Chapter 11: Oh The Dangers
After finally being able to leave the accident that occured, they had finally entered Los Angeles. Donnie was practically back to sleep, Mikey and Casey were still arguing over games, Raph decided to take a nap, April and Kana decided to go back to sleep.
It took a good hour to leave Los Angeles due to traffic and get to the road towards Mexico City. Leo let out a small yawn of boredom as he lowered his head a bit and drove, April shot upward with a very unamused tired look on her face.
"Can't sleep?" Leo questioned not even looking at her, April only growled lowly and turned looking at Casey and Mikey who were still growling and arguing with each other decently loud. "How about you two shut up for a bit, or take your arguing to a lower volume or turn the games off!" April growled at the two as she glared at them angrily.
Mikey and Casey stopped and looked at April with innocent looks on their faces showing her they were sorry and nodded, April only sighed and turned back over on the ground to try and go back to sleep finally.
Many hours have passed and everyone pretty much fell asleep except Leo who was driving the gang the entire way to Mexico City, once it became dark, everyone woke up at different times. Leo pulled into an empty rest stop that hardly anyone went to, especially at night, so he was told by Kana. It was a good opportunity for the turtles to finally get out and stretch and move around without being cramped inside the Shellcharger.
Mikey and Casey rushed over to the restrooms as they really had to go, Kana and April exited and stretched beside one another, "Feels good to have another girl around." April stated as she glanced at Kana who stretched down to touch her toes. Kana stood and stretched her arms back and looked at April, "Ya'know, same here. I've always avoided people and it's really just been me and my grandmother for multiple years, it feels nice to meet new people you can trust, even if some are mutants." Kana chuckled lightly at the remark she made at the end, but she was also being honest.
Kana let out a large groan, "God it's been ages since I've traveled this long…" She remarked. April only gave her a smile as she stood and peered around, Raph exited the Shellcharger and backed up facing it to see the decorating from earlier as he stood next to the girls with a smirk on his face as Donnie came out next.
Donnie waggled his tired self out of the vehicle and stopped midway to stretch and let out a large yawn, he noticed April, Kana and Raph smirking at him but also moving the eyes behind him which was the Shellcharger.
Leo was about to exit but stopped midway at the door of the Shellcharger noticing what was going on, he couldn't help but to put a small smirk on his face as well as Donnie practically turned around realizing why they all were acting strange.
Donnie's jaw dropped when he saw the Shellcharger, "WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY BABY!?" he screamed in horror as his gaze went directly to Leo and became an angry one. "Leooo…. This was your idea! Wasn't it!" Donnie growled.
Leo chuckled as he walked down and towards Donnie, he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Yes, yes it was. It was the only way to get out of San Jose without being pursued by the Arcane's." Donnie sighed and understood, he growled lowly and mumbled curse words as he approached the Shellcharger and started removing decorations angrily.
April and Kana were laughing and Raph pretty much went towards a tree and started punching it as he was needing something to punch for awhile now, Leo practically approached April and Kana with a smirk on his face and the two instantly stopped laughing knowing something was up, "How about you two help him, considering you made the group of citizens decorate it." Leo stated with a small glare at the two, April sighed and raised her hands slightly innocently and walked past him to go help Donnie, Kana chuckled a bit as she followed behind April.
Leo pretty much also joined in to help remove the decorations on the Shellcharger, Mikey and Casey came exiting the restrooms and played rock, paper, scissors to see who would pick out the next choice of snacks. Raph got a small splinter and let out a small yelp before growling and pulling it out and walked back over to the vehicle.
After decorations were cleared and everyone had their breaks, it was time to get back onto the road as they were pretty much really close to Mexico City now.
"So umm, you need a passport card in order to enter Mexico, and I didn't bring mine because of the sudden incident…" Kana began as Leo entered the driver seat and turned to look at her raising an eye. "What!?" Raph yelled angrily at her, "So we can't even get into Mexico!?" he added. Kana glared at him, "I never said that, maybe if you let me finish before coming to a conclusion, your questions would be answered!" Kana growled at Raph in return since he seemed to only understand anger and aggression.
Kana and Raph pretty much growled angrily at each other and left the others in confusion and unamusement. Leo rolled his eyes, "So you're saying you know a way in even without a passport?" he questioned as he looked at Kana.
Kana nodded, "It's a shorter way too, but it's also very dangerous. We would have to go through a dangerous town to get into Mexico City part, but that really shouldn't be a problem in this vehicle." April noticed a light flicker out the front window of the driver seat, as if a reflection of something from the moonlight, April widened her eyes and quickly took action.
