A/n: Okay, so I lied. It was less than two weeks. Go me!

Chapter 10 – The Carnival is Over

.:…:.

Leo kept his arms crossed to ward off the 3am chill. His eyes were narrowed and distant as he leaned against the wall in the shadows of the warehouse across the street from the building they were watching.

Don and Mikey knew not to disturb him when he had that 'leader' look on his face. He could hear them murmuring to each other very quietly in the shadows next to him, and he was glad they were keeping their distance. He had to be able to focus, and right now he could only do that if he was Leader, not Brother. He'd almost lost control with Casey's phone call. The leader in him knew they had to wait for the darkest hours of the night when they wouldn't be seen. But the brother in him was dying to storm in and do some damage to the people who'd been ignorant enough to cause harm to his family.

Raph. It was cruel to finally be so close to him now, just across the street, and to have to wait. It made him ache, and pushed his self-control to its limits.

So he was glad that Mikey and Don were refraining from questioning him.

He leaned forward suddenly and his eyes narrowed even further. A man in a long, dark overcoat was leaving the front entrance of the building, locking the doors behind him. The tension rose palpably between the three turtles as the man got into his car and drove away. All of the windows of the building were now dark.

Leo could feel the eyes of the other two on him. They had been waiting until they thought the building was completely deserted, and this was probably their best bet. He didn't have the heart to hold them (or himself) back any longer.

"Time to go."

They ignored the front entrance, ducking across the empty street to the back of the building, making their way to the truck delivery area. As well as one docking space on ground level there was a driveway leading down below ground, closed by a roller door.

Leo huddled down with Mikey in the shadows of the door as Don set to work on the simple electric panel to one side. Barely a minute, and he had raised the door just enough so that they could enter at a crouch.

"Too easy," Don commented. "We've dealt with a lot tighter security than this before."
"This ain't exactly Foot Headquarters, bro. What would they need security for in this place?"
"I guess there's not much to steal in here..."

Leo agreed privately - most of the upper floors of the building had been abandoned, and there probably wasn't much of any interest on the lower floors. But somehow it burned him to think of Raphael being kept in a place where no one ever thought anyone would bother to break in. They never even suspected that he could be worth it, that someone could be searching for him.

What if he's given up? What if he thinks we aren't coming? He shoved the thoughts away; now was not the time to dwell on them. Focus.

Through the door they found the driveway continued downhill a short distance, illuminated by only some minimal safety lighting. The walls were a grimy concrete, and the ceiling was low overhead. There was a slightly mouldy smell in the still air.

The three turtles moved forward soundlessly down the passage. Next to the empty truck bay at the end there was a short flight of stairs. They went up and through another door (this one unlocked) to find themselves in another passageway, much smaller, with doors spaced along one side at irregular intervals.

"Do we split up?" Don asked.

Leo considered for a second. "No, better not. According to Casey, the men here were armed, and if anyone's still here after hours they'll probably be very interested in getting their hands on us. We'll just check the rooms one by one. He's got to be down here somewhere."

Mikey seemed to be leaning all his weight on the balls of his feet, desperate to start searching.

They began at one end of the corridor and worked their way down, pulling out narrow torches to light their way rather than risking switching any lights on and attracting unwanted attention. The first few doors they tried were just broom cupboards and empty storage spaces. Another room appeared to be a disused cafeteria.

"… Are you sure we're in the right place?" Mikey was beginning to look worried.

"This has to be it," Don hissed, his eyes narrowing as he opened a door to peer into yet another room.

This one was a small auditorium, and all three of them could sense immediately that this space had been used very recently. The floor was sticky with spilt beer, and the stale smell of sweat and cigarette smoke still hung in the air.

They walked slowly into the centre of the room. Leo bent down to pick up a piece of straw from the ground. The three of them looked at it for a moment.

"There's more over here!" Mikey scrambled up and onto the small stage at one end of the auditorium, and Don and Leo followed, their torch beams sweeping the ground in front of them. Don fumbled behind the curtains at the back of the stage.

"Stage door," he murmured to Leo.

"Let's try it," Leo moved to join him. "We're running out of places to search."

The door was unlocked, and creaked open at Don's push. The three brothers found themselves in yet another dinky brick passageway. It rounded a corner, and before them they saw a door labelled 'Stage Props'. Leo opened it.

Even before the light of his torch could illuminate the cramped room, he knew that he wasn't alone in there. There was rustling, breathing, and eyes shining out at him from the darkness. He took a tentative step forward.

"Raph," he called softly, "are you in here?" The other two behind him seemed to be holding their breath.

Leo raised his torch and let its beam sweep across the room, revealing rows of cages. A couple of the dogs inside growled half-heartedly at him.

