Note: The character Diablo along with the fanfics he appears in such as 'Falling inside the Black' and 'United By Fate' appear in this chapter!
Also some references to the episodes from TMNT 2003 appear here including 'Nobody's Fool' and 'The Unconvincing Turtle Titan'.
Chapter Twenty-Six
News from up Top
A few hours later, Percy, Jack, Michelangelo, and Kate were in the games room playing Mario Kart.
Michelangelo's arm had almost fully healed thanks to Devina's magic and James and Dahlia's treatments, but he had been told he needed to rest his arm for a while before he could get back into training with it.
The orange masked turtle was pleased to be able to use his arm again, as it had been difficult to use one hand to do everyday tasks, but Kate had been there for him to help.
Despite the worries as Monalisa, Kemeko and Donatello were still in the medical Bay recovering, Raphael's muteness and Pandora's more aggressive nature, Michelangelo tried to regain normality again as he knew feeling sorry for himself wouldn't help him recover, so he decided to throw himself back into a routine and joining the Mutopians in their activities such as playing video games, reading comics, or watching TV was a good start.
Right now, he was playing Yoshi, Kate was Peach, Jack was Lugi, and Percy was Mario.
"Oh yeah! I'm gonna win!" Percy cheered.
"Out the way Vermin!" Kate shouted as she whizzed past his character.
"Right behind you Katie!" Michelangelo called out.
"Wait for me!" Jack barked.
All four Mutopians cheered as they raced each other, yet as Percy leaned forward, the remote control for the television fell off the arm of the sofa he was sitting on and as it clattered to the floor, the channel changed from the game to a news channel!
"PERCY!" everyone shouted in annoyance at the Grasshopper.
"You clumsy idiot!" Kate roared angrily.
"The game!" Michelangelo wailed in despair.
Jack growled and reached for the remote, yet as he did, he looked at the Televison and saw it was speaking about the local news.
"Hey! Quiet you three!" he shouted.
"What?" the other three cried in unison but Jack shushed them and pointed to the television where a news reader was speaking.
"Good evening, Chicago, top news tonight, in the Eastern part of the city earlier this evening, a gunman took a small supermarket hostage, reasons so far are unclear, but before any crime was committed or harm done to any innocents, the perpetrator was attacked by what witnesses claimed to have been a heavily clothed vigilante."
"Vigilante!?" the four mutants cried as they looked at each other.
"But how?" Jack questioned "We haven't even been out yet and according to the report, it was earlier in the evening."
"And we were still sleeping!" Kate confirmed.
Michelangelo stared at the screen blinking.
"No way!" he said, "Do you think there's another vigilante or maybe a superhero in the city?"
He was thinking back on many encounters he had had with superheroes including Nobody and the Silver Sentry.
Percy cocked an eyebrow but before he could speak, Heather appeared in the doorway.
"Guys!" she said, "Hugh's here!"
"He is!?" Jack cried jumping up from the sofa.
Heather nodded.
"He's in the Mess Hall with Big T! The boss asked me to find all of you! He's got news!"
Jack nodded then turned to Percy, Kate, and Michelangelo.
"Come on guys!" he said running out of the games room, "We better get to the Mess Hall, and I got a pretty good hunch what Hugh wants to talk about!"
"Likewise!" Kate said standing up "Come on!" she ran out of the games room, Percy, and Michelangelo not far behind her.
When they arrived in the Mess Hall, the turtle, viper, wolf, and grasshopper saw Tyroth sitting at a table with Hugh along with Sephie, Raphael, Leonardo, Sarah, Amber, Jake, and Sharky.
"Ah there you are!" Tyroth said "Please have a seat!"
At once the mutants sat down and faced Hugh.
"Sorry boss!" Jack said, "Hope we haven't kept you waiting!"
"Not at all!" Hugh said as he took a sip off coffee, "Only arrived ten minutes ago!"
"So, what's up?" Michelangelo asked.
As he looked at the group, he felt it was strange that Donatello and Monalisa weren't with them, but they were still recovering from the injuries, and once they were given the information from Hugh, he, Raphael, and Leonardo would go and inform their brother and sister.
Hugh chewed his lip.
"Well, I don't know if you heard, as the media were quick to report the incident, but we had to sort out a hostage crisis in a small supermarket in the Eastern part of the city!"
"Hostage!?"" everyone except Kate, Michelangelo, Jack, Percy, and Raphael (Who merely looked alarmed) bellowed.
Hugh nodded.
"Some young man held up a supermarket, demanding money, or something, we're not sure of the motive yet as he's being interviewed right now along with the hostages and witnesses." The police officer reported "But the thing is, the swat teams and crisis s were there trying to handle the situation, when the gun man was attacked from within."
"You mean one of the witnesses was able to subdue him?" Tyroth asked.
"That's the thing." Hugh said, "It wasn't one of the witnesses, they said someone snuck in around the back and crept over to the thug then slashed his tendon!"
Upon hearing that, everyone grimaced.
"Yeesh!"
"Ouch!"
"Uggghh! That makes my ankles tingle!"
