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Casey urges Raph to help him solve the puzzle, but the red banded turtle and his oldest brother are locked in a mystery of their own.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Word Count: 4,054
Rating: NC-17 TCest OT4, language, violence, adult concepts
Summary: Young, healthy males throughout New York City are dying in a mysterious manner. Casey urges Raph to help him solve the puzzle, but the red banded turtle and his oldest brother are locked in a mystery of their own.", "writing": "\tMaster Splinter paced the floor in front of his sons, his tail twitching. Raphael knew every nuance of his father’s body language, including the different messages that tail could convey. His father wasn’t angry, he was agitated.\n\n\tThat didn’t mean that Master Splinter hadn’t been angry earlier, when Raph and Don had brought Casey back to the lair. After they had gotten the man settled on a cot in the infirmary Don had gone to confer with their father, bringing him back so that the more experienced elder could examine the wound on Casey’s neck. \n\n\tWhile he looked over the injury, he’d asked for an explanation and between them the brothers spun the tale of their evening’s adventures. Casey slept through it all, blissfully unaware that he was the subject of a very terse conversation.\n\n\tAfter they had finished explaining what had led to Casey’s stay in their infirmary, Master Splinter had ordered the pair to wake their brothers and then to join him in the dojo.\n\n\tIt was Don who had gone to relay their father’s wishes to Leo and Mikey. The thought that Leo’s demand for answers would anger Raph wasn’t a chance Don wanted to take, so he told Raph to keep an eye on Casey. If the man didn’t budge while Don was gone, then it would probably be safe to leave him unattended while they had their family conference.\n\n\tOf course, Leo [i]had [/i]demanded to know why Don was hauling him out of bed at their father’s behest, but Don had told him that Master Splinter would explain everything. It turned out that was not factually accurate; as soon as his children were kneeling before him, Master Splinter had told Don and Raph to repeat the story they’d told him.\n\n\tNear the end of the second telling Master Splinter had begun to pace and when Don stopped speaking silence fell on the family.\n\n\tUntil Leo turned his head to stare at Raph and said, “Telling Casey to meet you anywhere near . . . .”\n\n\t“No.” Master Splinter cut him off. “There will be no recriminations. I believe that if Raphael had foreseen an attack he would not have left Mr. Jones vulnerable. Their meeting was to take place on a roof top that was some distance from where this killer operates. It was unfortunate that Mr. Jones’ route placed him in peril but we will not lay the blame for that at your brother’s feet.”\n\n\t“I didn’t think he’d go that way until I saw he wasn’t waiting for me, Master Splinter. If I hadn’t gotten delayed I could’ve caught up to him before he was attacked,” Raph said hotly, glowering at Leo.\n\n\t“This should then be a lesson to all of you that we cannot afford to lose focus for even one moment,” Master Splinter said, moving to stand directly in front of Raph in order to gain his attention. “While I did not forbid you going topside, I believe I made it clear that it would be prudent to avoid entirely that part of the city in which the killer is operating. I will accept your assurances that the encounter with this killer was happenstance because I am sure you would not have purposely made such a rash decision.”\n\n\tMaster Splinter fixed Raph with a hard stare, one that was difficult to meet. Raph was already kicking himself for not realizing which direction Casey would come from and his father’s words just made him feel like a heel. He should have been thinking about the situation he was going to ask Casey to get into with him and not about his screwed up relationship with Leo.\n\n\t“I damn well wouldn’t,” Raph finally muttered because his father was obviously waiting for an answer.\n\n\t“You are fortunate that your arrival was timely enough to save Mr. Jones’ life,” Master Splinter continued, apparently accepting Raph’s response. “He is a large man who is adept at fighting and still he succumbed to this killer’s tricks. This person is bold and determined which makes them a grave danger to the inhabitants of this city. The authorities may be ill equipped to deal with such a threat.”\n\n\tThe latter statement took Raph by surprise. He was expecting his father to order them to remain below ground until the police caught their serial killer, but it didn’t sound as though that was what Master Splinter had said.\n\n\t“You told us that if we got involved we’d run the risk of being spotted by the detectives who are searching for the killer,” Don reminded their father.\n\n\t“Then you should do your utmost to avoid being seen,” Master Splinter said. “This killer, this woman, attacked one of our own. The roof tops have been our safe haven and I do not intend to turn them over to a crazy person. You must figure out what this woman is and how to stop her before she kills again.”\n\n\t“Ya’ [i]want [/i]us ta hunt for her?” Raph asked.\n\n\tMaster Splinter lifted a finger in the air as though emphasizing a point. “I want the four of you to gather as much information as possible and devise a plan that will lead to her capture without placing yourselves in harm’s way. You have the news reports and your experiences to date to use in compiling data about how she operates. Raphael, have you seen or encountered anything else that might be linked to this woman?”\n\n\tIf Leo hadn’t been kneeling right next to him, Raph might have hesitated about lying directly to his father, but he had no intention of handing his brother information that could be turned around and used against him.