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Chapter Twenty-Five: Search for Splinter Part One

Late in the afternoon, after coordinating the battle plan, Harry, Ginny, and The Twins arrived in the warehouse, where the newly reconstructed Battle Shell was located.

"Okay Leo is searching from the air, Don is searching warehouses, Raph's got duty on the shell cycle in the rougher parts, and Mikey's got the sewers," said Harry, as the Twins and Ginny climbed into the battle shell. "That leaves us to search the streets in the Battle Shell."

Harry pulled out the key, starting up the vehicle but it sputtered a bit before smoke came out of the hood of the van.

"I'm guessing it's not supposed to do that," said George.

"I think your guess would be spot on, dear brother," said Fred.

A couple of minutes later, the Battle Shell managed to come to life as Harry pressed the remote, opening the large door in front of the garage area of the factory. The Battle Shell awkwardly shuddered out of the factory, as Harry hoped to all that is holy and unholy as well that he would not run into any police. His status as a thirteen year old without a driver's license would be counterproductive of not getting in trouble. He just hoped his driving skills improved since the last time.

Harry pulled back the level as the Battle Shell sputtered out of the warehouse. Don's repair job on this thing after the battle at Foot headquarters and the destruction of said vehicle caused it not run as smoothly as it would.

Harry floored the gas the Battle Shell flew up the streets, veering everywhere and nearly missing parked cars.

"Harry Potter, hero to all and savior of the Wizarding world, driving without a license," said Ginny, hanging onto the edge of her seat for dear life.

"The scandal!" cried Fred

"The horror!" yelled George.

"The trauma!" shouted Fred.

"The outrage!" screamed George.

Harry pulled into a Garbage dump and stopped the Battle Shell as the engine sputtered before dying.

"Damnit, I guess this thing isn't as ready as Don thought it was supposed to be," said Harry.

"Yes, we can see that," commented Ginny as they climbed out of the vehicle, looking around in the dump. There appeared to be no giant rats in sight anywhere.

"Spread out and meet back here in an hour," said Harry before turning to the Twins." And don't cause any trouble!"

"Us trouble?" asked George in mock horror.

"I think you may be confusing us," added Fred.

"With someone else," concluded George with a mischievous grin on his face.

Harry motioned for everyone to go and search. He was not coming home empty handed, not tonight. He didn't care if it took all night.

Leo in the air was not having any trouble. Despite flying through the air on one of tech pack gliders, and wearing the infrared goggles, he could not find any sign of his missing father. The longer it went on, the more Leo started to get agitated. They would find him but right now it just seemed like they were going around in circles, hoping to luckily stumble upon something.

Don climbed in the boarded up window of an abandoned warehouse, the fourth one in this city. One thing was sure, there seemed to be a lot of abandoned warehouses in the city the size of New York. Of course, one of them had the added bonus of having a bunch of mobsters using it as their secret hideout. Don had to slip in and out, without getting detected. They did not need to cause trouble, as anyone following them would impeded their search efforts and they could not very well have that.

Looking behind each crate and in each storeroom. Don came up empty. There were rats for sure, but none of them were of the five-foot tall talking variety. Searching one more room, Don sighed. This warehouse was a dud. He had to keep searching, so it was on to the next place.

In the sewers, Mikey was riding on a water vehicle, desperately searching through each tunnel for Master Splinter. Mikey reached the end with something that looked like it could have been a giant rat. However, when he lifted his flashlight up, it turned out to only be a couple of boxes, a two by four, and a bunch of old rags. Disappointed, Mikey continued his search throughout the sewer.

Raph drove through the streets on the Shell Cycle, getting more agitated as he pulled into each alleyway, not finding anything. This was getting insane, every minute they did not find Master Splinter, was a minute their chances of finding him lessened.

Ginny, Fred, and George met Harry back at the Battle Shell.

"Anything?" asked Harry desperately.

"I'm afraid not, Harry," said Ginny regrettably.

"Yeah, there are a lot of rats in this city," said George.

"None of them that we saw are giant, mutated, and ninja master," said Fred. "And believe us, we searched under every rock, through every window, and behind every door that we could get inside, but there is nothing to be found."

The two way radio on the Battle Shell came to life, there was still nothing.

"Status report, Harry?" asked Leo from the other end.

"Nothing, we all looked but there was nothing could be found," said Harry.

"Okay, let me check with the others," said Leo. "Take the Battle Shell and meet us just outside the warehouse."

Harry nodded as Fred, George, and Ginny followed him into the battle shell.

Leo flew above the sky on the tech pack glider, checking in with the others.

"What about you guys?" asked Leo on the shell cell.

"Nothing," said Donatello regrettably.

"Not a trace," reported Mikey from the other end.

"Damnit, where is he!" yelled Raph in anger as he went down the streets on the Shell Cycle.

