Dust drifted in massive clouds from the ceiling to the floor. Down amongst the rubble of their invaded home, Leonardo blinked rapidly, his blue eyes focusing on where Shredder stood a short distance away. A mouthful of the grime was unintentionally pulled into his lungs. Coughing, the leader watched as a Foot soldier stepped forward to speak with his master.
"Where is the fourth?"
Shredder's voice seemed to echo throughout the lair. His question prompted Leo to gaze over his surroundings, searching for his brothers. Donatello and Michelangelo were to his right. Both were struggling against the group of Foot soldiers pressing in on each of them. But Raphael was nowhere to be seen.
Where's Raph?
"He is dead."
The words made Leo's stomach drop and his eyes instantly snapped back to his metal-coated enemy. He prayed that he had misheard.
...what did they say about Raph?
"Are you certain?"
No…Raph…
It wasn't true. It couldn't be.
"Yes, Master Shredder. The wall collapsed on him. He is dead."
No!
Limbs trembling, Leonardo tried to rise. A jolt of electricity applied to his neck thwarted his efforts and he collapsed, smacking his chin on the stone floor. Twisting in agony, he barely registered Shredder's command to destroy what remained of the lair. The next second, several hands seized him by the arms and hauled him to his feet. Once upright, the katana-wielder began to fight against his captors.
"No!" Leo screamed in protest as he sank a fist into someone's face. He wasn't going to let them obliterate his home and he refused to believe that Raph was gone. "No!"
His objections were rewarded with another shock. Pain pulsed through every nerve in his body. Grinding his teeth together, Leo did his best to ignore the unpleasant sensation.
No…Raph…where's Raph?
The human ninjas were unaccustomed to the ferocity displayed by the mutant turtle. Their targets were generally easy to intimidate and quick to turn submissive. Not Leonardo. He punched, kicked, clawed, and bucked to break free. Several Foot soldiers received bumps that would bruise and scratches that would scar. It was only by increasing the voltage of their stunners that the henchmen were able to control him at all.
Raph…
Even though the sky above was overcast, Leo, hands bound together, still cringed when he entered into daylight. Instinct screamed at him to seek refuge in shadow, but he was spurred along by his personal escort of Shredder's men while the rain drizzled over them all. Leo shook the water from his face, grunting as shock after shock passed through him. Despite his predicament, he looked fervently around for his sai-wielding brother.
There was Mikey. There was Donnie.
Please…
There was no Raph.
They haven't brought him out yet. He's still coming.
As he was forced into the back of the trailer, the blue-banded teenager stared back to where they had exited the sewers. He witnessed five more Foot emerge into the alley before the trailer door's slammed shut. They had come out empty-handed.
…Raph…
Enraged, Leo rammed his shoulder into the doors but they remained sealed. He fell back onto carapace as the idling truck to which their mobile prison was attached suddenly shifted into drive and the operator stepped on the accelerator. Skidding backwards, the leader collided with Donatello.
"Leo?" the genius called out, groping around in the darkness. His hands fell upon the empty scabbards strapped to his brother's back. "Leo, are you okay?"
No, I'm not. Raph's missing. How could I be okay?
"I'm fine," he lied and slowly sat up. "What about you guys?"
And what about Raph? Is he fine?
"I've been better," Don replied, the weariness he felt expressed in his voice.
"Ugh…same here, bruh," Michelangelo groaned. He wiggled uncomfortably, trying to earn himself a little more room inside the confined space. His movement brought his legs into contact with Donnie's side. "Come on, dude. Make some room."
"There is no room to make, Mikey," the bespectacled turtle insisted. "The dimensions of this unit are far too limited to allow for any free movement."
"What are the chances that we could break out?" Leo posed to his scientist sibling.
What are the chances that I can get back to Raph? Please tell me they're good…I'll even settle for just fair, but please tell me there's a chance, Don. Please…
"Well, I can't give you an exact calculation," Donnie began. He tried to tug his hands apart, but the binds held. "However, seeing as how we are captives of the Shredder, tied up and locked inside a cargo trailer that's probably being closely monitored by Foot soldiers, I'd have to say the chances are aren't good. Much smaller than one percent if you want a number."
Dammit.
"That's just great," Mikey grumbled as he shifted again. He sighed discontentedly. "So what do we do now, Leo? What about Sensei and Raph? You don't really believe that they're…" The orange-banded turtle paused, unable to say the word. "…do you?"
Nothing can kill Raph….nothing….
"No, Mikey, I don't believe that they are," Leo stated, trying to sound confident. "We can get out of this and when we do we're going back to them. Just let me think of a plan."
I'm coming back for you, Raph. I swear.
Silence fell amongst the three trapped turtles. Try as he might, the fearless leader could not devise a means of escape. Each thought always returned to the events that had occurred not so very long ago in the New York City sewers. His heart ached at the memory of his father being beaten before his very eyes. Though, strangely enough, he had no overwhelming concern about the status of the rat's life. The ninja master was a lot sturdier than his small, light frame suggested and Leo truly believed that somehow Splinter had managed to elude death.
Raph, please be okay.
But the thought of Raphael left him feeling numb. He didn't want to believe that his brother had died. Yet, he couldn't stop scenarios depicting exactly that from playing inside his mind, each new one more heartbreaking than the last.
Raph, you can't be dead….
Then came the guilt.
…you can't be.
If only he hadn't ordered Raph to the fan room. Then he could have kept an eye on his brother. But Leo had only done what he thought was the right thing to do.
Please be alive.
If only he had ordered someone else to go with him. Then Raph wouldn't have had to fight the Foot all by himself. But Raph was the strongest of them all.
