Webbed Glass

Chapter 10

Leonardo felt the wet splash on his face and neck, the warmth of the liquid cooling down as it ran down to the hallow of his collar bone and plastron. He reached up, fingers smearing a trail on yellow and green. Holding his hand out, he looked at the red that stained thick fingers that began to quiver. Someone was screaming down the corridor that snaked into the darkest of shadows. Picking up his feet he ran as fast as he could recognizing it as Michelangelo's voice. The sound gurgled and coughed before another scream was erected into the stagnant air. His heart was hitting his rib cage so hard that it felt like it was trying to burst forth, to go and save his little brother itself since his legs were being too slow. His shoulder slammed into the cool cement wall when he slipped on a discarded limb that left globs of flesh and small pools of blood. The forest green turtle put a hand over his mouth, his stomach churning, the three fingered arm all to familiar to him. Lungs refused to pull in breath when he forced himself to walk closer, the once loving hand of his brother hidden half in the shadows. He didn't know why he reached forward, didn't understand why his fingers came to touch the cold and stiff ones that once gave him gentle caresses and playful pats. He knelt down, trying to figure out if this was real or not, everything in his being was begging for it to be artificial flesh and not real. But it was, and when he dared to peer farther into the shadows of the opened cell he fell backwards, vomit churning up his throat forcing him to spill it upon the floor that smelled of bleach and disinfectants. Tears ran down his face once his stomach was empty, the scream of Michelangelo ripping him from his current sorrow filling him with panic. He had lost one brother, he wasn't going to loose another. He wouldn't loose Mikey, not after seeing... not after... He was running, running as fast as he possibly could, he didn't care of his legs were screaming at him. He had to save Mikey! He had to!

Turning the corner he found Bishop with a bone saw, the blade digging into skin as he tore to the side sending it all flying into the air in an arch. It created a fan pattern over Leonardo's eyes as he stood there helplessly watching as Michelangelo's head lulled to the side, barely attached to his body.

Leonardo screamed pulling himself out of his mental contact with Raphael. He had thought that he could make a connection between him and his brother that he could possibly try to understand what was going on, pick up some clues of where he was when there was so little for them to run off of. The shell cell had been found in the forest, his mask was here, his belt, knee, and elbow pads were found in a dump in the harbor. His sais... one had been embedded into a tree, it was where they estimated he was first attacked, and his other one, no one could find it. It had to be with him, unfortunately there was no tracking device buried into the hilt or they would have found him already. They had been searching for three days now, tearing up everything in false hope. Michelangelo had gone over the edge and refused to eat, sleep, or even come home until Raphael was found. He didn't care, dead or alive, though the way he was acting everyone was sure if Raphael was dead then Michelangelo would throw himself off of a very tall building and let the earth catch him. That was why Leonardo had gone with Splinter to try and meditate, create that bridge between several minds and try to gain a lead. All they got were horrible nightmares. Raphael was alive, that was all they could tell. Where he was, they did not know, and worse, they had no clue as to what was being done to him.

Leonardo staggered up to his feet, a desperate need to see Donatello, he needed to make sure he still have both arms, that he wasn't lifelessly slumped in the corner like a broken doll. He needed to know that his love was alright, needed to know that they still had contact with Michelangelo. He needed...

Donatello blinked up from the computer he was messing with, his hacking paused as a pair of strong arms wrapped around his shoulders. He frowned, "Leo... you're shaking." He was trying to keep a level head, trying to think properly but by the way his brother was acting that fear he was trying to squish was raising. He took a deep breath, stilling his movements as he tried to concentrate on what to say. It was quiet for a moment before he found his voice, "Is... Raphael deceased?" Deceased... it was not as harsh as dead. Dead meant that they could never see him again, dead was an ending for all things. Deceased held a whisper of a promise that at some point they could see him again, in the after life or not. Dead... that word was trying to force its way to his tongue but he wouldn't let it. He would kill it in his throat each and every time it tried to associate itself with his family and friends. They could never die, they would be together forever, life... was only a stage, just one stage.

"No," Leo felt Donatello relax with a large sigh of relief. He didn't want to say more but he felt that is was a necessity, "But... I don't know how much longer he can handle what they are doing."

