Hope everyone's been enjoying my other stories
I think I might have been a little inspired... lol
;)
Chapter 9:
(Donnie's POV)
"This should be it." I announced, looking at a sign near a ladder that lead to the surface before making my way up and attempted to open the cover, however the damn thing refused to budge leaving me to sigh dejectedly. I then turned back to find Raph coming up as well, so swiftly moved to the side letting him take a crack at the stubborn piece of metal.
"Damn!" He swore when it continued to remain stuck. "It must be blocked." He added before adjusting his stance and took a few deep breathes to channel his strength and tried again. This time there was the distinct sound of shifting stone and twisting metal and I winced as the manhole cover actually started to bend under his strength.
Of course this was when water started pouring in and I quickly moved over to get behind him so he wouldn't fall if he lost his footing while he continued to work on the blockage until finally the debris above had been shifted enough that he was able to just throw off the lid and man-handle his way up to the surface as the water continued to flow over the edges.
"We're good." He called back and I quickly followed him to find that we had come up exactly where I had planed. Though it didn't look too much like the Wall Street from old newspaper pictures, it was still somewhat recognizable through the foliage, rusted old cars and flooded streets.
"Wow!" Mikey exclaimed when he arrived at the top of the hole and hopped out before turning around to grab Zira's hand and helped her up as well.
"Thanks Sunshine." She declared sugarly and he blushed.
"Ya know it's actually kinda – peaceful." Raph stated when Leo joined us as well and I found that I couldn't help but agree with him.
The Greek-style architecture of the New York Stock Exchange seemed to ironically accent the trees that were now so tall that their leaves filtered the light, giving the stream-like streets a somewhat enchanted feel.
"That doesn't mean it is?" Leo stated as Mikey used his eagle eyes to search the area for any trouble.
"Actually – I think they're right." He announced in shock.
"Why do ya say that?" Zira requested disbelievingly but my little brother just causally pointing her to a spot down the way where there were actually a couple of deer grazing naturally.
The timid creatures saw us as well, but from one animal to another we showed them we were no threat and kindly respected their dinner as they continued on their way without fear, leaving us to do the same.
"So where's this dome supposed ta – never mind." Raph started to ask as we rounded a corner up ahead, only to look up and discover we were right outside the wall of orange energy-like dome.
"That's more like it." Leo announced before leading the way toward the city's borders as we carefully picked our way across the streets and around husks of cars that were hardly even recognizable anymore. However when we finally reached the wall and looked around we realized there was no entrance.
"How do you see anything in this city?" Zira complained sourly as she looked around the corner of a skyscraper only for her line of sight to be blocked by trees and more buildings.
"We go up." Leo answered simply and pointed toward a random office building which we quietly started moving toward.
"Ya any good at climbin'?" Raph asked in annoyance as he reached out to grab a window sill and effortlessly hauled himself up to the one above it, leaving her to give him a dry glare which slowly turned to a look of uncertainty as her eyes traveled up the 50 plus stories to the top of the building.
"This is relatively small for New York." I told her truthfully causing her to turn to me in shock like she had forgotten I was there. "There were over 5,000 completed high-rises in it's time and nearly 98 of them stood taller than 600 feet."
"That is not making me feel better." She growled before beginning her climb, leaving me to follow after her carefully. Though she was clearly a seasoned climber by the way she naturally used her claws to dig in, it was obvious by the way she kept looking up that she wasn't use to climbing buildings.
"Come on." I told her gently once we had reached a floor where she could hop through the window to sit on the branch of a tree. "I'll take you the rest of the way." I offered, pointing toward my back but she seemed to be relatively torn about that, obviously fussing over her pride by this point.
"Zira come on." I complained as I looked up to find my brothers were nearly halfway up and had now turned back to see what was taking so long. "It'll take us all day at this rate, just let me help you."
"Fine." She relented and maneuvered over to put her arms around my neck.
"Ow!" I complained quietly. "Do you sharpen your claws?"
"Yes I do." She announced smugly and I roiled my eyes before beginning to climb again. "You're going too fast." She argued a moment later and I clearly felt her grip tighten a little.
"I'm not going too fast." I countered in annoyance.
"You're gonna lose you're grip."
"I'm not gonna lose my grip."
"You're –"
"Zira – I know what I'm doing." I told her sternly and she finally shut up to let me concentrate on scaling the foliage ridden wall until I reached my brothers again, who wisely decided not to comment as we all started making our way to the top of the high-rise once more.
"Wow!" Mikey exclaimed when we finally reached the top and I allowed Zira to climb off my back into the branches of the large tree. "Look at that view." He added with a smile as he leaned out over the edge of the building to look down.
I had to admit he had a point, up here was just as overgrown as down on the ground floor, as the buildings all seemed to be connected through an intricate network of rooftop jungles. Yet we could still look down and see the top of the forest below as well.
It was an interesting experience to say the least for we certainly didn't have anything like it in Japan. But then again we had never been to any of the taller cities either, at least not any that weren't flooded.
Strong overlaying branches and a system of roots made it easier to hop between the buildings, though we still had to take a peek below the leaves every once in the while so we didn't miss the entry port. But when it was all said and done it was certainly easier than having to navigate on the ground.
"There!" Mikey called after nearly an hour and we turned to find him hanging from a tree branch over the ravine to point at something.
"Get away from there!" Zira suddenly ordered making us all jump and look at her in shock, which quickly made her recollect herself and look at anything but Mikey as my youngest brother carefully returned to solid ground, obviously at a complete loss about what he had done wrong.
"There's something on the side of the dome." He finally explained to Leo who had nodded that he could continue. "It could be the port."
"Good job." Leo congratulated and patted the turtle on the shoulder before walking over to take a look for himself. "Let's go check it out." He added.