"Leo!" April shouted as she jolted at him, Leo looked at her in surprised confusement as she quickly jumped on him and pulled him off the driver seat and both tumbled to the floor. Everyone stood up instantly in surprise confusement as well but knew instantly why she did what she did when they all heard a loud crack.
Leo turned over and noticed cracks in the window, a bullet had pierced through the window and got stuck in the seat where Leo was sitting before April saved his ass, otherwise he would've been shot. Raph turned his look from the bullet to Donnie, "I thought you said the window was bullet proof and unbreakable!" He shouted angrily as he was sitting in the passenger seat.
Donnie shrugged slightly, "It is… can you quickly grab the bullet." he asked as he glanced at the bullet and back at Raph. Raph growled lowly and peered at the bullet stuck in the seat, he quickly jumped over and grabbed it, yanking it out very quickly and moving back, but there was no second shot thankfully.
Raph tossed the bullet to Donnie who caught it and raised it, turning it around, Leo sat up and helped April up as well, "Thanks." Leo stated as he smiled at her next to him, April put a hand on his shoulder and returned the smile with one as well, "Seems I finally returned that save."
"It's a piercing round…" Donnie stated as he still gazed and experimented the bullet, everyone kept their distance from the window. "And?" Raph questioned, "A piercing round can literally pierce through anything, even the toughest of bullet proof glass, but a bullet like this is extremely hard to come by, only the-" Donnie was cutoff, " Government has such possessions, or military special forces." Kana finished as she interrupted, Kana covered her mouth in sudden realization that she had interrupted him. "Sorry…" She stated, Donnie and everyone else only looked at her, "No no, you're actually correct. But my question is, who the hell fired this and almost killed Leo, let alone how did they know Leo was even in the seat, that window is pitch black on the outside….unless…" Donnie began.
Everyone raised an eye at Donnie as if telling him to continue already, "Sniper." Kana added, Donnie nodded. "He probably had a thermal lens, snipers can fire a bullet extremely powerfully too, but what's someone doing all the way out here trying to snipe us?" Donnie questioned as he tossed the bullet to Kana.
Kana caught it close to her chest and experimented it, and came to a sudden realization as she got a closer look at the bullet. "Agent John." She said, everyone only looked at her confusingly, "He's a undercover agent that works for my government, and my personal guard when I am working. My government probably found out about the incident at my place and sent John to search for me, he probably thinks you guys kidnapped me." Kana explained as she quickly turned to April who was still sitting on the floor next to Leo.
"Can I borrow your phone so I can call him off?" Kana asked, April nodded as she reached for her cell phone in her pocket and handed it to her. Kana dialed the number for her government but he wouldn't answer considering the number was unknown, Kana growled angrily and tried John himself, April put her hand on Leo's shoulder again and shook him a bit to get his attention as she pointed at the window, Leo glanced at where she was pointing, and she was showing him the light flickering high up in mountain hillside which was the sniper.
Leo nodded and he crouched his way to the switches staying below the window and out of view, "We have thermals too buddy." Leo mumbled as he flipped two switches, he made one of the monitors zoom in on the area that April showed him and switched the camera mode to thermal, and she was right. The thermal showed a man crouched down with a sniper gun in hand pointed directly at the vehicle's window and ready to fire again.
Kana growled angrily, "They don't answer unknown numbers and they always have text messages blocked from unknown numbers, I don't have any other way to contact them since I don't have my phone." Kana handed April her phone back with a sad sigh, "So we're stuck like this until he leaves!?" Raph growled, "Not on my watch." Leo stated, everyone looked at him as he flipped another switch, the mounted gun on top of the vehicle folded out and up and turned, aiming at the man on the hillside. "Will our bullets reach him?" Leo asked as he glanced at Donnie.
Donnie smirked, "They're Seven MM Mag Rifle rounds loaded into that machine gun, they can travel five miles, so yes, they will reach." "Please don't kill him…" Kana asked worriedly. Leo marked coordinates for the gun, "We don't kill unless necessary, he's here for you and to get you back, we aren't going to kill him, just gonna fire warning shots to make him move so we can move." Leo stated as he confirmed coordinates.
April reassured Kana that Leo wasn't lying and pointed at his injured arm to mark what she was getting at based on what he said and what April told her about his save beforehand, Kana smiled at April understanding. The mounted machine gun on top turned towards its marked coordinates and fired three rounds, Leo watched the thermal monitor as the bullets had hit the ground literally right next to the agent.
