They're not mine, they're not mine, they're not mine- woe-woe-woe is me, they're not mine!

Chicanery

"...and that's all there is to it, really," Chaplin had finished, smiling. Miyake merely gave a small bow, accepting his own device. Then with a wordless signal, the group of ninja immediately split into four smaller teams and vanished into the night. The orders were simple: enter the system, fan out, and find the target.

Miyake's group entered the large pipe that Michelangelo and Leatherhead had used earlier. Equipped with night vision, they were able to move silently yet smoothly through the unfamiliar terrain.

Chaplin had theorized that the range of the listening device they'd found was pretty far, but not immense- no more than three miles tops, and that they should be able to run into some kind of security system part way in. That would be their indication that they were on the right track. As soon as anything remotely like that was discovered, Chaplin would be escorted there by a special team; no one trusted his ability to get through the sewers quietly while they were searching.

Two hours later, they were still searching. They had, by Miyake's estimate, surpassed the three mile mark so to speak, and they had come across nothing that remotely seemed like security. The devices Chaplin had equipped them with were programed to warn them of surveillance activity. Unless they were faulty, then there was none to be found.

Several times the groups had run into each other. Despite the numerous endless passageways, they had managed to encounter only each other. The tracking devices kept pulling them towards each other like powerful magnets. Indeed, Miyake encountered the same group three times.

And, as Miyake and his team stood in the vast drainage junction that they had been led to by the furiously beeping signal, this same group, led by one "Ryu", entered as well, ready for battle- only to react in disgust at once again finding friend instead of foe.

"These devices are useless," Ryu complained contemptuously, tossing the delicate equipment carelessly to one of his subordinates. "We needed nothing like this to find our enemies in Tokyo. We will find these 'kapa' on our own."

"If you wish to find enemies, continue to question your orders," Miyake responded threateningly. "Mistress Karai demands we use them- no matter what we may think. I am surprised that you of all people would complain about her decisions."

"There is no one more loyal to the Mistress than me!" Ryu responded heatedly. "Where were you when we followed her every direction, and kept tight control of our interests back in the true country? Oh, yes, I remember- fighting with common street thugs and that pathetic 'mob', when your almighty 'Oroku Saki' was believed dead! My mistress had to come here to restore order!"

"Your 'mistress' was following the orders of the great Shredder," Miyake reminded him. "Our powerful Master was not dead, and Karai knew this! She no more restored order than you can restore your good looks!"

At this, several of the Foot stifled laughs. Upon their first encounter, Ryu, taller and heavier than the five foot six inch Miyake, had thought to provoke him during a bout in the dojo, and had ended up with a broken nose and a ragged gash across his left cheek. Karai had had to threaten Ryu with immediate death to keep him from killing Miyake and starting a civil war.

Ryu spat into the sewer water, then motioned to the tracking device that Miyake still held.

"I will find the Turtles without that worthless kikai."

Miyake was practically chest to chest with Ryu, locking his fierce black eyes onto the sneering gaze of his rival's.

"I am in charge; you will continue to use it!"

Grinning, Ryu turned away, muttering some soft comment to his companions; Miyake heard the word "Sansei" clearly enough. He had made it sound like an insult!

"Yes, Ryu, I am Sansei and proud of it!" he hissed, forcing the other ninja to turn back to him. "My father and grandfather, many of my uncles and cousins, have served the Foot and the Shredder for many, many decades, both in the 'true' country and here in this one! You would be well-advised to remember this fact!"

Ryu stared at the hand that had grabbed his arm and yanked him around. The anger was evident on his scarred face, yet he managed to keep control- for the moment.

"Baka wa shinanakya naoranai," Ryu spoke the proverb in reply, a taunting smile on his lips.

Miyake's hand dropped from Ryu's arm even as he stepped back at the words. Now the anger on his face rivaled that of Ryu's- but he, too, struggled to keep control.

"Mika bosu," he sneered, wiping the smile from Ryu's face. "I thought so. Things become difficult and you quit. Yes, I can see that such a device in your hands is useless. Neko ni koban, as they say."

Both groups tensed. In each were those who backed the other "leader". Since Karai had brought in the contingency from Japan, the New York Foot had become more and more hard-pressed to maintain their positions. Now this Ryu, fresh from Tokyo, thought that he could easily replace Miyake, longtime loyal servant of the glorious Oroku Saki?

