Disclaimer: I don't own them. I own none of the characters of TMNT, turtle, human, rat, or otherwise. What I DO own is this story; the plot, the later characters, the storyline, the events, etc. 'Tis all mine! (I'm trying to make myself feel better. :D) Now on to the notes.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope the holidays were good to all of you; they were to me. I would also like to say this: THANK YOU!!!! Thanks to the wonderful fans I have (it's so cool to say that), I managed to place in two different sections of the FanFic competitions: "What We Could Have Been" got 2nd (tied) for Best Drama and "Bleeding Heart" got 3rd (tied) for Best Accurate Portrayal of the TMNT. I can't tell you all just how much that means to me, and it was so cool to see my name up there. I really, really appreciate it. And while I'm in thanking mode, gratitude must also go out to my reviewers, who really made all the work I put into Chapter 6 pay off: Aurora Musis Amica, RandomlyInsaneWhitePony, The Burninator Named Trogdor, Tristripe, Pi90katana, and Tewi. Thank you so much for your support! And one more quick little note. I'm so glad that so many people liked Chapter 6; it was a monster to write, but I enjoyed it. Something I want to ask, though, is this: how many of you saw that coming? Huh? Huh? XD If you wouldn't mind throwing a little note my way, I'd love to know who was expecting Karai's death.
And on to more notes! I'd like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but what with Christmas, New Year's, and holding down two jobs for a while, I really didn't have much time to update. I'm back now, though, and glad about it. And as for this chapter, I'm gonna explain it so that everything makes sense. Just as the last chapter was all Leo and Karai, this chapter will be all Raph, Don and Mikey, as well as some Splinter, Casey and April. This way I can get everyone covered. It will also kind of go back in time; as you'll be able to tell, it starts off with Splinter, Casey and April right after they get Karai's phone call. Then when the next "section" starts, there'll be another note to keep you guys on top of things. This chapter won't be as action-packed or angsty as the past few chapters, but it's necessary. Also, for any Don fans out there, he gets a special "CSI" spotlight gig in this chapter. :D You'll see what I'm talking about soon enough. Anyways, that's really all I can think of, so on to Chapter 7!
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Splinter closed the Shell Cell with a heavy sigh, his eyes shutting under the weight of this newest problem. Choose…I must choose between the lives of my sons. What father could make such a choice? To save one, I risk the lives of three. To save three, I abandon one to either torture or death, or both. And yet…and yet already I find that I am leaning towards a choice. Great Daimyo, how can I make such a choice?
"Master Splinter?" April's worried voice broke through his reverie, barely suppressed panic in her words. "Master Splinter, what did she say?"
The ninja master collected himself, opening his eyes to find both humans nearby and watching him anxiously. He stood, grabbing his walking staff and heading for the garage. "Come. We must go now."
"Go? But Master Splinter, what's going on?"
"There is no time to explain now, Miss O'Neil. Please get the keys to the Battleshell. Mister Jones, please gather your weapons. I will explain on the way." Splinter could feel the confusion coming off of both of his companions, but they obeyed his orders. Soon all of them were seated and buckled up in the Battleshell, with April at the wheel. "Miss O'Neil, please go to the intersection of Hargrove and Prudence streets. And drive as quickly as you can."
"Alright." A hard glint came into April's eyes as she gunned the engine. "Hang on." The vehicle peeled out of the garage, and the trio was soon careening through the streets of New York. A silent minute passed before April glanced over. "Um, Master Splinter…?"
Splinter could easily hear the question in her words, and sighed. "Yes, Miss O'Neil, I shall explain now." He looked out the tinted glass of the window, his heart aching. "In her call, Karai informed me that she has my sons."
A muted curse emitted from Casey. "What else did she say?"
"She has given me a choice to make. She said that if we arrive at Hargrove and Prudence within ten minutes, we would find Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, and we could take them and return home unmolested. If we do not arrive within ten minutes, or refuse to take them home, we would be killed."
April gasped. "But—what about Leo? Where is he?"
Splinter bowed his head. "I do not know exactly where Leonardo is, but I know that he will not be returned to us. Karai plans to…keep him."
"Oh no," April whispered. "Leo…"
The knowledge Splinter had shared caused the rest of trip to be spent in silence. After what both seemed like an age, and seemed far too soon, the three of them arrived at the determined building. April pulled into an alley, parking the Battleshell. They all quickly filed out of the vehicle and began to climb the fire escape.
"Hey Master Splinter," Casey whispered quietly.
"Yes?"
"Are we gonna have ta fight to get the guys outta there?"
"…I do not know, Mister Jones. But since I do not fully trust Karai's "good intentions", I would advise readiness."
The tall man slipped a golf club out of the bag thrown over his shoulder. "Gotcha covered," he promised darkly.
They made it to the top of the iron staircase and over the edge of the building's roof. However, as soon as Splinter turned around, his breath hissed in his throat and he felt his heart stop.
His sons lay motionless in the middle of the roof, and surrounding them on every other available inch of space were Foot soldiers. As Splinter watched, one stepped forward, walking towards them until he stood between Splinter, April and Casey, and the turtles. Splinter narrowed his eyes and spoke. "We are here for my sons."
"Your timing is fortunate, rat," the ninja observed carelessly. "You had only minutes left before we would have destroyed them. Although, depending on your choice, they may yet be destroyed. Their fates, and those of you and your companions, hinge on your answer. So tell me, rat; what will you choose? Will you take my mistress's generous offer and return home with your sons? Or will you remain here and fall to my sword? Answer quickly."
Splinter could almost feel his emotions aging him now that the true and final moment of his choice was at hand. He had already made his decision, and he knew in heart that it was the best he could do in such a situation…but indecision and fear still dried his throat, trapping the words in his mouth.
The ninja's eyes narrowed at Splinter's silence. He drew his sword, slowly moving it to rest threateningly at Don's throat. "Your answer, rat; now."
April's grip tightened desperately on Splinter's shoulder, her breath hitching in her throat. "Master Splinter…" she whispered frantically.
Her words broke the freezing hesitation upon Splinter. "We will accept your…offer. We will take my sons and return home." A sharp pang of guilt shot through Splinter's heart; in saving three of his sons, he was as good as leaving the last one to die. Forgive me, Leonardo.
The sword remained at Donatello's throat. "Your word, sworn on your honor, rat."
Splinter met the ninja's gaze with blazing eyes, angered by the implied insult to his integrity, especially coming from such a dishonorable ninja as one of the Foot. "I swear on my honor that we shall return straight home from here."
