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Leonardo twirled the piece of the robot they had kept in front of him, the "TCRI" brand inside spinning in and out of view as he did so. His father had never told the four turtles where they had came from, or in reality, how their father had found them. How he had really found them. He had never said he kept the broken vial of ooze, which was now sitting on the coffee table in the middle of the Den's living room. On the couch were Raph and Mikey, while Donatello was sitting in his computer chair, leaning back. All of there were staring at the canister in silence ever since Splinter had placed it in front of them.

He figured his father wanted to leave his sons to their thoughts for now. After he stood in silence a while, he turned and headed for his room. None of the brothers had said anything else regarding the canister since then. Even Mikey was completely quiet, which was the most amazing thing about it all.

"So..." Mikey started, making Leo realize he had thought too soon.

"No, Mikey," Raph sigh. "No."

"I'm just sayin' if the place that the ooze came from is still around, and clearly they are since they sent the metal munchers after us," he shrugged. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to get in there? Find out what the ooze really is?"

"Good lord that's actually a good idea," Donatello was so surprised he nearly leaned too far back in his chair. He pinwheeled wildly with his arms to keep his balance. 

"Hehe," Mikey chuckled. "I'm smart."

"You'd be smarter if you realized we'd be walking in the lion's den if we went strollin' into a lab that can clearly detect us," Raph motioned towards the piece of metal in Leo's hands. Before he turned to Donnie, "Speakin' of which, we gonna have any way to make sure they don't find us down here again?"

"Oh sure," Donatello waved  Raph's worry away. "I'm gona rig something up with some of the transmitter/receivers I picked out of the deactivated robots. Should be ready in the morning."

Leo took all his brothers' ideas in and let them roll around in his head. His whole world had been turned upside down tonight. He found out his father had been keeping information from him, that Raphael had discovered the Foot and the Purple Dragons had become allies, the people who indirectly led to their creation were searching for them, and he now had two human allies. It was a whirlwind, and the lingering doubt of his father's decision to make him the leader of his family still spoke to him. His fears of his family breaking apart were starting to rear their ugly head.

"TCRI and where we came from are not our priority," he made the decision, putting the piece of the robot on the table next to the broken canister. "Not for now at least. We'll let April look into them and get back to us with some info. In the mean time, we need to figure out what Shredder's plan is for the Purple Dragon. If it's just general chaos, we ignore the Dragons and go after Shredder. Either way, we need to focus on our mission. On our family's mission. That's to stop the foot. Anything regarding TCRI...that can come later."

The three other turtles looked at him with determination in their eyes. The small speech had felt good to him, the first decisive action that made him feel like a leader. It was something small, but it was something.
[hr]
Karai entered the mediation room that was at the center of Oroku Saki's penthouse. While most of the other rooms in the sprawling domicile overlooked the bustling city of New York, this room was encased in wood. Soft padding lined the floor, the only furniture being some pillows and an inscense holder burning on a shelf. It was a respite from the nosy, smelly city outside the windows.

The girl had hated New York ever since she had come here. While she was used to city life, living most of her years in Tokyo training with her sister, New York was different. Everything was grimy, the people were rude, and there was an underlying anger running through it she did not understand. Tokyo was so clean. it was so orderly. Whatever happened with New York seemed to happen wrong.

Sitting in the middle of the room were Saki himself and her sister Pimiko. They were both silent as she took a seat next to her sister. She still was never comfortable around her "grandfather". His power radiated off of him like a tsunami of energy. He was power incarnate, and it was scary.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke to the sisters, "I have a mission for the two of you."

"Anything, Master," Pimiko nodded. She was wholly devoted to him already. Why shouldn't she be? It had been her life's work to bring him back. She was a good fifteen years older than Karai, and during thos fifteen years she had plotted against their father, who had been part of a line that had squandered chance after chance to reclaim their birthright. Karai's birth coincided with Pimiko's rebellion and the rebirth of the true Foot. Now she longed for nothing more than to prove herself.

Karai did not answer, she merely bowed.

"An object of great importance to the Foot will be coming to New York this weekend," he began to explain. "A book of prophecy. The book where the page you used to bring me back came from. It is invaluable to claiming the world for our own. I want you to infiltrate the museum where it will be on display, and steal it. It should be of no consequence for ninja as skill as the two of you."

"Yes, Master. Your will be done."