As if by unseen signal, the Foot began to separate there in the junction, moving towards the leader of their choice, not Karai's. Ryu's group was smaller but not by many. They all had their weapons drawn...

"Damn, at this rate, we won't have to do anything about them!" Raph's disappointed voice floated out of the dark, echoing around the two groups and causing all of them to turn this was and that, trying to find the direction. Unfortunately for them, this junction had many different pipes and conduits emptying into it; the location was hard to detect.

"Yeah," came Don's response. "And I'm all out of popcorn, too. This is better than a Zatoichi film!"

"Naw, I want some action," Raph replied, as Foot fanned out at the orders of both leaders, making for every pipe, every opening they could access.

"Getting warmer," Don teased them all. "Warmer... warmer... nope! Cold cold cold!"

"Find them!" Miyake shouted, himself heading for the catwalk that span the vast swirling pit that swallowed up all the offerings that flowed into it. "Find them!"

"Yeah, find us!" Raph encouraged. "I need the exercise. Ain't had no real action since the last time we kicked your asses."

"This way!" Ryu suddenly shouted, as he caught sight of a green "something" heading away from him in the tunnel he had just entered. Immediately those loyal to him followed, regardless of who their leader was supposed to be.

"Kisama! After them!" Miyake ordered, and he and his men prepared to follow- but Don's laughter floated down once again.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you!" he cheerfully informed them- just as a fierce, strange roar, followed by many screams, echoed back up the tunnel to the drainage junction.

"Aww, MAN! I wanted that big ugly dude!" Raph complained. "He obviously was the real leader. I was lookin' forward to handin' him his head."

Miyake, looking around wildly as his companions shifted nervously, wondering what could cause trained ninja to scream like frightened children like that, spotted the Turtle seated high above him, lazily dangling a leg out of the pipe he was watching them from. He waved cheerfully at them.

"There's still this group, Raphy," Don replied, and now Miyake saw the second Turtle- on the same level as them, and close, too.

In fact, Miyake had barely turned to see him when three of his own men were knocked forcefully into the swirling water of the drainage junction by the skillfully wielded bo of the Turtle.

There was no need to order the attack. Don was quickly engaged- and just as quickly joined by Raph, leaping down from above to land on top of Miyake.

"Hi there," he said happily, smashing the device even as he slammed the leader into the metal grating floor of the catwalk. "Nice ta meetcha."

Splinter had been leading this group on for three hours now. They were a determined bunch, he gave them that. Twice they had argued about giving up, of knowing that the so-called "injured" nezumi was just a ruse, only to be ordered by the leader to "quit arguing! Mistress Karai has ordered this! The scientist and the Rat must both be captured!"

Hmm... I understand her desire to obtain the unfortunate Dr. Baker, but what could she possibly want with me? Splinter mused, as he lay in wait for them to pass him by- which they eventually did. He debated briefly on how much of a lead he should give them before following, then chose what he considered the right moment to begin to ghost them.

They had been very unhappy when their fancy tracking device had suddenly slipped from the leader's hands and been damaged. When they had risked a light to examine the machine, a shiny shuirken alerted them to the fact that someone with better vision in the dark than even their special "night goggles" was present.

Three more shuirken had found their way into two of their number; one was hit in the neck, the other the neck and between the eyes!

Then the chase was on!

Splinter was pretty sure that he had killed the one ninja. With any luck, the other had joined him. But now he was more concerned with luring the others away and either disposing of them or at least making sure they became so hopelessly lost that they would leave the system.

When the Foot began to lag, Splinter used the old trick of appearing to have injured his leg. It worked for a short time, to the detriment of his pursuers. Now only nine of the original fourteen were actively following him- and giving their leader more and more grief about it.

"He is not normal! We are following an oni," one of the ninja argued, anger mixed with fear.

"Fool! This creature bleeds! I have fought with it before!" the leader bragged.

"Yes, and lost!" the emboldened underling challenged. "This is a failed mission! He leads us further and further from our mission!"

"Our mission is to capture it alive! The Mistress has spoken!"

"The Mistress is a fool!" came the angry pronouncement, and all the Foot stopped in their tracks, suddenly eyeing each other as possible enemies. "Ever since she took control, she has wasted our men's lives in this stupid kataki!"

The fight between those loyal to Karai and those who had doubts about her leadership abilities was swift and deadly.

Now Splinter only had five to deal with; the leader and his four followers.