Another moment passed before the weapon finally moved back to its sheath. The ninja bowed mockingly. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, rat. Do have a pleasant evening." A quick hand motion was dispersed through the crowd, and seconds later, only Splinter, April, Casey and the turtles remained on the rooftop.
A small noise of surprise emitted from Casey. "Wait, that's it? No fightin' or nothin'?"
Splinter sighed heavily. "No, that is it."
"So now what?"
The rat's gaze turned to his sons, lying silently on the rooftop. "Now we go home."
"Are you kiddin' me? Look at Raph and the guys! Those losers did somethin' to them, an' that earns 'em a butt-whooping in my book. Plus, what about Leo? We can't go home!"
April spoke up hesitantly. "I have to agree with Casey, Master Splinter; at least about the last part. We can't leave Leo, can we?"
"We must, Miss O'Neil. As I already explained to you, that is why all of this has happened. This was set up so that we could not make it home with all four of them. This was no favor from the Shredder; this was another victory of hers. If I chose to stay, I would be forfeiting all of our lives, and even if we had defeated their forces, we would be no closer to finding Leonardo. The only choice that I could make was to save as many of my sons as I could, and return home. And by the time we do indeed return to the Lair…the battle will have begun, and we may very well be too late."
The woman's brows furrowed in confusion. "Battle? What battle?"
Splinter knelt beside Michelangelo, laying a gentle paw on his son's forehead. "What may be the last battle between our clans; Leonardo and Karai's final battle." He quietly filled Casey and April in on the rest of Leonardo's vision; though the two humans had been told earlier about the parts that concerned them, Splinter and the turtles had agreed to leave the rest out. But the ninja master felt that they now needed to know the whole truth. After finishing his story, he returned his attention to his youngest son. "Even without Leonardo's vision, I should have anticipated this. There has been far too much animosity between Leonardo and Karai, for the end not to come down to the two of them. I just did not expect for Karai to bring that end about like this. By forcing me to leave with only three of my sons, she is ensuring that her battle will be private and that there will be no chance for interference. Karai seeks to end our families' feud tonight. She is keeping Leonardo, and they will battle. And this time…it will be to the death."
"Oh no…" April knelt as well, gently taking Donatello's pulse while Casey knelt by Raph. "Then…what should we do?"
"The only thing we can do," Splinter replied sadly. "Take these three home…and hope for the best."
"But Master Splinter—" Casey protested.
"Casey, we have no choice," April said remonstratively, cutting him off with a sharp glance. "Master Splinter gave his word, and that binds us as well. Besides, even if we can't do anything for Leo, we can help the rest of the guys." She stood, a tight, worried look on her face. "Let's get them home."
The tall man sighed heavily and stood. "Alright, you two have a point." He shook his head. "Damn. Raph ain't gonna be happy about this when he wakes up. None of 'em will, but him most of all."
"I know, Mister Jones. I am not pleased with this situation either," Splinter said tiredly. I only hope that they do not blame me as I already blame myself, he thought.
"Well, let's get this show on the road," Casey said, bending down to hook his fingers around the rim of Raph's shell. Grunting, he tried to shift the turtle so he could lift him more easily, but his hand slipped, his fingers sliding upwards around the edge of the carapace. He winced instantly, pulling his hands back. "Ow! Damnit, that hurt!!" he swore, waving his right hand about wildly.
April glanced up in concern. "What's wrong, Casey?"
"It bit me!"
A blank look crossed the woman's face. "Come again?"
"Raph's shell bit me," Casey repeated.
April sighed. "Casey, turtle shells don't have teeth."
"Oh yeah? Then explain this," Casey said indignantly, presenting two bloody fingers for April's inspection.
The redhead's expression morphed into confusion as she gently took and looked over Casey's hand. "What on earth?" She then dropped his hand and moved over to kneel beside Raph. Repeating Casey's actions, she carefully ran her fingers along the inner rim of Raph's carapace, wincing as something sharp pricked at her fingers. April frowned. "There is something back here." She shifted slightly to a better vantage point, then peered under the rim of the shell. Splinter and Casey watched as she worried at something for several moments, then finally pulled the object free. In her hand lay a small square of metal, a miniscule red light flashing methodically from its center. April gasped and raised her free hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh…"
Casey and Splinter were beside her in a heartbeat. "What's wrong, Ape?" Casey asked anxiously. "Are y'alright? What is that thing?"
"I—I'm fine, Casey. It's just…this, this is a bug. A tracer." She glanced up at her companions. "This was all a trap. Karai returning the guys…it was all a bigger trick than we even thought."
Splinter frowned, his tail lashing in concern. "What do you mean, Miss O'Neil?"
April gestured to the small tracker. "It's a trap," she repeated. "Karai must have had the three of them planted with these bugs after she drugged them, then she returned them under the guise of keeping us from interfering in her fight with Leo. That way, we would think that that was the only reason we were getting them back, and we'd be too concerned about them to worry about much of anything else. Plus, she waited until she got Master Splinter's promise that we'd take them back to the Lair. Again, we would have thought she did that just to keep us out of the way, and once Splinter gave his word, we would have had to return. And if we had…"
Casey paled as realization hit him. "Damn…"
The redhead nodded shakily. "We would have led them right to the Lair, and then…"
Splinter's whiskers quivered as he tried to collect himself, banishing thoughts of destruction and death. "Then history would have repeated itself, and we would have lost another home…and our lives."
The three of them were silent for some time, trying to recover from the near miss. Eventually April let out a deep breath, looking at Casey and Splinter with a shaky smile. "Well, let's look on the bright side; if Karai was willing to go through so much trouble like this, then at least we know that she still doesn't know where the Lair is."
An equally hesitant smile weakly curled up the edges of Splinter's snout. "We must always be thankful for the small blessings we get."
April nodded. "Alright, let's get these bugs off of the guys and get them home. I want to get those cuts cleaned out and stitched up before they get infected." The other two bugs were quickly located and removed, and April pocketed them carefully.
"What're you gonna do with those, April?" Casey asked as he moved the last of the turtles over by the fire escape.
A defiant look settled on April's face. "We're going to make a quick stop by the docks. Let's see how smart Karai thinks she is when her trackers show the guys somewhere near New Jersey, floating out to sea."
Casey grinned. "Sounds good ta me. Now let's get these guys outta here; we ain't been seen yet, but I don't wanna try our luck."
It took several trips to get the turtles into the Battleshell, but soon enough they had made their trip to the dock and were safely home. Finally everyone was inside, and April and Splinter went to work cleaning and bandaging the turtles' shuriken wounds in the infirmary while Casey prowled around the Lair.