\n\t“No, sensei,” Raph said, keeping his eyes on Master Splinter.\n\n\tRaph heard Don take a deep breath and then exhale quietly, but neither he nor Mikey contradicted their hot headed brother. From the corner of his eye, Raph saw Leo’s head jerk towards him, his gaze fixed on Raph’s face. Leo always did know when Raph was either lying or holding something back, but the eldest didn’t call Raph out on it.\n\n\t“Very well,” Master Splinter said. “I forbid anyone leaving this lair until you have reached an agreement on a viable plan for finding and capturing this woman. Your plan must include a way to avoid being discovered by the authorities and a way to turn the killer over to them with enough proof to allow them to prosecute her fully. Have I made myself clear?”\n\n\tIn unison, the brothers answered, “Hai, sensei.”\n\n\t“Donatello and Raphael need some rest,” Master Splinter said. “I will look in on Mr. Jones.”\n\n\tThey remained kneeling as their father left the dojo. Watching Master Splinter walk away, Raph decided he wouldn’t wait around for Leo to pounce on him about his obvious lie. Raph could almost see the self-satisfied smirk on Leo’s face if he found out that Raph imagined he’d seen his oldest brother standing outside in the rain and staring at him longingly.\n\n\t“I need to do some research,” Don announced as soon as their father was out of sight. “I’ve also got the samples I gathered off Casey that I have to process. They may degrade over time so I shouldn’t wait. I’ll sleep later.”\n\n\t“Well I’m hungry,” Mikey said as he got up from the floor with his brothers. “Anyone for breakfast?”\n\n\tThis was Raph’s cue. “I’m gonna take a shower and then go ta bed. I’ll catch up ta the rest of ya’ later.”\n\n\tHe was out of the dojo before Leo could say anything. Going straight to the bathroom, Raph locked the door and then jammed one of his sai between the door and the frame so that Leo couldn’t force his way in.\n\n\tStanding beneath a hot spray of water, Raph couldn’t help but laugh humorlessly at himself for the effort he was making in trying to avoid his brother. Anyone would think he was five and attempting to hide the fact that he was the one who ripped the spine off of Leo’s favorite book.\n\n\tShaking his head, Raph turned his focus on the ritual of bathing in order to shove Leo out of his mind. Soap up, rinse, scrub the carapace, rinse, release and cleanse his penis, and return it to its protective pouch.\n\n\tThat concentration worked just fine up until he touched his own cock. A sudden memory of Leo holding him down on the bed while sucking Raph off came into his head and Raph started to harden.\n\n\tGritting his teeth, Raph grabbed the shower valve and turned it to full cold. The shock to his system nearly made him cry out, but it did the trick and erased the beginnings of his erection.\n\n\tToweling himself off, Raph dislodged the sai and unlocked the door. He decided that if Leo had the nerve to be outside waiting for him then Raph was going to lift him bodily and toss him to the floor below.\n\n\tFortunately for both of them, Leo was nowhere to be seen. Raph guessed that he was probably in Don’s lab trying to get their genius brother to tell him what Raph was hiding. Good luck with that, Raph thought, chuckling as he entered his room and locked the door. Donatello knew how to keep things to himself better than any of them, that’s why they all chose him as their confidant.\n\n\tIn his hammock, Raph draped one of his legs over the side and kicked it back and forth, hoping that the gentle swinging motion of his ‘bed’ would put him to sleep. Rather than shutting down though, his mind turned to thoughts of what had happened to Casey and then crawled inexorably towards the thing uppermost in his mind, his problem with Leo.\n\n\tRaph was damned tired of thinking about it and wished like hell he could stop. Just give up and accept their situation as it was. Half of his brain thought that’s what Leo wanted as well, but the other half kept reminding him of how Leo had sounded when he’d asked Raph to stay home with him.\n\n\tLeo had said he wanted to work some things out. Raph snorted, how the hell were they going to work anything out when even a simple conversation blew up in their faces?\n\n\tHis thoughts shifted with a touch of envy to Don and Mikey and how good their relationship was. Everything was smooth between them, no major blowups other than normal brother stuff. They didn’t keep things from each other, Raph realized. They always told each other what they thought and felt.\n\n\tRaph liked to talk to Don. Donatello could be damned sarcastic at times but somehow he avoided being judgmental and therefore didn’t set off any of Raph’s defensive mechanisms. \n\n\tGrinning, Raph thought about how Don would always give him something to do to keep his hands busy when he sensed that his temperamental brother needed to talk. Working next to Don kept Raph from feeling self-conscious, talking while he pounded a dent out of a metal fender, sanded, polished, painted; all busy work that Raph could focus on while his words spilled out.\n\n\tContrast that with the way Mikey dealt with Raph’s moods. Mikey always knew exactly when Raph needed to have his steam valve turned in order to release the pent up anger, frustration, and tension that was building inside of him. The nut ball would push Raph until his brother blew up and went after him, risking bodily injury just to give Raph an outlet for his boiling emotions.\n\n\tMikey never broached the subject that was truly bothering Raph, he always taunted his hot blooded brother with something petty and innocuous so that their fight wasn’t personal. Raph knew that Mikey could take anything he dished out and therefore Raph didn’t have to hold back. Neither did he worry that the thing that was really bothering him would slip out because he was too busy telling Mikey how he was going to beat the snot out of him for his youngest brother’s latest transgression.