Girl Anime Club: The rest of the turtles and even Splinter will meet Wendy and the orphaned kids in the third part of this saga. And, that's Louie we all know and love... for him tricking his brothers to bait the other team's members out for him to take them down one by one.
animegamefanatic: Well, one thing his brothers and sisters and Master Splinter won't appreciate is that Louie has - albeit unintentionally - dragged Angel into the danger, which will be shown in the next, eight and hopefully final chapter of the second part of this saga before I can get to the more action-based third part.
And yes! Dandelion is gonna learn through the hard way that he shouldn't have messed up with Louie.
= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE PART 2 P7. =
In Dandelion's mansion and in his party room, Louie and Angel stared at Dandelion's death squad summoned to kill them with hard glares - showing their fearless defiance - but also with the hidden worry, because unless Louie manages to free his own hands quicker than this with the blade of his Shuriken, they were soon about to be toasted.
"However..." Dandelion said. "I'd rather have not their blood to stain my party room, so this matter shall be dealt with elsewhere but here. Mr. Nosy? Take them down to the basement and finish the job there, if you please."
Mr. Nosy nodded his head in affirmation, before he nodded his head towards the leader of the death squad, who stepped forward towards Angel first along with four members of his death squad with the bag in his hand.
The leader nodded to the guys of the death squad who immediately went to Angel and seized her by her arms.
"Hey! Let go of me!" Angel demanded angrily and instantly tried to resist them, but their grip was too strong and they roughly held her still, as the leader lifted the bag up and over Angel's head.
"Hey! Keep that thing away from me! Don't you dare or I'll... MMPH! MMPH!" Angel shouted until her voice was muffled when the leader put the bag over her head and tied it shut with the rope around her neck.
"Hey! Hands off her!" Louie protested and tried to move towards them to interfere, only to be halted and held back by Marcus who aimed both his shotguns straight at his face.
"You still around, you trigger-happy idiot?!" the turtle in black spat in annoyance.
"Don't make me to blow off your hideous face, freak!" Marcus threatened, pressing the barrels of one shotgun hard against Louie's right cheek and the other one's against his right temple. "It would make a good mask for the future heists." Marcus added sadistically.
"In your worst nightmares... and I'll be that nightmare of yours. That's the promise." Louie said.
By this point, Dandelion was starting to get impatient with this prolonged delay that kept him from resuming his birthday party with the Dandelion family.
"Just get them out of here and be done with them already. I still have my birthday speech yet to be delivered." Dandelion said, dismissively waving his hand towards the door as he himself sat back down to his seat.
Mr. Nosy then walked up to Louie, making Marcus to lower his shotguns and back off, and forcefully turned him away from his boss and towards the door, keeping a firm grip on his shoulders with his large hands.
"Let's go then, Turtle." he said, as he nodded his head again to the leader of the death squad, who began to walk towards them while holding his second bag up and ready to be put on Louie's head.
Louie started to get frantic as his and Angel's time was running out! Since Mr. Nosy was standing behind him, there was a risk that he might look down and see him trying to work hard to free his hands from the bonds with a hidden Shuriken, which could lead him to alarm the Dandelions for this and thus ruin his and Angel's escape plan and sentence them to be executed in the basement of this mansion without any chance to get away.
Louie knew that he needed more time and began to think any possible way to buy more of it... until he quickly came up with something and hastily turned back to Dandelion despite Mr. Nosy's attempts to keep him restrained.
"So this is it, huh?!" Louie said to Dandelion and nearly tore himself free from Mr. Nosy's grasp - though he just barely managed to restrain him - as if in an attempt to charge at Dandelion.
Louie's action earned him pretty much everybody's attentions, including the couple of death squad guys that were leading Angel away from the room, only to halt dead in their tracks and turn their own attentions in the turtle in black.
Angel felt that the guys holding her and leading her away had stopped for some reason, but she couldn't see or hear anything with the bag over her head.
"MMPH! MMPH?! MMPH?!/Hey! What is it?! What's going on?!" Angel mumbled as she turned her head to left and right.
However, Dandelion simply chose to ignore the turtle in black.
"You let your gorillas do the dirty work for you, while you choose to sit here and celebrate your party, even though you don't even know if they're successful in their task of not?"
"Shut your trap, turtle!" Mr. Nosy demanded, shaking the turtle in black violently.
"Yes." Dandelion said simply without even looking up at Louie. "After all, I'm a businessman and I got the business to attend to, while I gladly leave all the dirty and rather bloody work for my men to deal with."
"Well, that shall be your first mistake that could cost you your entire business." Louie retorted. "The moment your eye avoids, I can very easily break free from your men's grasp and come back to bite you."
"I highly doubt that." Dandelion said, disbelieving and still not looking up at Louie. "After all, you got defeated single-handledly by Mr. Nosy before. What makes you think that he won't do that again?"
Louie frowned hard at Dandelion for buying that insolent lie, while Mr. Nosy smiled smugly of that.
"You heard that, turtle? The Dandelion family will forever respect me for my victory over you and recognize me as Mr. Nosy the Defeater of the Karate Turtle." Mr. Nosy said taunting Louie.
"Ninja turtle, you behemoth!" Louie reminded. "And I'll deal with you later."
Louie then turned back to Dandelion, leading to Mr. Nosy trying to restrain the turtle in black once more.
"And before I go down or leave this place with Angel, whatever, I'm gonna teach you too a lesson of your own place, you low-life criminal! That's the promise!" Louie said.
Now Dandelion looked up at Louie and stood up from his chair, perplexed by the turtle in black's choice of words. "Was that a threat?!" the mafia boss demanded to know.
"Well, what do you think? Down to the core." Louie said, confirmed it to be a threat.
Louie and Dandelion then locked their eyes once more, beginning their intense staring contest again. The silence fell over the room as everybody stood still, staring at the two of them and awaiting what happens next... while blinded Angel still looked pointlessly around."
"MMPH?! MMPH?! MMPH?!/Why everything went silent!? Louie?! What's going on?!" she mumbled.
However, after the moment, Dandelion broke the eye contact with Louie and, with the toothy smirk, shook his head and chuckled aloud at the turtle in black in sheer amusement... as if what Louie had just said was some funny joke.
"What's so funny?" Louie asked, glaring at him.
"Mr. Lorenzo. You amuse me. You just still don't get it. For you two know, the basements below is full of the holding cells that happen to have double reinforced walls, iron doors, locks only on the outside of every door and no windows at all. So any escape from the basement is impossible. And besides, the whole place is from the mansion all the way to the wall and the gate guarded by more than a few hundred of my men armed to the teeth, and the several dozens of bloodthirsty hounds, and we have a heavy armament enough for the greater conflict: To keep everyone out of my property, and anyone from ever leaving here... with their lives." Dandelion said.
"Hah! And I'm supposed to be intimidated, because...?" Louie questioned, unconvinced.
"Because, Lorenzo..." Dandelion started again. "When all the threats to my business and freedom are taken to my basements by my death squad, no one ever comes out of there except in body bags. And you'd be a bigger fool than I thought if you thought you could take on my entire personal army and my whole weaponry all by yourself just to get to me. So I'd recommend you to be wiser than that and just give up from trying anything stupid and accept both your and your friend's fates and the fact that any attempt against the might of the Dandelion family... and against William Dandelion himself... is completely futile, for "Dandelions always win!""
"DANDELIONS ALWAYS WIN!" every gangster present chanted their family motto out loud in both support and agreement.
Louie, though unintimidated, took a silent moment of taking all of this in, before he started to repeatedly nod his head and slowly turn away from Dandelion, but not before shaking Mr. Nosy's hands off him.
"Hmm. "Any escape impossible", "no one gets in or out", "Dandelions always win", yeah right." Louie scoffed under his breath.
Everybody in the room just stared at the turtle in black in confusion of what he was blabbing about or in anticipation of what he was about to do next.