"But what if it's not the port?" Zira countered and we all looked at her again.
"For cryin' out loud lady, yur messin' with my vibe here." Raph companied sourly. "I'm the one that questions Leo's orders."
"You're not helping." Leo informed him sourly but my red-clad brother just smiled at him smugly causing Leo to sigh and turn back to her. "Zira, I don't give orders I wouldn't abide by myself and I don't expect you to follow me blindly. But I can't have you continually arguing with me, it throws off our chain of command."
She seemed to consider that for a moment but didn't answer as she just folded her arms and looked away from him in annoyance, so he tried again.
"But –" He sighed. "If it makes you feel any better – Donnie is actually second in command here." He revealed simply, causing her to look at me in shock. "He has the authority to question anything I say and if he ever thought that my orders were dangerous or unnecessary; his word alone would stop anyone else from following me."
"We don't follow Leo because he's our big brother Zira." Mikey put in suddenly and she looked at him as he went on. "We follow him because he's a good leader."
"Okay!" She finally relented around a sigh and turned back to the blue-clad turtle. "I'm – sorry." She added painfully, causing him to raise an eye-ridge at her.
"Careful, I'd hate for you to strain yourself." He stated sarcastically causing her to glare at him.
"Take the complement?" She ordered with a growl and he smiled.
"You're right – thank you." He added quickly while she continued to stare him down.
"But just out of curiosity –" She added nicely. "How are we going to get down?"
I had nearly turned to answer her when I happened to notice the right evil smile dominating the expression on Raph's face before he suddenly picked her up bridal-style and jumped off the roof with her screaming at the top of her lungs.
Looking over the edge I found myself laughing as they landed on the tops of the trees below and she quickly jumped away from him to out right attack the jerk for the act, but he was obviously still too happy with himself to feel it.
I looked back at Leo as he sighed loudly before speaking up again. "I get the feeling this is going to be a long mission."
…
(3rd:)
"Well would ya look at that?" Raph quailed happily before reaching out to trap Mikey's head under his arm to give him a noogie. "Yu've definitely got the gift little brother." He congratulated as we peaked through the leaves to see a large archway in the side of the dome.
"Come on." Leo ordered and quietly jumped from the trees to land like a cat on the ground before leading the way over to the entrance. However when they got there they still found themselves blocked off with the same energy-like field that made up the rest of the wall, though the doorway was obviously made with a smaller amount; as it was a lot lighter in color.
"So – what da we do now? Knock?" Raph asked, walking forward to look through the energy, trying to see if anyone was there.
"Maybe there's a doorbell or a – AHH!" Mikey started to suggest before being interrupted by the energy field suddenly dropping, which caused him to leap away from it in shock.
A moment later they all took notice of the two men with weapons meandering toward them from a small watch house and quietly stood about to wait for their arrival, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible.
"What's you're business here?" One of them asked and they all turned to Leo who took a single step toward them.
"We're trying to find a friend of ours, August O'Neil." He stated respectfully causing one of them to pull out a register form, while the other kept his gun on the turtles protectively.
"Donatello?" The one with the book asked after a minute.
"Yes, that's me?" Donnie answered and the man moved over to cross-reference him with the description he had on record.
"When's the last time he saw you?" The man asked skeptically and they winced.
"When we were five." Donnie proclaimed with a pained smile and the men laughed a little at that.
"Alright, we'll have to have him called up." The man explained kindly as he clipped the book onto his belt again and held out his hand. "Please hand over your weapons, they'll be returned after you've completed a few tests." He added and they reluctantly did as he said before the other man pointed them toward a doorway and stayed back to reinstate the energy shield once they had passed the threshold.
The next several minutes were uncomfortable; but they managed not to destroy anything or hit anyone as a few nurses took a blood test, checked their vitals and so on to make sure they weren't carrying anything that could wipe out their fragile little city.
"Can I ask what happens to the samples after you're done?" Leo asked nervously while the nurse took his blood, causing him to fight like crazy not to twitch as the needle entered his skin.
"If you'd like they can be destroyed." The woman offered, clearly this wasn't her first time being asked such a question.
"I would appreciate that thank you." He said with a polite bow in her direction before getting up so Raph could take his place.
After that they ended up just kind of shuffling around the waiting area as they burnt off some of the energy they had been storing since their arrival. That is until the doors suddenly slammed shut and the room started flashing with red and blue lights as a voice over the intercoms stated that something called a code 4 was breached.
"What's happening?" Zira asked when a bunch of armed guards gathered on the other side of the doors to point their guns at them through the energy field.
"Get on the ground!" One up front ordered.
"Do as he says." Leo commanded quietly when his brothers prepared to fight, leaving them to all reluctantly raise their hands and kneel on the floor, which allowed the men to drop the shield and rush in to apprehend them.
In a matter of seconds the group had their hands cuffed behind their backs and were forced to lie completely on the floor while people rushed around everywhere in a frenzy of motion.
"Aren't they supposed to read us our rights?" Mikey asked nervously.
"They don't do that anymore Mike." Donnie answered quietly while Leo attempted to find out what was going on.
"Sir!" He ordered sternly successfully getting the leader's attention again. "Will you please tell us what's happening?"
The man scoffed like he didn't believe for a second that the turtle didn't already know, but answered anyway. "We found the nano-bots in your blood." He stated simply.
"No, you don't understand –" Leo countered, trying to get up again until someone pointed a gun at his head and he quickly went back to lying on the floor. "They don't control us." He added seriously.
"That's a shame." The guard answered causing them to look at him questionably. "If they did we could have helped you. But we certainly aren't going to aid one of Shredder's spies."
I didn't think of this when I deleted the Authors note, but I have to wonder if it messed up the comment section and made it hard for people to leave reviews. If this is the case I'm sorry. ^-^;