\n\n\tIt was funny how after a physical altercation with Mikey, Raph was worn out enough to actually talk about what was eating at him. Mikey never teased him about that stuff; he listened and offered what was usually pretty sound advice.\n\n\tRaph had a sudden epiphany as he realized that in his relationship with Don and Mikey he was always the taker and they were the givers. His interactions with them were always about Raph and his needs. He’d never thought about that before and felt pretty ashamed when it dawned on him.\n\n\tMaybe that was part of his problem with Leo, Raph decided. Leo just wasn’t the kind to coddle anyone. He might very well perceive Raph’s moods as some sort of weakness and Leo didn’t abide that sort of thing. Raph loved Leo for his strength but it irked him to think that his brother might consider him to be flawed in some way.\n\n\tWith a growl, Raph sat up. Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he decided that he would make a conscious effort to do something for someone else and stop being such a taker.\n\n\tRaph still wasn’t in the mood to deal with Leo but as he headed downstairs he didn’t see anyone but Mikey, who was propped up on the couch cushions watching television. Going straight to the infirmary, Raph first checked to see that Casey was resting comfortably and then picked up his friend's golf bag.\n\n\tGrabbing a bottle of cleanser and a couple of clean rags from Don’s stash, Raph settled into a chair and quietly emptied the bagful of weapons. First he cleaned the bag itself and then one by one he wiped down the tools of Casey’s trade.\n\n\tThis was something that Casey himself did on a regular basis; Raph had watched him remove the dirt, grime, and blood from his things on numerous occasions when he was hanging out at his friend’s apartment. He always found it amusing that Casey’s place was such a mess, but that his bag and weapons were as spotless as they could be. Raph often wondered about Casey’s priorities.\n\n\tIt didn’t take him long to finish the clean up because Casey hadn’t gotten much of a chance to use his weapons in the last few days. Neither of them had anything close to a workout which was why Casey had sounded so enthusiastic about meeting up with Raph.\n\n\tShoving the weapons back into their bag with more vigor than was necessary, Raph cursed himself out for not telling Casey about his plans to search for that serial killer. While he had Casey on the phone, Raph should have given the man a heads up about the pattern created by linking the murder sites. Raph hadn’t said anything though, other than for Casey to meet him, and that was because Raph’s only worry was that someone would overhear his conversation. \n\n\tRight as he was about to indulge in a really solid bout of self-loathing, Raph’s stomach began to growl. He immediately noticed that he could smell the bacon that had undoubtedly been cooked by Michelangelo.\n\n\tRaph walked over to look down at Casey again, noticing how deeply his friend slumbered. There was something a little unnerving about it, but Don had said Casey was all right, so Raph pushed his own concerns aside.\n\n\tFiguring that by now everyone else would be done in the kitchen, Raph made his way there to grab some breakfast. In the middle of the table there were several slices of now cold bacon on a covered dish. Raph poured out a bowl of cereal, added milk, and sat down, munching on bacon between mouthfuls of cereal.\n\n\tHe was half done with his meal with Leo walked in. Only one word came to mind when Raph saw the one brother he was trying to avoid and that was, [i]“Fuck!”\n[/i]\n\tRaph kept his head down and focused on eating, purposely ignoring Leo. His brother went straight to the refrigerator and got himself a bottle of water, downing half of it before glancing in Raph’s direction.\n\n\t“Couldn’t you sleep?” Leo asked, his tone mild.\n\n\t“Nah, I’m too wound up,” Raph answered without looking up.\n\n\t“I was just in the dojo running through some katas,” Leo said. “Do you want to spar a little? It might help you relax.”\n\n\tLeo was behaving as though they hadn’t, just a few hours earlier, had a serious argument following a tussle for sexual dominance. The idea that Leo could behave so cavalierly about something that was eating at Raph aggravated the red banded turtle.\n\n\t“Yeah, that’ll help a lot,” Raph said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Slamming my body into yours, rolling around on the floor, pressing up against each other; sounds like a great way ta ease the tension.”\n\n\tRaph could hear the frown in Leo’s voice as his brother said, “So now we can’t even practice together?”\n\n\t“Ya’ know, I always did like the way ya’ can just blow stuff off like it don’t matter,” Raph said, finally looking up at his brother. “Ya’ got some kind of special on, off switch for that?”\n\n\tLeo flattened both of his hands on the table and leaned towards Raph. “Flying into a rage whenever things don’t go my way solves absolutely nothing. Our problem in the bedroom shouldn’t overlap with our daily lives, or hadn’t that dawned on you?”\n\n\t“Our ‘problem’ is our life,” Raph snarled. “The deep down reason ya’ don’t want me ta top ya’ is that ya’ think you’re better than me. There ain’t no quid pro quo in that, fearless leader.”\n\n\t“Is that why you’ve decided to start lying to Master Splinter? Because you think you won’t get equal treatment?” Leo demanded.\n\n\tThere it was, the thing Raph had wanted to avoid, and he’d stepped right into it. He should have gotten up and walked out of the kitchen as soon as Leo opened his mouth.\n\n\t“Ya’ really think I’m jealous of the fact he made ya’ the leader?” Raph asked, dodging the question. “I don’t give a fuck about that. You’re the one who likes ta play brain chess, I just wanna hit stuff.”