Chapter Twenty-One
Planning a New Hunt
Back outside the tunnel, the three turtles, Devina and Sharky waited for Tyroth and Monalisa to return and Devina who had the most exquisite hearing heard the dragon and Lizard approaching.
"Guys!" she hissed to which everyone looked to see Tyroth and Monalisa walking out, both looking pale and sad.
"Mona? Big T?" Donatello asked.
"What did you see!?" Michelangelo questioned, clutching at straws.
Tyroth sighed and closed his eyes, and the five mutants instantly feared the worst, yet they saw how drained and pale Monalisa looked, and Raphael signed to his mate, asking her what she had seen.
Monalisa walked over to her mate and hugged him close as she felt her spirit break and Raphael was shocked yet held her close, tears of his own falling.
"What the hell happened!?" Sharky asked narrowing his eyes at the Dragon.
Tyroth glared and looked at everyone before him.
"Find the other Knights, Sonia, the Geckolings and Jake, we need to converse, it turns out all it not what we seemed."
"Why can't you just tell us straight up T?!" Michelangelo snapped "What's happened to Pandora?!"
"Just get the others and we will talk!" Tyroth snarled back "Now!" he added with a bark and Donatello and Michelangelo wasted no time in going to find the others and Tyroth looked at Sharky and Devina and they nodded and supporting Monalisa and Raphael following the dragon to the Mess Hall where luckily it was empty save for Louie still at work in the kitchen listening to the radio with Patch helping him.
It wasn't long before the others arrived.
Jake and Amber were the last to arrive, Jake was out of his wheelchair, yet he was using a cane to move around, and James and Dahlia still forbade him to do any physically activity that could make his injury worse.
"We're all here Boss!" Jack reported counting everyone.
"Good." Tyroth said, he then went on to explain what had happened in the temple of the well, helping Monalisa amplify her meditation to see what happened to Pandora and everyone leaned in to listen.
"...But it turns out." Tyroth said gravely "Pandora is lost to us..."
"WHAT!?" everyone cried as the unimaginable crossed their minds and they prayed it wasn't the case.
"No! No!" Michelangelo cried out "No please! She's not dead! I refuse! I refuse to believe it!"
Donatello hugged his brother as did Kate to console him though they too looked ready to break down.
Sonia went blue to almost black and the Geckolings hugged each other.
"No... Pandora." they wept softly.
"She's not dead!" Monalisa cried out to which again everyone looked shocked.
"Not Dead!?" Heather, Sarah, and Amber cried out together.
"How!?" Percy and Sharky exclaimed.
"How do you even know that sis!?" Jake demanded.
Sonia went yellow in shock and curiosity hearing that and the Geckolings looked up hopefully as well as in disbelief as they knew Pandora didn't share their strength and fast healing especially after the bomb in the warehouse went off.
Monalisa sighed.
"In my years of being with the Hamato Clan, I have learnt their ways of meditation to find answers to my questions, and since becoming second in command to Leonardo, I have learnt his advanced meditation which I still haven't fully perfected, but thanks to Tyroth's magic I was able to, and I saw what happened to Pandora."
"What did happen?" Sephie demanded "If Pandora's not dead, where is she?"
Tyroth sighed deeply.
"Diablo has her," he said getting straight to the point.
Hearing those words everyone gasped and Raphael's slammed his palms on the table before attempting to shout, yet no words came out as he still was unable to speak.
"The traitor?" Kate snarled.
"You saw Diablo take her?" Jack asked.
Monalisa shook her head.
"No!" she said, "It was one of his Disciples, the Falcon!"
"Falcon?" Sonia asked.
"Lilith." Monalisa clarified "I heard her being addressed as such."
Michelangelo glowered.
"My niece is in the hands of Diablo?" he asked, "He dares take her away from us!"
"But is she a prisoner or did she willingly go with him?" Donatello questioned "If Pandora's alive, she'd would be trying to get back to us!"
"But what if what the others said in the last meeting?" Sharky asked, "She's too scared to come back after what she did?"
"She committed the same acts Diablo did before he betrayed us!" Sarah agreed.
Hearing that, Michelangelo turned and glared at the Cheetah.
"Pandora is no traitor!" Michelangelo snapped "So don't even think that Spots!"
"Whoa whoa Mike!" Sarah cried holding up her paws in defence "I'm not saying that!"
"Enough!" Tyroth snapped "Look, we can't jump to conclusions whether Pandora was kidnapped and brainwashed, or whether she's with Diablo willingly, all we know is she's with him and we have to get her back!"
