Author Notes:

So my apologies for the long wait between chapters here! For those that read it before, you may have noticed that a whole chapter disappeared. I was having a major writer's block when it came to this story, and it's all Orange Turtle's fault. The whole theme I wanted to convey in this story is that of the bond between brothers, and the chapter I had posted pretty much left out Mikey, and I didn't like that. BUT, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to even BEGIN writing a drunk Michelangelo, and after re-reading it, I wasn't happy with how it was going, so I took it down. After all this time, I think I MIGHT have figured out a way to rewrite it, but in the meantime, here's this.

Also, after a month and a half of writing my In Search of Shadows story, it's kinda weird going back to Adult Turtle!Leo instead of Smol Child!Leo.

Chapter 7: Negotiations

~Ten Days Before the Wedding~

"I don't like this." Raph frowned, studying the doorway set into the wall in front of them.

"I dunno, I think it's neat!" Mikey ran his hands over the weathered wood and looked charmed. "'The Sparrow's Song Tavern'."

Leo stood there with his arm across his plastron, studying the situation."It's... not subtle..." he finally offered.

They were at the arraigned meeting place deep in the sewers. And things had, up to that point, been fairly normal for a sewer; rivers of questionably colored water, bits of garbage floating by, rats the size of cats scurrying around...

But here, the wall of the sewer had transformed into a wooden wall with shuttered windows, a thick wooden door with a worn brass handle, and a creaky wooden sign dangling down and swaying in non-existent wind.

Leo took a deep breath, steeled himself for what he knew lay ahead, then pushed forward. "Come on, guys. Remember, we're doing this for Donnie and April."

He cautiously took hold of the brass door handle, and turned it, pushing it slowly open with a creak of old hinges.

From inside, they could hear the faint murmur of voices and the sound of flute, harp, and lute playing, as well as the clink of glasses and plates.

Cautiously, the three turtle slipped in to what appeared to be shady looking tavern located deep in the sewers.

The door shut behind them with a slight click, and with that small sound, the music came to a halt with an audible screech, and all noise stopped as every patron stopped to look up at the newcomers in dead silence. Leo was certain that he could hear a fly buzzing somewhere amid the suddenly tense atmosphere, and there was a lone cough somewhere in the back table.

Huh. He should have expected something like this.

There were Footbots gathered around a table, interrupted in the middle of playing cards, there was a group of triceratons huddled up at the bar having drinks, while a small band comprised of Kraang-droids stood up on a platform in the corner, each with a instrument in hand.

"Okay, NOPE!" Raph's hands went down to his sais. "Nu-uh! This ain't happening!"

Leo grabbed his hand, stopping him before he could draw steel. "No, Raph. Remember who we're dealing with. This place is under his control."

"Dudes!" Mikey bounded past them to the bar, jumping onto one of the round barstools and spinning around before looking up at the bartender in delight. "It's Rocksteady!"

The large rhino was cleaning out a glass with a rag. "I don't know what you be talking about, little turtle. I y'am just bartender, doing the bartending, dah?"

"And Bebop!" Mikey whirled about to gleefully point out. "I think he's the barmaid!"

The purple mohawked warthog was wearing a purple corset top, and matching leather pants, balancing a tray with several empty mugs on it. "Yo, dawg, can I get you a drink?"

Mikey's eyes lit up, and he held up a finger. "Actually, I..."

"No." Leo answered for him firmly. "We're all fine. Thank you."

Considering what this place was, Leo wasn't sure they could even trust the water.

"Suit yourselves." Bebop shrugged, rearranging the mugs. "Give me a holler if you need me, and I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail! Bang!" He gave a side thrust of his hips, a quick twirl in place, then went to clean off a table.

The patrons, obviously satisfied that the turtles weren't going to cause trouble, went back to nursing their cups and resuming their games, the murmur of low conversations once again filling the air. In the corner, the Kraang-droids began enthusiastically and yet somehow still stiffly playing their instruments once more.

Mikey noticed a table of Footbots gathered together and playing cards. "Ooh! Leo! Can I go play?! Please?!"

Leo was looking around the room, searching for the one particular person they were looking for. "Sure. Have fun." he said absently, waving his brother to continue.

"Awesome!" Mikey launched himself over to an open chair at the table. He leaned forward and ran a hand over his head, slicking his bandana tails back suavely. "Deal me."