"That is the last of them," Splinter said as he clipped off the end of the thread after finishing the last of Raphael's stitches. He leaned back with a heavy sigh. "And now all we can do is wait."
April and Casey nodded miserably. "At least the sedative doesn't seem to be affecting their health," April pointed out half-heartedly. "All three of them are breathing easily, and they all have strong heartbeats too."
Splinter couldn't help a small smile at the woman's optimism. "Small blessings," he noted, remembering their words from earlier.
"Small blessings," the two humans echoed.
The three of them glanced at each other, sharing more worried smiles, before turning their attention to the motionless turtles in front of them, taking up their silent vigil.
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The infirmary was quiet and dimly lit. After a while of stillness and silence from the turtles, Splinter and April had finally joined Casey in the kitchen to try and eat something. They talked quietly about nothing at all, all of them trying to think about anything but what they were going through. Unnoticed by them, small motions and sounds began to break the silence of the infirmary. Slowly but surely, the three turtles began to stir.
"Owww…aw, man, what crawled into my skull and died?" Mikey moaned, grabbing his head gently as he levered himself into a sitting position.
An echoing groan issued from Don. "Whatever it was, I think it left its cousin to rot on top of my brain."
"Don't…talk…so loud," a gruff voice snarled. Raph looked even worse than Don and Mikey, and apparently felt so, too. He worked himself into a standing position and swayed, his face dark. "I frickin' hate bein' knocked out. When I get a hold of those jackasses, I'm gonna…gonna—" A queasy look flew over his face, and he wrapped his arms around his stomach. "I'm gonna be sick…" he groaned, stumbling out of the room.
He'd hardly been gone ten seconds when April's voice sounded from the hall. "Raph? Don? Mikey? Are you guys awake?" Her head popped around the doorway and a smile lit her face. "You're awake! We were so worried!"
Both turtles winced at the volume of her voice. "Please, April, not so loud," Don pleaded tiredly. "Whatever the heck the Foot dosed us with comes with a really unpleasant headache."
"Oh, sorry, Don," April apologized, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Wait…where's Raph?"
The sound of heaving came to their ears from down the hall. Mikey grinned ruefully. "Does that answer your question?"
Don sighed as he carefully sat up, holding a palm to his forehead. "It must be the sedative," he murmured. "Something about it probably messed up his system. I should do something—"
"What you should do is stay here and rest," April said firmly, cutting him off. "Both of you. I'll get Casey to bring you guys in some food, if you think you can keep it down, and I'll take care of Raph."
"Thanks, April," Don said gratefully, happy to concede the issue. "It's…it's probably best to let him just get this out of his system. Most likely it's just a more unpleasant side effect of whatever it was we got dosed with."
"Is there anything in your lab that might help him?" April asked.
"Like an antidote? I don't think so; with sedatives, it's risky to put more things into a body if you don't know what's in the sedative. Maybe we could try—"
"Sake," a calm voice interrupted. The room's three occupants turned to see Splinter walk into the room. "Sake, or other spirits for that matter, can sometimes help in situations such as these." Reaching the beds, he smiled at the two turtles. "My sons, I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you awake."
"Prob'ly more than we are ta be awake, Sensei," Raph's voice said from the doorway. He offered a weary wave to his teacher and April. "Hey, Ape. Glad ta see the bonehead gotcha here safe. Now if you'll 'scuse me, I'm gonna go lie down an' die." With that he walked back over to the bed he'd been on and collapsed on it face first. His groan was muffled slightly by the pillow, but the misery in his voice was clear. After a second his head turned slightly to the side, and he looked around the room. He sat up as quickly as he could, glancing at April and Splinter. "Wait a minute…where's Leo?"
The smiles on their faces fell away, quickly adding to the sick feeling roiling in the pit of Raph's stomach. April caught her lower lip between her teeth, looking uncertainly at Splinter, who sighed heavily and closed his eyes.
"We…do not know, my son."
The room was silent. Raph got to his feet and stared at his father. "What?"
Splinter met Raph's gaze. "We do not know where Leonardo is, Raphael."
Raph was silent for several moments. A slight tremor shook his arms and hands as emotions raged through his body. At last he managed to speak, though his voice was black. "What happened?" The words were a growl, more of a demand than a question.
April explained quietly, telling the guys what had transpired since they'd left; the waiting, Karai's phone call, her demand, and now their awakening.
The three turtles were silent.
"We're gonna get him back," Raph snarled. "Now." Mikey and Don nodded and rose to their feet as well.
"No."
Mikey turned at Splinter's voice. "No?" he asked, his expression confused. "Sensei, we have to. Who knows what's goin' on out there."
"I will not have you going out there as you are now," Splinter refused firmly.
"We're fine," Raph protested. "If we wait any longer, Leo—"
Splinter darted at his second oldest son, aiming a strike at his middle. Raph immediately tried to step back and move into a defensive position, but wavered dizzily. The strike halted, culminating in only a slight tap on Raph's plastron. The hotheaded turtle glowered, fully understanding the implications of his father's actions.
"As you can see," Splinter said calmly, "none of you are prepared for the fighting that is almost inevitable tonight. You will stay long enough to recover, and then you may go. I will fetch some sake to hopefully help combat the sedative. Miss O'Neil, what would you suggest?"
April gestured for everyone to follow her into the kitchen. "I want you guys to eat something solid, and get a good deal of water into you too. Just rest while you eat, that's all the more downtime I want from you three."
The turtles filed into the kitchen silently, worry radiating off of all three of them. Anger and impatience flowed in Raph's wake as well.
Twenty minutes later, Splinter declared them ready to leave. As well as resting, they had placed a couple calls and come up with a plan.
"Alright, let's look at this one more time, just so we've got this down," Don said, glancing at the paper in front of him. "Sensei, you'll stay here in the Lair in case Leo comes back. Leatherhead said he would patrol around the sewers and keep an eye out for Leo, and Professor Honeycutt is going to do the same. April and Casey, you guys will hang out in the Battleshell in case we find Leo, and the three of us will go looking for him." He sighed, standing up and sliding his bo into the back of his belt. "Everyone make sure to keep your Shell Cells on."
Splinter looked at each of his sons for several moments. "Be careful, my sons. Take no risks that you must not take, and protect each other. Leonardo's warning of the death in his vision is still something to be wary of."
The three of them bowed, and Raph held Splinter's eyes firmly. "We'll bring 'im back, Sensei; I swear it. One way or another, we'll bring 'im back."
Splinter bowed his head as Raph's words seemed to echo Leo's from earlier that evening. "Go, my sons. And be careful."
