Wow, thanks! I think that last chapter had the highest number of reviews I've ever had for a single chapter. Awesome! Glad you're enjoying this :D
Oh, and just to be clear (and to answer a question asked by Guest), everyone in this AU is human.
CHAPTER TWELVE
"Would you like me to tell you a story?" The man with the cloak offered, looking at both Leo and Mikey.
"Um," Mikey said, looking at Leo.
"A story would be great," Leo said, patting Mikey on the shoulder, "You listen while I think up a plan to get out of here."
"Alright," Mikey said, sitting himself as comfortably as he could on the prison floor, trying to put himself as far away from the creepy guy as possible, "What kind of story is this?"
"It is a tale that was handed down to me by my father and his father before him, about one of my very ancestors." The cloaked man said, "Once, a long time ago, there lived a young Knight who was in love with a beautiful woman-"
Leo tuned the story out, despite the fact that he really wanted to listen to it. But the story was being told so that Mikey would forget where they were, and Leo couldn't afford to forget. He needed to find a way out of here.
He tested the bars on the door, each and every one. Then he tested the walls of the prison, careful to avoid the other prisoners. The back wall must lead directly out of the prison, but there were guards out there, and unless all the prisoners could escape at once the guards would easily stop any escape attempt. The side walls, if he remembered what he saw when they came in, were attached to the cells on either side of their own.
The floor was wooden and it was above the actual ground, but if they made any tunnels they would be spotted as soon as the Dragons lifted the prison to move it. If they could manage to dig a tunnel out without being noticed, the prison was being guarded on all sides, so once again they all needed to leave the prison at once or they would be overwhelmed.
There was an entire rack of weapons within the prison itself, but it was only accessible if you were on the other side of the cell door. So if they could escape through the cell bars, they would automatically have that small arsenal of weapons at their disposal.
Leo walked back to the bars again, and tested them once more.
"Leatherhead," he said, calling the giant's attention away from the story, "Did you say that these bars have been reinforced?"
"They have," Leatherhead said, "We have attempted to escape more than once, young one. The Dragons have learned not to take us for granted."
"Could you break these bars if they weren't reinforced?" Leo asked, turning to look at him.
"Without question." Leatherhead responded.
"Then tell me," Leo said, looking at him, "Are the cells next to us reinforced as well?"
"Not to my knowledge. Why do you ask?"
Leo smiled. "What do you say about breaking through the wall into the cell next door?" He whispered.
Leatherhead stared at him for a moment, then he smirked.
"That is an excellent idea," he whispered back, "It would be easy for us to escape from there. We will have to wait until after the next guard comes to check in on us. Then we will be left alone until morning."
"Alright," Leo said, "In the meantime, let's test the walls for their weakest point."
"Agreed," Leatherhead said, "But let me caution you, young one. Do not tell anyone else of this plan, not yet. We do not want to raise any false hopes." He looked pointedly over at Mikey, who was completely engrossed by the cloaked man's story.
"Point taken." Leo said, "Let's get started!"
The two of them went through the prison, their hands hovering and pounding over every inch of both side walls. Aside from some taunting by the creepy man in the corner, no one took any notice of their actions. Mikey and the cloaked man were both too occupied to notice, and the other two prisoners looked they they had fallen asleep.
"This one." Leatherhead said, smiling-actually smiling!-as his hands rested over a certain spot on the wall.
"Are you sure?" Leo asked, looking where the giant's hands were.
"Oh, yes. This is definitely the weakest spot." Leatherhead pounded it with his fist once more, as if to prove his point.
"Then all we have to do now is wait for the Dragons to do their checkup." Leo said.
Leatherhead nodded.
The wait for the guard seemed forever. During Leo's wait Mikey fell asleep, leaning against the cloaked man. The cloaked man also fell asleep, along with the creepy man and the other two prisoners. Leatherhead looked like he was asleep up against the wall, but Leo could see that he had his eyes half-open.
