Guest: Indeed they will. They're a lot of tougher than meets the eye.
GUEST: Well, I think that Louie already gave Dom a quite beating during of their training session.
Skully13: I think that all Stockman's paybacks against the Shredder for all the ill-treatment, dismemberment and eventually being reduced him into a mere brain, spine and the eyeball will be centered to the Return of New York, Part 3, The Secret Origins, part 3 and Exodus, Part 2.
Tornado man: Interesting suggestion, but that shall be left for the Turtles in Space arc until I finally get to that part. And as for Mikey having a superhero love interest, we first need to get to the Justice Force episode before we can consider that. But both ideas are put into consideration nonetheless.
Vanessa Seraphine: Thanks and I'm glad that you like my story, but as interesting as your idea sounds, I don't think if I'm interested (mostly because if its gonna cost me). Though the idea of seeing the artworks of my OC's can sometimes get a little temptive.
Guest: I'm glad that you like my story.
Guest99: About your former question, Dom will come to learn that he can't always have evetyhing in his way as much as he is wary of the change. And as for your latter question, we shall see that in the final chapter of the third part of the saga.
CT311998: To be honest with myself, Dom and Splinter indeed were a little harsh with Louie, even if the turtle in black had kept them deliberately dark of some of his antics of late.
animegamefanatic: I'm afraid that is exactly what is going on in the mutant family, with everybody thinking that Louie did something irresponsible by taking Angel into the very dangerous situation that could've got them both killed (which Louie techincally did by taking her with him to stop the highjacking of the money transfer car, though not knowing that it was a trap all along) and thus motivating Ellie and Splinter to keep the two from meeting ever again, and with the other turtles not standing up for Louie despite some of them feeling sorry for him and Dom forcibly having his way with Louie's and Angel's separation, this fracture in their brotherly relationship will not be gone so easily.
Well, Dom will learn through the hard way that he can't always have evetyhing in his way or force his way into others.
And I'm actually wondering if each and every turtle, both canon and OC, would actually found one for each, even Dom, even if some of the relationships are gonna be extremely complex ones.
=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003=
=The Girl and the Turtle Part 3, Part 2=
Above of the Lair, inside of the warehouse, Edward and Conrad were looking around in confusion, as nothing in there made any sense to them.
Even though they both knew that this was where Louie's residence was located in the entire town, they didn't know how or from where exactly they would get to his secret Lair from here.
Both boys explored the entire warehouse from corner to corner and almost every nook and cranny, and peeked behind of every wrecked car and the set of barrels and under of every useless trash to find if there was a secret hatches or manholes that opened to the stairs or ladders that led underground or a hidden unlock buttons, if the hatch or manhole cover in question could be mechanically locked and opened from some secret button.
However, even after going through the whole warehouse throught twice already, they still couldn't find anything, which did nothing but only increased the two boys' apparent distress and urgency.
"I couldn't find anything from here!" Conrad said with the shrug as he regrouped with his friend next to the turtles' Battle Shell that stood next to them. "Did you?"
"Nothing from here either." Edward said, shaking his head in disappointment.
Both of the boys were at lost, and at the verge of panicking, thought they just barely managed to keep their cools as they looked around of them.
"This gotta be the right place! So how in the earth do we get to Louie's place from this warehouse where there is no way to get underground." Conrad said, looking around of him.
"Maybe we should try one of the manholes outside to get underground. Maybe we could find out way through the sewer tunnel to Louie's place easier then." Edward suggested.
Conrad, however, shook his head in denial of this. "No. We would be too open out there. And besides, we don't even know the underground tunnels. We could only get lost down there."
"THEN WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO THEN?!" Edward said in near panick, paccing around restlessly. "REMEMBER THAT WE'VE GOT NOT MUCH TIME!"
"I know! I know! I'm thinking all of time, okay!" Conrad said, trying to calm down his friend while keeping his own cool.
But even after moment of thinking, even Conrad got not a clue of how to proceed from here, which increased his own desperation.
Soon, however, the two of them were distracted from their urgency to the turtles' Battle Shell, and looking over it, the two were left a quite impressed by the truck's quite unique design compared to the rather regular trucks and cars they've used to see.
"That's one cool ride." Eddie commented, calming down just a bit to marvel the Battle Shell.
"Indeed. And not the only one." Conrad added, as he looked past the Battle Shell to the turtles' other vehicles standing next to it.
Raph's red and Louie's black and avocado green bikes - the latter of which Edward and Conrad likely recognized as Louie's for having seen the turtle in black arriving with it to their place for many times over - The Sewer Slider - which had not moved from its place since Mikey and Arcee's pursue of the former's superhero career.
And next to them, the buggy Louie had "borrowed" from Dandelion's garage five days later was standing there two, to courtesy of Donatello, who had brought the buggy to the warehouse to wait for his further notice, for the turtle in purple had some plans to upgrade the new vehicle once he got time.
"When I grow up, I'd like to drive one of these." Conrad commented dreamingly.
"Yeah... if we ever even get a chance to that, because we still need to find the way to get to Louie's place and the time is running out fast." Edward reminded his friend as he walked absentmindedly to his left.
However, one single step to one certain spot from Eddie's foot set everything in the motion.
"AGH!" Edward gasped in alarm and jumped hastily back when the floor at his feet suddenly opened up into six triangular hatches that rose up and then retracted into the floor, releasing a bright pillar of light from the round opening that just opened.
Both Edward and Conrad stared wide-eyed in complete astonishment as they saw a large dark turquoise egg-shaped chamber emerge from the opening, after which the hexagonal doorway then opened into a ramp in front of them.
"Wow!" they both gasped in wonderment.
"What is this thing?" Edward said, unable to believe his eyes.
"Honestly, I don't know." Conrad said. "Somekind of weird but wicked-cool chamber or something."
And then, without the slightest of hesitation, Conrad stepped forward and stepped to the ramp to enter to the chamber, until Edward quickly grabbed from his arm to stop him.
"What are you doing?!" he hissed at his friend's face, sounding uneasy.
"Going aboard." Conrad replied.
Conrad would've continued onward and stepped into the chamber if only Edward wasn't still holding him from his arm to prevent him from doing so.
"Are you nuts?!" Edward hissed frantically. "We don't even know what this thing is, or where it even came from or where it even goes to. I don't know about you, Conrad, but... I have a bad feeling about this."
"I don't feel good about this either, but we just gotta try it anyway. As you said, we're running out of time." Conrad said, trying to sound positive, though he too felt a great deal of uneasiness about this. "Besides, this might lead us to Louie's place."
Edward, however, didn't sound all too convinced. "How are you so sure about this?"
"Well, this thing, whatever it is, came out of the ground right here. Right at this warehouse where Louie's place is located." Conrad theorized, gesturing first at the chamber, then at the ground beneath their feet and then at the warehouse they were in right now.
