Thief in the Night

Ch. 2

Capture

The turtles spent the whole next day planning everything to catch these guys. They planned exactly when they'd go out and Donnie concluded estimates at when they might be back. They went around the Lair, gathering the tools they were going to need, like rope to tie the men up with afterwards to leave for the police, as well as smoke bombs. Because, you know, just in case.

Raph had suggested that they didn't run the whole way there. Donnie found out the bank they were most likely going to was around three miles from the Lair. Going that far would tire them, and so Raph suggested taking the Shellrazor two and a half miles out, parking it in an alley, which happened to be near Murikami's, and then running by roof.

Everyone thought that this was a good idea, so they decided to stick with it. Now all they had to do was wait for seven o'clock to come.

Donnie glanced at his watch as they all sat in front of the TV, their eyes glued to the news station as the reporters brought up the incident yesterday for the fourth time that day. Good thing nothing new had happened today. Yet, anyway. The time was 6:54, only six more minutes until they would leave.

"You'd think that they had thought about people who listen to the news all day." Raph huffed, gesturing towards the television. "This is the fourth time we've heard this!"

"Yeah, and they'll continue to." Donnie answered. "News channels continue the same story for days and days until something else "exciting" happens."

Raph sighed, leaning his head back against the backrest, tired of hearing the blonde haired man on the screen talk about the explosion. Of course he knew some of the information was false. He just couldn't pick what was true or not.

"Why do they go on so long?" Mikey whined. "Are they TRYING to lose people's interest?"

Donnie just shrugged his shoulders again, only to glance back down at his T-phone again. The time was now 6:57. May as well leave early than late. The purple banded turtle stood to his feet, getting an expectant look from the leader.

"We heading out already?" Leo asked, clearly not used to not saying the rules. He shrugged. "Guess going early will be fine."

"It'll benefit us more than anything, to be honest." Donnie answered, putting his T-phone back in his belt. He looked towards Leo, seeing that he was rising to his feet, rolling his stiff neck.

"Alright," Leo said, starting to walk towards the exit. "Let's head out."

Master Splinter then stepped out of the dojo before his sons could even start climbing the steps, watching them. He knew what they were doing, since Leo had told him everything. He agreed with his plan and was allowing them to go. He could not help but feel nervous, though. After all, how could a father not be worried about his own sons?

"Be careful, my sons." Splinter calmly said as he slowly walked over to them. "It is winter. I do hope you do not catch colds." He sent a glance over at Donnie, for he knew the brains of the group was also the one who always seemed to get sick first.

"We'll be careful, Sensei." Leo assured him, looking up and putting on a small smile. "Besides, these are just some thugs. We can take them. It won't be too hard."

"You should not be overconfident." Splinter replied, looking at his four sons as they grinned triumphantly at Leo's comment. "You do not know who exactly you are up against. You may be underestimating these so called 'thugs'."

"I'm sure everything will be a-okay, Sensei." Donnie added in. He patted his pocket on his belt, showing that he had his phone. "If something goes wrong, we'll be sure to call you in a jiffy!"

Splinter let out a soft sigh as the four turtles gave him reassuring smiles. He put on a small grin of his own, though his grey eyebrows were still arched slightly in worry. "I know you will." he said. "But do be cautious."

"We will!" Leo called over his shoulder as he and his brothers started to speed walk to where the Shellrazor was kept at.

Splinter watched them leave, very dissatisfied with the fact that this nervous feeling had not gone away yet, much to the reassuring that his sons had given him. He slowly walked back into the dojo, thoughts running through his mind as he walked into the spacious room. Why was he so nervous? Was something bad bound to happen? What if something happened to his sons? What if they got too cold? What if another attack happens after all?

All these what if's ran through his head as he lowered himself into a pillow sitting on the floor. He sat, staring at the floor, unable to quiet his mind. He then closed his eyes, breathing in and out deeply to try to get into a meditative state. Maybe meditating would help calm his thoughts.

The brothers all piled into the Shellrazor, sitting in the seats they normally sat in, which meant Leo was once again driving. Everyone fastened their seat belts, looking to Leo for instruction. Leo nodded his head, signaling that it was time to leave. He put his foot on the gas just as the door to their garage opened. The large vehicle zoomed out onto the street, and Leo let out a sigh of relief as he noticed not many cars were out tonight.

