Guest: I neither didn't like to have a child killed in this story even if he was a minor/supporting character, but this was to intensify the animosity between Louie and Dandelion, the two new archenemies.
Tornado man: Well, Dandelion definitely is a dead man. And I'll consider of giving Kirby a little sense of loneliness while living in April's basement appartment, and that if one of the characters he's drawn there (as there will be some OC characters there) will be based on that, thus giving Kirby a reason and happiness to stay in the world he's created. But we'll see that when we get to that episode.
lucifer black: Well, in that case, I need to consider it very seriously then and possibly make some changes here and there between of Jhanna's original debut and her potential OC Donnie-themed debut, but that doesn't mean I'll leave Same As It Never Was episode completely out of this version of the series. So far, all of this is just under the consideration and will be explored when we get to Season 3, which is still a long way ahead. And furthermore, I need some ideas in developing that Original chapter for the season 3.
Guest99: I often have the same feeling that after the Demons' defeat and that particular episode's cliffhanger ending, no other episode that followed up on explained what happened after the businessman was influenced by the demon's voice. That's why I'm developing other original chapter depicting that.
Guest: I'm afraid that Edward cannot be revived. He's gone for good.
Girl Anime Club: Oh, Louie will learn that kind of an important lesson about the massive consequences of his actions, until he makes a lots of new mistakes in the future. And as for "Why killing a child?". Well, just to show how deep into madness Dandelion with his obsessive thirst for revenge against Louie for him destroying his family's property has gone.
tmnt101107: After this chapter, I'd say one or two more, unless it's just one, then it's gonna be a pretty long.
Guest: Well, Edward's death is gonna affect a lots of people here, Mikey, Arcee, Louie, Wendy, all of his friends and so on.
animegamefanatic: Oh, yeas. Louie will definitely lose it after the news of Edwards' death reaches to his ears. But whether or not he will get into a mutual agreement with Dom, and whatever happens to Wendy and the other kids in the afterwards, we shall see once the threat of Dandelion and his criminal empire has been dealt with.
=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003=
=The Girl and the Turtle Part 3, Part 4=
Back at Central Park...
Louie was still staring wide-eyed at Wend's gagged face in shock after discovering that it was her, not Angel as he'd initially thought, under the bag, while Wendy was staring back at him in wide-eyed urgency.
Truth be told, the turtle in black never expected, even with a one tiny chance in a millions more, that he'd run into his friend from the abandoned hotel where she lived with the children on the other side of town right here... let alone in a situation like this.
And Wendy's presence here in the central park right now brought a rather dreadful feeling in Louie's chest that there was more in this whole situation than meets the eye. Especially the question: that if Wendy is here, what had befallen upon the children?
"Wendy?!" the turtle in black questioned as he was going to remove the gag from Wendy's mouth. "What the shell is this?!"
"HMPH! HMPH! HMPH!" Wendy screamed urgently under her gag, as if frantically trying to thell the turtle in black something if it wasn't for the gag to block her speech.
And once Louie had untied and removed the gag from Wendy's mouth, she let out a loud scream from the top of her lungs.
"GET AWAY! GET OUT OF HERE, LOUIE! IT'S A TRAP!"
The moment when the word "trap" left Wendy's mouth, Louie's ninja instincts instantly kicked in and the turtle in black looked up over Wendy's head and at the Dandelion mafia army on top of the hill, and even a little higher to the tree tops towering over the villains heads behind the hill.
Louie's eyes then went wide when he caught the flash from the trees - thanks to the light of the moon shining in the sky behind his back and reflecting from something hidden in the trees that, according to Wendy's word of the trap, could in theoretically be... rifle scope.
And it wasn't just one such of flash of the reflection of the moonlight. There were at least a dozen more of them in a long line in the treetops.
"SNIPERS!" Louie gasped with dread. "GET DOWN!" he added hurriedly before he quickly grabbed to Wendy and pulled her down to the ground.
And then, and not a second too late...
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
The hidden snipers in the trees, who had aimed their rifles at Wendy in the back of her head and in her back to assassinate her - while being careful not to shoot and kill Louie, as he was meant to be captured and brought to Dandelion alive - pulled the triggers of their rifles.
"ARRGH!" Louie grunted in pain when the first shot, that was meant for Wendy, scratched him by his left shoulder right after he had pulled her down and out of the shot's way.
Louie afterwards shielded Wendy with his own body, while bracing himself for getting himself hit by the hail of the shots from the snipers' rifles, as their fired bullets hit the ground around them or flew whizzing over them.
When it was over, Louie and Wendy had miraculously managed to survive the hail of bullets without being hit themselves - although Louie had suffered the scratch in his shoulder, which was a small price he had to pay to save Wendy's life.
The random guy used as a decoy of Ellie to bait Louie, however, wasn't as lucky as the tow of them were.
After the first shots were fired at Louie and Wendy, the random guy, though still bound and gagged, attempted to flee the scene in terror, but he unfortunately didn't got far when the snipers fired another round of shots from their rifles at him.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
The shots had flew through of his head, blowing his brains out and instantly killing him, while several other shots hit him in his back, causing the poor guy's dead body to fly face-first into the ground.
"Hold your fire!" Johannes ordered, holding up his hand to signal the snipers not to shoot, before he turned to the 200 Dandelion goons and waved his hand towards Louie to signal them to attack. "Go and get him! You know your orders: break and subdue him, but do not kill him! He is Dandelion's!"
Said and done, all 200 Dandelions let out an encouraging battle cry "FOR DANDELION!" before each one of them picked up the melee weapons - baseball bats, crowbars, chains, machetes, axes, pipes, knives and so on - and charged onward, flowing like a tidal wave past the cars and downhill towards Louie and Wendy as the two pulled themselves up from the ground.
"But don't spare your fists when you break him! Make him feel all of it till he won't feel it at all!" Marcus encouraged, before he joined the others with his shotguns.
Helga, without saying the word, soon followed after Marcus while extending out her pair of nightsticks as her weapons.
Seeing the Dandelions coming for him, Louie hurriedly took out his Butterfly swords before he proceeded to cut Wendy's hands free from behind her back, before the turtle in black began to usher Wendy to run for her life.
"Wendy! You gotta go! Get out from the Central Park while you still can! I'll hold them on!" Louie said and pushed Wendy to the direction he'd came from.
"No! No! No! Louie! You can't!" Wendy protested, turning around to face the turtle in black with scared look for Louie's well-being on her face. "They're here to capture you! You can't fight against that many!"
"I can and I will if only to buy you morew time to escape!" Louie rebuked. "Besides, they're here for me, not you! You're worth of nothing to them anymore, and they'll kill you without the hesitation if you stay, because you're a witness! NOW GO! GO!"
Wendy, however, felt torn between fleeing for her life and leaving Louie to fend for himself against the overwhelming odds. Even her legs were protesting against of running away.
"GO!" Louie repeated. "GO, DAMMIT!"
Wendy looked up from Louie at the incoming Dandelions, who were getting even closer. With having no time to argue, Wendy forced her legs to work against her own hesitation of leaving Louie behind, before she turned around and fled the scene, quickly vanishing amidst the trees and bushes.
With that, Louie turned around to face the Dandelions, calmly walking towards them with the slow pace while drawing out his other Butterfly sword and holding his arms spread wide.
"Let's dance." Louie said to himself with the low voice.
First Dandelion, upon reaching up to him, raised his pipe wrench in the air and swung it at Louie, but the turtle in black ducked under it before he spun around and slashed his right sword at the thug's legs, wounding his leg, and causing the thug to fly onto his back to the ground.
Then Louie blocked the second Dandelion's axe from above with his left sword before striking the thug in the face with his right sword's pommel, knocking him down and out.
Louie then blocked the third thug's crowbar with his right sword before kicking him in the chest with his left foot, knocking him off his feet, before Louie spin-kicked the fourth thug in the face with such of fierce force that it sent the thug flying over to the ground and rolling away.
