A/N: Heehee, so everyone seemed to enjoy that last chapter there… =D

Sara: LOL, thanks. It's nice to be hated in that sort of way, haha!

Cloud-of-Dreams: Me? Enjoy messing with people??? ME?? Oh, beyond belief… ^_^

WebMistressGina: Hahaha, like I've told some other people, I got such a sick pleasure from Mikey's line, knowing that people would be all WTF??? at it. Heehee… glad you're not hunting me down!!

Pig: Well, if you'd seen it coming, I'd be much sadder right now. I love being unpredictable! LOL.

To answer the question I got from many people: no, this story isn't done yet. I mean, they got Donny back, but he can't exactly stay "dead" forever. Besides, Leo promised vengeance. There's still the matter of Shredder and Bishop that needs tending to. =D I think you'll enjoy it. This is a calmer chapter before the action starts again… just so some people have time to lower their blood pressure. ;-)

Beware! Timeline jumps are in the future! (Haha, I just now got the irony of that statement… sorry.) Follow the italicized cues, and it won't be too hard to follow. This chapter starts right where the last one left off, then halfway through we go back in time to previously that day (which is the day after Donny and Leo's argument). Do enjoy.

Mikey's grin stretched from ear to ear as he handed Donny a towel to help get some of the blood off. Donny accepted it gratefully and dabbed at the front of his plastron, where a mixture of blood donated from his brothers had already gotten sticky. The medic in him had hated wasting perfectly good and usable blood, but they hadn't wanted to take any chances. The Foot ninja dealt in death often enough to tell the difference between real and fake blood; only the authentic stuff would fool them.

"You are uninjured, my sons?" Splinter asked, not able to keep the concern from his face or his voice as he eyed the bloody towel that Donny was holding.

"No trouble at all!" Mikey exclaimed with a grin. "Well, no more than we expected," he amended, sinking down into his chair with an exhausted sigh. He winced at the pain the movement elicited, knowing there would be plenty of bruises the next day. "Those Foot dudes really took advantage of us losing a fight on purpose."

"No kidding," Raph snapped, rubbing his sore plastron. Throwing a fight didn't come easily for the hot-tempered turtle, and he hadn't enjoyed just letting their enemies beat up on him and his brothers. Sure, they could take it, that wasn't the issue…it was a matter of principle.

"Just wait until we have our turn," he continued, cracking his knuckles with a malicious grin. "You shoulda seen it, Sensei… so there we were…"

Donny exchanged a glance with the leader as Raph and Mikey continued the harrowing tale of their narrow escape, which seemed to be getting more and more embellished as it progressed. Splinter listened with a pained smile frozen on his face, which didn't hide the aghast look in his eyes. Leo shook his head, rolling his eyes at his brothers. He hadn't been particularly thrilled with the plan either, as it went against every natural instinct he had. Not that he could complain much – the entire idea had been his.

"So, what exactly was the point of all that again?" Raph asked, scratching his head. "Now the Shred-head thinks our genius here ain't feelin' too lively… remind me what that actually accomplished?"

"Yeah, dudes," Mikey sighed. "That was a load of fun and all, but we've still got an evil, mind-sucking helmet and two evil, mind-sucking arch-enemies to get rid of. What happens now?"

"Now," Leo said with a smile, "now the real fun begins. Here's the plan…"

oOo oOo oOo

Earlier that day

Leo and Donny sat in Don's room, playing a game of chess. It helped Leo think, and Donny was only happy to oblige, if it solved their problem.

"What does Shredder want?" Leo wondered aloud, studying the chessboard with so much focus that Donatello was almost expecting it to spontaneously combust at any moment. "What's his endgame? Where was he going, and what was he going to do? If I knew his endgame, I could plot out how he'd get there." Shaking his head, Leo advanced a pawn down the side of the board.

"He wants me." Don pointed out, taking out an open knight with his queen. "Does his reason really matter? Check."

Leo smiled and captured his brother's queen with a bishop hiding at the other end of the board, which Donny had overlooked completely. Donny groaned. "You were waiting for me to do that," he said in accusation. Leo nodded, but his face was still set in concentration of his problem.

"What else does he want?" Leo prodded.

"Me… alive?"

Leo finally looked up at that, giving Donny an odd stare that the purple banded turtle didn't like one bit. Leo glanced back down at the queen he'd just taken from his brother, than back up again. A light was slowly growing in his eyes.

"You're right… if you're dead, he has nothing… all we have to do is kill you."

Donny wished his brother didn't sound quite so serious when he said that.

"Oh, yeah… great idea, Leo…"

"No, I'm serious, you need to die!" Leo argued. "I mean, not really, obviously… but what would Shredder do if he believed you'd been killed?"

Donny stared at Leo. He was about to be talked into something, he could just tell. Donny hated being talked into things, especially things that Mikey would highly enjoy. Don had learned long ago to gauge a plan by how much Mikey liked them… if his youngest brother loved an idea, it was probably not a good one… for anyone involved.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Why not?" Leo looked back at the board. Donny had the sudden impression that the leader of the team was seeing something beyond their game. "I think that's it, Don! Look, if we could pull this off and really make them believe it, that would change everything."

"I don't know," Donny said doubtfully. "We'd have to be really convincing."