As Leo drove, Donnie made sure to check where they were going on his T-phone, as well as checking the time. They were running right on time now, not early, not late. Just right.

"So what if those guys aren't coming out tonight after all?" Raph asked as Leo made a right turn.

"Well," Leo answered, letting out a sigh. "I'm not sure. I'm sure they will be out though, considering they have been three days in a row. Why would they just stop now?"

"True." Raph replied, crossing his arms across his chest to get comfortable. "Guess kicking some butt wouldn't be bad."

"Like Master Splinter said, Raph, don't be over confident with this." Leo said, glancing up at him from the driver's mirror above his head before focusing on the road again. "We have no idea who these guys even are."

"They don't seem too tough." Raph shrugged.

"They just may be tougher than they appear, Raph." Donnie added in. "We have no way of knowing. Oh, Leo! Turn left and then go into the alleyway two buildings down from Murikami's."

Leo nodded, still very unused to the feeling of taking orders instead of giving them. But, he did it anyway, since Donnie had the directions and not him. He slowly pulled into the tight alleyway, hoping they'd be able to get the doors open all the way. He turned the key, stopping the car completely before trying to open his door, happy to find out it could swing open most of the way.

The rest of his brothers hopped out, their gear clinking softly as their feet touched the ground. They all looked at each other, nodded, and then swiftly went up the fire escape stairs and onto the rooftops. Then, they ran towards the direction of the bank.

Mikey ran next to Leo, briefly glancing over at him before asking a question. "So what do we do when we get to the bank?"

"We keep moving on until we find these guys." Leo answered. "We can't just hide from them."

"So we're playing hide and seek or something?" Raph snickered. "Not like they're gonna come out when we say 'ready or not'."

Leo sighed, shaking his head at the red banded ninja's comment. He remained silent, continuing to run across rooftops and jump across ledges. Pretty soon, they all made their way to the bank's rooftop and they stopped. Donnie looked around, surveying the area.

"Well," Donnie said. "I would assume this is where they're going."

"How much money do you think is in there, dudes?" Mikey asked, looking at the street below them.

"A lot." Donnie replied, not wanting to confuse his brother with large numbers.

"And, how much is a lot?" Mikey replied with a grin, stretching out the 'and'.

Donnie let out a soft sigh. "Probably a few hundred million. Maybe even more, who knows."

"Woah!" Mikey exclaimed. "Imagine what we could do with that kind of dough!"

"You're going to say buy a lifetime supply of pizza, aren't you?" Raph asked in a monotone voice.

"Well duh!" Mikey answered, throwing his hands to the side. "Best thing to spend your money on, bro!"

"Let's keep going." Leo said, looking at his phone to find that it was already 7:12. "Come on, guys." He then started to jog again, his brothers following close behind him.

They looked left and right as they ran, seeing if they could spot the group of men running on the rooftops, since they most likely went up there before robbing a store. They ran on for a few more minutes before stopping and surveying the area. Raph tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the guys to show up.

"Where are they?" Raph grumbled, letting out a huff of annoyance. "What time is it?"

"Only 7:21." Donnie replied. "Who knows? They might not even be out yet."

Raph sighed again, sitting down on the rooftop. If he was going to have to wait forever for these thugs to show up, he may as well sit down. The other brothers followed suit, though they still kept watch, just in case they were to show up.

They all sat there for several more minutes, multitasking. They'd watch for a bit, talk to each other and then continue to watch. They did this system until Leo saw silhouettes running about a half mile off.

"Guys!" he shouted, quickly jumping to his feet. "There they are!"

"Alright!" Raph exclaimed, standing to his feet as well, a smirk on his face. "Time to kick some butt!"

They all started to run in the silhouettes' direction. Then, they two groups passed each other. Leo let out a grunt of irritation and spun around to run into the other direction, until the group of gang members stopped in their tracks, making the turtles stop too. Leo was getting very confused. Why had they stopped?

The guys then turned, facing the turtles. But Leo noticed there was only three of them instead of ten. They wore different attire tonight, which consisted of plain, grey masks, trench coats and fedoras, the hoods of the coats pulled tightly over their heads. Leo now was starting to understand why they looked different than last night on the TV; they didn't want people to quickly recognize them.

The time was 7:55. The gang members were running a few minutes early tonight. But the turtles didn't care. The sooner they could get home, the less worried Splinter would be.

