TMNT- woo-hoo, they're back next week-!- are the property of Mirage.

Victor- Part A

Don, in spite of what he had learned, had let his brothers sleep. He knew that regardless, they needed rest. Otherwise, it wouldn't matter- if they were too tired, Splinter would suffer the brunt of it.

He had little trouble convincing them of the theory formed by him, April, Honeycutt and Leatherhead, that Bishop- "or, though it was an outside chance, someone competing with him" was responsible for Splinter's disappearance.

"Okay," Don said to the group crowded around his computers. "I've mapped out the area where Splinter's walking stick was found, and matched it up with city maps for the surface. We know that his stick was found here- this isn't too far from the entrance he uses to get to the portal, but it is quite a distance from the Lair. We know that he didn't fight. We know that they surrounded him, and we know that they went back in the direction he was coming from. Why not forward? Why not try to find the rest of us?"

"Their primary target was Splinter," Leo said. Don grinned in agreement. Then Leo frowned "But why not fight?"

"I'm coming to that, but let me do this first," he said, and everyone, including Raph, agreed without complaint. "Now, we lost the trail shortly before this junction, which is the first one where there is access to the surface. I've figured a radius of about oh, say, three miles from here, and mapped out the sewers as well as topside. Six guys with a large talking rat hitting the surface, even in the evening, is something someone's going to notice, so they had to have exited from a place where there is little chance of being seen. That eliminates quite a lot of places, leaving us with three prime choices- and one of them is directly between the place they found him and the portal exit."

"How did they know he would be coming that way?" Mike wanted to know.

"I'm getting to that- I hope," Don said. "This exit is too close to a heavily traveled area, even though it's not as busy as the rest of the city. These two are more promising- except the one closest to the exit Splinter uses has no buildings close by."

"Why is that important?" Raph asked. "Wouldn't they just toss him in a car or something?"

"I don't think a vehicle is involved this time," Don explained. "Remember, they're trying to keep low-key, not like that time they chased us through the streets, and definitely not like that night at the Shredder's place. I'm guessing this second exit is the one they took Sensei up- because close by are five buildings that are abandoned. And from experience, Bishop's labs seem to be located under abandoned buildings- well, except that one where we came up in mid-town."

Leo thought this over.

"Well, it makes a lot of sense, Don," he had to admit. "It may be worth spying out all five, see if we can spot any strange activity."

"I don't get it," Raph said. "How did they know to find Sensei? How did they know just where to ambush him? And how come he didn't fight? And how come he didn't try to get home? If he coulda got away, he coulda lost them easy."

"I can only guess," Don slowly said. "I'm thinking that they were searching for a while- remember, they came from different directions. Allowing for my three mile radius, they were hunting individually, which means they must have been sure of their ability to catch Sensei."

"If he had run into 'em one at a time, he'd of beaten them, and this would be a non-problem," Raph was confident.

"I agree," Don said. "I'm thinking that maybe one of them spotted him as he left the sewers near the alley where he opens the portal. It was too late to take him, so they lay in wait, hoping to surround him- and they did."

Don looked at his computer-generated maps again, as if he were watching his father being ambushed by six unknown humans.

"I'm guessing that once he saw he was surrounded, he decided to surrender. It could be that they were heavily armed- or that-" and Don suddenly found that his voice was choking up on him, choking up at verbalizing this next part of his theory. He roughly cleared it, trying to regain his normal tone. "Or- he gave up so that they wouldn't find us."

He had tried hard to say it as normally as possible, but it ended up coming out as a whisper.

"That doesn't make sense," Mike said, suddenly upset- suddenly upset with the explanation, with the situation- even with his brother. As Don had talked about their theories and shown the maps, Mike could feel the white-hot anger growing in him.

Bishop! This was Bishop- he didn't care that Don and the others had created a shadowy "other group" as a safety net- that was stupid, so damn stupid! It was Bishop!

And they had to have overpowered their Sensei! Splinter wouldn't go with them willingly. Not his father! He would have fought, would have summoned his sons!

He would have defeated them all and come home!

"Mikey, the evidence is pretty plain," Don tried to reason with him. "Sensei went with them."

