TMNT and all the characters in this story, along with some of the mentions to the show, are owned by Mirage and probably 4Kids TV. I am still owned by the need to pay rent and buy groceries...

Missed Opportunity Number One

A/N: this chapter starts off with a brief revisit to "Hun on the Run", then goes from there into an immediate aftermath)

They are on the top of the train, looking through the windows at the unbelievable fight taking place inside. Leo and Mikey look at each other in surprise.

"Bishop?"

"Karai?"

For Leo and Raph, was a gift from Heaven- their months of searching, researching, wondering if each new thing they came across would lead them to Bishop, only to have it lead back to Shredder- this would have been an opportunity handed to them out of the blue! It would have been the perfect opportunity!

Except for the fact that Hun and Karai were involved- as well as Mikey and Don.

Plus, they'd had no warning.

That didn't mean they weren't going to try, despite Raph's answer to Mikey's "What do we do?"

"We do nothin'! We let them take each other out."

But Karai... Leo could not leave Karai in such a situation!

They followed Leo, who demanded that they help Karai.

Leo and Raph did their best- and had the help of Donny though he was unaware of their plan- but because they were also dealing with Hun, it was rather difficult to carry out their plan.

Plus, Bishop was almost- inhuman- in his abilities. They had seen Hun hardly make any real progress against this smaller man. Having fought Hun themselves, they were wondering if Bishop were something more than he appeared to be.

But Bishop was not invincible. Leo and Don came very close to finishing him off at one point- but Bishop managed to get out of the way.

Eventually, with Karai helping out, Bishop cut and run-

Missed opportunity number one.

They then had to briefly worry about Hun- until Karai had shoved him out of the still-moving car, then following him out after thanking Leo.

The train finally slowed to a stop, and the brothers tried to assess the night's work.

As they stood in the tunnel, Donny trying to figure out how he was going to get this train car home, and listening to Mikey offering increasingly outrageous suggestions to his brainy brother, Raph finally turned an angry, disappointed eye on Leo.

"We need to talk about this when we get home, Leo!" he growled, low enough for only his brother to hear.

Leo knew what was coming. He couldn't blame Raph.

"Dude!" Mikey kept trying to cheer Raph up all the way home in the Battle Shell- Donny had figured out a plan, and was driving like a crazy turtle to get to the Lair, drop off his brothers, pick up Leatherhead and the palm top with Prof. Honeycutt's backup memory stored in it, and hurry back before something happened to his new acquisition- "I'm sorry about your Shell-Cycle, but Don will build you a better one! Trust me!"

Raph couldn't tell Mikey that it wasn't the cycle that had him so pissed off. He was trying his best to keep it together, but the more he thought about how their chance to kill Bishop slipped through their fingers- because of Leo's obsession with Karai- the more he was wishing that he could magically send himself to Master Splinter, because he knew he desperately needed his father's guidance at the moment. He felt such anger at Leo! Such anger!

Though he found out later, it was almost nothing to the anger felt by their father when he learned of the night's activities- Oh, Splinter was not one to show it the way Raph did, but as he and Mikey sat there, listening to Leo report to Splinter, he could see the signs. Splinter was becoming increasingly stern-looking, more still, more- tense, as if struggling to hold onto his temper.

This was most evident when the story of Karai came into the report. Raph could see it in the twitch of his whiskers; the little sharp flicks of his tail; the eyes that had suddenly closed and remained so until Leo had finished.

Splinter listened to Leonardo's report on their latest adventure in this way, and Raph could tell that their Master was not happy- at the news, or with Leo.

"I think Fearless Leader is in for it," Raph whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Mikey. Mikey suppressed a wicked grin, lowering his head quickly. He, too, had picked up on Splinter's subtle yet unmistakable body language.

So, it seemed, had Leo. He sat there, barely daring to look his father in the face.

"It is bad enough that Shredder is after this technology," he finally said, a few minutes after Leo had finished. "This Agent Bishop's interest in Shredder's activities is even more disturbing. We must be extra-careful, my sons. We must be extra-alert." Then he looked at Leonardo. "I do not like this business of Donatello taking charge of this train car. I do not understand how you could give him permission to retrieve it. How are we to know it is not a trap?"

"I believe that Don has thought of that," Leo replied. "He, Leatherhead, and the Professor will be sure to destroy it if it is a threat to our safety." Unless he figures a way to nullify the threat, that is, he silently added to himself.

Splinter gazed at him as if guessing the unspoken thought. Then he sighed. He had to do this next thing, and it was not going to be pleasant. He subconsciously tightened his grip on his walking stick, and leveled a stern gaze at his eldest.

"This is not the only thing that is troubling me," he continued. "I do not understand why you interfered in a fight between our enemies. I do not understand why you risked your brothers' lives to help those who wish us destroyed. Are we now aligned with one side over the other? Have you, indeed, joined forces with the Shredder after all?"

Leo blushed, and ducked his head. He swallowed and tried to answer calmly.

"Sensei, Karai was in danger. She-"

"She is the daughter and right hand of Shredder," Splinter interrupted mildly, though Leo wasn't fooled by the tone. "She has chosen to remain with Saki, to serve his cause- to be our enemy. How is it our responsibility to secure her safety?"

