His heart pounded in his ears as he raced through the sewer systems, his eyes scanning the shadows constantly in search of the enemies he knew could hide within them. They were in trouble, there was no doubt about that. Not only were the foot so close to their home, but Master Splinter had not been feeling up to his best as of late. Don knew it was because of his age that his immune system was weakening and as of a result, their beloved father was becoming sick more often.
Donatello could feel the soft fabric of the leg and arm wrappings rubbing against his pale olive green skin. Just because his family and his enemies had already seen what lied beneath them, did not mean he wanted to parade them around for the world to see. He knew they spoke the truth, but he just couldn't help but try to deny that they did... It helped his sanity...
There was a specific reason he did not let his family see what the foot clan did to him the day he returned, and that was to prevent them from pitying him. Donatello could already feel the watchful eyes of his ex lover glued to his form, both sympathy and rage hidden in those grey depths. It was quite obvious that Leonardo wanted to kill whoever had done that, and judging by the way he constantly kept his eye on his olive green form, he was just waiting for Don to break down and let out all of the hurt he had bottled in the past year.
The problem was, while that Donnie might have done so, this one would not. The Donnie Leo clung to so desperately was dead, and in his place stood a stronger, more capable leader... And that was something that Leo seemed to be unable to grasp.
His legs seemed to move faster as he moved to the front of his pack, his improved hearing making him aware of the group of foot just around the corner. Holding up his hand, he stopped, signalling his brothers to do the same as he peaked around the corner. Sure enough, there was a group of twelve foot ninja right there. Applying the amount of time they were running, Don calculated their distance from the lair and made his decision. They were going to charge them, make it look like they came from the east instead of south, where their home lay hidden.
"Move into the shadows across from us, when I give the signal, we charge, make it look like the lair is east bound. Got it?" Three nods followed, and with one flick of the wrist, they vanished into the shadows, even Don's enhanced eye sight barely managing to pick them out from the darkness. He too followed them into the blackness, slowly getting into position.
Waiting for the foot to start moving forward, Don focused on his hearing, listening for anything that was sneaking up behind him, along with the sounds of his brothers breathing. He wanted to make sure they were alive and would stay that way. He raised his hand, waiting a few moments to feel all three eyes on him, and pointed forward, his signal given.
His brothers shot forward, Flashes of red, blue, orange and green closing in on the crowed of black. The ninja barely had time to turn before the three green bodies of his brothers descended apon them, knocking them unconscious with a quick precision that only years of training could provide.
Before Donnie could join them in battle, all of his muscles stiffened as an all to familiar pain wracked through his frame, making him shudder and struggle to supress a groan.
'Come on, let me tear them all apart. I promise to keep your brothers alive.' The beast growled, a hatred for the foot in his voice, one that Don could more than relate to. After all, the beast didn't have to live through the tortures he did, only the last little bit.
"No, you fought last night. You can wait your damn turn." He growled back, shoving the pain into the tiny box in the back of his mind before surging forward, bashing his bô against a masked head, their neck breaking in one fluid movement.
Donnie had stopped caring about whether or not he killed not long before he had escaped from Karai's clutches. At first, it was an accident, a man had approached him, clothing missing from his tan body while he wore a wicked smirk. In a terrified frenzy, Donnie had kicked him away, accidentally using too much strength. He had broke the man's ribs, causing them to collapse inward and pierce his lungs. The man had died shortly afterwards, sending don into shock for a few days.
That was his first kill, and he didn't not kill again till the day he escaped. His sanity finally snapped and he murdered over thirty foot ninja, dowsing himself in their blood and enraging Karai. Ever since then, his look on the lives of others, besides his family's, became a cold one, not the old pacifist one. Now, he could kill without thought, thinking instead that the more he took out, the less there would be to torment his family.
Don shifted his stance, whirling around to block the oncoming strike of a katana. He lifted his foot, connecting it with his enemy's stomach, shooting him backwards with enough force to crack his skull. His olive green form seemed to be as fast as lightening as he crouched low and spun, taking out the feet of a ninja, continuing forward and ramming the end of his bô into the man's chest, a crack sounding. Changing his grip on his bô he thrust it back wards into the ninja sneaking up behind him, hitting his target straight in his throat, crushing his windpipe.
