Chapter 11
The ensuing fight was bloody, there was no other way to describe it. Raphael wasted no time in slashing his way to his brother's side, dragging Brandon's frightened form with him. Brandon didn't stay frightened for long, however, as rage enveloped him as soon as he saw his brother's limp body. He jumped in to the fray, a slightly better fighter than Daniel, and tried to take down at least two of their opponents.
"Jeeze, what'd you do to piss off this many people?" Raphael ground out to Mikey as he slammed the pommel of his sai into the temple of a particularly aggressive teenager.
"Why's it always gotta be something I did? Why can't it ever just be that something happened to me without my provoking it?" Mikey's voice was high with indignation and exertion as he twisted a kusari-gama in the chain connecting the wood of his nunchaku and forcing the person wielding it backwards.
"Because, you always do something that gets us into these messes. It never just happens."
"Well, it did this time. I swear!" Mikey executed a roundhouse kick and took out one of the opponents sneaking up behind Raphael. Raph grunted in acknowledgement, still fighting off his own people.
How many people are there?" Raphael questioned as still more gang members swarmed.
"It's Hydro," Brandon shouted over to them, having just knocked out one of the members and, after lifting the kid's shirt sleeve, seeing the tattoo.
"I thought you said Hydro was a small gang!"
"It grew!"
"No shit!" Raphael punched an adversary in the groove where the neck met the collar bone, sending him crumpling to the ground.
"We have to go!" Brandon had dropped down to his injured brother's side and saw the extent of the damage.
"And leave the fight?" Raphael questioned, incredulous.
"Yes!" Brandon's voice grew lower in pitch as he threw his brother over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"I'll cover you guys! Mikey, go with 'em!"
"Sure thing, bro!" Michelangelo quickly dipped and dodged his way over to the twins, grimacing every time his ankle had pressure put on it.
Michelangelo led the twins away, clearing a path for Brandon to walk through. He heard a shout not to far behind, and knew Raph was following, albeit slowly. Once the four of them had gotten out of the mob, Mikey ran one way with Brandon following, while Raphael distracted the gang members and took off in the opposite direction.
"Man," Raphael grunted, dodging a punch and consequentially running into an unseen enemy behind him. The man spun him around and punched him straight in the jaw. Raph didn't flinch as he felt the blood pooling in his mouth, instead kicking the man back into a wall. "Don't you ever get the hint?" he ran a little further until his back faced the wall of a three-story apartment building. He leaped up, grabbed the edge of the escape ladder, and was soon running from rooftop to rooftop, his assailants left far behind.
The majority of the gang had gone after Raph, leaving only a few for Mikey to take out. Once they were all clear, he wasted no time in finding a man hole and jumping down.
"How're you holding up?" he questioned to Brandon, who was shifting Daniel from shoulder to shoulder in apparent discomfort.
"Alright."
"Let me take him," Mikey offered, holding his arms out. Brandon carefully placed Daniel in Mikey's arms and rolled his shoulders to release the tension.
"This whole thing is getting crazy. I say just let the damn bombs go off. You guys are underground, anyway! It's not like you have that big of a deal to worry about!" Brandon was grumbling, but something made Mikey stop.
"What did you just say?" he questioned, turning to fully face the twin.
"Huh?" Brandon looked up from his rant.
"What did you just say?" Mikey repeated.
"You guys don't have a lot to worry about?"
"No, the other part."
"That's all I said!" Brandon gave Michelangelo a weird look, but Mike had taken off at a sprint, no longer feeling the pain in his ankle.
Raphael made it home only a few after the other three had arrived, but Mikey was pacing around worriedly as if it had been days.
"What's wrong?" Raph questioned, craning his neck to see how bad off Daniel was. The twin was, in fact, fully conscious and sitting up on the couch with a bag of ice held to his head.
"We had it all wrong," Mikey's tone was quick, sharp.
"What are you going on about?" Raph sat next to Daniel and yawned. It was already 5:30 in the morning.
"We have five days left to figure out how to get in."
"Get in where?" Raphael was becoming increasingly impatient. "What the hell are you babbling about?"
"Don't you see? We had it all wrong! We've been looking around the churches for the bombs! But the bombs aren't around the churches! They're under the churches! Underground!"
"What?" Brandon asked, eyes wide.
"It makes sense! The police are going to be looking around the area because the gang made it seem like that's where they are! But it makes more sense if they're in the churches."
"How would they get the bombs there, though? The churches are supposed to be impregnable!" Daniel questioned, skeptical.
"Tell that to the people that got the confederate flag inside." Raph stated flatly.
"Exactly my point! They must have gotten in underground somewhere. That's why the security system didn't register a break-in!" Mikey punched the air in victory. The other three stared at him mutely, mulling over the implications of this discovery.
"Mikey, this might be the only time I'll ever say this to you, but that's amazing." Raphael stood up and slapped his brother on the back. Mikey beamed.
"I know," he breathed on his fingers and brushed them on his collar bone. Raph simply rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so how do we find out where they are?" Daniel questioned, taking the ice off of his head and setting it on the coffee table.
"Easy. We'll get to the sewers underneath them and search. It shouldn't take too long." Raphael stretched. He was mentally energized, but his body was protesting it's lack of sleep. "We'll go tonight after we get some shut-eye. I'm beat."
"Do you guys want to chill here?" Mikey asked.
"Sure. I don't think it's best for Daniel to move now." Brandon sank down onto the recliner chair. Daniel sent his brother a glare.
"What are you, my nurse?" he asked, sarcastic.
"Yep." Brandon thought it best not to argue.
"Where's the dress?" Daniel mumbled and fell into sleep.
Raphael and Michelangelo went upstairs. They had barely reached the top stair when Raph slung an arm around Mikey's shoulders and pulled him into his own room. Mike raised his eyebrows in surprise; no one was allowed in Raphael's room. He was pushed gently into a chair next to the immaculate weight rack.
"What's up?" Michelangelo got no response as Raphael knelt in front of his brother and pulled the injured ankle onto his knee.
"This is really swollen," Raphael gently prodded and twisted the ankle, stopping every time Mikey tensed up or uttered a small cry.
"I just got it last night. It's not that big of a deal," Mikey insisted. Raphael poked a particularly sensitive part and Mikey pulled his ankle back. "Until you do that!"
"It's not broken. Just a bad sprain. Wait here," Raphael went over to his closet and pulled out a first aid kit. He pulled out an elastic bandage and made a quick job of wrapping Mike's ankle.
"Thanks, dude!" Mikey stood up, smiling down at his brother. Raphael put the kit away and smiled back.
"No problem. Now get to bed, we've got another long night."
"Yes, Leo," Mikey teased playfully. Raphael rolled his eyes but was too tired to retort. Instead, he simply flipped up into his hammock and closed his eyes.
"Mm, close the door on your way out, bonehead."
Aww, a small bit of brotherly fluff there at the end!
So, school sucks! It takes away all of my writing time! Lol. Anyway, thank you for the reviews again!! They keep me writing more!
There should be only maybe two or three chapters left, but I'm not sure yet. I have two different roads I want this story to take and I'm not sure which one I'm going to use yet. The one I'm probably going to do will end the story in about three chapters, but the second one will end it later! I'll let you know at the end of the next chapter which one I'm going to use.
Please review and let me know what you think!