Two next thugs then swung their metal sticks at Louie, who blocked them with his left sword before slashing them both across of their chests, tearing through their suits and drawing blood and causing the thugs to gasp in pain and fall over to the ground.
Seventh thug then charged at Louie, but the turtle in black spun his swords upside down in his hand and then struck them both into the thug's stomach, hard enough to make him gasp in pain and bent over, before Louie lifted him off the ground and tossed him away, causing the thug to land with the heavy thud flat on his back to the ground.
Louie them met his swords, which he still held upside down, with the eighth thug's machete, before he pushed the blade away and then punched the thug in the face, hard enough to knock his teeth in.
Louie then ducked under the ninth thug's horizontal swing with his baseball bat while spinning around and stabbing the thug in the stomach with his left sword, before he spun around again and jumped up, uppercutting the thug with his right sword's pommel.
Louie then leaned his head back to avoid the swing of chain at his head from the tenth thug, before he spun around to his right and swept the thug's legs out from under as he was about to turn back to him, making the surprised thug to fall on his back.
Eleventh thug then charged and attempted to bring his pipe down on Louie, but the turtle in black countered this by slashing his swords upwards at it, with the impact knocking the thug back a bit. Louie then sent four slashes, two with each sword in turn, at the thug who held his pipe up in self-defense, until Louie cut the upper end of the pipe in half with a vertical slash till in its middle, and then cut the pipe in the middle with the horizontal slash, causing the cleaved pieces of the pipe to fall to the surprised goon's feet. Louie then finished him with the kick in the chest, which sent the thug flying back and into two other incoming thugs, knocking them all down.
The Dandelions then crowded around Louie in numbers and began attacking him from all sides at the same time, forcing the turtle in black into a defensive stance, dodging and blocking their endless array of weapons while sending slashes at the enemies to keep them at bay.
Louie was then forced to retreat for a better position and ran to the nearby tall wooden observation tower with three floors, with the Dandelions following him close behind.
Louie then turned to face them again in the stairs leading up to the second floor, where he clashed with the first thug armed with the pipe before he snap-kicked him in the face, knocking him into the following guy, before the turtle in black knocked the second thug's machete out of the way and slashed him in the forehead with the tip of his sword.
This stalled the enemy long enough for Louie to reposition himself in the bottom of the second floor's stairs leading up to the tower's third floor.
First thug swung his baseball bat at Louie's legs, which he blocked, before the thug swung his bat at Louie's head, which he blocked too, before Louie punched him in the face with the left fist and then kicked him in the back with the right foot, causing the thug to fly into and knock his head into one of the tower's support beam, knocking him out.
The turtle in black then clashed his sword with the second thug's pipe wrench, before he turned around and punched the thug in the head so hard that it caused the thug fly with the flip onto his stomach to the ground.
Louie then ducked under the third thug's swing with the metal stick as he moved behind him, before he grabbed on him and threw him into another tower's support beam, knocking him out as well.
Louie then blocked with his swords the fourth thug's metal stick, before he pushed him back and stabbed the thug both in the left shoulder and right tight, making the thug grunt in pain, drop his weapon and fall on his other knee, gritting his teeth, before Louie pulled his swords out of him and then kicked him away, sending him slying into the feet of the four other thugs, knocking them down like bowling pins.
This allowed Louie to retreat to the stairs up to the third and top floor, but the thug with the meat axe caught up with him and grabbed on his leg, stopping Louie from fleeing and causing him to trip over at the top of the stairs.
The thug attempted to strike Louie with the axe, but Louie blocked the strike with his left sword before pulling his leg out of the thug's grasp and kicked him in the chest, sending him falling down the stairs and onto his comrades, allowing Louie to retreat to the top floor.
As another thug with the knife caught up with him, Louie turned around to him grabbed the thug by his head with both hands before heatbutting him with his own, knocking him out and then pushing him down the stairs.
Louie backed away from the stairs as the Dandelions flooded to the top floor.
The first thug attempted to bring his baseball bat down on Louie, but he moved out of the way before kicking him with his right foot, sending the thug flying over the railing of the top of the tower.
Louie then jumped at the second thug who charged at him with the pipe, kicking him in the chest first with his left, then right, then left and then again right leg, sending the thug flying back into the third goon, which knocked them both over the railing.
Fourth thug then tackled Louie from his right and pinned him down on his shell, before he swung his pipe wrench down on Louie, who dodged the weapon before the turtle im black, with the backward somersault, kicked the thug in the stomach, sending him flying over him and the railing while Louie rolled into the crouched pose.
As Louie prepared to face the new wave of thugs coming for him from the stairs, he turned away from them when he suddenly caught in his ear Marcus barking orders to the awaiting Dandelions in the feet of the tower.
"Half of you, capture the turtle! The rest of you, go after the girl! Kill her! The boss doesn't want any witnesses here!"
Louie turned to the tower's railing and peered down, and saw that about half of the 200 Dandelions were breaking away from the siege of this tower and running into the Central Park woods, exactly where he had earlier sent Wendy, intending to catch up her and then kill her so she wouldn't report them to the authorities.
Needing to stall them, Louie forgot about fighting the thugs in the tower and jumped into a crouched position on the railing, causing the thugs charging towards him to stop when they realized what Louie was going to do, and stared at him as if he was crazy for planning to jump off the top of the tower.
"MEAN IN GREEN, HALLELUJAH!" Louie let out as he jumped off the railing and down into the group of thugs, landing on the back of one of the three thug in the middle, knocking him onto his stomach and banging with his fists both the other two thugs in the heads on either side of him, knocking them down and out.
However, he didn't notice Marcus, who was standing right behind his shell. Seeing the perfect opportunity to seize the glory of capturing the turtle in black personally and be rewarded by Dandelion for it, Marcus roared and charged at Louie while his guard was down, catching the turtle in black by surprise by tackling him onto his stomach to the ground.
Once Louie was down, Marcus towered over him and, yelling furiously, began brutally beating the turtle in black up with the butt of his shotgun, whacking him both in the shell and the back of his head.
"YOU'RE MINE, FREAK!" Marcus sneered at Louie as he kept beating him up, while the other Dandelions surrounded him from all sides.
With the quick move, however, Louie backhanded Marcus across the face, knocking him off him.
"NOT TODAY!" Louie countered and jumped up on his feet and then in the air, before he kicked Marcus in the face hard enough to knock a couple teeth out of him, and sending him flying into another thug, knocking them both out.
Louie picked his Butterfly swords up from the ground after dropping them when Marcus tackled him and prepared himself for another round when the Dandelions advanced towards him in numbers, with four of them charging at him first.
However, before the first thug could even reach the turtle in black. TWAK! he was suddenly hit in the right temple by the arrow with a ball-shaped safety pad to reduce lethality, but it was still enough to knock the thug down and out.
TWAK! TWAK! TWAK!
Three more similiar arrows flew out of nowhere at the three thugs, one arrow hitting the second one in the forehead, the second arrow hitting the third thug in the left cheek, and the third and last arrow hit the fourth one in the chest, which knocked them all down and out.
Both Louie and the Dandelions stared down with surprise and confusion at the four Dandelions lying on the ground moaning in pain from the hit from the padded arrows, until Louie paid a look at the color of the arrows' feathers, which were pink.
"Arcee?" Louie muttered, knowing that Arcee had a habit to use the pink feathers in her arrows.
Suddenly, a new voices shouting behind them made Louie to turn to his left and the thugs to their right, and to everybody's surprise, Arcee, Raph and Mikey swooped out of nowhere into the fray to their outnumbered brother's aid.
"Guys!" Louie gasped with delight.
With another padded arrow in her Yumi-bow, Arcee raised her bow up and fired the arrow at the Dandelions, hitting another thug right in the kisser and knocking him out.
Raph tossed his Sais in the air and then caught them by their tips, before the turtle in red threw them both at one thug who was about to charge at Louie with the crowbar when he wasn't watching.