His now black eyes scanned the tunnel, watching his brothers non-lethally taking out the last of their enemies. Placing his bô on his back once again, Don waited till his brothers finished off their opponents before signalling them forward, his next move to get to the surface. There was no doubt that at least one of the still breathing ninja had a form of communication and was watching their escape, waiting for the perfect moment to tell his mistress where they were going. In fact, Don could hear the almost silent shuffling that specific ninja was making.
He gestured for his brothers to climb the ladder that lead to the surface world, a ladder that was still within seeing range. Leonardo was the only one to give him a questioning look, but still followed the other two to the surface, Don not far behind. He smiled to himself as he heard the mumblings from below. Sometimes it was really useful to be genius.
After sliding the manhole cover back into place, Donatello joined his three brothers on the rooftops, darting off farther to the east. The farther they got, the sooner they could retreat back into the safety of the sewers and out of broad daylight. Why the foot had to attack so early in the morning was ridiculous, yet very strategic. Karai knew that if she made the turtles got out during the day, that it would be more difficult for them to get away.
He hated to admit it, but that woman was clever.
As they ran, he could hear the sound of multiple footsteps coming in around them. The foot were surrounding them, boxing them in one place like caged animals. Don's hands clenched into tight fists as rage seeped throughout his core... Oh how much he wanted to rip her apart piece by piece while she scream in agony, her crimson red blood soaked-
Donatello shook his head harshly to rid himself of such thoughts. There was no reason to let the rage consume his mind, it would only end up giving the beast an advantage in their private war. He honestly didn't want-
He came to a complete stop, his olive toned hand shooting outwards to grab a hold of Leo's apple green arm, Pulling backwards with all of his might to stop the flow of momentum. Mikey and Raph came to a stop just behind him, barely avoiding ramming into them. Once Leo had come to a stop and before anyone could say anything, a silver kunai flung past Leo's beak and embedded itself into the ground at their feet.
A low growl escaped his lips as he released Leo's arm and turned to the crowd of foot ninja standing on the warehouse roof across form them. Luckily, with heading eastbound, they ended up in the darker and less inhabited area of the city. That way, their was a thirty percent increase of not being seen and it kept the foot farther away from the turtle's lair, and from Master Splinter.
Removing his bô from his back, Don held it defensively as he glared down the ninja, a few of them even turning their heads slightly as if to get away from his harsh gaze. He heard the sounds of his brothers also removing their own weaponry and a sudden flash of safety coursed through his body...
How long had it been since he fought along side his brothers? Before today, It had been almost nine months since he fought with them. Over two years since he fought beside Leo... And in that amount of time, he always felt as if he needed to be wary of everyone and everything that got near him... Now he couldn't shake the feeling of complete ease and trust, as if their mere presence in this battle would protect him.
Yet, as the number of foot collecting on that rooftop increased, his rational thought of their ability to win the battle won over his silly emotions. Strategically, their best bet was to fight off as many as they could before taking off and vanishing into the slightly confusing maze known as their home. The sewers. With his plan in mind, Donatello surged forward, taking out five ninja faster than anyone could react.
Judging by the slight pause in his brother's actions, they had not seen him kill the other ninja from the sewer tunnel. So seeing him mercilessly dispatch of five ninaj without a second thought must have shaken them up a bit. However, in order for them to survive, they needed to fight an adapt quickly, although Don suspected he would get a nice long 'chat' about his actions later.
Yipee...
All four brothers fought together, easily taking down more foot by the minute. Unfortunately, it seemed that for every one foot ninja they took out, another two took its place, more and more surrounding the four nineteen year old turtles. Even worse, four of the foot's elite ninja had shown up, one for each turtle as Karai's deadly form stood off on another rooftop nearby, overseeing the work of her clan.
It wasn't long until each of his three brothers had been pinned and immobilized, their weapons taken form them as their hand were bound behind their backs. But Don kept going, all he saw was red as he continued to kill every ninja unfortunate enough to get in his way. With the lives of his family on the line, Donatello refused to give up.
"Use the darts!" He heard Karai shout to her ninja, and soon after five foot lined up and took aim, firing dart after dart at the purple clad turtle.
"Donnie!" Leo shouted. Don watched from the corner of his eye as Leo's body jerked forward in an attempt to get to the fighting turtle, a look of pure terror plastered on the normally calm turtle's face.