"So this chamber might just as well take us to underground and right to Louie's place... at least I hope so." he added hopefully.
"Still not convinced." Edward replied, sounding scared. "We don't really know what awaits us in the other end."
"Then... there's only one way to find out. C'mon! Time's running out!" Conrad said and ran into the chamber.
But when Conrad saw that Edward wasn't moving, he walked annoyedly back down to him.
"It's either this chamber or this down here!" Conrad said, pointing at Edward's stomach. "Which one's gonna be!" Conrad added, before he ran back into the chamber.
Edward was still reluctant to enter a chamber out of fear of where it might take them once they entered, but knowing that Conrad was right at least that they didn't have much time to find Louie, and not willing to choose the latter, he quickly ran after his friend.
And after the two had entered into the chamber, the hieroglyphics, the small crystals embedded in the wall and the big one in the ceiling began to glow, enlightening the chamber, much to the boys amazement.
"Wow!" they gasped again.
"Cool! Some kind of ancient hieroglyphs and polished gems, I think. None of them are of Egyptian origin though, that's for sure. And I've never seen such kind of gems before." Conrad said as he took a closer look.
However, something confused Edward to the point that he paid no attention to the hieroglyphs and crystals. "But how do we get this thing to move? It came from below and can possibly go back, yet I don't see any elevator buttons anywhere."
However, soon after he said this, the doorway slammed shut after them, sealing them inside, shocking the tow boys.
But before the fear and nervousness could take them over, they felt the chamber shake slightly before it began to descend downward.
"Hey! We're going down!" Conrad stated.
###
Meanwhile, elsewhere at the surface, after leaving the Lair, Louie had settled on one of the rooftops, where the turtle in black was right at the moment angrily pacing around while mumbling something under his breath.
"My fault. May fault. Yeah, sure. Everything is MY FAULT!" Louie seethed. "It's never anybody else's fault but mine!"
To went his anger into something, Louie, noticing the tied up stack of newspapers lying next to him, picked it up and threw it into the air with the roar.
Louie then quickly pulled out his Butterfly swords and swung one of them up at the string keeping the stack together, cutting it and allowing the newspapers to rain down on the infuriated turtle in black.
"IT... ISN'T... MY... SHELL-ING... FAULT!" Louie roared as he wildly swung both of his short swords at each and everyone of the falling newspapers from left and right, slicing them in his boiling anger.(1)(2)
The turtle in black was panting heavily as the pages of the newspapers he had sliced, impressively yes, into the shapes of the lightning bolts, fell around of him to the roof.(2)
"It isn't my fault that me and Angel fell into that trap we never even knew was there the whole time. If I had known I would've thought twice before putting Angel into any harm's way." Louie lamented. "Both Dom and Master Splinter are overreacting! Me? "Reckless and Irresponsible?" BAH! Bite my shell!"
Louie then put his swords away before he took a deep breath to calm himself down, but he kept pacing around in his thoughts.
"When comes that beautiful day when Dom will finally stop watching after my shell all of time and leave me alone?" Louie asked softly from himself, with his hands behind his shell and his downcasted gaze in the roof. "And Master Splinter should've known me better than to be that "irresponsible" about taking Angel to the harm's way, which I would've never done if I hadn't known."
This was followed by the moment of silence, until Loue's head jerked up when he suddenly heard the car driving pretty fast down the road in the street level, and was just about to drive past the building the roof of which he was standing on.
Out of some sort of curiosity or just to pull his mind away from his recent and rather depressing argument with his brother and sensei, Louie looked over the edge and down to the street level to see what was the commotion.
The turtle in black was rather surprised to realise that it was no other but L.J. Alcatraz's own personal limo, that was driving fast down the road to the unknown destination.
"Huh? That's interesting. Alcatraz is still in the town." Louie pointed out to himself with the raised eyebrow.
It was about a week since Alcatraz's rap concert night at the Madison Square Garden, during of which the rap star should've been on the move to his next destination, and yet he was still in the town for some reason.
"And yet I thought he already left the town on to his next destination for his next night." Louie said to himself.
The turtle in black also took into account the speed of his limousine, which was over the speed limit for this street. However, the turtle in black only assumed it was because Alcatraz was in the hurry to head down the road and out of the town.
"Well, off he goes then." Louie said, as he walked away from the edge of the roof.
Then, out of the unresistable urge from the back of his mind, Louie turned to look in the direction he knew Angel's place was located, which wasn't even far away from the spot where he was standing right now.
Louie looked in that direction for a long time in silence and longingly, before the turtle in black let out a sad sigh as he closed his eyes and thought of both Angel and the good times the two of them had spent together last week, which flashbacked in her eyes.
Such as him asking her for the date night at her place after saving her and her grandmother from Dandelion's thugs three weeks back, even if Angel had argued that it wasn't a date night, just a friendly late-night hanging out together.
Them having fun at the Central Park, with them playfully pushing each other into the lake and him giving Angel a little lesson about the ninjas' stealth, sensing and the awareness of the surrounding with that hide-and-seek game.
Him and Angel jumping together off the top of the Chrysler Building and them free falling down till they both flew and ran along the rooftops and the buildings' walls before hitchhiking a ride from the monorail train.
Their common night at the Madison Square Garden, watching Alcatraz's rap concert before challenging him into the rap battle after he dropped that mic in his hands, before he beat Alcatraz in his own game before summoning Angel to rap alongside him on the stage.
Him and Angel speaking to one another in front of her place after the concert and the ride back home, where the two of them had caught lost into each others' endearing gazes for one another before quickly snapping out of it.
Him taking Angel to meet his friends, Wendy, Jake, Edward, Conrad, Minnie, Laura, Jessica, Buck, Angela, Oliver, Twins and their dog Flow at the abandoned hotel they were inhabiting, and have a rather entertaining musical pizza party there.
And finally after that, him and Angel stopping together that money transfer truck's highjacking at the highway, even if the whole thing proved out to be a set up.
Those were a pretty good memories even though they all happened just last week.
Louie let out another sad sigh as longer he kept looking in Angel's place's direction, he seemed to hear a small voice inside him gently urging him to follow his heart and go to Angel.
However, Louie felt quite torn between of following or resisting that urge.
That urging did clash with the memory of both Ellie and Master Splinter forbidding him from seeing her again because of his so-much-talked-about danger prone qualities... as well as with Louie's utter disinterest of being once again scolded for going against the direct orders and especially this ban.
That latter thought, however, wiped the conflicted look away from Louie's face and replaced it with the grim frown... as it brought to his mind the idea that Dom was once again secretly watching him from the shadows like he did the last time, making sure that he won't go against the ban by going to Angel.
With that in mind, Louie turned around and looked everywhere, expecting his annoying big brother to be hiding behind of any corner on this roof.
