***
"Come on, Mikey."
Michaelangelo took his place beside his brother and surveyed the scene below them. "We have to get home, Raph."
"Shh, look." Raphael pointed down at a black van filled with unmarked boxes. A few teenagers moved back and forth from the neighboring stores. Several men in black ninja uniforms stood guard. "We should stop them."
"What?" Mike cried.
"Yeah!" Raph leapt off the roof and traveled down the fire escape silently. Mike followed after him. Raph came up behind one of the uniformed guards and knocked him out. The others stopped and looked.
"What the hell is that?"
Mike jumped and took down the guy. "Watch your language! There are kids around."
The kids fled while the ninjas prepared for a fight. Four against two, now. Too easy, Raph thought.
***
Leonardo met them at the door. "And where have you two been?"
Raphael glared at him. "Out for some fresh air, that okay with you?"
Leo followed them into their room. "No, it's not. Splinter told us not to leave the lair."
"Don't freak," Mike said, flopping onto the bed on his stomach. "No one saw us."
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry, Leo," Raph smirked, "it'll give you wrinkles."
***
Not far from the site of the attempted robbery was a large warehouse. Inside, one of the defeated ninja bowed before a tall man in armor.
"You failed," the man spoke.
"Forgive us master," the ninja begged. "Two…creatures interfered."
"Creatures?" Shredder narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, two man sized turtles. They were well trained, and disappeared into the sewers."
Shredder thought for a moment. "Go, find these turtles and bring them here."
***
"We have to follow them, Leo!"
Leonardo set his hand on his brother's shoulder. "We will, Mike, we will. And we will get Master Splinter and Raphael back, too." He spoke into a communicator Donatello had built from old walkie-talkies. "Donnie?"
"I'm still on 'em," Donnie's voice replied. "Is Mike okay?"
"I've got him bandaged up and we're coming to join you."
***
Leonardo picked up a katana from a felled ninja and blocked another. He brought his attacker down with a swift kick and took that sword, too.
"Down here!" Don called.
Mike was busy searching the fallen guard for the keys. Leo noticed two tonfas lying next to the guard and told Mike to take them when they left. He noticed Don had found a long staff. Mike held up the keys with a triumphant grin. Leo grabbed them and started trying them in the locks.
Splinter squinted his eyes against the sudden light.
"Sensei?"
Splinter tried to stand. "Raphael has not awakened."
Don looked over his injured brother. He had a bad bruise on the side of his head and some bad cuts. "Mike, help me here."
Don and Mike carried Raphael, and Splinter leaned on Leonardo. Mike picked up the two tonfas and followed Leo down the hall. They heard someone approaching and ducked into an open doorway, closing it behind them. Don looked around the garage. "There!"
He and Mike dragged Raph to a jeep-like vehicle and carefully laid him in the back seat. Mike and Splinter sat with him, and Leo and Don jumped in front.
Luckily, the keys had been left in the ignition and Don turned them.
Leo jumped at the sound of the engine. "Donnie, when did you learn to drive?"
"In about five seconds. Buckle up!"
They shot straight forward through the garage door, shattering it apart. Dozens of Foot soldiers blocked their path and Don turned sharply to the left. They pulled onto the somewhat empty streets and were gone before the Foot could get to their vehicles.
***
"We cannot return to our home," Splinter said.
Raphael had regained consciousness and was sitting up in the back seat. He had found a pair of sai on the floor of the Hummer and he took procession of them. Don was bandaging his wounds with a first aid kit that had also been in the car.
"Where can we go?" Mike asked.
Raph took a ragged breath. "I know a place." He gently kicked Mike's leg. "Remember the dead subway line we followed last week."
"Yeah!" Mike snapped his fingers. "That place was huge!"
Leo sat next to Splinter. "We'll go back for our things that weren't damaged. Who were they?"
"The Foot clan," Splinter said.
Don looked up. "Wasn't that the group your master belonged to?"
Splinter nodded. "I recognized their leader, the Shredder, as the man who murdered my master Hamato Yoshi and his wife Shen. Oroku Saki."
Leo inhaled sharply. "I don't think we've seen the end of them."
Don closed up the first aid kit. "Well, I want to check this truck for bugs, tracking devices, then we can go down to Mike and Raph's tunnel."
"It ain't a 'tunnel'," Raph snapped. "It used to be a station. We can probably all get our own rooms, to boot."
Don rolled his eyes. "Great, we can celebrate our sweet sixteen with
elevator music."