Spoiler warnings: Exodus Part Two and Scion of the Shredder
Chapter 1
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Oroku Saki was triumphant. His daughter had just come to him with the news that her mission that night had been successful. He would see Stockman and Chaplin later on that evening to learn what information the tracking device had picked up. With that knowledge he would learn where it is they lived and hid from the world. Soon he would know every detail of their lives, and of their existence. It was only a matter of time now until he would be able to go through with the next phase of his plan.
Saki gazed out of the window of his home that over looked the Manhattan skyline. Soon he intended to go himself to see where the home of the turtles was. He needed to begin gathering as much information on them as possible. He reflected on his past attempts to finish off his enemies. He now knew that he had been unsuccessful because he had taken little time to learn who they were and what they were capable of. Now he was going to use knowledge as his power and destroy them from the inside.
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Donatello stretched out on the sofa resting the big bowl of popcorn on his plastron. He had big plans to be lazy and do absolutely nothing which included eating a lot of junk food and watching Mikey's entire scary video library. Things had been rough around the lair lately with all of their enemy's doing stupid things on an almost weekly basis. Now things were quiet, or as Mikey would say 'a little to quiet'.
Don reflected on their most recent battle which happened to be with none other than Karai herself. She had been the cause of a lot of grief in their family, and Don couldn't secretly help think that if it hadn't been for Leonardo's insistence that Karai was indeed a good person and she deserved a chance to right her wrongs, she would have been out of their lives a long time ago, preferably dead. Personally he had gotten the impression somewhere along the way that Leonardo had been harbouring a secret crush on Karai, but after she had stuck him with a sword and later tried to kill them off one by one while Leonardo was in Japan, Don was pretty sure any feelings he may have had for Karai were definitely gone. There was no denying that Karai was a beautiful woman, but she was the daughter of their enemy and there was no way he would ever really trust her.
Just two days ago they had caught the foot, lead by Karai, loading a transport truck with stolen military weapons. Of course they put a stop to the operation and kicked the shell out of the foot ninja, but something about the whole thing seemed strange to Donatello, something he couldn't quite put a finger on. Usually when something that big went down, there was a reason behind it. It was almost as if Karai wanted to be found, because they sure weren't being discreet when he and his brothers caught them in action. Don sighed and shook his head determined not to think of past events, and instead opted to melt his brain a little with some mindless television. Every turtle had to have a break sometimes.
About 20 minutes through the first movie, Raphael came sauntering in the room with a couple of beer in hand. He threw one to Don who gratefully caught it in mid air. Pushing Don's feet gently off of end the sofa, Raphael seated himself beside his brother and helped himself to a handful of popcorn.
It wasn't long after when Mike joined them hurt that he wasn't invited to watch the movie along with his brothers. "Dudes! I can't believe you are watching this movie without me!" Michelangelo ranted as he sat between Raph and Don, forcing Don to completely remove his feet from the comfort of the sofa and into a sitting position. Mike grabbed the bowl of popcorn and helped himself to a rather large handful. He proceeded to talk details of the movie offering bits and pieces of useless trivia that was really distracting.
"MIKEY!" Raphael shouted "We get it already! It's kinda hard to watch this with your lips flapping away"
"Raph you just don't appreciate the fine art of horror film classics" Mikey retorted.
The two of them began an argument, which led to a wrestling match on the sofa, which led to Don's beer split all over his lap. Grumbling to himself while shooting deadly looks towards his sheepish looking brothers, Don made his way to the bathroom where he grabbed a face cloth and cleaned the beer from his legs. Determined that he would watch the rest of the movie, hopefully in peace, Don walked back towards the couch just in time for Leonardo to come speeding out of nowhere and hop into Don's seat. Don folded his arms in front of his plastron and was about to say something, when his dear old blue clad brother grabbed the last handful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth.
Don stalked over to the couch and rather violently grabbed the empty bowl from his brother who shot him an innocent look. Ignoring it, he went to the kitchen where he had big plans to pop a new bowl for himself just in time to see his beloved father walking out of the kitchen with the last bag freshly popped and steaming.