Leo growled lowly, "What is it?" April questioned, "He ain't flinching. He knows they were warning shots and he most likely knows we aren't wanting to kill him." Leo stated as he glanced at Kana. "He lowered the sniper and is doing hand signs I don't even understand." He added. Kana widened her eyes, "Hand signs! Duh!" Kana came to realization as she quickly crouched her way beside Leo to see the monitor. "It is Agent John! We have our own special hand signs to communicate without needing to talk in case of distance during combat or something. He's saying…" Kana began as she squinted her eyes reading the signs he was doing. "Warning shots? You with Kana?" Kana read as she followed the signs.
Kana raised her hands in front of the window and started doing hand signs as well when the agent lifted the sniper up and aimed it at the window again to see if anything through the thermal lens. Leo noticed the agent lower the sniper again when Kana finished, he glanced at her confusingly. "I told him that you guys are with me and helped me, I also told him that I am willingly going with you to Mexico in search of an item and that I was ok." Kana stated, "And umm… He's coming on down over here…" she added.
Leo gave a surprised look as he noticed the agent was gone from the spot, Raph had already peered behind Leo to look at the monitor. "Dude, is that an attack helicopter!?" Raph shouted as he shoved Leo aside and put his face in front of the monitor. Kana chuckled as she moved away, "Yes, he has a personal attack helicopter to get around." Kana motioned for one of them to open the side door, Leo shoved Raph off and away and flipped a switch up top and opened the side door.
Kana glanced at April and Casey, "You two should come with me, you four stay here. I don't want him telling the government about four turtle mutants." Kana stated as April and Casey followed her out.
The helicopter flew on over, thankfully the rest stop area was a large one, so there was plenty of space for the chopper to land. The helicopter landed not too far from the vehicle and powered down slowly, John exited the chopper and walked around, gun in hand and pointed it at the three who approached slowly. Kana instantly stopped and spread her hands to her sides protecting and covering April and Casey, "Woah Woah, John! It's me, it's ok, I promise!" Kana shouted over the loud helicopter that took it's time to power down.
John lowered the gun and raised his head and squinted looking at Kana as it was hard to see in the dark, "It really is you. And you truly willingly went along with a bunch of kids?" John questioned as he put the gun away and walked up to them. "These kids helped and saved me, and also know stuff that I have been researching and looking for, for a long time now, so I decided to go with them to research on it and to get away from the Arcane's." Kana explained to him.
John only raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Casey and April who both waved innocently. He moved his glance back to Kana, she wasn't showing any signs of being kidnapped or forced to talk the way she was, she really was willingly going with a bunch of so called kids. John sighed, "You're going to Mexico?" he questioned, Kana nodded as she quickly turned to April and held her hand out glancing at her pocket for her phone, April only gave a confused look the entire time as she reached for her phone and handed it over to Kana.
Kana glared at John as she handed him the phone, "Add this number please." John glanced at Kana and then the phone, he sighed and grabbed it and pulled his phone out and added the number as told. April and Casey pretty much went back to the Shellcharger, the turtles looked at the two of them confusingly and also in a way wanting answers, April gave them a shrug as she was just as confused.
Kana came back after a few minutes from chatting with John, they all heard the chopper turn on outside and knew he was leaving. Leo closed the doors when Kana entered, "Ok so, he is leaving and won't pursue us or shoot at us anymore. So we're good to go." Kana stated excitedly.
"Better not have some second agent waiting to snipe my head off…" Leo stated as he went back into the driver seat and powered on the Shellcharger quickly and drove out of the rest area.
"You two have a thing for each other, don't you?" April asked Kana with a smirk on her face as the two were sitting on the floor next to one another again. Kana glanced at April and let out a small chuckle but also nodded, "I won't lie, we do. He's been my personal guard for a few years now and we've gotten really close." Kana let out a small sigh as she stood up and pulled out a small map and walked up to Leo, she handed him the map and directed him where to go in order to get into Mexico without a passport before she went back and sat next to April on the floor.
After a few more hours, they had reached Mexico's border. Leo took a turn onto a dirt road to get around the passport check in area, Casey let out a large sneeze that spook everyone as it was pretty much silent for a while. "Sorry… new places give me allergies." Casey remarked giving another sneeze, Mikey laughed at him as the two began to fight.
Leo pulled up and slowed down when they approached the dangerous town, "This place is full of bandits, muggers, criminals, you name it. People avoid crossing through here at all times unless they can manage getting through with something protective, like this vehicle. These people will work together to take advantage of vehicles coming through, they will shoot at it, pound at it or even attempt to kill the driver if not protected." Kana explained as Leo slowly pulled into the town, they were already getting devastatingly angry and villainess looks directed at them.
