Author's Note:

Disclaimer: The events within this fic' don't follow cannon and are set loosely around season 2 of the TMNT 2012 series.

Cold
Chapter 5: Missing Persons

Leo hesitantly stood before the entrance to Splinter's room. Many thoughts concerning the enemies he and his brother faced circled through his mind with no resolve. The Kraang, the Foot, the Purple Dragons, and now a magma mutant. All of it proved troubling and left Leo at a loss. Each enemy proved to be a threat to the people of New York, but knowing which one to target was what left him confused.

"Only a thief darkens a doorway unannounced. Come in Leo." Splinter beckoned from within his chamber. With a breath for strength, Leo moved inside the sparsely furnished room to kneel before his sensei with his head bowed.

"What is troubling you?" Splinter asked perceptively, his ever intense gaze on his adopted son.

"Sensei, I need help. There's a lot of trouble in New York right now, and I'm not sure what to do. Everything is in danger, but there's only four of us– we can't fight all of it at once. I–I just don't know what to focus on. What should I do?."

"Hmm." Splinter nodded. "When a storm rages, it is difficult to identify the true threat. Is it the rain that will chill you? The dangerous winds that send dangerous projectiles whipping through the air? Is it the lightning that may strike and leave you paralyzed? Flooding? Landslides?"

"All of them are a threat sensei! How do I know which one to deal with first?"

"True, like a storm if you do not stop it it will leave destruction in its wake. However, neither can you conquer all of the elements at once. Tell me, which enemy is the greatest threat?"

"That's what I'm asking you." Leo said in helpless frustration as his eyes searched his sensei's eyes for answers.

"Leonardo, if Michelangelo were to attack you, would you feel threatened?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"Uh...because it's Mikey. He's not exactly the toughest out of us all."

"So you wouldn't feel threatened because he's not strong?"

"Well yeah."

"Then what about Raphael? Would he pose a threat?"

"Well yeah. I mean, Raph's no joke in a fight." he answered remembering the ferocity of his crimson clad brother.

"So in your eyes, Raphael is a threat and Mikey isn't, is this correct?"

"Yeah, I would say so..."

"Why?"

"Well, I know I can beat Mikey–"

"Why are you so confident of this?

"Because I know how to take him down." Leo answered, feeling impatient at his sense's line of questioning.

"And what of Raphael?"

"With Raph I'm not as sure..."

"Why is that?" Splinter asked patiently, taking a slow sip of the tea beside him.

"Because, Raph is just stronger. I don't know what to expect from him in a fight."

"So you feel confident against Michelangelo because you know how to defeat him and less confident concerning Raphael because you are unsure of the path to victory."

"Yes sensei." Leo affirmed tersely. "I know how to beat-oh." he breathed as he started to follow what his sensei was hinting at. "So are you saying that the biggest threat is the one unknown?"

"You know what Karai is capable of and the same for these Purple Dragons. What is unknown is the Kraang. the magma mutant and their intentions."

Nodding in agreement, Leo processed the given knowledge. Karai and the Foot were problems, but ones that Leo and his brothers could manage. The Kraang and the magma mutant? Less so. If the Kraang somehow managed to control a walking volcano, it would ultimately be devestating to his city.

"Thanks sensei." Leonardo nodded with a breath of relief as bowed and took his leave.

"Any time my son."

Mikey boredly clicked through another website. He glanced at the clock on the lower right hand corner of the screen. If he only he could last for 3 more minutes...screw it. He'd researched for a whole 7 minutes. That was good enough. He slammed the laptop close, jammed his headphones into his ear and hopped onto his skateboard to glide into the sewers

After such hard work, he only deserved a break right? An hour into his joy time, his phone started to buzz and he slowed his roll to flip out his phone.

"April?" he asked hesitantly, wondering if she'd been captured or if an imposter was using her phone. There was no way she'd call them, not after the bat-dad fiasco.

"Look Mikey, I'm not-"

"April it is you! Dudette I've missed you so much! The sewer has been so boring since you stopped comin' around. I mean we all were-"

"Mikey." she said with sharp warning that gave him pause. "I'm not calling because I want to talk."

"Right. Oh." he said deflated with drooping shoulders. "Nah I get it. S'cool. So, what's up?"

