TMNT are owned by Mirage- I know, I checked.

Missed Opportunity Number Two: Splinter (part A)

That stupid, selfish, self-absorbed bastard! Raph thought again, clutching his pillow in frustration.

He and his brothers and father had only been back a few days from who knew how long a separation due to the obsessive vengeance of two beings- two beings who had somehow merged into one- and yet were now two again- no, wait, one is a pile of dust and one is a kid.

He sighed again, punching his pillow, causing his hammock to swing rather dangerously with his tossing and turning.

They had been lucky to have a break. Mikey had been reading comics, Don video chatting with April, he and Casey making modifications and improvements to their bikes, and Leo training with Master Splinter. It had been sweet.

And that stupid, damn, self-absorbed bastard- or bastards?- that "thing", the Ulitmate Drako, had torn them apart, sent them God knows how, God knows where, and for what? Because Splinter had defeated Drako in the Battle Nexus once, and Leo had defeated the Ultimate Ninja once.

Vengeance for getting their asses kicked in fights.

Raph couldn't decide which was more dishonorable of the two- Drako had willingly participated in the tournament. He was the epitome of the sore loser it seems, as Raph remembered the story Splinter's friend the Djinn had told them. He had lost fair and square, and yet had tried to kill Splinter in an ambush later, but was prevented by the Daimyo.

Then there was old Ultie- the epitome of spoiled brattiness. He shows up and challenges Leo to a fight to the death, and for what? So he can be called the Ultimate Ninja- and in order to make sure Leo will fight, he puts the lives of his friends and family in the balance. If Leo won't fight, then they would die.

Raph still burned with the desire to fight that brat!

And Leo, despite the dirty tricks of this creep, beats him! Beats him and lets him live, and the spoiled brat tries to kill them all anyway! If it hadn't been for the Daimyo showing up...

Raph gave up trying to sleep. He was too wound up. He flipped easily from his hammock and headed to the kitchen for a late-night snack.

The Daimyo- there was another piece of work! Blaming Leo for his son's disappearance, trying to throw him and Usagi into the dungeons- no, wait- it hadn't been his fault, he'd been put under some spell by the Ultimate Drako.

Still, he thought, as he rummaged out some leftover chicken and a soda, you'd think a guy that powerful wouldn't be so easily taken control of...

"Any chicken left?" Leo's voice sounded behind him. Raph grunted an affirmative, and got Leo a soda as well, as Leo sat down at the table. He looked like Raph felt- too wound up to sleep.

"Let me guess," Raph said, "the Ultimate Drako thing, right?"

Leo nodded, taking a bite of the chicken.

"I still can't get this whole thing out of my mind," he said, as he and Raph made short work of the leftovers. "The depths of vengeance those two went to for revenge. It started me thinking about our plan for Bishop."

"You comparin' us to them?" Raph snorted. "Leo, how is it the same? Are you sayin' we shouldn't do it after all?"

Leo thought for a minute, then shook his head.

"No. I can't explain it, but to me they're not the same. I'm sure Sensei would say it is, but for some reason I simply do not see the similarities."

"Good, 'cause for a moment there I thought you were gonna say let's forget it. And it's bad enough we can't get paybacks on Drako and the Damiyo's son."

Now it was Leo's turn to laugh.

"I know. It's like you said the first night back, how can you get revenge when one is a pile of rubble and the other is a kid? He tried to kill his own father and take over, yet his father still loved him and wanted him back."

"Well, he's got a second chance now," Raph said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I hope he does a better job raisin' him this time than he did the first time!"

They silently finished up the food, and cleaned up the mess. Mikey was going to be so pissed when he found all the chicken gone! He loved cold chicken for breakfast.

"Well, hopefully we can get a few days rest before Shredder starts up again," Leo said, as they made their way back to their rooms. "It's been pretty quiet- which means he'll be launching something soon."

"I know, and he keeps cuttin' into our hunt for Bishop," Raph complained. "Know what I'm thinking? He's after the same stuff as Shredder, right? Alien tech? I get the feeling we won't have to wait much longer- somewhere before we find out Shredder's big plan, Bishop's gonna be sticking his greasy haired self into the mix."

"I think you're right," Leo agreed. "I've got a bad feeling he's going to find us before we can find him."

"Well, let's be ready, no matter WHO needs savin'!" Raph grinned, unable to resist the dig at his brother. They both returned to their rooms and finally got to sleep.

Don woke in a sweat. His old nightmares about the mind probe and Honeycutt had made way to newer, more frightening ones of a terrible future with no family. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't shake his experience in that future world, where Shredder reigned supreme and his brothers were all dead, killed in their final battle with Shredder.

Only in this nightmare, it was all wasted effort.

Why can't I have happy nightmares? he wondered, getting up and heading to the kitchen. Why can't it at least be what really happened, not this alternate ending?

He opened the fridge- Damn! The chicken was gone! He snagged a soda and searched around until he remembered the leftover pizza. Not exactly what he'd been craving, but hey, now he needed something to eat, and it was that or peanut butter sandwiches.

