Sakis Queen (Shredder/April 1987)

Part 11

Chapter 11

"What the hell happened back there?" Leo said angrily, kicking rocks into the blue rush of the stream.

"Er...a reverse rescue?" offered Mike, "you know...where the rescuer gets captured and the captured ones get away?"

"Jesus, Michaelangelo ," Don said, panting. "How can you joke about this?"

Mike stopped walking and looked at the sandy bank, dipping one bulbous green toe into the water. "It's what I do..." he sighed. The turtles had jogged all night to get away from the Palace. For a good hour they could hear the crash of legions through the brush after them, the wild calls back and forth between the warriors, the occasional thunk of an arrow into a tree trunk around them as they made their way through the thick growth. Slowly, the sounds died away until they blended with the many night sounds of this strange planet. Eventually, the strange calls became those of birds and the sounds of feet became indistinguishable from the whoosh of wind through the great jungle canopy overhead. They traveled on for hours, not trusting to slow down until they had put many miles between themselves and the Palace. But the thought that haunted them all was that was that those miles now separated them from April and Raphael.

Now it was early morning, and the purpling sky filtered through a gorgeous, thick mist that rose up from the stream like an exhalation. They had followed the stream for the past hour silently, but now it seemed as if the nervous energy had worn itself thin and they would have to confront what had happened the night before.

Mike continued to stare into the water and said nothing. Don walked up next to him. "I'm sorry Mike...I know you're upset...we all are."

Leo stood on the other side of his brother, flexing his fists in frustration. "Of course we're upset. Like I said, what happened? How did we get separated from Raph and April, and...why was she acting so...so weird?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Don began slowly, "Well, she really seemed bent on saving Shred-head..."

"What did that asshole do to her?" cried Leo. "Brainwash her? Threaten her? April's always hated Shredder more than us! She never understood why we didn't just kill him!"

"But she did understand, eventually," Don reminded Leo. "From talking with Splinter over the years, she understood that to murder was to become him, become evil...he had to be defeated in other ways. Hell, Leo! You were always the one staying Raph's hand, you were always the one reminding him of that."

There was another long silence. Mike finally glanced warily at Leo, "I heard her say something about an oath..."

"I don't know what she was talking about!" snapped Leo. He turned and walked away, muttering. "Making an oath with Shredder..."

Don and Mike glanced at each other, and then Don decided to get to the core of the issue. "Leo...maybe she was right. A lot has happened since we've come here...Shred-head was pretty badly injured, and you made sure we patched him up and dragged him along with us. You kept insisting it was the right thing to do. Which it was. I mean, Master Splinter taught us to protect life, all life, including one as worthless as Saki's. But after we got to the Palace...I don't know...we kind of forgot that. Maybe April was right. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, to agree to give him over to that awful woman..."

Leo spun on his heels, his eyes flashing. "Why should we save him!? Why should we risk one ounce of our blood on that worthless piece of crap? How many times has he hurt us? How many times has he hurt our friends? He'll just keep doing it, too! We can't stop him unless he's dead!"

"Dude," Mike said. "But that's so not the point. If Master Splinter was here..."

Leo gripped his sword and stormed up to his brother, knocking the blade into the sand. "Don't tell me what Master Splinter would do! Maybe he was wrong...just about this...this one thing."