Leonardo ran to the edge of the roof and crouched at the ledge to peer over. The building in front of him was one of the many warehouses set up along the outskirts of the city. A small dock branched off of the back of the building into the water. Roaming back and forth on this was a small group of Foot soldiers. Leo receded from the edge, turning to his brothers and beckoning them forward.
"This is it." He said. They all silently dashed to his side. He looked at each turtle in turn. "Okay, everybody remember the plan?" He asked. The three of them nodded. Then, everyone turned to Mikey. "Got it?" Leo asked him. Mikey looked at Leo as though he head two heads.
"I said I did, didn't I?" He whispered hotly. His brothers gaped at him. Was there ever a time when Mikey didn't need the plan repeated to him? Apparently so. Leo cleared his throat.
"Uh, yeah. Right." He said, shifting on the balls of his feet. "So, are we ready then?" Once again, the three brothers nodded their heads. Leo gave Mikey a second glance, but said nothing else.
"Just remember, if it goes wrong-"
"Forget her, give up, get out fast, escape through the water. We get it, okay? Now let's go." Mikey interrupted. He looked at the surprised faces of his brothers impatiently before turning and darting to the edge of the roof. After looking down at the scene, he turned back to his brothers. Raph grunted.
"I'm with the hothead." He muttered. He went to stand by Michelangelo. Donnie and Leo exchanged one worried look before joining them. Raph put a hand on Mikey's shoulder momentarily, looking between him and Donnie.
"See you on the other side." He said, then, with a mock salute, he leaped through the air onto the closest power line, beginning to shimmy his way across it. Leo turned to his two remaining brothers.
"See you." He said, before doing the same thing Raphael had. Donnie turned to Mikey. Mikey's eyes met his before darting away quickly.
"Come on." Mikey said, jumping down from the building. With a small sigh, Donnie followed him.
They landed on the end of the dock. Immediately the mass of Foot jumped to action, drawing their weapons and running towards the two turtles. Mikey and Donnie instantly drew their weapons, ready to fight the small group. Before any sort of battle could commence, the group stopped. With their bodies they formed a wall, trapping the turtles between the water and themselves. Mikey looked at Donnie, who was equally perplexed. He looked back at the watching Foot.
"What's up?" He asked nonchalantly. Had Donnie not have been seeing what he was, he would have figured one of Mikey's long lost pals had just shown up.
"Weapons. Go." One of the soldiers responded in a strong accent that neither of the turtles recognized. Mikey looked at Donnie once again, and flashed him a winning Michelangelo smile.
"I guess teaching these guys to speak isn't in the Shredder's budget." He said, grinning at the group. "Don't worry, guys, you'll just have to step up your toaster-stealing game from now on." He said to them. Donnie was put off by the sudden mood change of his younger brother. Mikey being Mikey again was a good thing, right?
A large looking member of the group stepped forward, growling at them. "Weapons. Go. Now." The one that had spoken before demanded. Mikey raised his brows.
"Another word, impressive!"
Donnie elbowed him. "Mikey." He hissed.
"What?" Mikey whispered back with a grin. "I'm just messing around."
"Lynn." Donnie said. Mikey's grin fell.
"Alright, alright!" Mikey called out, addressing the Foot again. "Weapons go, yadda yadda." He threw his over his shoulder without looking back. There was a splash as they landed in the water behind them. Donnie copied him. The big Foot soldier that had stepped forward grunted and stepped to the side. In one fluid movement, the rest of the group did the same. With their bodies they had cleared a path, soldiers lining both side. Mikey shrugged, and walked forward into them. Donnie followed him closely, scanning the still faces of the Foot. Once the two of them had walked a few steps, the large one shoved Donnie from behind, causing him to stumble forward into his brother.
"Hey!" Donnie cried. He turned his head to give a irritated look at the emotionless face of the masked Foot behind him.
"I don't really think manners was on the budget, either." Mikey muttered.
"Clearly not."