"I know you're out there in hiding, Dom! I know you're watching me, again! So do a favor for both of us and go away!" Louie shouted aloud.
Louie waited for a moment for an answer or for his brother to come out of hiding now that his presence was known to the turtle in black.
However, after a moment of waiting, there was no answer and Dom wasn't nowhere to be seen.
"Don't bother to remain in hiding, Dom. You've already been spotted! So get your sorry shell out so that I can kick it again!" Louie called out impatiently.
He waited for a moment again, but still no answer from his brother.
Louie snorted in annoyance and, not caring if Dom was out there or not and not bothering to waste his time looking for him so he could kick him in the shield, turned to look back in the direction of Angel's place.
The urge to go see Angel in his heart, and his own personal desire to see her again, quickly increased to the point where the turtle in black could no longer resist it, even with the risk of being seen by Dom of going against the ban and then being reprimanded for it by him or Master Splinter again.
Not caring about that a one bit, Louie then made his decision and left this roof towards the direction of Angel's place.
First Louie jumped off the roof and grabbed on the next buildings fire-escape before he climbed along it to the top of the next building. There, he ran to the other side of the rooftop before hopping off and onto the roof of the water tower. From there, he hopped down and onto the chimney that was close to the edge and then dived over the edge of the roof with the flip, before he began to fall down.
However, as he fell down, a bus fortunately happened to drive over the spot Louie was about to land, allowing the turtle in black to land onto its roof to hitch the ride towards Angel's place.
However, as he made his way to Angel's place, he never realized that that was where Alcatraz's limousine had came from, nor the surprise that was awaiting him in there.
After some time, when the bus finally reached to Angel's place and was about to drive past it, Louie hopped off the bus' roof to the street and quickly hid behind of the parked car to avoid being seen by any pedestrians if there was any.
When it looked like he hasn't being seen nor was there any pedestrians nearby, Louie moved stealthily out from behind the car and on all fours like a crab, looking everywhere twice to ensure the coast was clear as he went towards the stairs and up to Angel's place's door.
Once he reached to the door, he quietly knocked to the door.
"Angel?" he whispered quietly, before knocking to the door again.
Louie waited for a moment to except some sort of response from Angel, like seeing the lights turning on from the window and the nnext seeing her face as she either peeked through the window, or opened the door a bit to peek through the gap to see who was there.
However, as he looked at the window, he saw that the lights were not turned on even after he had knocked loud enough for the occupants to hear him, and no one looked through the window outside, not Angel nor Ellie.
And there was no response from behind the door either, such as incoming steps or the turning of the door handle. And the door was never opened, not even a slightest bit, to reveal at least one of the occupants face through the gap.
Louie was confused because it wasn't even bedtime yet, and Angel was already at the age where she wouldn't be going to bed this early tonight.
The turtle in black then tried one more time to knock on the door, while calling for the occupants. "Angel? Angel? Ellie? Anyone there?" Louie called, but no response came.
Louie then looked down at the doorknob and reached towards it with his hand to give it a try out of both curiosity and suspicion that something was wrong, although he knew it would be pointless of course since the door was pretty much locked from the inside.
However, giving it a try was better option, because there was no way that he would break down the door or burst through the window to get inside to see whether the Angel and Ellie were in there.
But when he turned it down, Louie was surprised to see that the door was not locked at all!
"Not locked?" Louie whispered to himself in confusion, as he opened the door a bit.
The turtle in black looked around one more time to see if there was no one watching this, before he quickly slipped inside and put the door close behind him.
As soon as he was inside, Lou was greeted by both darkness and an eerie silence throughout the apartment.
Growing suspicious, but also concerned for both Angel and Ellie, Louie quickly rushed out of the lobby and searched through the apartment, starting from the living room, then the bathroom, kitchen and the bedrooms.
But he didn't find Angel and Ellie anywhere.
Louie also quickly searched through of Angel's and Ellie's rooms for their Shell Cells he had given to them, but didn't find them either, which only increased Louie's concern and suspicion about this.
"Where they could've gone?" Louie said as he stood in the living room, looking around while scratching his head in his throughts.
Louie then spotted something on the table next to the living room's wall, which made him gasp!
A note of paper had been left on the table, a message he guess, which was attached to the table with a rather large and sinister-looking knife!
"What the shell is this?" Louie asked, as he took the paper and ripped it free from the knife and looked down on it.
His eyes widened when he saw above the paper and the message the symbol he had seen before, an image of the dandelion flower with the letter W written over it:
William Dandelion's symbol!
"Dandelion!" Louie whispered, as a dreadful thought came up in his mind.
And those thoughts were confirmed true when he looked back down to the paper and read the message left... for him shall he find it.
The ninja turtle Lorenzo.
If you are reading this letter, please know that I have located the home of your lovely friend Angel Bridge and kidnapped both her and her granddmother.
But don't worry. They are safe...at least for now. But it depends only on you and how you decide to act, how safe they are in and how long it will be that way
If you wish to see your friend still alive, come and meet me - or some of my top guys - in the Central Park as soon as you receive this letter, where I demand that you surrender yourself to my men who are there waiting in exchange for your friends' lives.
And don't try any tricks, because if you do, all you'll get in return is their heads on a platter!
Remember, in the Central Park as soon as you receive this letter!
We'll be waiting.
William Dandelion.
"NO!" Louie gasped with horror.
Now knowing the truth why neither Angel or Ellie where at home and that who was the culprit behind it, Louie angrily crumbled the message into the ball and tossed it away, before the turtle in black rushed to the door.
And as he did, he took out the remote control of his Shell Cycle and pressed the button to summon his bike to him.
"TO ME, MY NOBLE BIKE!" Louie said.
Meanwhile, inside of the warehouse above the Lair, almost right after the chamber had descended underground with Edward and Conrad onboard and the hatches sealed the hole shut, Louie's bike's engrine sprung alive on its own and turned its headlights on.
And as the warehouse's doors slid open, Louie's bike revved up by itself and speeded out of the warehouse and down to the street, heading as fast as it could straight to the source of the signal.
As Louie's bike speeded down across the blocks towards Angel's place, several pedestrians it passed on its way gasped and gaped with wide-eyed wonder upon seeing the bike riding down the street all by itself with no one riding on it, making them to look like they've just seen a ghost.
As Louie's bike swept past them, the utterly puzzled people began to mutter to each other, asking if anybody else saw what they had just seen, asking what it was, though nobody had not a glue, or questioning whether it was just their own hallucinations.
And upon reaching to Angel's place where Louie was standing in front of the stairs, waiting for his bike, before the turtle in black jumped on top of the car's roof and then made a long leap over the street... just as his bike drove just below him, i.e. below the starting point of the signal it received.
Louie then landed onto his bike, before he took the reins and then headed towards Central Park.
"HANG ON, ANGEL! I'M COMING!" Louie let out.