"MMPH?! MMPH!/What's going on?! Get this thing off my face so that I can see!" Angel kept mumbling.
Just before Louie turned with the confident smirk back towards Dandelion.
"Good speech, Dandelion, I'll give you that. But that "Dandelions always win"? Puh-leeze!" Louie scoffed again.
Dandelion eyed Louie suspiciously like anticipating what his next move will be and slowly reached his hand towards his gun resting in its holder.
"Dandelions always win"." Louie repeated. "I'll put that motto to the test right this day, right this night, right this hour, right this minute, right this second. And this is the night you losers will always remember as the night you got mowered by the teenage... mutant... ninja... turtle... LORENZO!"(1)
At the same time, Louie finally got his bonds cut off and his hands free, pulling them out from behind his shell into the air while holding a Shuriken in each.
Dandelion, Mr. Nosy, Johannes, Marcus, Helga, Gabe and literally everyone in the room gasped and stared at Louie in wide-eyes surprise, having not expected the turtle in black to escape from his bonds like that without them even realizing it.
"HA-HAA!" Louie laughed tauntingly.
Taking advantage of their initial surprise - just as everyone were instinctively reaching for their weapons - Louie tossed his Shurikens simultaneously to the opposite sides of the room - right where the ropes holding the chandelier on the ceiling were tied - and the throwing stars cut the ropes loose.
With no ropes holding it, the huge chandelier fell down from the ceiling, with Dandelion's and others of hus top guys' own bodyguards hurriedly escorting their employers out of the way, and crushed the party table and everything on it beneath it.
CRASH!
The whole birthday party was sent into confusion and chaos.
Taking advantage of that, and seeing his valuables in Gabe's arms, Louie interlocked his hands and turned to Mr. Nosy, who couldn't but take a one look down at Louie before the turtle in black struck him in the face, knocking him with surprising force off his feet and with the barrel roll over to the floor.
"Whatta...?!" Marcus gasped, seeing Louie taking down Mr. Nosy, and with the angry snarl, he quickly lifted up his shotguns at him. "Why you little freak!"
"Nighty night, Marcus!" Louie sarcastically wished as he lunged at him and pulled his fist right into the scoundrel's gaze!
The strike knocked Marcus back, causing him to pull his shotguns' triggers by reflexes and fire the shots up in the air, alarming many of other Dandelions.
BLAM! BLAM!
Louie wasn't finished with Marcus just yet. With the thug's guard down and he himself left dizzy from the punch, Louie jumped towards him with the flip and kicked him with both feet in the chest, sending the thug flying back... knocking at the same time unwary Johannes and Helga, whose attentions were caught in the mayhem, off their feet to the floor.
Dandelion's death squad - whose members probably had a militia background because while everyone else was rushing here and there like the stampeding herd, they were the only ones who kept their cool - tried to keep the order in this mayhem, while Angel was still trying to get the clear of the situation.
"MMPH! MMPH! MMPH!/What's going on! What's all that noise! Somebody tell me something!" she mumbled.
"HEY, GABE!" Louie called as he maneuvered his way through of the confused party crowd towards the man in question, until they were standing opposed to each other.
"Those are mine!" Louie said demandingly, pointing at his swords, Manriki-Gusari and his and Angel's Shell-cells in the thug's arms.
"Come to get them, freak!" Gabe said as he looked down and reached for his own gun to shoot Louie with it. "I'm gonna blow your head off!"
But when Gabe looked back up with the gun in hand, he noticed that Louie had appeared fast right in front of him, which surprised him.
"Yeah? Well, I'm gonna knock your lights out!" Louie countered, before the turtle in black upper-cutted the thug under his chin, knocking his head back and making him to drop his things to the floor.
With Gabe distracted, Louie grabbed him by his jacket with both hands and, roaring with effort, lifted him over his head, before he tossed the thug away, sending him to crash-land onto Dandelion's table, knocking everything over or of the table from the front of the Dandelion's seat.
With Gabe out of the way, Louie quickly picked up his and Angel's Shell-cells, then his Manriki-Gusari and finally his Butterfly-swords.
"Hello, girls! Daddy's missed you. Did the mean boys treat you badly?" Louie said to his swords, delighted to have reunited with them.
Louie then turned his gaze towards Dandelion, who along with his cousin Dimitri were protected from the chaotic mayhem by his three bodyguards, and the turtle in black looked determinated, like he was tempted to go after Dandelion and kick his sorry butt to teach him the lesson of his place like he had promised.
However, he quickly remembered that he was also supposed to teach Dandelion the lesson in another way, which was to prove him that the escape from his mansion is not impossible- for him - and that his family motto is nothing more but a delusional rubbish by doing something to prove that and then get out of here.
With that in mind, Louie gave up from his initial intent to go after Dandelion and turned his attention to the exit of the room... but not before turning his full attention to saving Angel, who was still held hostage by Dandelion's death squad, who had apparently completely forgotten him in their efforts to maintain the order in the room.
Good for him.
"I'M COMING, ANGEL!" Louie said through all the noise as he turned and ran towards the death squad and Angel.
However, despite all the noise and mayhem, Dandelion managed to hear Louie's call for Angel and saw the turtle in black making his way towards her and the death squad.
Before the death squad could've even spot Louie coming towards them through the stampeding crowd, the turtle in black took them by surprise by jumping over the crowd towards them and towards Angel and the two thugs holding her.
The turtle in black landed onto the shoulder of the first thug standing to Angel's left before jumping onto his feet to the wall, where he turned around and jumped towards the second thug standing to Angel's right, snap-kicking him in the face with his right foot, knocking him off his feet to the floor, before he spun around and kicked the first thug in the side with his left foot, knocking him against the wall and out cold.
Hearing muffled grunts of her captors, Angel turned blindly both to the left, then to the right, then to the right and to the left again to make any sense of the situation around her.
"MMPH?!/Louie?!" Angel mumbled.
Turning around fo Angel now that her back was partially turned to him, Louie swung both his swords over his head at Angel and cut the ropes from her hands and the rope holding the bag over her head around her neck without even accidentally cutting Angel herself, freeing her from her bonds.
Feeling her hands finally free, Angel quickly took the bag off her head and took a look at her surroundings, and was completely surprised to see the entire room in utter confusion and mayhem, including the room's chandelier now lying on top of the smashed table. The next thing she saw was Louie standing right next to her and looking straight at her.
"Angel? Are you okay?" Louie asked.
However, Angel skipped the answering that question to ask the one of her own from Louie.
"Louie? What's going on? Why is the room suddenly in such a state of confusion?" Angel asked, puzzled, until it dawned to her when she saw the smug smirk on Louie's face. "You were behind of all of this?"
"Explanations later, Angel-cake! Right now we need to get out of here so that my promise to Dandelion can be fulfilled." Louie said urgently, before pointing his sword towards the door. "I'll clear the way! Follow me!"
Dandelion gritted his teeth in anger upon seeing Louie and Angel making the break for the door while his men were distracted by the chaos. Seeing Louie so determined to prove him wrong about the inescapability of his manor and that he had been wrong about his family motto, Dandelion took it as such a bloody insult that he couldn't let that happen.
"STOP HIM! STOP THE TURTLE!" he cried out to his men, determined to prevent Louie and Angel from escaping at all cost.
The leader of the death squad managed to hear Dandelion despite the noise before spotting himself Louie and Angel making their way through the stampeding crowd towards the door. Heeding to Dandelion's command, the leader immediately dispatched his entire squad to stop them, who then charged through the crowd towards the two.
First one with the machete attempted to swing his weapon at Louie, but the turtle in black blocked the attack and turned it away before spinning around from the thug's left side behind him, and as the thug turned to him, Louie elbowed the thug in the face, knocking him off his feet to the floor.
