September 24
8:22 P.M.
Three baddies with the element of surprise on their side? Sounded like good odds to Sophia Moretti. Although, Donatello seemed to disagree. He cursed when Raphael left the maintenance shed. But how could they wait any longer?
Their family needed help.
Sophia trailed Raphael up until they reached Mister Black. The dumb man lingered beside Nia—a foolish choice. Raph captured the fingers he jabbed into the artist, pushed them backwards until they cracked, and then slipped an arm around the brunette's throat. Wordless, he slammed the charged Taser Glove against Black's back with a force that arched him.
The strangle cries created a prime distraction, so Sophia set her sights on the shark-masked guy who thought he could sneak Michelangelo away. Her left hand twirled her Star Staff, lengthening it with practiced ease. It whirled and cut through the drifting exhaust seen only in the headlights' beams. She poised its butt at Shark Guy's throat to keep him frozen with a hand on Mikey's ankle.
It was a long, long way up.
"Touch my boyfriend and die," she said.
"Boyfriend?" Shark Guy leaned sideways a little. "I don't see the attraction."
The blonde snorted. "Guess that's why you aren't dating him."
"You seem like a nice human. I'm sure you could find another mate. Boyfriend. Whatever."
"Not like this one I can't."
Gaze narrowed, Sophia swung her staff so it hit Shark Guy at what should be his ear. He hardly stepped aside, so she hit him again, harder. But it felt like hitting stone, and he laughed as she stumbled back.
Alright. He wanted to play hard?
So be it.
Soph touched the snug belt around her petite hips and released her Shell suit. It covered her from head to toe in a micro-network of machines below Kevlar-based plating, which accentuated her muscle structure. The new heat nipped at her nerves, but she knew the trade off for enhanced strength.
"That is an interesting piece of technology," Shark Guy said. "Almost a shame I don't need it."
"Uh-huh." Sophia spun her staff with a speed that made it invisible. "Wanna see if you can stand now?"
She swung it. It hit. And he stepped aside.
Smirking, the blonde brought the staff across Shark Guy's face. He caught it at both ends. Sophia tried to snap kick him away. Only, her leg fell short of his torso.
He chuckled at her Italian curse then leaned forward with surprising weight. It collapsed her backwards, at an angle only gymnasts could handle, and required much strength to keep his mask from meeting her face.
"You smell horrible," she said through her struggle.
Shark Guy chuckled. "Likewise."
He shoved the Star Staff against Sophia's throat then jumped up to kick her like a soccer ball. Air left her with each roll across the gravel. She almost choked on upturned dust. When she stopped, she noticed a familiar metal arm at her nose.
Of all the times for their cyborg to take a nap.
"No, no, no! I—I didn't mean it!"
Soph pushed herself onto her knees to watch Mister Fowler. At some point, he had jumped into his van, despite his Shell protection. But Donatello held the door open. He wore a scary expression beneath his purple mask that the heroine had never seen before.
It made Fowler shudder when the genius plucked him from the driver's seat. His blubbered into the ground, muffled pleads. It was all for naught; Don soon rendered him unconscious with his Bō staff.
At least one battle went well.
Raphael had separated from Black. The Taser Glove lay in the gravel, smoking, and the hothead cradled the arm that had donned it. Donny must've ignored a technical malfunction with the insulation. Maybe he had the wrong gram amount…
She'd have to ask if she could help fix it later.
"Th—this isn't happening," Black said. "This must be another nightmare. Everything was going well enough."
He backed away from the headlight's brightest area, wide-eyed and panting. Nia gasped in his chokehold, whimpered as her bound feet dragged across the lot. It looked painful, but the jerk held strong in spite of his broken fingers.
Sophia knew the stance. Even without a Shell, he could snap the artist's neck at a moment's notice.
And no amount of IgRs could heal her after that.
"We had everything planned," Black continued. "The Jammer kept the cyborg still. The creature was a bonus. And I was sure he would take this too."
"That is my wife," Raphael spat. No longer stunned, he stood with his Sais ready. "An' she's comin' wit' me."
"You can't be real and free!" the brunette bellowed. "You're monsters! Freaks! What worse can there be?"