"AAAARGH!" the thug let out a pained scream when Raph's Sais sunk into his eyes, which also knocked him off his feet andto the ground!
"YEE-HAW! Toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-Toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-TOOT-toooooot!" Mikey hollored, imitating the cavalry bugle call as he landed in front of a couple of thugs, spinning his Nunchucks, before he swung them up at them, knocking the thugs away.
Joining in, Louie blocked the next thug's machete from his left with his right sword before jabbing his left into the thug's stomach, causing him to bent over to avoid getting stabbed, until Louie snap-kicked him in the head, knocking it back. Then he ducked under the second's thug's swing with the chain from the right, before Louie roundhouse-kicked him in the back.
Raph faced the thug that attempted to swing his axe at him, but the turtle in red caught him by the axe-wielding arm before he twisted it painfully enough to make the thug to drop the axe, before he pushed him back slightly and then brought his right fist down on the thug's head, knocking him down and out.
Mikey knocked the pair of knives out of his next thug's hands with his left Nunchaku, before he cracked his right Nunchaku at the thug and jabbed him in the middle of his forehead with his weapon's end, knocking the thug back.
Mikey then faced the second thug that swung the baseball bat at him, but Mikey captured the bat with the chain of his right Nunchaku and pulled the weapon out of the thug's hands before whacking him across the chest, knocking him down.
Mikey then clashed his right Nunchaku with the third thug's pipe with which the thug tried to bash the turtle in orange's head in, before Mikey swung his Nunchaku down at the thug's leg, sweeping it from under and causing the thug to fall on his back to the ground.
"Nighty-NIGHT!" Mikey jokingly wished before knocking the thug's lights out.
Raph meanwhile had picked out his blood-stained Sais out of his dead victim's eyes, before he turned and clashed them against the pipe wrench and the pipe wielded by a couple thugs, before Raph kicked one thug in the stomach with one hard kick of his right foot, knocking the thug into the other one standing behind him and knocking them both away.
"Louie!" Arcee called to her brother as she put another arrow in her Yumi-bow. "You gotta get out of here, quickly!"
"Not without Wendy!" Louie said back firmly and ran off after the Dandelions who had gone after Wendy, leaving the turtle in pink to watch after him with the raised eyebrow.
"Who's Wendy?" the turtle in pink questioned.
"EYES UP, SISTER!" Raph called as he spin-kicked the next thug in the head with his left foot, causing the thug to fly with the somersault in the air flat on his stomach to the ground, while Mikey blocked with his weapons' chain another thug's pipe, before the turtle in orange kicked him away.
Seeing a couple new thugs charging at her, Arcee raised her bow up and fired the arrow at them, hitting the first thug in the forehead which knocked it back and caused him to accidentally headbutt the other thug standing behind him in the forehead with the back of his own, knocking them both out.
The turtle in pink then turned to whack another thug across the face with her bow, knocking him over, before she lifted her left foot up and out, with the string of her bow between her toes, while pulling the bow back tight by its shaft with her right hand before letting it go, shooting her bow out and hitting with it the next charging thug in the face, which sent him flying off his feet.
###
In the woods of the Central Park, Wendy was panting heavily as she pushed her way through the bushes and ran zigzag past the trees as she fled for her life away from the battle and tried to get to the first entrance of the park.
All the while, she was being relentlessly pursued by at least a hundred Dandelions, who had spread out over a wide area and were chasing her from all sides.
Wendy tried to run even faster as she could to keep a long distance between of her and her former captors, pursuers and attempting assassins, but they were gaining on her slowly but certainly, shortening the distance between of them.
She didn't dare look back in case her pace slowed down or perhaps she'd accidentally bump into something or trip over her own feet.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Some of her pursuers were even firing at her with their handguns, causing the yellow lines of the whizzing bullets to fly all over past her, while hitting to the tree trunks or tearing through of the trees' or bushes' foliage... though by some miracle, or maybe because of Wendy running like a mad while zigzagging around the trees, she got no hit by the bullet.
At one point, however, Wendy accidentally tripped over her own feet and was roughly thrown to the ground, making her grunt in pain.
She quickly rolled onto her back and gasped in fear as she saw Dandelions closing in on her fast, ready to kill her quickly or, in the worst case, even slowly after possibly defiling her in any despicable way possible.
Wendy tried to crawl backwards away from them, as the first one ahead of all the other Dandelions was about to lunge on her to het his hands on her.
"OH NO, YOU DON'T!" Louie's voice called out until the pair of Manriki-Gusari flew from behind the Dandelions and wrapped themselves around of the first thug's feet, before they pulled his legs from under and caused the thug to fall over right in the way of the other thugs running right behind of her.
This caused many of the Dandelions to get tripped over their comrade's body or, in case of the ones who managed to stop before they could get tripped over, bump into each other and knock each other over to the ground.
After unwrapping and pulling his chains back, Louie charged at the Dandelions, most of whom turned around to face him.
"KEEP GOING, WENDY! KEEP GOING!" Louie called to Wendy, before he hurled himself towards the Dandelions.
The turtle in black ducked under of the first thug's swing with the chain, moving behind him before turning to face the thug, as he turned to him, and punching him hard in the chin, knocking him out.
Then Louie blocked the second thug's attempted swing at him with the metal stick with his swords, before pushing him back and then, after spinning his blades upside down again, double-punched the thug in the chest with the knuckle-guards of his weapons, knocking the thug back.
Third thug then attempted to swing his metal stick horizontally at Louie from his left, but Louie blocked it with his swords, before he grabbed to the stick with both hands and by pulling it, the turtle in black pulled the thug over his head and sent him flying away.
Louie then raised his right sword to block the fourth thug's machete, before he turned his left sword upright again and slashed the goon across his chest twice, causing him to fall over to the ground.
The turtle in black then turned to the fifth thug and blocked with his left arm the thug's attempt to stab him with the knife, before he punched him with his right fist hard in the cchest, forcing the air out of him thus causing the thug to gasp laborously for air, before Louie punched him in the head twice, first with his left and then with him right fist, knocking him down and out with the second.
Seeing that Louie was keeping the thugs busy and preventing them from reaching her, Wendy hurriedly scrambled up and resumed running away, heading to the different direction this time.
However, while some of the thugs had abandoned her pursue to fight Louie - as well as Arcee, Raph and Mikey who had came down to help him - the rest of the thugs spotted her heading to the new direction and continued giving the chase.
And they were quickly gaining on her again.
Back with the turtles, Arcee, wielding her Tessnes in her arms and holding her arms crossed, ducked under the new thug's - who got a noticeably long mustaches - swing at him with the wrench, before she stoop up and, opening her Tessens and slashed them upwards at the thugs face, slicing off his long mustaches from under his nose without cutting his skin. The surprised thug got only a moment to feel his face with his hands and realize that his mustaches were gone, much to his shock, before the turtle in pink kicked him off his feet.
Arcee then swung both her Tessens at the second thug as he swung his pipe at her, only to have it sliced in pieces by the turtle in pink's weapons. Arcee then bent over and raised her left leg in high arc upwards and over her, hitting with her heel the thug right in the forehead, which knocking him back by bit. Arcee then pushed herself up in the air with her right leg and flipped over, before she brought her right foot hard own on the thug's head to knock him down.
Louie was clashing both his swords with the new thug's pair of big knives, both of them trying to push each other back while trying to overpower one another, until Louie hooked his right leg behind of the thug's own legs and swept them out from under, before he brought both of his swords down on the thug's chest, knocking him to the ground.
Another thug charged at Louie and attempted to strike him with the fire axe while the turtle in black wasn't looking, until then when it was too late. But before the thug could've lay the blow on him, Raph moved in between his brother and the thug and caught the axe with his Sais, preventing it from harming Louie, before he pushed the weapon out of his way and then stabbed the thug in the stomach with his Sais.
Mikey, meanwhile, ducked behind the tree of the new thug's swing at him with the machete, before he struck with his left Nunchaku in the thug's chest, knocking him back a bit. Mikey then caught him by his wrist with the chain of his weapon and yanked him towards him, causing the thug to knock his head into the trunk of the tree.