Shifting his grip on his bô staff, Don turned to the wave of darts, spinning his weapon as fast as he could, deflecting all of the darts, a few of them even hitting some of the other ninja. Unfortunately, as he was paying attention, Don ignored the sound of someone shifting behind him until it was too late. Karai pulled a smaller dart gun from her belt and took aim, her dart hitting him straight in the side of the neck.
Jumping back and away from the last of the flying darts, Don yanked the one from his neck before throwing it to the ground angrily, taking hold of his bô once again, ready to defend himself from the attacks sure to follow. However, none did, they just stood back and waited and soon Donatello figured out why.
His mind began to feel groggy and his body felt like Jell-O, his legs giving out from under him as he hit the rooftop with a hard 'thud', his bô clanging to the ground before settling. He could still feel and register arms grabbing his own and his knees scrapping along the jagged rooftop as he was pulled to where his brother's were bound. Don was still aware of everything going on around him and he still had some minor functions of his body, but in total, he felt overly relaxed and slightly groggy.
"There, now you wont pull your little trick on us." Karai's hate filled voiced sounded through the dead silence surrounding him, making him wince slightly at the volume.
'Bite down on your tongue hard enough to make it bleed.' The monster's voice rang through his head, making him furrow his brows in confusion as he felt his hands being bound behind his back, not like his had the strength to fight back anyway.
'For once just listen to me! I can drain the substance from your bloodstream, them we will both be free of this accursed haze.' As much as he hated the beast and normally wouldn't listen to a word it uttered, Don had to admit that its plan seemed perfect. So, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for the slight pain, Don bit down hard on his tongue, the coppery taste of blood slowly surfacing.
"What do you want with us Karai." Leonardo spat, taking the focus off of Don, and for that he was grateful. Donatello didn't want her to see his plan before it had a chance to break though.
"Simple, I want to avenge my father. To take away your lives as a tribute to his-" Don tuned her annoying babbling out, just like he would do with Mikey when the orange clad turtle had too much sugar in one sitting. Instead, he focussed on the odd feeling of some sort of force halting the flow of blood through his tongue, something else gathering there, just below the wound as what felt like lumps swam through his bloodstream.
Finally, he could feel a bunch on liquid that was slightly cooler than his own blood fill his mouth as his mind began to clear. Don was able to focus more and regain the lost movement in his limbs as the more liquid filled his mouth and stung at the wound on his tongue.
Once he felt stable enough, Don pushed past the pair of hands that was previously keeping him seated upwards, and into a standing position. He looked Karai straight in the eye and acted as though he was still slightly groggy. She took the bait without question and walked towards him, clearly intent on knocking him flat on the floor for interrupting her speech.
However, what she didn't expect was for Don to spit the liquid he had held in his mouth right into her eye, then proceeding to ram his forehead into her own. There was a slight pain that shook through his brain, but he ignored it in favour of knocking back the ninja that leaped for him, knocking them out instead of killing them. Unfortunately, before he could get out of the restraints he was still in, the four elite ninja jumped at him, pushing him down and onto his knees before Karai as she stood tall before him, glaring down angrily while wiping away the last of the liquid dripping from her face.
"What are you?" She growled, her glare harsh enough to destroy a lesser man, or in this case, a turtle.
A small but slightly insane sounding chuckle left his lips as he met her glare head on. "I'm a monster, remember? A monster you created." With that, Don gave in. He let the beast that was boiling within take over his body.
He still could feel the pain of his body growing larger, each muscle tear and expanding as his eyes became blood red, intent on killing anyone that got in its way. At this point, Donnie didn't really have any options. He and his brothers were trapped and the only one that would be strong enough to get hem out of this mess was that monster he held deep within.
However, if he was going to do this, then he wanted to make sure of one thing;
"Please, Don't hurt my brothers..." Don said aloud, the only way he could speak to the demon making an entrance.
"...I wont... I promise..." The beasts rough voice also slipped past his changing lips, making him seem slightly more crazy than already thought.
Just before he let everything go, Don took one last look at his brothers, taking in the horrified look on all of their faces. With out last bit of energy, Don forced the red eyes back to a softer brown and looked at each of them apologetically, the words 'I'm sorry' slipping form his lips one last time before everything faded into blackness.
