There was no telling when he had left or how long he had actually been gone, but the three turtles searched Don's lab and his room looking for anything that might give them some clue where their brother had gone. When nothing was found they called April hoping he might have gone to her place..but she had not seen him.
Leaving a worried Splinter to try to reach Don on his shell cell the three turtles headed out into the city to try and find their wayward brother. Just like the armored Foot however, Donatello seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Finally they gave up and returned to the lair to find Splinter waiting for the expectantly.
"We're sorry Master, we couldn't find him anywhere. I don't think he even wants us to." Leo shrugged helplessly.
Splinter sighed squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Don't worry Sensei we're not giving up. The sun's coming up so for now we're going to get some rest, replenish our energy and come up with a concrete plan, this running randomly around the city isn't going to help us find him." Leo said grabbing something from Don's desk and gesturing for them to follow him into the kitchen.
There Raph and Mike immediately dove into the fridge and the cabinets. Mike made them all sandwiches, and tossed a few bags of chips on the table, keeping one bag of nacho flavored corn chips for himself which he opened and began to eat noisily; Raph took some soft drinks out of the fridge and plopped them onto the table before making a grab for a sandwich.
"And just how are we supposta find him Leo? Plan or not he could be anywhere in the city, we gotta find him before he finds that foot." Raph stuffed his entire sandwich in his mouth and chomped on it angrily.
"Donnie might not be acting like himself but he's not stupid Raph, he's not going to go after that Foot until he's got a plan himself. Think about it, if you're going up against something like that metal foot you need to know his weak spots." Leo pushed aside the plate of sandwiches and a bag of chips and rolled a map out on the kitchen table.
"If it has any weak spots, that thing was pretty tough Leo." Mike said crunching loudly and messily on his corn chips and craning his neck to see Leo's map.
Leo frowned at the noise Mike was making with his nacho chips but tried to ignore it.
"Everything has a weakness Mike, and if there is one Don will find it. We just need to figure out where he might go first…hummm." Leo traced a finger across the map of the city, then stopped on a very familiar looking area.
Mike's eyes widened. "Hey that's where those foot stole the gauntlet in the first place, that's where all this got started."
"And probably where it was manufactured as well. If someone was looking for a weakness that will be the best place to look. We just have to hope he's not ahead of us and has already been there and left." Leo said looking over to Splinter.
Splinter studied the map for a second and looked to Leo. "It is a chance we must take my son, we must hope that Donatello will not make his move until tonight. Entering the building by day is too dangerous."
"He's got the Battle Shell he could hang out and wait anywhere he wanted." Raph frowned downing another sandwich.
" The Battle Shell is not exactly inconspicuous Raph, he'll have to hide out in an alley or an underground parking lot to keep from getting seen, probably in the area of that building." Leo rolled the map back up and squeezed it in a fist.
" That's it then, we get some rest and wait until just before sun down, then we head over to that factory and see if we can find Don."
"Do we try and talk to him again?" Mike asked licking his lips.
Raph shook his head. "Did a heck of a lot of good the last two times we tried it, I'm thinkin we outta follow him see where he goes."
"Agreed" Leo nodded. " We should also get April and Casey involved in this in case something happens. Mike get on the Shell Cell and call April, tell her what's happened and let her know we're going to need her help searching for Don." He looked over at Mike who has just stuck a handful of chips in his mouth, and he grimaced. "But wash your hands first." He looked over to Raphael. "You and I are going to search Don's lab and his room from top to bottom, we're looking for some kind of tracking device, if we loose him I want something on the Battle Shell that will lead us back to him."
Raph nodded, " Gotcha."
Leo looked over to Splinter. "Sensei, I think you should come with us tomorrow. Don respects you and when push comes to shove I think he'll listen to you."
"I was not planning on staying behind my son. I will not loose another member of my family." Splinter said with a determined look on his eyes. "Donatello has started down a dangerous path, we must stop him before he reaches the end of that path..and looses his life."
Mike gulped, and almost chocked on a piece of corn chip.
"Put those away moron, before you choke to death." Raph scowled.
The three turtles and Splinter rested and planned until evening came. When it was time, they got their weapons ready and headed for the door. Before they could leave however, April called on the Shell Cell.
"What is it April, we're just going out to look for Don." Leo said frowning.
"You don't have to, I've already found him. Turn on your TV to Channel 6!"
Glancing at one another they all ran to the TV and quickly flipped it to the right Channel.
There they found a news report already in progress about a mysterious new super hero that seemed to be at work in the city. Everyone was calling him The Dark Turtle. Several amateur photographers had managed to catch the new hero in action while he foiled a bank robbery. Don had changed the suit a bit since they had last seen it. There was a DT emblazoned in on the front of his suit, he now had a cape, a large belt that encircled his waist and went across both shoulders in an n X form; and on one side of the X form was a row of Shuriken. He had a black mask that covered the top of his head leaving only his lower jaw and neck visible, the DT symbol was also emblazoned on the front of the mask just where his forehead would be and to Leo it kind of resembled some sort of strange bandanna. His hands were gloved, and there were metal gauntlets around his wrists that seemed to house gadgets of some sort. Leo was surprised to see two Shredder like retractable claws on Don's gauntlets. All and all Leo had to admit to himself that Donatello did look pretty cool, if too heavily influenced by the comic books in his costume designing. Just because he looked cool however didn't mean that he had what it took to be a superhero like Silver Sentry. He might have been able to handle minor perps like bank robbers, muggers or the like but when it came to super villains like Shredder he would stand no chance against them alone. Leonardo was worried that Donatello might be getting in way over his head, and he didn't even seem to realize it.
That part of the newscast wound to an end with a report of yet another robbery by the metallic Foot, leaving the turtles feeling exasperated. Things were not going well for them, and they knew from experience things were going to get worse before they got better. By the time the sports started they were already out the door.