"Easy, Raph, getting agitated will not solve anything," said Leo but his words fell on deaf ears.

Raph drove down the street, seeing trouble. A car jacker had tossed a man out of the car at the stoplights before entering the car and slammed on the gas, driving off.

"Buddy, you’ve just picked the wrong time to tick me off," declared Raph, revving up the Shell Cycle, before following in hot pursuit of the car jacker.

Raph flew down the street, as the car jacker looked in the rear view mirror. It appeared to him that a guy in a turtle costume was following him. The car jacker decided to floor it before swerving right and left, knocking trash towards Raph as he flew down the street.

"Uh, it would have to be Garbage day," groaned Raph, as he had to swerve to avoid the flying debris before following the villain down the street.

Leo looked down at the chase below, seeing his brother angrily pursuing the car jacker.

"Great," said Leo sarcastically before following the chase from above, before Raph did something stupid.

Raph followed the car jacker through a gas station that happened to have the Foot Logo on the sign. The car jacker knocked over a gas pump, in an attempt to deter his pursuer but Raph would not be denied. The car jacker flew into through a factory door before going up the steps of the factory to the upper level. Raph followed, flying up the stairs on the shell cycle. The car jacker flew out of the factory window, before touching down on the ground. Raph flew out a moment later, following him through the streets again, before pulling out his Sai and aiming it towards the tire of the vehicle. Direct hit and the tire becomes flattened. Raph throws himself off, prying open the door of the car before pulling the car jacker out and slapping him around, before throwing him on the hood, raising his hand up. His arm is grabbed from behind by Leo who had just come upon the scene with Don and Mikey.

"Not now, Raph," said Leo in a commanding voice.

Raph looked down at the car jacker before reluctantly letting him up.

"Beat it scumbag, before I change my mind," said Raph as the car jacker ran off for his life, not looking back.

"You know, this isn't helping Raph," said Leo.

Raph kicked the car before pulling off his helmet and angrily tossing it on the ground.

"It helps a lot more than you think," said Raph giving the car one last swift kick before picking his Sais and his shell cycle helmet.

"You got to admit, the guy knows how to blow off steam," remarked Mikey casually.

The Battle Shell arrived a few seconds later, sputtering and swerving left to right unexpectedly.

"Infernal contraption, the school brooms handle better than this blasted thing!" yelled Harry in frustration.

"That's a real compliment," said George sarcastically.

"Yeah, you know you have hit the bottom of the barrel when something handles worse than those stone age brooms that Hogwarts has," said Fred.

Harry tensed up as he heard the sirens.

"The police are coming, you four better get inside," said Harry.

"Maybe I should drive, Harry," suggested Don.

"Good luck," said Harry, moving over so Don could get control of the wheel. The Battle Shell drove off, still making funny noises nearly every step of the way.

"You know, driving around isn't cutting anymore, we need something to go on," said Raph.

"Well, think logically, do we have anyone who could have possibly taken Master Splinter?" asked Harry.

"I agree with Harry," said Ginny. "Think about who was at the scene when Splinter went missing."

"Well there was the Foot Elite, a bunch of Foot Ninja and..." said Mikey before stopping. "I've got it, what about the Guardians?"

"Yes, I would have to agree," said Leo logically. "If you think about it, around the same time Splinter disappeared, they vanished."

"It does make sense," agreed Don.

"Somehow, we need to hook up with one of those guys," suggested Raph.

"I have an idea," commented Harry before motioning his brothers to come in close. "So we need to..."

The lead Guardian was patrolling the streets when he came across a very strange sight. At the Shredder's old building, the Foot logo on the side slowly fizzled back to life. He needed to report this to the Council, urgently pressing the button on his wristband to reveal a holographic screen.

"Guardian, report," said the first Council Member.

"My lords, the Symbol on the Shredder's building has become active," said the Guardian.

"You had reported that," began the first Council Member.

"The Shredder," continued the second Council Member.

"Was destroyed," concluded the third Council Member.

"He has deceived us in the past," replied the Guardian.

"Yes," said the first Council Member. "Find out."

"If the Shredder," continued the second Guardian Member.

"Has indeed returned," finished the third Guardian Member.

"Understood," said the Guardian before entered the reactivated Foot Headquarters his trench coat billowing behind him. He made his way up to the top floor of the Shredder's building, through the window.

He pulled himself in and the sight that greeted him unnerved the guardian. It was the Shredder with his back turned to the Guardian.

"Shredder!" yelled the Guardian angrily before pulling out a sword, ready for battle. He leapt up, slashing him several times, but surprisingly the evil villain did not find back.