"Why would he do that? If he could get away, then we would help him defeat them for good! I don't understand! We could have-"

"I know!" Don snapped, feeling as if Mikey was blaming him for something. "I mean- look! The night before this happened, Sensei had a nightmare. I heard him, and woke him up from it. But he wouldn't tell me what it was- he just said it was a parent's worst nightmare regarding his children. Maybe he had a premonition! Maybe he was being overly protective! The fact is, he didn't fight, and they left with him in the same direction he'd just come from- away from the general direction of the Lair."

"No, it doesn't make sense!" Mike shouted back. "This is so wrong! Sensei knows we would help him! This is so wrong! You're wrong!"

"Mikey-" Don tried again, but Mikey wasn't having any of it.

"They darted him! They made him walk! He didn't go willingly! He wouldn't- it was Bishop's group, he wouldn't go with Bishop's group!"

"Mikey," Raph began, placing a hand on his brother's arm. He could feel the emotion in Mikey through his skin; hot, burning rage, rage and denial and frustration seemed to radiate from every inch of skin that Raph's hand came in contact with.

Now Mikey turned on Raph, and the older turtle was startled by the amount of emotion in Mikey's eyes, on Mikey's face. At the same moment Mikey knocked Raph's hand away, hard.

"You're all wrong! If this was Bishop's group, he wouldn't go with them! You know what Bishop did to him last time! He wouldn't just go with them! He was coming to us for help, and we didn't help him!" Mikey shouted. "He wouldn't leave like that! You're all wrong!"

And before anyone could respond, Mike bolted from the room.

Don sagged in his chair, feeling as if he were to blame. At the same time, a spark of anger was growing in him as well- anger at his brother, at himself-

Anger at Splinter for not fighting, for not coming to them-

He squeezed his eyes tightly, preventing any hot, angry tears from escaping. He was so not going to cry like a baby!

"Uh, we'll go after him," Casey said, and he and April left to see if they could catch up to Mike. Professor Honeycutt was studying Don's maps again, and Leatherhead was patiently sitting on the floor, keeping his council.

It was Raph who actually comforted Don.

"It's okay, brainiac," he said nonchalantly, a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Mikey will realize he's 'Raphing' and come back."

Don, his face buried in his hands, started laughing- mainly to keep from crying. His resolve was giving way, and he was starting to leak tears between his fingers. But he laughed.

Leo smiled at Raph with gratitude and at Don with relief, as his younger brother laughed at Raph's comment.

He hadn't told his brothers about Don's conviction that he'd been touched by the "ghost" of their father, that it had taken Leo almost forty-five minutes of forceful talking to convince Don that it was fear and exhaustion, not Splinter's ghost, that had triggered his vision-

And that, if Don had had such a vision, then Sensei most certainly was alive!

Mikey couldn't explain to himself why this news was killing him. As he raced through the sewers, running off his anger, he kept trying to figure out who he was angry at.

Splinter? Was he angry with Splinter?

Why didn't he fight? He would have fought- he's a great fighter, six of Bishop's men would be an easy workout for him. Look how he took out all those Foot ninja that time- Mikey's ankle was sprained, Don and Raph were exhausted from fighting all night- Master Splinter had handled the entire group without breaking a sweat!

Mike slowed down his running, began to walk. Dripping sounds, the gurgling of unseen pipes, the splash of his own feet through the nearly constant stream of water filled his ears but couldn't cover the sound of his father's voice in his mind, teaching them how to fight, teaching them how to survive-

Teaching them how to live.

Bishop. He had had a feeling it would come down to Bishop.

"He wouldn't have gone willingly with Bishop's men," he tried to convince himself. But he knew that they were telling the truth. He'd seen it with his own eyes, the evidence. He knew the signs as well as the others. He had tried to find reasons that night when they'd found the walking stick, but those had been hopeless reasons.

His father had done it to protect them, and he realized that. And it pissed him off to no end!

"We're not babies," he muttered. "We're Ninja! We look after our own! He should have fought-"

Yes, he realized. He was angry with his father for not coming back to them.

He stopped, and stood in the dark tunnel, heedless of the rats, the smells, the background noises. He stood in the dark tunnel and closed his eyes and sighed.

I'm sorry I was angry with you, father. I know that you did what you felt was best. Please be safe. Please come home.

He opened his eyes and took a healing breath. Then he realized just how far he'd run.

He was past the place where they'd found the walking stick, almost up to the exit that Splinter used when going to the portal that opened into the Nexus.

