Red Hearted Desire

Part 1

As the sun fell over New York, the city came alive with bright lights and wailing car horns from the nightly commute home from day jobs. A new hire to Antonio's Pizza wondered around on his mo-pad, scanning the numbers on the apartment buildings on the same street for the hundredth time, until finally he huffed.

"Where the heck is 122 and a 8!"

"You're standing on it dude."

The man jumped off the grate he was standing on, his heart pounding in his chest at the echo below his feet. A crumpled green slip of rectangular paper pokes out from the shadows.

"Just slip it down here."

Cautiously, he slides the pizza box between the bars and snatches the money from who ever it was down there. Taking a glance at the bill as he turns back towards his bike, he whips around back to the grate.

"Hey, this is a ten, the tabs thirteen!"

"You're ten minutes late dude."

"Aww, common." He kneels down on the grate trying to see who's under there. "I couldn't find the place!"

"Wise man once said, forgiving is great but never pay full price for late pizza."

Standing up he stares at the grate as he listens to their footsteps get farther away, then mutters and gets back on the scooter an heads back to get more deliveries. Meanwhile, below the great an orange bandanna wearing, freckle-faced turtle smirks at the sound of the pizza man driving away. Tossing his skateboard in front of him he runs an jumps on it, skating down the sewer, spinning and tossing the pizza around like he was the chef. He flipped his board over and over, jumping it up onto an old stair case rail an sliding on it all the way down into a separate pipe, hollering at all his fun.

"Man, why skate a half pipe? When you can skate a sewer pipe!" He chuckles an skids the back of his board to a halt, kicking it up and catching it in the air. Taking a quick look around he pulls back a secret pipe drops into the passage, making sure the wall closed behind him before running to the entrance over the cave. "He~res, Mikey!!" no answer, "Any body? H-hello?" He sighs and tosses his skate board to the side. "Pizza's here!" And just like that Donny came out of his lab, and Raph, and Leo came out of the dojo with Splinter rubbing his temple fallowing behind them.

Mikey immediately noticed that his brothers were at each other's throats again by the way his father's irritated expression trailed them as the two bickered on their way to the kitchen where Mikey was cutting and plating the pizza while Donnie helped place it at the chairs.

"Yo, D. What are they fighting about now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." He shrugged, his frustration also beginning to show with their older brothers.

By the time they reached the table Splinter had had enough and was about ready to snap at the two, but the second they sat down it was as if a calming breeze swept through the lair and they focused on their dinner instead of each other. Mikey and Donnie breathe a sigh of relief as they watch the stress on their fathers face melt away.

Hesitant to even look at him, Donnie manages to muster up enough courage to talk to his brothers.

"So, um. Have you managed to get in touch with the others yet?"

"I got Pidgin Pete!" Mikey jumps shoving his slice in his mouth. "Leatherhead too! They both agree"

"That makes three, cause I was able to find Rockwell and He's more than happy to go." Leo hummed picking off the mushrooms before taking a bite of his slice. "What about you Donnie?"

"Unfortunately no, we didn't really leave a way to contact the frog clan and when I went to ask them in person I found that they had moved away. I did find Mondo Gecko though and he thinks it'll be fun."

Raph groans, "Slash wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea but eventually decided that it wouldn't hurt to join after he found out that everyone else was." he leans back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head.

Donnie nodded, "I got off the phone with April a little while ago, she said since schools out for the summer, her and Casey are free to join as well. So this whole training camp might actually work out after all." he smiles.

"Yeah! It'll be like a giant family vacation!" Mikey grins

Leo chuckles and shakes his head, Splinter smiles and places his hand on his youngest son's shoulder, "Except you will be training everyday." and just like that the grin disappears from the ninja's face.

"Oh...right."

Glancing up at the clock, Leonardo gets up and starts washing the dishes. "Ten minutes until patrol."

His brothers nod and run off to get ready, but not without first receiving a huff from Raph. Leo sighs and continues washing the dishes.

"Leonardo, what is it that troubles you, my son."

"He's troubling you too, Sensei." He groans, drying the plates.

Splinter hums, stroking his beard. "Perhaps it best he remain here during our trip to the farm house."

Leo chuckles, "Yeah, cause that won't blow up in our faces. Are you sure we could trust him here by himself?"

"Of course not."

Raising a brow Leo stares at his father.

"You would stay behind as well and keep an eye on him."

His eyes widen, "But Sensei, this is Raph we're talking about! He doesn't listen to me when we're in battle, why would he listen to me while everyone is away for a month?"

"Calm down my son. I will only follow through with this if he causes any real trouble between now and tomorrow night, before we leave."

Leo nods, "Hai Sensei." It's just 24 hours, how much trouble can he cause in that time. Leo thought to himself as he watched his brother re-join them in the kitchen ready to go. He smiled, hopeful that everything would just go smoothly.