Author's Note: I thank you all for your patience, Glazier Blue and I give you another chapter of the story. Hopefully it's good like the others. But also I would like to bring up a couple of things. Some reviewers made some comments and I would like to explain some of them so everything would be clarified.
A Guest reviewer said that all the characters are OOC. Yes it seems like that, but that needed to happen for what we have in store. Remember everyone can't nail the character's characteristics spot on. But i'm glad that was pointed out.
Another Guest had concerns that this is something where Don's brothers treat him like crap throughout. My only response is that this is how it was planned, and it needs to be in this route for what's to come. I would reveal more but that comes with spoilers.
That's all for now. For the guest reviewers who have questions and concerns, you can voice them. I'll make sure to respond to them on the newest chapter that comes out. For now Enjoy.
Chapter 4: Rescue turned sour
The three brothers raced from the lair at top speed. The junkyard was only 15 minutes away. 8 minutes if they ran from the roof tops. A terrifying moment when everything went quiet. Their brains had stopped functioning long enough for panic to set in. Donnie was in trouble, and must be in trouble. Mad or not, their brother would never send out a distress call without a very good reason. But since the distress signal had been going by unnoticed for however long… oh boy had they screwed up! The brothers immediately raced out of the lair like three bats out of hell. In times like this they were grateful for all their body conditioning they had worked on in their training, they were not even winded.
Leo was the first to find his voice. "How could you two not notice the distress signal!? Did you not even think to check the screen at least once in a while?" He chastised as they hopped to another building, frustration building, partially at his brothers for not noticing their shell cells going off, and for how long. But also at himself for not stopping Don from going out from his bout of anger.
"Yes ok I get it Leo I'm a jerk. Lesson learned." Raph defended, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Leo. "But can we please have the lecture later, like when Don isn't in danger? Besides I wouldn't have had to turn my cell on silent if Mikey wouldn't have kept sending me all those annoying texts!"
"Whoa don't go there bro, you know you love it when I text you all those funny memes," the orange defended. "And you all should know I don't like to be disturbed while I'm gaming."
This made Leo hiss with even more anger. "Talk about side stepping the point! We have our shell cells for a reason and you two failed to notice Donnie needed our help!" He continued to snap as they neared.
"Fearless seriously this isn't the time, first we save Don and then you can lecture us all you want." Raph responded back as they ran out of roof space and made their way to the streets, the junkyard was in site.
"I'll hold you to that." Leo affirmed the request as they approached the fence that they usually snuck in through when they had come. Now relying on their stealth they carefully scanned the area and kept a good ear out for any sound. The Junkyard was a very big place so Don could be anywhere that is if he hadn't been taken already? No don't think that, Don is capable of handling things.
The three of them combed the area together been careful to keep each other in site. They didn't want to split up until they knew what they were up against. This could be an ambush for all they knew. His senses were on over load. "Guys over here," Mikey suddenly called out hiding at the top of a junk pile.
They didn't need to be told twice. Being careful to peek up over the mound and then eyes widen at the scene. There in a large open area a few yards in front of them, laying on the ground was…. Don!
It took a lot of restraint for the leader to hold back both his brothers instead of just running out with them. Raph was already to jump forward but Leo had to block him. Donnie wasn't alone. They could very clearly see that they were Foot Ninja surrounding him. The uniform with Shredders symbol could not be mistaken for anything else.A few of them were surrounding him standing ready to attack if Donnie should try anything stupid, like move.
Standing not too far from him the brothers could hear a couple of the men talking. Well not so much talking. Rather a heated disagreement… One of them was in fact yelling at another. That was odd. Why were they just waiting around, distracted and arguing? Well at least this proved that it wasn't a trap for them.
"…What the hell were you thinking!? Orders were for him to be alive and unharmed. What possessed you to use live ammunition!?" the man shouted at his subordinate. The other seemed to be trying his best to defend himself but it didn't take a genius to know that he had majorly screwed up!
"He was struggling. He was going to escape. Besides I didn't hit anything vital." The second one defended, still thinking his actions were just. "What else should I have done?"
"How about Not bloody shoot him you idiot!" The other yelled back even angrier.
Shoot! Donnie was shot!? The turtles frantically looked over their brother checking him for injury. Even from here they could see he was knocked out but he also clutched his right arm as blood pooled onto the floor beside him. At least it was his arm and not his head.
Another growl emanated from Raph's mouth as his big brother instincts kicked in. He just wanted to run and rip his way through those bastards but Leo was still holding him back. "Raph no."
The hot head turtle looked back at him in disbelief. How could Leo be holding him back for another second? There brother's life was draining right out in front of them. "They bloody shot him Leo!" He said like he hadn't noticed."
"Yes Raph I know, but we have to play this smart or else will end up shot just like him. What use will we be then?" Leo then paused at Raph's last question. Something didn't sound right about that…The Foot were using live ammunition now instead of hand to hand combat? Looks like Karai taking over her father's army hadn't done much in the way of improving it. Either that or Donnie must have been really putting up a fight for them to use such dramatic measures… Regardless the blue clad turtle trying to reason with his brother but reasoning with Raph…? He'd have a better chance at learning at how to use the toaster properly.
"I am been smart. I'm going out to help my brother and you two can help me or-"
"Guys hate to interrupt this pointless argument but look!" Mikey pointed.
The three looked back and saw a black van was entering the scene. The back doors opened and a couple more Foot ninjas came out…each one of them holding rope and a sack. Once again they could hear who must be the head ninja, talking about quickly removing Don from the scene.
"He's going to need treatment before he bleeds to death. Either way we need to get him out of here before we're seen." He grabbed the sack from his comrade and kneeled down to the purple clad turtle to slip it onto his head. Clearly the next step of their plan was taking him. AKA turtle-napping him. Oh hell no! That was not going down.
"So fearless do you need any more reasons to charge in or should we just sit here on our shells and wait for the van to leave?" Raph argued whipping out his Sais.
Leo's eyes narrowed at the men surrounding his brother. They didn't have a choice. "Go now!" Leo agreed as he unsheathed his katanas, just as Mikey got out his nunchucks and they all charged out at them. The Foot ninjas all turned as they heard noise, but they weren't quick enough as they were easily ambushed by the three furious turtles.
Raph first to enter the fray as he jumped head kicking the one nearest to Don. The man went flying back crashing into his comrades. "You leave my bro the hell alone!" He growled locking eyes with them as one quickly spoke into his walky-talky.
"They're here! Don't let them escape." The head commanded as he and the other Foot ninjas took out their own weapons and leapt into battle. Thankfully Leo and Mikey had entered the fray as they took kickbacks from the first two men trying to surround them and putting themselves in front of their brothers.
"Raph take Donnie and get out of here, we'll keep them busy." Leo commanded without taking his eyes off their enemies. He fully knew that Raph was the strongest out of them. He would be able to lift Don easily and take him to safety.
"You got it." Raph kneeled next to his brother ready to sweep him up off the ground. The Foot ninja on the other hand saw this and moved, not wanting their target to escape. But they had to deal with the big mean brothers first. Leo locked swords with one of them, but then brought up his knee into their gut, which weakened his resistance enough to be pushed back and knocked down with a spin kick.
Another came charging but Mikey took this on easily. Twirling his weapons he ducked to avoid a blow and struck him in the shin, which he cried out in pain before hitting the ground as his legs were swept out from under him. Getting back up Mikey had enough time to dodge another incoming blow and responded back with a strike to the head from his nunchucks. The dazed Foot ninja held his head in pain but didn't seem the incoming fist as Mikey knocked his lights out.
"You guys been falling back on your ninja training?" Mikey observed. "Seriously guys you're making this too easy." He said punching another guy in the face who could have easily just dodged it. The ninjas didn't seem to be putting up a very good fight. "If I were you I would get back to ninja school!"
While the fighting was happening Raph put his sais away and started to lift his unconscious brother up on his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Easily able to lift him on the basis that the genius turtle weight the least out of all of them made him easy to carry. Raph was just about ready to leave when something caught his eye. In the distance he could see one of the Foot ninjas…holding a…. A rifle? It was aimed at Leo and Mikey!
"Sniper!" he yelled out just as a loud bang rang out. Thankfully the two managed to hear him in time and dodged the incoming shot.
Guns? Leo thought again. Whatever this new style the Foot had adopted was clearly a step away from what little honor they had, even for Shredder's ninjas. But he didn't get time to scrutinize for too long. If guns were been used instead of combat, it was time to book it out of there.
"Bro's fall back!" Leo called out as he reached into his belt and pulled out a few pellets. Throwing them on the ground multiple snaps sounded as the area started to fill with smoke, effectively chocking and blinding the Foot ninjas from them.
Relying on their training in blind sight the three brothers retreated back in the confines of the smoke, being quiet while trying to get away. Meanwhile the Foot ninjas searching for them, but the smoke screen took them off guard long enough to give the brothers a head start.
"Fan out, don't let them escape!" the one in charge ordered as they all scattered to search. But it was too late as they three had long since left the Junkyard, quickly making their way back to the sewers. Cursing themselves, the men soon gave up.
"Well someone is going to swing for that operation. Talk about sloppy." Mikey said sounding smug.
"At least we got Donnie out of there." Leo was just happy for the four of them escaping.
Sometime later the splashes from the sewer water echoed throughout the tunnels as the three brothers made their way back home. Don was still unconscious. Blood running down the side of his arm and onto the floor. They had to do something about that while Raph was still carrying him. Leo quickly took off his mask to it to keep pressure on it to stop the bleeding, but none of them said a word about what had happened as guilt rained upon them. This was their fault. Angry with themselves, their carelessness could have cost their brother's freedom tonight and maybe never have seen him again. Had they just waited another few minutes to check their shell cells….? Thankfully it wasn't meant to be. They rescued him in time and were now on their way back home.
"Once we're back take Donnie straight to the infirmary. We need to get that wound treated." Leo trying to stay focused on the task. Yet no criticism was there as of yet, as Raph nodded absently. They agreed as the bullet wound on their brother took priority out of everything else, though a lecture was forth coming and well deserved.
"Lucky we can work this one." Raph commented. Their smart brother had given them all enough training on basic first aid. Removing a bullet would be messy but simple enough… Plus Raph and Mikey were not that keen explaining to Splinter how careless they had been tonight. Though they probably did deserve it that would be there shells for sure. Oh Leo would just throw himself under the bus without even thinking about it. That was just his thing. But if they could fix Donnie up first, the guilt wouldn't be as bad as there punishment. Hopefully their brother wouldn't wake up till after either. It was bad enough seeing any of them in pain. Removing a piece of metal without having him squirming would make it easier, not to mention make their guilt feel that tiny bit better.
But closer to home Mikey was suddenly overcome with a troubling thought. He didn't want to voice it out but he had to. "We deserve to be punished by Sensei. Really Im more bothered about Donnie. Do you think he'll blame us for this?"
"Well… we didn't shoot him?" Raph stated taking a chance to look back but Mikey's words had suddenly struck a chord. Under normal circumstances Donnie would be real forgiving with certain things they did. But other times he could blow up at them in ways that could make Raph's outburst look like a tantrum. It was never good to have an angry Donatello, but he couldn't be angry with them for not answering his distress signal…right? This was Donnie they were talking about after all.
No one got chance to respond. They had suddenly heard a groan. They all turned in Don's direction and could see some movement happening on his brother's shoulder. "Don?" Leo asked as they got closer as Raph put his younger brother down, shell against the brick wall. The purple clad turtle's eyes started to flutter open, a hint of drowsiness still in them as the tranq's drugs were still in his system, wearing off. His vision fuzzy, but slowly started to clear up as three figures were before him.
"Wh…who's there…where am I?" he asked in a low voice, his mind still scrambling to try and remember what happened.
"It's us bro, we got ya. Everything ok." Raph responded quickly kneeling down to his level.
"Raph?" Don spoke as his vision finally started too clear up. Why was his brothers gathering around him? Still even though he didn't remember what happened he was happy to see them all. He reached out to grab Raph only for him to recoil back as a splitting pain shot through his shoulder. "Ack!" He cried out automatically clutching the wound.
"Whoa there bro, you had a hole blown through ya so it's best you don't move yet." Mikey warned as he and Leo carefully helped him to his feet and praying that he didn't remember too much.
"A hole? What happened…why does… why does my shoulder have a freaking hole in it!?" he asked, still not sure what was going on.
"Long story Don, let's say we managed to rescue you just in time." Leo smiled, so far so good things seemed to be going ok.
"Rescue me? What are you…talking -" He slowly said, but when the word rescue finally registered in his mind, it all came back like a semi-truck. The Junkyard, his brothers blowing him off when he asked for company, and Leo basically calling him out on how weak he was. Well that point was certainly proven Donnie cringed with embarrassment….. But when he was attacked he remembered repeatedly hitting the distress signal on his Shell Cell only there was no response. No help came. Had they just been on there video games all this time? Or had Leo not come right away just to prove a point that he couldn't look after himself? Oh that was it! That was IT! They were so going to hear about this he thought as a surge of unexpected rage just seemed to bubble up and this time boil over. He couldn't stop it… For a moment he even tried to but, he just couldn't.
Seeing their brother stare off into space for a few seconds and his expression dropping like a stone from confused to what could only be described as… livid to worry them. No one dared speak for a moment. It was obvious that his train of thought that had led to tonight's current events had now run off the tracks. This was not good.
Well someone had to bite the bullet (so to speak) Leo stepped forward first. He carefully reached placing a hand on his brother's uninjured shoulder. "Don I know we messed u-"
"Don't touch me!" The olive green turtle jerked away, standing on his own feet. Those three words made the others eyes widen in a little surprise, and the anger behind them told them that they had in indeed made a mistake on a catastrophic level. Mikey was right. He was angry, but what about mostly? Well they didn't have to wait too long as Don started storming away from them clutching at his shoulder as he went. His pride for taking care of himself was shattered, but worse, this just made it oh so clear that his voice carried no weight in the group. None what so ever.
"Don, you shouldn't be walking in your condition!" Raph called out as they chased after him.
"My condition?" Don snapped as he stopped and turned around, the same angry expression on his face still visible. He carried himself like nothing had been wrong with him. Maybe it was the sudden anger giving him the adrenaline he needed to do what he had wanted to do for a long time. No his physical pain was no longer the issue here. "I wouldn't be in this condition if it wasn't for you three! But I hope your game was worth it! Clearly that's more important oh and Leo. Thanks. Way to teach me a lesson."
Leo stiffened at that. "Donnie I would never just not turn up if you needed help. None of us wouldn't." It was an automatic reflex. They had come after all. Maybe just making it by the skin of their teeth, but they had come. It didn't help that Donnie just sneered at him.
"Whoa, whoa Don, what do you mean?" Mikey asked with his arms up in defense. Bad move as it put more salt on the wound and made their situation much worse.
"I mean none of you EVER listen to me! Am….am I just not here? Am just that guy who fixes stuff!" he kept saying but each time the anger rose. "I always just brush it aside and pick up the freaking slack just so you lot can have an easier time. Donnie fix this! Donnie do that! But today all I said was watch your phones and now am here with a freaking hole! Well I won't be fixing so much for you now….. Where the hell were you?!" He yelled.
"You don't mean that Donnie. You have every right to be upset -" Leo reached out again but he just stepped back out of his reach.
"No Leo I waved good bye and said send me a post card to upset when I left the lair. Now am furious!"
The brothers were at a loss for words as they heard Don's rant. They had never seen him so angry. More of the hurt making them feel ashamed of themselves.
"Don we're-" Raph tried
"Save it!" the genius turtle carried on walking leaving his family far behind with the realization that this was going to be a lot worse than they expected. This wasn't a tantrum or even a hissy fit! No. From the look in his eyes, this was rage. The passive and normally forgiving turtle was all of a sudden not so forgiving but even this had taken them by surprise.
"I think we should hang back for a moment or ten." Mikey suggested but there wasn't much humor in his tone.
A/N: Hope you like. Hopefully that sate your appetite for what's to come for now. Once again i'm stating the fact that if you have questions feel free to ask. And once more for those guest reviewers please voice any concerns or questions and I will answer them on the next chapter. Till Next time.