###
In the Lair
Inside the chamber, Edward and Conrad were still waiting for the chamber to end its descent and arrive at its underground destination, which felt like quite an eternity to them. After all, there was no windows in the chamber to look outside nor the list of floors anywhere that could show them just how far below underground they had already descended.
Until, all of a sudden, they could feel the chamber slowly slowing its descent.
"Hey! Can you feel it?" Edward asked from his friend as he looked up at the ceiling. "This chamber. It's slowing dowm."
"Yes. I can feel it too." Conrad confirmed, as he turned towards the chamber's door. "I think that we're almost in our destination."
"And hopefully it is the one we're looking for." Edward hoped.
After a little more waiting, the chamber finally came to its full stop, allowing the boys to turn towards the doorway and wait for it to open up and show them where the chamber had taken them.
Then the doors of the chamber slid apart in the middle, opening the way into the Turtles' Lair.
And once they saw the Lair's design and structure with their very own eyes, both Edward's and Conrad's eyes grew as wide as saucers and their mouths fell slack in astonishment.
"Wow!" they said in unison in awe.
Slowly but certainly, Edward and Conrad then stepped out of the chamber and entered the Lair, looking around of them in wonderment.
"Wow! It's like an underground castle!" Edward admitted when he saw how much the whole structure resembled something like a hall in a medieval castle.
"Really? To me, this doesn't quite look like a medieval design at all, but maybe something older." Conrad said as he took a closer look of the structure.
However, both boys were so distracted in marveling the Lair that they failed to realize a certain things around here.
One was that the Lair seemed to be deserted, for there was eerily quiet and no one seemed to be in there. The second one was that the Lair was plunged into darkness, but it wasn't a pitch-black darkness where no one could see beyond their noses. There was just enough of darkness to keep the visibility clear, so that one could at least see the simplies details of the Lair's structures.
The crystal in the ceiling of the still open chamber provided the boys a light and an extra visibility to see around more clearer.
At least to the point where the chamber's doors then slammed shut, plunging the boys into the darkness.
SLAM!
The doors closing so loudly behind the boys startled them, snapping them out of their thoughts before they turned towards the door.
"Oh, no! There goes our ride!" Edward said in alarm. "How are we going to get out of here!"
"I think we got more bigger things to worry about now than getting out of here." Conrad said, quickly remembering why they came here. "We need to find Louie and quickly."
As they looked around, both boys finally came to a realization that there was nobody in sight, and that the whole Lair was deserted, not the mention that it was pretty dark in here that ti was good that they were at least able to see beyond of their noses.
The boys then dared to move cautiously away from the door and walked down the ramp to the central circle of the Lair, while looking around them for any sign of life, though there was none to be seen.
"So quiet. So dark. And I don't even see anyone in here." Edward said nervously in whisper. "Are you sure that this is Louie's place?"
"Why wouldn't it be." Conrad questioned in whisper. "This place appears to be either long forgotten or nobody doesn't even know its existence."
"And I don't wonder why." Edward said. "This place looks completely abandoned."
However, Conrad didn't share the same thoughts with his friend, as he looked around like suspecting something.
"Then why do I have a feeling that we're being watched." Conrad asked.
As soon as he said that, Edward became even more restless. "Ugh! I wish you hadn't said that! I'm already on the edge due to the reason why we're even here, and it doesn't help to know that we're being watched while not knowing by who."
Little did the boys knew how correct they actually were about being watched.
Indeed, they were being watched by eight figures hiding in the shadows in various places in the Lair.
The first one was hidden right at the top of the pillar near the doorway, just above the boys as they walked past it.
The second one was pressed against the wall of the outer circle, right next to the ramp the boys walked down it to the central circle, and they didn't even notice him.
The third one was pressed low against the edge of the causeway of the upstairs, looking down on the boys.
The fourth one was hiding behind one of the pillar on the other side of the Lair, peeking from behind of it at the boys.
The fifth was hiding in the pool in the center circle, half submerged while peering over the edge of the pool, and the boys didn't even see him.
The sixth one was hiding under the bridge going over the pool, like that nasty troll in that certain story.(3)
The seventh one was hiding behind the couch in the living area, carefully peering over the back of the couch of the boys' direction.
And the eighth and last one was hiding in plain sight, standing motionless in the shadows between two pillars that he seemed to blend into the wall.
The only one thing that revealed their presence was their in the dark glowing white eyes, though neither of the boys noticed that.
In the Central Park
Elsewhere on the surface, Louie had already arrived to Central Park and drove in there with his bike.
Initially, the turtle in black drove down the streets of Central Park and searched through almost the whole place in order to find the meeting place that Dandelion had mentioned in his letter back at Angel's, but so far he couldn't find it anywhere.
At least not somewhere where there could be both lively pedestrian traffic and a lot of eyewitnesses to witness the shady dealings.
However, it take too long when this fact gave Louie an idea that the meeting place must be somewhere off the pedestrian road and in the woods of the park, where there is no danger of witnesses whatsoever..
With that in mind, Louie pulled off the road into the thickets and parked next to the first tree he came across and turned off his bike's engine.
The turtle in black then left his bike to lean against the tree - though not before hiding it with the thick layer of branches of deciduous trees and shrubs - and set off to find a meeting place on foot.
But as he made his way stealthily through the dark thickets, Louie remained ever alert and looked around suspiciously, expecting to be followed, stalked, watched and or led into a trap by Dandelion's men waiting in hiding.
Which is why he kept his sword within reach all of time, ready to defend himself if this turns to be an ambush.
Louie eventually made his way to the small open area in the park and looked around, but there was still no sight of Dandelion, his men or Angel and Ellie anywhere.
Louie let out a groan in frustration, believing that he had either been looking in the wrong place, again, or then he was deliberately led to the wild-goose chase by those dandelion-obsessed maniacs, that he gave in to the impatience and dropped both his guard and all the stealthy.
"DANDELION! I AM HERE! COME AND GET ME!" Louie let out from the top of his lungs, hoping and knowing that Dandelion heard him loud and clear.
Louie then waited for an answer from the mob boss, but it never came after waiting it for a while.
And keeping him waiting was already trying the turtle in black's already thin patience.
"DANDELION! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! I CAME HERE JUST LIKE YOU ASKED! JUST LET ANGEL AND ELLIE GO AND WE'LL SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Louie let out once again.
But after waiting for some time more, there was still no answer.
"QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH ME, DANDELION, BECAUSE I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THAT! I'M IN THE MOOD OF SOME GOOD OLD SMACKDOWN!" Louie said, punching his palm.
However, before Louie needed to wait any longer, the turtle in black was caught off guard when he was all of the sudden hit by the high beams light of the vehicle.
And he was not hit by the high beams of just one car, but also the high beams of the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth car, leaving the turtle in black in middle of the combined sloplight.
