Slave Uncaged

Chapter 3

Morning soon arrived and the secret underground lair was alive and well, four turtles moved through the dojo working on their morning training while an elder mutant rat sat on the sidelines sipping his tea gently as he watched.

April and Casey had returned to their homes since they have families that worry about them, the ex-foot members were currently resting in the main room of the lair lounging on the couch.

Splinter sighed as he stood, with one swift movement he swung his walking stick out knocking three of four turtles to their shells....Leo of course managed to dodge the attack as if it had been in slow motion. The mutant rat nodded to his eldest son before turning to his three younger sons who were currently getting to their feet groaning out of annoyance.

"My sons you must be more aware of your surroundings even within this lair, danger is all around you and it will strike when you seem defenseless," said Splinter in his calm soothing voice. The red banded turtle was the first to growl out a reply "It's not our fault that Leo is part dragon and has super senses."

The blue clad mutant rolled his eyes at his younger brother's comment "Raph I'm not part dragon, I'm a holder there's a difference." Being the hot head he is Raphael marched up to his older brother and snarled "Don't get smart with me oh fearless leader!"

Leonardo smirked "I wouldn't have to get smart with you Raph if you would have had your facts straight."

Tapping his staff on the ground the elder mutant narrowed his sharp eyes slightly "My sons that is enough. Fighting over such a petty subject is futile so just go get some breakfast," with that Splinter turned swiftly and disappeared into his room.

The orange banded mutant rushed off to the kitchen faster than humanly -well more like mutantly- possible, Mikey let his creative culinary skills take over and soon enough breakfast was served. Raphael and Donatello sat and ate their breakfast without a care in the world and the youngest mutant soon joined in himself.

Leonardo sighed and grabbed two plates and some water bottles before leaving the kitchen, he walked to the main room and sat the food and drinks in front of the two ex foot members. Karai and Stockman looked up at the blue clad turtle with a small amount shock passing across their faces having not expected to be fed such a meal.

After a few minutes of staring at the food Leo spoke up "Its not poisoned or anything so eat up you'll need the energy," with that he turned and headed back to the kitchen to eat some of his own breakfast.

The kunoichi and scientist exchanged a few long glances between the plates and each other before smirking and digging into the delicious food, to say they were surprised was an understatement...they were full on flabbergasted at how good the food was.

Time yet again slipped by quickly and morning soon turned into late afternoon, the sun was to drop below the horizon in a few hours meaning darkness would shroud the city of New York leaving only the stolen light of the moon.

The four turtles and two ex-footmen made their way to the surface, since the sun was still up they had to find and place to stay out of sight...yup you guess it the library that Leo has turned into his own little domain.

The eldest mutant slipped through the window effortlessly having grown use to it, without hesitation he made his way over to a blank wall and pulled down a retractable map of the world...almost like the ones found in classrooms.

The map had a red sticker over New York...well an educated guess of where New York was since it didn't show the outlines of any countries or states, Leo pointed to the sticker and spoke in his leader voice.

"This map is where we'll mark where the holders are...as of right now we only know of my whereabouts. Blue has told me he can feel another holder close by but he can't really tell how far away they are, we have narrowed it down between three states."

The blue clad turtle points to the southern part of North America and spoke once again, "Those three states are Mississippi, Alabama (which is where I'm from), and Georgia. I've mentioned this to Master Splinter and he has said that we can leave anytime we saw fit."

The three mutants cheered slightly having never been to the southern part of the United States, the ex foot members nodded their approval...the eldest turtle couldn't hold back a smile as his younger brothers started rambling over all the things they wanted to see on the trip.

Within his mind Leo heard his dragon's smooth voice, "Leonardo we must find the remaining three holders quickly...I sense something dire coming," the eldest turtle nodded softly before looking to his friends and family.

Karai and Baxter had joined in with the three younger mutants, each talking about what they would like to see in the three southern states they would be visiting, the blue banded turtle smiles warmly before breaking the cheerful chatter.

"We should leave tonight...that is if all of you are willing to join me on such short notice," this of course received five nods.

Donnie was the first to speak "What about April and Casey...or even Master Splinter?" The eldest turtle looked to the purple banded brainiac and answered his question without hesitation "Master has requested to stay home and watch over the lair, as for April and Casey...they have school exams to deal with right now and can't afford to be absent so it'll just be the six of us going."

With five understanding nods Leo smirked and spoke in a semi excited semi serious tone, "Now who's ready to find another holder?"