The second one tried to stab Louie in the head with his own machete, but Louie caught it with his swords and pinned it to the floor, before kicking the thug back with his left foot and then jumping in the air, spinning around and kicking with his right foot the thug in the head, sending him over to the floor.
The third tried to hit Louie with his rifle, but Louie blocked it with his swords, which he held upside down in his hands, before kneeing the thug in the stomach, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to drop his gun, before Louie caught his left hand in between the hilts of his weapons and flipped him over his shoulder to the floor.
Angel wasn't about to sit this one out and did her best to help Louie by having his back covered, borrowing the discarded rifle to defend herself from the death squad members.
First, Angel hit one thug twice with both ends of the rifle, knocking him down. She then blocked the second thug's machete strike before moving the bladed weapon aside and then hitting the thug in the head with the butt of her rifle. Then she side-kicked third thug behind her in the stomach and then kicked the fourth in front of her in the stomach as well, causing him to bend over, before she turned back to the third thug and swung her rifle upwards, whacking the thug in the face and knocking him off his feet, before turning back to the fourth thug and bringing the rifle down on his head, knocking him out.
Then fourth thug from Louie's front, armed with the sparking cattle prod (possibly used for the tortures in the basement of the mansion) nearly caught him off guard when he swung it at Louie's head but missed as Louie dodged, but on the second try, the thug managed to jab Louie in the right sight, briefly shocking him with electricity.
"AGH!" Louie gasped in pain, dropping his swords, before he actually smiled at the thug. "Tough guy, eh? Good!"
The thug then tried to stab him again, but Angel interfered by hitting the thug in the head with the discarded rifle's butt. The thug, living up to his nickname by Louie, shook this off and was about to turn to shock Angel with his prod in anger, only for Louie to lunge at him from behind, grab from the prod and pull it back against the thug's neck, restraining him.
The two struggled for a brief moment, before the thug managed to free himself and kicked him in the stomach, causing the turtle in black to hit the wall. The thug tried to stab him wit hthe prod again, but Louie dodged, making the thug hit the wall instead, which allowed Louie to disarm him and strike him in the guts, making the thug back away.
Still unhindered, the thug rammed into Louie and pinned him against the wall, but by the time the turtle in black had had enough with him and elbowed him hard in the back before brutally kneeing him in the face, knocking the thug's head back, and causing blood and couple of teeth to fly out of his mouth. Louie then proceeded to beat the thug repeatedly in the face with the series of punches before knocking the lights out of him with the last punch.
With the thug down and out, Louie and Angel, with the latter returning him his swords, proceeded to make for the door, while the members of the death squad tried to stop them.
Clearing the way, Louie blocked the fifth thug's machete with his left sword and then jabbed him in the forehead with the hilt of his right sword. Then he picked up the chair and tossed it towards the sixth incoming thug, sweeping his legs from under and knocking him down. Louie then double-punched the seventh thug in the chest, knocking him back, before he roundhoude-kicked him away. Then the turtle in black dodged under the swing of the eighth thug's cattle prod before spin-kicking him in the head, knocking him over. Louie then jumped up towards the ninth thug and kicked him with both feet in the face hard enough to cause him flying in somersault in the air before landing flat on his stomach to the floor. And lastly, Louie then rammed into the tenth thug and pinned him into the wall next to the door, before he wrapped his arms around him and finished him off by performing a suplex on him, knocking him out.
Louie and Angel then made the mad dash to the door to open it.
However, they were both unaware that Dandelion along with his bodyguards and the leader of the death squad were making their way through the crowd - with them even unceremoniously shoving or pushing the other people out of the way - after them.
Dandelion even finally took out his gun, raised it up and aimed it right at the back of Louie's head, ready to shoot him.
However, this was noticed by Angel who quickly deduced the nature of situation.
"LOUIE! LOOK OUT!" Angel warned and pushed Louie out of the way before the turtle in black could reach the door.
However, just as Angel shoved Louie out of Dandelion's aim and Dandelion pulled the trigger, the doors to the room flew open and two guards, the same ones who had previously tried to stop Mr. Nosy from disrupting Dandelion's birthday party, entered the room, alarmed by all the commotion inside.
"What's going..." one of the guards, the eye-patched guard, demanded, until he was cut short when he was shot clean through his head by Dandelion, with the fresh bullet hole in his forehead.
The black-haired guard gasped in shock to see his partner being gunned down, allowing Louie and Angel to dash past him through the door. However, on his way, Louie grabbed to the remaining guard's suit and dragged him out with him.
And once outside the room, Louie made the guard turn to face him near the railing upstairs.
"Hello, buddy." Louie told him, even if the guard was still shaken by his partner's sudden death though Louie cared a little. "This "salamander" promised to come back later take care of you, didn't he?" Louie said, reminded the guard about both his promise he had made and the guard's insult against him earlier.
And with that, Louie headbutted the guard, causing the dizzy guard to stumble backwards, though the force of the impact was enough to actually cause the guard to stagger over the railing and fall screaming downstairs.
Louie and Angel were then just about to make a run for it to the downstairs, but stopped on the upper steps when they noticed that more guards were coming from downstairs: not just a few or dozens, but actually hundreds, likely alarmed by Dandelion himself.
"BACK! BACK!" Louie urged and he and Angel retreated away from the coming wave of heavily armed goons and ran back into the room... only to be confronted by Dandelion and yet another hundred of his goons - including Mr. Nosy, Johannes, Marcus, Helga, Gabe, Dandelion's bodyguards, Dimitri and the whole death squad - who had all gathered in a crescent-shaped line in front of the doors and were now all aiming their weapons at the duo.
"Well, well, well. You decided to come back after all?" Dandelion taunted. "And just where were you two thinking of going if you weren't going downstairs after all?"
Louie scanned their surroundings and noticed that right above them was another huge chandelier, held up by a rope tied to a hook on the ceiling just behind them. And he also noticed an air vent on the right wall, big enough for him and Angel to fit through if they'd just get there.
Forming another quick escape plan, Louie wrapped his left arm around of Angel's waist and pulled her against himself.
"Louie? Whatta...?" Angel questioned, confused by this, but didn't get the chance to finish when Louie put his plan into motion.
"Still out of here!" Louie declared in return to Dandelion's taunt, before the turtle in black turned to the rope and sliced it off the hook with his right sword, before quickly grabbing from the rope, and allowing the falling chandelier to pull him and Angel off the floor.
"LOOK OUT!" one of the thugs screamed when the chandelier crashed to the floor in their midst, causing the mobsters to scatter around to avoid getting crushed under it.
Louie then took out one of his Manriki-Gusari and, after spinning it around, tossed it upwards and wrapped it around the hook that kept the chandelier up in the ceiling.
After recovering from the chandelier's crashing, Dandelion and the thugs looked up to see, to their puzzlement, Louie and Angel swinging around the room's airspace on a chain, with Louie picking up the speed from the walls with his legs.(2)
At the first swing, Louie swung towards the air went on the wall and kicked the shutter off it.
"Angel! Be ready!" Louie warned as he swung them around the room for the second time and towards the now-open air vent... until he tossed Angel towards it, and the purple-haired girl flew feet first into the air duct shaft, disappearing from sight.
Louie then swung himself around the room for the third time and towards the air vent, about to get in there himself once Angel was out of the harm's way for now.
Dandelion hardened his gaze and gritted his teeth as he glared up at Louie, before he turned to his men.
"OPEN FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! KILL HIM, YOU FOOLS!"
Armed with handguns, rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons and so on, all hundred mobsters opened the fire, which was all aimed at the turtle in black.(2)
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA!
"WHOAAAA! HAH, HAH, HAH, HAH, HOOOOW!" Louie laughed like a maniac as the countless of bullets flew past him.(2)
However, despite the constant and dense gunfiring, for some reason, none of the monsters couldn't get the clear shot, let alone hit Louie nor leave him even with the scratch.(2)
Louie then swung himself towards the air vent and, yanking his chain free from the hook, dived feet-first inside the duct, but stayed partially outside and peered down to the mob of thugs down below.