"Whatta...?!" Louie gasped as he shielded his eyes from the light with his arms.
In the Lair
In the Lair, Edward and Conrad had searched the entire downstairs of the Lair - including the living area, Donnie's lab and workshop, the kitchen and bathroom, and even Master Splinter's own room - and while they did marvel the interior of the Lair, especially the living area's multi-screen TV array, they still hadn't found a single soul in the whole place.
"We're running out of time! He's gotta be here somewhere!" Edward said in near panic.
"Agreed! But where?" Conrad questioned, sounding a pretty restless as well.
Lost and unable to explain to themselves why this place was so deserted, let alone where Louie was if this was his place, both boys resorted to a last ditch effort to find their turtle friend.
"LOUIE?!" Conrad called aloud, with his voice echoing in the Lair. "LOUIE?!"
"LOUIE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Edward called as well. "LOUIE! ANSWER TO US!"
"LOUIE! ARE YOU HERE?!" Conrad called again, desperately.
"LOUIE!" Edward called again, from the top of his lungs. "LORENZO!"
From their hiding spots, the shadowy figures' eyes went wide when they overheard the boys calling Louie's name.
And then, without the boys' notice, one of the figures hiding behind the pillar in the other side of the Lair, stealthily came out of his hiding spot and leaped swiftly across the Lair and over their heads, making no sound as he landed behind them.
The figure then turned around towards the boys and took out his staff, before he reached it out and gently tapped with it Edward in the right shoulder a couple times.
"Excuse me, but do you boys realize that you're breaking and entering into someone's home uninvited?" the figure questioned with Donnie's voice.
"AGH!" the boys gasped, frightened and taken by surprise, as they turned around to see Donnie's shadowy form and jumped in back in alarm.
The boys then jumped back again when the figure, who had been hiding behind the couch of the living room, landed right behind of them, causing them to turn towards him.
"And breaking in is a punishable criiiiiiiiiiiiime." the figure added with sing-song voice as he waved his finger scoldingly at the boys, sounding like Mikey.
The boys then turned towards the pool when they heard the splashing sound, and they saw a third soaking wet figure climbing out of the pool.
"Especially when it comes to people who stick their noses in places where they shouldn't!" the figure said sternly, sounding Dom.
The tensed boys and Donnie, Mikey and Dom were then joined by next two figures: one landed gracefully down from the upstairs and another flipping out from under of the bridge and landing gracefully to the edge of the pool before joining the others.
"C'mon, guys! Give them some break!" the figure, who was hiding under the bridge, said to the others, sounding like Arcee. "They're just children."
"Very brave children indeed by coming down here without knowing where they might end up to." the other figure who came from upstairs commented half-praisingly and half-scoldingly, sounding like Mary.
Edward and Conrad huddled together, tensed of seeing being surrounded by the turtles' shadowy figures, who stared down at them with suspicious or disapproval frowns on their faces, save for one, Arcee, who looked down at them with pity.
However, upon seeing how much their physical appearances resembled Louie's despite the shadows covering their bodies, Conrad managed to gather some courage enough to stepd out and hold up his hands as a sign of peace.
Edward, who had no doubt noticed himself too the similarities between Louis and these guys, still huddled against his friend's back, nervously looking up at the shadowy figures. Although he was used to Louie's appearance and presence, he didn't quite felt the same about the rest of their turtle friend's family after the not-so-warm welcome they'd just received.
"Please. Forgive us from breaking and entering, but we're not here for the trouble." Conrad told them honestly.
Another figure on the top of the pillar near the doorway then hopped down and walked down to his brothers and sisters, along with the other figure that had been hiding against the outer circle's wall.
"That depends on you how well you answer to some of our questions." the first figure said authoritatively, souding like Leo. "First question: Who are you two?"
Before either Conrad or Edward could answer to that, the second figure stepped out from behind Leo, casting upon them a rather nerve-wracking scowl.
"Second question: How did you know where to find us?" the figure asked quite roughly, sounding like Raph.
But before Conrad and Edward could answer to that too, the lights of the Lair were suddenly turned on, revealing all seven turtles to the boys, who blinked their eyes accustomed to the darkness to get used to the light now that they were turned on.
Everybody then turned towards where the switcher of the lights were and, much to Conrad's and Edward's surprise and astonishment, saw Master Splinter standing there, having used his staff to turn the switcher up to turn the lights on.
Master Splinter eyes both kids sternly, like the father who had just caught two of his mischievous and undisciplined son from trying to sneak away when the eye avoids.
"And the third question, how do you know my son Lorenzo...and what business do you have with him?"
Both the old rat master and the turtles then turned to look at Conrad and Edward, waiting for them to answer.
In the Central Park
Back in the Central Park, Louie was still being pinned and blinded by the high beams of the cars in front of him, until a voice began to speak to him through of the megaphone from behind of the lights.
"WELL, HELLO, HELLO, HELLO THERE! GOOD EVENENING, MR. LORENZO!" said a voice.
Louie blinked his eyes - or as best as he could while being blinded by the lights - in surprise as that smooth voice sounded quite familiar, but it wasn't the voice of the certain guy he right expected to be here tonight.
In other words, it wasn't Dandelion but...
"JOHANNES! THAT YOU?!" Louie spat.
"QUITE RIGHT. LORENZO! THAT'S ME!" Johannes said.
It was indeed none other than Sir Johannes Victor, standing behind the high beams of the twelve pick-up trucks parked in a crescent-shaped row, holding the megaphone in his hands. He was flanked by his brother Marcus Victor and Helga Esterson, and behind the three of them was standing over 200 Dandelions, armed with various melee weapons.
I see that you got the boss' message! Took a bit sooner than what we initially thought!" Johannes told into his megaphone.
"QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH ME, JOHANNES! I'M HERE FOR MY FRIENDS ONLY, AND WHERE'S DANDELION ANYWAY!" Louie demanded.
"BUT MR. DANDELIONS IS UNFORTUNATELY UNABLE TO ATTEND THIS EVENING, SO WE'LL REPLACE HIM IN THIS MATTER." Dandelion replied apologetically.
Louie was neither disappointed or surprised upon hearing the reason why Dandelion wasn't here tonight as he had said in his letter, though it only brought in his mind only one thing how to describe his absence.
"Coward." the turtle in black muttered, before he quickly went back to business.
"ALRIGHT! NO MATTER! I'LL BE DEALING WITH YOU AND MARCUS AND HELGA, IF THOSE TWO LOSERS ARE HERE WITH YOU AS WELL!" Louie told to Johannes. "ARE ANGEL AND ELLIE IN HERE?!"
"SAFE AND SOUND!" Johannes informed to him. "I TRUST THAT YOU'VE READ THE TERMS IN THE BOSS' LETTER, MR. LORENZO. SO YOU KNOW HOW THIS GOES, DON'T YOU?!"
