Raph moved quickly to block another attack from the never ending parade of Purple Dragons who bombarded him and his brothers. He quickly dispatched the fool that had come at him head on, turning and elbowing another sneaking up from behind. He took a quick breath and looked around. Donny was in the far corner, holding his own, and Mikey, well, as Mikey bashed the face in of a young thug running for an attack with a loud whoop, Raph realized he didn't need to worry about Mikey.
"Whoo! Raph, you didn't tell us we were going to a party!" Mikey yelled, jumping swiftly in the air, his foot connecting with another dragon. "If I would have known I would have picked a different outfit!"
"Next time you plan a surprise party, Raph, don't!" Don countered, weilding his bow expertly into the stomach of another gang member. "I hate surprises!"
"Hey, don't blame a guy for trying to show you a good time!" Raph answered back, dispatching his next threat.
They had been out for no more than an hour, trying to track down their older brother who had yet to return home. Donny had kept trying to track Leo's shell cell, but with no avail. Either Leo was out of signal or he didn't want to be found. The first place they had looked was April and Casey's, both of which informed them they hadn't heard word from Leo. After that the brothers didn't know where to start.
They moved from roof to roof looking for any sign of Leo, when they had seen the gang below, flooding into a building, probably looking to start some trouble. Raph, though he wanted to keep looking for his brother, knew they couldn't just stand by and watch the Purple Dragon's reek havoc. Being the next oldest, he took charge, deciding they would climb the fire escape and head off the gang from floors above.
Thing had looked good at first. Sure they were slightly outnumbered, but these were just Purple Dragons. But it didn't take long for Raph to realize he had walked him and his brothers straight into a trap. Once battle had been engaged, more and more Purple Dragons began to flood in from floors above, and floors below. It looked as though the entire gang had shown up for the party. Raph had cursed, trying to find a way to retreat, but the exits had been blocked. He knew they would need help, and quickly grabbed his phone and pressed the SOS, hoping that Leo would get the signal and come to their aid.
"Man, these guys just keep on coming!" Mikey continued.
"We've got to be breaking some kind of fire code here." Don said, backing his shell up to Mikey's.
"Well, you know Raph." Mikey started, pausing to bust a in the knee. "He never follows the rules."
"Watch it Mikey." Raph growled lightly.
The battle was quickly becoming overwhelming, and Raph knew he and his brothers wouldn't be able to hold up much longer. He could see the wariness in his brother's moves becoming more evident, and he knew he needed to get some of these guys away from them. He looked to his side and saw a staircase that seemed unguarded and ran his way over to it, hoping the Purple Dragons would follow. He whistled loudly, seeing many of the gang turn their heads.
"Over here you shit for brains!" Raph yelled, trying to lure some of the gang members to him, giving his brothers a quick reprieve. When he saw numerous were following, he turned and ran up the stairs. 'Come on you assholes' he thought slyly. 'Come and get old Raphie.' He raced his way to the top and threw the door open, and gulped. More purple dragons were waiting at the top of the stairs, and more were following him up. Raph knew he was in trouble, but that thought only flashed for a second before he leapt out of the stairwell, sais flashing, a growl emitting from his throat. As he engaged the first gang member he met, he hoped Leo was on his way.
He quickly dispatched the first and moved to the second, kicking out and catching the thug in the chest before turning and moving to the third. Every time he took one member out, there was another in his place. Raph was quickly becoming surrounded and overwhelmed. He was panting hard as he took on the next and the next. Raph felt a presence behind him and quickly turned to punch the kid in the face but didn't turn quick enough to block the next blow from two thugs behind him. His whole world spun as the thug's pipe connected with the side of his head.
That slight falter was all the rest of the gang needed to quickly overcome the tired and dizzy turtle and drive him to the ground. Raph was quickly disarmed, suffocating under the weight of the gang members who were holding him down. Suddenly some of the members backed off and Raph looked up, finding a blade pointing down at his neck. Fear flashed in his eyes, but only for a second as he met his steely gaze to who he recognized as the new leader of the gang. Snake was what they called him. The man was huge, at least 6 and a half feet. He was largely built with long greasy hair and cold brown eyes. He glared down at the turtle in red.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A disarmed freak at my mercy." The head Dragon drawled out, a smile playing on his lips. "You will be the first one to go, your brothers won't be far behind." Raph growled and struggled against the thugs that were holding him down, but was met with the blade being held closer to his neck, the point biting slightly into his skin. "Aren't you going to beg for your life?" The man asked, amusement playing on his face.