He turned and headed home.

And though he was skilled, and completely aware of what was around him, he didn't notice that he was being followed.

"You have twenty-four hours to bring me the Turtles," Bishop had said. "I want them dead before me."

Victor quickly and confidently moved through the sewers. He had entered where the so-called "Super Soldiers" had exited the day before with the rat- with Splinter, he corrected himself. He is a living, intelligent being, not a "thing".

Victor's plan was simple; he would travel the tunnels in the general direction Splinter had been taking. He was certain that the Turtles would be out looking for their father, and he would have no trouble locating them.

The trick would be to earn their trust. He had their father's robe tightly rolled up and secured to his person. Bishop had said to use it as bait. The sight of the blood-stained clothing would make them careless, he had explained, but Victor knew that Bishop was hoping to deal them a psychological dirty blow; kicking them while they were down, so to speak.

Victor would use the robe in a different way, though he knew the sight of it would bring them pain. But he must succeed in convincing them of his sincerity. He wanted to help.

And he wanted help in return.

He hated his creation. He'd been "manufactured", not born. He'd been designed and made, partly from the tissues of his creator, partly from other sources, including Splinter. As he had grown in understanding, he found himself also growing in emotions. He had learned about compassion from Michelangelo.

He had learned about love, hate, joy, sorrow, anger, and guilt from Frankenstein.

He had learned that he hated what he'd been created for- but he loved being alive, and he wanted to stay that way.

Twenty-four hours. He wondered briefly if that was all the time he had left. Bishop had been very insistent on this. He only had twenty-four hours.

And two of those hours had already passed.

He had traveled a good distance when the noise of someone running towards him sent him climbing up the tunnel's wall to hang from the ceiling. He "cloaked" himself (A/N: In "Bishop's Gambit", the Slayer could "vanish" much like the Foot Tech ninja) and waited for this person to pass.

Michelangleo, running at full speed, passed beneath him up the way Victor had just traveled.

Perfect! He would contact this one, and then perhaps the others would be willing to accept his help.

Still clinging to the roof, he followed Michelangelo back up the tunnel. He observed this Turtle's actions; his slowing down, his stopping, his- his- Victor was puzzled. He'd read the term in the book, but he had not seen crying in action.

Michelangelo was crying. Victor watched, amazed, fascinated with the fact that water- tears, he recalled from the story- tears were running down his face from his eyes.

He could hear him muttering about Bishop and "Sensei", and shamelessly eavesdropped on Mikey's muttered conversation with himself.

He waited patiently while this Turtle stood still, eyes closed, and watched with great interest the look of calm that slowly came over a face previously so full of anger and despair.

Then Mikey turned and started back to his home.

Victor followed, waiting for the opportunity to make himself known to this Turtle in a way that wouldn't bring confrontation. He did not want to fight him.

Mikey was passing through a large open area, tunnels branching off in many directions, when Victor decided that this would be as good a place as any to reveal himself-

"Mikey!" a voice echoed up the tunnel, and a few minutes afterwards, two people came rushing up to the Turtle.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mikey, who had been calm, started to feel a bit angry again- can't a guy just be by himself without a bunch of babysitters looking for him? But he forced himself to take the bite out of his words and himself, and managed to smile at these two friends.

"We was worried," Casey said as if it were no big deal. "Sue us. You okay?"

"Yeah, I am now," Mikey admitted, accepting April's hugs and kisses, yet complaining about them at the same time. "Jeeze, April, I only was gone for a little while, not forever. You'll be making Casey jealous if you keep this up."

Casey snorted, started to punch Mikey on the arm the way he did Raph all the time- then changed it to a brotherly pat.

"I don't care!" April's voice was a mixture of relief and anger. "How dare you run out on your brothers like that, and how dare you treat Don that way. It's not his fault, or our fault- and it certainly isn't Splinter's fault!"

"You're right," Mikey smiled, amused at April's lecturing him. The guys loved to see her get riled up; she was cute when she was angry. He'd always heard that expression, but it wasn't until he'd met April that he'd understood it.

"Now, let's get home!" she ordered, not to be distracted with his compliant smile. "The guys are worried enough as it is without you adding to it. March!"

Victor followed.

It seemed that he would be meeting everyone at once.

So much the better.