\n\n\t“Then why lie?” Leo insisted, hanging onto that point like a pit bull.\n\n\tRaph slowly stood up, planting his hands on the table as well, and getting right up in Leo’s face. “Prove I did.”\n\n\tLeo’s eyes narrowed. “I grew up with you, Raphael. I know how you . . . .”\n\n\t“Dudes, you gotta see this!” Mikey exclaimed, bursting into the kitchen and interrupting them.\n\n\tHe was gone before either of them could acknowledge him. With a last hard look at Raph, Leo turned to follow his kid brother. A half second later, Raph stormed after the pair.\n\n\tThey were headed towards the television array, where Don was already standing. When he saw them coming he lifted the remote to playback the news broadcast he’d just taped.\n\n\tA news reporter stood on a sidewalk in front of an area cordoned off by police crime tape. Behind her, investigators gathered evidence from the middle of the street.\n\n\t[i]“Police have just stated that the latest death does in fact fit the pattern of the ‘high rise killer’,” [/i]the reporter said. [i]“This brings the death toll attributed to that murderer to six. This latest victim did not live in the building he was purportedly thrown from and markings on the body seem to indicate that he was a member of the street gang known as the Purple Dragons. Police are withholding the victim’s name pending notification of next of kin.”\n[/i]\n\tPartway through her report, the footage switched to tape from the previous night, showing a scene lit by artificial lights as the medical examiner’s team prepared to transport the body. The dead man’s face was not visible, but he was a big, muscular individual with a huge purple dragon tattooed across his chest.\n\n\t[i]“We will continue to follow this breaking story and the mayor’s news conference at noon to bring you the latest developments in this case. May Compton, channel six news.”\n\n[/i]\tDon switched off the TV when the coverage ended and turned to look at his brothers.\n\n\t“Too bad that wasn’t Hun,” Mikey said in a voice lacking his usual humor.\n\n\t“She needed to kill,” Don said. “She missed her chance with Casey and picked the next available target.”\n\n\t“All five of her prior victims appeared to have been vetted,” Leo said. “She knew them well enough to be invited into their homes. Why the change with Casey and now the Purple Dragon?”\n\n\t“Maybe Casey wasn’t a change,” Raph said. “Maybe she was there watching the police work the crime scene and saw me and Case on the roof top. He sure as shell fits her victim profile.”\n\n\t“But you guys said she didn’t even know his name,” Mikey said.\n\n\tRaph shrugged. “So she figured he runs the roof tops a lot and just waited for an opportunity ta catch him alone. When that fell through she happened on the Purple Dragon and lured him up on the roof instead.”\n\n\t“I recognized the buildings around the murder sight,” Don said. “That address is outside her killing pattern.”\n\n\tThe brothers grew silent as they thought about that, then Leo said, “Maybe she was forced to change venues because she missed her chance to kill Casey? The pattern you found could just be a coincidence.”\n\n\t“Line of sight,” Mikey said suddenly.\n\n\t“What?” Leo asked, staring at the youngest.\n\n\tWhen Don and Raph turned their eyes on him, Mikey told Don, “I looked at your map dude. That section of the city is zoned for a bunch of new high rise apartments and condos, but they have to maintain line of sight between the park and that old watch tower at Lexington. The only way the developers could do that was to build in a zigzag pattern.”\n\n\t“I remember reading about that,” Don said. “The watch tower is a historic landmark and there’s a big festival every year to commemorate its completion date. The festival draws thousands of clock enthusiasts from all over the world to the nearby park. At the stroke of midnight on the big clock in the top most part of the tower they set off fireworks. The whole thing is a big money maker for the city so they wouldn’t allow any of the new buildings to interfere with the view.”\n\n\t“She lives in the area,” Leo said decisively. “Somewhere on one of those buildings she has a vantage point where she can see people come and go from the other apartment complexes. As soon as she spots a man that fits the victimology, she finds out everything she can about them.”\n\n\t“So then how does she make them think she’s someone else?” Raph asked. “Even a master of disguise can’t be a short, petite blond one minute, a six-foot tall gay man the next, and a feisty red head a couple days later.”\n\n\tHe did not add that she had somehow made herself appear to be a mutated turtle as well.\n\n\t“I may be able to answer that question, at least partially,” Don said, tossing the remote on the couch. “I’ve only had a few hours but I was working off sort of a crazy theory. Come on and let me show you.”\n\n\tThey trailed after Don, going to his lab where he took a seat in the chair in front of his computer. As they gathered around him, he typed in a few words and brought up an online magazine called “Paranormal Hidden”.\n\n\t“What the shell?” Raph croaked.\n\n\t“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Don said quickly. “You’d be surprised at how accurate some of these stories are. They’ve published a few things about the EPF that would have made Bishop shut them down if they were big enough to be on his radar.”\n\n\t“’I Married My Alien Baby’,” Mikey read. “Yep, sounds credible to me.”\n\n\tDon scrolled to another screen bearing the headline “High Rise Killer Not Human”.\n\n\tEyes wide, all three of his brothers stared at Donatello.\n\nTBC…………………", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "\tMaster Splinter paced the floor in front of his sons, his tail twitching.  Raphael knew every nuance of his father’s body language, including the different messages that tail could convey.  His father wasn’t angry, he was agitated.

