~Author's note.
Thanks for the great reviews everyone! Here's chapter one. Thanks again!
A Living Ghost: Divided Spirit
Chapter One
It felt like nothing no longer existed beyond the stony cells, dark halls and rooms filled with pain. The Shredder came regularly to make sure that all he felt was pain and fear. In his absence, Dr. Stockman tortured him with countless needles, scalpels and other sharp tools. No amount of resistance made it stop. Anything he did only caused more pain. Pain and fear. Fear and Pain. The cycle never ceased. The only thing left to do was accept it.
As he hung limply in his chains, hoping for a moment's peace from both, he thought of his family. The Shredder threatened him with death everyday, wanting their location. In his sleep deprived mind, Leonardo reasoned that they thought he was dead. That's why they hadn't come for him. Still, as much as he didn't want to think that way, a part of him felt forgotten. The longer he spent in here, the louder that thought became.
A new threat stood before them. Tiger Claw was in front of a new squad of mutants the Shredder had Dr. Stockman cook up.
On Tiger Claw's right, a sturdy komodo dragon towered over him, somewhere between 7'5 or 7'8. He was covered in muscles and sky blue scales. Beside his blood red eyes and sharp teeth, his most dangerous features were the long, black claws shooting out of his fingers.
On his left, there were two others. One, as Donatello nervously informed them, was a galápagos tortoise. He was taller and bigger than the komodo mutant. Much of his anatomy was like the brothers', with the exception of a much longer neck and a more narrow face. Scars were scattered over his thick black skin. An unusual color for his natural form. His shell had been embedded with sharp metal tips around the edges. A large foot clan symbol was painted in the center. His eyes were ice blue and piercing.
The last one in line was mutated from a hawk. He was the smallest of his squad, but looked just as dangerous. Obviously, there was some other kind of bird dna thrown in the mix. His feathers were sort of furry looking. The colors ranged from yellow, red and orange, mixing together to look like he was on fire. He was anthropomorphic like the rest, standing on two thin bird legs and clawed feet. His arms and hands were bare of any feathers. Black talons curled off of his fingers. He had long, beautiful wings spreading out from his shoulder blades. His yellow beak curled slightly at the end, looking sharp enough to rip the flesh right off their bones. His eyes were black with a brilliant shine, like two glass marbles.
Donatello began to ramble about what other kinds of species were in his makeup, but Leonardo could see what the Shredder was aiming for. All the foes in front of them were representative of the four devine creatures. The azure dragon of the east, the white tiger of the west, the black tortoise of the north and the vermilion bird of the south. He already had a tiger, even though Tiger Claw wasn't white. Now Leonardo knew why he had taken animals from the zoo. He was trying to send them a message. No matter what, he would hunt them down to all the corners of the earth.
The enemy was silent at first, letting the turtles talk amongst themselves. Then Tiger Claw took a step forward and told them the Shredder's objective.
"The four of you are coming with us."
Raphael rolled his eyes and twirled his sais. "How many times do we have to beat you before you guys finally give up?" Michelangelo was too busy trying to name their new enemies to added anything, much to his brothers' irritation.
"You can tell the Shredder that as long as he lives," Leonardo said, unsheathing his katana. "We will always be a thorn in his side, until the day comes when we defeat him... once and for all!"
Tiger Claw had no more words. He ordered his new team to attack. They went at the brothers head on. Leonardo was practically bulldozed by the tortoise. He barely had time to glance at the others to see how they were doing. They were just as overwhelmed as he was.
Trying to put some space between them, Leonardo lashed out with his swords. The tortoise deflected one with his arm and bite the other in two. Taking a step back, Leonardo gazed in horror at what was left of his katana. "Not good." The tortoise spat the end of the blade out on the ground. As it clanged against the roof top, he leaned in closer.
"No. Not for you, little turtle," the tortoise said, his voice deep and jagged. "Surrender now and you will have the privilege of dying by the master's hand."
Leonardo tossed his broken katana, glaring at his foe with a fierce fire in his eyes. "No thanks. I'd rather go out fighting along side my brothers." From somewhere nearby, he heard his brothers agree.
"Ditto!" shouted Michelangelo.
"Same here!" cried Donatello.
"What he said!" yelled Raphael.
The tortoise spared a chuckle. "As you wish." He slung his arm out, knocking Leonardo across the roof and the other katana out of his hand. His shell collided with Michelangelo's. They tumbled back as the tortoise and the bird moved in.
"Mikey, give me a lift," Leonardo said as they got up.