Moments later, three more shadows were added to the darkness of nighttime New York.
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The turtles traveled silently across the city, all of them feeling that the situation was too grave for words.
Mikey glanced around and spoke quietly when the silence began to get under his skin. "It's pretty quiet out here, isn't it? No Foot or anything."
"That's because they're all either waiting back at headquarters or out "following" us to the Lair," Don said, glancing down at his handheld tracker. "Alright, guys, let's get off the rooftops. We're going to head to the alleys for a little bit."
They dropped silently to ground level, threading their way through the alleys for a couple blocks before Don raised a hand and halted. They paused in the alley while Don checked his palm computer. After a minute he glanced up, considering the tall brick building beside them.
"According to the tracker I've got attached to each of our Shell Cells, this building here was Leo's last known position."
Raph frowned. "Whadda ya mean, "last known position"? You mean he isn't here now?"
Don hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't think so. The program I've got set up with the trackers on our phones constantly records where the signal comes from, and at what time. And according to this, about ten minutes after we got knocked out, Leo was here. But after that, the signal is lost; Karai probably destroyed Leo's Shell Cell so he couldn't call for help or be traced. But he was here at one point, and that's the best we have to go on for now." Don sighed again and tucked the device into his belt. "Come on, let's head up and see if we can get anything else to go on."
The three of them silently scaled the building, and soon stood on the roof. As soon as they turned around to look at where they stood, the turtles were frozen in their places.
"Oh shell…" Don and Mikey spoke slowly in unison, their voices matched in horror and disbelief.
Raph, however, was a bit more expressive.
"Holy mother-lovin' shit…"
The rooftop was a scene straight out of every battle ever fought, reenacted on a smaller scale. Blood colored the ground in puddles and violent smears. Splatters of the crimson liquid dotted the walls, kept company by slices and chips in the brick. And there, lying right in the middle of the macabre display was the Shredder.
The three of them approached carefully, hesitant to walk through the scene of death. Mikey cringed and gripped Don's arm as his foot squelched through a puddle of blood. Upon reaching the pile of armor, Don pulled out his bo staff. Raph gripped his sai as the purple-banded turtle carefully reached out and tapped the metal suit.
Clank.
Don pulled back in surprise. "It's empty."
"Say what?" Raph stared at his brother in shock.
The purple-banded turtle struck the suit or armor again, listening to the hollow echo. "I said it's empty. The Shredder, I mean, Karai, isn't in there."
Raph shook his head as he holstered his sai. "No, ya had it right the first time, Don. Anyone wearin' this is the Shredder, an' that's all there is to it." Walking closer, he kicked the empty armor, before squatting down on his haunches beside it. He spent a few quiet moments examining the suit before he suddenly made a small noise of surprise. "Well, shit."
"What? What is it?" Mikey asked, shifting from foot to foot uneasily.
"I don't freakin' believe this. After all this time, all the crap we've gone through about the whole thing, an' he finally does it."
Don rolled his eyes. "Raph, the unenlightened turtles among us would really appreciate it if you'd fill us in."
Raph looked over his shoulder at his brother, a smirk lifting one corner of his mouth. "Leo finally killed Karai. An' dammit, I didn't even get ta see it."
Both younger turtles were shocked into silence. "What?" Don managed to say. "He did? Are you sure?"
The hotheaded turtle waved his brothers closer. "Unless Karai went suicidal and did this herself…" he gestured at a slit in the front of the suit of armor, "then yeah, I'm pretty sure."
Don ran a finger carefully across the sword mark. "Good point." He sat back and looked around the rooftop, then carefully levered himself to his feet. Moving slowly, he moved to a corner of the roof that was barren of any signs of the struggle. "Guys, can you come here for a second?"
Mikey and Raph glanced at each other in confusion, then shrugged. "Sure," they agreed, making their way over to join their brother.
Don nodded his thanks. "I want you guys to stay here for a couple minutes. I'm going to try and figure out what went on here."
Raph grinned. "Go to it, Detective Don."
The brainy turtle rolled his eyes. "Please don't make me have to hit you." He walked around the roof, stopping for long periods of time to inspect several different areas. He then made his way slowly around the bloody suit of armor, carefully avoiding stepping in any of the blood. When he came to a set of bloody footprints, he glanced up at his brothers. "Mikey, are these yours?"
"Um, yeah…" Mikey nodded sheepishly. "Sorry, Don, there's just kind of a lot of the stuff to try and avoid."
"It's alright," Don assured him. "I just wanted to make sure." He continued his route, stopping for several long moments on the far side of the roof. The turtle then retraced his steps and spent an even longer time examining the Shredder's suit. Just as the other two turtles began to fidget, Don joined his brothers at the corner of the roof.
"Well, I've figured out part of this, but not all of it."
"Figured out part of what?" Raph asked.
"This." Don waved a hand to encompass the scene around them.
Mikey raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Don nodded. "Okay, so here it is. The fact that Leo killed Karai explains some of our current location's appearance, but not all of it." He motioned for his brothers to follow him as he made another lap around the roof. "We know they were fighting, so that explains things like this," he explained, gesturing to scratches and nicks in the wall that were accompanied by small splatters of blood. "These are probably from when someone would attack, and the other person might have ducked or shifted, resulting in the dents in the walls; also, maybe they didn't duck soon enough, or shift far enough, and got a small cut." He walked back to where the armor lay, staying clear of the circle of blood. "This is a little stranger. Judging by the look of the blood here, how it spreads out in an arc of drops, this is where Karai got stabbed. And most of the blood is nearby, leading to the inference that she fell and possibly died near where she was hit. But the armor is over here, and other than the blood inside and the small amount that has seeped out, there's no blood."
Mikey and Raph both stared at Don, before the orange-banded turtle piped up again. "And that is important because…"
The brainy turtle rolled his eyes. "It's important because it tells us what happened. Karai got stabbed, and fell here," Don said, pointing at the largest pool of crimson on the roof, "but the armor is over here. With all the blood being in that spot, I'm almost positive that that is where she died. So how did the armor get over here?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Leo must have moved it. He's the only one who was here, other than Karai. And that brings us to the next part of this puzzle." Indicating to his brothers to kneel with him by the armor, he continued. "Do you see what's on the metal on the hands and wrists of the armor?"
Raph narrowed his eyes. "More blood. I'm sensin' a trend here," he noted sarcastically.
"Exactly. Now, logically, we've got to assume that most of this is Karai's. If you're stabbed at all, especially in a part of the body like this, it's a natural reflex for the hands to go to the site of the wound. This is an almost instinctual reaction, as the body tries to either remove the cause of the wound, or stop the bleeding, or both. That explains the blood on the hands and gauntlets of the armor. But the location and appearance of the blood patterns here," Don pointed at the blood on the armor's arms, near the biceps, "don't fit in."