All the people practically avoided the Shellcharger and only gave angry glares as they drove through, Leo came a sudden stop as he growled lowly. Raph became overwhelmingly angry with all the sudden stops and being slowed down, he quickly stood up to see why Leo had stopped. He noticed a cloaked hooded person standing directly in the middle of the road looking a different direction, Raph growled and grabbed Leo by the scarf and arm and threw him out of the driver seat and into the passenger, Raph took over the wheel and lowered the front ram quickly. Leo clutched his teeth and eyes from the sudden throw and impact, he glared at Raph and attempted to grab him off the wheel but Raph pretty much kicked Leo back down into the passenger seat.
"Raph! Do not do what I know you're going to do!" Leo growled angrily as Raph rubbed on the engine loudly and threatened the person that if they didn't move he would charge them. "Better move pal!" Raph growled, "Raph, don't harm innocents!" Donnie shouted at him worriedly. Raph ignored them as he noticed the person not reacting at all and they only lowered their head from when they were looking up the other direction.
Raph growled loudly and slammed on the gas, Leo was about to get back up but fell back from the sudden gas push, everyone else also fell and slid back. The cloaked person put a hand up towards the vehicle and it confused Raph, but he noticed the hand and it looked very familiar, he attempted to slam on the breaks but couldn't stop and the person literally stopped the Shellcharger with their hand as everyone jolted forward from the sudden stop.
The person moved their gaze and looked at the driver, Raph became instantly frightened when he saw the face. Raph quickly pressed on the gear and backed up from the person and came to a stop, Leo growled loudly and quickly stood up and angrily grabbed Raph by the scarf but softened his grab and stopped midway as he realized how scared Raph looked, Raph pointed at the person.
Leo glanced at the person and instantly noticed why Raph reacted the way he did when he saw the person. Leo's grip on Raph's scarf loosened slowly as he was shocked just as much as Raph was, "Dragor…?" Raph said, everyone became surprised and rushed over to look out the window and monitor. "That can't be Dragor… he doesn't even know where the final piece is located!" Donnie shouted, "Wait… that's not Dragor.." Kana stated as she squinted at the person, everyone turned their gaze at her in confusement.
Kana pointed at the person, "It's another Den Na' Vor. They're different, their skin is a redish orange, not blue. Plus, Dragor is more brutal, he would've flipped us over easily instead of letting us back away." Kana added as the Den Na' Vor moved their look away from them and walked off.
"So we have two to worry about now!?" Raph shouted as he glanced at Kana, Kana shrugged, "I don't know, by the looks of it, they didn't want to fight. They could be here for another reason…" She exclaimed as she tried to think. "Or they could be here helping Dragor!" Raph added angrily.
Leo growled angrily and grabbed Raph by the scarf and threw him back into the passenger seat, " We're not here to start trouble, we're here to find that last piece and get the hell out of here." Leo stated as he sat back down and raised the ram.
"That was uncalled for, Raph." Mikey stated as he glared at him, Raph angrily looked at Mikey and growled loudly, "Want a beat down again!?" He growled. Mikey yelped as he ran back to his spot and Casey followed letting out a sigh.
Leo continued to make his way into Mexico City. April, Kana and Donnie all three sat in a circle on the floor to discuss what just happened, "Do you think they're here for the final piece?" April questioned, "Most likely...otherwise why else would they be here?" Donnie added. Kana nodded, "Yeah...but I don't think they're here to help Dragor.." Donnie and April looked at Kana in confusement.
"What do you mean?" April questioned. Kana shrugged, "They didn't put up a fight, they could've easily flipped us over or threw us. And I saw their expression, it looked confused...and sad…" Both April and Donnie only gave her confused looks still, Kana sighed. "So you're saying they could be against Dragor?" Donnie asked as he tilted his head. "I mean, it's possible." Kana stated.
"There's only way to find out…" Kana began and stood up. April knew what she was getting at instantly, "No.. no way. No. You're more insane than Leo!" April shouted at her angrily. Leo glanced at them in confusement, Kana glared at him, "Pull over." Leo refused as he understood what was going on now, "Did you forget what kind of area we're in!?" April growled, Kana ignored her. "I said, Pull over!" Kana growled angrily at Leo.
Leo sighed and pulled over, he also opened the doors for her. Kana walked out the doors and peered back in, "If I'm not back in an hour, go on without me." She stated as she left. "Kana!" April shouted.
April angrily glared at Leo, "And I thought you were more persistent!" Leo only shrugged, "Why did you let her go!?" She questioned him angrily. "She has her own rights, we don't control her." Leo stated, April growled, "Still, or did you also forget what kind of place we are in, and how dangerous it is?"
Leo only gave April an unamused look, "I didn't forget. She can defend herself, and it was her choice." April sighed as Leo closed the doors, she sat back down next to Donnie who put a hand on her shoulder. "Great… more waiting and stops.." Raph growled lowly to himself.