Sarah looked especially sick.
Tyroth swallowed hard then narrowed his eyes and looked at the group around him.
"Did you guys go topside early today?" he asked.
"No!" everyone said almost in unison and Raphael just shook his head.
Hugh looked over at Raphael and he sighed sadly seeing the turtle's scars on his throat as well as his inability to speak.
Tyroth looked back at Hugh.
"Did you see anything?"
Hugh shook his head.
"No." he replied, "I was standing outside next to the negotiator, and we saw the hostages run outside, they informed us what happened, and we stormed the place only to find the gun man lying on the ground with his leg bleeding."
Tyroth frowned.
"So, you didn't see who did it?" he asked.
"No." Hugh said, "I'm hoping we'll get answers after the interviews."
Tyroth nodded and rubbed his chin looking at the other Knights and the three ninja turtles.
"Looks like we got another vigilante in the city." He murmured.
Jack frowned.
"Boss." He said, "You don't suppose, he's back, do you?"
"Who?" the Dragon asked cocking his head on one side.
"Him!" Jack said, "You know!"
The Knights looked slightly confused but then they realised what the wolf was talking about.
"Oh no!"
"Not him!"
"The traitor!"
"Diablo!"
Michelangelo yelped, Raphael glared, and Leonardo looked worried as he thought of Monalisa.
Jake meanwhile went pale.
"No, brother…you're not back, are you? You got to be dumb to do so!"
Amber saw Jake's stricken look and placed a hand on his for comfort.
Tyroth looked at his worried friends and narrowed his eyes.
"Alright! Calm down all of you!" he turned to Hugh, concern in his eyes.
"Hugh, will you inform us right away if there's any inkling that the Raven might have returned?"
Hugh nodded.
"I shall." He said, "But if it makes you feel less worried, according to the witnesses, the attacker looked human, so I doubt it was the Raven, but again, it might have been an accomplice, or a new Disciple, but let's not jump to conclusions, this might have been someone working alone!"
"I hope so." Tyroth murmured "Or so help that traitor!"
He looked back at his human friend.
"Thank you, my friend, for informing us."
Hugh bowed his head.
"I promise you Tyroth, anything else I learn, I'll inform you right away!"
"I appreciate it, and for the time being you're welcome to stay here until you wish to return home." He turned to Jake.
"Jake, will you escort Hugh back topside when he's ready?"
"For sure Big T!" Jake replied with a wink.
Leaving Hugh, Jake in the Mess Hall, Tyroth walked outside with Sephie.
Sephie looked up at her husband.
"Honey?"
Tyroth looked at his gecko wife.
"Diablo." He said, "For a long time I thought we were rid of him, after our last encounter, he wouldn't dream of returning to the Windy city."
"Like we all believe, he'd be a fool to return." Sephie said "But as Hugh said, it may not be him or one of his Disciples, it might be someone else!"
Tyroth frowned.
"Well, whatever happened up there, we shouldn't take any chances."
"So, what do we suppose we do?" Sephie asked "Should we tell Mona?'
"No!" Tyroth said quickly "She's still recovering, and we should not put any stress on her, not until she is strong enough."
Sephie sighed.
"That is wise hon." She said then looked back at the mess hall seeing Hugh finishing his drink and speaking with Jake.
"Tell me Hugh, do you think he's back? Is my brother back?"
Jake looked Hugh dead in the eyes, desperate to know.
When he was made aware that some vigilante was active topside, and what had happened, he had this awful feeling that his traitor brother had returned and he was scared, especially if it meant the risk of Mutopia's exposure to the humans.
"To be honest son," Hugh replied, "I have no idea, but if I am aware of your brother's actions, he would have taken the gun-man prisoner and tortured him then dropped him off at our offices like he did the first time he went rogue."
"It's been nearly ten years since Diablo fled Mutopia," Jake said, "And we have been aware of his ways, actions and other things, but then again, who knows if he's changes tactics or recruited others, human or mutant, we have no idea!"
Jake thought of Monalisa in the medical bay.
"I won't speak to Mona of this, not until we're sure!"
"Wise choice kid!" Hugh said "How is she? Along with your brother-in-law and niece?"
Jake sighed and ran his hands over his hair in stress.
"They're recovering well, both physically and mentally," he reported "But it was so close, I almost thought I was going to lose my sister again."
He could feel the memories of when he first learnt the loss of his older sister, his world was turned upside down in more ways than one and despite reuniting with Monalisa, that day still ate at him.
"I'm glad to hear they're both doing fine." Hugh said, "They were lucky to say the least, and let me know once they're fully recovered, won't you?"
Jake agreed.
"I shall!" he said.
"When you're ready." He added, "I'll take you back to the surface."
"Thanks kid!" Hugh smiled then he looked serious "And I promise, any inkling Diablo has returned, I'll let you know straight away, and if it isn't one of his Disciples, I'll investigate to find out who it is, if there's a hint, I'll be on it! Mark my words!"
So news has come back to Mutopia about what happened topside with the Supermarket hold up, and there are suspicions Diablo is back, but they couldn't be more wrong!