Author's Note:
Sorry I took so long...again. I do have somewhat of an excuse, but it doesn't really matter. Please review!
"Leo! Mikey! Get Mikey! H-HELP MICHELANGELO! LEO! LEO!" Raphael was stunned. Donatello had stopped coughing, and was now screaming at the top of his voice, panic and pure hysteria evident in his voice as it cracked and got higher with every yell. Never in Raphael's entire life had he heard his usually calm and collected brother freak out like this. He shook his head and started to move towards him, but he stopped, caught up in what the turtle was yelling. "Leo! Leo, where are you! What... what happened? LEO! They hurt Mikey, we have to help Mikey!" He seemed to wait for a response, and Raphael meant to say something, but his mouth felt dry and nothing came out. Donatello coughed again. He took a few deep breaths. "L-Leo? Leo! Where is everybody? What happened? Mikey? Where's Mikey? Raph! Anybody!"
Raphael jolted at the sound of his own name. He shook his head then cleared his throat, and heard his brother jump at the sudden sound. "Don.. Donny, it's, ah... It's okay, I'm here."
Donatello drew in a sharp breath. "Who said that?" His heart beat was pounding in his ears.
"It's me, Raphael. Just like it was me, Raphael, five minutes ago. Oh wait, you probably didn't hear that part over your own screaming."
For a minute, all that could be heard was Donatello's shallow breathing slowly calming down and returning to a steady rhythm. Cautiously, he asked,"Raph? It's really you?"
He smirked, but rolled his eyes, keeping up the tough tone. "Nope. No, I'm just messin' with ya. I'm actually your Gramma Susie."
Donatello leapt to his feet. "Where are you?"
Raphael waved. "Over here, bro. Come slowly. There's chunks of rock everywhere."
"Okay, I'll be right I th- oooooh..." After only a few steps, Donatello teetered back and forth. He stopped where he was and clutched his head with both hands.
Raphael leaned forwards. "Donny?"
"I'm...I'm okay. It's just my head... I'm coming." He took another step, and his knees wobbled. He stood still with one hand pressed against the wall for a minute, but when his legs buckled again he gave up trying to walk and slid down the wall until he was sitting with his shell leaned against it. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "I guess I'll have to talk to you from over here."
Raphael frowned. "Your head, huh? You hit it off something?"
Donatello squinted and rubbed his eyes, still trying to see through the darkness. "Um, no.. They shot me with a-"
"Shot!" Raphael's eyes went wide. "Shot! They shot you?" He clenched his hands into fists. "They who?"
The younger turtle shrank back a little. "Not with a bullet, Raph. And, I don't know... Them. The...guys. The people who- Wait...You don't know what I'm talking about?"
His brother scowled. "As a matter o' fact, I don't." He replied weakly, quickly feeling all the more helpless and confused. He heard Donatello gasp softly. "Last thing I remember was what I guess was last night. Then we woke up here.."
"We?" Donatello asked.
Raphael rubbed his hands up and down his numb legs. "Yeah, we." he said. "Now you better spill. Leo, Mike, and me don't got any memories of what happened at all. For some reason, you're the only guy who knows anything. So let's hear it."
"Wait, Leo and Mikey are here? Where? Did you see Mikey? Is he okay?"
"Donny! Geez!" Raphael snapped impatiently. "Mikey and Leo were here. They left. They took the only way outta this joint. Up. An' I don't know why you think Mike's dyin'! He's fine! Well, he hurt his arm real bad or somethin', but he's gonna live. You askin' questions like that only makes me confused!"
Donatello bit his lip. "Sorry... I just... Wow, I don't see a logical explanation as to why I'm the only one with any recollection of the events that brought us here."
"Well if what you just said means what I think it does, then that makes two of us."
"Alright," Donatello leaned forwards, "I think my head's staring to clear up now. So tell me. What happened between the time when you woke up until now?"
Raphael shook his head. "Oh, no, wiseguy. You first. You tell, I tell."
"Fine. I'll tell you all that I remember." The younger turtle cleared his throat. "It happened last night. Right after Mikey fell asleep watching 'The Thing That Ate Hoboken'..."
TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT
Michelangelo tapped his brother's shell. "Leo, stop for a sec," he whispered. The two of them stopped crawling.
"Mikey, wh-"
"Shhhh! Listen!" He stretched his legs out and pressed the side of his head against the ceiling of the vent. "I can hear something..."
Leonardo cocked his head to one side. He closed his eyes, and sure enough, he could hear something above them. It sounded like footsteps. They sounded like they were coming from behind them, but as they listened, they moved closer and closer. "Mikey... Don't make a sound." His brother nodded, and retreated from the ceiling.
The two turtles sat there, not daring to move an inch as the footsteps slowly became louder, getting closer. They could feel the vibrations in the vent as they passed over them. Dust showered down onto Leonardo's face unexpectedly. He felt it sprinkle into his eyes, and reared back, waving his hands to try and clear the air while trying desperately not to cough. He collided with Michelangelo, who slammed into the side of the vent and let out a yelp. The footsteps stopped.
Leonardo's eyes went wide, and he wrapped his arms around him, and slapped a hand over his brother's mouth. The younger turtle let out a high pitched whimper, and Leonardo quickly drew back after realizing he had all but crushed his injured arm. He heard the footsteps backtrack. He shuffled away from Michelangelo and held his breath.
After a few minutes of complete silence, just when Leonardo thought he would die due to lack of oxygen, the person overhead carried on their way. Still, the turtles didn't dare say anything until the footsteps were long out of hearing range. Finally convinced they were gone, Leonardo sighed. "That was a close one." He waited, and frowned when his brother said nothing in agreement. "Mikey? You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah..." His voice sounded raspy. He cleared his throat, and it sounded better. "Who the shell was that?"
"I don't know, but I doubt having them finding two giant talking turtles crawling through their air vents would be a good thing. But at least now we know that the floor is really close above us." No reply again. "Hey, did I hit your arm?"
"What? Nah, it's all good."
"No. I did hit it, didn't I? Quit the tough guy act and let me see it."
Michelangelo defensively pulled his arm in close to his chest. "Uhh, Leo? There's nothing to see. And no offense or anything, but I don't want anybody touching my arm but me. Just keep your shell on until we get some light okay?"
Leonardo frowned, but he knew that his stubborn younger brother wasn't about to change his mind. "Ah...Alright. Let's see if we can catch up to those footsteps. They might lead us to a way out of here as long as we stay far enough behind so they don't hear us."
"Kay. Ladies first."
Leonardo rolled his eyes and crawled past his brother. Michelangelo moved to follow him, and grimaced as his arm moved even the slightest bit while doing so. He clenched his eyes shut, and put his other arm on Leo's shell. "Let's hurry. The sooner we get out of here, the better."
A first for me- I actually do have the next chapter written. I'm just going to wait a FEW days before posting it. So it won't be another... like two month wait. Please review to let me know whether or not there are still a few people following this story.