Mikey stared at his brother blankly. "Um, why not?"
"They're splatters." When his brothers' expressions continued to show a lack of comprehension, Don sighed and elaborated. "Alright, Karai got stabbed, right? Right. Now, when major arteries are hit, the blood sprays outwards, away from the wound. This is because arteries transfer so much blood, and they're pressurized. It appears that when Karai got stabbed, Leo hit a major artery, which explains the large amount of blood both on the roof and in the armor. However, it doesn't explain the blood splatters near the upper arms."
Raph eyed the armor thoughtfully. "I think I'm followin' ya on this, Don. But couldn't that blood just be from Karai maybe reaching up to her shoulders fer some reason?"
"It could," Don conceded, "but there's no set shape. If she had, there would be a larger amount of blood, and in theory we'd be able to see maybe the semblance of a finger or hand shape. And like I said, blood sprays away from an arterial wound. It's nearly impossible that her blood sprayed up and towards her to hit that high on her arm." He stopped and glanced down, suddenly interested in the blood near his feet.
Something in Don's voice caught Raph's attention, and the red-banded turtle looked at his brother sharply. "So that means…"
"It's probably Leo's," Mikey finished in a soft whisper. His eyes were frantic as he looked at his older brothers. "He's not dead, is he?"
"Calm down, Mikey," Don said soothingly. "Hopefully it's just a light to moderate wound. If Karai stabbed Leo in the stomach as well, the blood on the armor would be lower. This is higher, so…maybe she caught him in the upper arm or shoulder. Worst case scenario, maybe he got stabbed in the side. But I know she didn't kill him during this fight."
"How can you be sure?" Mikey asked.
Don rose to his feet with a grimace, rubbing knees that were stiff from kneeling. "Come here." The three turtles walked over to the far side of the roof, where Don had spent several minutes during his inspection. Once he was sure he had his brothers' attention, he pointed at a set of bloody footprints on the rooftop, every single one having only two toes. "Do these look familiar?"
Both Raph and Mikey spoke at the same time. "Leo!"
"Right in one," Don agreed. "By the end of the fight, he was at least in good enough shape to walk away. But there's still something I can't figure out."
Raph raised an eyebrow. "Don, ya just managed ta practically recreate the whole frickin' fight. What the shell is left ta figure out?"
"Where Leo took Karai's body, and why."
"How do you know Leo took her?" Mikey asked.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. If the Foot had taken Karai's body, why would they leave the armor behind? Not only would it raise suspicion, but it's an extremely important object for them: the armor and weaponry of their late master. I mean, two late masters." Don opened and closed his mouth, looking exasperated and confused. "The armor of…never mind. Skip that. Anyways, there are only Leo's and Karai's footprints on this roof, and if the Foot had shown up, there would be dozens more." Don shook his head tiredly. "Which means we still don't know what happened after this fight."
"Do you think Leo might have taken her to the Lair?" Mikey inquired. "I mean, not alive, but…dead? To…show Sensei?"
Raph shook his head firmly. "No way. Not only would none of us want her in there, alive or dead, but Leo don't work like that. Even if it was the Shredder, he wouldn't do somethin' like hauling a body home like a trophy. Nah, Fearless always sticks with whatever is the honorable thing to do."
"'The honorable thing to do'…" Don nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful. "Well, Leo's always seen Karai differently than we have. So if he was considering her as a fallen comrade, the honorable thing to do is seek revenge on her killer, and make sure the body's properly laid to rest. We know Leo wouldn't kill himself for killing her, so maybe…he decided to try to bury the body?"
All three turtles were silent for a while, trying to put themselves in Leo's shell, trying to figure out what their brother had done after the fight. Then Raph's eyes slowly widened. He whipped his head around to look at the Shredder's empty suit, then back at the bloody footprints in front of him.
"Shit!" The explicative burst out of Raph's mouth as he exploded upwards, on his feet in flash. "Dammit! That frickin' idiot!"
Don and Mikey quickly gained their feet as well. Mikey looked at his brother in concern, worry evident in his eyes. "What's wrong, Raph? What's the matter?"
"Leo! That's what the frickin' matter is!" Raph swore again. "Come on, we're leavin'!" Without another word, the red-banded turtle took off, quickly leaping onto the roof of the next building over. The two younger turtles had no choice but to follow him.
When they finally caught up with him, he was dozens of buildings away from the fight scene, crouching in the shadows of a business rooftop. Don walked up behind him slowly, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. Every muscle in his brother's body was so tense that the purple-banded turtle feared he might tear something. He knelt down beside him, giving Raph's shoulder a soft squeeze. "Hey, bro, what's wrong? What is it?"
Raph tensed up even more, if possible, and Don was tempted to lean back, fearing an explosion. But suddenly all the tension just drained out of the red-banded turtle. He sighed, running a tired hand over his face before looking at his brother. "Don, where are we?"
Don's confusion was evident. "Um, Raph, we're in New York City. We're on the roof of one of the engineering buildings downtown."
"That ain't what I meant. Look around an' tell me where we are. Tell me what's nearby."
Despite his puzzlement, Don nodded slowly and glanced around. Before too long his eyes fell on a familiar building across the street, and his hand tightened on Raph's shoulder.
"Foot headquarters," he whispered. Raph nodded and Don turned to look at him. "Raph, why are we here?"
"'Cause Leo is. Or was, at least, best as I can figure."
The purple-banded turtle sat down beside Mikey heavily. "Why on earth would he come here?"
"Like ya said, Don, Leo saw Karai differently than us."
"Yeah, stupidly," Mikey muttered, worry clearly showing on his face.
Raph grinned. "I ain't gonna argue with ya on that one, bro. But maybe Leo was thinkin' of her as Karai, not the Shredder."
Mikey looked up quickly. "That's why he left the Shred-head's suit on the roof, isn't it?"
"I'd bet my shell on it, Mikey," Raph agreed. "I'd also bet that's why he was here."
"But how do you know he was here, Raph?" Mikey asked.
The hothead gestured off the side of the roof. "'Cause Karai's body's down there."
Don and Mikey shot over to the edge of the roof, carefully peering over the side. Sure enough, the still, black-clad body of Karai was lying on an empty rooftop that stood next to Foot headquarters, surrounded by a few Foot ninja. And more were approaching quickly.