"Good evening my son." Splinter said happily munching on a handful of popcorn as he passed Donatello "The smell of your popcorn was so delicious, I couldn't resist the temptation to have some for myself"
Donatello watched in utter disbelief as his father walked to his room humming a tune and closed the door behind him. Slapping his hand to his face, Don groaned to himself, gave up and went to his lab where he grabbed his own personally modified water gun. He snuck into the bathroom where he filled his super soaker to the rim. Mustering all of his ninja skills, Donatello was one with the shadows as he crept silently into the living room where his brothers sat innocently watching 'his' movie.
Smirking to himself knowing his brothers were in for the soaking of a life time, Don was about to pull the trigger when…
SPLAT
Don was momentarily stunned when his red clad brother turned and flung his cake at Don's head, leaving chocolaty mess every where.
"I can't believe you knew I was there!" Don cried "I was being stealthy!"
Raphael pointed at the television in front of him "Your reflection bro"
"What I can't believe" Michelangelo said in utter horror "is that you wasted perfectly good chocolate cake!"
Leonardo in the mean time was laughing so hard he had to hold onto his stomach.
Groaning to himself that he was now a mess and lost the element of surprise, Don was determined not to let a perfectly good water gun go to waste. Just as he aimed his gun, his brothers leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the gush of water flying towards them. One by one they all disappeared from the living room. Don was sure they were hiding somewhere nearby. Creeping along the shadows, Don was about to check the kitchen when he saw the outline of one of his brothers dart across the hall way. He didn't have to wonder which one it was, because the small giggle that escaped the shadowy figure was a dead give away it was Mikey. Grinning to himself, Don rushed forward determined to soak his youngest brother, when suddenly Leonardo dropped from the ceiling with his own water soaker and drenched Don in a steady stream.
Looking triumphant Leo turned to run from the hall and into the safety of his bedroom when Raphael came from out of nowhere and soaked Leo.
"Ha ha gotcha fear…" He was cut off by the stream of water that hit him in the face from Michelangelo's water gun. In the mean time, Don took the opportunity to hide himself back in the shadows, and just as Mikey was coming around the corner, Don took pure satisfaction in the soaking he gave to his brother as he lunged forward.
Laughing, the four brothers continued to play for the next couple of hours playing, not noticing their sensei watching them from the safety of the shadows. "Kids" he sighed shaking his head with a smile on his face.
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Leonardo was the first one up the following morning. He grabbed his mask and other gear he had drying on the back of his chair and put them on. Once in the kitchen, he made himself some breakfast and took morning to reflect on recent events. Mostly the ones involving Karai and what she was doing with military weapons. He didn't hate her, but he didn't trust her anymore. Not after what she had put their family through in the past. He never fully trusted her to begin with; after all she was the daughter of Oroku Saki. He had thought at one time she would have been able to see herself what her father truly was, but he was only kidding himself though; Karai was blind to her father's actions.
Don had mentioned the other day something wasn't right about their last encounter, and Leo had agreed. He wondered more than once if he should go out and try to find her. He felt he should just check in and see what she was up to if nothing else, especially if her father was involved in anyway. However when he voiced his concerns to his master, to his surprise, Splinter immediately rejected the idea of him going alone. Splinter had said that he felt this time it was crucial for him and his brothers to stick together and not leave each others sight. When Leonardo had asked him why he felt that way, Splinter admitted he didn't know what it was that was bothering him, but made his son promise not to leave the lair on his own.
Leo sighed to himself. He felt helpless not doing anything, but on the other hand he didn't want to drag his brothers into potential danger when there wasn't any real reason to do so. He knew his brothers would scoff at that saying they didn't need a baby sitter, especially Raph, but he couldn't help it. It had become instinct for him to keep his family out of danger even though he knew they were more then capable of handling themselves in battle.
After finishing breakfast, Leo went to do his most enjoyed morning ritual after practice. Waking up his brothers. He couldn't help it, but he took a sort of pleasure of watching his brothers drag their lazy butts out of bed because they insisted on staying up so late. He especially loved the mornings they were being extra stubborn which allowed him to do things like tickle Don's nose with a feather and watch him smear whipped cream all over his face, or pelt water balloons at Mikey or like the one time he put Raph's hand in warm water…Raph was out of bed fast and chasing his brother with a murderous look in his eye. Leonardo laughed at the memory. Mikey wasn't the only turtle that enjoyed an occasional prank.
