The Perfect Son

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent or adult transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Five - Meeting

Raphael:

One thing fer sure my brothers and I, really got into these competitions that we held; we enjoyed them so much that we often would do one just for the hell of it. Wouldn't Leo or Splinter be surprised that we were even getting' in extra practices? Only none of them really, felt much like practices.

It had been almost a month since Leo had disappeared on us, and Splinter had died. I once had believed that Leo was still alive somewhere. But not anymore, even if the Foot had taken him alive he would be dead by now.

I tried not to feel guilty - hell, it was Leo's choice to be out lookin fer me. No one had asked him to, and if he had asked me I woulda told him to mind his own damn business. In spite of that though, I felt somehow to blame.

If he hadn't been out there lookin for me, he'd be at home and Splinter would be alive, things would be as they were before, and sure it might not have been that great but it was better then where things were at now.

If I had only listened to them, as they so often begged me to do, this wouldn't have come to pass. They had predicted for years that my lack of responsibility would be the death of someone, I just hadn't thought that those words would ever come true.

I had watched all of us doing our own things, being bogged down in our own misery, pain and grief. I knew we were losing focus and would drift a part. I didn't want to lose them. I tried to think of what Splinter or Leo might do, while knowing that I could never be them and wouldn't be able to pull off what they could.

I should have been the one to die. It should have been me. Not Leo, or Splinter. Hell, I practically asked to be killed the way I acted sometimes, getting myself in way over my head, stirring things up to make thins interesting. I swore I Must have had some sort of kamikaze streak in me somewhere, and it never bothered me - not all the times I had put myself or my family in danger.

At least not until now.

I swore I heard Leo's and Splinter's voice talking to me, they couldn't give up lecturing me, and it was harder to ignore now then they ever were. So, for once I tried to do things their way, and work at pulling what little was left of our family together.

In spite of what I done to help Don and Mike, I still heard their damned voices still not giving me a moment's peace. Finally, they had me where they wanted me, I had to listen to them, and they wouldn't stop, cause Leo and Splinter were never ones to let me off easy.

Splinter, Leo I'm sorry; so sorry and if I could do it over, do things differently I would. I think I'm only startin' to understand all those lectures you were always tryin' to give me. Too bad that I had to be my ole' stubborn thick shelled self, and wait for it to be too late.

I hated myself!

Michaelangelo:

I heard some noise from the dojo and looked in to see Raph kicking and punching at the patched bag that hung from a sturdy over head pipe. The bag moved with each hit, and Raph he was in the zone.

He spent far more time in here then he ever had before. I found that fact rather amusing and ironic, all those times when others wanted him to practice more and he'd grouch, or rebel against it. Now, the only one driving him was himself, and I had to wonder what it was he was driving to or from?

Funny, Raph and I had always been the troublemakers of the group, why I didn't think of Raph did. When we got caught Raph would always urge me to talk things out with Splinter because I could usually get him to go easy on us. Where if, Raph were to talk we'd end up in far more trouble.

Leo and Don, even when we were young, had been far more quiet serious types, fairly obedient - oh, that's not to say they didn't get into their share of things -but they were far less likely to cause mischief as Raph and I were.

Even in those early days, I seemed more capable of handling my brother's wild mood swings then the rest of the family. Raph rarely, blew up at me, and when he did he would give me fair warning -not that I always heeded the warnings because sometimes, I just had to push a little.

I was often the one who would calm him down after Raph had blown up at Leo. True, some of that might have had a little to do when we were kids and always getting into trouble, and maybe it didn't.

Funny, I could still hear a young Raph saying "You talk to 'im Mikey, he won't be mad at you. Not like wit me."

I had to smile at that memory, even as a little kid Raph seemed to know that Splinter had it out for him, and Raph was no good at playing innocent- it just wasn't his nature he was far too offensive and aggressive for all of that.

I however, was very good at innocent and when combined with the puppy dog look, well it would take nerves harder then what most people had to turn me down. The puppy dog look was the exact same look you might get from a dog beggin for a scrap of food. The eyes rolled up pleading and slightly watery, the forlorn beseeching expression -minus the drool.

Raph the last few weeks, hadn't been quite so angry. I had asked him about that once and he had replied, with a rather indifferent shrug "there's no one here to get under my shell and irritate me."

It might have sounded hard, callous coming from someone other then him, or if you didn't know Raph. But I could detect the bitter hurting tone to his words, and it was easy to tell it wasn't just one of his usual flippant remarks.

Course, I had learned long ago that Raph wasn't the easiest person to figure out. Sure, he was wild, crazy, hot headed, a jerk at times and a true nut case if ever there was one. But there was something else about him that I'd see once in a while, in one of his unguarded moments, that told me Raph was really none of those things. Those things was just a wall or a shell he used to protect himself.

The Raph I had often seen in those moments seemed to be the one coming out more and more. He finally stopped his work out, sweat dripping from his face. He strode over and picked up a water bottle downing about half of it in a few swallows before starting to stretch.

Raph grinned at me, "Hey, Mike want to come topside with me, do a patrol jump some rooftops?"

I hadn't done any of those since…well, since you know. The fact that he had asked me instead of going off on his own as was his nature, it was enough for me to decide to join him.

"Sure Raph," I agreed, "I'll go get suited up."

Patrolling the city was one of Raph's favourite past times, his time to reflect and do his thing. It was like don when he was busy creating some gadget or working on some difficult computer program, or myself when I was cooking or lost in the zone getting the perfect game score.

However, he had asked me, and that meant he wanted some company tonight and I was more than willing to join him in whatever adventure awaited us top side. "I'll let Don know too." I told him quickly as I disappeared to my bedroom.