Silently he followed the group, on the alert. They would not keep this direction for long. He risked capture if they realized that they had been deceived.

He knew that they were literally miles from the lair. They could not find their way there save by accident. It was up to Splinter to lure them further away.

"Or get them recalled," he suddenly murmured, and immediately backtracked to the place where the group had fallen out. Quickly searching the bodies, he found what he was looking for- a communication device. Quickly he disappeared into the shadows of the system, confident that the ones searching for him could not follow.

Risking the trip, he made his way to the surface, coming out in one of the hundreds of typical alleys that were spread all over the city. A few leaps, and he was on a rusty fire escape, and before anyone might notice, he was soon on the roof of the building, safely out of sight.

The night air was crisp and cold and stung in his nostrils as he studied the device. It should not be too hard to remember which button to push- he had seen them use these before. All he needed to do was-

A shrill beeping suddenly emitted from the device, startling the Master. Recovering, he flipped the communicator open.

"Report!"

The voice was unmistakable: Karai!

Her tone, even in that one word, indicated to Splinter that her patience was close to breaking.

"We have encountered the one called Leonardo," came a reply, and for a few seconds Splinter's blood ran as cold as the air around him. "We were not successful, Mistress. He has eluded us. Seven of our team are dead. Our tracking device was destroyed. We are far from where we entered the system."

The words that shot out of the communicator were shockingly bad! Splinter held the phone away from his delicate ear, looking at it in surprise. He had no idea that Karai could swear like that!

"We... we have encountered... two of the Turtles," Miyake's voice, weak and full of pain, now sounded from the device. Splinter put it back to his ear to listen better. "We failed. We..."

Silence. Grimly, Splinter knew that his sons had done what was needed. Just as he had done. Just as Leonardo had had to do.

"Miyake! Report! Report! RYU! Report! SOMEONE report!"

"Mistress, Ryu is no more," came a voice that sounded as if the speaker were struggling hard to keep its tone calm. But Splinter could detect the tremor in it. "We were attacked by a wani- a monstrous wani! Mistress, there are only two of us left. We await your orders."

Yes, curry favor; perhaps she will not order you to kill yourselves, Splinter shook his head. Then, he smiled.

"Mistress," he spoke into the device. "I have encountered fourteen of your Foot. I can account for five of them, but the others had a disagreement about your leadership abilities. I regret to inform you that I have lost track of the remaining five. I await your orders."

Leo sat on a high catwalk at the old drainage junction, cleaning the last of the blood from his katana. He gazed down at the old place; even in the poor light, he could make out the old damage that the mousers had inflicted on the structures, when they had cornered Master Splinter here that fateful day their old home had been destroyed.

Fortunately, the collapsed section that led to the lower corridor had been taken care of by him and Donatello shortly after they had moved to the new lair. No sense in allowing anyone to find their way by accident to their location.

He remembered how they had leaped down that unknown hole, following Splinter unquestioningly when he had jumped into it after informing them that he wished to "take you home."

The slide had been fun! Mikey wanted to do it again and again, and had protested when Don said that the way should be blocked to further protect them.

Now, he sat there, wondering how many bodies they were going to have to dispose of, and trying not to think of Karai.

He laughed to himself. Do not think of an elephant for the next five minutes. Right.

She is going to be pissed for sure. This will only increase her determination to bring us down. Perhaps I should just go challenge her directly, get it over with.

Again, he could not understand her determination to revenge her father upon them. Oroku Saki was still alive- he deserved to be dead, but the Utroms had chosen exile. Who was he to question?

Yet Karai, despite everything she had learned about her "father", continued on this pointless vendetta.

"And now, she will be even more determined," he said softly.

His shell cell beeped once. Flipping it open, he was greeted by the voice of a brother.

"Dude, game over! Karai just called in the survivors."

"What about the bodies?"

"No problem. She's already sent in recovery teams to remove what's left of them."

"What's left?"

"Well, you know L.H.," Mikey said matter-of-factly. "Plus I guess a few got washed away in the drainage junction. At least, that's what Raph says.

"If there are more lurking around, how do we get home without-" Leo began, but Mikey interrupted.

"You have to ask? Don's taken care of it," he replied without further explanation. "Anyway, don't make a parade of it. Splinter still expects you to be all stealthy ninja about getting home. Oh, and he says you had better be there before he is. After all, you're still grounded."

And Mikey, with a laugh, hung up before Leo could sputter a reply.