His little brother propelled him high above the two with his nunchuck. Flipping backwards, Leonardo landed on the tortoise's shoulder. First, he threw some shuriken at the hawk who went airborne to avoid the attack. The next thing he did was stab a kunai in the tortoise's left eye. A roar of pain rushed out of his long throat. Angry, he grabbed Leonardo's legs and slammed him down. Michelangelo screamed his name, trying to hold off the hawk. Breathless, Leonardo tried to get up. There wasn't enough time. The tortoise grabbed his arm and lifted him off the ground, turning him around to see his face. Growling, the tortoise plucked the kunai out of his eye. "You are more troublesome than I first thought." Then he tried to slash at Leonardo's throat. Fortunately, Leonardo had quick reflexes and kicked the kunai out of his foe's hand. It flew off the roof.
Annoyed, he stared at Leonardo for a minute.
"feisty little turtle," he grumbled.
Still short of breath, Leonardo couldn't spit out a retort, but he did spit in the tortoise's good eye. With the enemy momentarily blinded, Leonardo managed to pry himself free. When he landed on the ground he looked around for his sword, or any other weapon he could use. His katana was on the other side of the roof. It would take too long reach it, but he didn't have anything else to use. His fists alone weren't enough to even tickle this beast's thick hide. Most of his ninja tools were scattered during his flight across the roof. He had already used what he had left.
The few seconds he had to think were up. The tortoise extended his long neck and opened his jaw. All Leonardo could do was cross his arms over his face. His right arm was locked in the tortoise's mouth. Blood started flowing from it immediately. Finally able to take in a deep breath, Leonardo released it in a scream.
Not knowing how, because he was in too much pain to be paying attention, all his brothers had somehow made their way over to help. Raphael sank his sais into the monster's arm. Donatello broke his bo staff over his hard head. Michelangelo pulled Leonardo away as soon as the tortoise let go. The deep wound wrapped around his arm was pouring blood, but he had to tare his eyes away from it. Squinting in pain, he saw their enemies beginning to surround them.
Dr. Stockman was back. He flew up to the bars, threw a piece of stale bread at him and then left.
Alone, staring at the bread, he realized how hungry he was. At this point in his imprisonment, his pride was all he had left. He didn't want to take what meager scraps they gave him, but he was starving.
The chains on his arms didn't have enough slack for him to reach down, so he had to pick it up with his teeth. Once it was in his mouth, he raised up. Fortunately, there was enough slack for him to use his hands. Now he could eat it like a person instead of the animal he was treated as. There was only enough for a few bites, but it was something. When he finished, he tried to relax, but now he was hungrier than he was before he ate. He wished he could have some of his father's special nabe. He loved pizza as much as the next turtle, but right now he wanted something a little sentimental. Splinter didn't make it often during their childhood, because the ingredients were hard to come by, so it was special.
What was his family doing? Where were they? Were they safe?
"They're too strong for us guys," Leonardo admitted, tucking his bleeding arm under the other.
"They're tough I guess," Raphael grumbled, raising his fists in defense.
"Leo's right Raph, we can't beat these guys," Donatello put in, holding up both halves of his staff.
"What's the plan, Leo?" Michelangelo asked.
Leonardo sighed. He hated the thought of running just as much as Raphael did, but they were running low on steam. This fight had to be fought another day. "Tactical retreat. We split up, loose them and head home. Call for back up if you run into trouble. Text when you're home." Raphael nudged him with his elbow. "You going to be okay with that arm, Leo?" Sighing again, Leonardo replied, "It's not that bad. Our odds are better if we separate them. Let's go."
"You got it!" Michelangelo shouted, throwing a few smoke bombs down.
This provided them with a head start. Each jumped and ran in a different direction, a mutant demon following.
Leonardo had the chance to grab his good katana along the way. After he gained some speed, he looked back. His brothers were fading out of sight, far ahead of their shadows. His only had one eye. The tortoise was apparently still angry about it.
Jumping through one of the windows, Leonardo tried to lose him in an abandoned apartment building. The glass scratched him up terribly, but he ignored it and kept going. As he was running down stairs, he heard a wall coming down.
"Maybe this was a bad idea," he thought regretfully.
"Are we playing hide and seek little turtle?!" yelled the tortoise.
"Oh man," Leonardo whispered to himself, jumping over the railing to the next set of stairs.
He ran through the first open door he came across to avoid making noise. Then he went into the bathroom and opened the window. There was a fire escape on the building directly across from him, but it was far. Looking up, he saw a clothes line. He jumped up and grabbed it. It snapped under his weight of course, but he was able to swing over to the fire escape. To keep from smacking into it, he put out his feet. They took the brunt of the force for the rest of his body.
"Ouch!" he hissed, sucking in air through his teeth.
