"I need ya t'understand somethin' before I kill you."

Raphael was never one for words, regardless of situation but especially in battle. Only when he was in a truly good mood would he engage in playful back-and-forth insults, like a ball on a tennis court, encouraging his brothers to show off and calling out his own splendid achievements, taunting their adversaries. These moments came occasionally, but there weren't as ready on his tongue as they were for, say, Michelangelo.

Like tonight.

It had been a relatively quiet run that night, not too much to break up. Raph had reluctantly resigned himself to returning to the lair with the itch to fight still crawling along his bones. Considered abusing his poor punching bag some more, or even indulging in a spar with Mike or Leo. Yes, he was that desperate. Still, a slow night is better than a night where they get jumped by the Foot Elite and have their asses handed to them, so he supposed he should take what he could get. He could bitch and moan about it, though. And growl.

His resolve dissolved when they stumbled across a small flock of Purple Dragons harassing a couple in a back alley. With a sort of malicious glee, Raphael slipped his sai from his belt and dropped to the concrete, ignoring Leonardo's order to stay and watch for a moment. This wasn't a time for recon after all, the situation was simple; innocents in danger, punks requiring a lesson. Two plus two, Leonardo, this ain't rocket science.

Don would say something about how rocket science wasn't that difficult if one would apply himself and Raph would tell him to shut up and fight.

Not a few moments later his brothers landed behind him and joined in the fray. Leonardo hissed a reprimand at Raph as he passed by and Raphael laughed at it. "Relax Leo, just enjoy the workout!" he'd replied, a nose crunching beneath his fist and the owner windmilling his arms as he screamed and fell to his backside. Raph didn't bother finishing him -damn gang members were such wussies, you break one bone and it's the end of the world- before moving to his next target.

Ahhh. Much better.

Silence fell over the alley for a brief moment before Mikey broke it with a loud cheer. Leonardo was quick to hush him and Donatello commented exasperatedly on how the general definition of "ninja" seemed to escape him with disturbing frequency. It was nothing new. The usual post-brawl discussions they usually had. Raphael felt better, his muscles felt like warm rubber and he walked for a moment to cool down.

Ch-click.

Bang. Something rammed against his shell, sent him sprawling; his plastron scraped over concrete and he saw twin blue ribbons slip in and out of his vision. Something warm was slipping down his leg and he shouldered his way from beneath the burden at the same time a hand pressed to the asphalt and pushed back. When he looked, Leo was on his side clutching his thigh. It was bleeding. A lot.

Don and Mike were immediately by Leo, but Raph was already ten feet away and closing the distance between he and the fleeing gunman. Raph stopped, flipped his sai and gripped it like a dart; threw it. A side prong nicked his shin and the Dragon stumbled, fell. Raphael was on him in less than a second.

Which brought him to his current predicament. Kill the gang member now, or scare the daylights out of him and then kill him? Raph opted for the latter. He drew his sai lightly across the man's throat and said, "I need ya t'understand somethin' before I kill you." He lifted his sai.

"Raph!"

Raphael closed his eyes, then glared over his shoulder. Of course. Of course Leonardo would hobble his way after him with a bullet in his leg, just to reprimand him. Leonardo didn't speak though, just leaned heavily against Michelangelo, who stared at the man on the ground and then at Raph's sai in his hand. Donatello was silent, his face and his voice.

There was just a moment, a moment where Leonardo and Raphael's eyes met, where the only sound was the thug's panicked hyperventilating and lowly murmured pleas, not knowing if he was helping his case or pushing his luck. Raphael snarled, turned the sai in his hand and struck the man's head with the pommel of his sai. He stood, collected his other from the ground and slipped them both into his belt, making his way over to where Leonardo stood with a tired, relieved expression on his face.

"Yer a Goddamn hypocrite, Leo." Raphael took the place beneath Leo's other arm, and they started for the nearest manhole. It was going to be hell getting him down the ladder, but Leo would do it.

Leonardo just laughed faintly. "I know."