"She's done the same for us," Leo tried that defense again- it had been his excuse to Raph, but with Splinter it wasn't going to work.

"She has also shown time and again that she is more than willing to hurt this family.

"She understands honor-"

"You also understand honor, my son. Her sense of honor is not yours. I wish I could make you see this. As long as she serves the Shredder, as long as she participates in plans and plots that hurt innocent people, as long as she does his bidding, her honor will not be the same as yours, can never be the same as yours- you want to have it both ways, my son. She does as well. And I believe you are confusing honor- her honor- with your desire to believe that she is as honorable as you; that she shares your views. I do not like this entire situation, Leonardo."

"But Sensei, she is only doing this because of what she feels she owes Saki for taking her in, for raising her as his own," Leo tried again, but Splinter was more than ready for this argument.

"And do you not owe me the same?"

Leo was left speechless, thinking of his father's harsh yet true words.

"Did I not 'take you in'?" Splinter pursued with his son's line of logic. "I took you in, raised you as my own, trained you, and rely on you as Shredder relies on Karai. You do my bidding willingly, yes?"

"Master, I-"

"So, if I tell you now, take your katana, find Donatello, and punish him for not returning to me at once with the rest of you, you will do this? You will mark your brother in a way that I prescribe?"

Leo looked at his father in horror.

"You do not answer? Does your honor prevent you from hurting your brother? Why does it not prevent you from disobeying your father? Your Master? Does not honor dictate that you follow the order of your master unquestioningly? Is this not the honor that Karai follows? Understands?"

At that moment, Donatello entered the room, and, not knowing what was going on, knelt before his father.

"Sorry, Master Splinter, for not coming home with the guys," he said cheerfully, bowing. "But I was-"

"Donatello, you dishonor me with your lateness and your attitude! Leonardo! Draw your katana! Punish your brother now!"

Don's expression froze on his face. His entire body seemed rooted to the spot, his mind was struggling to grasp what his father had just ordered.

Leo kept his head bowed, kept his place on the floor.

"Leonardo! Where is your honor?" Splinter's voice was harsh, loud, insistent, relentless. "You equate your honor with Karai's- do as I order! I am your Master! You owe this to me!"

Raph was so enjoying this. Raph knew better than Leo that Splinter was driving home a much needed point. As for Mikey, he kept his face safely facing the floor, but it was becoming harder and harder not to make a noise. He was in danger of bursting out laughing.

"I- I can't," he whispered, tears leaking out. "You know I can't do that, Sensei."

"That is correct," Splinter replied in his normal tone. "You have honor, honor that will not allow you to do wrong because that is how you were raised. Karai is not our concern. Karai is our enemy as long as she honors the Shredder and does his bidding. Remember this, my son. She is not to be trusted. The honor she has is still under the control of the Shredder. As long as she serves him unquestioningly, as her honor dictates, there is no trusting her."

Then he turned to his younger son, who was still staring in shock at what his father had said.

"Donatello, I apologize for frightening you," Splinter said, bowing slightly. "Your brother needed an object lesson, and unfortunately, you had to be the object. I am not unhappy with you- well, perhaps a bit. What of this 'train car' that Leonardo has told me about? Is it destroyed?"

Don, his shocked brain finally registering that things were okay, shook his head as if clearing his vision, and then smiled.

"No, Sensei! We managed to get it to just outside Leatherhead's place. It's perfectly safe- all three of us have made sure of that. You have my word of honor-"

"I believe I've heard enough about honor for the time being," Splinter dismissed them all with a wave. "Go to bed, it is late. Good night, my sons."

Leo was the last to leave, tears of shame still on his face.

How was trying to help Karai wrong? What was wrong with it?

What was wrong with him?

He never got to finish this discussion with himself- he may have forgotten that Raph was determined to talk to him, but Raph hadn't. It surprised Leo to find his brother waiting for him in his room.

"Yeah, Raph? Let's hear it," he said, resigned to a fight. "I screwed up big time. I blew our chance. Opportunity presented us Bishop on a golden platter, and I messed up."

But Raph, after a minute of staring at Leo with arms crossed, broke out in a grin, and patted Leo on the head as if he were a naughty little turtle tot that had learned his lesson.

"I don't think I could improve on what Splinter did downstairs," he said, and left his brother to sulk the night away in a mixture of confusion, grief, and doubt.

Though he did poke his head back in Leo's room roughly fifteen minutes later.

"Just tell me ya ain't got the hots for her, Leo."

Leo threw his pillow at Raph, who ducked and laughed all the way back to his room.

That laugh haunted Leo the rest of the night.

The train car promised Donatello much exciting information and many interesting challenges.

It promised Mikey lots of fun with brightly colored buttons and levers just waiting to be pushed and moved.

It promised Leo and Raph a better chance of finding Bishop and (hopefully) putting an end to him.

But those promises were put on hold- by the return of the hybrid now known as the Ultimate Drako. With one wave of the stolen Time scepter, all their lives were put on hold...