"YO! DANDELION!" Louie called.
Dandelion stopped firing his gun at Louie and locked his eyes with the turtle in black once more.
And much to his annoyance, Louie gave him a mocking grin before the turtle in black presented him with one of his cream puffs, which Louie had grabbed from the table during of his his escape. Without taking his eyes off Dandelion, Louie took a big bite out of the puff, leaving his lips covered with cream and cheeks bulging.(3)
"Delicious!" was all Louie said with his mouth full, before he disappeared into the aid ducts.
Gritting his teeth even harder in anger at Louie mocking him with his own birthday party's food, before he turned to his men.
"Search the whole mansion! The whole security at full alert! I want every room checked out and every air vent guarded NOW! Those two must not escape here for my family motto's reputation is at stake! And when you find them, put a bullet in the skulls of both of them!" Dandelion ordered.
However, while Dandelion and his goons exited from the room to searc hthe whole house, they were unaware that both Louie and Angel were still lingering at the vent, close but still out of sight, and they overhead everything what Dandelion had just said to his henchmen.
"That's it, Louie. Dandelion has the whole place swarming with his goons. How are we gonna get out of here?" Angel asked.
"Hmm." Louie hummed, recalling what Master Splinter had said during of their training session about three weeks ago. "Like Master Splinter once said, need to improvise our instincts and sense of direction in the unfriendly territories strange to you." Louie said to himself(4)
"What does that mean?" Angel asked, a bit confused of what Louie was saying.
"That if we do this right, we can turn Dandelion's belief he has an advantage over us due to his superior knowledge of this place against him." Louie told her shortly.
The turtle in black then began to crawl deeper into the ducts. "Come on! Let's go check around and see what we can do."
Confident that Louie had some plan, Angel followed him into the ducts.
###
Said and done, the entire Dandelion Mansion was put on full alert, and the guards rushed back and forth through the hallways in their search of Louie and Angel, going through each and every room and guarding every air vent they could find. And outside the mansion, the whole yard area was teeming with hundreds of guards and the hound dogs, making it appear that escape from the mansion, now that an entire army stood between the mansion and the only exit from the place, was impossible.
And as Dandelions' goons were searching for them, Louie and Angel, with the fomer in lead, were making a beeline in the mansion's air duct system as quiet as they could, trying to find the way out of the mansion while at the same time avoiding of getting caught.
So far they had managed to evade capture, but, however, they got a problem ahead.
Wherever they went, they always ended up finding a vent that was already found and guarded by Dandelions' goons, and there was hardly a single one that wasn't.
They couldn't risk of going down the shafts where the guarded vents were located unless they wanted to get caught, leaving them pretty much trapped.
After several turns, climbs and descents in the ducts, Louie and Angel finally managed to find the vent leading to the room, which seemed quiet, suggesting that this room had not yet been searched and that guards had not yet been posted to guard this vent.
But as they cautiously crawled towards the vent to see what room it might lead to, both of their eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the contents of the room.
"Wow! Look at all of that stuff." Angel gasped.
Inside this room was a quite amount of gun stands, loaded up with the large number of various types of handguns, shotguns, machine guns, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, including the heavy weapons such as grenade launchers, rocket launchers, miniguns and heavy machine guns, and multiple closed or open boxes full of explosives: from the grenades to dynamites to mines to bombs to missiles to jerry cans full of flammable fuel.
"Wow! Dandelion wasn't kidding. This room is filled with stuff enough for even a bigger conflict." Louie remarked. "And with such of big place, this won't be the only such of room around."
"With so many weapons, explosives and fuel, it would only need one match to sent this whole house to the kingdom come." Angel added.
"Well, that's not our current course of actions, now isn't it?" Louie said, reminding Angel of their need to get out of here, though the idea of setting this house up to blow from within did tempt him. "Let's keep moving."
Louie and Angel kept crawling until they came up to the vent of the next room that either hadn't been searched through.
And the room offered them just another big surprise.
There was tables against the walls, on which were paper cutters, large rolls of paper, developing trays, both ink and watercolors, but more attention-drawing thing in the whole room was a huge paper money printing machine, which the Dandelions no doubt used to make their own counterfeit money just like Dandelion had told them. In the same room, there were a huge neat stack of ready-made wads of dirty cash ready to be used for Dandelions nefarious ends, and there were also clothes lines in the room where the bills of dirty money had been put hang to dry.
"Jackpot!" Louie whispered.
"Dandelion's big secret!" Angel gasped. "It was here all along."
"Yeah. The poor guy who turned him in the first time for all of this dirty cash was right." Louie said, recalling Dandelion's mention of the guy who detected him with the possession of counterfeit money and turned him in to the cops, only to pay for it with his life afterwards.
But they told in the news that they investigated both his company and the property for all of this. If this was all here all along, then how come they never discovered this place?" Angel questioned, confused.
Before Louie could answer to that, the door of the room was suddely opened, making the two stiff in place.
The two spotted - just before they crawled out of the sight - that the door led to the downstairs of the mansion, right on the hallway they just walked along and, weird enough, right in the spot where there wasn't even a door on the wall as they recalled.
But looking on carefully, they realized that the door looked from the outside just like the wall itself... making Louie and Angel realize the magic trick of the whole thing.
"A hidden doorway in the wall? No wonder they never found this place?" Angel whispered, perplexed.
"SHH!" Louie hushed as the guy who opened the door entered in the room, but not before looking back into the hallway as another patrol ran past.
"I'll check them from here!" the guy called with the gruff voice before entering.
However, as Louie's and Angel' carefully peeked inside the room to spy the guy who had just entered, to their surprise, the guy didn't leave the door open like everybody else was doing everywhere else. Instead, he put the door carefully shut behind him, after quickly checking if anybody outside was watching.
And once the door was closed, the guy turned around and looked around in the room, feeding his eyes with everything he saw, from the paper cutter on the table to the printing machine and from the bills drying on the clotheslines to the stack of the dirty money wads.
Louie and Angel took their moment to size this guy up from head to toe: So far he was the shortest, lankiest and strangely the youngest of Dandelion guys they've seen here so far, and he wore a blue suit with yellow dandelion over his chest and brown fedora hat and he had a short facial hair.
And to their next surprise, the guy checked out one more time that he wan't be heard, before he pulled the camera out of his suit and began quickly take the pictures. Pictures of the tables and the equipment on them, the printing machine, the bills drying on the clothslines and the stack of dirty money.
As the two wondered what this guy was doing with taking the picture of all of this illegal stuff, Louie noticed that Angel was about to sneeze! Likely from the dust and air flow that tickled her nose here in the ducts.
Louie's eyes went wide and he gritted his teeth, fearing that Angel sneezing could reveal their presenze.
"Ahh... ahh... Louie? Louie, I'm gonna... ahh... ahh!" Angel whispered between the sneezes.
"Angel-cake, no! Not here!" Louie whispered, and tried to reach out to block her nose with his finger.
However, he was too late!
"AAA-CHOO!"
It wasn't pretty loud sneeze, but it was still audible. Proven when the guy taking pictures of the room immediately went stiff at the sound and looked around him, alarmed.
Then the guy turned to the vent, somehow managing to locate where the sneeze was coming from... and suddenly relaxed like there was nothing to worry about, instead of instantly rushing to the door to let his friends know where they were.
"I know you're in there." he eventually said, with much younger-sounding voice than just a moment ago. "I heard you."
Louie cursed silently! They have been sotted! And for that, he frowned at Angel for giving them in.
"Sorry." Angel apologized sheepishly, keeping her hand over her mouth to muffle her own voice.
