Chapter Four: Revelations

Casey propped up his mask so he could speak clearly. "Paige, what the heck?"

"You tell me," she insisted. "One minute, I'm on me way to a pub, the next I'm having to save your sorry bum from turning into roadkill! The next time you have to-Casey?"

She didn't finish her sentence as Casey remembered the situation, climbed out of the net, and rushed out of the alley posthaste. "Thanks, Paige, but can't talk right now!"

"Teenagers," Paige sighed. With a flick of her wrist, the paper net structure collapsed, coating the alley floor in white. Then she held out both arms and the papers once again came to life, hovering towards her and into her coat sleeves like infant birds to the nest. She continued this until the alley was completely free of paper.

She couldn't leave any clues.

Then she turned on her heels and followed suit, retrieving the brown leather trolley bag she had previously set aside as she went.

Meanwhile...

"You monster!" Raph growled, charging at Tigerclaw with full force. His sais were an angry blur in his hands. "Dropping him from a building wasn't enough for you?"

"No," Tigerclaw growled.

This only served to spur the turtle's fury and he lunged at him with renewed vigor. He changed tactics and began fighting with a flurry of kicks. However, the human cat easily countered, grabbing Raphael by the foot and throwing him into the nearest wall. The red-banded turtle slumped to the floor, barely hanging onto his consciousness. Leonardo followed not two seconds later after Razhar managed to slip him a good kick to his head.

Tigerclaw waved a paw at Xever. "Fetch the chains. We will hunt down the rest later. For now, we should bring these two in."

But Razhar seemed hardly sated. "I'm not finished with them," he hissed, stepping forward.

Tigerclaw stopped him with a clawed grip on his shoulder. "Enough, mutt…Bishop-sensei needs them alive, remember?"

Bishop? Raph thought.

"Now," Tigerclaw continued. "Razhar, take the other one and we will head back."

"Stay away from my friends!"

The three mutants turned to find a masked Casey Jones rushing at them and brandishing one hockey stick. Though, instead of putting up a fight, the three villains simply stood aside and let physics take care of the rest. Casey went crashing forward, his face meeting the wall with an "Ooof!" and sliding down next to his friends.

The teenager sat up, rubbing his forehead. "Ouch Town, Population: me."

"Well that rescue went well," Raph scoffed.

Leo sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're in over our heads, guys."

Fishface stepped forward, a large coil of chain in his hands."If you girls are done kissing, we've got business to attend to."

Casey cleared his throat. "Leo?"

Their leader reached into his belt and produced one of Donatello's smoke bombs. "We're leaving!" With practiced ease, he threw it to the ground and by the time the smoke cleared, they were gone.

"NO!" Tigerclaw roared, banging one clawed fist on a wall. "Those cowards!" He then proceeded spending the next two minutes blaming the failed capture on his comrades. The alleyway was noisy with an assortment of curses and swear words in English, Japanese, and Portuguese. When the arguing had finally died down, the three mutants begrudgingly agreed to return to their base.

They never noticed their spectator at the entrance of the alleyway.

Paige was standing with her back against the wall, having watched the entire strange scene unfold. Four index cards were interlaced with the fingers on her right hand, completely at the ready; she was prepared to defend herself and Casey if need be.

But before she could rush in, she was blinded by a white flash and a puff of smoke. When she could open her eyes again, her boy was gone along with the two turtles. She fought the urge to panic, lest she alert the three monsters who appeared to be the enemy. She would see him again, she reminded herself; her boy was too stubborn to let himself get killed, that much she was sure of.

With a heavy sigh, she slipped the index cards back into her pocket and reached for her trolley bag.

What has that boy gotten himself into? she thought as she walked away.

After replacing the manhole cover, Raph joined Casey and Leo on the sewer floor with a sigh of relief.

"How's your head, Leo?" he asked his brother.

"Fine," Leo answered halfheartedly, rubbing the back of his head. "More or less."

Raph draped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Come on, we should get outta here."

They were a good ten paces away when they realized that Casey hadn't moved. The teenager stood looking up at the manhole cover, an expression of pure worry on his face.

"Casey?" asked Leo.

"I'm just worried about Paige," the boy sighed. "I hope she was far enough away when the brawl started."

"I'm sure she's safe," Raph reassured.

After another minute Casey wordlessly moved to join his friends, the look of concern still present on his face. They travelled in silence through the darkness.

"By the way," said Raph as they reached the half-way mark. "Casey, how'd you survive that throw? I thought for sure you were a goner."