"You're right… none of that dramatic, slow-motion falling down crap like in the movies, but you could do it… and we'll probably have to use real blood. And…" Leo suddenly looked uncomfortable, his smile completely evaporating.

"What?" Donny demanded suspiciously.

"It's just… if this is going to work, we need authentic reactions… from everyone."

There was a long pause.

"Leo… what exactly are you saying?" Donny asked quietly, not liking at all where this was heading.

"Come on, Donny. You and I both know Mikey's a lousy liar. Him and Raph both need to be believable, too."

Donny was already shaking his head. Leo wanted their brothers to believe he was dead? There was no way he was going to agree to that.

"I know what you're thinking, Leo… forget it. I don't care if Mikey's the worst liar on the planet. They have to know what's going on. I won't do that to them, and that's all there is to it. How could you even consider that?"

"I don't like it either, Don!" Leo protested with a sigh.

"And what exactly do you think Raph would do? When he found out… he'd leave, Leo. He'd never forgive us for that. Besides, how will he react when he thinks I've just been murdered? You think he'll just let you take him home? You think he'll just calmly walk away from the ones who supposedly killed me?"

Leo paused. "I admit, that's not likely…"

"Raph's just going to have to know, Leo. You know you'll never get him out of there otherwise."

"But what about Mikey? You know-"

"What, you want Mikey to be the only one who doesn't know? And how do you think that'll make him feel? The only one you didn't trust to fake it? You're… unbelievable, Leo! Didn't we just have this conversation last night? He can do this, Leo! Just GIVE him some CREDIT!"

A silence filled the room. Don and Leo stared at each other, faces unreadable. Leo's two halves were at war with each other – the leader part of him didn't want to take any chances on such a crucial operation, while the brother in him was in full agreement with Donny. It was wrong, and it was despicable and cruel. He was glad Donatello had argued so strongly against it, because Leo had really wanted to be talked out of it.

"Fine," he said, yielding. "You're right, I'm sorry. We'll tell them everything. Actually," Leo's eyes twinkled again and Donny began to relax. "I think we can arrange to give Mikey an equally important role. If Bishop and Shredder act the way I expect them to…"

He broke off, staring at the chessboard again as though the answers were there. There was a knock at the door, but Leo didn't even look up.

"Come in," Donny called and Raph peered around the door, stepping into the room.

"You were right, Fearless," he said with a smirk. "Bishop scuttled outta dere back to his hidey-hole. Me an' Mikey followed 'im to his warehouse… we marked it on da map out there for ya."

"Thanks, Raph," Leo said absently, still focusing completely on the board. Raph rolled his eyes and grinned at Donny.

"You losin' again?" he asked, nodding at their game. Donny frowned.

"He's cheating, somehow," Donny protested. "I haven't figured out how yet, but he must be cheating." Raph shook his head and left the room, chuckling and muttering something about leaving the eggheads to their planning.

"Leo?" Donny prodded gently.

Leo wasn't listening anymore, though. Donatello got up from the table quietly, heading over to his computer. Leo was in full planning mode now, lost in his strategy forming and looking twelve steps ahead of the enemy. Don would leave him to it… he had every faith that his brother would come up with something good.

oOo oOo oOo

Bishop paced around his warehouse, trying to find a way out of this predicament. It seemed that this time, he'd gotten himself into a real mess. On the one hand, he had a fabulous invention, and now he knew that it worked. On the other hand… Bishop collapsed on a chair, weary of his pacing.

On the other hand, he had no Donatello, and no real means of getting him back. He had four angry terrapins who were probably after him, and a "partner" who would double-cross him at the first opportunity. Of course, Bishop had always known he wouldn't be able to count on Oroku Saki, but he'd hoped that when he made his own double-cross, he'd still have the turtle.

Saki had taken his ninja out already, on the hunt for the escaped turtle. He'd instructed Bishop to wait for his call, but Bishop was pretty sure that if he managed to actually catch Donatello, he'd be most unwilling to share. More likely, he'd try to kill Bishop and use the helmet for whatever nefarious shenanigans he'd been planning all along.

Prudently, Bishop had taken the device and all the equipment that went with it back to his warehouse for safekeeping, where he would guard it with his life. Neither Saki nor the turtles knew of its location, so it would be safe until Bishop could get his hands back on the purple-banded turtle. The turtles would be quite furious with his previous treatment of their brother, of course, but they would be looking for him at the Tower.

"Blasted ninja," Bishop growled. All of them, utterly useless. The turtles had been causing problems for him from the beginning, and the Foot weren't shaping up to be any better.

There was still a chance, of course. If Saki could safely get a hold of Donatello again, Bishop would still have the opportunity to negotiate something with him. Bishop really wished he could be out there, trying to catch the turtle on his own, but he was hesitant to leave his prized device unguarded. If Saki failed tonight, of course, he would just have to do it himself.

That was the key. Nothing was lost as long as Donatello was out there, just waiting for Bishop to get him back.

The phone in Bishop's pocket rang shrilly through the stagnant air of the warehouse. Bishop checked the caller ID before flipping it open.

"Saki," he acknowledged, keeping his voice cool and even. "It took you long enough… I've been waiting all day. Did you recapture Donatello?"

The simple, two word answer that Saki gave him brought Bishop's world crashing down around him:

"He's dead."

Heh heh... Silly Shredder. Review?