Again, a big giant than you to Amoraphoenix for Beta reading this chapter, for giving me great tips and knowlegde, and for being my sounding board who gives me great feedback and ideas!=)

Also a big thank you to my reviewers chibiwolf33, Kaaayyytteee, Icecreampopstar and mela989898


Chapter 11

Michelangelo worried at his lip as he drove back to Barry's house. Barry was frowning at him from the passenger seat.

"What?" Michelangelo asked as he concentrated on the road.

"I just..." Barry shook his head. "I just can't imagine Katherine being capable of killing someone." Barry said softly.

"Well according to Kitten , everyone is capable of anything, if the situation is right." Michelangelo said as he let his eyes slide to Barry.

Barry nodded slowly as he absorbed Michelangelo's words. "She's a wise woman for her age." Barry observed.

Michelangelo nodded. "I haven't met many humans, but I'm pretty sure I could meet millions of them and never find one like Kitten." He agreed. "But...the thing is...how much can one person take?" He asked in the barest whisper. "Does she hate us yet?" He asked himself softly. "Did she gaze at Leo with hatred as she strung and fired each arrow? Does she regret even knowing us?" He whispered, his mind filled with the torment of knowing what Katherine had suffered since she had been brought into their lives.

"I don't know." Barry replied softly even thought Michelangelo hadn't been asking Barry's opinion.

Michelangelo's voice wavered with pent up emotion. "Because of us, Hun tortured her for a week. A whole week she was at the mercy of that mad man. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in terror." Michelangelo swallowed down the bile that always rose in his throat when he remembered what Katherine had to endure because of them, and because Raphael hadn't answered his phone sooner. His vision blurred as tears threatened to fall. He forced himself to blink back the tears because he wasn't going to bawl in front of a complete stranger.

"If what we are guessing is true, and they were threatening to kill that little girl if Katherine didn't kill your brother, then Katherine took a huge risk by not killing him." Barry pointed out.

"I know, but that's just who Katherine is. She tried to save everyone, and I guess she did. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't hate us." He whispered softly. "And now Leo's hanging onto life by a thread and Kitten's in a coma..."

"Katherine's is getting the best possible care that she can have, and your brother seems to know what he's doing in regards to Leo." Barry said to him.

"I know, but...someone is trying to kill her. And we don't even know who."

"But you said you have a lead. Why don't you tell me? I might be able to help." Barry insisted.

Michelangelo flicked a glance to Barry and back again to the road. "The last thing we need is to bring someone else into this. These people are killers." Michelangelo said seriously.

Barry snorted. "Well it might be nice to have someone from home trying to kill me, rather than people a world away trying to do it."

Michelangelo sighed. It wasn't as if Barry was just some rich kid. He was a rich kid with military-like training under his belt. "How much do you know about Gangs of New York."

"Horrible movie, I will never get those three hours back." Barry said with a slight smile.

Michelangelo smiled and nodded, liking Barry better for trying to cheer him up, and being able to catch the actual question he had asked.

Barry turned serious as he thought about the underlying question. "Not a lot." He admitted truthfully.

Michelangelo nodded and began to fill Barry in on the Purple Dragons, Karai and 'The Face'.

"So let me get this straight." Barry said ticking points off on his fingers."Karai Saki's father, Oroku Saki was an alien slug, who is now gone. So Karai has taken over the 'family' business, which involves ninjas, but she isn't evil anymore, and you have a sort of truce with her. And Hun, the Purple Dragon's leader, used to have an alliance with Karai, but Hun is dead which means that another gang lord called 'The Face' is muscling in on New York trying to take Karai and any gangs allied with her down?"

"Yup, that's about it." Michelangelo said with a nod.

Barry whistled. "No wonder you wanted to keep Katherine out of this. But do you really think Karai is the one who tried to blow Katherine and your brother up?" Barry asked. "I saw them together at the Auction and I didn't get the impression that they even knew one another."

Michelangelo frowned as he thought over the question. "Would Karai betray us...yes. I wouldn't put anything past her."

Barry was silent for a moment. "Having Katherine shoot your brother and then blow them up seems...personal to me. Would Karai do this? Is she angry enough at you to have orchestrated this?"

Michelangelo shook his head. "Karai is kinda a cold fish. She would have just killed Leo and Katherine. It wouldn't be an elaborate set up like it was."