The Footbot who was dealing the cards gave a warbled beeping noise, his eyes flashed red, and then cards began piling up in front of their orange brother.

"Okay, well, we just lost Mikey." Raph observed with a frown.

Leo finally noticed what he was looking for. In the darkened corner of the tavern was a single lone table. Leaning back against the wall, a mug of bubbling green liquid in front of him, sat a short, stout heavily cloaked figure.

Leo nodded, then caught Raph's attention, tilting his head towards the mysterious figure. "Over there."

Raph studied the figure, then took a deep, shaky breath, obviously ill at ease. He cracked his neck and shook the jitters out of his hands. "Right. Well, let's get this done with."

Together, they wove between the patrons and tables of the packed and lively tavern, until finally they were standing before the cloaked figure. With a nod at his brother, Leo drew out a chair and seated himself at the table while Raph moved to stand between Leo and the rest of the patrons in the tavern, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed and scanning the room suspiciously for trouble, obviously trusting Leo to handle the negotiations while he stood guard.

"If it isn't the great Leonardo himself, the head of the Hamato clan." The hooded figure traced the rim of his glass absently. "You foundeth me... I'm impressed that you managed to solve my riddle."

"It's what my brothers and I do." Leo casually leaned on the table. "We get results done."

The hooded figure reached down and pulled out another mug of the sputtering green liquid, sliding it over to Leo. "Mighteth I interest you in a drinketh?"

Leo caught the wooden tankard in his hand before it slid off of the table, not taking his eyes off of the figure across from him. Right. Ugh. The things he would do for his family's sake...

Without blinking, he lifted the mug up and took a long drink, keeping his blue eyes trained on the hooded figure, who merely smiled under his cloak and nodded.

"Uh... Leo?" Raph eyed the tankard dubiously, obviously not sure whether his brother should be drinking something that shade of neon green and bubbling.

"It's Mountain Dew." Leo reassured him without taking his eyes off of the figure.

"Of course it is." Raph muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes, turning to resume his glare against everything in existence.

Leo lowered the mug and set it down on the table as he narrowed his blue eyes at the cloaked figure. "You know what we want."

"And, as I said, I can giveth thee what thine heart desires." The hooded figure picked up his own mug and took a drink. "Though, as I told thine brother, I would haveth demands that I would see met."

"Naturally." Leo tilted his head in acknowledgment.

"Very well..." The hooded figure set his mug down and reached into his cloak sleeve and drew out a few sheets of parchment, setting them on the table and sliding them over to Leo. "Hereth are my terms."

Leo picked up the papers, tapped them a few times on the table to straighten them out, then carefully started reading through them. "As agreed, we will start fulfilling our end of the bargain in a month's time, at which point, we'll be be at your service once a fortnight for a year, as circumstances allow. I, of course, will not promise my brother Donatello's services without his knowledge or permission, but you will have the three of us at least, and he most likely will join us as well." Then he paused as he noticed something in the contract. "Wait, what's this?" he frowned, glancing over the papers at the figure. "An assassination of a high level politician? That wasn't mentioned before."

"Feareth not, it will not require thou to act against thine honor." the hooded figure replied, leaning forward to tap brown feathered fingers together. "My sources telleth me that he is corrupted, and thus must be eliminated for the good of all."

"Hm..." Leo's eyes narrowed and studied the hooded figure suspiciously, then he paused, before sighing and holding up a finger. "Hold on a second." He then turned and snapped out, "Mikey! Do NOT gamble away your nunchucks!"

"Aw, but Leo, I totally have this hand in the bag!" Mikey protested, sitting at the table with the Footbots with a handful of cards. "There's no way I can lose!"

"Mikey, no." Leo narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. "As a ninja, your weapons are your soul. They are not collateral for a card game in a tavern."

"Fine." Mikey rolled his eyes, then turned back to the Footbots, hunching down behind his cards. "Well, I guess we gotta let the cards fall where they may, boys... So... tell me... Do you have any sixes?"

The Footbot he was talking to made some warbled noises, its eyes flashing with red lights.

Mikey's eyes widened, and he threw his cards up in the air. "Impossible!" He pointed accusingly as cards fluttered down all around them. "I call shenanigans! Yeah, that's right! I think you're cheating, mister!"

The Footbots all emotionlessly beeped at him, eyes flashing red.