"Oh, I do." Louie said to himself with the bored eye-roll. "BUT I ALSO HAVE A TERMS OF MY OWN AS WELL!"
Before Johannes could respond to that, Marcus, who had overhead Louie's mention about the terms of his own, rudely snatched the megaphone from his brother's hand and held it in front of his mouth to respond for him... in his own way, of course.
"YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO MAKE ANY TERMS, FREAK! ONLY OUR TERMS COUNTS, AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, OR YOUR FRIENDS SHALL DIE!" Marcus roared into the megaphone.
"YOU LET YOUR TRIGGER-HAPPY MUTT OF A BROTHER TO SPEAK FOR YOUR, JOHANNES?!" Louie asked tountingly.
"Gimme that!" Johannes snapped and snatched the megaphone back from Marcus, giving his brother a warning scowl before putting the megaphone in front of his mouth again.
"DON'T MIND ABOUT MY BROTHER, MR. LORENZO! SURE WE CAN BE ALL CIVILIZED HERE AND HEAR EACH OTHERS' TERMS ABSOLUTELY!" he said to the turtle in black
Marcus growled at his brother in annoyance of him accepting to hear Louie's terms, while all he wanted to do was to skip the terms and blow the turtle in black's head off like he nearly did the last time.
"SO WHAT SHALL BE YOUR TERMS?! I'LL TAKE A MAXIMUM OF THREE!" Johannes said.
He didn't need to wait to hear them for long, because Louie had taken his time to think carefully over his own terms during of his ride in the central park... and more than just a three of them, but the three was fine nonetheless.
"ALL RIGHT! HERE ARE MY TERMS!" Louie started. "FIRST OF, GET THOSE DAMN LIGHTS OUT OF MY FACE, WILL YOU?!"
"THAT'LL BE a FIRST! SECOND ONE?" Johannes said.
"I WANT YOU TO BRING ANGEL AND ELLIE IN THE FRONT SO THAT I CAN SEE THEM!" Louie demanded.
"THAT'LL BE A SECOND! THIRD AND LAST ONE!" Johannes said.
"YOU WILL LET ANGEL AND ELLIE TO COME TO ME FIRST!" Louie demanded. "AND ONCE I'VE SEEN THEM SAFELY AWAY FROM HERE, I'LL TURN MYSELF IN! ON MY WORD OF HONOR!"
There was a long moment of silence after that, though Louie could hear a distant mumbling of Johannes, Marcus and Helga. And though he couldn't hear them clearly, Louie could at least assume that it was Johannes arguing with his brother and Helga.
Marcus likely strongly objected to accepting Louie's terms, noting that he would make a getaway as soon as Angel and Ellie were handed over to him. Helga agreed with him and suggested sending several men with the prisoners to make sure Louie would comply with his part of the terms, and several other men around the clearing to cut off his escape route already.
However, something was off here when he couldn't hear Johannes doing much of if not any arguing with his brother, nor accepting or denying Helga's own suggestions, but remained mostly quiet and neutral in the whole situation as if in his own thoughs.
This gave Louie a hint that Johannes knew something what Marcus or Helga apparently didn't know, something what HE didn't know, but something what even Dandelion himself likely knew.
After a moment, Louie began to hear again some murmuring, and it was this time Johannes speaking to both Marcus and Helga.
The turtle in black didn't quite hear what he was saying but he was likely either reasoning with them about the fairness of Louie's terms, or reassuring them that he had everything under control, or that everything was going exactly according to some kind of plan.
This was followed by another brief silence, and Louie couldn't hear neither Marcus and Helga either accepting or refusing whatever Johannes had told them. However, the former was most likely in Helga's case and the latter in Marcus' case.
And then, Louie heard Johannes speaking to the megaphone again.
"VERY WELL, MR. LORENZO! YOUR TERMS SHALL BE ACCEPTED, BUT ON THE CONDITION THAT TWO OF OUR PEOPLE COMES TO ESCORT THE PRISONERS DOWN TO YOU AND SEE THAT YOU FULFILL YOUR OWN PART OF THE DEAL!" Johannes informed.
This made Louie to roll his eyes. Of course they were were smart enough to suspect that he wouldn't hold on to his word of honor by turning himself in once Angel and Ellie were released and returned to him.
Truth to be told, they were actually right about suspecting Louie of doing so, because there happened to be a loophole in the whole deal which Johannes, Helga, Marcus, their people and likely even Dandelion had failed to see.
Louie was indeed planning the escape from the Dandelions... right after he had seen Angel and Ellie safely returned to him and sent away to safety before he will keep his word of honor and give himself up to the gangsters as part of the deal.
And when that was done, he would take advantage of that overlooked loophole and make his move to escape from the Dandelions' clutches... technically without going back on his word.
"Ugh, You of little faith." the turtle in black groaned, before he gave Johannes his answer. "ALRIGHT! FAIR ENOUGH!
In the Lair
Back in the Lair, Splinter and the rest of the turtles listened intently as both Edward and Conrad introduced themselves to the mutant family and addressed themselves as Louie's friends, before they explained their backstory of how they met and came to know Louie personally few years ago.
The turtles were mostly amazed by the story, especially the part where Louie had managed to take down four full-grown criminals down all by himself, despite his young age, to protect these two boys and tghe rest of their friends
Master Splinter, however, wasn't quite pleased to learn that Louie had deliberatelly disobeyed his direct order to stay hidden on the surface till his arrival by revealing himself to the humans... of which he had never said a single word about.
However, despite being a little upset about that, Master Splinter couldn't find it in his heart to be completely angry with Louie, who according to these two boys had just done what he had felt a right thing to do back then: To protect those who are unable to.
This made Splinter feel begrudgingly proud of his son for his noble deed.
"Wow! Louie did all of that stuff?" Mikey said in awe.
"He defeated four full-grown crooks?" Arcee questioned in disbelief.
"ALL BY HIMSELF!" Raph exclaimed, eyes widden from shock.
"Even if he was just a child back then?" Mary questioned.
The two boys then looked away from the turtles sheepishly, because they recalled that they too played their own part in that night, particularly in saving Louie's life by defeating the crooks' leader, and were expecting to be praised by the turtles for their courage.
"Well, he didn't manage to beat all of them though. He did miss one. The crooks' boss." Edward corrected.
"Louie's bravery kinda inspired us and everyone else to stand up and defend our own turf." Conrad added.
"And not a moment too soon when that crook boss had revealed Louie's identity as a mutant turtle to us and had him in his mercy." Edward added.
"So technically, we repayed to Louie by saving his life in return of saving ours." Conrad finished.
Dom has his arms crossed over his plastron, wearing an upset look on his face that matched with Splinter's though far less understanding towards Louie's actions than what Splinter had.