It was silent once more before brown green hands came up and took a hold of his wrists. Pulling himself free, the younger turtle turned around in his chair, looking up at his love's eyes a hardness was there but also fright and hurt. Donatello now knew that he saw something that should have never been lived. He moved a hand to lace fingers with the forest green turtle, he was going to be the strong one now. Leonardo saw the devil and needed to step away to get back his bearings. The shorter of the two lifted himself off of his chair, the movement pushing his brother back a step. "Say that again Leo," he asked tenderly even though he was certain his voice was straining not to hiss.

"I don't know how much longer he can handle what they are doing to him," he repeated as a reassuring hand was placed on his cheek. He leaned into the touch instinctively.

"Then we make sure they have no more time," Donatello narrowed his eyes, letting go of his brother in favor to gather things off of his desk. "You stay here and stay with Master Splinter, you will have to watch him."

"Donatello what are you-"

The tenchno geek turned around sharply, items already in his duffel bag, "You're in no shape to fight right now Leo, I need you to stay here with Sensei. If what you saw could shake you up that badly he's going to need someone to lean on. Whatever you saw in Raph's head is probably going to damage him more than you or me, he's old Leo and our father."

"And you're in no shape to lead, you'll need back up. You can't just take this as a sole mission!"

"I won't!" Donatello's voice was hard, calm, calculating and above all else it was cold. It froze Leonardo deep down, he had never heard his brother like that. His sweet Donatello who was all warmth and kindness, he was now showing the hidden side of him, the ninja that was trained to dispose of evidence and creep in the shadows. He was finally getting to see all of his love. This new side, the one that was deep with in, it was almost... frightening. "Just go to Splinter, I'll keep in contact with you via shell cell. I agree with Mikey and Casey, it's time we ended all of this."

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Raphael had nothing left in him. All he could do to keep awake now was stare at the bars, his mouth open as his breath was coming in and out ragged and becoming painful. If he was going to die, then he didn't want to die while having one of those nightmares. It was bad enough to see one brother die in a gruesome way, but now it was getting to the point where they all did. Everything he knew and loved was being torn apart over and over again. Each time he woke up he only knew he had a nightmare because of the change of scenery. He couldn't distinguish reality any more, and he was silently begging that he was awake.

He swallowed a hard lump in his throat, his drying tongue resting against his teeth as saliva pooled around his lip on the floor. He didn't even have the energy to close his mouth, it hurt when he blinked and he tried to do it as little as possible. All he could tell was that there was something in him now, someone came while he was thrashing in his sleep and put some nifty holes in his head where wires were poked into and fixed down. There were some in his sides and arms as well. They were long and fed into the wall, he didn't know if someone was just on the other side of that wall or not, he just knew that if he moved then there was more pain. Couldn't he just die? Couldn't they just stick a knife into him and cut him apart? It would have been a lot more merciful. Then again, mercy seemed to never favor the ninja turtle. It always did have something against him.

The ground shook, a crack and tumble sound of debris far off down the hall. He might have been interested if he had not just closed his eyes, his breath slowing, his heart growing tired. It would have been nice to have seen all of his family once more, maybe have taken Casey up on that offer to try some alcohol. He never liked the smell of it, but he wouldn't have minded seeing how it tasted. He would have liked to visit that old lady and her cat again, Mrs. Morris and Lucy, maybe introduce them to Mikey, she was a nice lady. Mikey would have liked her. April would have said she was the grandma type, Leo would just be happy that they made a new human friend that didn't judge off of sight, maybe make a small good humored joke about it to Donnie... He would miss them terribly, would regret not spending more time with Splinter and the rest. But it was okay, right? He could still watch over his family and friends... right?

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Michelangelo felt the bone break against his knee as he flung himself though the air. Donatello had gotten a break through using his laptop and satellite systems, he pin pointed everything they could find from his knee pads to tire tracks in the dirt and pin pointed them on a map. With some weird triangulation that the orange clad turtle wasn't listening to, he had managed to narrow down a few possibilities. This was the second to the last place to check, every where else had been empty but this place was full of goons clad in black. They were Bishop's men, and they were going to pay for even being associated with the bastard.

To Be Continued...