"Oh! Oh!" Mikey sputtered. "Do you kiss your mothers with those mouths?!"

Raph sighed and facepalmed. He reached back and patted his blue brother's shell. "I got this Leo." He started walking forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Thanks Raph." Leo gratefully nodded at him, then turned back towards the hooded stranger and cleared his throat. "Anyways, back to our deal. We will at the very least investigate this situation. If this politician does indeed deserve death, then it will be done, by my own hand if need be. But we will not be used as mere puppets for political intrigue." He leaned back and crossed his arms over his plastron. "That is the most I will offer regarding this."

From under the hood, Leo could swear he could see a sly smile start to form. "That's all I could asketh for."

Leo nodded, and went back to reading over the papers. "Let's see here... Retrieval of an ancient artifact... eliminating a necromancer... stopping an underground thievery ring... Most of these remaining requests seem reasonable."

"So we are in agreement then?" the hooded figure could barely keep the delighted chortle out of his voice.

Leo lay the papers down and nodded. "Very well. On behalf of the Hamato Clan, I agree to your terms. In exchange, you will provide your particular services for our brother, Donatello, and our clan sister, April, for their wedding ceremony."

"It's a contract, then." A brown feathered hand slipped out from a wide sleeve, and Leo reached over to shake it.

They were interrupted by Raph crashing shellfirst onto the table, splintering it beneath his massive bulk.

He groaned and pushed himself up, then glanced at Leo. "Guess what? Turns out that the Footbots really WERE cheating!"

Leo sighed, ran his hand over his face, then glanced up at their host apologetically.

"Oh, by all means, proceed if thou so wisheth." the cloaked figure leaned back in his chair, and with a snap of his feather fingers, the smashed table began to reform. "What is a tavern encounter, after all, without a hearty brawl? Bards?" He snapped his feathered fingers, and the Kraang Droids switched songs and began playing a spirited and jaunty tune, the perfect background music for a barroom brawl. "Wanton violence for all!"

"Oh, sweet!" Raph pushed himself up and cracked his neck and knuckles. "I might like this after all!" He grabbed a Footbot and slammed its face into a table, then turned and tripped a triceraton as it ran by, sending it sprawling forward to bowl into several of its comrades.

Leo sighed, and quickly grabbed a wooden mug that was sailing through the air at his brother's back, twisting and using the momentum to send it sailing back to hit the Footbot that had thrown it. He placed his shell back against Raph's. "This is so unnecessary."

Mikey was clinging to the head of a startled triceraton, gnawing at one of his horns gleefully. "Booyakasha!"

Their host sat back in his chair, resting a taloned, bird-like foot and a peg leg on the table while pulling out a bag of what looked like Cheetos, munching on them and watching with obvious amusement. "Just watcheth out for the area behind the bar area." he warned. "The ground there be most treacherous."

"Uh, where were you guys?" Donnie blinked as the three of them pushed through the turnstile into the lair. "You were gone for hours."

"Wedding planning." Mikey said happily but wearily.

"Shower. I'm going to shower. Now." Raph snarled, stomping off, covered in some unspeakable substance.

"Uh..." Donnie blinked.

"Oh, ignore him." Leo rolled his eyes. "Raph was warned specifically not to go in a specific area, and he went there anyways, and it turns out there was a pit of sewer water back there."

"WHY was there SEWAGE in a BAR?!" Raph ranted as he stomped away.

"Because the bar was in the sewers, maybe?!" Leo put his hands on his hips, yelling right back at Raph. "You were warned! Maybe you'll listen next time!"

Donnie's eyes widened, and he slowly turned to Mikey. "Wedding planning, you say?" he asked, his voice crackling in a tone that was almost pleading for a hint of sanity to come out of this.

"It... was... AWESOME." Mikey said dreamily.

Author Notes:

Yeah, if you've watched the 2k12 series at all, you might have figured out who their mysterious contact is, and what Leo's plan might be. My first draft had him sounding much more mysterious and dubious, trying to hide who he was a little longer, but then I went back to watch that episode again to refresh my memory, and realized quickly that if I was going to try to stay in character, that wasn't going to happen. He's not exactly a subtle character to write.

That being said, shorter chapter then normal, the next one will be extra long and will be half a re-write of what the old Chapter 7 used to be, and half new content.