"I see you're following us." the man, who was actually Fong, spoke, his voice deep from the voice changer.

"Yeah." Leo answered, sending a glare in their direction. "Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing." Fong chuckled, a smirk appearing from under his mask. "We are proving nothing. I think you pests should move out of the way before we blow you up with this bank." The guys behind him, Tsoi and Sid, chuckled.

"Who are you?" Mikey shouted, putting his hands on his nunchucks.

"Well," Fong muttered. "If you really wanna know."

The turtles glanced at each other suspiciously. What was that suppose to mean?

Fong removed his mask and Tsoi and Sid followed him. He smirked at the turtles, clutching the cheap mask at his side. "Long time no see." he said, keeping the voice changer by his mouth.

The turtles let out gasps, staring at the guys in shock.

"You?!" Raph gasped. He then laughed. "Really? The Purple Dragons?!" He shook his head as he continued to laugh, his brothers joining in the laughter. "YOU'RE the one behind all this? Wow. You all will be pretty dang easy to beat."

"It's not just us." Tsoi chuckled, causing the turtles to raise an eyebrow of question. Not just them? Did they bring someone else? Fong nodded, chuckling along with Tsoi. The turtles furrowed their brows, still utterly confused at what they were chuckling about. Pretty soon, though, they found out as they saw a group of Foot ninjas climb up the sides of the building, jumping onto the rooftop.

"You see," Fong said, looking at all the Foot ninjas. "We saw you guys running along and decided to call in some other guys. Though, seven of them were with us last night." He put on his smirk again. "We just thought we should call a few more."

"Few?" Mikey asked. "There's twenty more than yesterday!" He then got an elbow in the side from Raph, who glared slightly at his younger brother because of his comment.

The Foot ninjas started to circle the turtles slowly. The brothers took out their weapons, looking around at the ninjas surrounding them. There weren't a lot. They'd taken more than the amount there was now. The four mutants smirked at each other, dashed forward and attacked.

The Foot soldiers fell one by one, but more replaced them. Despite how quickly the turtles were taking them down, they all started to grow a little nervous. There were double the amount there was when the fight first began! But, they kept fighting, swinging their weapons and knocking the ninjas out. The turtles fought on for several more minutes, growing exhausted when they saw more and more Foot climbing up the sides of the building,

Suddenly, there were too many to take. There were now seventy-five Foot ninjas surrounding them, preventing escape. They couldn't fall back. They were forced to stay put and fight.

"This is getting tough, Leo!" Raph shouted, taking a hit from the ninja of his side. "Not even I think we can take this many! They just keep coming!"

"Calm down, I'll think of something!" Leo yelled back, slicing his katanas at the group of Foot. He looked around, trying to find some kind of escape route as his brothers were getting punches from the Foot ninjas. Finally, he saw a gap in the circle of ninjas, just a big enough space to run through. Leo looked towards his brothers, calling to them and gesturing towards the gap in the sea of black uniforms.

His brothers all nodded back, staying silent, for they did not want to reveal where they were running to. With a yell, they all charged towards the opening. But, their plan was a failure. The ninjas stepped to the side, blocking the path just before the turtles could get through. They took out their weapons, pushing the four brothers back forcefully. They all fell on their backs, but quickly jumped to their feet.

Before they were able to fight again, another group of Foot ninjas jumped out, knocking everyone but Leo to the ground. Leo started to run towards his brothers as they slowly rose to their feet, only to feel an arm strongly grip his shoulder and pull him in. He tried to cry out, but a gloved hand went over his mouth before the noise could escape. Before Leo could do anything, the ninja hit him hard in his temple, knocking him cold.

His brothers got to their feet, looking over at the Foot ninja in shock. "Leo!" the cried, starting to run towards the ninja holding him captive. They were stopped by a few Foot who jumped in front of Leo, pushing the turtles backwards. Fong then walked over with Tsoi and Sid, all of them smiling.

"Bye, pests!" Fong laughed. "Nice to know we finally beat you!"

And with that, one of the Foot ninjas threw a smoke bomb, causing white smoke to scatter everywhere. The turtles all coughed, waving the smoke away from their faces, their eyes watering from the smoke. The smoke began to clear seconds later, and the turtles were ready to attack again.

But as soon as the smoke cleared out completely, they stared in utter horror at nothingness. The Foot and the Purple Dragons were gone, and Leo was now with them.