\tThat didn’t mean that Master Splinter hadn’t been angry earlier, when Raph and Don had brought Casey back to the lair.  After they had gotten the man settled on a cot in the infirmary Don had gone to confer with their father, bringing him back so that the more experienced elder could examine the wound on Casey’s neck.

\tWhile he looked over the injury, he’d asked for an explanation and between them the brothers spun the tale of their evening’s adventures.  Casey slept through it all, blissfully unaware that he was the subject of a very terse conversation.

\tAfter they had finished explaining what had led to Casey’s stay in their infirmary, Master Splinter had ordered the pair to wake their brothers and then to join him in the dojo.

\tIt was Don who had gone to relay their father’s wishes to Leo and Mikey.  The thought that Leo’s demand for answers would anger Raph wasn’t a chance Don wanted to take, so he told Raph to keep an eye on Casey.  If the man didn’t budge while Don was gone, then it would probably be safe to leave him unattended while they had their family conference.

\tOf course, Leo had demanded to know why Don was hauling him out of bed at their father’s behest, but Don had told him that Master Splinter would explain everything.  It turned out that was not factually accurate; as soon as his children were kneeling before him, Master Splinter had told Don and Raph to repeat the story they’d told him.

\tNear the end of the second telling Master Splinter had begun to pace and when Don stopped speaking silence fell on the family.

\tUntil Leo turned his head to stare at Raph and said, “Telling Casey to meet you anywhere near . . . .”

\t“No.”  Master Splinter cut him off.  “There will be no recriminations.  I believe that if Raphael had foreseen an attack he would not have left Mr. Jones vulnerable.  Their meeting was to take place on a roof top that was some distance from where this killer operates.  It was unfortunate that Mr. Jones’ route placed him in peril but we will not lay the blame for that at your brother’s feet.”

\t“I didn’t think he’d go that way until I saw he wasn’t waiting for me, Master Splinter.  If I hadn’t gotten delayed I could’ve caught up to him before he was attacked,” Raph said hotly, glowering at Leo.

\t“This should then be a lesson to all of you that we cannot afford to lose focus for even one moment,” Master Splinter said, moving to stand directly in front of Raph in order to gain his attention.  “While I did not forbid you going topside, I believe I made it clear that it would be prudent to avoid entirely that part of the city in which the killer is operating.  I will accept your assurances that the encounter with this killer was happenstance because I am sure you would not have purposely made such a rash decision.”

\tMaster Splinter fixed Raph with a hard stare, one that was difficult to meet.  Raph was already kicking himself for not realizing which direction Casey would come from and his father’s words just made him feel like a heel.  He should have been thinking about the situation he was going to ask Casey to get into with him and not about his screwed up relationship with Leo.

\t“I damn well wouldn’t,” Raph finally muttered because his father was obviously waiting for an answer.

\t“You are fortunate that your arrival was timely enough to save Mr. Jones’ life,” Master Splinter continued, apparently accepting Raph’s response.  “He is a large man who is adept at fighting and still he succumbed to this killer’s tricks.  This person is bold and determined which makes them a grave danger to the inhabitants of this city.  The authorities may be ill equipped to deal with such a threat.”

\tThe latter statement took Raph by surprise.  He was expecting his father to order them to remain below ground until the police caught their serial killer, but it didn’t sound as though that was what Master Splinter had said.

\t“You told us that if we got involved we’d run the risk of being spotted by the detectives who are searching for the killer,” Don reminded their father.

\t“Then you should do your utmost to avoid being seen,” Master Splinter said.  “This killer, this woman, attacked one of our own.  The roof tops have been our safe haven and I do not intend to turn them over to a crazy person.  You must figure out what this woman is and how to stop her before she kills again.”

\t“Ya’ want us ta hunt for her?” Raph asked.

\tMaster Splinter lifted a finger in the air as though emphasizing a point.  “I want the four of you to gather as much information as possible and devise a plan that will lead to her capture without placing yourselves in harm’s way.  You have the news reports and your experiences to date to use in compiling data about how she operates.  Raphael, have you seen or encountered anything else that might be linked to this woman?”

\tIf Leo hadn’t been kneeling right next to him, Raph might have hesitated about lying directly to his father, but he had no intention of handing his brother information that could be turned around and used against him.
\t“No, sensei,” Raph said, keeping his eyes on Master Splinter.