A new thug swung his chain at Raph, who slashed it in half with his left Sai before sucked him in the kisser with the left hook hard enough to cause blood and saliva to fly out of his mouth.
Mikey then spun his right Nunchuck at another thug, knocking his weapon(the pipe) out of his hands before Mikey swung his Nunchaku in a long arc, over his head, down, and then up, straight into the thug's groins.
"AGH!" the thug gasped out of the immense pain he felt in between of his legs after Mikey's counter attack, before he slowly fell on his knees in front of Mikey while holding from his groins with his hands.
"Oops! My bad, pal." Mikey apologized with the cocky smirk, before he put his leg on his defeated opponent's shoulder and pushed him flat on his back to the ground.
Louie was facing a pair of thugs standing on either side of him, holding baseball bats in their hands and ready to swing them at the turtle in black. But when they did, Louie jumped up in the air and over their swings, to the thug's surprise, before the turtle in black spun around and split-kicked the two away.
After dealing with them, Louie once again attempted to follow Wendy and the Dandelions who had continued to pursue him... only for his way to be interpreted by nine still standing thugs, who immediately rushed towards him to get him with their sheer numbers.
Louie groaned with the eyeroll. "I seriously don't have a time for you, guys!" Louie complained annoyedly and readied himself for yet another round.
The thugs simply ignored him and kept coming towards him.
But before they could get their hands on him...
TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK! TWAK!
Arcee appeared from behind Louie and fired more of her arrows at the thugs, hitting many of them in the head and knocking them down one by one before any of them could even hit the turtle in black.
First two of them that got the first hits fell in Louie's feet, with the third, sixth, seventh and eighth falling right after a short distance away from Louie after getting hit. The fourth ended up crashing against the tree after getting hit in the chest, and the fifth and ninth, upon seeing their comrades falling one by one around them under Arcee's volley, lost their confidence and turned around in attempt to run for it, only for the fifth to get thrown face-first into the ground after getting hit in the back of his head, and the ninth fell on his knees and fell flat on his stomach after getting hit in the back.
After most of the Dandelions who had remained behind to fight were either dealt with or driven off, Raph and Mikey regrouped with Arcee and Louie, with the latter turning to his siblings.
"Thanks, guys." he said gratefully, just before his face turned urgent again. "Now, come on! We have to find Wendy before the last of those Dandelion goons can get her first!"
Both Raph and Mikey raised they eyebrows in confusion at the mention of this "Wendy" before they both turned to Arcee. "Who is Wendy?" they both asked in unison, but Arcee only shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in "I dunno" manner.
But as Louie was about to leave, Arcee called after him, making him stop and turn back to her.
"Louie? Wait! Leo sent us up here to find you. We need to tell you something what's happened." the turtle in pink started, bracing herself to regretfully reveal to her brother of what has happened in the Lair.
"No time for that, Arcee! We gotta go now!" Louie dismissed, before he himself gave them a short explonation of what's happening here in the park. "Besides, I already know what's happened. Both Angel and Ellie have been kidnapped by Dandelion as a way to get me lured into the trap as a revenge against me for blowing up his property to the kingdom come. And furthermore, he has kidnapped my friend, Wendy, of whom, of course, I haven't told anything about either to you or Master Splinter for the past few years for obvious reasons. And that's why I need so badly to find out why she's been kidnapped and what has befallen upon the orphaned children that are both mine and hers friends."
With that, Louie turned around and ran off again before Arcee, Mikey or Raph got even a chance to ask more questions about this or explain properly the reason for their coming.
"Louie, wait!" Raph called after him as he ran after his brother.
"Louie! Like I told you, there is something what you seriously should know about!" Arcee called after him as she ran after her brothers.
"And trust us! You aren't gonna like it once you've heard it!" Mikey added as he ran after his siblings.
###
A little further away, Wendy had managed to get out of the park's woods and was now running towards a nearby bridge to cross the park's river.
But when she arrived at the bridge, Wendy had to stop by it for a moment to catch her breath after running around the forest like a mad without stopping at all, especially since she had been pursued by a horde of murderous people who wanted her dead for having bore a witness of all this.
There she also dared to look back to see if her pursuers were still after her or if they had already given up. She almost sighed with relief upon seeing no one pursuing her anymore.
But she knew that she couldn't remain here for a long, in case she had managed to lost her pursuers just for a moment before they'd be upon her again.
With that, Wendy ran up to the bridge and crossed it to the other side to continue her fleeing.
However, once she reached the other side, she gasped in shock and made the abrupt stop upon seeing that Helga and thirty-six Dandelions had cut off her escape route this side of the river, and fourteen more Dandelions appeared on the bridge to block her escape back to the other side just as Wendy was about to turn back the way she'd came from, only to find herself surrounded.
"Oh, no." Wendy muttered worriedly.
"Oh, yes." Helga said, making Wendy to turn to look at her.
"We enjoyed the short running competition you gave us, sister. But now your time is up, as well as your usefulness to us." Helga said in a not-so-sympathetic tone, let alone remorseful one while knowing what she was about to do with her. "It's terrible enough to know that you know too much that you'd be left alive. But even way worse is knowing that it'll happen anyway, 'cause no matter how hard you try to avoid it, the Dandelions always win." she added, tauntingly repeating her Dandelion family's motto.
Smirking sadistically at Wendy's trembling fearfully in anticipation of her upcoming and seemingly inevitable fate, Helga turned to one of her men standing by her side while holding a large fire-axe in his hands, before she motioned him to go on and kill Wendy.
The thug smirked with sadistic glee of being chosen to be the one to end Wendy's life, before he then began to walk slowly towards a horrified woman, all the while slowly raising his axe even higher and higher.
Wendy's eyes went even wider from horror when the thug then picked up the pace and charged at her, raising his axe over his head and prepared to bring it down on her either to cleave her head or split her torso in two.
But before he could do anything...
"Goongala!" came yet another voice, that caught Helga's and the rest of the Dandelions' attentions and they all turned to where the new voice had came from.
And then, with the blurry flash, this new guy came out of nowhere and was immediately upon a four Dandelions blocking his way, catching them off guard.
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
Armed with the hockey stick and the baeball bat, this new guy's sudden, swift and effective attack dispatched all four thugs with relatively ease, before the new guy went straight at the thug with the axe as he brought it down on cowering Wendy to kill her.
However, the new guy managed to catch the axe with his hockey stick just before it could inflict any harm on Wendy, surprising both Wendy and her would-be-executioner and making them to look at the guy holding the stick.
And there stood Casey Jones with his hockey mask over his face, having arrived in the nick of time to the rescue!
"Yo, dude! This ain't no way to treat the lady!" Casey snarled.
Without another word, Casey then kicked the goon in the groins with his left foot, causing him to scream in pain before he dropped the axe and fell on his knees while holding from his groins, only for moment later to get whacked across his face by Casey with his stick, which sent the goon flying on his back.
Casey then stood protectively between of Wendy and the Dandelions. And while Wendy didn't know who Casey was, she was al least relieved that he was on her side.
Couple other thugs then charged at Casey, but he easily dispatched them with a couple whacks per each with his stick and bat, sending them flying back in Helga's feet in defeat.
Casey then picked a small rock from the ground with his stick before tossing it in the air and then whacked it away with his bat, sending it flying at the Dandelions and hit one guy in the forehead, knocking him off his feet and down to the ground.
Another goon then tried to swing the wrench at Casey, but Casey ducked under it before jabbing with his bat the thug in the stomach hard enough to make him bent over, landing onto Casey's back before the street fighter stood up and flung the thug off him, making him to fly onto his back to the ground.
Casey them clashed his bat with another thug's bat, blocking his attempt to strike him, before he whacked the thug in the head with the stick, knocking him over. Casey then finished him by jabbing him hard in the stomach with the end of his stick, making him gasp in pain, before he rolled over, curling up and groaning in pain.