The group led them to the doors. One of the smaller men stepped forward and banged on them twice. A moment later, the doors opened inward without a sound. Behind them was yet another group of Foot soldiers. They too stepped aside, clearing a similar path for the two turtles to walk through. Donnie noticed Mikey swallow nervously. He tried to reach forward to put a hand on his brother's shoulder, but one of the men grabbed his arm and forced it back down before he could. Donnie glared into the crowd of Foot that had formed on either side of them.
The group led the two brothers down a dimly lit hallway, which ended in another massive double-door. The Foot stopped. Donnie and Mikey looked at them, waiting for some sort of change. One of the men that had been toward the front gestured towards the door. The big one that had been behind Donatello shoved both of them forward.
"I think our friends are saying goodbye." Donnie said in a low voice. Mikey turned to him.
"Don't you know, Donnie?" He asked, his voice shaking slightly. "Friends never say goodbye."
Donnie scoffed. "Right. They just shove you a lot." As soon as he said this, the big soldier grunted loudly and shoved them again at the door.
"Okay, okay, we get it." Mikey said. "We're going." He turned to the door and took a big breath. This time as Donnie reached out to him, no one stopped him. Mikey nodded almost as though Donnie had said something to him, and reached out to the door. Donnie noticed his hands were shaking slightly. Mikey gave him one last look that Donnie couldn't quite read, then shoved open the doors.
As soon as the doors opened, Mikey raised a hand to his eyes, stopping short. Donnie ran into him from behind, similarly blinded.
"Blinded by the light." Mikey found the courage to mutter. The two of them could hear the heavy doors closing behind them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, turtles. I forgot vermin such as yours dwell in darkness." The snakelike voice of Hiroto suddenly growled. "I'll turn those down for you." His voice echoed around the two turtles. Donnie, stepped forward, feeling his brother tense beside him. Then, the lights turned off. Mikey dropped his arm. The room was completely black, except for a single spot in the very center of the room that was illuminated with a spotlight. In this, was Emilynn. She was tied to a chair, seemingly unconscious. A choked sounding gasp came from Michelangelo. He took a quick step forward, but Donnie grabbed his arm, stopping him. Mikey looked back at the dark shadow of his brother with wide eyes.
"Wait." Donnie whispered. He squeezed Mikey's arm. Mikey's eyes looked down to the dark outline of Donnie's hand. His head fell with a small whimper of a noise. Then, he lifted it and nodded firmly. He could only hope his hidden brothers could see it in such darkness.
"Where is he?" Mikey said quietly. A low chuckle bounced across the room, immediately following his question.
"Everywhere, reptile." Hiroto's voice sounded from directly behind them. They both turned, but saw nothing. Mikey turned again to the spotlight, to see that it was no longer on Emilynn. It was slowly crawling across the floor towards the two of them. It stopped directly overhead, making the rest of the room invisible.
"You're uglier than I imagined." He said in a disgusted tone. Neither turtle could make out at this point where his voice was coming from. Donnie gulped, and Mikey suddenly grinned.
Their luck had for once worked in their favor. Whoever this man was, he apparently was not the slightest bit fazed that there was only two turtles. Unless he was acting, it was apparent that he had no clue how many turtles there actually were. He thought he had them right where he wanted them. He was wrong.
"I could say the same for you, bud." Raphael's voice suddenly said, echoing with the same effect that Hiroto's had.
"What?" They all heard Hiroto gasp, before the entire room was suddenly lit up again. Squinting, Mikey could make out Raph's figure, standing above a clearly unconscious man. He was holding some sort of remote device. Raph looked up to his two brothers.
"That guy sucked." He said. Donnie grinned.
"Way to go, Raph!" He said approvingly. Raph smirked smugly.
"I'm great, I know." Then he looked around with a disappointed look on his face. "Not much of a fight, though."
"Where's Lynn?" Mikey said in a small, panicked voice. They all looked to the now empty chair sitting in the center of the empty room .
"I got her."
They turned, and Leo was suddenly there, holding the limp girl in his arms. Mikey gasped with such force that a small squeak escaped him. He rushed over to Leo, looking at Lynn. His face immediately crumpled upon seeing her state. He groaned.
"Oh n-"
Mikey's voice was cut off as suddenly an ear-piercing alarm started blaring through the building. The door from which they had entered smashed open, and a sea of Foot soldiers started pouring out of it. Raphael grinned evilly.