"Mikey, the Kraang were at a lab called Ailerex Bioengineering a few nights ago. I thought you guys should know. Tell the others."

"Yeah sure. Airmex Bio."

"Ailierex." she corrected.

"TexMex."

"Mikey." she hissed.

"Don't worry April, I'll tell them. Watch your back too okay? There's a weird lava mutant on the loose."

"Thanks. Bye Mikey."

By the time he said his goodbye, April had already hung up. With a sigh, Mikey flipped his board and headed back home. After inaudibly knocking on the door to Donatello's lab, Mikey let himself in noting the colorful glass contraptions across the table.

"Mikey what are you doing here?" Donnie snapped as he lifted his head from his workbench, spotting his brightly colored brother instantly. "You know you're not allowed. Get out!"

Mikey shrugged with an inward smile as he turned on his heel. "Sure, I guess I'll wait till Leo and Raph come back to tell them what April said."

"April? Mikey wait!" Donnie exclaimed, rising to stand and knocking his head against the lamp beside him as he did so. Mikey regarded his brother from over his shoulder to find his hand outstretched as if it could pull him back. Poor Donnie. He was like a lost hungry puppy in a room full of canned dog food. "W-what did she say?"

Mikey put his hands behind his head and turned around casually. "She said that the Kraang were attacking a lab. I think it was called Airtech, Extech, SuperMech..."

"Ailierex?" Donnie offered blandly.

"That one."

"Why would they be there?" Donatello asked to himself. "Ailerex deals mostly with earth sciences and animal testing. The Kraang researching that can't mean anything good. We need to check that out."

"What about the others?"

"Leo and Raph have been hunting down that magma-mutant. This is more important. Besides we'll go stealth. In and out."

"Awesome!" Mikey grinned, finally glad that he'd be able to contribute to something important. "When do we go?"

"Yesterday."

—

"And I'm tellin' you, we've circled this block already. That thing ain't here!" Raph argued as he trailed behind his brother. And people called him stubborn.

"Raph, judging by the trail Donnie found on the fire escape, I'm pretty sure Magmonster lives in this neighborhood."

"Magmonster?" Raph echoed with a raised brow ridge.

Leo shrugged as he leapt to the next rooftop. "Mikey named it. It was catchy."

Raph only rolled his eyes. "Anyway, that thing could be across town by now melting into a bank for all we know."

"Raph, if that were the case, we'd have heard it on the police radio." Leo reasoned in his matter-of-fact, tone. "Magmonster is obviously trying to hide its tracks."

"Obviously." Raph repeated snarkily. "Please do tell me more about this thing which you've never seen."

"Raph, knock it off. We need to stay focused–"

A sudden scream of a girl stopped them in their tracks. Leo only needed to meet his brother's eyes, and between their silent exchange, Raph knew it was 'go time'. Quickly they changed course and bolted towards the growing sounds of a girl struggling.

"Get off me!" the girl screamed. Leo descended on the girl's attackers, expertly sticking to the shadows to keep himself hidden. Raph followed suit, taking a fistfull of gravel from the roof before tossing it at the man who'd grabbed the small girl from behind. As soon as his gripped loosened on her, the brunette teen bent down to snatch the tennis racket at her feet. She instantly swung its edge into his stomach, causing the man to keel over.

"Come on let's get out of here!" yelled Thug A, as he bolted down the street. His winded partner Thug B, wasn't far behind him, as he limped away with a hand to his head and an arm around his stomach. Only the girl remained with her shoulders heaving up and down as she tried to catch her breath.

"Little girl," Leo began in his booming hero voice. "It's dangerous for you to be out this late at night."

Rather than show timidity, the girl raised her chin to face the shadows. "Who's there?" she asked boldly as she raised the tennis racket to a swinging position.

"We are the guardians of this city." Leo continued. Raph only rolled his eyes. "Go home now it's–"

"Guardians? As in you watch over the city?" she asked with a hint of impatience mingling oddly with hope.

"Yes, we are the ones who stand for justice," Raph rolled his eyes at his brothers big-headed speech. "We are the–"

"Have you seen my sister?" She interjected. "She's this tall, straight extra long tic-tac orange hair, usually wears cargo pants and black shirts?"