Casey then crossed his stick and bat over his head as another thug attempted to hack him into pieces with the machete, blocking it, though this left the thug's defense widely open and Casey used it as his advantage by kicking the thug in the guts, knocking him over.
Two thugs then charged at Casey one at the time, though Casey, spinning his hockey stick, swung it down at the first one's legs, sweeping them from under and thus sending the thug flying into the river's water, before Casey blocked the second thug's attack with the metal stick with his bat and then whacked him across the stomach with the stick.
Upon facing the four new thugs, Casey blocked the first thug's attack with the machete, though his weapon got stuck in Casey's bat, so Casey twisted the machete out of the thug's hands before he tossed the bat away, and then he whacked the thug in the face two times with his stick and finally jabbed him in the forehead with the end of his stick knocking him down and out.
Casey then blocked the second thug's attack with the pipe by raising his stick over his head, before he moved past the thug's weapon to his right side and struck with the shaft of his stick to the back of his head, sending the thug flying ont ohis back, knocked out.
And then, turning to the last two, Casey swung his stick high upwards to his left side and then over his head and then down to his left side again, knocking with the first swing the crowbar from the hands of the thug on his left and the wrench from the hands of the thug on his right with the second swing. And then, Casey whacked the thug on his right and right afterwards the thug on his left in the heads with his stick, knocking them down.
Another four then came at Casey. Casey clashed his stick with the first thug's pipe he attempted to strike him with, before Casey swept his legs out from under, making the thug fall onto his back, before he struck him in the stomach with the flat end of his stick, causing the thug to groan in pain.
Casey then blocked the attack from the second thug with the crowbar, before he headbutted him in the forehead, knocking the thug back, just before Casey sucked him in the face, knocking the thug down to the ground, though the thug stuck his crowbar to the ground to support himself.
Casey then picked another rock up from the ground with his stick and whacked it at the third charging thug, hitting him in the head as well and knocking him over.
One big thugs then caught Casey off guard by swinging his chain at Casey's stick, wrapping it around of it and pulled the stick out of Casey's hands. But as the thug tried to swung his chain at Casey again, he caught the thug's chain-wielding hand, preventing him from striking him, beforehe kneed the thug in the stomach. And then, grabbing from the thug's suit, Casey pulled him over his head and hurled the thug away from him.
Dandelions then increased their numbers from four to ten as they came at Casey again, while the vigilante pulled out his golf-club and another baseball bat.
Casey swung his golf club at the first thug, knocking the pipe out of his hands with the first swing and with the second swing he knocked the lights out of him, knocking him down, before he used his baseball bat to knock the second thug's metal stick aside before jabbing him with it in the stomach, knocking the thug over.
Casey then caught the third thug's axe with his baseball bat, before he pinned the weapon to the ground, and then whacked the thug in the face with his bat, knocking him back.
Casey then dodged under the fourth thug's swing with the pipe before he struck him in his turned back, pushing him away from him. And as Casey turned to the fifth attacking thug, he used his gold club to hook him by his neck before he flung him into the fourth thug as he turned around to go for Casey again, knocking him off his feet and both of them down.
Casey then blocked the sixth thug's metal stick with his golf club, before he jabbed him in the chest with his bat, knocking him back, and then swung his bat over his head before bringing it down on the thug, knocking him off his feet to the ground.
Meanwhile, as Casey was busy dealing with the Dandelions, Helga, witnessing how this new guy was decimating their numbers at good rate, scowled at this annoyance and held her hand out to the other thugs who hadn't gone to fight Casey, and this thug handed inmto her hand a sniper rifle.
Then, Helga took the rifle in both hands and raised it up, placing its butt against her right shoulder as she took aim at Casey's head, preparing to shoot him once the coast was clear.
Although Casey moved a lot while dodging the coming blows from her men while dishing out punishments himself, Helga managed to keep up with the vigilante's pace despite that.
And then, when the coast was clear and Casey in her sight, Helga prepared to pull the trigger and shoot Casey to death.
However, before she could, a green three-fingered hand grabbed from the rifle and pulled it down.
Surprised, Helga looked up at the hand's owner, seeing Louie standing there, with Raph, Arcee and Mikey backing him up.
"Not cool, Helga." Louie remarked, before he sucked her in the face.
Casey was meanwhile battling against the six remaining thugs, who were attacking him as a one group after Casey had defeated the first four of them, and were pushing both the vigilante and Wendy back and towards the edge of the river, cornerning them there.
"Slimeballs! Your numerical advantage is not enough to deter Casey Jones!" Casey spat at them, not caring if the odds were vastly against him and ready to take on all of them, even if he had to throw himself into another smackdown like he'd done back at the Purple Dragon's Lair with Hun.
Dandelions advanced towards him menacingly, ready to attack the vigilante and Wendy, until...
"Heads up, Casey!" Louie's voice called, making Wendy, Casey and the Dandelions turn towards him.
And then, they saw the turtle in black tossing Helga effortlessly over all the other Dandelions. Helga screamed during of her flight across the air, before she hit right to the six Dandelions cornering Casey and Wendy, knocking them all down with one hit and over the edge into the river with the huge SPLASH!
Casey, though surprised to see the turtles here but all the same glad of their presence, locked eyes with Louie and held his thumb up, which Louie returned in kind.
And then, the four turtles and Casey turned to the remaining Dandelions, ready for a new round.
The Dandelions, however, seeing that the whole plan to capture Louie had ended up into the bust and that they got no chance against the four of them and the vigilante together, threw down ther weapons and ran away as fast as they could.
"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO, DANDELIONS?!" Louie called after them, mocking them for their cowardice. "HAH! LET THIS BE THE LESSON TO YOU, THAT TURTLES ALWAYS WIN AND THE BAD GUYS ALWAYS LOSE!"
With the Dandelions finally gone, the turtles put away their weapons and walked up to Casey, who put away his own weapons and lifted the mask off his face.
"Hi, Casey. Fancy to meet you in here." Raph spoke up first.
"Well, you green dudes ain't the only ones to guard the streets of the city from the lowlife scum." Casey said with the chucke, before he and Raph grabbed each others hands and shook them in brotherly greeting.
Louie then immediately went to Wendy to see if she was okay. "Wendy? Are you alright? You're not hurt?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, Louie. I'm fine." Wendy assured, before she looked up at Casey with the grateful smile on her lips. "Thanks to this hockey masked hero who came to my rescue."
Louie looked up at Casey and nodded to him. "Thanks, Casey." he said with the smile.
Casey looked at both Louie and Wendy with the surprised look on his face. "Wait! You two know each other?" he questioned, as he wasn't expecting his turtle pal and the teen girl he'd just saved to know each other.
"Well... yes." Louie said with the shrug, before he turned to his siblings, who were giving him a expectant look. Knowing that he had a lot ot explain, Louie let out the heavy sigh. "Guys, I want you guys to meet my friend, Wendy, Wendy Clear. She and I have been friends for a some time now, back when we were still a kids. And as for the circumstances of our first meeting, I'll explain that later." Louie then turned to Wendy. "Wendy? Here's three of my siblings I've told you about. My brothers Raphael, Michelangelo and my little sister Artemisia. Raph, Mikey and Arcee for short."
"Yep! Mr. Mikeystein. That's my name." Mikey joked, earning a slap in the back of his head from annoyed Raph to make him quiet. "Ow! Hey!"
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Arcee said politely with the light bow of her head.
"Hi." Raph said shortly.
"And this musclebound bonehead who just rescued you is our friend, Casey Jones." Louie introduced.
Casey stared at Louie, wide-eyed at what he had just called him. ""Musclebound bonehead"? Wow, that cut a little too deep, shell-for-brains!" Casey rebuked, somewhat offended by the turtle in black's remark.
"It's pleasure to meet you all. Louie dear has spoken so much of you all." Wendy said, though mainly to Raph, Arcee and Mikey, which the turtle in red took a notice.