\tRaph heard Don take a deep breath and then exhale quietly, but neither he nor Mikey contradicted their hot headed brother.  From the corner of his eye, Raph saw Leo’s head jerk towards him, his gaze fixed on Raph’s face.  Leo always did know when Raph was either lying or holding something back, but the eldest didn’t call Raph out on it.

\t“Very well,” Master Splinter said.  “I forbid anyone leaving this lair until you have reached an agreement on a viable plan for finding and capturing this woman.  Your plan must include a way to avoid being discovered by the authorities and a way to turn the killer over to them with enough proof to allow them to prosecute her fully.  Have I made myself clear?”

\tIn unison, the brothers answered, “Hai, sensei.”

\t“Donatello and Raphael need some rest,” Master Splinter said.  “I will look in on Mr. Jones.”

\tThey remained kneeling as their father left the dojo.  Watching Master Splinter walk away, Raph decided he wouldn’t wait around for Leo to pounce on him about his obvious lie.  Raph could almost see the self-satisfied smirk on Leo’s face if he found out that Raph imagined he’d seen his oldest brother standing outside in the rain and staring at him longingly.

\t“I need to do some research,” Don announced as soon as their father was out of sight.  “I’ve also got the samples I gathered off Casey that I have to process.  They may degrade over time so I shouldn’t wait.  I’ll sleep later.”

\t“Well I’m hungry,” Mikey said as he got up from the floor with his brothers.  “Anyone for breakfast?”

\tThis was Raph’s cue.  “I’m gonna take a shower and then go ta bed.  I’ll catch up ta the rest of ya’ later.”

\tHe was out of the dojo before Leo could say anything.  Going straight to the bathroom, Raph locked the door and then jammed one of his sai between the door and the frame so that Leo couldn’t force his way in.

\tStanding beneath a hot spray of water, Raph couldn’t help but laugh humorlessly at himself for the effort he was making in trying to avoid his brother.  Anyone would think he was five and attempting to hide the fact that he was the one who ripped the spine off of Leo’s favorite book.

\tShaking his head, Raph turned his focus on the ritual of bathing in order to shove Leo out of his mind.  Soap up, rinse, scrub the carapace, rinse, release and cleanse his penis, and return it to its protective pouch.

\tThat concentration worked just fine up until he touched his own cock.  A sudden memory of Leo holding him down on the bed while sucking Raph off came into his head and Raph started to harden.

\tGritting his teeth, Raph grabbed the shower valve and turned it to full cold.  The shock to his system nearly made him cry out, but it did the trick and erased the beginnings of his erection.

\tToweling himself off, Raph dislodged the sai and unlocked the door.  He decided that if Leo had the nerve to be outside waiting for him then Raph was going to lift him bodily and toss him to the floor below.

\tFortunately for both of them, Leo was nowhere to be seen.  Raph guessed that he was probably in Don’s lab trying to get their genius brother to tell him what Raph was hiding.  Good luck with that, Raph thought, chuckling as he entered his room and locked the door.  Donatello knew how to keep things to himself better than any of them, that’s why they all chose him as their confidant.

\tIn his hammock, Raph draped one of his legs over the side and kicked it back and forth, hoping that the gentle swinging motion of his ‘bed’ would put him to sleep.  Rather than shutting down though, his mind turned to thoughts of what had happened to Casey and then crawled inexorably towards the thing uppermost in his mind, his problem with Leo.

\tRaph was damned tired of thinking about it and wished like hell he could stop.  Just give up and accept their situation as it was.  Half of his brain thought that’s what Leo wanted as well, but the other half kept reminding him of how Leo had sounded when he’d asked Raph to stay home with him.

\tLeo had said he wanted to work some things out.  Raph snorted, how the hell were they going to work anything out when even a simple conversation blew up in their faces?

\tHis thoughts shifted with a touch of envy to Don and Mikey and how good their relationship was.  Everything was smooth between them, no major blowups other than normal brother stuff.  They didn’t keep things from each other, Raph realized.  They always told each other what they thought and felt.

\tRaph liked to talk to Don.  Donatello could be damned sarcastic at times but somehow he avoided being judgmental and therefore didn’t set off any of Raph’s defensive mechanisms.

\tGrinning, Raph thought about how Don would always give him something to do to keep his hands busy when he sensed that his temperamental brother needed to talk.  Working next to Don kept Raph from feeling self-conscious, talking while he pounded a dent out of a metal fender, sanded, polished, painted; all busy work that Raph could focus on while his words spilled out.

\tContrast that with the way Mikey dealt with Raph’s moods.  Mikey always knew exactly when Raph needed to have his steam valve turned in order to release the pent up anger, frustration, and tension that was building inside of him.  The nut ball would push Raph until his brother blew up and went after him, risking bodily injury just to give Raph an outlet for his boiling emotions.

\tMikey never broached the subject that was truly bothering Raph, he always taunted his hot blooded brother with something petty and innocuous so that their fight wasn’t personal.  Raph knew that Mikey could take anything he dished out and therefore Raph didn’t have to hold back.  Neither did he worry that the thing that was really bothering him would slip out because he was too busy telling Mikey how he was going to beat the snot out of him for his youngest brother’s latest transgression.