"You'd be surprised, Mister Black," Donatello added in a deep voice. "There are things lower than us, things worthy of blind fear. But when you take one of our own, you become an enemy. So in the end, you should really just be worrying about yourself."
'Ooh,' Soph thought. 'I need to see badass Don more often. He's fun.'
Black shook his head then tightened his grip on Nia. "No! No! I can't know you're real anymore. I need you behind bars. You need caged! Caught! And I need money. Money for the booze to forget…"
"Ya can forget everything once ya give back my wife," Raph replied.
Black glanced up. His manic gaze said it all: no deal.
Sophia moved in slow motion. She watched Black poise his hands at each side of Nia's head. His muscles tensed. His eyes widened. He sucked in a breath.
Then, something whizzed through the silence. A bullet. It dug into Black, a red mar on his glistening temple.
Time sped again, as if the sheer force of the shot slammed the captor against the gravel lot. Nia scrambled away from him, trembling. Sophia had no doubt Raphael would aid her. So, she twisted around to where the bullet had come from.
Hugh stood with his handgun poised then faced the revving truck. When Soph followed suit, she found a vacant area and cursed when the detective fired several rounds into Shark Guy's vehicle. They deflected.
"Someone wanna stop that thing?" Hugh called out.
"On it!"
"Wait, Sophia!" Donatello yelled from behind. It pained the blonde, but she listened. "I'll take the van. Keep him in this lot. You have the Shell. Focus on getting Mike and Mel out."
Sounded like a fair plan, so Soph nodded. She dashed towards the truck as it picked up speed, calling on her suit's strength to propel her forward. Her goal was larger than anticipated. Big Rig sized.
It didn't deter her. She pushed off the ground, clung onto the Rig's backend, and begun punching without question.
Donatello frowned at the tight fit between the van's steering wheel and raised bench seat. It reminded him how inconvenient standard measurements were to his kind, but he ignored the cramped feeling. He changed gears from park to drive, not bothering with the door or a seatbelt, and eased the gas pedal as he turned the van around.
Raphael, Nia, and Hugh stood by the shed, which left Don's mind free to concentrate on finding stable ground for takeoff. When he found it, he pressed the gas pedal harder. Gravel pieces sprayed from the spinning tires against the undercarriage with sharp clanks. The rear fishtailed. Then, the vehicle roared forward.
Shark Guy's Big Rig was a good distance ahead. Donatello could see Sophia's petite form through the hazy lighting. She beat its back doors with furious fists to little avail. Whatever reinforced steel they had been made from, it hindered her task, so the mutant sped up.
Caution warned him against hitting forty MPH on loose rock. However, caution was rendered moot when he thought about the Big Rig's cargo. His brother and wife were in there, and with a tensed jaw, he turned the steering wheel.
The van's cab met the Big Rig's side with a force that almost jerked Don through the open door. He kept tense around the wheel, though, as he repeated the action. The van shuddered when the gravel below it shifted. Prepared to compensate, Don reached for the shifter. Then, he remembered the van had an automatic transmission.
'I feel too free in an automatic,' the mutant thought.
Boom!
Donatello ducked his head. A spray of glass scraped across his face, leftovers from the busted passenger window that let in cool air. The van swerved from his startled response, but he recovered to glare up at the Big Rig's driver.
Shark Guy leaned through his rolled down window, waving a long-barreled gun like a child testing the air current outside a car. Was that a taunt?
The genius growled then slammed the Big Rig again. It moved slightly, not enough to slow down, so the van's speed accelerated. At fifty-five MPH, Don knew he was tempting Fate when he rounded the Rig. He beat its bumper until pieces of its black plastic broke off.
Shark Guy fired round after round into the cab as he continued his onslaught. A few grazed the mutant. Most dug into the seat and dashboard. They were of little concern, and with a definitive yank of the steering wheel, Don opted to ram the van's body against the Rig's radiator grille.
That caused a reaction.
The Big Rig twisted, digging up layers of gravel with a screech. Its inertia sent the van into a tailspin that simulated a Merry-Go-Round. Don could only pray as he used the wheel like an anchor to remain inside the cab. The open lot left the vehicle enough room to slow to a stop without much damage, and the mutant's world tilted when he lifted his eyes to the floundering Rig yards ahead.