"Yeah, maybe, but still... Louie got seen by you and those guys. That all proves nothing but him going against..." Dom was about to say, as the turtle in white got another excuse to call Louie out on his irresponsibility.
However, he was quickly silenced when Master Splinter gave him a small whack in the top of his head with his staff.
"OW! What?" Dom protested, but Splinter said nothing as he walked past him and his other children towards the two boys.
Master Splinter then walked up to the two boys. "Well, while that was both noble thing from Lorenzo, and brave thing from you and your friends to do, of which I'm grateful to you two, but still you have failed to answer to one simple question."
"Oh?" they both said in unison.
"Yeah. For starters, if you two know Lorenzo, and he knows about you... has Louie ever told you where we live?" Donnie questioned.
The turtle in purple's question made Edward and Conrad to look each other, and they both grew restless remarkably quickly as if they knew where this was slowly going.
"No. He has not." Conrad said honestly.
"Never hasn't." Edward added, shaking his head in denial.
"That's the truth. We swear it." Conrad swore. "Louie has never told us where you guys even live."
This answer left the turtles and Splinter both puzzled and suspicious, because Edward and Conrad ended up finding the location of their Lair on their own, which was on the contrary to their claims that Louie had never revealed their home's location.
"Then how did you find our place?" Leo questioned.
The boys exchanged another glances with each other, while growing even more and more anxious.
In the Central Park
Back in Central Park, in compliance with Louie's first conditions, the high beams of the Dandelions' cars were turned off, giving way to darkness once more.
And when the lights of the cars were turned off, Louie was able to see again, and the turtle in black could even see that on the other side of the crescent-shaped line of cars stood the thirteenth car, which was a van.
He saw Johannes sending two of his men - one with the scarlet suit and hat, and one with the purplish suit and hat - to the van. And once the two gangsters reached to it, they slid open its side door, revealing at least four people sitting inside.
The two of them sitting in the seats next to the doors were, of course, two new members of the Dandelion's mafia members, but the two other people sitting between them didn't seem like gangsters at all, but rather prisoners, whose hands were tied behind their backs and sacks were put over their heads.
And not just any prisoners.
One of the prisoners was wearing Angel's turquoise hoodie and crimson pants, while the other prisoner was wearing Ellie's purple fabric blouse and gray pants.
Louie narrowed his eyes darkly at Johannes, Marcus, Helga and all of the Dandelions for having taken both Angel and Ellie as their prisoners, not to mention of how they have both been treated by these low-life criminals.
Every instinct within Louie's system urged him to charge forward and tear his way through of these criminals to get to Angel and Ellie to free them, but he held himself back by the sheer willpower, while silently reminding himself that they were surrounded by 200 heavily armed crooks with no qualms of hurting other people, whether they are young teens or eldery folk, and they would still hurt or maybe even kill them long before Louie even got to them.
So Louie forced himself to stick to his original plan.
The scarlet-suited goon then grabbed from Angel's right arm while the purplish-suited goon grabbed from Ellie's left arm, before they both began to lead the blindfolded prisoners' way towards Louie, occassionally and slightly roughly tugging both Angel's and Ellie's arms to keep up with them.
"THE PRISONERS ARE ON THEIR WAY DOWN TO YOU, MR. LORENZO!" Johannes informed to Louie. "SO BE PREPARED TO TURN YOURSELF IN TO OUR GUYS AS YOU PROMISED ONCE THEY GET TO YOU!"
"REMEMBER, JOHANNES! ONLY AFTER ANGEL AND ELLIE ARE HANDED OVER TO ME!" Louie reminded as he watched the goons and the prisoners march towards him.
It didn't take long - even if it did feel anxiously long enough - before the goons and prisoners had finally made it to Louie, though they kept a small distance from the turtle in black.
As the long minutes went by, Louie was quickly starting to get impatient when the goons just stood there and didn't brought Angel and Ellie all the way to him as agreed.
"Let them go!" Louie demanded. "Either you bring them all the way to me or you let them come to me. I will only turn myself in once they're both in my side."
The goons then glanced at each other and had a quick silent conversation with one another, before they both let go of Angel and Ellie and pushed them roughly towards Louie... though not too roughly to knock them over to the ground.
In the Lair
Back in the Lair, both Conrad and Edward hadn't yet answered to the turtles' and Splinter's question of how did they find the way into their home if they hadn't been informed where they lived.
"Well?" Leo gently pressured the boys to speak up.
However, instead of answering to the question, the two were beginning to sweat nervously and breathing heavily and aunxiously.
Mikey and Arcee both grew quite worried about the boys after seeing this drastic change in their behavior.
"Hey, are you little dudes' okay?" the turtle in orange asked worriedly.
"What's got into you two?" Arcee asked gently.
Neither of the boys spoke up, even if they were under of the gazes of the seven Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and one rat, whose expressions variated between of concern for them and suspicion of them.
Instead, they turned away from their gazes and looked down to the floor, and the anxious looks never left from their faces.
Observing the boys' anxious looks, their restless behavior and reluctance to speak carefully, Arcee deduced that they had some sort of reason or purpose for coming down here: Something they had to do, apparently against their will, but both were conflicted about whether or not they should whatever they had come here for.
Also, they both seemed to be aware of somekind of consequences if they chose the latter, which was likely to be something dreadful.
But the question was what.
Arcee then proceeded to ask the boys a very difficult question about this matter.
"Guys? Has someone told you, or even forced you against your own will to come down here? Someone who, by any chance, happens to know where to find us?" the turtle in pink questioned. "If so, then who and what for?"
The others, taken aback by Arcee's question, wainted intently for the boys' reply.
This question seemed to get both boys off the edge, making them to look at each other with panicked looks and as if saying to each other "They know!", thus confirming the turtle in pink's suspicions of the reason for the boys' presence in their Lair.
They weren't here coincidentally, but were indeed told to come here.
Now they needed to find out by who and what for.
"Go on! Speak up!" Dom demanded. "Who sent you?"
"And what for?" Leo questioned as well.
In the Central Park
"Angel? Ellie? It's me. Louie." Louie called to the blindfolded prisoners, beckoning them to come to him. "Follow my voice! Follow my voice! Straight forward!"
Angel's head jerked up and turned to Louie's direction immediately after hearing his voice, and let out a muffled voices from under the bag over her head, though they sounded more hasty than relieved.
Ellie, however, looked blindly around and not in Louie's direction, as if she was confused by who had just spoken and where it came from. Her own muffled voice too sounded strangely deep and rather confused.
Angel also left immediately on the spot to follow Louie's voice step by step, but Ellie fell behind her, apparently not even knowing where she was even going.
"That's it, Angel. Follow my voice! Come to me! You're almost there!" Louie kept talking so that Angel knew which way to go blindfolded.
Angel did that, but she moved forward so hastily that she ended up to stumble to her own feet and fall down.
