had come from.

A man stood on a nearby fire escape, holding a grappling gun in one hand and the woman's pistol in the other. He was dressed head-to-toe in black: Black pants, black hoodie, long black trench coat. He even wore black gloves—mittens, really—and a featureless black mask covered his face. Mikey felt his heart skip a beat.

The black-clad man pocketed the gun and tossed down a piece of paper. As he did, the woman bolted, and both turtles watched her hasty exit to make sure she didn't have any other weapons. Once they heard her footsteps recede into the distance, Leo and Mike turned back to the now-empty fire escape. The man had vanished like mist into the night air.

"Who was that?" Leo murmured, walking over to where the paper had fallen. Gingerly he picked it up and frowned at what he read.

Mikey grinned. "That, bro," he said in a voice soft with awe, "was the Black Ghost."

---

Author's Notes: Nope, no suicide for Leo—he was just thinking metaphorically. As for what happened to Don … maybe I'll tell, maybe I won't. I'm evil like that. But you will definitely learn what's happened to April. Also, this is the first action scene I've really ever written, so feedback and criticism are especially encouraged.