Ch 14 The Search
"Hurry up Donnie!" Raph yelled turning to his purple banded brother who was typing furiously at the computer's keyboard.
"I'm going as fast as I can Raph!" Donnie yelled back.
"Well it's not fast enough." Raph snapped. "Leo's been missing for over a day and who knows what Shredder is doing to him!"
"You don't think I know that?!" Donnie shouted turning to him. His chest rose up and down in anger while the red turtle and he stared each other down.
"ENOUGH!" Both boys turned, startled as Splinter strode into Donnie's lab. "You two fighting like this will not help find your brother." He told them. He looked at Raphael and nodded toward the exit. "Raphael, go assist Michelangelo in making breakfast." He ordered. "Let Donatello work in peace."
Raph growled but did as told, mumbling angrily as he left the lab. Splinter turned to Donnie. "How are you doing my son?"
"Not so good Sensei." Donnie sighed, "I haven't found any info on ships or private air crafts leaving New York over the past two weeks to Japan." Donnie rubbed his tired eyes. "I'm trying to track down all know affiliates of Shredder's but so far I'm coming up empty."
"Perhaps you need a rest." Splinter placed a paw on his son's shoulder. "Give yourself a break and later you can try looking at it from a different perspective."
"But Leo's life depends on us finding him now Sensei." Donnie looked up at him with frighten eyes.
"Then perhaps you should call in some assistance." Splinter smiled down at him. "It is not a shameful thing to ask for help, weather you want it or not."
"Yeah, I suppose your right."
"I am." Splinter told him. "After all, even a ninja could use 'backup' every now and then."
"Yeah, backup." Donnie smiled then his eyes went wide. "Back up! Of course."
Suddenly, Donnie began typing furiously on his keyboard, Splinter watched in amazement as his son's fingers flew across the keyboard and the computer screen lit up with data info that only his son seemed to understand. "HAH, I've got it!" He jumped up and ran out of the lab with his laptop."Thank you Sensei!" He yelled. Master Splinter watched in curiosity and followed his son to the kitchen where the other two turtles were attempting to make something close to edible.
"All this time I've been looking under only Saki's name, when I should have been checking the goons we already know he works with." Donnie was telling them.
"You mean like Fishface, Rahzar..."Mikey counted using his fingers.
"Bebop and Rocksteady." Raph added.
"Stockman and the Purple Dragons, exactly." Donnie placed the computer on the table and pointed to a list of names. "Each of them have other known addresses in other places nearby." Donnie pointed out. "Bradford has a couple places in upstate New York. Xever, Stockman, Zeck and Steranko all have a place not too far from Shredder's lair and we already know where the purple dragons hang so they should still be checked out."
"That's great Donnie." Raph said, a new feeling of hope surged through him. "It looks like each place is only an hour or two from here, let's split into groups and check these places out. I'll call Case, Don you call April and Mike, call the Mutanimals."
"Ah yeah bros." Mikey jumped up from the table with his t-phone, "Time for a turtle hunt." He ran out to make his call with his brother's on his heels to make their own calls. Splinter watched them run out of the kitchen. He stroked his long beard in thought before finally walking over to the dojo.
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An hour later, Mikey with Leatherhead and Pigeon Pete were walking through the sewer to Xever's underground hideout. Mikey remembered the place where he and Casey along with their new friend Jason, aka Mondo Gecko, were forced to race against Xever through a maze with terrifying obstacles. Upon entering the underground lair, it immediately became clear to them that the place had been abandoned long ago. Mikey let out a sad sigh.
"It's alright Michelangelo." Pigeon Pete told him. "Maybe we'll find him in one of the other places."
They then walked through the sewer to Stockman's old apartment, which according to the address was on the third floor. Pigeon Pete flew up to the third story window only to find it was now occupied by a new family. Next, they made their way to Bradford's old dojo, still being used but not as often and after a quick search, not used recently.
They then made their way to the Purple Dragon's hideout where the PDs along with their new leader, Hun, were currently sitting around a table having a poker game. They had just finished a hand when Leatherhead came crashing through their door and barreled into Hun.
"Alright Hun!" Mikey yelled out. "Where's Shredder and the rest of the foot jerks."
Mikey and Pigeon Pete managed to push the Dragon's against the wall while Leatherhead held Hun upside down by his ankles, dangling him over the edge of the top of the stairs leading to the factory down below.
"Ahhh, I don't know!" Hun yelled out, Leatherhead growled in his face. "Shredder ran out a few days ago, we haven't heard from him since!" Hun flailed his arms as Leatherhead shook him wildly. "I swear, I have no idea where Shredder is!" He let out a relief when LH brought him back over the railing of the landing but screamed out when he was tossed aside and hit the wall.
The three mutants walked out of the PD's headquarters and back into the sewers. Mikey took out his t-phone and texted Raph and Donnie. 'NO LUCK' frowny face. He let out a dejected sigh.
"Perhaps one of the others will have better luck Michelangelo." Leatherhead told him.
Mikey nodded and the three began walking toward the lair.
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Raph, along with Slash and Casey, drove the Shellraiser to upstate New York where Bradford had a small modest home and about an hour further away, a small training camp for his martial arts classes. They checked the home first, but from the looks of things, the home in the past was rarely used and as of recently, it did not look like it had been used in a very long time.
"Probably no one's been here since Bradford was mutated." Raph mused.