Raph began easing away from the roof's edge, beckoning to his brothers as he made his way towards the fire escape. "Since Leo was caught up bein' 'Mr. Sensitive an' Honorable Ninja Turtle', he did what he thought was right; he brought Karai's body back ta her clan. After that, he prob'ly took off," Raph said softly. "I'm hopin' he was still thinkin' enough ta find some cover," he added as he dropped lightly into the alley.
"Maybe he's back at the Lair," Mikey offered.
"Mikey might be right," Don agreed. "All four of us were sedated at the same time, right? And I'm willing to bet that we all had the same strength sedative; Karai wouldn't have wanted to wait forever for Leo to wake up, but she wanted to make sure we were far enough away before we woke up. From what Master Splinter told me, and from my own guesses, we were out for about half an hour. That would be just about the perfect amount of time for Karai; long enough for her to prepare for the fight and make sure her flunkies got us "delivered" to Master Splinter. We came to at around 8:30, right? And it took a while for that stuff to wear off enough for us to be back to normal. Which means Leo probably had the same reaction. That means that Leo and Karai probably started fighting at about 9. The fight probably would have lasted what, half an hour? So maybe all that was done by somewhere close to 9:30. Now, it took us like three minutes to get here, right? And we were moving pretty fast." Don raised an eye ridge at Raph, who made a face at his brother. Shaking his head, Don continued. "Leo was injured, though we don't know how badly, and was carrying—"
"Dead weight?" Mikey offered with a cheeky grin.
Both of the older turtles just stared at him before Don turned to Raph. "Are you going to hit him for that, or do I have to?"
Raph reached over and smacked Mikey upside the head, ignoring the resulting complaints. "Problem solved," the hothead smirked. "You can keep goin'."
"Thanks. Anyways, he was carrying extra weight, in addition to moving himself while injured. So let's say it took him ten to fifteen minutes to drop Karai off. That brings us up to about—"
"Now!" Raph interrupted excitedly. He then scowled. "Dammit, that means we only just missed 'im!"
Don nodded. "Yeah. He's been here and gone for a little while, so Leo may have made it back home by now."
"D'you want me to call Sensei and find out?" Mikey asked, rubbing the back of his head. Raph nodded and the orange-banded turtle pulled out his Shell cell. Quickly hitting the auto-dial button for the Lair, he rocked back and forth while he waited to Splinter to pick up. He soon heard the telltale click as the extension at the Lair was picked up.
"Hello?"
Mikey spoke into the phone quickly and quietly. "Hey, Sensei, it's Mikey. Look, we were wondering if—"
"Hello? Hello? Is someone there?"
Mikey smacked himself in the face, speaking a little louder, but still trying to keep his voice down. "Master Splinter, it's me. I'm on the phone, you already answered it—"
"Hello? My son?"
"Sensei—"
"I know I answered this infernal device correctly. Donatello did not mention pushing any buttons."
Mikey gave up trying to whisper again. "Yo, Sensei!" He winced at the amount of noise he made, but he had to get the old ninja master to stop talking.
"…Michelangelo? Is that you?"
The young turtle sighed in relief. "Yeah, it's me."
"Why did you not answer before now?"
Mikey palmed his face again. "Sorry, Master Splinter. Look, we wanted to ask you something. Has Leo come home while we were gone?"
A pause filled the phone line with silence before a heavy sigh filtered through. "No, my son; Leonardo has not returned home yet. And Mr. Jones and Miss O'Neil have not reported finding him either, on the road or at their respective homes."
"Oh." Mikey's shoulders slumped. "Al…alright, we just thought we'd check."
Splinter's voice came to Mikey's ears again. "I take it you have not had any success in finding your brother?
"No," Mikey said quietly. "We're…well, we're…um…just a sec, Sensei. I'll let you talk to Donnie." Without a word, Mikey handed the phone over to his brother.
Donnie squeezed Mikey's shoulder as he took the phone. "Hey, Sensei, it's Don. We're gonna find somewhere to hole up for a bit, so we can figure out a plan." He glanced at Raph and Mikey to see if this was acceptable; when they both nodded, he continued. "As soon as we come up with something, we'll call you, okay?"
Another sighed came through the phone line. "That is probably best, Donatello. I shall await your call."
"Sounds good, Sensei. I'll call back soon."
The three turtles quietly made their way into the alley beneath them, concealing themselves within the dusky New York shadows. None of them moved or spoke for several minutes, each thinking over what they had learned and hoping their other brother was still alright.
Mikey finally broke the silence, but kept his eyes trained on his feet. "So now we're off 'spy duty' and moving on to 'search and rescue duty'?"
"I'd say yeah, bro," Raph said quietly, laying a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder. "If Leo ain't home yet and if he ain't called or gone ta April's or Casey's either, then…"
"Then he probably isn't in any shape to do so," Don finished gently. "So we'll go out and look for him. Don't worry, Mikey; Leo's most likely just laying low somewhere. We'll probably find him in no time."
"Who's going where?" Mikey asked.
"There are eight blocks between Foot HQ and the Lair, and we're on Eighth Street right now. Leo probably isn't feeling well enough to be moving pretty fast, so we're going to start with these nearest blocks. Raph, you'll take this area, these two blocks. I'll take the next two, and Mikey, you'll take the last two. Keep your eyes open for absolutely anything, I don't care how unlikely you think it is that it's related to Leo. If you find anything really important, call everyone immediately. Otherwise, we'll meet back on the roof of the Swatcher Advertising building in fifteen to twenty minutes, alright?"
"You got it, Don." Raph stood, turning on his Shell Cell, and nodded to his brothers. "I'm gone."
"Me, too. Let me know if you hear anything, 'k?" Mikey readied his phone as well, disappearing over the side of the building.
Don took a deep breath as he watched his brothers leave. Their bandana tails seemed to wave goodbye, and he sighed heavily. "Good luck, guys," he whispered before setting off in his own direction.
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Don sat down on the building's ledge with a sigh. He pulled his Shell Cell from his belt and flipped it open. 'No new calls or messages' blinked up at him from the small screen. The turtle rubbed a hand across his face and sighed again.
"Hey."
The purple-clad turtle looked up wearily as Raph walked over. "Hey," he responded.
Raph sat down beside his brother heavily. "Any luck?"
"No. Nothing."
The hothead bowed his head and sighed. "Heard anythin' from the others?"
Don nodded slowly. "Casey and April both called about five minutes ago. They didn't find anything on their run second through, and Leo still hasn't showed up at either of their places."
"Damn. Well, we didn't really expect him ta show up there. With it bein' Leo, he wasn't likely ta risk messin' things up fer Ape again, or fer Case. What about Leatherhead?"