The Guardian backed off and the that thing that appeared to be the Shredder split apart, with sand going everywhere from the ragged clothes that appeared to be armor for a distance and a bowling ball rolling out of the crudely made cardboard helmet. He had been duped, and was angered. He heard snickering from the shadows and angrily swung his sword, stopping a few inches away from the throat of Mikey who had just stepped out of the shadows.

"Whoa, easy, easy, it's just us," said Mikey.

"Yeah, we are not looking for a fight," said Don quickly, attempting to reason with the angry Guardian.

"If you set an ambush for me, then prepare to fight," said the Guardian in a dangerous tone, keeping his sword close to Mikey.

"We just came looking for answers," said Leo.

"Our Master Splinter is missing and we intend to find him," said Raph.

The Guardian paused for a few seconds before giving his response.

"I cannot help you," said the Guardian in a calm tone of voice.

"Wait, you know something," said Leo. "At least tell us if he’s okay."

"I can't say," said the Guardian regrettably. "Now you need to look elsewhere for your answers."

"Right, elsewhere it is," said Mikey, casually dropping a turtle shaped tracking device on the Guardian's sword. "Now how about putting that sword elsewhere."

The Guardian put his sword back in his trench coat before throwing a pellet on the ground. A cloud of smoke appeared and a few seconds later, the Guardian was gone.

"Mikey?" asked Leo.

"One Turtle tracker dutifully planted," said Mikey.

The Four Turtles followed the Guardian at a distance from the city, with Donatello utilizing a tracking device.

"Man this guy is fast," said Don. "He already cleared two city blocks in less than fifteen seconds."

"Come on, we can't lose him," said Raph, as they leaped down, following the Guardian through an alleyway. On the other end, the signal went dead.

"That appears to be the final destination," said Leo, pointing to a bland, run of the mill office building on the other end of the alley.

"Nothing special there, it just seems like an office building," said Mikey, looking the building up and down.

"So was the Shredder's place and that place nearly took us out," said Raph. "We need to find a way to get a bug inside to get some answers."

Inside the office building, a security guard was sitting at the front desk when a knock on the door was heard. The man walked outside, looking around but now no one was there. Unknowing to him, a camera disguised as a miniature turtle entered the office, building, in an attempt to find some answers.

Back in the Battle Shell, Don was controlling the camera with a joystick from inside the battle shell. The other Turtles, Harry, Fred, George, and Ginny were watching in closely. Don moved the joystick, in an attempt to get close to the security control room to see what was inside. Of course, the distraction of so many people being close to him seemed to bother the brainy terrapin.

"Do you mind?" asked Donatello. "You're sucking all the air out of my personal space."

"Sorry," said everyone in unison before backing off. Two seconds later, they all crowed around Don again.

"Okay, let's see what's behind door number one," said Don, extending the camera lense out but another security guard came from the building with cart, knocking the camera out of focus.

When Don managed to focus it, it locked onto a sign, which read "Techno Cosmic Research Institute". Under the sign there was a smaller sign with the letters "TCRI".

"Well, that’s really interesting," commented Don.

"What is it?" asked Harry, who like everyone else could not see the screen due to Don blocking it due to focusing it. And a moment later, another cart rolled over the hidden camera, crushing it, so no one could have seen it anyway.

"Techno Cosmic Research Institute," answered Don.

"I'm afraid I'm not following you," said Mikey.

"Say the first letter in each word," said Donatello.

"T-C-R-I," said Mikey, frowning. "Sorry that's not ringing any...bells."

Mikey's eyes widened in sudden understanding.

"That's the...that's the," sputtered Raph.

"I think we missed something," said George.

"Yeah, do tell us old revered ones," said Fred.

"What is the big deal about the letters TCRI anyway?" asked Ginny, looking confused.

"TCRI were the letters printed on the canister of ooze that mutated us into who we are," explained Don.

Ginny's eyes widened at that as Harry frowned.

"This can’t be a coincidence, no question about it" said Harry.

"Yes, I agree," said Leo. "Master Splinter could be in there. Secrets to our origin could very well lay inside."

"Therefore, we are going in there," remarked Raph, cracking his knuckles.

"We need to get to the lair to coordinate our efforts," said Leo as the Battle Shell started to turn around, heading back towards the warehouse above the lair.

"And find out everything we can about TCRI," said Harry.

In the lair, Don was researching on the computer, before pulling up a reference for TCRI.

"This is rather strange, TCRI seems to be a rather mysterious organization, not much is known about them," said Don. "All I have found is this article, detailing the guy who runs it, a Mr. Mortu."

"That's it?" asked Leo. "Well it doesn't matter, we’re going in."

"We need managed to get a few brief glimpses from the shell camera in the security room before it was knocked back," said Don. "There appear to be alarm sensors on the windows and roof."

"So we need to get someone in to deactivate them," said Raph.