Louie and Angel then stayed hidden in the duct, still and quiet, unwilling to take any chances, and at the same time hoping that the guy would eventually just assume that he heard things and went on his way.
However, he didn't. The guy was still staring up at the vent knowingly.
"Yo! You! Turtle-man? You and your purple-haired girlfriend are gonna come out of there or what?" the guy questioned.
That remark set Angel off, before she peeked in the room throught the vent and glared right at the guy standing in middle of the room, looking towards her
"Hey, dude! I'm not his girlfriend!" she claimed sharply, all the while blushing furiously.
"She's only a friend! That's all you need to know!" Louie, looking through the vent at the guy added... though even his own cheeks were changing to a much darker shade of his green complexion, thanks to this guy.
However, this guy scoffed at them knowingly with a roll of his eyes, no doubt seeing their blushing cheeks through the vent, which only confirmed that he didn't buy a word of their claims.
"Yeah, yeah! "Turtle and the girl together?" Pretty weird, isn't it?" the guy agreed sarcastically. "Because if I didn't know any better, you should be the female turtle as well?" he said, referring to Angel.
Angel was irritated by such of remark. "What is it your business anyway?" she questioned sharply.
"Yeah! Shouldn't you be calling your friends here to try and apprehent us like what you're all doing?" Louie questioned warily, distrusting the guy like with any other Dandelion guy who was out there hunting them down to kill.
"You're right, Mrs. Bridge. It isn't my business at all." the guy said, agreeing with Angel wholeheartedly that the relationship between her and Louie wasn't his business.
"And as for you, turtle-man... Lorenzo, wasn't it? Does this look like I'm going to call any of Dandelions' guys here anytime soon?" the guy questioned, before he went back to filming the illegal stuff in the room.
"And, oh! By the way, they're not really my friends. So it's perfectly safe for you to come out of there." he added before going back to filming.
Louie and Angel looked at the guy through of the vent for a moment and, seeing that he was completely interested in making a photograph from Dandelion's ill goods, decided to take their chance. And so, Louie kicked open the vent and moved out into the room before helping Angel out. However, when they were both out, they kept some distance from the guy for they didn't trust him still, with Louie keeping his hand around of one of his Butterfly swords' hilt, ready to pull it out if the guy was planning to sell them out.
"So, who are you? And why you're doing what you're doing?" Angel asked.
"I'm gathering the evidence... evidence of Dandelion being linked to the counterfeiting operations which can bring him to justice." the guy replied, without paying much of attention into two of them.
"Yeah right." Louie scoffed. "Well, news for you, camera-boy. One guy had already tried that, and guess what happened? Dandelion had him drowned under the Manhattan Bridge."
This made the guy to stop taking pictures of the room, before he turned directly to them.
"And news for you, turtle-man..." the guy countered, before he took off his hat and gis short beard - which was revealed to be a fake beard - revealing himself to be indeed a young boy in his early teens with the chestnut brown shoulder-length hair and turquoise eyes.
"... that I happen to be that guy." the guy replied.
This caught both Louie and Angel off guard, not only because they didn't expect this guy to be so young amongst of Dandelion's goons but also being the guy who had spotted the dirty money in Dandelion's possession and turned him in to the cops, only to fail to bring him to justice without the proper evidence of Dandelion's nefarious deeds and thus ended up getting killed by Dandelion's men as the top guy's personal revenge.
"YOU!" they both repeated in unision.
"Yes. Me." the boy confirmed. "My name is Kevin, a rookie news reporter from Channel Six News."
Louie and Angel paid the look with each other, unsure of what to make of all fo this.
"Oh, yes. I see that I own you both the explanation." Kevin said. "You see, it all began a year ago."
FLASHBACK BEGINS
A year back, Kevin, wearing a turquoise shirt, sad-brown hoodie, brown pants, reddish-brown big apple cap and wearing the camera around his neck and wad of paper in his hands, is seen walking down the streets of New York, looking for a new subject for his newest news article.
Kevin: "I was walking the streets that day looking for any new striking subject to write a news article about, anything."
He accidentally bumps into Mr. Dandelion, who is walking down the street to the opposite direction with the pair of bodyguards, causing the wad of money to drop out of his coat's pocket onto the street.
Mr. Dandelion looks down at Kevin irritably before he rudely shoves the boy out of his way with his cane he and his bodyguards continue on their way, leaving Kevin to scowl angrily after them for their rudeness.
Kevin: "Well, I got what I wanted when I accidentally bumped into Mr. Dandelion, during of which I saw a wad of money dropping out of his coat."
Kevin then saw the wad of money lying on the ground and picks it up. Thinking it having accidentally dropped out of Dandelion's pocket, the boy, though reluctantly due to Dandelion's recent attitude, decides to follow his moral code and return the money.
Kevin runs after Dandelion, calling his name to get his attention, and holds out the dropped money wad to him.
Seeing this act of kindness despite his rude demeanor towards the boy, Dandelion smiles and nods his head both as a gratitude and the apology.
However, as Kevin is about to hand him his money back, he quickly some liquid dripping from one edge of the bill and inspects it with the closer look. After a moment, Kevin sees that both the bills' color and the printing markins can be swept away.
Kevin: "I picked the wad up suspecting nothing initially and attempted to return it to Mr. Dandelion, only to discover right at the moment of handing it over to him that the money, every last bill, was counterfeit money."
Kevin's eyes go wide when he realizes that the money in his hand is the counterfeit money, and points an accusing finger at Dandelion and his bodyguards, leaving the mob boss shocked and looks around of him worriedly, as the other people around of him stare at him in shock.
A little later, Kevin takes pictures of the wad of dirty money before handing it to the police offers as the evidence, before he turns to take the picture of the Chief of Police, who has arrived to the scene, escorting arrested Dandelion and his bodyguard in handcuffs to his car.
A little later, a newsstand is then seen selling newspapers with an article written by Kevin on the front page headline that reads
"William Dandelion, owner of the Dandelions' Laundry Company, has been arrested for the for the possession of the counterfeit money."
Kevin stands nearby watching and smiling, feeling proud of himself.
In his cell, Dandelion is seen reading the newspaper and the headline of his arrest for the counterfeit money in his possession, before the mob boss grows furious about this and proceeds to rip the newspaper into pieces in anger.
Kevin: "So I made a news article about it, which led to Mr. Dandelion's arrest and put into the trial for the possession of the counterfeit money."
A little later, in the court, Kevin is seen standing in the witnesser box next to the judge, where he explains to the judge, the jury and the audience what he saw, while pointing accusingly at Dandelion sitting at the defendant's table, flanked by his cousin and lawyer, Dimitri Dandelion.
While Dandelion glares angrily back at Kevin, Dimitri only smirks slyly.
Kevin: "I was also made a witness to testify against Dandelion in court."
Next, we see Dimitri standing before the court, telling to the judge, the jury and the audience some things which cause Kevin to be taken aback and stare in wide-eyed shock and anger at Dimitri, because apparently he is making up the story to cover Kevin's version of it... Dimitri even at one point points an accusing finger at Kevin, who is even further shocked by this.
Kevin: "However, my version of the story was tossed aside when Dandelion's lawyer, Dimitri Dandelion, made the claims that the money I found had dropped from someone else's pocket and not Dandelion's... or that I had been using the fake money from the Monopoly game to criminalize Dandelion in public in order to get the story in my news report... or that I myself had the counterfeit money in my possession and that I made everybody to bark at the wrong tree to avoid suspicion of me."
Eventually, the Jury makes their decision, ending up with "Not guilty!" As a resort, the judge declares Dandelion to be released from all the charges against him, much to Kevin's complete dismay.
Kevin: "And those idiots fell to that rubbish. Dandelion was declared noyt guilty and released in the following day."
At the police station three weeks back, right after Dandelion's release, Kevin is seen standing before the police chief, with his head hanging up from his shoulders, and with the look of defeat on his face.