"Same as April and Casey. He's been searching all our normal sewer passages, he checked both the old Lairs, and he's been checking in at his place too. Professor Honeycutt is hooked up to the computer there, checking police reports and airwaves, trying to find out if Leo was picked up by any authorities. But they both say they haven't seen or heard anything."
Raph propped his elbows on his knees and leaned his forehead against his fisted hands. "What about Master Splinter? Or Mikey?" he asked, a touch of desperation in his voice.
"Master Splinter says Leatherhead's the only one who's come by the Lair, and I haven't heard from Mikey yet."
"Dammit!" Raph pounded a fist into the concrete by his leg.
Don made a protesting noise before he grabbed Raph's wrist, preventing him from punching the rooftop again. "It'll be alright, Raph. There are eight of us, all out here looking for him. We've got at least a general idea of where he is, and if he knows his Shell Cell is gone, he might've tried to leave us some clues. We'll find him, bro; don't worry."
"I know. I know we'll find 'im, Don, it's just…" The hothead gazed across the Manhattan skyline. "I just don't know if we'll find 'im in time…"
The purple-banded turtle pulled his hand away from his brother. "What? What do you mean?"
Raph dropped his face in his hands. "We're…we're losin' 'im, Donnie," he choked out, his voice muffled. "We're losin' 'im. I don't know how I can tell, but I can. I can feel you guys; you, Mike, an' Leo. Not like Leo or Master Splinter can, it's not that strong, but it's good enough fer me. And Leo…my feelin' of him is fadin'. I've been…I've been losin' my sense of 'im ever since we left the roof by Foot HQ." Raph grit his teeth, struggling to force the words out of his clenched jaw. "We're losin' 'im, Donnie…an' I don't know if we're gonna find 'im in time."
Don could only stare at his brother for a while. "Why…why didn't you say anything?" He finally demanded. "Why didn't you let me know?"
"Why didn't I let ya know?!" Raph snapped. "What, ya wanted me to tell ya this sooner? What good would it've done? Huh?! Tell me that, brainiac! What would ya have done if I'd shown up an' gone "nope, sorry, I can't find Leo, but hey, accordin' to my Spidey-sense, I think he's kickin' the bucket'? 'Scuse me fer thinkin' that hearin' that might not have helped—"
The next thing Raph knew, he was flat on his shell on the cold concrete of the rooftop, the entire left side of his face stinging. He sat up slowly, lifting a hand to his cheek, and his eyes were so wide they threatened to erupt from his face. The hothead stared at Don, who remained standing, his hand still fisted.
"Don't you dare pull that shit, Raphael. Don't you even dare," Don spat, his whole body shaking with tension. "Because I won't put up with it. Things are bad enough as it is; I don't need you adding to it."
Raph was frozen. He could hardly think beyond the mind-boggling thought 'Don just punched me' until his brother's words sunk in. He was only making things worse…but in times like this, when things got this bad…he was used to hiding his worry with sarcasm. Wordlessly, he hauled himself to his feet and put a hand on Don's shoulder. "I know, Don, I know. It…shit, I'm sorry, bro. It's just…this is startin' ta get to me."
Don slowly relented as well, sitting down beside Raph again. "I know," he said quietly. "Me too. And I'm sorry about the…" Don trailed off, gesturing at Raph's face with a sheepish expression.
Raph waved off the apology. "Eh, don't be. Hell, I prob'ly deserved it, if not fer this, then fer somethin' else." Both brothers got a weak laugh out of that.
"Well, isn't this a cozy little family scene?"
The two turtles' heads shot up at the sound of another voice. Mikey was standing at the edge of the roof, just coming over the fire escape, grinning at them. He mimed taking a picture of the two brothers, then pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "It's so touching to see you two finally bonding."
"Oh, please," Raph snorted. "If ya want somethin' "touchin'", my hand would be glad ta "bond" with the back of yer head, shell-fer-brains."
"Ah, ah, ah," Mikey said in a sing-song voice as he waggled a finger at Raph. "If you do that, you'll never hear my good news, now will ya?"
Don and Raph both sat up at that, their eyes locked on Mikey. "You found him?" Don asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"No."
The elder turtles both sagged again.
"But I did find a clue about where he could be."
Don jumped to his feet, his hands latching onto Mikey's shoulders. "What did you find?"
"Corpses!" Mikey responded brightly.
Raph just stared. "What?"
"Don't worry," the orange-banded turtle said reassuringly, seeing the fear and worry on his brothers' faces. "These are good corpses!"
"What?" Don stepped back and dropped his hands from Mikey's shoulders. His face was a picture of confusion when he turned to Raph. "Are there such things as good corpses?"
Raph shrugged. "In my book, they are if they're from tha Foot."
"Right in one!" Mikey grinned, beckoning at his brothers. "Come on, we've got a few blocks to cover. I'll fill you in on the way there."
Seconds later, the three turtles were leaping across the rooftops, feet and yards swiftly passing beneath them. Mikey quickly filled his brothers in on what he had found.
"I was checking—"
Leap!
"The area I was supposed to, about six blocks from Foot HQ—"
Leap!
"And I saw somethin' kind of funky down in one of the alleys—"
Leap!
"So I dropped down there, and I found two Foot flunkies takin' dirt naps."
Leap!
"Although, it was in an alley, so I guess it's actually an asphalt nap, right?"
Leap!
"Get on with it, Mikey!"
Leap!
"I am! Anyways, I jumped down there, and guess how they died?"
Leap!
"Sword wounds?" Raph asked hopefully, his words hitching as they cleared another building gap.
Leap!
"Nope, shuriken! Or to be more specific, shuriken dipped in Donnie-boy's very own style of secret sauce!"
Leap!
"How do you know?"
Leap!
"Well, they were all stiff and twisty looking, and they had big shiny shuriken with red tips in them, and no other wounds."
"Damn, Don, I guess that stuff of yers really does work…"
"Thanks, Raph…I think…"
The turtles landed on the last rooftop, skidding to a halt. They quickly caught their breath and followed Mikey over to the fire escape. Merely seconds later, they all stood in the alley, carefully out of the circle of illumination from the streetlight.
"Alright Mikey, where are they?" Raph asked.
Mikey motioned to a corner of the alley with his head. "They're over here. I know I probably shouldn't have moved 'em, Don, but I figured you would still be able to tell what had happened…and I didn't want any of their friends showing up and finding them."
"It should be fine, Mikey," Don assured him, following his brothers.