Raph narrowed his eyes at the audacity of this asshole. Then Raph let a small smile play on his lips, and in a second he spit square into the eye of the head prick. "Fuck off." He growled.
Snake wiped the spit from his face, rage playing on his features. "You are going to die now, freak! You and your whole family!" He then raised the blade, and Raph waited for the strike.
But the blow never came. There was suddenly the sound of metal on metal, and Raph jerked his head up in surprise and saw his oldest brother towering over him, swords crossed holding the killing blow at bay, anger in his eyes like Raph had never seen before. Raph felt new hope, one at seeing his brother was ok, and two, knowing his brother was here and was going to kick this guys ass.
The gang leader quickly pulled his blade away, allowing Leo to step in front of his brother protectively, swords held ready for attack. "Let him go," Leo said flatly, his gaze never leaving the face of the gang leader.
"So here is the fourth. We were wondering where you were." Snake said, sizing up the angry and protective turtle in front of him. "I was disappointed when I realized you weren't here. I've heard many stories about the blue one, from dragons before me, and I had wanted to kill you myself," his face twisted into a sneer, "and it looks like now I get my chance." The man stood in front of Leo, another unnerving smile gracing his face. "I'll tell you what. We will fight, and if you win I'll let your brothers go, but if you lose…well I'm sure you can guess." The man said, a glint in his eye.
Raph didn't like this one bit. He and his brothers didn't know much at all about this new leader of the gang who had taken over after Hun's sudden disappearance a year before. But what Raph did know, he didn't like. The guy was known to be ruthless, and Raph was very uneasy.
Raph watched as Leo looked around him, sizing up the numbers of Purple Dragons. Based on shear numbers, he knew there wasn't any way Leo could dispatch enough members to get to Raph before action would be taken against him. Leo glanced back at Raph with an unreadable expression, then turned back to Snake. As Raph observed them both, he felt confident this could be a quick fight. The man was much larger than Leo, but size wasn't all that mattered. Watching Leo's body posture suddenly straighten again into a defensive position, Raph could assume Leo came to the same conclusions.
"Deal." Leo spat out, raising his swords.
Raph clenched his teeth as the gang leader attacked first, coming at Leo quickly with his swords raised. Leo easily dodged the attack, landing a swift kick to the man's unprotected stomach. Snake let out a growl, then came at him again. Leo put up his blades, blocking the slash of the large man's blade and parrying out of the way. Raph let out an amused laugh, his brother was making the guy look like a chump. Snake turned and was met with another quick punch to his face, knocking the man across the room. Leo was quickly on top of him, his swords drawn, but the man managed to block the angry turtle's onslaught, pushing him back and regaining his footing. Leo backed up, once again raising his swords in a defensive position, waiting for the man to attack him first. It didn't take long and soon the gang leader was running at him with a ferocious growl, sword raised. Leo let a slight smile cross his face, then quickly moved to the side, dodging the punk's attack, and giving one of his own. He knocked the man down with a swift kick, and was quickly on top of him, swords at the man's neck. Raph cheered silently as he saw his brother easily win the match.
"You lost." Leo said with a cool voice.
"No, you lost" the man spit with anger. Raph let out a surprised cry as he felt a deep bite of sharp steel once again up to his neck. Leo's face, as he watched, was plastered with an expression of worry and rage. "Put your swords down or I kill him now."
Leo's body was trembling as he felt anger he never felt before. Every muscle in his body became tense and his hands clenched the hilts of his katanas with extreme force. He looked over at Raph, trying to express his apologies for everything through his eyes. He was sorry he pushed Raph away, sorry he couldn't get to him, sorry he failed. Leo then looked back to the gang leader, who had a smile Leo wanted to maul off his face. But he knew he couldn't. Slowly Leo stood and, with only a moments hesitation, let his katanas fall to the ground.