Still, he kept moving without missing a beat. Once he made it up to the roof, he ran across to go down the next fire escape. That took him down to an alley between the old pawn shop and the pizza place Michelangelo loved. This was down town, which he was very familiar with. He went down the alley and took a left into another one that came out into a construction site. Hiding behind a dumpster, he stopped to catch his breath.
"Did I lose him?" he wondered.
His phone vibrated on his belt. Instantly he picked it up. There was a messaged from Michelangelo. He made it home! Putting his phone away, he looked around. To his amazement, the tortoise landed in the alley way, the ground trembling beneath him. "Come out little turtle. You and I have something to settle." Quickly, Leonardo looked around for something he could use as a distraction. The only thing around him were little dirt piles that had blown in from the construction site. Suddenly the dumpster was lifted. The tortoise grinned down at him, the dumpster over his head. "Found you little turtle." Then he moved to crush Leonardo with it. Rolling out of the way, Leonardo snatched some dirt from the ground. He yelled as he threw a handful in his foe's face. He blinded the tortoise again, making him even angrier.
Leonardo ran into the construction site and looked around. There had to be something around that could immobilize his opponent for a while. Rubbing his eye, the tortoise walked towards him. As quietly as he could, Leonardo ran behind a huge pile of large steel beams, stacked haphazardly. There was a large bulldozer close by. Blankly staring at it for a moment, an idea began forming in his mind. He'd seen Donatello hot wire a few vehicles before and remembered how. Funny, even though his brother wasn't with him, Donatello was still a big help.
He waited and watched. The tortoise, trying to blink the dirt out of his eye, started searching the area. Sniffing the air, he grinned. Then he headed in Leonardo's direction. When he got close enough, Leonardo ran to the bulldozer and jumped in. As he started it up, the tortoise stopped and listened, confused by the noise. Slamming his foot on the gas pedal, Leonardo crashed into the beams. His enemy didn't react in time and was buried.
While Leonardo was shakily getting out of the bulldozer, another vibration went off on his belt. Quickly, he checked his phone again. It was Donatello this time. He was home safe and sound! Now all he had to worry about was Raphael. He put it away and looked for any sign of movement under the beams. Two or three lifted slightly, telling Leonardo to get a move on. He was pretty far from the sight when he heard a violent scream of frustration.
He heard someone coming down the hall. It was the Shredder and Dr. Stockman. No, there were more people with them. Raising his head slightly, he watched them come in one by one. Dr. Stockman was first. The Shredder was second. Then Tiger Claw and two of the other mutants on his squad came in. He had come to know them as Taro (the komodo mutant), Eiji (the hawk mutant) and Saburo (the tortoise mutant). Their names were less than creative. The Shredder basically named them One, Two and Three. He wished Michelangelo had had more time to name them. At least some thought would've went into it! Then he noticed one missing. Saburo wasn't there.
Lifting his eyes a little higher, he noticed all of them had bandaged wounds. It felt like it had been weeks since he had seen any of them. What had happened that they needed so much recovery time? Was Saburo severly injured or dead? What had gone on while he was cut off from the world? While their welfare was far from his mind, he was curious. Instead of asking outright, he took a little jab at them. "What's the matter guys? Bite off more than you can chew?" The giant feline snarled, but his master raised his hand.
"Stand down," was his only warning.
Although eager to end the turtle's life, Tiger Claw obeyed.
They took him out beyond the metal bars of his cell, bound by heavy steel cuffs. Even heavier chains weighed his feet down. He was led out into the hall. Small lanterns were hung along the walls between the other cells. They didn't put off much light, but enough to see where you were going. As they walked by the other cells, Leonardo noticed there still weren't any other occupants. He was alone down in this basement prison. It had its pros and cons. Along the way, he remembered what he was most thankful for; not seeing any of his family behind the bars they passed.
On the other side of the iron door the spiraling stairwell awaited. The Shredder always took the elevator. Leonardo was always taken up the stairs. Suppressing a groan, he put one foot in front of the other. If he took too long, his wardens were allowed to beat him. Which didn't make him go any faster, but it motivated him enough to keep moving. His body had been through enough already. If he could avoid a little extra, he tried.
Tiger Claw was a little more merciful than the others, but for selfish reasons only. He preferred to get the process over with as quickly as he could. He was a busy mutant with more important things to do. Whenever Leonardo couldn't force another step, Tiger Claw would hoist him over his shoulder and carry the poor turtle. All the way up until the last ten steps, so his master wouldn't know.