The turtles soon stood in a half circle around the two bodies, Raph and Mikey waiting while their brainy brother inspected the black-clad corpses. Don moved about the pair of bodies for a few minutes, then suddenly stood. Without saying a word, he walked over to Mikey and hugged him tightly.
Mikey blinked in confusion before slowly embracing his brother back. "Um, Don? Normally I'm all for the whole "brotherly love" thing, but don'tcha think your timing could be a little better?"
Don pulled back from his younger brother and smiled, looking between Mikey and Raph. "Mikey, you don't understand. You were right; these two did die because of the shuriken poison. And I designed that stuff to work immediately."
"I know that. I still don't get what brought on the hugging."
"Come here." Don grabbed his brothers and knelt, pulling them down with him beside the corpses. "Take this guy's hands."
His brothers recoiled, and Raph grimaced. "Don, we don't need ta be messin' with the dead."
"Raph, I am not "messing" with them. Just shut up and take a hand, both of you."
The two turtles winced, but did as they were told. When Raph made contact, he blinked in surprise, his eyes shooting up to meet Don's.
"This guy doesn't feel dead."
Don smiled triumphantly. "Exactly. That's why I was so happy, Mikey."
Mikey carefully let go of the hand he had and furiously wiped his own off on the dead man's sleeve. "I am really confused right now."
"I'll explain," Don sighed. "Okay. It's hard to discern how long someone's been dead just by examining the corpses, but it's like what Raph said; these two don't feel dead. Or at least, not long dead. Their body temperatures are still at normal levels for grown humans. Also, the skin on the extremities, the hands for example, is only just starting to become clammy. And rigor mortis hasn't even begun to set in yet."
Raph frowned, releasing the hand that he held as well. "What's rigor mortis again?"
"Rigor mortis is the stiffening of the muscles of the body after death," Don explained. "In average temperatures like this, it normally takes a couple hours before it starts to set in. When someone dies, they obviously stop breathing, which means the muscles are no longer getting any oxygen. And when they stop getting oxygen, they stop produce ATP, the main kind of energy used by the body. And when they stop producing that, they can't really move any longer, and the muscles and joints and tendons begin to kind of harden together."
"What does that have to do with these two?" Mikey asked.
Don gently picked up the hand that Mikey had discarded and raised it. "There's no sign of it, not even in the smaller muscles, which is where it shows first. Fingers are one of the starting points, but look." He carefully bent several of the fingers back and forth at all of the knuckles. "This man's hands are still pliable and easily moveable."
"The point, Don, get to tha point," Raph said impatiently. "Please spit it out."
"What do you think I've been doing, Raph?" Don snapped. "Geez, I've been "spitting it out" since we got here. Heaven forbid you guys should actually listen when I try to teach you something." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, let's try this one more time. Characteristics of dead people: cold body temperatures, seized-up joints, rigor mortis." He raised the man's hand again. "This guy: normal body temperature, moveable joints, unhardened muscles. So that means…?"
Raph stared at the corpses, and then his eyes suddenly lit like Don's had. "They only just kicked it."
"Exactly," Don smiled. "I designed that poison to kill instantly. They were dead basically upon impact, and right now, they feel like they're still alive."
Mikey grinned as well. "Which means Leo was just here!!"
"You got it. If I were to guess, I'd say that they've been dead maybe ten minutes. And if Leo's in bad shape, then he can't have gotten too far in that time. It might be too much to hope for, but he might have even decided to stop somewhere nearby to rest."
"So what now?" Raph prodded.
Don levered himself to his feet. "Start looking. Considering where Leo left Karai's body, and where these bodies are, he's been moving as straight as possible right for the Lair. We're going to cover every inch of this alley and all the ones between here and the Lair. Leo's got to be here somewhere."
Raph and Mikey nodded, then split apart. The three of them silently began to scour the alley, checking behind dumpsters and in the darkest corners. They worked quickly and in silence; all of them knew that they couldn't risk attracting any attention, and none of them knew how much time Leo might have left.
Mikey moved carefully down the alley, his ears pricked for any sound. He glanced behind him, then altered his course slightly. Using the Foot corpses as reference points, he was trying to keep moving straight away from them, hopefully following the same path that Leo had taken. A sudden shift in the shadows on his left had him tensing and jerking his nunchaku from his belt. "Leo?" he asked carefully of the shadows.
A small meow met his ears, and a black and white cat slunk out of the shadows towards him.
The orange-banded turtle sighed and replaced his weapons. "Definitely not Leo." Grinning despite himself, Mikey knelt down and scratched the cat behind the ears gently. "What are you doing out here, little guy? You oughta be finding a nice place to hole up in at night for the next few days or weeks." His grin melted into a hard look. "The city's probably going to be pretty nasty after dark for a while."
Oblivious to Mikey's concerns, the cat mewed again and pawed at the turtle's arm, disgruntled at the halt in his affections.
Mikey grinned and started scratching again, working his way under the cat's jaw. "You sure are a friendly one, aren't you? Most everybody is usually a bit freaked at how we look, but not you, huh? You're—" He froze as the cat lifted its chin. The watery light of the alley reflected off of small amounts of blood around the cat's mouth. "Oh man, are you okay, little guy? Are you hurt?" Mikey moved to try and get closer to the cat. Startled at the sudden movement, the cat yowled and darted away, seeming to disappear.
"What the shell?" Kneeling down again, Mikey noticed a small alcove on the left, am obscured nook made by the walls of the buildings meshing with the adjoining alleyways. Two small spots of light gleamed back at him from where the cat watched him. "Oh, so that's where you got to." Standing slowly, he approached the cat. "C'mon, little guy, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna see if you're alright." The cat meowed and backed into the alcove, then turned and led Mikey farther on.
The orange-banded turtle paused at the mouth of the alcove, squinting to see anything in the murky darkness. The cat was now only a small shadow, but it seemed to be crouched beside a larger one. Mikey saw light reflect off its white teeth as the cat began to lick at the object in front of it. He frowned in confusion and flipped open his Shell Cell, holding it up in hopes that the extra light from the phone would help. What the light revealed, what he saw…tore a scream from somewhere deep within him.
"LEO!!!!!!!"
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A/N: Who hates me now? Hands, anyone? XD I feel bad for doing this to you guys; two cliffhanger chapters in a row. But at least now everybody is all caught up! I'm going try and get Chapter 8 up soon so that you guys don't kill me, I promise. I know I only squeaked under the three-week update thing, but at least I made it. I'll do better, really. . Hopefully this chapter isn't a letdown after the past two chapters. And I think that's it! Thanks for reading, and I'd love it immensely if you guys would leave some reviews, even if it's only to yell at me. ;D Take care!