\tIt was funny how after a physical altercation with Mikey, Raph was worn out enough to actually talk about what was eating at him.  Mikey never teased him about that stuff; he listened and offered what was usually pretty sound advice.

\tRaph had a sudden epiphany as he realized that in his relationship with Don and Mikey he was always the taker and they were the givers.  His interactions with them were always about Raph and his needs.  He’d never thought about that before and felt pretty ashamed when it dawned on him.

\tMaybe that was part of his problem with Leo, Raph decided.  Leo just wasn’t the kind to coddle anyone.  He might very well perceive Raph’s moods as some sort of weakness and Leo didn’t abide that sort of thing.  Raph loved Leo for his strength but it irked him to think that his brother might consider him to be flawed in some way.

\tWith a growl, Raph sat up.  Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he decided that he would make a conscious effort to do something for someone else and stop being such a taker.

\tRaph still wasn’t in the mood to deal with Leo but as he headed downstairs he didn’t see anyone but Mikey, who was propped up on the couch cushions watching television.  Going straight to the infirmary, Raph first checked to see that Casey was resting comfortably and then picked up his friend's golf bag.

\tGrabbing a bottle of cleanser and a couple of clean rags from Don’s stash, Raph settled into a chair and quietly emptied the bagful of weapons.  First he cleaned the bag itself and then one by one he wiped down the tools of Casey’s trade.

\tThis was something that Casey himself did on a regular basis; Raph had watched him remove the dirt, grime, and blood from his things on numerous occasions when he was hanging out at his friend’s apartment.  He always found it amusing that Casey’s place was such a mess, but that his bag and weapons were as spotless as they could be.  Raph often wondered about Casey’s priorities.

\tIt didn’t take him long to finish the clean up because Casey hadn’t gotten much of a chance to use his weapons in the last few days.  Neither of them had anything close to a workout which was why Casey had sounded so enthusiastic about meeting up with Raph.

\tShoving the weapons back into their bag with more vigor than was necessary, Raph cursed himself out for not telling Casey about his plans to search for that serial killer.  While he had Casey on the phone, Raph should have given the man a heads up about the pattern created by linking the murder sites.  Raph hadn’t said anything though, other than for Casey to meet him, and that was because Raph’s only worry was that someone would overhear his conversation.

\tRight as he was about to indulge in a really solid bout of self-loathing, Raph’s stomach began to growl.  He immediately noticed that he could smell the bacon that had undoubtedly been cooked by Michelangelo.

\tRaph walked over to look down at Casey again, noticing how deeply his friend slumbered.  There was something a little unnerving about it, but Don had said Casey was all right, so Raph pushed his own concerns aside.

\tFiguring that by now everyone else would be done in the kitchen, Raph made his way there to grab some breakfast.  In the middle of the table there were several slices of now cold bacon on a covered dish.  Raph poured out a bowl of cereal, added milk, and sat down, munching on bacon between mouthfuls of cereal.

\tHe was half done with his meal with Leo walked in.  Only one word came to mind when Raph saw the one brother he was trying to avoid and that was, “Fuck!”

\tRaph kept his head down and focused on eating, purposely ignoring Leo.  His brother went straight to the refrigerator and got himself a bottle of water, downing half of it before glancing in Raph’s direction.

\t“Couldn’t you sleep?” Leo asked, his tone mild.

\t“Nah, I’m too wound up,” Raph answered without looking up.

\t“I was just in the dojo running through some katas,” Leo said.  “Do you want to spar a little?  It might help you relax.”

\tLeo was behaving as though they hadn’t, just a few hours earlier, had a serious argument following a tussle for sexual dominance.  The idea that Leo could behave so cavalierly about something that was eating at Raph aggravated the red banded turtle.

\t“Yeah, that’ll help a lot,” Raph said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.  “Slamming my body into yours, rolling around on the floor, pressing up against each other; sounds like a great way ta ease the tension.”

\tRaph could hear the frown in Leo’s voice as his brother said, “So now we can’t even practice together?”

\t“Ya’ know, I always did like the way ya’ can just blow stuff off like it don’t matter,” Raph said, finally looking up at his brother.  “Ya’ got some kind of special on, off switch for that?”

\tLeo flattened both of his hands on the table and leaned towards Raph.  “Flying into a rage whenever things don’t go my way solves absolutely nothing.  Our problem in the bedroom shouldn’t overlap with our daily lives, or hadn’t that dawned on you?”

\t“Our ‘problem’ is our life,” Raph snarled.  “The deep down reason ya’ don’t want me ta top ya’ is that ya’ think you’re better than me.  There ain’t no quid pro quo in that, fearless leader.”

\t“Is that why you’ve decided to start lying to Master Splinter?  Because you think you won’t get equal treatment?” Leo demanded.

\tThere it was, the thing Raph had wanted to avoid, and he’d stepped right into it.  He should have gotten up and walked out of the kitchen as soon as Leo opened his mouth.