Leo met Raph's eyes with a questioning and unsure expression. "Have you seen anyone like that?" he whispered.

"No, but get rid of her." Raph answered sharply with a nod of his temple in the direction the girl should go. The longer they talked, the more dangerous it became.

"No little girl, but I'm sure she'll turn up."

The girl's expression hardened in the face of Leo's placating encouragement. Judging by her frown, she wasn't buying it. "Look kid we're not the police." Raph said before Leo could continue. "If you got a missing sister, you should go talk to them."

The girl mumbled something under her breath. "You say something?" Raph asked, daring the girl to repeat herself. Leo swatted him on his shoulder. "Raph she's a girl!" he hissed.

"So?"

"Yeah, you so called guardians are useless!" she announced hotly.

"Weren't saying that a few minutes ago when we saved your butt from those thugs!" Raph argued.

"You can fight thugs but you can't even find a lost 17 year old girl." she shouted back, this time with an emotional crack in her voice. It was that crack that gave Raph's retort pause. The girl didn't sound stupid, so whatever had her wandering around shady neighborhoods at 10 at night probably was important.

"Your sister," Leo said, softening his voice. "How long has she been missing?"

"Three days."

"And why haven't you gone to the police?" Raph asked impatiently.

"She... has a record. If the police have to track her down, they might take her away for good."

"Why aren't your parents doing anything?" Raph pushed. They were masked ninjas, not detectives in trenchcoats.

"My mom's too scared. She's just hoping my sister will come back on her own."

"So why are you out here?"

"To do something! My sister isn't the type to wander back. If she left, then she really left."

"If she's gone for good why bother looking for her?" Raph asked, though, there wasn't any conviction in his question. If any of his brothers went missing, he'd go after them, whether they wanted to be found or not.

"Because I'm the only one who can bring her back that's why. Now, can you help or not?"

"Little girl–"

"Mari." she corrected hotly. "My name is Mari. Quit calling me a little girl."

Leo coughed an apology. "Mari, do you have a picture or any leads to where your sister may be?"

"I've got this flyer I made." said Mari as she held it up.

"Bring it to the fire escape." Leo asked as he carefully crawled down to take the paper from her smaller hand. No sooner had he grabbed it did he jump back up to the safety of the darker shadows. After looking at the flyer, Leo handed it to Raph.

The girl in the picture looked like the type of punk who'd run away. True to Mari's description, the girl wore a black t-shirt, cargo pants, and leather half gloves on her hands. "Your sister got a name?" Raph asked as he returned his attention to Mari.

"Morgana, seriously, it's on the flyer."

Raph glanced at the info scrawled beneath the picture. So it was. "What kind of name is Morgana?" he asked.

"What kind of guys hang out on rooftops acting like super heroes?" she countered defensively. Raph could tell she wasn't being aggressive just to spite them, she was being protective over her sister. As someone who did the same towards his brothers, a level of respect settled in his mind for her boldness.

"So if we find her, we call this number?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. It's my cell."

Leo looked to Raph and nodded, silently committing them to this project. Chasing down a missing statistic didn't sound too appealing to Raph, but if that's what Leo wanted, who was he to argue?

Who was he kidding, he'd argue it until Master Splinter put him in his place.

"Alright, give us a couple days, we'll try to find your sister. In the meantime, you need to go home."

"How do I know you'll do this? I don't have time to sit around wasting time."

"If we said we'll find her, we'll find her." Raph reiterated firmly..

Leo put a hand to his lip in thought before he reached to his katana and removed the blue ribbon tied around its hilt. April had given him the ribbon as a gift. "Take this." he said as he balled the cloth in his hand and tossed it towards her.

"What is this?"

"My lucky ribbon. It's very special to me. That's how you'll know we'll do it.."

"Because of a ribbon?"

"That's all I've got to prove my word."

The girl looked to the shadows and then to the ribbon in her hand. "Fine. But you've got three days before I go off on my own again."

"Not our loss if you get hurt." Raph grunted to himself.

"Thanks." the girl said with an uneven voice that tugged even on Raph's heartstrings. As tough as she acted, it was obvious to him that underneath her bravery, she was still a frightened kid. Mari smudged the base of her palm into her cheek, as she lowered her tennis racket. "Please. Please find my sister."

"We'll do our best."