It was almost an hour before they got to the top. Leonardo's weak legs gave out and he fell to the floor. The Shredder had been waiting patiently, but he wouldn't allow the turtle to rest for a moment. "Get him up." Tiger Claw grabbed one arm and Taro took the other. They dragged him to a room where Dr. Stockman was waiting. Although every muscle was burning, Leonardo made himself look up.
There was a perfectly round pool in the center of the room. Its walls were metal and raised above the floor. There were five huge pumps around it. His heart jumped in his throat, but he refused to show it.
He had been dreading this. The Shredder had been known to use many kinds of torture, but there were five types that he liked best. Leonardo was forced to endure them in a regular cycle. He had been through it at least twelve times by now. This was the last before the seemingly endless loop of abuse began yet again.
He kept telling himself not to think about it as they picked him up. He knew he couldn't get away. His body was too weak. He'd never make it to the door. He flinched when his skin touched the cool water. His breaths quickened as he was lowered, both from the chilly temperature and fear.
From inside, he could see the drains at the bottom and the powerful jets all around him. Tora and Eiji removed his cuffs and chained his hands and feet to the walls. His limbs were spread out and held painfully taut. His face was just above the water. The Shredder leaned over him, his eyes burning with the thirst of blood. "Tell me where the rat is and you will be spared this." The resolution to protect was stronger than the inevitable suffering he was faced with. Leonardo didn't move or open his mouth. Instead he looked straight ahead at the ceiling, half hoping he survived and half hoping he didn't. Either way, he wasn't going to give the Shredder what he wanted.
Seeing this, the Shredder raised up and instructed Dr. Stockman to begin. Leonardo took a deep breath and tried to hold it. The water began to rise over his head and swirl around him.
He didn't know how long he had been running, but he knew that he was nearing the end of his strength. After keeping constant check, he felt sure that he had lost the enemy. Before going home, he needed a breather. Checking the surroundings carefully, he sat behind the billboard above a restaurant. The food smelled good and made his stomach clench with hunger. He hadn't realized how hungry he was.
The last vibration he was expecting set his phone off. He fumbled it out of his belt and squinted at the screen as its light filled his eyes. It was Raphael. He was home and demanding to know where his older brother was. Sensing no one nearby, he let his guard down long enough to reply. I'm okay. On my way. Taking a deep breath, he got to his feet to set off for home. Thinking of a warm bath and a twelve hour nap, he lept off of the roof top for the next one.
In midair, between both buildings, something suddenly jumped up and snatched his legs. Alarmed, Leonardo looked down. He hadn't lost the enemy after all.
Drawing his katana, Leonardo tried to cut the hands around his ankles. He missed but the tortoise let go. They landed in the alley, about five feet apart from each other. Both stared the other down silently. Beginning to feel dizzy, Leonardo absent mindedly rubbed his injured forearm. How did he find me? I was so far ahead of him. A moment later, it clicked. Feeling the blood still dripping from the wound, Leonardo mentally smacked himself. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I left a trail for him to follow!
A moment later, three others dropped in from above, surrounding him. Leonardo looked around. Having lost track of his brothers, Tiger Claw and the rest must have decided to catch up to them.
"The master will not be pleased, but having at least one of you is better than none at all," the komodo hissed, flexing his fingers.
Leonardo choose to stay silent, trying to figure a way out. The only thing he could think of was a phone call. Surely his sensei could take down these freaks easy. Calling for daddy wasn't something he was proud of, but his father would kill him if he let his pride come before his life.
As if on cue, his phone started vibrating. Quickly he answered it, watching his enemies begin to circle him. The caller ID said it was Karai. Her voice was almost frantic.
"Leo? Raph said you were on your way but I had to hear it from you. Are you okay? Mike told us you were hurt. Do you need me to come get you?"
Leonardo swallowed hard. "Actually Karai, I could use some help." Tiger Claw snickered. "What's wrong turtle? Can't take us on your own?" Leonardo ignored him, but kept his eyes peeled for the first move. Meanwhile, Karai's worried voice filled his ear. "Was that Tiger Claw?! Where are you?!" Leonardo wasn't able to answer. They came down on him hard and fast. He dropped the phone to defend himself, but he had far too little strength left in him. Within the span of fifteen minutes he was pinned onto the ground, with more wounds and bruises than he'd ever had in his life.
Lying on the ground, peering out of his blackening eyes, Leonardo saw his phone a few feet away. It had been smashed sometime during the fight. Tiger Claw picked it up, looked it over and then tossed it aside. "Pity, we could have used it to track the others." One of the others scoffed. "It's no matter. They will come for him anyway." Losing consciousness, Leonardo found comfort in what he said. That's right, they'll come for me. While he was being carried off, he blacked out.
~Thanks for reading!