\t“Ya’ really think I’m jealous of the fact he made ya’ the leader?” Raph asked, dodging the question.  “I don’t give a fuck about that.  You’re the one who likes ta play brain chess, I just wanna hit stuff.”

\t“Then why lie?” Leo insisted, hanging onto that point like a pit bull.

\tRaph slowly stood up, planting his hands on the table as well, and getting right up in Leo’s face.  “Prove I did.”

\tLeo’s eyes narrowed.  “I grew up with you, Raphael.  I know how you . . . .”

\t“Dudes, you gotta see this!”  Mikey exclaimed, bursting into the kitchen and interrupting them.

\tHe was gone before either of them could acknowledge him.  With a last hard look at Raph, Leo turned to follow his kid brother.  A half second later, Raph stormed after the pair.

\tThey were headed towards the television array, where Don was already standing.  When he saw them coming he lifted the remote to playback the news broadcast he’d just taped.

\tA news reporter stood on a sidewalk in front of an area cordoned off by police crime tape.  Behind her, investigators gathered evidence from the middle of the street.

\t“Police have just stated that the latest death does in fact fit the pattern of the ‘high rise killer’,” the reporter said.  “This brings the death toll attributed to that murderer to six.  This latest victim did not live in the building he was purportedly thrown from and markings on the body seem to indicate that he was a member of the street gang known as the Purple Dragons.  Police are withholding the victim’s name pending notification of next of kin.”

\tPartway through her report, the footage switched to tape from the previous night, showing a scene lit by artificial lights as the medical examiner’s team prepared to transport the body.  The dead man’s face was not visible, but he was a big, muscular individual with a huge purple dragon tattooed across his chest.

\t“We will continue to follow this breaking story and the mayor’s news conference at noon to bring you the latest developments in this case.  May Compton, channel six news.”

\tDon switched off the TV when the coverage ended and turned to look at his brothers.

\t“Too bad that wasn’t Hun,” Mikey said in a voice lacking his usual humor.

\t“She needed to kill,” Don said.  “She missed her chance with Casey and picked the next available target.”

\t“All five of her prior victims appeared to have been vetted,” Leo said.  “She knew them well enough to be invited into their homes.  Why the change with Casey and now the Purple Dragon?”

\t“Maybe Casey wasn’t a change,” Raph said.  “Maybe she was there watching the police work the crime scene and saw me and Case on the roof top.  He sure as shell fits her victim profile.”

\t“But you guys said she didn’t even know his name,” Mikey said.

\tRaph shrugged.  “So she figured he runs the roof tops a lot and just waited for an opportunity ta catch him alone.  When that fell through she happened on the Purple Dragon and lured him up on the roof instead.”

\t“I recognized the buildings around the murder sight,” Don said.  “That address is outside her killing pattern.”

\tThe brothers grew silent as they thought about that, then Leo said, “Maybe she was forced to change venues because she missed her chance to kill Casey?  The pattern you found could just be a coincidence.”

\t“Line of sight,” Mikey said suddenly.

\t“What?” Leo asked, staring at the youngest.

\tWhen Don and Raph turned their eyes on him, Mikey told Don, “I looked at your map dude.  That section of the city is zoned for a bunch of new high rise apartments and condos, but they have to maintain line of sight between the park and that old watch tower at Lexington.  The only way the developers could do that was to build in a zigzag pattern.”

\t“I remember reading about that,” Don said.  “The watch tower is a historic landmark and there’s a big festival every year to commemorate its completion date.  The festival draws thousands of clock enthusiasts from all over the world to the nearby park.  At the stroke of midnight on the big clock in the top most part of the tower they set off fireworks.  The whole thing is a big money maker for the city so they wouldn’t allow any of the new buildings to interfere with the view.”

\t“She lives in the area,” Leo said decisively.  “Somewhere on one of those buildings she has a vantage point where she can see people come and go from the other apartment complexes.  As soon as she spots a man that fits the victimology, she finds out everything she can about them.”

\t“So then how does she make them think she’s someone else?” Raph asked.  “Even a master of disguise can’t be a short, petite blond one minute, a six-foot tall gay man the next, and a feisty red head a couple days later.”

\tHe did not add that she had somehow made herself appear to be a mutated turtle as well.

\t“I may be able to answer that question, at least partially,” Don said, tossing the remote on the couch.  “I’ve only had a few hours but I was working off sort of a crazy theory.  Come on and let me show you.”

\tThey trailed after Don, going to his lab where he took a seat in the chair in front of his computer.  As they gathered around him, he typed in a few words and brought up an online magazine called “Paranormal Hidden”.

\t“What the shell?” Raph croaked.

\t“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Don said quickly.  “You’d be surprised at how accurate some of these stories are.  They’ve published a few things about the EPF that would have made Bishop shut them down if they were big enough to be on his radar.”

\t“’I Married My Alien Baby’,” Mikey read.  “Yep, sounds credible to me.”

\tDon scrolled to another screen bearing the headline “High Rise Killer Not Human”.

\tEyes wide, all three of his brothers stared at Donatello.

TBC…………………", "pools_count": 1, "title": "The Witchery Way part 7", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "2", "views": "125" }