"Let's check the training camp." Casey said as he and the others got back into the vehicle and drove further upstate. An hour later, Casey pulled the Shellraiser into an opening in the woods and drove down a dirt road where, further along they came to a run down camp that reminded them of a camp from a slasher movie. For two hours, Casey and the two turtles walked around the grounds in hopes of finding some sign of the foot or Leo, but once again it became quite clear that no one had been there in a very long time.
"Looks like no one's here." Raph said dejectedly when the three of them met back at the Shellraiser. He pulled out his t-phone. "I'll text Donnie and Mikey."
Slash put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll find him Raphael." He told him. "We'll find him."
Raph nodded and took the drivers seat. His eyes cast downward as thought's of his brother came running into his mind. "Where are you Leo." He wondered to himself. "Where are they hiding you."
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Donnie, along with April and Dr. Rockwell made their way in the party wagon to another part of New York City. There they came to an inner city neighborhood and a small run down white house, now yellowed with age. According to the list, this was an old home where Zeck had once lived. And from the looks of things, if anyone was living there, it was not because they were allowed to be.
The door was unlocked so they just walked in and began looking around.
"It looks like it's being used by squatters." Rockwell said as they wandered about the small home. After a quick look around they gave up and went back to their vehicle. Donnie climbed into the driver side seat and sighed heavily.
April placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile. "We will find him Donnie." She reassured him.
He smiled and nodded at her then reset his GPS and headed for another address further away from Shredder's lair.
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After his sons had left, Splinter walked into the dojo and, after setting up candles, positioned himself in the lotus position. He took several deep breaths and closed his eyes. He focused his mind on reaching the spiritual plane and, he hoped, his son.
He knew Leonardo was out there and, he knew he was alive. He also knew Shredder was going to do what he could to get Leonardo to accept the darkness within his soul and the evil power of the Tengu. So while his sons and their friends looked at the various places Donatello had printed up, he decided he would search the spiritual plane and try to reach out to him.
As his mind wandered, he began to sense something familiar, something that was frighteningly familiar. He couldn't explain it but he knew he had felt it before, somewhere in the past. He felt his heart beat faster as the sensation built and a strange voice could be heard throughout the plane.
"You will not find him Hamato." The voice was deep and cold. "He belongs to me now."
Splinter forced his mind to look deeper. "Who is this?"
"You know me Hamato. And I will succeed in finally having my revenge on you and your clan after all these years."
Splinter attempted to keep the voice talking and probe further into the strange feeling when a sudden and stabbing shooting pain began to radiate throughout his head. His eyes opened wide and he gasped in shock as he felt the pain blind him with a white light and he fell back onto the floor with a loud yell.
Mikey and his friends had just walked into the lair when they heard Splinter's anguished cry.
"Sensei!" Mikey cried out and ran to the dojo where he and the others found Splinter struggling to get up. His eyes wide and looking around as if to make sure he was actually alone.
"Master Splinter?" Mikey and Leatherhead ran toward Splinter and assisted him in getting back on his feet. "Are you alright Sensei?" Splinter placed a hand on his head and allowed himself to be led to the main room and sat down on the couch. Pigeon Pete quickly flew to the kitchen where he got a glass of water and quickly gave it to Splinter.
Splinter accepted the drink gratefully and slowly sipped it as he calmed his beating heart. "Sensei?" Mikey looked at his father closely. "What happened?"
Splinter looked up at his son and placed a shaking paw on Mike's shoulder. "It is alright Michelangelo." He told him as he calmed himself. "I was attempting to locate your brother through the spiritual plane when something...blocked and attacked me." Splinter's eyes wandered the room as he attempted to figure out why the strange feeling had felt so familiar.
Mikey looked at Splinter, fear in his eyes. "Sensei?" He hesitated but had to ask. "Is Leo alive?"
"Yes Michelangelo." Splinter told him, with a matter-of-fact tone. "He is alive and we must do whatever it takes to find him...quickly!"
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Donnie drove the party wagon to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. After a quick look around and making sure no one other then a security guard was there, Donnie, using an app from his t-phone, disarmed the security and they quickly made their way inside. They began looking around. The warehouse was small, only one story with few rooms. As they searched, they came upon a variety of items.
"These look like items that should be in a museum." April said.
"Some of these items look very old." Rockwell stated as he inspected one of the items laying on a table.
But Donnie was not interested in any of the things the others were looking at. He did a quick search of the rooms but found nothing more then mailing boxes, large and small, that showed addresses coming from the Soviet Union. He went back to the others shaking his head.
"It's clear Leo isn't here and from the texts I'm getting from Raph and Mikey, they haven't located him either." He started toward the door they had come in.
"No luck." Donnie sighed, texting his brothers and the three began the drive back to the lair.
April turned to Donnie. "Maybe there someone we've overlooked." She suggested.
"The Shredder could have several affiliates that we have probably never even heard of." Rockwell said.
"I checked all the ones we do know of." Donnie narrowed his eyes as he thought of the various known names the Shredder hooked up with. He shook his head. "When we get back to the lair, I'll go over the list again."
"After you've had some sleep first." April told him with a sympathetic smile. He smiled back at her and nodded.
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Okay, this chapter was a bit long but I always wondered about Shredder's men outside of the life style the now have. At one time, when they were first human, they would have had to of had their own homes as well as their own lives of some sort. So that's what this chapter was all about. Keep those reviews coming.