Casey nearly stopped in his tracks as he remembered. He couldn't tell them, could he? They'd never believe him. Plus, he recalled a certain promise he made at the age of twelve, the day Paige had to go back to England. It was a child's promise, but it was a promise nonetheless.

He recovered from his stupor just in time to give his friend the most convincing answer he could muster. "…Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I landed in a dumpster." He braced his hands on his lower back and stretched himself backwards. "Not a very comfy one either. I got a splinter the size of Cuba."

"Speaking of Splinter," said Leo. "We should go report this."

"I wasn't speakin' o' Splinter," Casey pointed out. "I said I got a splinter."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Dude, after being with us for all this time, I thought you'd know better than to argue with him."

"Yeah," Casey agreed, "I guess."

"Guys," Leo said. "I'm standing right here."

"We know," they said simultaneously.

The Lair was the quietest it had been in months, despite the fact that most things were still status quo. Donnie was still working the lab, Karai still had the day shift at Murakami's, Casey still had school, Master Splinter still beat them senseless if they acted up, training still went on as scheduled. There was only one disturbance to the family flow: Michelangelo had the flu.

In the past 24 hours, the youngest turtle had done nothing but lay in bed and rest and, on occasion, throw up. The loneliness and quiet of his room was getting to him and he decided to move to the living room couch. He was still sick, but at least he had company. Some time in the morning, Splinter joined his ailing son on the couch, sitting by his head. Quarter past one, Karai returned home from her shift and spent the rest of the day sitting by her baby brother's feet.

Now the turtle lay under a pile of blankets, a contented smile on his face. "Thanks for sitting with me, guys," he said gratefully. "I'm already startin' to feel better."

Splinter placed a cool paw on his son's forehead. "It is not a problem, my son."

"Yeah," said Karai. "You have to have company when you're sick." A smirk appeared on her face. "You never know if you're gonna croak! Haha!" With that, she erupted into a contained yet hysterical laughter…until she realized no one was interested in laughing with her. "Nobody? Ok." Her smile melted and she directed her gaze to the floor.

"Tadaima!" came Leo's voice.

"Okaeri!" Karai returned as the boys crossed the turnstile.

"Welcome home, my sons," Splinter greeted. His brow furrowed in concern as he took in his boys' expressions.

Raphael quietly made his way over to his punching bag and proceeded to take his frustrations out on it. Leo moved to sit beside Splinter, his eyes downcast. Casey sat opposite them and next to Karai, his face grave.

Mikey sat up. "Hey, dudes. D'ya get that miso minestrone I asked for?"

"Sorry, Mikey," said Leo, "but we got kinda sidetracked…by Tigerclaw."

Kari's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "What?"

"Were you hurt?" asked Splinter.

"No, Sensei," Raph answered, giving the punching bag one final hit, "but they almost had us."

"What did they want?" Karai half-demanded.

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "But they did mention someone."

"Where's Donnie?" Raph wondered. "'Cuz I think he might wanna hear what we found out."

"What might I wanna hear?" Donnie strolled in from his laboratory, his welding mask propped up on his face. He was wiping his hands with a grease-stained rag.

"Donnie," Leo began, "what do you know about a Bishop?"

The purple-banded turtle raised an eyebrow. "A bishop? Well, a bishop is a Christian clergyman, ordained by-"

"No, doofus," Raph cut in. "Someone named Bishop. Tigerclaw's been working for him."

Donatello shrugged. "I don't know, but there's probably something about it in the Foot database…Wait, Tigerclaw? Did something happen?"

"We were ambushed on our way to Murakami's," Leo answered. "But we can elaborate later. We gotta find out about this Bishop guy. You still think you can hack into the Foot's system?"

Donatello's shoulders gave a noticeable droop. He shook his head. "No, they've probably hulked up their security by now."

"What about the Cloud?" Karai suggested.

Donnie's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah. Absolutely! I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail." Dropping the rag, he zipped back into his lab.

Raph turned stone-faced. "And he wonders why we make fun of him…Well, I'm getting a soda. Anyone?"

Karai held up two fingers as Raph headed to the kitchen. She looked over at Casey. "So, you talk to your dad yet?" she asked quietly. "It's been four days now, man."

"No," he sighed. "Every time I think about it, I just get angry all over again."

"Welcome to my world," she said, catching the cans of soda Raph tossed to her. "I guess we're both here on borrowed time."

Casey offered an awkward gap-toothed grin. "Aw come on, dude. My dad wasn't nearly as bad as yours was to you."

She could only shrug, a small but sincere smile crossing her face. "Yeah. At least your dad's going out of his way to make you miserable for you instead of for himself." She handed him the extra can of soda. "Don't be so hard on each other."

