Yeah. It looks like it. Sorry.Chapter 2One year later…
Don entered the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Taking it to the table, he sat down and put his chin in his left hand. It had been a year and yet still nobody was sleeping well. There had been no trace of Leo when the building had been cleaned up and rebuilt. It was now a pizza place. And Mikey’s favorite too. Raph was upset every time Mikey ate there. He said he couldn’t eat there ‘cuz it was the last place they knew Leo had been.
Don slowly sipped his coffee. None of them had been faring well since that day. They had spent the past year searching the city and the surrounding cities. It had given them hope. Maybe Leo had escaped. But now they didn’t really believe that. If Leo had survived the fire, he would’ve come home by now. He wouldn't have left them worrying.
Raph shuffled into the kitchen, grabbed a soda, and joined Don at the table, scowling at the can as if it were the reason Leo had died in that fire.
“Morning,” Don said.
“You’re up early,” Raph grunted.
“You seem to be too.”
Raph muttered to himself and started squishing his soda can.
“We can’t keep living like this,” Don said.
“I know.” Raph finished off his soda and squashed the can against the table.
The microwave beeped and started running.
Don jumped and turned around to see Splinter heating his tea. “Morning sensei.”
“Good morning Donatello and Raphael.”
“Morning,” Raph ground out.
The microwave beeped.
Splinter pulled his tea out and sat down at the table. He sipped the liquid. “Donatello go get Michelangelo. It is time we talked.”
Don nodded. “Yes sensei.” He left the kitchen, finding his brother in front of the TV. Mikey barely played video games anymore. Don couldn’t tell how deeply loosing Leo had affected him. Or any of them for that matter. No one ever talked about it. “Meeting in the kitchen.”
“Ok,” Mikey said dejectedly, slowly rising and following Don to the kitchen, plopping down at the table.
Splinter looked at each one of them with sad tired eyes. He took a deep breath. “I know how this has affected us all.”
Don nodded and put his chin in his hand, elbow on the edge of the table.
“But I know Leonardo would not want us to live like this,” Splinter continued.
“Are you saying we just forget about him like he never even existed?!” Raph demanded standing up.
Splinter eyed him, but said nothing.
Raph slowly sat. “I’m sorry master.”
“It is alright my son. We are all wound tight from this.”
“But what can we do?” Don asked.
“We must return things back to normal,” Splinter said. “Get back to our training. I know it will not be easy, but it will be doable. It will take time.”
Don nodded. He couldn’t think of anything else they could do. He just knew they couldn't go on like this.
---
A stranger wearing a black trench coat and hat wanders through the outskirts of New York. It had been a long time since he’d been here, but yet it brought back so many memories. Some good. Some bad. But all his. The buildings all seem taller than he remembers, but maybe he's just imaging it.
“I don’t think the plan will work,” a voice whispers nearby.
The stranger creeps to the corner of the alley and peeks around into the next alley. Two men dressed in black stand nearly in the shadows.
“Neither do I. They know what we look like,” one black clothed ninja says.
The first one nods. “I don’t know what the Shredder’s thinking.”
“Do we ever?”
“No.”
The second turns and spots the stranger in the black trench coat. He pulls out his sword and glares at him menacingly.
The stranger rounds the corner, crosses his arms, and leans against the wall, eying the two ninjas.
“Who are you?” the first ninja demands.
The stranger shrugs. “Who knows. I go by a lot of things.”
“So you’re not from here?” the second asks.
“I’m from where I want to be.” He watches them with an uninterested gaze.
Four red caped ninjas drop down from the rooftops and quickly surround him.
“And who might you guys be?” the stranger asks with a sigh. This was not entertaining to him.
“We are the Shredder’s Elite Guard,” the lead one says. “We are looking for someone to help us with our plans.”
“And what are your plans exactly?”
“To get rid of three turtles and a rat.”
“Three turtles?” the stranger asks. He hasn’t heard of the turtles in a long time.
“The fourth one was killed in a fire.”
The stranger nods. “I see. Good luck with that.” He pushes himself off the wall and turns to leave.
The Elite guard close in on him. “We think you would make the perfect person to implement our plan.”
“And why would I do that?” the stranger asks.
“They don't know you,” one answers. “They would never see it coming. And we can tell your are a warrior of great precision.”
“But you have not seen me do anything.”
“No. But we do not have to,” another says.
“Are you in?” a third asks.
They waited for an answer, but in his mind there was only one answer. He sighs. “What did you have in mind for doing it?”
The four Elite Guard each smirk.
To be continued…