"I'll handle that," said Harry

"Yes, Harry and I will sneak in underneath the Invisibility Cloak, so he can deactivate the alarms on the roof," said Ginny, nodding. "But we need a diversion so we are not spotted when we sneak in."

"Yeah, it may be an ordinary office building from the outside, but it is hard to tell what may be hidden on the inside," said Harry.

"A diversion you say," said George.

"We may have just the thing for you," said Fred.

"Just let us get it," said George who went over to his bag.

"Yes, we had been looking for a chance to test it out and this looks like a great opportunity," said Fred, pulling the object from his back.

"Of course, there could be some unintended side effects for the people who are in the lobby," said George with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Then it's settled," said Leo. "We leave at once."

On the building across the street from the TCRI building, a rope with an arrow tied to it was shot into the side of the building before being secured to a TV antenna on the other end. Leo, Raph, Don, and Mikey walked on the rope, from one end of the building to the other.

Harry and Ginny were underneath the cloak outside the building. Fred and George slowly crept around to the front door opening it so Harry and Ginny could quietly slip in. With a nod, they threw down the object on the floor before slipping out.

The security guard looked up at the sound of an explosion. It appeared that the floor of the main lobby of the TCRI building had been turned into a swamp of some sort. Of all the things he had expected, this was one furthest down the list. He reached over, contacting more security guards.

"We need to the area of the lobby cleared, there has been an attack," said the security guard, urgently, pressing buttons frantically.

Without a backward glance, Harry and Ginny entered the security control room, pulling off the cloak. Little did Harry and Ginny know a twelve-year-old girl with messy auburn hair and bright green eyes had seen their arrival as well as seeing the two had slipped into the security control room. The girl frowned; she wondered what was going on here but eventually decided it was not her problem that the security had a lapse and someone was breaking in.

In the security room, Harry and Ginny were looking around but there appeared to be no control devices or anything. The security control center appeared just to be a blank room with nothing inside.

"Okay, this is strange," said Harry.

"Yes, I rather agree," said Ginny. "Maybe we should try asking it for a floor plan or something, I..."

Out of nowhere a holographic floor plan popped up as Harry and Ginny exchanged a pair of bewildered looks.

"That was convenient," said Harry. "A little too convenient."

A pause for a moment as Harry briefly looked around, but there was no one in the room.

"I'm going to try something," said Harry as Ginny went to keep watch over by the doors. "Deactivate cameras on the roof and alarm system."

"Cameras and alarm system have been deactivated," remarked a voice that seemingly came from the floor plan of the building.

"Okay, you’re good to go," said Harry to his brothers from the other end of the shell cell.

The Turtles were on the roof, walking over to the vent. Leo pulled out his katana before slicing the cover of the vent. It fell back to reveal a blank section with nothing there.

"A fake vent!" exclaimed Raph. "What kind of person would put a fake vent on a building?"

"The kind who want to make this place to appear normal," suggested Don.

"That doesn't change the strategy," said Leo.

"So what do you plan to do now, Leo?" asked Mikey.

"We cut through a window," said Leo simply.

"Harry, can you deactivate the alarm systems around the window?" asked Don.

Back in the security control room, Harry looked at the holographic floor plan.

"Okay, deactivate window alarms," said Harry.

"Window alarm system, deactivated," responded the floor plan.

"You are good to go," said Harry.

Outside, the Turtles climbed down from the roof, onto the window. Don pulled out another turtle shaped gadget, before putting it on the window. He pressed a button as a blade swung around and around the window, cutting at it but it came up with nothing.

"Okay, that's odd," said Don frowning. "Diamond edge blades, but it’s not even scratching the surface."

"There is something awfully strange about everything in this place," said Mikey.

"Still, we need to get inside," said Leo. "Remember, there is a pretty good chance Master Splinter could be inside that building."

"Harry, we really could use an entrance right about now," said Donatello.

Harry walked around the holographic floor plan.

"Entrance point," said Harry before the holographic floor plan came to life.

"Ninth floor exhaust port, currently active," said the floor plan.

"There appears to be some exhaust port on the ninth floor, west side of the building," said Harry.

"We'll go check it out," responded Don as they climbed around to the building, but there appeared to be nothing where Harry was indicating.

"What’s with it with this building?" asked Raph indignantly. "There ain't anything here."

Don waved his hand around the building, feeling hot air coming from beneath it.

"No, feel that," said Don as the other three Turtles waved their hands in front of the exhaust port. "There’s air coming, this has to be it. There must be some sort of hologram, obscuring the building from view."

"I'll go first," said Mikey excitedly.

"Mikey, wait..." started Don but Mikey stuck his head it. A bolt of energy materialized before blasting Mikey full on.

The blast connected with Mikey as Mikey flew off the side of the building, taking Don with him. The two Turtles plummeted down, towards the concrete pavement below.