He accepted the cool beverage with a crooked smile. "Thanks, Karai." He then noticed someone being unusually quiet. "Hangin' in there, Mikey?"

Michelangelo pumped one fist in the air. "Hangin' in there!" he answered.

Not ten minutes later, Donnie emerged from his lab, his laptop cradled in his hands. He made his way to the coffee table and set the laptop down, seating himself on the floor in front of it. "Gather around." He waited patiently as his family crowded around him; Mikey could only turn his head from where he lay on the couch. "Look at this satellite picture, it was taken two days ago. At the docks."

Mikey raised an eyebrow. "Why do bad guys always have to meet at the docks?"

"Shush!" his siblings chided.

Everyone looked closely at the figures in the picture. The photo showed two suited figures shaking hands. One was of medium height and bald-headed, standing on the dock. The other was disembarking from a small sailboat; he was tall and dark-skinned with shortly-cropped dark hair, his eyes obscured by a pair of sunglasses.

"The one with the glasses must be Bishop," Donnie assumed. "And the other is…" He hesitated.

"Oroku Saki," Karai seethed, glaring at the screen. "I'd know that ugly suit anywhere."

"That explains Tigerclaw's connection to Bishop," Donnie added. "But not what he wants with us."

"Hey, he's in cahoots with the Shredder," said Raph. "That's all I need to tell me that this Bishop must be sick in the head and out for blood."

Leo was still unconvinced. "You think this could be the same guy?"

"I don't know," Donnie admitted, his fingers dancing over the keys and creating a symphony of clicks.

"Can you do a little more digging?" Leo asked.

"Wait," Donnie cut in. "Here, I've found something else about Bishop. An old news article from…20 years ago."

"Emphasis on old," Karai added.

Everyone looked closely at the screen. The post showed small cut-out of a newspaper with the words British Library: Leaders Of Medicine as the headline.

"The British Library?" Casey asked. "Who the heck are they?"

"I don't know," Donnie admitted, "but it says here that they were huge back then. That they were the whole driving force behind the British Empire. They had branches all over the world. They owned schools, libraries, a few hospitals. They were a major superpower at the time."

Donnie clicked on a link and a photo appeared on the screen. In the photo were a handful of preppy and posh-looking people sitting on the front steps of the British Museum. There was a caption at the bottom of the photo reading: Medical Division Staff.

Donnie thrust out one green finger at the screen. "That's Bishop. Upper left. It says here that he was the head of the division. And a medical genius. He's an expert on viral diseases and genetics."

Raph crossed his arms over his plastron. "So we got ourselves an evil scientist?"

"Looks that way," Donnie confirmed. "A bonafide Dr. Frankenstein." He furrowed his brow. "There's one problem, though…this article is linked to his obituary…William Bishop died nineteen years ago."

"Died?" Raph echoed. "How's that possible?"

"Your heart stops beating," Karai said flatly.

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?" Donnie asked.

"It's my defense mechanism."

"Now, hold on, guys," Leo cut in. "We don't even know if they guy in the satellite picture is Bishop."

"Are you kidding me?" Raph insisted. "It's all there, Lame-O. This is our guy."

"Then explain the whole "dead" thing, Raph."

Raph threw up his hands in frustration. "Look, we've dealt with mutants, aliens, ghosts-is a living dead guy really so weird to you?"

Donnie raised an eyebrow at the absurdity of it. "Zombies? Really?"

"I mean," Raph clarified, "the guy's a genius. And that means that faking his death shouldn't be so hard for him to do, right?"

Donnie scoffed. "That's…that's actually not a bad idea."

"Wow," said Mikey. "Raph actually used his head."

"Can it, Sicky!" Raph snapped.

"We still can't go in blind, Raph," Leo continued.

"The only one who's blind…"

"…arguing isn't going to solve…"

"…I'm gonna knock your heads together if…"

"…making my head ache…"

"…silence, all…you…"

In the confusion, Casey had stepped forward and taken a closer look at the photo. More specifically, a person in the photo. His friends' words seemed to dissolve in the air, being replaced by a deafening silence.

He felt his heart plummet into his stomach and his mouth go dry. He lost grip of the soda can in his hand and it fell to the floor in a fizzy heap.

In the photo, sitting right beside William Bishop, was Paige.

Translation:

*Tadaima! and Okaeri! - This is a Japanese exchange between housemates or family members. If you are coming home, you say Tadaima, which basically means you're saying "I'm home!" or "'I'm back!". Anyone at home at the time answers "Okaeri!", which is basically them saying "Welcome home!".