The chief of police looks down on Kevin with sympathy and puts then a reassuring hand on his shoulder, comforting him, before looking suspiciously outside of his department's doors, right where Dandelion had gone.
Kevin: "The Chief of Police was the only one around who offered me any sympathy for my failure to make Dandelion to face the justice, as he too has been for a long time suspecting Dandelion of being involved in shady dealings for the several years."
However, at Channel Six News, Kevin is seen in his boss' office, where the boss is seen furiously reprimanting him, showing his article of Dandelion's arrest for the possession of counterfeit money in the frontpage headlines right in his fave, before he rips the newspaper in half.
The boss then points at the door dismissively, and disheartened Kevin makes his leave.
Kevin: "But the same could not be said for my boss at Channel Six News who angrily accused me of making up stories of fiddling or non-existent things instead of 'real' news reports. I was actually pretty lucky that he didn't fire me for it, though he did leave me with the warning."
After a day at work, Kevin, hooded and hands in his pockets, is seen walking in the rain, still depressed about the recent events.
However, he is surprised when the mysterious van suddenly appears out of nowhere and stops right next to him, before its backdoors fly open and three ganger-looking people storms out out of the van and take Kevin by surprise.
The goons quickly surround Kevin from all sides and roughly grab on him, making Kevin to vainly struggle against their grips, before the goons forcibly drag the boy into the back of the van. Once Kevin is inside, the backdoors are closed and the van takes off into the night.
Kevin: "But on my way back home for the night, I was proven correct in accusing Dandelion of being involved in shady affairs when some thugs suddenly abducted me quickly off the street and forced me against my will into a van."
Next thing, Kevin finds himself pinned against the wall of the van, his hands tied up and his mouth gagged, while the goons that kidnapped him stare down at him.
Standing in front of them is none other than Mr. Nosy, holding a cigarette in his right hand, while pointing his left hand's finger accusingly at Kevin, berating the boy for his attempt to ruin their boss, revealed to be Dandelion, business with his news article.
Kevin: "There they revealed to me that they worked for Dandelion, who doesn't like snoopers on his business."
To demonstrate what they are going to do with him, Mr. Nosy moves his finger over his throat, implying that they're going to kill him, which leaves Kevin horrified, before the bag is put over his head.
Kevin: "They told me that their tonight's task was to deliver me Dandelion's compliments of my attempts to bring him in... by getting rid of me permanently."
Kevin is then seen sitting in the back of the van, still tied up and the bag over his head, while he is being guarded by a short, lanky and pretty young goon, who wears a blue suit and brown fedora hat and has a facial hair, but who coincidentally has an identical facial features to Kevin's own.
Kevin suddenly starts squirming restlessly in his seat, frantically looking blindly left and right while letting out "panicked" mumbling and labored breathing. He is apparently suffocting inside the bag.
The guard is initially indifferent with this, but he slowly gets annoyed by all the noise Kevin is making. He tells Kevin to be quiet several times but Kevin doesn't stop. The guard isn't completely convinced that Kevin is really suffocating and gets closer of him before he partially removes the bag from his head to see it himself.
Kevin: "However, when I was tied up by my hands and I had the bag put over my head to prevent me from seeing where we were going, I managed to fool the guy put to guard me by preventing that I was suffocating inside the bag... though I consider that either as a coincidental lucky break or just because that guard was downright stupid."
However, the moment the bag is off his head, Kevin headbutts the guard in the forehead, knocking him back. Kevin stands up and, because his legs weren't tied up, kicks the guard in the face, knocking him out.
Kevin then frees his hands with the knife the guard had in his belt and removes the gag from his mouth. Then he looks urgently around of him, trying to figure out how to escape plan from the van.
Kevin: "I knocked the guard out and freed myself, though I needed to reconsider my escape strategy, because if they were to find out that I'd escaped and that if they knew where I lived, I'd only find myself from the same spot and in the same trouble sooner or later."
Looking down at the guard he'd knocked out, Kevin sees the stricking facial resemblance between them, which gives him an idea.
Kevin: "Until I noticed that the guard I had knocked out happened coincidentally be the exact same size and shape as me, and he had somehow near identical facial features with me, which gave me an idea."
Next, Kevin is seen dressed in the guard's outfit, which he completes by taking a fake beard from the pocket of an old pants and uses the guard's knife to make it almost identical to the security guard's own before attaching it to his face, and finally he hides his hair inside a hat before putting it on his head.
The guard is seen dressed in Kevin's clothes and made to sit in Kevin's place, hands tied, gagged, and finally a bag over his head.
Kevin: "So I switched places with the guard: I took his suit, hat and shoes, as well as his wallet and ID card and other available personal information about my guard to impersonate him so that the Dandelions won't ever realize that it is me in disguise. My guard, however, ended up to take the heat for me after I put my own clothes on him, tired up his hands and put the bag over his head. And for my own safety reasons, I gagged him as well to prevent him from revealing to the others what I had done."
When they arrive to Manhattan Bridge, the van comes to stop and the backdoors are opened, allowing Mr. Nosy and his men to step in.
Tensed but keeping his cool, Kevin watches from aside as Mr. Nosy has the guard - who at this point has already woken up and is trying to speak through if his gag and the bag over his head, but no one can't understand what he's saying - whom he believes to be Kevin, to be hauled up from his seat and taken out of the van.
Kevin, to maintain his role as the guard, The disguised Kevin, to maintain his role as the guard, seizes the guard by his arms with the other goon and leads the guard out of the van and then to the shore, where the boat is waiting for them.
Kevin: "And when they came to pick up the guard upon our arrival to the Manhattan bridge, they never realized that they'd picked a wrong guy as they never bothered to remove the bag from his head, leaving me scott free of suspicion."
They load the guard into the boat, before Mr. Nosy stenps onboard, along with the three other goons and the disguised Kevin, who briefly stiffs from the shock upon seeing the shackles with weights on the boat, and quickly realizes what they're for. Kevin, however, quickly pulls himself together and gets in the boat.
When they're in middle of the river, Mr. Nosy orders his men to put the shackles on the panickedly struggling guard's legs and prepare to thrown him overboard, but not before he says his last goodbyes to the guard, whom he still believes to be Kevin.
"Let this be the lesson to learn, boy. Your FINAL lesson: Never... ever... put your snooping nose into Dandelions' business, because in the end, the Dandelions... always... win!" Mr. Nosy said coldly.
The guard tries to protest through of his gag, while Mr. Nosy then takes it up to himself to pick the guard up in bribal style before he dumps him into the river, with his two subordinates lifting his shackles' weight overboard.
SPLASH!
The guard lets one last muffled scream from under the bag, before the weight of his shackles pull his head underwater, and drag him down to his watery grave in the bottom of the river.
As the guard disappears into the depths, Mr. Nosy and his goons wave mockingly after him, sarcastically wishing him good luck, goodbyes and good drowning.
Kevin doesn't join in but only cringes hin disgust at Mr. Nosy and his goons for doing what they were planning to do with him. And despite the guard being involved in all of this if he hadn't switched their places, he cannot help but feel somewhat sorry for him and remorseful for bringing this upon him.
Kevin: "Well, I managed to get away nonetheless."
Then, some time later in the Dandelion's mansion, a disguised Kevin is seen standing straight and poised amongst of the lined up goons on the steps of the staircase, as a fancy limousine pulls up in front of the mansion and Dandelion, along with several other of his goons - including Mr. Nosy - gets out of the limousine and climbs the stairs up to his mansion.
On his way, Dandelion stares at the lines of his loyal men standing on either side of him, as each one of them saluting him by taking the dandelion flower out of their suits and holds it up in the air - with Kevin following the suit.
Dandelion's gaze visits the disguised Kevin for a moment, but even he falls for the boy's disguise and walks by without suspecting anything.