"He has? Well, I guess that leaves Casey out, since you two met a way long time ago before we even met him." Raph remarked jokingly, making Casey to frown at him while crossing his arms.
Wendy then turned to Casey. "And thanks to you too, Mr. Jones. I owe you my life for saving me." she said, making Casey's annoyed frown for the turtles to switch into the smile, feeling flattered for being thanked for his help.
Not many civilian people Casey had rescued in the past from the underworld scum like the Purple Dragons ever bother to thank him for his help.(1)
"Well, believe me. It was all my pleasure." Casey said, before she took a notice of Wendy's current attire and frowned his eyes in confusion, for he recognized them being Angel's clothes. "But do tell me, why are you wearing the clothes that belong to Angel?"
"William Dandelion, the boss of the criminal organization called as Dandelions, has kidnapped Angel and her grandmother, Casey." Louie revealed.
"WHAT?!" Casey gasped, shocked.
"Me and Angel ran into afoul with Dandelion the last week, due to blowing up his property into the smithereens while trying to escape from his clutches, and now he has come for the personal revenge against me most of all." Louie explained. "I visited Angel's and Ellie's home shortly before this and found it deserted, but I found there the letter from Dandelion left behind for me, which informed me about what had happened and instructed me to come here, the Central Park, to give myself in in order to save both Angel and Ellie... until I found out the prisoners that looked like Angel and Ellie were just a mere decoys: some random guy whom they had dressed to look like Ellie and... Wendy, who, as you can see, had been dressed up like Angel to fool me."
"So if those bozos kidnapped Angel and Ellie, then why she is here?" Casey asked.
"That's what I want to find out." Louie said and turned back to Wendy. "Wendy? What happened? Why are you even here in the first place? And what about the others?"
"Dandelion happened, Louie. He and some men bursted into our hotel the last night and took me a prisoner, including all of the children." Wendy told him, shocking the turtle in black.
"Are they alright?" Louie asked hopefully.
"I don't know. They took me away first, claiming that they needed my help in luring you out into a trap." Wendy told him, growing worried for the children as well. "But they also took two of them, saying that they needed them to help Dandelion to deliver a message to you... right in your place."
"Were these two's names Edward and Conrad?" Arcee asked, which Wendy confirmed with the worried nod.
"Wait! Edward and Conrad found their way into our Lair?" Louie guestioned, surprised by these news. "How? I never told them where we even lived."
"That came as a big surprise to us too as when we found them sneaking in our Lair." Mikey remarked.
Wendy then spoke up again. "Dandelion said that he had his men to keep an eye on the place he called as the "abandoned warehouse in the corner of the Eastman and the Laird", where he knew you turtles' hiding place will be located. And instead of trying to find the way in there himself, he sent a couple innocent children to do their dirty work for them, though without knowing or caring if he'd sent them as a cannon fodder." she explained, while growing even more scared for Edward and Conrad's well-being.
"While we may have a primitive alarms and some booby traps, they are only meant to trap the intruders, not to kill them. We ain't animals." Raph assured her.
"Uh, isn't a turtle technically an animal, Raph?" Mikey reminded him.
"I didn't meant it that way, Mikey!" Raph rebuked.
Arcee then walked past Mikey and Raph to address Louie personally. "Louie? This is what we came up here to warn you about. This Dandelion guy sent Edward and Conrad into our Lair to notify you specifically that he has captured these children you know. And he has also delivered ultimatum that if you do not go to the abandoned hotel where they and Wendy lived, for he is awaiting you there, at the last stroke of the midnight, he'll start executing the children."
Both Louie, Wendy and Casey all let out a shocked gasps upon hearing these news.
"Could that mean that this creep is going to do the same thing with Angel and Ellie?" Casey questioned.
"Likely, if they too are in there." Arcee added, much to Casey's fury.
"Argh! That lousy heartless child-abductor and -murderer! Going now to threaten my pals with the death threats against my other friends! I'm gonna tear this guy into pieces!" Casey growled, pucnhing the air with his fists in anger while swearing to settle the scores with this Dandelion guy.
"So not only he kidnapped Angel and Ellie and lured me here into a trap, but he also sent Edward and Conrad into our lair to inform me about this as a backup plan?" Louie repeated, going through of everything he had heard so far. "Then that means that Jake, Laura, Minnie, Angie, Jessica, Buck, Oliver, Tito and Dino, along with Angel and Ellie are still held in captive in their own home."
And remembering Arcee saying that Dandelion wanted to meet him at there at midnight, Louie took out his Shell cell to check up the time. It showed 11:50, so he got less than ten minutes time to get there.
"And we got not much time, so we better go. And he better not have laid a finger on them by the time I get there. And hopefully he hadn't already done so to Edward and Conrad. Right guys?" Louie said, turning to his siblings for confirmation.
However, Arcee, Mikey and Raph immediately lowered their gazes down with rather disturbed looks on their faces (with Mikey's own being contorted into what looked to be an immense regret of something), muttering and exchanging the looks with each other hesitatingly.
They knew that this also was what they were sent up here to tell Louie, but now it required from them some courage to reveal to their brother about the tragedy that had occurred in the Lair during his absence.
"Guys? What is it?" he asked, growing even more confused and worried at the same time. "Are Edward and Conrad alright?"
"Well... about them, Louie... they... they..." Mikey said, unable to continue due to his pangs of conscience.
"Conrad is alright... for now at least." Raph said sadly. "But it's Edward. He... he..."
"What? What about Edward?! Tell me!" Louie demanded, fearing for the worst.
"Dandelion made it clear to us that he won't care whether the children will live or die, Louie. He only wants you. Just you." Arcee began with some difficulty. "Edward and Conrad revealed that before Dandelion had sent them into our Lair, he had geared the boys up with the plastic explosives armed with the radio-controlled detonators."
"WHAT?!" Louie gasped again.
"And he has already demonstrated him being serious by... well.. he... ehh... he... he has... uhh... It's Edward. He's... uhh... Edward is... ehh..." Arcee stuttered, unable to finish it herself, for the sight of the aftermath had been so indescribably horrible that Arcee couldn't bring herself to fully describe it.
However, she didn't need to, when Louie's eyes went wide from utmost horror when the terrible truth dawned to him.
"Edward is dead? Dandelion killed him?" Louie asked in soft whisper.
Her eyes welling with fresh tears, which flooded out and ran down her cheeks, Arcee silently nodded her head in confirmation of this.
"He did it after I accidentally told him that you weren't home then to hear his message." Mikey confessed with nothing but remorse in his voice.
"Edward? No. No. No. No! No! No! NO! NO! NO! IT CANNOT BE! NO!" Wendy screamed hysterically, overcome by the shock and the immense sadness of these news like the mother who had just lost a child to the cruelty of the world.
All her life, as the eldest of the orphans, she had dedicated her life to protecting the children from the dangers of this world in every way possible, to the point where she considered them not only her friends, but also her own children. So the knowledge that she had just lost one of them, and thus failed to protect them all, was absolutely devastating for her.
Heartbroken and crying uncontrollably, Wendy covered her teary eyes with her hands and fell on her knees to the ground, curling up as she kept crying for the loss of Edward.
Louie was as devastated as well of learning that he'd just lost one of his friends he had known since he was a child himself, and looked down to his feet in silent anguish and sorrow.
However, the knowledge of Dandelion being behind this cold-blooded murder, and the knowledge that he doesn't even care if he has to do the same to the others who were still alive just out of spite against him, and would still be waiting for him even after they were all dead, with Angel and Ellie being among the casualties, made something snap in Louie.
His hands clenched into a tight fists, shaking from the boiling anger slowly but certainly building up within the turtle in black, and he began to breath louder and heavily, with his face hardening and twisting into a terribly furious look what even Raph couldn't ever muster.
And then, as the explosive pressure rising too high for the turtle to bear, Louie let out an explosive, furious scream from the top of his lungs, which made all the others to stand away from him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" his enraged scream echoed all over the New York's night sky, heard by many people.