Finally the guard entered, and Leo pretended to be asleep as well. The guard held up a candle and tried half-hardheartedly to peer into the cell, and then left. As soon as the Dragon was gone, Leatherhead stood up and walked over to the spot they had memorized as the weak spot.
"Here, I'll help you-" Leo said, standing up, but Leatherhead shook his head.
"Oh no, I've got this." He said, and to Leo's surprise, he punched at the weak spot with his bare hands.
The entire wall shook.
He punched again, and once more the wall shook.
Again and again Leatherhead punched the wall with his bare hands, until finally there was a small hole in the wall.
"Good," Leatherhead said, waving his hands to try to take away some of the pain, "The hard part's over."
And he resumed punching.
When the hole was large enough that Leo felt he could fit through it, he stopped Leatherhead.
"Hang on," he said, "Let me go through first. I can clear debris from the other side."
"Good idea," the giant said, and he helped Leo through the hole.
As soon as Leo was on the other side, he moved away some of the larger debris that had fallen from the hole. If Leatherhead was going to fit through here to break down the bars, Leo would make it easier for him to punch his way in.
"Stand back," Leatherhead warned, and Leo obediently stepped back so that Leatherhead could resume punching.
While he was standing out of the way, Leo looked around. The cell was eerily similar to the one they had just left, but it seemed bigger because it was empty. The bars did look a lot plainer, and Leo walked over to them to test them. His hand went out, and he pushed against them a little-and with that push the entire cell door slipped open.
Leo stood there for a second. The door was unlocked?
Leatherhead was still punching away on the other side of the wall, so Leo walked out of the cell and tapped on the bars of the cell that Leatherhead was in.
"You can stop now," he said, and Leatherhead looked up at him in shock.
"How did you-what?" He asked.
"The door was unlocked," Leo smirked, "So, where are the keys to this cell?"
"Over there, in the corner." Leatherhead pointed, so Leo casually walked over and got the keys.
"It was unlocked?" Leatherhead asked.
"Yup." Leo said, unlocking the door.
"All this time, and the cell next door was unlocked..." Leatherhead repeated.
Leo threw the cell door open.
"Alright, everybody out!" He said.
"Hmmm...what?" Mikey asked groggily, "Are we leaving?"
"I don't believe it." The cloaked man said.
"Wait, what?" The creepy man asked, standing up, "How did you get that door open?"
"We'll explain later," Leatherhead said, taking Mikey by the hand and pulling him out of the cell, "Right now, we need to come up with a safe way to get out of the Dragon's camp."
"Can't we just walk out of here?" One of the tough bounty-hunter looking guys said, grabbing a sword off the weapon's rack.
"I'm all for that," the other tough bounty-hunter guy said, "But where do we go?"
"Do you think there's a map in here somewhere?" Mikey asked, looking for one underneath a sword on the weapon's rack.
"Something tells me that is extremely doubtful since we are in a prison, young one." The cloaked man said, a small smile on his face.
"Boy," Leatherhead said, turning to Leo, "How do we get out of these woods?"
"The fastest way would be by following the road." Leo explained, "In one direction it leads to the castle, and in the other it leads to the Daimyo's realm."
"Then that is where we should go." The cloaked man said.
"Hey wait a minute, who made you the leader?" The creepy man asked the cloaked man.
"If you don't like what he has to say," Leatherhead said, staring at the creepy man, "Then you will have to answer to me."
"It is smarter to take that road," The cloaked man said, "In light of the fact that there is a war brewing on the castle. Do you agree, my friend?"
The creepy man huffed and crossed his arms, but said nothing.
"Good." Leatherhead said, "Now that that's settled, how will we know which direction to take once we find the road?"