Unfortunately he never got the chance to follow through with his rituals that morning because his brothers stumbled into the kitchen wiping the sleep from their eyes. They were all mumbling incoherently as they munched away on their cereal. Leo knew that it would take several cups of coffee for each of them before they actually woke up and begin to take notice of the world around them. Smiling to himself, he went to wake his Sensei…
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Mikey was really bored. Now they weren't allowed out of the lair unless they all went as a group which was really irritating considering the fact that Leo and Don were perfectly content staying home. They could go a solid week without leaving. He begged Sensei to let him and Raph go out as a pair, but his father refused to budge on the issue. Mikey could tell that Raph was getting restless as well, because his irritation level was rapidly increasing. In fact just that morning Mikey had accidentally let go of his spinning Nunchaku when it hit Raph in the head knocking him out cold. Needless to say, Raphael was pretty pissed off when he came to. Mike had spent the afternoon searching for his PlayStation, praying to God that Raph was kind enough to leave it in one piece. Fortunately Raphael was still in good enough spirits that he didn't wreck it, but Mikey was certain that he wouldn't be so lucky the next time.
Stretched out on his bed, Mike decided that now would be as good of a time as any to work on his book. Mike got up, locked his bedroom door, then proceeded to pull out the loose bricks from his wall at the foot of his bed. He pulled out the old leather bound folder full of pages of writing and sat down on his bed. The story Mike had been working on detailed their lives and the adventures he and his brothers had shared over the last few years. He began working on his book a couple of years back when he realized just how alone in the world they really were. Mike knew that he could never publish his work, but he felt a strange desire to document their lives. He left out specifics like the fact they were mutant turtles, but he knew that once they were gone there would be no mark left in the world from them. They had spent their lives in secrecy and saved more lives then they could count, and no one would know. Mike wasn't looking for gratitude so much as he just wanted to be accepted into the world he could never be apart of. He just wanted someone out there to remember him and his family when their time was up.
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Raphael stumbled out of his room and headed to the kitchen after just waking up from the same nightmare he had been having on and off again for several months. He really needed a glass of water. Pulling a glass out of the cupboard, he filled it to the rim, drank it all down, then filled it again and downed the second glass. Satisfied, he filled it again and took it with him back to his room. On the way there he saw shining eyes watching him from the sofa. Klunk was watching him curiously. Looking around to make sure no one was up watching, Raphael went over to the sofa, picked up the cat and brought it with him back to his room.
Once his door was shut, Raph took a moment to scratch the cat behind the ears, and enjoy the soft feeling of its long fur under his rough calloused hands. He then set the cat down on his bed and went to his closet, pulled out a shopping bag and produced a new toy ball for the cat. He tossed it on the ground and chuckled to himself as he watched the orange cat go crazy after the new toy. He loved the damn cat as much as Mikey did, but would rather die then let anyone know. He especially wouldn't tell anyone he bought a ball for it. He intended to keep the new toy in his room for the cat to play with when it visited him.
He and Klunk had come to an unspoken agreement. When they were in the presence of the family, the two of them pretty much avoided each other, but when they were alone, Klunk would often curl up on Raphael's lap or on his shell and sleep for hours, and Raph enjoyed those bonding moments as much as the cat did. It was nice to have a secret friend, and to be able to show a soft side to someone who wouldn't judge him for it.
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Saki now knew where his enemies lived. It was now time for a new distraction, one that would get them all out of the safety of their little home.
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Hey readers!
This chapter was mainly set up to give a glimpse into Shredder plans and to get a feel for how the brothers live and interact with each other, so nothing bad is happening yet, but it will come Muhahaha (Sorry I had a moment :D).
Anyway I know the chapter was kinda boring, but I wanted to show more than one side to each of the turtles. Don likes to veg out and do nothing every once and awhile, Leo isn't always serious and constantly worrying, he has a prankster side to him, Mike isn't always thinking about video games and ways to annoy his brothers, but has an intellectual side as well, and Raph isn't always angry, but has a soft caring side.