"Toss me some, too, bro," came Mikey's voice, and without a word Don popped several slices into the microwave, while Mike got himself a soda.

"Can't sleep, eh?" Don needlessly asked.

"Nightmare," Mike nodded, patiently waiting for the pizza. "How about some chicken to go with it?"

"Too late- someone else got to it. I think Raph and Leo since it's all gone. Still dreaming about Bishop?"

"Nope, thank goodness! I haven't had a Bishop-mare in months! No, I was dreaming about being super heroes!"

Don smiled.

"And that was a nightmare? I'd think it would be a perfect dream for you," he said, setting the reheated food in front of his brother.

"Well, actually, no- I kept dreaming that the bad guy was Splinter," Mike sighed, and Don remembered Mikey's story about their alternate selves, where their father had been evil.

"I don't know if I could do that," Mikey said, between bites of his pizza. "I mean, you know, leave him to die like that. Yet they had to I guess. He was going to try to destroy everyone. But I wonder why they didn't think to save him anyway."

"Mikey, you don't know that they didn't save him," Don pointed out again, but Mike was adamant.

"No- there was no time," he sighed. "And they had broken with him a long time ago, from what I could gather. When they told their mayor that it would end that night, I knew they meant the big final bye-bye end. I just didn't know until we got there that it was their Splinter they were going to 'end'."

Don sighed, thinking of this. He thought finding Splinter being dead in the future hard enough. He couldn't imagine what he'd have felt if Splinter had been the evil one.

"So, Donny boy, I'm guessing you're up for nightmare reasons as well," Mikey said, getting another soda.

"Yeah. Only now I dream about that place," he shuddered in spite of himself. "I just can't get those images out of my mind. Every time I look at you, or Raph, or Leo, I can see for a moment how it looked in that future. We need to make sure Shredder never gets the chance to take over like that!"

"He won't, bro!" Mikey assured him confidently. "After all, you came back, right? Didn't you say that we said you'd vanished and never came back? But you did come back, see, so it won't happen, 'cause you messed it all up with that time-travel stuff. I've seen enough movies to know that!"

Don looked at Mike, who was nodding seriously at him. How could you explain to Mike that the movies aren't the best things to rely on where science is concerned?

But as he looked at the confidence and reassurance on his little brother's face, he couldn't help but smile- and feel better.

"You know something, Mikey? You're right! It can't possibly happen like that, because I did come back," Don agreed. "Thanks, bro!"

"Anytime, Don," Mike waved it off as if it were nothing, then yawned mightily. "Well, I'm off to bed again. Training comes too early, and I don't think Splinter's gonna give us the day off just 'cause we had nightmares."

Don laughed and followed his brother up to bed.

Splinter, in his room, decided that meditation was in order since sleep wouldn't come. He had heard his sons heading to the kitchen during the night, but had refrained from joining any of them. He, too, needed sleep, but was unable to achieve it.

In his case, however, it wasn't the past events that kept him awake- it was a strange foreboding, nagging at his subconscious- a threat of some future danger that seemed to be growing in his mind. He tried earlier to meditate, to see if he could discern this threat, but nothing clear came through. Perhaps he would try again. At the very least, it might help him relax. After all, training came early, and he certainly was not going to give his sons the day off just because of nightmares.

Early morning. Stormy weather forecast for the entire day.

Training went on as usual.

Lunch. Free time. Afternoon training. And now a lesson.

They sat on either side of their Sensei, who was recapping to them all they had faced in the past few months. Michelangelo earned a smack on the head for being flippant and disrupting the lesson with foolishness. Leonardo answered the question Splinter had posed correctly. Michelangelo was once again not paying attention- evidently for a good reason: strange black, oddly shaped "somethings" were floating in the pool. Suddenly they began to emit a strange, high pitched noise.

To the Turtles it was irritating.

To Splinter, it was crippling! The sound entered his brain, causing pain, confusion- he couldn't think! He couldn't function!

They made a break for it, getting Splinter into the Battle Shell, only to find that they couldn't escape that sound.

And they soon knew why- they were being driven out and hunted!

Raph did his best, driving in the stormy weather, dodging official-looking vehicles, missiles, a helicopter. They were trapped and couldn't get away.

One miso managed to lodge in the roof. Before Don could deal with it, a gas canister suddenly opened, filling the van with noxious fumes. Raph managed to stop the Battle Shell without wrecking it, and the guys piled out, trying to stay conscious.

Dimly Leo could see the men wearing black clothes, carrying weapons. He couldn't move, couldn't call out to his brothers to see if they were all right. He desperately tried to stay conscious as the men ran past him, dragging an unconscious Splinter between them.

Then the white-haired man- Leo remembered him- he spoke into his radio headset, informing his boss that the target was recovered.

"What of the Turtles?" Leo heard that voice, faint as it was, and knew that he'd been right.

Bishop had found them before they could find him.

"Neutralized, Sir. Your orders?"

"No survivors," came the cold reply, and Leo's last thought as they moved in to kill them was I'm sorry, father. I failed you.