Kevin glances sideways at Dandelion as he disappears into his mansion... and gives the mob boss a sly grin, believing that he can somehow take advantage of this, and eventually settle some scores with him.
Kevin: "And ever since they dumped my guard into the river with the thought that I was done for, I've been hiding in plain sight amongst their ranks, while taking it as an opportunity to find any evidence of his nefarious dealings."
THE END OF THE FLASHBACK
"And here we are, in the jackbot." Kevin finished, gesturing at everything around them, before he took a few wads of dirty money to show them. "The whole throve of evidence!"
Both Louie and Angel were amazed to hear how Kevin had with a whole lot of luck managed to outwit his captors and cheat the death the Dandelions had arranged for him, not to mention of him having risked his life to hide among the Dandelions' ranks for who knows how long to avoid detection and to gather enough of proper evidence against Dandelion.
"You're such of tough kid." Louie commented.
"But how come you knew that this was all here all along?" Angel questioned.
"Spend a few weeks in hiding in Dandelions' ranks in their home turf, you will learn a thing or two about the secret rooms and the access codes to get in them, and a little more." Kevin replied confidently. "I actually already found this room some time ago after figuring out the code to get in. All I needed now was a some sort of distraction to keep these people occupied, so that I can gather the evidence I need to expose Dandelions as criminals. And thanks to the mayhem that you two caused, I finally got one"
However, Kevin's voice and demeanor turned to the dead serious. "But now that I got what I came here for, there's an issue ahead. A whole army out there wanting for blood. And with that many trigger-happy gunmen, I can't get this load of evidence out of here to be delivered to the chief of police undetected or its death to all three of us."
"And we can't get out of here either, unless we want to become a sitting ducks in the open." Angel lamented as he turned to Louie.
The turtle in black put his hand to his chin, thinking over their situation for a moment.
They couldn't stay hidden in the mansion for very long, because who knows when they eventually manage to get them boxed in some corner of the ventilation system and bide their time until hunger and desperation drives them into a suicidal attempt to break out of here... unless they figure out to send people crawling into the ducts after them or use fire to smoke them out. Or even the poisonous gass.
They needed to get out of here right now!
However, Louie then caught something in his mind, something related to Kevin's mention of him figuring out a thing or two in Dandelion's mansion during of his stay here.
"Say, Kevin..." Louie said, turning to Kevin. "What would you say about doing a one favor for a favor?" the turtle in black questioned.
"What you got to offer to me?" Kevin questioned.
"Well, first of, as far as the Dandelions know, you're dead and no longer a threat to them, so they don't expect you. And secondly, they're mostly out there after me and Angel. And thirdly, we will draw each and every Dandelion's attention to us and distract them long enough for you to get this evidence out of there to the poilce." Louie explained.
"We will?!" Angel gasped, shocked at Louie's proposal to offer themselves as the cannon fodder so that Kevin can get the evidence out of here.
"We will." Louie confirmed confidently, before turning back to Kevin. "But in exchange you must provide us with something for ourselves to get out of here, like a vehicle or something."
Kevin too was shocked at such of proposal. "You would actually go out there just like that? In front of all of those guns? And bring her along with you?"
"Yes... but not before we find ourselves a ride so that we can get back to New York. Attempting that on foot is a suicide mission and won't never work." Louie reasoned. "You said yourself that you spent your time here in figuring out some of Dandelions' big secrets, like the doorways to the secret rooms and the access codes, so you probably know where they're keeping their vehicles too. So please, can you tell us where and how we can get ourselves some kind of vehicle to get out of here?"
In one way it sounded like a fair win-win offer, knowing he needed a new distraction and plenty of time to get enough evidence out of here so Dandelion could be brought to justice, but on the other hand, it didn't really sit well with him that Louie and Angel had to offer themselves as cannon fodder to the whole army of armed Dandelions so that he can get out of here.
Them so foolishly risking their lives for him was a heavy blow to his own conscience and morality, even if his desire to expose Dandelion as a criminal to the world was great.
But with so little options left in hand, Kevin had not choice but to reluctantly accept Louie's offer.
"Very well." Kevin said with the heavy sigh. "They have a garage in the backyard, next to the garden shed, where they keep all of their vehicles: bikes, cars, limousines, buggies, vans, trucks, even helicopters. You can get in from the door on its right side, but only if you have the valid code to get the access. Here, let me write it for you."
Kevin then took a wad of paper and the pencil out and quickly wrote the gargage door's current access code down, before he handed it to Louie.
Louie, however, handed it to Angel, knowing that he was needed mopre in keeping the Dandelions occupied and buy Angel time to put the code on the lock to gain the access.
"You also need to hurry, because if I'm right, you guys got only fifteen minutes before they change the new code to replace the old one hourly.
"Then let's do this them." Louie said, determinedly, before the turtle in black turned to Angel and took her by the hands, looking her in the eyes.
"Alright, Angel, here is what we do. I will keep Dandelions busy as long as I can, while you get to that garage's door to put the code in it. And once you've got the door open, I'll join you, and we will burst out of here. And no matter what happens, you keep running for the garage. You will run, you understand me? Run, and do not look back! Okay?"
Angel swallowed, feeling very uncomfortable about the thought of going out there in front of hundreds of trigger-happy lunatics, but more of the thought that she was supposed to run away while Louie stayed behind to hold back the whole army on his own.
"Louie? Are you absolutely sure about this?" Angel asked, feeling her insides being gnawed by the growing feeling of dread... especially for Louie.
Louie let out the heavy sigh. "No, I'm not." he confessed dead seriously. "But as long as you're clear of their firing range, nothing else matters. Not even me."
"But you matter to me!" Angel protested, before she literally threw herself into him, hugging him tightly, breathing frantically like she was afraid, but not for herself.
She was actually afraid for Louie's well-being... his life.
"You don't have to let go of your life because of me." she said to him, resting her head against the left side of his plastron.
Louie was momentarily caught off guard by Angel's actions, before the turtle in black gently wrapped his arms around of her and pulled her closer to comfort her, hugging her back.
"Been through of worst, Angel-Cake." Louie remarked, recalling all the times he and his brothers and sisters were so close of losing their lives in these past months ever since their first trip to the surface.
Kevin kept his silence as he looked at this display of affection between Angel and Louie... even though from his perspective it was pretty weird that one of them happened to be a giant talking turtle, yet he was respectful enough not to bring that out.
The two remained there hugging each other for some time became they eventually broke their hug.
Louie then took Angel by her shoulders and made her to look at him in the eyes again.
"But listen to me, Angel. It's now very important that you get out of their range of fire and get to that carage to secure our ride out of here. And no matter what happens to me, you for the foremost have to get out of here... with or without me. Can I count on you for that?" Louie asked seriously.
Angel let out another heavy sigh, before she sadly and reluctantly nodded her head to the turtle in black in affirmination, that no matter, with or without him, she will get out of here.
"But how?" she then asked, as there was one plothole in the whole plan. "I-I don't know anything about driving any of those vehicles."
"What about your bike?" Kevin suggested, making Louie and Angel to turn to him.
"My bike?" Louie questioned.
"Yes. The black and avocado-green bike which Dandelion's men brought and locked in their carage for their own use." Kevin clarified.
This made Louie let out an angry growl. "Those sticky-fingered bastards dare to touch my bike!" the turtle in black swore, shaking his fist.
"Well... I at least heard some of them mentioning that you..." Kevin continued, looking straight back at Angel knowingly. " Angel Bridge... rode on that bike very skillfully at the highway of New York."
"Well..." Angel stattered bashfully. "It wasn't actually me who drove it. Louie just borrowed it to me and made it move by itself with some kind of device he latched to the hijacked money transport van we were chasing."
Kevin stared at Louie, perplexed. "What? You got some kind of device to make the vehicle to move on its own?"