Raph watched in horror as his brother dropped his weapons to the ground. He struggled against the men holding him, but felt the blade to his neck bite his skin. The leader, Snake, got to his feet and walked over to Leo, circling his now weaponless brother. Raph let out a growl of rage as the man suddenly let his fist connect with Leo's face. Leo was knocked slightly off balance, then fell to the ground when a kick was landed square to his plastron. Leo wiped the blood from his face and pushed himself back up, anger written in his features. He almost came after the man again, but one signal from the leader and he saw the gang members once again put the sword to Raph, and could do nothing but stop dead in his tracks.
Leo couldn't believe this was how it was going to be. This man was going to beat him up, and if he fought back, his brother would die. The dishonor in it all made him sick to his stomach. Leo didn't have much longer to dwell on it as another blow connected with his head, and another to his side, knocking him once again to the ground. Leo was about to push himself up but another kick to his carapace pushed him back to the ground. Leo slowly felt the anger drain out of him as he felt another blow, and another, and another. As he lay there, disoriented on the floor, he saw his brother was still alive as he struggled against his captors. Maybe this is what was needed to buy them more time until help arrived. He could hear struggles going on below and knew his other brothers must be down there, holding their own, if he could distract this punk long enough, he may buy his brothers enough time to help Raph, if not him.
"You aren't so tough," Snake sneered, circling the battered turtle. "The way to win battles is to know your enemy's weakness. Well, yours was easy. You love your brothers, and that love will be your downfall. You could have defeated me, but now, you will die…"
Another swift kick knocked Leo against the far wall, his body propped up against the old brick. His head was spinning and his body ached from the dishonoring blows he was receiving. He watched warily as the man approached him, holding one of his own katanas in his hands.
"These are lovely blades." Snake sneered. He then looked at the battered turtle in front of him. Before Leo could react, the man raised the blade and brought it down into Leo's shoulder. Leo bit back a cry of pain as he felt the metal twist in his skin. He could already feel the sticky warm blood begin to run down his arm and his plastron. He opened his eyes and was face to face with the smug face of Snake, glaring down at him. "How does it feel to be stabbed by your own katana?" he spat out at Leo.
Leo took a deep shuddering breath and closed his eyes. "Why don't you tell me," he pushed out, then with speed quicker than even he expected, he drew the katana out of his own wound and stabbed it into the unsuspecting body of Snake.
Raph watched in horror as the Purple Dragon beat the hell out of his oldest brother. He struggled and lashed out but was continually reminded that there was only a fraction of a distance between him and death. He shouted as he saw the man land a square kick to Leo's plastron, sending him back against the wall, looking dazed.
But the most horrific thing of all was when he saw the dirt bag pick up one of his brother's own blades and stab it into his shoulder. Raph let out a scream of rage as he saw the pain cross his brother's face and the blood begin to flow freely from the wound. He struggled even harder than ever against his captors but was met quickly with a blow to the head, causing his world to spin. Raph looked back up just in time to see Leo suddenly pull out his own blade from the wound and stab the man before him with it. Raph cheered in his head with relief and watched as the man stumbled backwards, emitting a surprised cry of pain.
But the relief didn't last long. He watched as the man pulled the blade out of his body and stumbled over to his injured brother. He could see Leo was weakening, from blood loss, beatings, or both, he couldn't tell. The man suddenly lashed out and grabbed Leo around his neck, lifting him from the ground with one hand. Raph watched as Leo grabbed at the man's arm, trying to get him to let go, but was too weak. The man stumbled again, but still held Leo firmly in his grasp. Leo's face was turning red as he fought and gasped for the air he desperately needed.
Raph could see the rest of the burly man's body was weakening from the injury Leo had dealt him, and as he stumbled forward, he didn't see the blood slick sword lying in front of him. The man tripped over the blade and lurched forward, and Raph could do nothing but watch and scream in horror as the man, still holding his brother, went crashing out the window, swallowed up by the cold rainy night.