"You got time Mike, I want to shower." I heard him call after me.

XXX

We had spent a few hours playing tag, amongst the rooftops and doing a little light hearted sparring here or there while keeping a close eye out for any Foot Soldiers or trouble, but it was a quiet night thus far.

We finally decided to take a short break, and relax for a few minutes in the shadows of one roof top. "Raph?"

"Hmmm," he mumbled under his breath kind of distracted.

"Raph do you miss Splinter and Leo, sometimes?" I wondered.

"Sure Mike, why wouldn't I?"

"But do you blame yourself for what happened to them?" I pressed.

He looked up at me, his eyes locking with mine briefly before he turned away. He didn't have to answer that look, had said it all for him. He had seemed to shirk responsibility, and hate all it stood for…until now.

He dropped his head and raised his hands to run them over his face and head, heaving a large sigh.

"Raph you aren't to blame," I assured him, "Splinter was old. He was telling us for years that he was going to die, and even don said a normal rat's life span is nothing compared to most turtles. It wasn't totally unexpected, and for a rat he lived one hell of a long life." I pointed out.

"And what about Leo Mike?" he practically, hissed those words at me.

I shrugged, Leo could have lived much longer. "I don't know Raph, maybe it was just Leo's time" I answered falteringly.

"Bull Shit!" Raph snarled at me.

Oh, gods! He was hurting so much and there was no way he'd be giving up the quilt he had placed upon himself. I sighed and dropped the conversation, while I silently considered things.

"Raph, listen!" I thought I had heard something from one of the nearby alleys, something that didn't sound right.

Raph was all ready on his feet and looking down over the edge. I got up and followed after him. Looking down into the alley below I could see only one bit of light that cast a bit of a dim glow near the dumpster.

Four dark silhouettes that I could easily tell, were from a street gang known as the Black Adders, they had circled around a young woman whose back was now up against the dumpster, as the Adders closed in around the light and the lady.

I grimaced darkly, the Adders were known to pack heat on occasion, not to mention other weapons. Whatever they wanted with her would be anything but pleasant for her.

Raph was all ready heading down the fire escape, and leaping for the ground with me very close behind him. We kept close to the shadows, not saying a word and moving as fast as our training permitted we were going take those low life snakes by surprise.

Hopefully, we could finish them before they reached for their weapons, we really didn't want to get hit with a bullet, trust me bullets are very hard to remove compared to fixing up other injuries.

One Adder reached out to grab hold of the lady, she whirled and kicked him real hard right in the privates. She twisted her arm breaking his hand hold on her, while her other hand closed in a tight fist swung about to hit him in the face.

'Oh ho! She's a fighter," I mused to myself. In some way I liked that she was fighting, but in another I knew if she lost it could get worse for her if we weren't here to assist her in the efforts to rid herself of the scum.

"Get away from me you fucking bastards!" She yelled at them.

The Adders didn't seem to appreciate the fact that she had spunk and dared to fight them. They were hoping for some fun without any trouble for it. But by that point Raph and I were in position to make our move, and make it we did.

Raph took two of them out and down fast, picking the guy who had his jewels kicked and the one closest to him. He was in no mood to tarry, he just hit them hard and fast.

One of my guys whipped out a knife which I knocked from his hands using my chucks, and then I preceded to make it a little more difficult and a lot more painful to use his arms as I managed to break both of them.

The other guy was also reaching for a weapon, but as I was finishing off my first fellow I didn't have much time to look.

"No guns!" I heard Raph's angry growl, he tossed something and I heard the gun go off, the bullet whizzing past me barely nicking my arm, but it did go into the Adder I had been working on.

Man, that was a little too close for comfort.

Raph grabbed the gun packing fool, hauled him into the shadows and I heard the unmistakable noise of someone getting the stuffing beaten out of him.

So the tally was three, unconscious and one dead. As the age old saying goes though the only good snake is a dead one.

Raph was all ready heading back to the fire escape, not even looking back. I turned to look back at the woman who we had assisted.

She was standing under the light, her chest heaving, and her body shaking slightly under the coat she wore, as she strained to look into the shadows. Probably, not too sure if it was safe to move yet or not.

"We aren't going hurt you. We only wanted to help," I soothed using the friendliest voice I could, "You're a pretty good fighter. They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No, I'm all right. They didn't get much of a chance. But the fellow, who grabbed my arm knocked my keys out of my hand. I don't know where they went to," she replied.

"Oh boy, can't get home without those huh?" I cast my eyes about the darkened alley. I was hoping the keys hadn't gone up flying into the dumpster, or had been kicked under it, in either of those situations they were most likely gone for good.

"Getting home isn't bad. Getting to work in the morning will be more difficult," She complained.

I could tell she was trying to figure out where I was. But I was making sure to stay well hidden, because I didn't want Raph deciding I need extra practices, or devising some cruel way of teaching me to avoid being seen.

Suddenly, I thought I saw them I told her where I thought I'd seen them, as it was a little too close to the light for my comfort. But she wasn't too sure where I was directing her, either not good at taking directions, or still shook up. Then again maybe she just didn't want to turn her back on me.

I shook my head a little, fine I'd go grab them, nudge them closer to her while sticking close to the shadows. It would be risky, yes, but I couldn't leave her like this.

I was very careful, extremely so. But even with all my cautious moves she must have caught a slight look at me for I heard a sharp intake of breath and a gasp of surprise.

"You're like him!" She exclaimed.

"Him? Him who?" I wondered momentarily baffled by her words.

That is when Raph zipped past me and grabbed her, pinning her hard against the dumpster. A hard cold sneer on his face.

Geesh! And I here I thought, I was going get extra practice.

TBC