And with that pressure out of him, Louie ran off in the direction where the still-standing Dandelions had gone to, giving the chase after them.
"DANDELION! THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL!" the turtle in black swore in fury.
"Louie, wait!" Arcee called after him. "This is exactly what he wants!"
"THEN I'LL MAKE HIM WISH HE NEVER HAD!" Louie shouted, without even looking back, before he vanished into the woods of the park, leaving his siblings and Casey behind with Wendy to stare after him, all of them taken aback by such of level of fury what Louie rarely, very rarely or not at all displays.
"Wow. And I though you had such of anger issues, Raph." Mikey said, turning to Raph, who scowled at his little brother threateningly, making the turtle in orange wince nervously.
"So, uhh? What do we do now?" Casey asked from them.
"Well, what do you think?" Arcee said incredulously. "We'll go after him to make sure Louie won't get himself hurt or killed in this state."
"And how exactly are we gonna do that?" Raph questioned, making Arcee to turn to him. "Remember that this Dandelion guy wants Louie come to some abandoned hotel which location only Louie knows but we don't. It'll take a long time from us to find it, and even then we'd just might be looking from the wrong direction. And by the time when we'll finally find it, it'll be too late." the turtle in red pointed out.
Arcee was about to say something to that, but she was cut off when Wendy, though still sobbing, forcibly got the words out of her mouth.
"But... but... but... I... I... I... I do know... where... where... where the hotel where... where we lived... is... is." she said with difficulty.
Raph, Mikey, Arcee and Casey then exchanged looks with one another as the idea formed up in their mind. If Wendy knew where this hotel was, then she could lead them there.
None of them liked it, given the state Wendy was in right now, but they really got no choice if they were going to find Louie and Dandelion.
###
In the woods, Louie slashed wildly his way through the bushes with his swords, huffing and puffing from the rage as he go.
It didn't take long for the turtle in black to find the last of the retreating Dandelions, and right at the sight of them, he made himself known for them.
And upon seeing him, and after they realized that the turtle in black was all alone, the Dandelions turned back in attempt to subdue him.
in any normal circumstances Louie would've only knock them out cold and leave them with minor injuries. But this time, driven by his rage over Edward's death in the hands of their boss, Louie was no in the mood of holding back.
He was out for blood.
First thug who attempted to stop him swung his pipe at Louie, only for have his weapon sliced in the middle before Louie, crossing his arms, slashed across the thug's chest with the tips of his weapons, leaving there a deep X-shaped wound, before Louie slashed him across his right side with his right sword, making the thug ti fall on his knees, before the turtle in black stabbed him in the back of his head, killing him.
Second one tried to throw his axe at Louie, but Louie sliced it from the middle. Shocked by this and upon realizing that he was now defenseless, the thug tried to back away while panickedly beckoning Louie not to do this, only for the turtle in black to pounce on him, landing with his feet on his chest and pinning him on his back to the ground, before stabbing the thug in the chest with both of his swords.
Another thug then came at him and attempted to swing his machete at Louie's head, missing when Louie ducked under it, just before the turtle in black swung his own sword at the thug, cutting his head clean off his shoulders with one swing.
Fourth thug got no time to prepare himself in any way before Louie was already upon him, and the turtle in black without wasting his time ran both of his swords through of the thug's chest, mrotally wounding him.
Louie then clashed the fifth thug's metal stick with his left sword before he brought his right sword down on the thug's arm wielding it and cut it off. The thug screamed in pain and grabbed to his bleeding stump of the arm, just before Louie swept his legs out from under, making the thug to fall over, and then Louie stabbed one of his swords through of his heart.
Sixth thug then attempted to bring his axe down on Louie, but with the backward-flip-kick, Louie kicked the axe off the thug's hands before he himself hacked his own blades a half-way into the villain in both sides of his head. Louie then left go if his swords and caught the mortally wounded thug's axe into his hands before he tossed it at the sevent thug, hitting him clear in the chest, which kmocked him off his feet. And finally, Louie grabbed to his swords again and kicked them out of the sixth thug.
The eighth thug then swung his baseball bat at Louie, but Louie jumped over the swing and flipped over the thug's head, while slashig both of his swords down and across the thug's back, severely wounding him.
And finally, ninth of the thug's attempted to clash with him with his machete, but Louie, roaring furiously, knocked the blade out of the thug's hands before slashing him in the back of leg, causing him to fall on his knees. And then, Louie placed his sword's blade on the wounded thug's throat and slit it open, killing him!
After dealing with them, Louie continued on until he reached to one of the entrances in the western side of the park, where the surviving Dandelions were making their way into there awaiting escape cars - including Johannes and Marcus - before they drove off.
Though not needing to guess where they were going and not needing them to lead his way there, Louie went after them nonetheless.
Putting his swords away, Louie pulled out the remote control as he ran from the park to the street, then ran down the street in the direction the fleeing Dandelions were going.
"To me, my bike!" he said and pressed the button.
It didn't take long before his bike, whom he had called to him with his remote control, swooped out of the Central Park and drove to him, and Louie jumped into its saddle just as it was about to pass him.
Putting on his helmet, Louie revved up the bike's engine and sped off after Dandelions.
And not long after he had gone, Raph and Casey sped out of the park on their own respective bikes and followed Louie's trail, with Mikey riding on Raph's bike, and both Wendy and Arcee riding on Casey's bike.
###
In one of their escape cars, Johannes and Marcus collapsed on the backs of their seats, sighing with relief of having managed to get out of the park in one piece, though Marcus had suffered his right eye getting swollen and black after Louie had struck him in there.
But neither of them bothered to notice Helga's absence, for she hadn't made it to the escape cars after getting thrown in the river by Louie.
However, this initial relief did not last long as Johanned became nervous, as everything had not gone according to plan, as Louie had received reinforcements from unexpected levels. And therefore why they had not managed to capture him, no matter how prepared and equipped they were.
Though afraid to in fear of the punishment for this failure, Johannes took out his phone and dialed the number before making the call. And after the moment of wait, his call was answered.
"Boss? It's me." Johannes said with slightly trembling voice. "I regret to inform you, but the plan didn't go as it should have. Mr. Lorenzo wasn't alone in the park as he was supposed to, but the others and some guy with the hockey mask too."
###
Back in the turtles' Lair, Donnie was still dismantling Conrad's explosives' radio-controlled detonator while Leo kept Dandelion speaking to stall him from activating the bombs that could kill Conrad, still trying to dissuade him from carrying out his threats while keeping him from finding out that they were trying to help the boy against his orders.
However, they had entered into the severe problem here.
Dandelion had stopped talking to the turtle in blue not so long ago, and no matter how Leo tried to call him back to get him to talk, there was no response from the other side of the line, which worried the mutants.
Because of that, Donnie had ceased from dismantling the detonator in fear that, no matter how quiet he's tried to be, Dandelion might hear out him fingering with the bomb.
"Dandelion? Dandelion? Are you still there? Dandelion?" Leo called, receiving no answer.
"Why did he all of the suddenly stop?" Mary questioned, sounding tensed by this silence of the radio mich.
"I don't know, but it cannot be good." Dom replied, sounding equally tensed and worried because of it.
The silence continued for a moment... until the line went alive again as Dandelion resumed speaking to them, much to their relief.
However, their relief was shortlived when the next words from Dandelion came rather as a furious outburst, which surprised them.
"DIDN'T I TELL YOU FREAKS NOT TO TRY TO SNEAK OUT OF YOUR FILTHY HOLE OR ANYTHING TO WARN MR. LORENZO ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON?! DIDN'T YOU?!" Dandelion roared. "THEN WHY I'VE BEEN INFORMED THAT THREE OF YOU HAS SNEAKED OUT THERE AND APPEARED IN THE CENTRAL PARK TO HELP MR. LORENZO OUT OF THE TRAP WE'D SET FOR HIM?!"
Donnie, Leo, Dom, Mary and Master Splinter exchanged the looks with one another.