"So more personal. Someone who is very upset at Katherine because she killed Hun. Someone wanted her to suffer before she died." Barry observed.

Michelangelo nodded his head. "Unless Karai just gave Kitten and Leo to whoever did this and washed her hands of the whole thing."

Barry nodded. "That is a possibility."

Michelangelo sighed in frustration. "Leo gets how Karai's mind works best, but Leo's going to be out of it for a bit. But..." Michelangelo's eyes narrowed in thought. "Kitten bugged Karai, and Kitten was working with Karai on a plan to lure 'The Face' out, which obviously failed. But Donny would have noticed if Karai had been planning to double cross us."

"You said Katherine was working with Karai?" Barry said with surprise. "Like I said those two didn't even act like they knew each other."

"Yeah well, I don't know if they like each other, but Kitten made quite the impression on Karai, let me tell you." Barry looked at him waiting for him to elaborate. So he explained how Leonardo and Raphael went to Karai for help and the resulting events. "Kitten was furious, that Leo and Raph had lied and didn't tell her what they were up to. Kitten hates being protected. Anyway, Kitten went in and saved them. Managed to outmanoeuvre Karai too They really should have known better, but I don't think they ever thought that she wouldn't talk to them, or any of us again." The last was said in a pained mumble.

Barry digested these facts before he asked, "How did she save them?"

"No idea. I mean I know how she did it, but I have no idea how she did it, if that makes any sense. But that was when she proved to Karai how she killed Hun, which means that either Karai blabbed, or there was someone else watching, or Karai betrayed us." He growled a little in frustration. "This is just so confusing and frustrating. I'm just thinking and talking around in circles." Michelangelo said as he pulled up to Barry's house, putting the powerful car in park and turning off the ignition. "Leo's our big brother, our 'Fearless' leader. He's the one who keeps us safe and tells us what to do. Donny's too busy making sure Leo's okay and Raph will just want to get a huge piece of revenge." He put his forehead on the steering wheel and clenched the wheel tightly in his hands. "If Kitten were here, she'd know what to do." He finished softly.

"Do you want some advice?" Barry asked him. Michelangelo shrugged pulling his forehead off the wheel. He didn't care one way or the other. "If I were you, I would look at the situation like a battle or a covert operation. You look at the facts and analyze the situation. one: You are fighting a war against an unknown enemy. Two" over half of your team is out of action at the moment. Three: An ally may be an enemy or have a traitor in their midst. At the moment you are out manned and out manoeuvred. You could confront Karai, but that will just expose you to further harm and place you in the power of your enemy. What you need to do now is heal, regroup and collect intel on your enemy. Information and surprise will be your most important assets and strengths. Lay low, let your enemy believe they succeeded and when they lower their defences, that is when you strike." Barry said to him. "Also if I were you, I would get rid of your phones, all of them. I don't think they would have had the time to bug the lines yet, but if they took both Katherine and Leo's phones, they have access to the numbers of friends, family, and everyone you have ever called.

Michelangelo swallowed. It wasn't as if they had a huge amount of friends sitting in their phones, but Katherine's number, her e-mail and home phone were in their phones, along with April and Casey's numbers. He needed to talk to Donatello. "I need to get this blood to Donny, and talk to him about our phones." He said anxiously as he slid from the leather seat. "Thank you. I really mean that." He said sincerely.

Barry smiled. "I'm just sorry I pointed a gun at you." He said a little sheepishly.

Michelangelo smiled and shrugged. "Apology accepted." He said but turned serious. "We'll see how long it will be before we can safely move Leo, and then we'll be out of your hair." Michelangelo said as he walked around the car and took the cooler from Barry's hands.

Barry was silent for a moment. "Was Katherine really dating both of your brothers?" Barry asked. "I mean, they weren't both...? Can you even...?" Barry didn't finish his questions; instead he left them hanging between them.

Michelangelo sighed. "You're really not going to let your brain get past that one are you? And by the way, ask only the questions you are comfortable getting an answer to."

Barry opened his mouth and closed it again. "I'll just take that as a yes to all three questions." Barry mumbled.

Michelangelo allowed himself a quick smile before his face settled into grim lines. "It's not what you think. There is a reason that she is dating...was dating, both of them. But Kitten loves them, at least she did. Maybe she loved one more than the other, I'm not sure but..." Michelangelo paused as he got his thoughts in order. "When she broke up with them, I don't think she meant for it to be permanent." He said softly. "I think she needed a little space. Their relationship is complicated. Raph wants her to choose between them, but I honestly don't know if she can choose. Maybe she can now. Maybe she hates them too much to ever be with them again. I don't know." He finished miserably.