"Right on Big T!" Percy said.
"But how are we gonna do that Boss?" Heather asked, "We have no idea where they might have gone!"
"Yeah! They could be miles away! Maybe in another state! And Who knows which one!" Donatello spoke up "There's Wisconsin to the north, Indiana and Kentucky to the east, Tennessee to the South and Missouri and Iowa to the West!"
"And how are we to find them in either state even if we knew which one they fled to?" Percy asked, "It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack!"
Jake leaned on the table as he thought hard.
Since Diablo fled Mutopia and started his own crusade, he was always keeping tabs on his brother on his attacks, as often they were heard about in the news, as Diablo enjoyed scaring everyone by making sure everyone he was hunting knew he was after them, it was his way of toying with his victims as well as warning others not to follow the path of whom he hunted otherwise they would be next.
He stood up and raised his hand to which everyone turned to him.
"Since my brother's betrayal and him fleeing Mutopia," he said, "I have been tracking his activities, and all of us at some points have heard about his actions on the news, whether they take days, weeks or months in between."
Everyone went quiet as they thought about it.
"Diablo always leaves a mess behind when he performs a so-called punishment on his victims." Jack said, "Never cleans up after himself."
"That's because he always wants people to see what he leaves, as well as the state of his victims." Heather said "Tortured, bleeding and gone insane."
"They always appear in the press afterwards; they hope to drive fear into the heart of anyone who will read about it or listen." Tyroth growled.
"And when was their last attack?" Percy asked looking at Jake.
"And if they were in Chicago or on the Outskirts, then we would know about it right?" Sarah asked.
Jake looked down.
"I haven't heard anything in the news about anything that would relate to Diablo here, at least not recently."
"Maybe Hugh might know?" Kate suggested "He's usually the first to know."
"And if he has, why hasn't he been in touch?" Sharky questioned.
Tyroth narrowed his eyes.
"There's only one way to find out!" he said, "I'll get in touch with him, meanwhile Jake?"
The human man looked over at the Dragon adjusting his glasses.
"See if Hacker was able to find anything on the Raven if he has attacked near here."
Jake nodded.
"I will." He said taking his cane and starting to leave the mess hall.
"I'll go with you Jake." Amber offered walking close to him and turning to Tyroth.
"We'll let you know if we find out anything." She promised as she accompanied Jake.
Tyroth nodded and he watched them go then took out his phone to call Hugh, yet he frowned as it went to voice mail.
"Damn!" he snarled "He must be sleeping."
"But I thought he was on night duty tonight!" Jack cried.
"Not always." Tyroth reminded his second in command then lowered his head "Just when he need his assistance! He was on the day shift!"
The Knights looked disappointed, yet the Hamato Clan looked drained and devastated.
"What are we gonna tell Sensei, and even Leonardo and Kemeko when they get back from Japan?" Donatello asked.
Michelangelo just leaned against Kate who hugged him close, giving him much needed comfort and support.
"Master Splinter will need to know at some point." Tyroth said "But I will tell him myself once I've gotten some more information together, both from Jake and Hacker and from Hugh once he's gotten back in touch."
"What do you want us to do boss?" Jack asked.
Tyroth sighed.
"Nothing." He said, "You're all dismissed."
"Nothing!?" Everyone asked.
"Well, what can you do until we find out more from Hugh and Hacker?" Tyroth asked with a glare.
Devina sighed.
"You have a point boss." She said then looked at the others, "Come on you guys, I'm sure Tyroth will inform us when he's gotten in touch with Hugh."
"Let's hope it's sooner rather than later." Donatello said then he looked over to see Monalisa and Raphael walking away leaning on each other in grief.
The brainy turtle could only imagine the pain they were going through, not only was their daughter missing, but she was in the possession of their enemy, the Mutopian Traitor, and it seemed that hurt even more as they didn't know what Diablo must have done to Pandora to have her turn to him.
"Oh Pandora." He thought "If only you knew, if only you could see how much your parents miss you, how much we all miss you," he looked at Michelangelo still leaning into Kate.
"Mikey misses you more than anything, his best friend, his favourite niece, his partner in crime, we all love you, and we want you to come home, regardless of what you've done, or where you are now."
He sighed then wandered to the door to go and find Jake, Amber, and Hacker, deciding maybe he could try and help find information on Diablo's activities.
The Knights and the Hamato Clan have been informed of what Monalisa saw, yet they don't know where to start when it comes to searching for their lost Hybrid and Diablo, at least not until they've done some digging.