Chapter 3: Enter the Ghost
"So this Ghost guy says he knows where April is?" Casey stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. He frowned darkly. "I don't like it."
Leo sighed and looked down at the paper in his hands. "Me neither."
"Aw, c'mon," said Mike. "The Black Ghost is a superhero! I mean, true, he's no Silver Sentry. But he's definitely one of the good guys."
Raph narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. "So what exactly do you know about this kook?"
"First, he's not a kook," Mike said petulantly. "Second, he's more of a Batman than a Superman. He doesn't have traditional superpowers but does have lots o' gadgets. Like that awesome grappling gun." He grinned and finished, "James Bond would be jealous of this dude."
Meanwhile, Casey was still frowning. "I still don't like it. But I don't think we got any other choice." He jerked his head towards Raph. "We didn't see or hear a thing during our jaunt 'round the city. This is all we got to go on."
Leo shook his head. "Too dangerous. And too big a risk," he said.
"Too big a risk?" Casey sounded incredulous and took a step towards Leo. "This is April we're talkin' about!"
"I understand that, Casey."
"No, Leo, I don't think you do—"
Sighing, Raph and Mike exchanged looks then headed out to the living room. Mike grabbed the remote control, flopped onto the couch, and flipped the television on.
Raph sat down next to him and watched Mike's show for a while. It was terrible, as all Mike's shows were. Then he cleared his throat. "Mikey?" He paused. He shouldn't be meddling, but he had to know. "Why'd you hole up at the farmhouse for so long?"
Mike didn't answer for almost a full minute. "Fight with Leo," he eventually said, unusually terse.
Raph's eye-ridges shot up. Weakly he joked, "Ain't that more my job?"
Mike didn't laugh. Instead he turned to face Raph. "I told Leo that I've been emailing Don," he explained, "and Leo got mad at me."
"You've been—what?"
But Mike continued as if he hadn't heard, "And then I got mad at Leo. For making Donny leave in the first place." He groaned. "Everything kinda went downhill from there."
"No kidding," Raph said dryly. Then he bit his lip. "So, uh … has Donny ever emailed you back?"
Looking down, Mike shook his head. They both sighed.
After a moment silence, Leo strode into the room and stood in front of the television. "Get ready," he ordered. There was steel in his voice and in his eyes. "This Ghost guy said to meet him at three o'clock tonight, so we need to be there absolutely no later than two-thirty to check things out."
Without comment, both Raph and Mikey stood up. From behind, Casey added, "I'm coming too. Ain't getting left behind on this one. Not when we're talkin' about April."
Leo smiled grimly. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
---
Leonardo ducked into the shadows and did what he did best. He waited. This part of the city was almost completely deserted at this hour, and the only thing he could hear was his own heavy breathing. When the cell phone on his belt beeped softly, he grabbed it and pressed the walkie-talkie button. "All clear," Mikey's voice said on the other end.
"Good. Raph?"
"Same here," said Raph.
Leo nodded, though he knew they couldn't see. "Casey?"
"Ain't a soul around, Leo."
Leo nodded again and placed the phone back on his belt. His eyes scanned the narrow alley that the Black Ghost had chosen for their rendezvous. Though he tried never to underestimate a potential enemy, it occurred to Leo that maybe the Ghost wasn't all that smart. This was a terrible location from the Ghost's tactical standpoint. He would be easily closed off, easily surrounded. And that, of course, was just what Leonardo planned to do.
All that was left to do was to wait.
At almost three o'clock exactly, a dark figure appeared at the opposite end of the alley from Leo. Picking up his phone again, Leo whispered, "Everyone see him?"
"Yeah."
"Yup."
"Sure do."
Leo allowed himself a small smile. "Good. Get in position." Silently, slowly, he pulled out a katana and watched the stranger walk towards his position. Another shadow appeared behind the Ghost—that was Mike—and two more hovered on either side—Raph and Casey. The stranger either didn't notice them or was pretending not to, because his approach remained calm and steady.
Once the man was close enough, close enough to see that he was dressed exactly like he had been earlier that evening, Leo stepped out of the shadows and pointed his weapon towards the man. At the same time Mike, Raph, and Casey stepped into the light as well, their respective weapons drawn. The Ghost looked in turn at each of his would-be assailants then turned to Leo. He cocked his head but didn't speak. Apparently he was patient too.
"So, you're the Black Ghost, huh?" Leo asked, katana at the ready.
The Ghost nodded.
Mikey scratched his chin then turned to Raph. "Y'know, I kinda figured he'd be taller or something."
After shooting Mike a glare, Raph took a step forward. "So what's with you?" he said menacingly. "You too good to speak to freaks like us? Or can't ya speak?"