Barry slowly nodded as he walked into the house, Michelangelo trailing after him.


Mr. White gazed calmly at his employer who sat behind a large ornately carved wooden desk, a deadly looking throwing knife in his black, leather gloved hands.

"I see you managed to make it out alive Mr. White." The Face's low, careful voice was slightly distorted by the white mask he wore over his face. The mask reminded him of a Guy Fawkes mask, without the van dyke facial hair.

"No thanks to you. That collar had more than enough explosives to level at least a quarter of the building." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest, the maniacal white mask smiling back at him, giving him no clue as to the thoughts of the wearer.

"Well, one can never be too careful. Besides, I knew your innate sense of self preservation would aide you in escaping." The voice was smooth and oily. "Do you have a problem with my actions?"

"No, no." He said holding out his hands. "Just an observation." He said quickly. Mr. White was a killer, but The Face was an insane psychopath.

"I am disappointed that my video feed was shot out." The voice behind the mask sounded displeased.

Mr. White smiled. "That's what phones are for." He said as he gently set his phone down sliding it across the polished wooden surface.

The Face looked at the phone, picking it up and touching the video on the screen. He was silent as he watched the video play. "I was expecting tears, anger, despair, some sort of emotion from her." The Face said with disappointment. "The creature definitely had feelings for her, but her feelings are more uncertain. Are you sure our information was correct?" The Face asked.

Mr. White shrugged. "Does it matter?"

The Face tapped the blade of the knife against the plastic lips of the mask. "I wanted to make her suffer. I wanted to make her kill the very thing she loved in the world the most." The Face said to him.

"Well, she did try to blow herself up rather than kill the creature, so it's possible that she did have feelings for him." He said coaxingly.

Tap, tap, tap. Went the blade against the mask. The sound echoed in the silence of the room like a doomsday clock counting down the minutes. The tapping stopped. "I see that you ran after she killed the creature." He observed. "Why?"

Mr. White felt his shoulders relax, grateful that he changed the subject. "Because," He said nonchalantly. "She looked at me with dead eyes as she grabbed the collar around her neck." He replied.

"Dead eyes?" The low voice questioned.

"Eyes that look out at the world and could care less if it all just burns. I think she would have taken that little girl and me with her. I don't think she cared anymore." Mr. White said truthfully.

"Are you sure it was not just your death you saw in her eyes? She threatened to come back and stalk you from the grave." The Face observed. "You took the child with you when you ran. Did her threat really scare you that much?" The voice purred knowingly.

Mr. White snorted. "No." He said with a shake of his head.

"Then why take the child when you ran?"

Mr. White frowned. "I saw her reach for her collar and I realized that she was going to pull it off early. And since I did not actually pack the C4 in the collar I was unsure how much was actually in there. I figured I would err on the side of caution and run. I just kept the kid hostage, that's all."

"Yes, but now the child can identify you." The Face pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. When the kid starts talking about the 'Turtle Man' And the 'Pretty Princess Lady', they won't believe anything she says."

"And you are sure they are all dead?" The Face questioned seriously.

"I saw the three other freaks run in. I had to jog out a side exit to avoid them. "I blew them all up as soon as I was out. The crazy bitch and the four freaks are dead"

"You were supposed to stay and make sure that none of them got out." The Face said, a low growl in his voice.

"I would have stayed but some ass hole shot at me. I was lucky he only clipped my arm. There was a whole lotta explosions going on in there. They didn't survive."

"You had better hope they did not." The Face threatened.

Mr. White swallowed. "Don't see why you wanted the chick dead though." He said trying to distract his displeased employer. "She had a lot of connections and her family has serious money."

"Some things are more important than money Mr. White." The Face said in a smooth, dangerously low voice. Mr. White nodded even though he didn't understand, not really. "Make sure they are dead." The Face continued. "The Shredder did not spend years trying to kill them because they were easy to kill." The Face ordered.

Mr. White nodded and then frowned. "How?" He asked. "The building was blown to smithereens, there isn't anything left."

The Face began to twirl the blade in his hands. "Use their phones, track any signals that you find, monitor any calls going out to friends and family." The Face said with a hint of irritation.