"These cages are far too small," Don muttered disapprovingly. "I bet the RSPCA would have something to say about – woah!"

"What?" Two other torch beams swung towards him.

A large tiger stared blearily up at Don from where it lay curled on the floor of its cage.

"Woah," Mikey agreed quietly. Don backed away from the cage to stand beside his brothers.

"How the heck did they get a tiger here?"

"… Maybe the same way they got the bear?" Mikey suggested weakly, his torch pointed at the sleeping creature.

Leo continued to search the room, his hopes fading. He had been so sure that Raph would still be here…

Then the light from his torch fell across something dark green to the left of the tiger's cage. Don and Mikey heard his indrawn breath, and added their torchlight to his.

Raphael squinted back at them against the bright light, and at the sight of his missing brother's face behind the bars of a cage, all the muscles in Leo's body seemed to freeze up.

He hadn't forgotten what Raph had told him about the stitching. He'd been shocked, and outraged, but he hadn't been able to picture it. Not like this. The black stitches criss-crossed Raphael's beak, thick and harsh against his skin. They changed his whole face, making him almost unrecognisable. Leo could feel himself staring, horrified, but couldn't turn away.

The frozen tableau was broken by a tiny, muffled noise in the back of Mikey's throat. Leo's muscles came unlocked all at once and he stumbled forward suddenly, completely lacking his usual grace. At the same second, Raphael closed his eyes and turned his face away from the light of their torches.

He doesn't want us to see him, Leo realised with a wrench of misery as he reached his brother's side. Oh, Raph. You idiot. We need to see you. He reached through the bars to grip Raph's arm, reassuring himself that he was real. Raph seemed to sag slightly under his touch, still avoiding his gaze.

"Raph, it's okay, we're getting you out," Mikey babbled next to Leo. He examined the sturdy padlock on the door of the cage. "Donny?"

Don stepped up, the massive boltcutters already out of his bag. Leo just stayed out of his way as he removed the lock, and kept his hand on Raph's arm. His skin was cool to the touch, and shivering ever so slightly. Mikey hovered.

The padlock fell to the floor with a clank, and one side of the cage swung open on its hinges. Don stepped inside, and knelt down beside his brother on the straw.

"Okay. Let's get you out of here, bro." Gently, he lifted the cuffs binding Raph's wrists, and ran one hand up his arm to where the IV needle sank into his dark green flesh. Don felt a small tremor run through Raph's body as he slowly removed the needle. Once that was done, he moved back to his brother's wrists and found where they were chained down to the floor. He set to work, and soon the chains holding Raph down and hobbling his ankles had been flung to one side.

"I can't get the cuffs off until we get back to the Battleshell," said Don apologetically, helping Raph to his feet.

Leonardo was watching his brother's expression as Raph took his first step out of the cage. It was nervous, uncertain. He seemed battered and a little weak, but quite capable of staying on his feet. Mikey moved up beside him anyway, and slung one of Raph's arms across his shoulders to support him. Raph grunted slightly as the muscles in his arms were stretched in a new direction. Leo could clearly see Raph wanted to protest at the 'invalid treatment', and claim that he could walk just fine on his own. The look of frustration on his face spoke louder than words, but in a way Leo was glad to see it. It was a spark of the Raphael he knew.

"Let's get out of here," Leo said. Don nodded, and flipped open his shell cell.

"Casey, we're ready to go. Bring the Battleshell around."

Raphael stumbled twice on his way out of the room, his legs unused to so much movement. As Mikey coaxed him out the door, he looked backwards over his shoulder one last time. He thought he could see the tiger's amber eyes glowing at him in the dark.

.:…:.

To be honest, Raphael didn't remember much of the ride home. He didn't even really remember getting out of the building, just the impression of open space, way too much space around him and an enormous sky yawning over his head. Then the aching relief of the Battleshell's familiar interior, his brothers crowded around him, too close and suffocating like they always were but he'd let them get away with it this time because, well, because. And there was Casey at the wheel, his stupid face all scrunched up when he caught sight of Raph, and if that was pity then he was going to beat his fucking head in, because he couldn't take that from Casey. Casey, who (Raph knew he hadn't imagined it, now) had seen him as trapped and helpless as he'd ever been, who'd seen…

Raph turned his head away from the front seat and let Casey get on with the driving.

As soon as Don had got the first of the metal cuffs off, Raph felt Leo grip one of his hands in his own. Raph almost rolled his eyes – he usually hated this kind of thing, but just for now it seemed easier to go along with it. It was almost nice, for once, to not be expected to put his thoughts into clumsy words; to have an excuse for silence. So when Leonardo squeezed his hand softly, Raph didn't let himself think about it too much, and just squeezed back.

.:…:.