However, Louie was quick to move forward and catch her into his arms before she did.
"There! I got you, Angel-Cake!" Louie said, feeling relieved that Angel was at least safe.
Angel then struggled against the ropes that kept her hands binded behind her back, and squirmed violently in Louie's arms while letting out the muffled voices.
"Calm down, Angel. It's alright. You're safe." Louie told her soothingly, before he held her up and still.
"Now wait here. I still have to lead your grandmother to safety. Looks like she won't last long with a sack on her head." Louie remarked as he turned to Ellie.
Indeed. Ellie was looking blindly everywhere while walking aimlessly and without the sense of direction zig-zag, and it would be only a matter of time before she'd end up accidentally trip into something or stumbling into her own feet.
In the Lair
Everyone was still looking down at Edward and Conrad, who hadn't yet answered to the questions.
But the anxiousness and the conflicted feelings never disappeared from their faces.
"Well, are you two gonna speak up or what?" Raph asked, starting to get impatient with the kids lack of cooperation.
"Raph! Shut your trap and be nicer towards the kids!" Mary chided her brother and gave him a smack in his left arm.
This earned her a narrowed scowl from the turtle in red.
Leo then stepped forward towards the kids. "C'mon, Edward and Conrad. if something troubles you and if someone persecutes you, just tell us and we'll see what we can do to help you. I promise."
Though moved by Leo's words, neither of the boys looked fully convinced that the turtles could or would help them if they already knew.
Conrad then stepped forward towards the mutants and musteted enough of courage to ask them a question of their own... even if he wasn't sure how they would react to it or if they would really help them.
"There... actually... is something... you guys need to know." Conrad said unsurely with the shaken voice. "Only one thing... with which... you can help us two."
"And not quite pleasant one." Edward admitted them miserably.
This left the turtles and Splinter confused once more.
"What are you two saying?" Arcee asked, now really worried about these two boys and what they had gotten themselves into.
"Such as?" Dom asked with more interrogating than concerned approach.
Edward and Conrad then looked at each other dejectedly, both of them knowing that now was the time, much to the two boys' sorrow.
In the Central Park
Louie had meanwhile managed to lead blindfolded Ellie to him, and now both she and Angel were standing side by side in front of him.
"There." Louie said, relieved that they were both safe. "Now, let's take these off your heads."
The turtle in black then reached out to them to remove the bags from their heads, but was stopped by Johannes as he spoke into the megaphone once more to address him.
"MRS. BRIDGE AND YOUNG MISS BRIDGE HAVE NOW BEEN RETURNED TO YOU AS PROMISED, MR. LORENZO! NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO FULFIL YOUR PART OF THE DEAL AND TURN YOURSELF IN!" Johannes reminded him.
As a cue, the scarlet-suited goon took out another bag to be used as a blindfold for Louie, while the purplish-suited goon took out the pair of shackles to bind Louie's hands behind his shell.
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Louie looked over Angel's shoulder to Johannes' direction. "NOT TILL I HAVE TAKEN THE BAGS OFF THEIR HEADS TO SEE IN WHAT CONDITION THEY ARE BEFORE SENDING THEM AWAY!" Louie reminded.
The turtle in black waited only a moment for an answer from Johannes, and when nothing came from him, Louie took it as a "yes" and did not bother to wait for his real answer, but continued with his task.
But unbeknownst to him, Johannes had deliberately neglected answering to Louie, and had instead raised his left hand up... as if signaling to someone to wait till his signal.
In the Lair
Edward and Conrad then turned to face the turtles, wearing a remorseful looks over their faces.
"We're sorry." Conrad told them sincerely. "So very sorry."
And then, before any of the turtles of Splinter could've questioned them of what they were sorry about, both boys slowly pulled the zips of their hoodies down to the bottom and pulled the flaps apart, revealing something to the mutant family.
"AGH!/GAH!" Leo, Mary, Raph, Donnie, Dom, Mikey, Arcee and Master Splinter gasped in utter shock and wide-eyed horror of what they saw and stepped back.
In the Central Park
"Wait a moment, Angel. I'll check your grandmother's condition first and then I'll pull the bag off your head too." Louie assured Angel as he untied the rope in the bag's mouth that was tied around Ellie's neck to keep the bag in place over her head.
Angel once again let out muffled sounds from under the bag as she turned to Louie, sounding even more urgent than ever.
"Here you go, Ellie." Louie said as he pulled the bag off from Ellie's head.
However, to Louie's confusion and shock, the face revealed from under the bag didn't belong to Ellie but..."
"Whatta...?!" Louie said, taken aback by this discovery.
"HMPH! HMPH!" some random guy screamed in fear through the gag tied around his mouth upon seeing Louie's face and hastily backed away from the turtle in black, staring at him in wide-eyed horror all of time.
He had a shaven face and messy brown hair - but whose face was bruised all over, and one eye black and swollen shut, a split lip, a broken nose, and a mouth covered with blood, an indication of severe beating up - and he was wearing Ellie's clothes.
"Ellie? What is this?!" Louie demanded, utterly puzzled.
Louie's attention was then drawn to the muffled screams of Angel, or possibly someone wearing Angel's clothing while the face under the bag was not Angel herself, just like this random guy with Ellie's clothes.
However, he or she seemed so desperate in trying to get Louie's attention, indicating that whoever it was was either someone Louie knew or someone who knew him... or at least had recognized him by his voice.
Unable to identify him or her by the voice - likely because he or she was gagged as well like that random guy - Louie set to unty the bag's rope from around his or her neck before she pulled the bag off to see the face.
And what the turtle in black discovered, left him shocked again.
"What the shell?! WENDY?!" Louie gasped.
Indeed, the gagged face he discovered from under the bag belonged to his friend from the abandoned hotel, Wendy!
In the Lair
"What the shell?! Raph gasped in shock.
"AGH!" Mikey screamed like a girl.
"Holly shell!" Arcee gasped in horror.
"What in the...!" Dom said, unable to believe his eyes.
"Whatta... what is this?!" Leo gasped.
"What are you doing?!" Mary said with dread.
"Ahh!" Splinter gasped, horrified of the sight before them as well.
"GET BACK!" Donnie demanded, spreading his arms to keep the others back.
After Edward and Conrad has pulled the flaps of their hoodies appart, the boys were revealed to be strapped with large amount of plastic explosives hidden underneath of their hoodies, armed with the radio-controlled detonators!
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = From Louie's line "IT... ISN'T... MY... SHELL-ING... FAULT!" the word Shell-ing is put to replace the dirty word "F###ing".
2) = Louie is having a tantrum similar to Leo in the episode "The Shredder Strikes, Part 1", including him slashing the newspapers into the paper stars, though I switched them in Louie's case a lightning bolts.
3) = Reference to the story of the three billy goats and the troll.