I can't get through life without you.
If only he hadn't rubbed the leader title in Raph's face. Then maybe they would have avoided their last fight. But Leo had chosen to play that card.
I'm sorry.
If only….
With each minute of their journey, the air inside the trailer grew colder and colder. The shivers that rattled Leonardo's entire body became more frequent. He assumed that Donnie and Mikey were both similarly stressed - one of them couldn't stop their teeth from rattling, he wasn't sure which. The "big brother" aspect of his personality yearned to reach out and comfort them, but he couldn't with his hands tied tightly and he had lost the ability to speak some miles ago.
Raph.
At long last the truck began to slow down. The teenagers slide into each other when the vehicle braked to a stop. Squirming, they tried to separate. Before they could right themselves, the trailer doors creaked open a fraction and a small, rounded object was tossed inside before they were slammed shut again.
Instantly, a loud hissing sound filled their ears. At the same time, their noses were assaulted by a strong chemical odor. Breathing became difficult and each ninja gagged on the toxic air. Chest heaving, Leonardo felt his eyelids growing heavy. His last thought before he sank into unconsciousness was of his absent sibling.
…Raph…please…
How long he was knocked out, Leo wasn't certain. When he finally managed to open his eyes again, he immediately realized that his situation had only gotten worse. He was in some kind of glass containment unit with about half a dozen humans all dressed in surgical scrubs crowded around the front, staring at him with horrified curiosity. Their unrelenting observation made the clan leader nervous. Growling lowly, he shifted suddenly, intending to scare them away. A few of the more timid lab techs jumped and scurried off. In his attempt to move Leo realized that both his hands and feet were bound. Eyes shifting left and right, he saw that Mikey and Donnie had succumbed to a similar fate.
Raph…he's still in the city, right? They didn't bring him here, did they?
Leo's head hurt. Anger burned hot inside of him and he yanked on his binds, determined to break free. During his struggles, his attention was drawn to a thin man in black as he entered the room. This, Leo assumed, was Eric Sacks for whom he felt an instant dislike. It was obvious that Sacks had an ego and considered himself to be far more important than anyone else around him. Just listening to him was enough annoyance to fray Leo's last nerve.
"All we were trying to do is create an antidote."
"For what?" the blue-banded turtle growled lowly.
You destroyed our home and kidnapped us for what?
Sacks appeared surprised that he was capable of speech. "Say that again. I wanna hear your voice."
"For what?!" Leo shouted, ramming against the glass.
Raph's no longer here because of you and for what?!
The explanation that the man then provided deepened Leonardo's dislike to a hatred that rivaled his feelings of Shredder. Not only was Sacks arrogant, he was remarkably cruel as evidenced by his casual order to demonstrate the lethality of his toxic mixture. Apparently, he also had a hero complex.
"I'm going to save everyone with the antidote that is made from the mutagen that is oozing through your blood..."
The cuffs around Leo's wrists tightened and an instant later he felt a pair of sharp needles pierce his flesh. He squirmed at the sensation of blood being pulled from his veins. Leo scowled at Sacks. The scientist's plan for the inhabitants of New York City was not nearly as disturbing as his self-serving rationalization for conducting it.
"…and I'm going to be rich."
Leonardo was stunned into silence. He would never be able to understand humans nor did he have any interest in trying. For superior beings, they sure acted like monsters.
Money…you're going to put millions of lives in danger for money?!
The ninja watched his blood flow through plastic tubing into a beeping, blinking machine that pushed the scarlet fluid out the other side to collect inside a large canister. One of the lab technicians perched on a chair in front of a computer called out to Sacks who hustled over. The two held a quiet conversation that Leo couldn't quite catch through the thick glass he was housed in. Whatever was being said, it made Sacks smile.
This is not good.
Too fast. His blood was leaving him way too fast. Leo was becoming lightheaded and his chin dipped towards his chest. Knees shaking, he tried to stop his legs from giving out on him.
We're not going to escape this. We're going to die here. And I'll never see Raph again.
Almost as soon as that thought entered his mind, an alarm began to sound. Its wailing aggravated the pounding pain inside Leo's head and he screwed his eyes shut, trying to block it out. The activity inside the lab became frantic as both technicians and Foot soldiers reacted to the alert.
"What's going on?" Sacks demanded of Karai.
The woman lifted a handheld radio to her right ear, straining to hear the incoming communication from her men stationed at the estate's entrance over the noise of the lab.
"A van has just driven through the east gate," she relayed. "There are two people inside…a man and that television woman, April O'Neil."
…April? If she's here…then…
"Take care of them," he ordered.
…is it possible…
With a short nod, Karai hustled off to do what she was told. Sacks moved quickly through the lab, grabbing papers here and there. As he did, he issued several instructions to the technicians.
…that…
"Make sure that you drain all their blood."
….Raph's here, too?
Leonardo's heart fluttered with hope. What else could send Sacks into a panic?
Please be Raph…
The turtle stared at the man's retreating form as he ran off with the single canister. Fatigue threatened to pull his eyelids shut. His milked wrists throbbed painfully.
….please.
Foot soldiers were yelling. At once, they all began to run towards the hallway on the far side of the room. There was gunfire followed by what sounded suspiciously like bodies being slammed into a cement wall. Then one of the henchmen came sailing back across the room.
"Leo!"
That voice. It was like a godsend.
Raph.
The eldest slowly lifted his head. There was his lost brother, standing a few feet in front of him.
Not buried underneath the rubble of their home.
Here. Here for him.
A small smile graced Leo's lips.
Raph.