"Now this is a fight!" He yelled, charging into the mass head-on.
"Raph!" Leo cried. "We have to retreat!"
Raph continued to plow through Foot men, oblivious to his brother's call. Leo groaned, then looked at Mikey. Suddenly, he shifted Emilynn, placing her in Mikey's arms.
"Protect her." He said, knowing that Mikey did not need to be told. Mikey held her against him tightly as Leo dashed off to retrieve Raph. Donnie ran over to Mikey, pulling his shoulder.
"Mikey, move!" He cried.
"Why?" Mikey asked. His question was never heard, as suddenly a huge crash blasted through the room. Mikey darted out of the way just in time for the Shellraiser to come smashing through the wall and skidding to a halt right where he had been standing. The door slid open, and April hung out of it.
"Come on!" She yelled. Mikey and Donnie ran to her, and she ducked out of the way as they both leaped into the door.
"Where's Leo and Raph?" She asked them as Mikey carefully sat Emilynn in his seat, buckling her limp figure in as best as he could. Donnie opened his mouth to reply just as the two turtles in question jumped in the door.
Leo slammed the door shut behind them, running to the driver's seat. Kasey sat in it, holding the wheel tightly.
"Can I drive? That was awesome." He said, grinning at Leo like a madman.
"Kasey, no." Leo said. Kasey groaned, getting up just as loud banging started shaking the vehicle. Leo quickly slid into his seat.
"Hold on!" He said loudly, slamming on the pedal. Everyone cried out, falling on top of each other. Mikey grabbed Emilynn, preventing Raphael from landing on her. He instead landed on Mikey's shell with an irritated huff.
"You could have given us a second!" He growled, shoving himself up off of his brother hotly. Everyone struggled to find their footing. Raphael went to his position with the Shellraiser's weapons, deciding to take out his anger by smashing into the remaining Foot soldiers from inside of the vehicle.
Kasey watched Leo's intense driving ruefully. "I could have totally handled driving back. I was a friggin' pro."
April rolled her eyes from where she now sat in Donnie's usual seat with a scoff. "Kasey, the only reason you were a 'pro' is because you were supposed to crash into something."
Kasey sent her an offended look. "Yeah, sure." He sighed. "You and Leo are such party crashers sometimes."
"Right?" Raph grunted. "I could have totally fought all those guys by myself."
"Raph, don't lie to yourself." Donnie said. Leo held up one finger as though seconding that thought. He was too busy with his insane driving to chip in otherwise.
"You want to bet, Don?" Raph said. "I could take you on."
"I'd be willing to test that theory." Donnie said.
"Oohh!" Kasey said excitedly. "I bet Raph. Sorry, Don." He gave Donnie an apologetic look, which Donnie brushed away with his hand.
Mikey continued to hold Emilynn tightly as this exchange took place, not paying any attention to his brother's nonsense. April, seeing the concern in his face, got up and went to him, letting Donnie take his usual place. She put a hand on Mikey's head lightly. He looked up.
"You okay?" She asked softly. He looked back at Emilynn. His eyes locked with one of the many cuts along her arms.
"Look at her." He said. April did, for the first time. She winced, seeing the same thing Mikey was. Emilynn was a mess of gashes and bruises, and what looked like burn marks. Her wrists were completely chafed. No doubt her ankles and legs were the same. April could only hope that the man had left the rest of her body alone. But, as she was looking, Emilynn's head lolled to the side, falling on Mikey's shoulder. April could see that the bruises continued along her neck and face, and they seemed to trail beneath the collar of her shirt. April shuddered, kneeling next to Mikey and doing her best to wrap her arms around him.
"It's not your fault, Mikey." She said. Surprisingly, Mikey laughed. His eyes locked with April's.
"April." He said. She was chilled by just how un-Mikey he sounded. "It's all my fault."
Sorry for the short chapter. I planned on continuing it but thought that I would leave it just for the sake of being dramatic. I had a bit of a hard time writing this chapter, honestly. Don't really know why. Sorry if it's a little eh. I'm excited to write the next one, though, so hopefully it'll be better. I hope you liked it! See you around c: