Spool
part 4
Mikey was jostled awake when the van he was riding in hit a pot hole.
It took him a couple of minutes to remember what had happened to him. When he did, Mikey tried to move only to discover that he was bound hand and foot by ropes pulled so tight they cut into his skin.
He had been tossed face down onto the floor of the vehicle. Besides being uncomfortable, amend that; it was downright painful, to add insult to injury the floor smelled of dog poop. Apparently, Foot ninjas weren't trained to wipe their feet after stepping in doggy doo.
The van hit another pothole and Mikey thought, "At least I know we're still in New York City."
Some sound must have escaped him, because a ninja said, "The creature is awake."
Another one leaned in close enough so that Mikey could see his eyes. "Enjoying the ride?" he asked sarcastically.
"If we stop for ice cream, make mine a double banana split with caramel and almonds," Mikey retorted.
It earned him a hard kick to his already injured side and Mikey sucked in a painful breath.
"Gotta learn to keep my mouth shut," he told himself.
Since he had no idea how long he'd been unconscious, Mikey didn't know how far they had travelled from the bodega. Unless this van had a major oil leak, not even Leo was going to be able to follow it.
That's when he remembered his shell cell. He wasn't sure if he still had it, and even if he did, Mikey couldn't reach it. But unless the Foot had found and tossed the phone, Don could still track Mikey.
Mikey held onto that thought like it was a life preserver. He'd lost his 'chucks in the battle and that was depressing enough without thinking about how alone he might possibly be.
He bet Leo was frantic by now. Raph was the one who left for indeterminate lengths of time, not Don or Mikey. If Mike was going to be late he always called, even if it meant getting a lecture over the phone from his brother or his sensei.
The lack of communication would have had Leo pacing the floor for about ten minutes as Don tried to reach Mikey on his shell cell; then all three of his brothers would be out of the door to look for him.
Damn. Mikey closed his eyes and let his face touch the floor, oblivious of the smell as his heart sank. Don would have tried to call Mikey's shell cell as soon as his little brother was a minute late. He would keep trying at regular intervals as well, and since Mikey hadn't heard the phone ring, it was a safe bet he didn't have it any longer.
As if on cue, his shell cell rang.
Only it wasn't in Mikey's belt. It was bouncing up and down on the palm of one of the Foot ninja's hands.
"This has been ringing every ten minutes," the ninja told him as a wicked gleam came and went in his eyes. "I think your kin are worried about you."
Mikey lifted his head. "They hate it when I go to parties alone. Why don't we tell them where we're going? I'm sure they'd be happy to meet us there."
The ninja reached down to pat his cheek. "Such a clever creature. Sorry, but you're the only one on the guest list tonight."
"I never thought I'd hate being the guest of honor at anything," Mikey muttered.
The van hit another pothole, jouncing Mikey a half inch off of the floor. He landed with a painful thud, sending what felt like ice shards stabbing into his injured side.
"Dude!" he yelped. "Are you aiming for the potholes?"
"Make the most of the ride, turtle freak. It's going to be your last," the ninja said.
Mikey grimaced but bit back his groan, instead saying, "Did you look that up in a book of clichés?"
"Are you certain the Mistress wanted him kept alive?" the ninja who had kicked him asked.
The one holding his shell cell said, "Yes. Her instructions were very clear."
Mikey's shell cell rang again and he said, "You should really answer that. Ignoring a phone call is just rude."
A streetlight's glare reflected off the knife that suddenly appeared in front of Mikey's face.
"We can at least keep his tongue as a souvenir," the abusive ninja said.
"No," the other ninja said in the sharp tone of authority. "The Mistress wants him to be in one piece when his brothers find him."
"Oh shell," Mikey thought. Aloud he asked, "So~o, am I bait? You know, for some elaborate Karai plan? 'Cause you should know, her plans usually stink."
With unerring accuracy, the abusive ninja kicked him in his side again.
Mikey dug his forehead into the floor of the van and bit his lip to keep from crying out. If he hadn't managed to acquire a broken rib during the fight, he'd sure as shell talked himself into one now.
Attempting to take his mind off of the pain, Mikey tried to reason out where they could possibly be going. Obviously it wasn't to Foot headquarters because they would have been there by now. Additionally, the conversation between the two ninjas seemed to indicate that Mikey wasn't going to be seeing Karai herself this evening.
Before he had a chance to continue his train of thought, the van stopped.
When the back door opened, Mikey turned his head to look out. He could see the East River and the base of a granite tower.
Mikey was yanked out of the van unceremoniously and dumped onto the ground on his carapace. The impact shocked a yell out of him; the pain in his side so intense he would have curled into a ball but for the fact that several ninjas were holding his legs.
They sliced through the rope that was binding his ankles, and pulled him to his feet. Mikey swayed for a moment, and one of the ninjas grabbed the rope holding his wrists together behind his back, steadying him.
Looking up, Mikey saw they had brought him to the Brooklyn Bridge. His shell cell rang again.
The ninja holding Mikey's phone shot him a malicious look and opened the phone.
"Mikey? Michelangelo!" Leo's voice was harsh with worry and Mikey's heart started to pound.
"Mikey is occupied at the moment," the ninja told the Turtle's leader. "I'm afraid he will not be able to come to the phone for the rest of his life." Without waiting for an answer, he snapped the phone shut.
"Let's go," he ordered the other Foot ninja's.
Two of them grabbed Mikey's elbows and hauled him to the maintenance entrance at the base of the tower. Mikey stared at them in confusion as they unlocked the door and dragged him inside.
Now Mikey had a pounding headache to go along with his busted rib. They were pulling and pushing him up the stairs, obviously heading for the top of the tower, having untied his feet to avoid having to carry him.
If it weren't for the fact that he refused to show them just how injured he was, he would have just sunk down onto the stairwell and gone to sleep. Mikey and his brothers had been hurt enough in their lives for him to realize he had a concussion.
The next door they reached took them to the top of the tower. Out in the open air, one of the ninjas cut the ropes binding Mikey's wrists and then quickly placed the tip of the blade against his neck.
The ninja holding his phone said, "We are going to walk out onto the top of this cable, Turtle freak. If you try anything, you'll buy yourself a fast plunge to your death. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," Mikey answered. He didn't add that he was probably going to fall anyway, because he was having a difficult time clearing his vision.
Well, if he went down, he was damn sure gonna take a few of them with him.
Leading him to the top of a turret, Mikey's captors paused while one of them walked over to a large spool of wire rope. Unwinding a length of it, he used his katana to slice the rope loose and then joined his fellows.
Two Foot ninjas preceded Mikey onto the top of the cable, balancing with outstretched arms as they traversed the first ten feet and then stopped. A push on the back of Mikey's carapace told him it was his turn.
Taking a deep breath, Mikey blinked to try to clear his vision and stepped onto the cable. Normally, this would have been a piece of cake to walk across, but with his concussion and the broken rib or ribs, it was all he could do to maintain his balance.
Just before he reached the first two ninjas, they began moving again, taking him farther out along the cable. He heard others behind him, bringing up the rear so he wouldn't attempt to turn and run back.
About fifty feet out the leaders stopped again and didn't move when Mikey reached them. This point seemed to be the end of the line.
"Nice view," Mikey said. "Now what?"
"Now you get to enjoy it forever," one of them said. "Hold your arms out, wrists together."
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Mikey muttered as they lashed his wrists together with the end of the wire rope.
The other end was securely tied to the top of the cable and when they were done, Mikey felt a hand on his carapace.
"Bon voyage," the ninja chortled just before shoving Mikey off the cable.
Mikey's eyes snapped shut and he braced himself as his arms jerked upwards, his shoulders nearly pulled out of their sockets as he came to an abrupt stop. The wire rope on his wrists cut into the skin around his leather wrist guards.
Someone pulled on the rope and he felt himself being yanked upwards. Tilting his head, he could see that the Foot ninjas were taking the slack out of the line, winding it around the thick top cable as though returning it to the spool. Mikey almost giggled as he suddenly visualized himself as the little piece of thread that always stuck out of the end.
The ninja who was in charge squatted on the cable and told him, "I've brought something to keep you company."
Another ninja reached across and handed Mikey's nunchakus to the leader and the man chuckled as he saw Mikey's eyes widen.
"Just to complete the picture," the ninja said, draping Mikey's nunchucks over the cable nearby.
Standing up, he told Mikey, "Since your brother Leonardo did not care for the statue of our late Master, the Mistress has decided to erect a monument that he might prefer better."
"Remember how I said her plans stink?" Mikey said. "Well dude, this is the worst one of all. My bro is gonna kill all of you and then Karai as well. You should let me go while you still have a chance."
The shell cell rang again and the ninja pulled it from his belt. He didn't even bother to look at it as he laughed and tossed it into the water.
Just before they left him, one of the other ninjas pulled his bo staff and jabbed Mikey's injured side viciously. There was no way to hide the pain this time; Mikey yelled as the blow shocked his battered system and pure agony rolled over him.
Laboring to catch his breath, Mikey barely heard the ninja leader say, "You won't last long with that internal injury, Turtle. If it's any consolation, I'm sure you'll make front page news when they see your body in the morning."
It wasn't any consolation. He would have preferred to be able to speak to his brothers one last time, especially to Leo. To tell them he loved them and that he was sorry that he'd screwed up.
Try as he might, Mikey could not stop himself from drifting in and out of consciousness. He wasn't as good a doctor as Donatello, but even he knew that once he passed out, he wouldn't be coming back.
Then the tiniest movement caught the corner of his eye. Turning his head to look at the row of Foot ninjas who were still perched on the tower watching him, he saw it again.
A shadowy, turtle shaped figure had shown himself briefly as he crept over the edge of the tower.
Looking towards the maintenance entry, Mikey could just make out the fact that the door was wide open. He knew the Foot had closed it behind themselves when they'd forced Mikey onto the bridge.
Sheer unadulterated joy sang through Mikey's heart. Leo was here!
A surge of adrenaline jolted Mikey awake. He watched as the shadowed figure approached the first Foot ninja in the long line, and then the moon's brightness bounced off the cold steel of a matched pair of katanas.
The ninja never knew what hit him. He managed to cry out shrilly just once as his body was nearly cut in half, and then he toppled over the side of the tower.
His fellow Foot ninjas spun when they heard the cry. The next two in the line didn't even have time to pull their weapons as Leo leaped on them, moving with incredible speed.
Mikey saw Don and Raph spring through the open maintenance door, following Leo's lead across the tower. Leo slipped through several ninjas, going unerringly for their leader, whilst his brothers plunged into the remainder.
The Foot ninja leader's katanas came up to meet Leo's; the clang of steel on steel loud as the wind blew the sound over Mikey. Leo's katanas slid back again and then drove in again with a speed that the other ninja could barely follow.
Sliding backwards, the Foot ninja tried to push against Leo as their swords once more pressed together, but Leo had the leverage and the strength. The Foot ninja started to slide back and quickly gave up that strategy in favor of springing away from Leo.
Another ninja darted up behind Leo and took a swipe at his head while the Turtle leader's back was turned. Hearing the rush of air, Leo ducked and spun on his heel, sweeping around with his katana and slicing the ninja's legs out from under him.
The Foot leader started across the top of the cable, moving towards Mikey. His katanas out, his eyes were focused on the captured Turtle and his intentions were clear.
Raph and Don plowed through the ninjas who were still left on the tower. The power behind Raph's fist sent several plunging to their doom, others he gutted on the end of his sai. Don's bo made short work of those he encountered, a sharp thrust and twist of his steel cable wrists sending them over the edge and into water that felt like concrete from their high altitude.
Mikey watched wide eyed as Leo practically flew across the top of the cable in pursuit of the Foot leader. Before the ninja could reach Mikey, Leo was on him and all the Foot leader could do was turn and raise his katana in defense.
The battle lasted no more than a minute, as Leo's superior skill wrenched the other ninja's swords from his hands and sent them plummeting to the water below.
Trembling, the Foot leader stood completely still as the tip of one of Leo's katanas tasted a droplet of blood from his throat.
"Karai sent you out to deliver a message to me, didn't she?" Leo growled; his eyes narrow, his voice harsh and low.
"Yes," the ninja hissed in return. "You desecrated and dishonored the image of her father."
"Her father had no honor to begin with," Leo told him, "and neither does his daughter. You can deliver a return message from me."
"What is it?" the Foot leader asked.
"This." Leo's wrist flicked suddenly and his katana severed the ninja's carotid artery.
The Foot ninja gurgled and lifted a hand to his throat before he fell.
Swiftly replacing his katanas in their sheaths, Leo stretched out across the cable, plastron down and reached a hand out to touch Mikey's face.
"You okay little bro'?" he asked.
Mikey managed a weak grin. "I am now," he said.
"Hang on and I'll get you off of this," Leo told him.
Mikey chuckled. "Trust me, I'm hanging on."
Raph and Don rushed across the cable to join them, stepping over Leo as they moved to the other side of Mikey. Don reached down and grabbed Mikey's nunchucks, shoving them into his own belt for safekeeping.
"Mikey, how badly are you hurt?" Don asked with concern, seeing the color of Mikey's skin.
"Ribs," Mikey gasped out. "And my head hurts. A lot."
"Concussion?" Don asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Mikey managed to say. He saw Raph straddle the cable and lean over to grip his arm while Leo cut away the wire rope that was holding Mikey in place.
When the rope was off, they both pulled Mikey up to the top of the cable and Leo wrapped two strong arms around his little brother, holding Mikey tightly against his plastron.
Looking up at Don, Leo said, "How much more damage am I going to do by carrying him down?"
Don's face was grave as he answered, "It's not going to help, but there isn't any other choice. I can't assess the injury or even begin to work on it until we get him down from here."
Leo nodded and tipped Mikey's face up to his. "I'm going to drape you over my shoulders in a fireman's carry Mike. It's going to hurt. Stay tough for me, okay?"
Mikey grinned and said, "I can take it if you can."
Leo's kiss was the last thing he remembered.
Sometime later, Mikey woke up.
The screaming pain in his head had been replaced by a dull ache and his ability to take a deep breath was restricted somewhat by the tight bandages wrapped around his middle. His eyes travelled around the room for one entire circuit before his brain registered that he was at home and in the infirmary.
A tapping sound drew his attention and he saw that Don was seated at his desk, typing away on his laptop. Don stopped and looked up when he heard Mikey shift on the bed.
Walking over to his brother, Don asked, "How do you feel, Mikey?"
"Terrific," Mikey lied. "Ready to hop on my skateboard and take a spin through the sewers."
Don patted his arm. "I'm glad you're so energetic," he said, grinning. "How about you take a spin through a bowl of soup first?"
A corner of Mike's mouth lifted. "Okay, that'll work too."
Mikey's eyes drifted shut after Don left the room, then snapped back open at the sound of a gruff voice.
"Ya' got some serious 'splainin ta do Lucy," Raph paraphrased from the doorway.
Mikey turned to look at his brother, who was leaning against the doorframe. "Ha, ha very funny," he said.
"Yeah, so was our little adventure coming out ta rescue your butt," Raph said.
Blinking, Mikey asked, "Um, is Leo really, really pissed at me?"
"Why don't you ask him?" Leo said, peering around Raph's shoulder.
They both moved into the room and came to stand next to Mikey's bed.
"Before you say anything," Mikey began, "you were right and I was wrong."
Leo shook his head. "I let you go Mikey, so I have to share the blame. I knew it wasn't safe out there."
"But I wasn't entirely honest with you either," Mikey told him, a look of chagrin marking his face.
"Oh, you mean about this?" Leo said, pulling Mikey's comic book out from behind his back.
Mikey started to sit up, and then thought better of it when a sharp pain welcomed his movement.
Raph's hand came down on his shoulder and held him in place. "We found your coat and your comic book when we went looking for ya', ya' little nut ball."
"I didn't think you'd let me go out if I told you I wanted to buy a comic book," Mikey admitted.
"You're right, I wouldn't have," Leo said. Turning slightly, Leo crawled onto the bed next to Mikey as Raph shifted out of the way.
Surprised by the move, Mikey looked into Leo's eyes and saw nothing but tenderness.
"Aren't you angry?" Mike asked.
"Yes," Leo said honestly. "But you'll be punished later when you're all better. For now I'd rather concentrate on you healing completely."
Mikey sighed as the comforting warmth of Leo's body seeped into him. "I won't ever lie to you again, Leo," he promised. Then in a lower voice, he said, "I'm sorry you had to kill someone."
Leo rubbed his cheek across the top of Mikey's head. "You don't think that's the first person I've killed, do you Mikey?"
Mikey tilted his head up to catch Leo's eyes, his own registering surprise. "It's not?"
"No," Leo whispered. "I hate for you to know I'm capable of that."
"I. . .I guess you know I killed too," Mikey admitted, a hard lump in his throat.
"It ain't realistic ta think it ain't gonna happen, Mikey," Raph said. "Sometimes, it's kill or be killed. Can ya' live with that?"
Mikey thought about it for a minute and realized that he wasn't really dwelling on what he'd done.
"Yeah, I can," he said. "I'd rather avoid it if I can, but I'm not gonna be a willing victim over it either."
"Good," Leo snuggled closer to him, carefully avoiding his bandaged ribs. "So how about we read this comic book while we're waiting for Don to bring you some soup?"
"Really?" Mikey's grin was huge, and so were his eyes as he stared at his big brother with open adoration.
"Sure," Leo said, leaning down to press a kiss to Mikey's mouth. His tongue played lightly across Mikey's before he pulled back.
Mikey opened the comic book and said, "You're gonna love this. See, in the last one this giant alien squid was rampaging through New York. . ."
Raph grinned and took a seat on the next bed, content to listen to Mikey's voice for once.
Leo glanced over and caught his eye, and they both smiled in tranquil agreement. They each had their place in the family, and Mikey was like that spool on top of the tower, keeping the wire in one place.
Without him, they would all unravel.