Thief in the Night

Ch. 3

Cells

The turtles had tried to find their brother. They had ran across the rooftops for a few minutes more, trying to see if they could spot a group of Foot running. But they found absolutely nothing. The Foot had disappeared too quickly. They all four looked at each other as the reality hit them; they couldn't barge into Foot headquarters. Not yet. Splinter had to know.

So they all ran back towards the Lair, growing tired at how much adrenaline they were taking away. They came to the Lair quickly, stopping after they climbed over the turnstiles to catch their breath. Splinter heard them run in and came out of the dojo. He slid the door open, only to realize something was wrong. Someone was missing out of the panting turtles.

"Where's Leonardo?" Splinter asked, worry clutching his heart. He grew even more worried when looks of dread and guilt came over his son's faces.

"Sensei…" Donnie started, looking up at Splinter. "We found those guys...it turns out that they were the Purple Dragons teamed up with the Foot."

Splinter was surprised at this, but let his son continue.

"We fought them, and we thought we were winning until more of them showed up. There were too many...and we tried to fall back, but they cut us off. They managed to knock Leo out and take him away." Donnie sighed, tilting his head to the floor. "We looked for him...but it was too late…"

A wave of terror and sadness washed over the old eat as he heard this. His son was gone? And if the Foot took him, then he was now in the hands of the Shredder. What was going to happen to him? Splinter let out a sigh as he walked towards his sons, putting a hand on one of their shoulders.

"You mustn't blame yourselves." Splinter said, looking at the three of them. "There was no way to stop them, especially since you said they disappeared so quickly. There was no way that you could have caught them in time."

His sons nodded, though they still stared at the ground.

"We will find your brother." Splinter continued. "But first, we must make a plan in order to rescue him."

"Plan?" Raph asked, his brow furrowing. "We don't NEED a plan! What we need right now is to march over to the Foot headquarters, break in and save our brother before the Shredder does anything!"

"We can't just do that, Raph!" Donnie answered. "We'll all get out in jeopardy! What we DO need to do is make a plan and then use that plan properly."

Raph let out a huff. "We have no time!"

"Of course we don't!" Donnie replied, raising his voice. "But if we just barge in there, who knows what will happen! It won't be just Leo in trouble but us too!"

Raph let out a soft sigh, looking at the ground and then back at Donnie and then Splinter. "Alright." he said. "Let's make a plan…"

The three Purple Dragons entered into Shredder's throne room, pleased with what had just happened. They knelt down in front of the throne in the room, looking towards the ground.

Shredder stayed silent for a moment or two, staring at the three thugs before speaking. "I have heard that you've captured the oldest." Shredder spoke.

"Yeah, we did." Fong answered, looking upward. "So, where's the money? You promised us ten grand for our gang."

"I want you to help my ninjas with one more task." Shredder answered.

"You mean I have to do more work?" Fong replied, his brow furrowing in anger. "We had a deal!"

"And this deal will last longer." Shredder replied, narrowing his eyes at the man.

Fong sighed, nodding his head. He then smirked. "So, if I do more work that means a get paid more, right?"

Shredder stayed silent. He didn't think these stupid gang boys deserved anymore. But, they wouldn't shut up if he didn't give them extra. He couldn't give them too much.

"Yeah." Sid chimed in. "We want extra dough for this extra business."

"Very well." Shredder answered, a hint of irritation in his deep voice. "I will add five grand to the payment."

Fong nodded his head, though he wished he was earning more cash than just fifteen grand. It didn't seem like much, but to a group of gang members, it could get them somewhere. Fong nodded again, cracking a smile. "Deal." he said. "So what do you want us to do, uh, Master?" He cringed. The word master felt weird on his tongue.

Shredder leaned forward in his feet, looking down at the group of guys as if they were just a group of cockroaches, destined to be smushed under his foot eventually. "Tomorrow night, same time as usual, you will capture the second oldest, which I am assuming is the red one."

"How do you know they'll be out?" Fong asked.

"Their brother is missing. Surely they are searching. They would not sit and do nothing. They will be out looking for a clue of some sorts, or trying to come here. Even if they're all attacking, only capture one. Capture the red one. Do you understand me?"

The three hoodlums nodded their heads in response and Shredder dipped his head at them.

"Good." he said. "Now go. Prepare for tomorrow."

The three guys nodded again, standing to their feet slowly. They then turned and left the room.

Leo's eyes opened slowly as he let out a low, pained groan. His head hurt, especially in his temple, where he could feel his pulse. His vision swimmed before him, as if it were trying to figure out whether he should stay awake or not.

As soon as his vision came into focus, he saw that he was in a small square room, the walls, ceiling and floor all made of cold cement. From where Leo lay, he could see that his only light source at the moment was a tiny window across the room. Not like it did much anyway, since there were two bars over it, preventing any kind of escape.

He slowly raised his head, ignoring his headache as he did so. He tried to stretch to relieve his sore muscles, but was surprised to hear a soft clicking sound behind him. He turned his head, seeing that a chain about three or four feet long was clasped on one of his ankles.

The turtle sighed, laying his cheek back down in the cool floor, staring at the dim moonlight coming out from the window. Now what? He was trapped. What was he supposed to do? He was still trying to figure out why those guys even bombed all those places. Must've been some kind of distraction. He wanted to slap himself.

iStupid!/i he thought to himself, glaring at the cement ground. iIt's so obvious!/i

He then forced himself to sit up, taking in his surroundings more. He noticed that his brothers were not with him. He didn't know what had happened, since he had been knocked out. Were they safe? Were they trapped here? If so, where? Why weren't they with him? He hoped and prayed that they were at home, safe and sound. But if his brothers weren't captured...why did only he get captured?

Leo knew there were too many questions that would not be answered at the moment, so he leaned back against the wall, listening to the chain rattle and clank. He got a realization that made him so terribly sad, that went over him like an ocean wave;

Leo was all alone. He was going to have to face this himself...or so he thought.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others! I'll be sure to make Ch. 4 longer! Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews so far!