Chapter 4

Raph threw his head back and let out a primal scream, letting it tear through the night. It went on and on until he was finally out of breath. Five days. It had been five days since they found Leo's broken shell cell. They had nothing. No signs of the Foot, no signs of Leo, no nothing at all. When the scream finally died away, his gaze fell to the street below him, a lone tear dropping to the pavement below.

"Where are ya Leo?" he whispered gruffly.

"Bro?"

Wiping roughly at his watery eyes, he turned to see his two brothers. He eyed them grimly. Don looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. His limbs twitched from too much caffeine and he had dark rings around his eyes. Mikey looked dead on his feet as well, though with a bit more energy. The goofball always had more energy, go figure.

"What?" he rasped out.

"You ok?" Mikey ventured.

"Yeah just dandy."

"You don't seem dandy," Mikey pressed.

Raph snorted and turned back to look at the city's skyline. Of course he wasn't alright. Leo was missing. How was he supposed to be alright?

"We'll find him. We won't give up," Don spoke up.

Raph nodded curtly. They would never give up until they found their brother. Dead or alive. Though he preferred Leo to be alive when they found him. So did everyone else without a doubt, but as the time went by and the hours slowly turned into days, his hope was dropping.

"Yeah no worries. Leo'll be fine and all kicked back and relaxed, just waiting for us to find him," Mikey added.

"Doesn't do him any good if we don't find him."

"Stop being so cynical Raph. We haven't searched everywhere," Don argued.

He spun back around to face his brothers, glaring at them. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I've been telling myself that for the past three days? That we still have quite a bit of the city to search though? But what if he's not in the city? What if he's in the country side? Or worse the complete other side of the country? How are we going to find him then Don? Tell me that!"

Don seemed to have shrunk back a little, Mikey hiding slightly behind the brainy turtle. "I don't know. We'll just focus on one thing at a time. That's all we can really do."

"Yeah bro. Chill, one thing at a time," Mikey nodded in agreement.

Raph scowled and turned away again. Looking at the skyline, he saw a flash of something a block away. Without warning, he took off at a sprint, determined to catch up to whatever it was. By the looks of it, it was a human. Not just any human, but one dressed in black with something silver glinting off his back.

This is what they've been waiting for, their one break in finding their brother. He just had to catch the ninja before he made it back to the Foot tower. Not a problem at all.

Fueled by a sudden adrenaline rush, he increased his speed, flipping over one rooftop and skidding around an antenna sticking out of the roof of anther. Jumping over a few air conditioning units, he smirked as he was starting to close the distance between him and the ninja. Blood pounded through his ears, willing him on, begging him to catch this ninja. It was the only clue they had to Leo and he wasn't about to let go for a second.

The ninja disappeared after jumping off the side of the building. Momentarily panicking, Raph stopped at the edge, looked wildly around, not seeing the ninja.

"Down there…" Don panted just behind him.

Following Don's pointed finger, Raph caught sight of the ninja once more, just disappearing around the corner of the ally. Jumping down to street level, he broke out into a run once more. Breathing coming heavier now, he pushed himself harder. He couldn't let the ninja disappear again.

"Cut him off," he barked to his two brothers behind him.

He had no time to see if they had done what he had told them. He focused on keeping up his sprint, finally gaining on the ninja. They ran through half a dozen alleys, across streets, and through more alleyways, the distance finally shortening.

A bo staff swung out in front of the ninja, followed a swinging mid air arc of a chuck.

The ninja jumped over the staff as he pulled out a silver blade, only to be smacked back by the chuck, his blade clattering to the ground.

Pouncing, Raph slammed the ninja to the ground, his sai at the man's eye in a matter of seconds. He heard one of his brothers send the ninja's blade skittering across the pavement. With his sai hovering just inches from poking the ninja's eye out, Raph gripped the man's shirt with his other hand. "Where… is my brother," he growled, his breathing coming out ragged.

The ninja trembled beneath him, eyes widening as the sai came closer.

"Where?"

"I'd answer him dude, you're about to lose an eye," Mikey remarked as he came out of the shadows with Don at his side.

"And I don't think we'd be able to stop him," Don continued.

Raph glared down at the ninja. "They're right," he hissed in the man's face.

The ninja's mouth opened and closed and opened again, the process repeating three more times.

"Out with it!" he finally roared.

"P-p-please…. d-d-don't kill me…."

"Talk."

"He-he-he was captured…. by-by…"

"By you and your master," Raph spat.

The ninja nodded. "But not for us this time. There was another man."

"Another player?" Mikey mused. "You sure?"

"Oh yes," the ninja nodded emphatically. "Asian guy. Mean as the Shredder. You can't miss him once you see him."

Raph tightened his grip on the ninja. "Don't be lyin' to us."

"I'm not! I swear!"

"When was this?" Don asked, standing at the ninja's head.

"Five days ago. Shipped him off by boat right away. I really don't know where... Please don't kill me."

Raph growled and threw the man into the alley wall. "You disgust me," he muttered, watching as the man's head smacked against the brick and his body fell to the ground like a rag doll.

"I can hack into some databases, find out how many ships left the harbor when Leo went missing. I can also check their destinations and what else might be on the ships," Don spoke quickly, rattling off what came to mind.

Raph nodded, standing up fully again. "Do it," he muttered.

"Finally, a break. Leo here we come!" Mikey shouted

"Shut it lamebrain. We don't want every thug and ninja in the city to suddenly stand in our way just cuz you opened that mouth of yers."

Mikey smiled sheepishly. "Let's go, let's go," he whined.

Raph rolled his eyes as they made a dash down the alley. "Home Don?"

Don shook his head. "The control building for the harbor. I can hack the system more easily that way. Perhaps it'll even tell us about this mysterious Asian guy."

Finally, a plan. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. And right know, it was more than he could've hoped for. If this didn't pan out, he was going to find that wimpy Foot ninja and beat the truth out of him, one way or the other.