"Oh, that's not too hard." Mikey said, "My bro-um, my other bro-is really smart about stuff. He said that some kind of mushroom grows on one side of the tree but not the other, so if I'm ever lost all I've got to do is find the side with the mushrooms and follow it home. Well, as long as I'm on the road. If I'm off the road I have to follow stars and stuff."
"Huh." The creepy guy said, "Is this true?" He looked at Leo.
"Yup." Leo said. He never doubted Donnie's skills.
"Well then." Leatherhead said, "It seems that all we need to do is find the road."
"In the dark, while avoiding the Purple Dragons." The creepy man said.
"Right." Leatherhead concluded, "So, everyone grab a weapon. Except you, Mikey."
"Aww." Mikey whined, "Come on! I can fight."
"I'm not going to take a weapon either Mikey, if it makes you feel any better." Leo said.
"We'd better hurry," the cloaked man said, "Do either of you boys remember the way from here to the road?"
"No," Mikey said.
"Yes." Leo said.
"Wait, what? How could you remember that?" Mikey asked.
"There's no time," Leatherhead said, "Children, stay inside. We'll head out first and deal with the guards surrounding the prison. Once they're knocked out, we'll have to leave fast if we want to stay one step ahead of the Purple Dragons."
And so despite Mikey's protests, Leo and Mikey remained in the prison while the others left the building. Within the span of a few minutes, the cloaked man opened the door and beckoned them outside.
"Quickly now!" Leatherhead said, ushering Mikey past an unconscious guard so fast that he probably didn't see the guy there, "It won't be long until the others realize what happened. Which way?"
"This way," Leo said, and he lead the way out of the clearing that surrounded the prison and back into the woods.
After what seemed like a long time, they finally reached the road. Once there, Mikey silently pointed out the mushrooms growing on the side of a tree, and it was obvious which direction lead to the Palace.
"Right," The cloaked man whispered, "Now, on to the Daimyo."
"We must be careful not to walk on the road itself, in case the Purple Dragons are still watching it." Leatherhead pointed out, "Keep the road in your sight, but do not walk too close to it. And keep your eyes open for any Purple Dragons."
"Wait," Leo said.
"What is it now?" The creepy man asked.
"We're not going with you." Leo said.
"Yeah," Mikey said, "Our home is that way." He pointed backwards.
"Children," The cloaked man said, "Are you certain that you wish to go that way by yourselves?"
"We'll be fine," Leo said, and Mikey nodded.
"Good luck then," the creepy man said, waving his newly-acquired club in a farewell salute.
"Come with us to the Daimyo," Leatherhead suggested.
"Nah," Mikey said, "Besides, they'll miss us back home."
"Alright." The cloaked man said, "Go home to your family. But be careful, and stay in the shadows."
"We will." Leo said, "Good luck on your journey!"
"Good-bye, children!" Leatherhead said, hugging Mikey.
"Wait!" Mikey said, "Can you give a message to Usagi for me?"
"To whom?" Leatherhead asked.
"Usagi," Mikey said, "He's a friend of mine who went to see the Daimyo. Can you let him know about the Purple Dragons and that there might be a war here soon? He doesn't know about it yet, but it's important."
"I will seek him out and give him your message, young one." Leatherhead promised. He looked at the cloaked man, who was standing next to him, and understanding passed between them.
"I also promise." The cloaked man said.
"Thanks!" Mikey whispered loudly, "I owe you one. Good-bye! Oh, I almost forgot! What's your name?"
The two tough guys and the creepy guy were already walking further into the forest, but apparently the creepy guy wasn't too far away to hear the question.
"The name's Slash," the creepy guy said, and then he turned around and walked away, content not to look back again.
"I meant my new friend." Mikey mumbled.
The cloaked man chuckled.
"Like your brother," he said, "I would like my name to be kept hidden for now. However," he smiled, "You may call me Master Splinter."
And then he gave them one last farewell, and the five former prisoners of the Purple Dragons all walked towards freedom. Leo and Mikey, on the other hand, started to walk in the opposite direction.
