The Brotherhood.

THE DEAL

CHAPTER 1

Dylan sighed deeply, looking at the electronic piece of equipment that sat before him on the table. He wasn't sure what it was for. He had found it while rummaging around their new hideout in the abandoned subway station. His friends, who are all like brothers James, Jordan and Sean, were out getting the tonight's dinner.He hoped it was pizza. A smile graced his face as he remembered when he and James had given a few days old pizza a proper send-off. Their friend, Justin, had used their old lair as a spot to hide from his dad, and had ordered pizza. Unfortunately, the poor boy had not refrigerated the pizza, and thus, mold had grown on it. Leo is what Dylan was often called still had to restrain James from tasting it.He went back to staring at the electronic device. While the guys were out, he had been tidying up his space, trying to get organization out of the clutter. He hadn't succeeded yet, but he was able to find a few things he could use. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms stubbornly at the item."You know, you could help me out a little and give me a clue about what you do." He muttered to himself. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and rubbed his forehead, feeling the start of a headache burst forth. He needed to give it a rest.His eyes wandered to the clock on the wall, and he gave a worried frown. The guys had been gone a while. Almost two hours. Even accounting for Saturday night traffic, the most they would have had to wait for pizza is 20 minutes.Footsteps shifted behind him, and he turned in his chair to see Master Yoshi the teen's dad and sensei shuffle into his room."Dylan, how far are you with your work?" The old man quietly asked his son.Leo's eyes fell, and he gave a shrug. "Decided to give it a rest for the day, master. I can't seem to figure out what it does. For all I know, though, it might be missing something."Yoshi nodded his head slowly, his eyes growing graver. "My son, I grow worried for your brothers. Did they mention where they were going?"Leo shook his head. "No, sensei. I guessed they were going to get pizza, but they might have detoured to Chinese or Mexican. Though it is highly unlikely."Yoshi gave a small, thoughtful noise. "Hmmm...we will wait another ten minutes. If they are not back by then, go look for them."Leo bowed his head. "Yes, Master Yoshi."The rain poured over the city in great sheets of rippling silver. Thunder exploded and lighting flung itself through the night sky, racing to reach the ground. The rain was deafening, almost sounding like white noise in the ears of those who were unlucky enough to be caught in it.Dylan was not a happy teen. He had been fighting through the rain for the past half hour, looking for his brothers. He wished they had some kind of communication other than public pay phones. He would have to work on that, he mused to himself.A bolt of lightning tore across the sky, bathing the scenery before Leo in a camera flash glow. His eyes searched in the second of broad daylight allowed him, and blinked rain out of his eyes in frustration. He would never find them this way. He knew that, and yet he searched.Yoshi had grown more worried as they waited, and finally, Leo had not been able to take anymore. He had gone out of the lair with skateboard in hand, to start searching.He was growing more tired with each passing moment. The day's cleaning, added onto the fact that he hadn't slept the night before, just compiled itself into one, tired teen. He had ran through all possible spots his brothers might have rested to get out of the rain, and he was on his way to the last spot. He hoped they were here, or else he would have to call Damien Southwell out in all this. And he didn't want the man to hate him. He was a bit like Sean; a hothead.Leo ducked under a nearby overhanging sign to get his breath back. He watched the rain come down for a good five minutes. Not seeing any end in sight, he gave his bandana a good pull to make sure it was on tight and went back out in the rain, searching.Another half hour went by, and Leo was almost in a panic. He didn't see any trace of them. He turned heel and started back to the last manhole cover. He hoped they were already home and waiting for him. Racing around in the rain was not helping his health, nor his self-esteem. If they weren't there, he would have to call Damien.As Leo arrived at the manhole cover and reached down to remove it, he saw something out of his peripheral vision that made him stop. A figure had darted across the road and dived into some shadows. Leo stood up, reaching back for his Katana that was strapped to him. He wasn't taking any chances with this mysterious stranger. He gripped it with both hands, stepping for the shadows."Hello?" He called. "Jordi? Sean? Jamie? Is that you guys?"No answer came, but the roar of the rain seemed to increase, and Leo felt confused. Wait...this isn't natural. He came to the realization too late, as an electric current shot through him, effectively drowning him in a complete, utter blackness.The rain continued to fall, not caring about the lone teen that lay in its path.