'Come on, Sophia! Get them out!'
Melody could help if she weren't…
'Black mentioned a Jammer. Something to paralyze her?'
Don looked down on the seat, where he felt a remote wedged below his thigh. Could that be what Black had meant? The genius flicked the toggle switch down. The red light at its top ceased glowing, so he set his sights on the Big Rig again in hopes it made a difference before his family got much further
.
Raphael held Nia close. She sniffled against his plastron, shaking as they watched the Big Rig skid.
"Why—why's Donny just sitting there?" Nia asked.
Raph glanced at the battered van that sputtered in the distance. "Must be stalled," he said.
"Shit," Hugh added. "Sophia's almost out of time."
Good thing the heroine was accustomed to such pressure and the bypasses kept the lot bathed in an ambient glow. Raph could see that Sophia had made headway after a long assault on the Rig's rear. She gripped a jagged hole, fighting for balance as Shark Guy sought control over his getaway truck. Her fingers pried at its metallic edges like peeling petals off a flower.
It seemed the blonde was failing, though.
"Kuso," Raph whispered.
"The Rig's almost straight again," Hugh said.
Nia's shakes worsened as he dashed ahead. Raphael almost questioned his intent until the man's raised pistol cleared up all confusion. Hugh shot at the Rig's tires. The bullets pierced half their targets with loud pops, and the control Shark Guy had regained was lost again.
Just in time, too. A hand reached out from the back hole—a metal one. It pointed at Sophia before the blonde turned aside. Fierce bends signified Melody's punches from the inside. Within five, undoubtedly fueled by annoyance, the hole opened into a size that would fit Leatherhead.
Sophia wasted no time in helping Melody and Michelangelo bail from the Big Rig. They hit the ground so hard their bodies stirred up thick, white clouds, and they rolled as the Rig exited the lot through an open gateway. By the time they stopped, Donatello knelt beside them.
"Is—is he really leaving?" asked Nia.
"For his sake, he beddah," Raphael replied with a growl. Eyeing the retreating truck, his grip on Nia tightened until she flinched. "So—sorry, Ni. I—" His vision fell from her bloody face to her stomach, which her unbound arms wrapped around. "Are you…?"
"He kicked high." She ignored his real question, the unsaid realization they exchanged with a look. "It hurts, but...le—let's check on the others. I…I'd like to go home first."
The hothead sighed when she turned. She was right; now wasn't a good time to address the pregnancy matter. If she still carried a baby, that is…
Raph shook his head. 'Let's get out 'a this damn place. Then focus on that. We got a lot ta consider.'
So, guiding Nia, Raphael approached his siblings. Melody spoke in a hushed tone with Donatello while Sophia and Hugh tried waking Michelangelo. The orange-masked mutant groaned in his girlfriend's hold and Raph swore she looked close to tears.
"What a mess," she said in a hoarse voice. "You so out of it that you needed the ladies to save you, Figo?"
"What was I?" Donny interjected. He helped Melody stand, glaring downwards.
"A little useful," the blonde replied. "But I didn't see you punching through God-knows-what metal."
Mikey chuckled—a weak, almost bland action. "My heroes."
"Can you stand, Figo?"
"I—maybe. How…are Nia and Mel? A—and the baddies?"
Bang!
Everyone ducked then whirled towards the shed. Raph covered Nia's head, in case another gunshot fired. It never did. And the only figures he spotted in the still lot were two bodies. Guess that made sense.
"Shark Guy bails, but then takes the time ta circle around for Fowler?"
"Tying up loose ends," Donatello told his red-masked brother. "Maybe he thinks he'll get another chance to take us later."
"No," Nia whispered.
"Don't worry, Ni," Don said. "I think I know how they tracked us in the first place. That will be the first thing I fix."
"It ain't our only big problem," added Raph. "We're homeless. What do we do about that?"
Donny paused amidst the group, glancing from Black and Fowler to his brothers. "We do the only thing we can do. Look for a new home…"
A/N: Back together. But what dangers lurk in the background? Heh. In time, my friends. Meanwhile, prepare for family times. :)