"They found him?" Mary asked hopefully.
"Yeah. And at the same time gave out of our ruse." Dom added gravely.
"I thought that I already demonstrated to you freaks how serious I was with my demands. WELL, YOU JUST PROVED THAT I DIDN'T DEMONSTRATE THAT FACT WELL ENOUGH!" Dandelion added.
Donnie hurriedly went back into dismantling the detonator as Leo spoke up to cover him up.
"Your message went straight to the home with the first demonstration of yours, Dandelion, and we know how serious you are indeed. Which is exactly why I've been trying with all my power and breaking my sweat to dissuade you from doing anything rash." Leo said. "Literally, I'm trying to reach out to you with reason!"
"And yet you freaks ended up taking the rash action first despite my warnings!" Dandelion accused. "That doesn't make me to view you freaks being as reasonable as you claim yourself to be."
"Well, I ain't the one behind the trigger of the detonator of the plastic explosives of the trigger of the gun which threaten to kill the innocent boy and a whole group of innocent children, including our friend and her relative. And I ain't the one who would callously and shamelessly do such of things anyway just out of spite whether Louie would show up of not." Leo countered.
"And if I were you, I would be a little more reasonable about how I'd do this, like not taking my anger out on those not included in my anger against Louie. Or so foolishly ignoring the loopholes, and I happen to see a whole load of them in your plan, such as having nothing to bargain with Louie without anyone getting unnecessarily hurt in the process!" the turtle in blue added.
"Not to mention the rather unfair terms that ultimately benefit no one, not Louie, not the hostages, especially you, because they would prohibit of giving Louie a heads up about the danger these children are in until it's too late. And that means the hostages have no chance of survival, and neither will you ultimately get what you want out of the deal." Leo finished.
There was a brief moment of silence between the two, as if Dandelion was taking all of this in and thinking about them seriously. However...
"Like I already told you... I have absolutely no care for whether or not I'll pull the trigger of the detonator or the gun, or whether these chikldren or your friends will live or die, or about the details, or about the overlooked details and missed loopholes, or whether I have or not anything to bargain with Mr. Lorenzo, or whoever gets hurts in the process, or how unfair my terms are or whoever they'll benefit, or whether Louie gets a word of these brats peril, or what are their chances of surviving from this! All I care about is getting Mr. Lorenzo and I will get him no matter what!" Dandelion ranted.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Leo turned to the others, with Mary shaking her head and Dom frowning deeply at Dandelion's rather childish and self-centered ranting. Even Splinter cringed his nose in disgust with this man.
"How can this guy be so blinded by such hatred that reason and diplomacy are so insignificant to him?" Dom said in disbelief.
"And besides..." Dandelion continued, getting their attentions.
"I have been informed that Mr. Lorenzo has already learned of the children's situation, as well as Mr. Edward's unfortunate demise, and is already on his way to get me. So in the other hand, my main plan to capture him at Central Park wasn't a total failure after all. And the entire place where I am is heavily fortified against both direct and indirect attacks, and on full-alert and ready to take on any intruders who might show up here besides Louie. And as for the children and Miss Bridges, they are more of worthy to me as a human shields rather than an actual bargain chip. And once I have Mr. Lorenzo in my grasp, they'll have outlived their usefulness to me and are more worthy of being a cannon fodder which I will dispose of afterwards."
Suddenly, much to the shock of everyone, the red lights in Conrad's plastic explosive's detonator to flash at the slow rate.
"And therefore, this makes my backup plan, which this was all about, a total failure, and Mr. Conrad useless to me. So why I don't do us all a favor and relieve him from all of our misery: mine, Mr. Lorenzo's and yours too." Dandelion added.
"NO!" Conrad panicked upon realizing what was going to happen. "NO! NO! NO! Please! Don't do this! I did all you asked me to do! Please, don't do this!" Conrad begged as she started to cry in fear.
"And you did good, Mr. Conrad. My apologizes your part of the plan did not work the way we all had wanted. But you have no reason to be afraid of anymore. It's time to rest in peace." Dandelion said callously.
"Donnie! Quick! Dismantle the bomb!" Mary cried out.
"It's too late! The detonator is already on!" Donnie panicked. "It'll go off in seconds!"
"Dandelion! Don't do this! We can still negotiate!" Leo cried, still trying to talk Dandelion out of this.
"Like Mr. Donatello said. It's already too late! Say goodbye to Mr. Conrad while you still can." Dandelion said, and this is where he cut all the contact.
The red lights then began to flash even faster rate, causing Conrad to panick even more.
"HELP ME! PLEASE, HELP ME!" the boy panicked.
Leo, thinking quickly, drew out his Katanas. "CONRAD! HOLD STILL!"
Leo then began to slash his Katanas at Conrad while the boy tried to stay as still as he could.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
With the swift and diligent swordwork, Leo cut out all the places on Conrad's clothes where the plastic explosives, detonator and the radio mic were attached, letting them to fall off to the boy's feet.
And with the detonator's light starting to flash rapidly and fully bright, a few seconds away from setting off.
And once Leo was finished... "LOOK OUT!" Donnie cried and pounced on Conrad, knocking the boy away from the explosives before they landed to the floor.
Then the red lights stopped flashing, setting off the explosives.
"EVERYBODY DOWN!" Leo ordered.
The whole mutant family then ducked to the floor, covering their heads with their arms, with Donnie shielding Conrad from the coming explosion with his own body as he braced himself.
KA-BOOOOM!
The explosion on the floor destroyed at least four or six stone slabs of the floor they were lying on and sent small stone chips flying here and there around the Lair.
Everybody stayed still on the floor, waiting till the explosion was completely over, until they finally and slowly got up from the floor and stared at the blackened explosion site in the floor.
With the danger past, Donnie looked down at Conrad, who was still lying on his side on the floor, looking vacantly into space.
"Conrad? Conrad! Hey, hey, hey!" Donnie called to the boy, who slowly lifted his gaze up to the turtle in purple. "Are you alright?"
Tears began to flow uncontrollably out of the young boy's eyes when he was overcome with the shock that he was still alive. Unable to hold himself back, Conrad immediately fell into the vrainy turtle's arms, softly sobbing into his shoulder.
"Shh! Shh! It's alright. It's alright. You're safe now. You're safe." Donnie said soothingly, wrapping his arms around the boy to reassure that he was safe and the danger was in the past.
"How is he?" Leo asked as he, Dom, Mary and Master Splinter gathered around the brainy turtle with Conrad in his arms.
"Over overcome with shock and relief of being alive. But otherwise he's fine." Donnie told them.
"Whatta relief that we didn't lose him." Mary said as she knelt beside the turtle in purple and gently stroked the boy's head with her hand.
This was followed by a short silence around the mutants and the boy, until Master Splinter spoke up to remind all of them about some important matter at hand.
"My children. We must move quickly. Lorenzo is in grave danger, and so are Mrs. Bridges and a lot of innocent children!" he reminded them urgently. "And we must stopd this madman at once!"
"He's right. This Dandelion guy must be taken down before he kills anyone else!" Dom said, his disgust for Dandelion rising beyond all boundaries to the point where he fully supported stopping him.
"I fully agree with you two, Sensei and bro, but there's a small problem." Mary said as she looked up at Dom and Master Splinter. "We don't actually even know where Conrad lives, and Dandelion didn't give us any clues as to where this abandoned hotel is even located."
"She's got a point here." Donnie agreed.
"I... I..." Conrad's broken voice tried to speak up as he unburried his from the tears drenched face from Donnie's shoulder and looked up at the turtles, though poor boy's voice was so shaken that he couldn't even finish the sentence after he'd just started. "I... I... I know... where... where it is."
The mutants looked down at the boy in surprise, and then they exchanged a pondering looks with one another.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = Reference to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 - Bio: Casey Jones, where Casey asks from the couple of civilians if they were alright after saving them from getting mugged by the Purple Dragons, they run away from Casey in fear.