"Yes, I can speak," came a tinny, electronic voice from behind the mask.
"Whoa." Both Mike's eye-ridges shot straight up. "That is freaky."
The Ghost chuckled, and the chuckle was just as artificial-sounding as his words. "It's a voice modulator," he explained patiently, almost conversationally. "It masks my voice, just like this—" He pointed to his facial mask. "—masks my face." He gave a small shrug. "I value my anonymity."
"Where is she?" Casey barked. "What have you done with her?"
The Ghost held up his hands in a silent protest of innocence. "I don't have her," he said.
Raph snarled and, gripping his sais tightly, took another step forward. "He's lyin' through his teeth!"
"I don't have her," the masked man repeated, in his strange mechanical voice, "but I do know where she is."
---
As they crept carefully through the warehouse, Raph held a sai to the Ghost's back. "No sudden moves," he warned, pressing the weapon a little deeper into the man's back for emphasis. The Ghost nodded.
"How do you know she's here?" asked Leo, tense, straining to see in the dark.
The Ghost shrugged. "That's not important. What's important is that I know."
Casey growled low in his throat. "It's important to us, asshole."
"Quiet!" muttered Mike, eyes darting back and forth. "I think I hear somebody."
Raphael leaned in close to his hostage and, bringing his lips close to where he guessed the Ghost's ear would be, hissed furiously, "If you set us up, you're dead. You are dead, ya hear me?"
"I didn't," the Ghost replied, adding, "but I wouldn't be surprised if this is, indeed, a trap." He turned his head slightly, and Raph shivered at the dark-tinted lenses in the mask, which created a void where the man's eyes should have been. "In certain circles, it's no secret that you're connected to April O'Neil. Hasn't been for a long time. I don't think it's a coincidence that she, of all people, was kidnapped."
"Y'know, that does make sense," Mikey whispered.
Raph groaned. "Oh, shut up. Mikey, I swear that—" He cut off as, suddenly, the entire warehouse was flooded with bright fluorescent lights.
Ambush.
As a swarm of Purple Dragon members appeared from seemingly nowhere, the quartet assumed their battle positions. Scowling, Raph glanced over at the Ghost, who held his grappling gun at the ready, as well as another unidentifiable weapon. There was no way they could fight the Dragons and keep an eye on this so-called superhero. They'd just have to trust him—for the time being.
Raphael struck the first blow. His sai flashed in the harsh industrial lights as it caught a Dragon across the chin, sending the punk slamming backwards into three of his comrades. While Mikey did an intricate series of leaps and back-flips to confound his adversaries, Leo swooped in to mow the confused Dragons down with his swords.
A small distance away, Casey and the Black Ghost fought back to back. Screaming incoherently, Casey swung a golf club, keeping the punks a respectful distance out of its reach. Meanwhile, the Ghost lashed out with his weapon—a taser, as it turned out—and, with quick bursts of electrical discharge, dropped his opponents to the floor.
Then, over the chaos of the fighting, everyone heard a shrill whistle. All the Dragons that were still standing took a step back and looked towards the whistle. The turtles, Casey, and the Ghost looked too. A tall and heavily-tattooed Dragon, presumably the head of this local branch of the gang, stood on top of some crates. His arm was around April's shoulders, and a gun was pressed to her temple. Even from a distance they could see the terrified look on her face.
"April," Casey said under his breath. There was nothing else to be said.
With a strange noise that might have been a growl, the Ghost lifted his grappling gun, but before he could get off a shot, the head Dragon shouted, "Not so fast! Drop your gun, or she dies."
The Ghost hesitated. Raph wished, yet again, that he could see into the strange man's eyes.
"C'mon, Ghost," whispered Mikey, voice pleading. "Don't be stupid!"
The grappling gun clattered loudly to the floor, and the Ghost's shoulders slumped in defeat. Everyone heard Casey loudly exhale.
"And the rest of you," the Dragon said, nodding towards Casey and the turtles, "drop your gear too. Now."
More clanging, as steel and wood was tossed to the floor.
"Good, good, good." The Dragon laughed a little. Then he glared at his minions. "What are you just standing there for? Grab 'em!"
The Purple Dragons stepped forward, acting as one, and surrounded the quartet. As two of the larger gang members roughly grabbed his arms, Raphael glanced towards April and caught her mouth the words "I'm sorry."
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Author's Notes: So many questions … Was this a set-up? Whose side is the Ghost really on? What will the Dragons do with their prisoners? Tune in next week, same time, same channel … Bwa ha ha ha! Also, next chapter the Ghost's mask comes off, by the way.