Smirking knowingly, the turtle in black took out a small green turtle-like device with the beacon light and the remote control to show to Kevin.
"When this baby it latched to something, be it a stationary or moving object, and the beacon light is turned on, the remote control system in my bike will safely steer my bike to the source of the signal and follow it till it reaches the source or when I turn it off." Louie explained.
"Neat!" Kevin gasped.
"And that's why... here. Take it." Louie added, handing the beacon device to Kevin, who took it from Louie's hands hesitatingly. "Just for the precaution. And to make sure Angel, once she gets to my bike, gets out of here at the same time you make your own getaway."
"Then what about you?" Kevin asked.
"Let's just say..." Louie said, smirking knowingly. "I'll check what good old Dandelion has to offer to me in the garage."
Suddenly, they heard a new voices shouting outside the door.
"The kid has been in there for far too long and he hasn't reported yet!"
"Send a couple gyuys to check out what's holding up with him!"
Kevin could feel the goosebumbs running down his spine, knowing what that meant.
"We're running out of time!" he said, putting his camera and Louie's beacon device inside his suit, before putting the fake beard and the hat back on. "If we're gonna go, we gotta go now."
"Right." Louie nodded, before he turned to Angel one last time. "Get ready to run for your life, Angel. Here we go."
They turned back to the door as they heard somebody pressing the buttons of the hidden keypad as they
Louie positioned himself in front of Angel, pulling out his Butterfly Swords and spinning them upside down in his hands, ready to take on anyone who dared to step in through that door, while Angel prepared herself to run for that carage once Louie cleared the path for her.
Kevin, however, hid himself behind of the printing machine.
The door was then opened, and three of Dandelion henchmen, including a short and fat French guy with the huge glasses, reddish sideburns and balding topside. He wore a blue shirt, black vest and orange no-top cap on his head. He was probably Mr. Lasse Dandelion was talking about.
"Hey, kid? What is taking so long... SACRÉ BLEU!" Lasse gasped in surprise and went pale like having just seen the ghost... though all he saw was Louie glaring daggers at him.
"MEAN IN GREEN, HALLELUJAH!" Louie shouted as he charged lightning fast towards them as the blurry figure of green and black.
The patrol of seven thugs were passing the secret doorway at the same time by coincidence as they headed down the hallway.
However, they quickly halted when they head the commotion to their right, and were left surprised when Louie launched himself through the hidden doorway, knocking Mr. Lasse down and brutally whacking with the hilts of his swords the two guards in the face, knocking their heads back and both saliva, blood and a few teeth out of their mouths.
And before they even knew it, Louie was already upon them like an wild animal and began beating up the goons, sparing no fists or black-and-blue bruises with none of them.
"THOCK! BASH! POW! CRASH! PAFF! POF! BING! BONG! BANG! THOCK! BASH! CRASH!"
"OWW! UGH! AGH! AHH! AGH-HA-HA-HAA! OHHH! NONONO! OUCH! NO MORE!"
"THE TURTLE AND THE GIRL ARE HERE! CAN ANYBODY HERE ME?! THE TURTLE AND THE GIRL ARE... YEA-OUCH!" one of the thugs cried in attempt to call for reinforcements, until he got his butt kicked by the turtle in black.
One goon got kicked into the armour on display, knocking the armour down, causing it to broke into the pieces, and knocking the thug out.
Second one was sent flying away till he crashed into the vase with the dandelion patterns in it, smashing it into pieces upon impact.
Third goon was kicked into fourth and fifth goons, which knocked all three of them off their feet and down to the floor.
Sixth goon got slammed hard onto the antique table like the rag doll, and the impact caused the break break in half.
And the seventh and the last thug got the chair thrown at him, which knocked him back and right through of the window behind him.
After taking care of the guards, and at the same time creating them a escape route through the window, Louie turned back to the secret door.
"COME ON, ANGEL-CAKE! WE'RE OUT OF HERE!" Louie called, beckoning Angel to come.
No needing to be asked twice, Angel sprinted out of the room towards Louie and their escape.
However, before they could get out, Louie and Angel were caught by the thundering sound of the countless running footsteps coming from either side of the hallway.
Turning around, they both saw a large number of heavily armed Dandelions storming down the hallway towards them, surrounding them from all sides... if only the window hadn't been smashed open just a moment ago.
And in the front of the horde of Dandelions storming them from the side where the stairs leading to upstairs were, were William Dandelion, Mr. Nosy, Gabe, Johannes, Marcus, Helga, Dimitri Dandelion, the leader of the Dandelion's death squad and the rest of their men.
Dandelion was armed with the AK47 assault rifle with the drum magazine, while Mr. Nosy with the SIG-Sauer P226 pistol, Gabe with the grenade launcher, Johannes with his Colt Anaconda pistol, Marcus with his Dual 12 Gauge Sawed-Off Double Barreled Shotguns, Helga with her Mini Uzis, Dimidri with M16 rifle, and the leader of the death squad with M14 rifle.
Seeing the villains approaching them, Louie began to hurriedly usher Angel to get out through the window.
"Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Get out! Get out! Hurry!" Louie urged as Angel climbed out of the window and jumped down.
Louie was about to follow after her, until Dandelion stepped forward.
"LORENZO!" the mob boss cried out.(5)
Hearing his name being called by the mob boss, Louie, against his better judgement, turned away from the window and looked right at Dandelion.(5)
Dandelion and Lorenzo then locked their gazes, staring each other for a long time with the burning hatred and contempt towards each other.(5)
"Louie! Come on!" Angel called for him from outside.
Tearing his gaze away from Dandelion's, Louie then turned away from the gangsters and to the window to follow Angel outside.
Just before he had got even outside, Dandelion raised his rifle at the same time and fired a round wildly at the turtle in black.
BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA!
However, he ended up to miss as Louie jumped through the window and vanished outside.
"CURSED!" Dandelion spat, before he turned to his men. "Get out there! All of you! I want every single man out into the garden to hunt them down! Show them no mercy! Shoot them! Kill them! Rip them apart, limb by limb! Shoot to kill! I don't care what do you do or how do you do it! JUST GET BRING TURTLE'S AND THE GIRL'S HEADS TO ME!"
Said and done, all the Dandelions stormed out of the mansion and into the garden, leaving the whole place pretty much empty.
However, little did they know that they were spied on by Kevin, who peeked through the gap of the secret door, following Dandelion and his men's going after his new allies until they were out of the vision.
With them gone, Kevin pushed unconscious Mr. Lasse outside to the hallway and closed the door.
And then, he took a couple of duffel bags lying in the floor - which coincidentally happened to bear Dandelions' Laundry Company insignia, which suited well for him - and began to pack in them with as much of counterfeit money as he could carry.
"Just hang on a little further, guys. We're all leaving this place together! And ensure that Dandelion gets what's coming for him." Kevin said.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = This is the reference to the quoted lines of King Leonide fron 300 "Immortals? We'll put that name to the test." and Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean "This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." I've mixed together.
2) = Reference to Jack Sparrow swinging on the crane on the harbor of Port Royal while being shot at by the royal marines in the Curse of the Black Pearl.
3) = Reference to Jack Sparrow eating cream puff after his escape from King George and Privateer Barbossa from the king's dinning room in On Stranger Tides
4) = Reference to Master Splinter's lesson to his sons about improvising their instincts and sense of direction in the unfriendly territories strange to them, which he tried to taught them in the second chapter of ORIGINAL: The Girl and the Turtle, Part 1.
5) = Reference to several scenes from Spartacus: the War of the Damned, where Marcus Crassus calls Spartacus by his name and the two make an eye contact. Kinda felt like need to make the mutual animosity between Louie and Dandelion open, and declare the two as archenemies.
New OC character with fan-casted voice actor.
Jeremy Sumpter as Kevin - (known from the role as Peter Pan from the 2003 live-action film with the same name.)