Mr. White nodded. "Yes sir. Is that all?" He asked.

"For now." The Face said as he waved him away with the knife in hand.

Mr. White carefully snatched his phone from the desk and walked calmly from the room, and past the bodyguards stationed outside of the hotel suite's door.

He would monitor any activity on the creature's cell phones. He would also monitor the woman's. Not that he believed that any of them were alive, but he was willing to put in the extra time. He did not want his face to end up in The Face's Room of 'Masks' as he called it. He had been shown the room once, and he had not even wanted to get close to the gruesome visages that were pinned to the blank faces of Styrofoam mannequin heads. Mr. White go chills just thinking about the room. Sometimes he didn't think he was paid enough for this job. On the other hand, he was never bored.

The woman though, she hadn't been as fun to kill as he had been hoping. He liked to see the fear in his victim's eye; to see their terror and suffering as they begged for their lives. She hadn't begged, or shown any emotion. This bothered him more than he could understand. He had lied to The Face, her threat had bothered him. Not the bit about the haunting, he didn't believe in vengeful ghosts. But he did believe that if she was still alive, that he was a dead man, because she had the emotionless eyes of a killer.

Mr. White smiled to himself. It was a good thing that she was dead. He thought.

He strolled down the corridor and hit the down button. He would go back to his room and search through the contact numbers on the woman's phone, make his boss happy, and try to get the image of green eyes that promised death, out of his head.


Donatello took a steadying breath as he looked at the ventilator.

They had spent three days at Barry's house waiting for Leonardo to be stable enough to be moved, and Donatello was anxious to get Leonardo home "Mikey, Barry are you two ready? He asked as he looked at each of them in turn. Both nodded back at him. Barry looked determined, while Michelangelo looked back at him with terrified eyes. Donatello checked the straps that secured Leonardo's body to the stretcher. "We only have 4 to 6 minutes maximum to get Leonardo into the truck and hook him back up to the ventilator, otherwise he could suffer brain damage. So I need you two to move fast, but try not to bump him around too much." He said seriously as he unhooked the tube from the machine. Barry and Michelangelo quickly lifted Leonardo's blanket wrapped form from the bed. "He'll be struggling to breathe, but that's normal, just get moving." Donatello said as he quickly unplugged the machine from the wall.

"What can I do Donny?" Raphael's quiet voice intruded.

"Raph, you can't use your hands, follow Barry and Mikey and make sure Leo is okay, I need to get this machine down into the truck and plug it in, and then grab the rest of the equipment."

Raphael looked at his bandaged hands in disgust, frustrated that he couldn't help, but gave a slight nod of his head as he left the room.

Donatello rolled the machine from the room and carried it awkwardly down the steps. His heart was pounding against his rib cage like a frightened bird, trying to escape the confines of his chest. He swallowed past the lump in his throat as he made his way quickly through the main floor, through the door that led to the garage, and down the steps that led to where the truck was parked.

Donatello could hear Leonardo desperately gasping for air. Guilt flooded through him at causing his brother to suffer. Donatello winced as he watched Barry and Michelangelo manoeuvre the stretcher into the back of the truck. Michelangelo quickly turned and took the ventilator from his shaking grasp and hefted it into the truck. Barry, who was still in the back with Leonardo, quickly reattached the tube tot he ventilator.

"On the left side, there is a plug." Donatello told Barry, who was kneeling on the floor of the truck looking for an outlet. Barry finally managed to locate the outlet and quickly plugged the machine in.

The sound of the ventilator filled the back of the truck as Donatello let out a relieved breath at Barry's nod that his brother was breathing properly again.

Barry leapt from the back of the truck as Michelangelo ran back into the house to get the heart monitor.

Donatello looked at Barry gratefully. "I'll get all of the equipment back to you as soon as Leo wakes up." He promised.

"You don't have to leave so quickly." Barry protested. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want or need." He offered.

Donatello gave a half smile. "Thank you, but I'd feel more comfortable with Leo back at the lair. It's more familiar surroundings for him as well."

Barry nodded. "If you're sure." He said as he looked at Leonardo's prone form. "I don't need the equipment back for a bit. It's our company's medical equipment that we usually take with us overseas, but we were getting a new bunch of medical supplies for our next job, whenever that may be. So this equipment was going to be donated to a local hospital. It was actually supposed to be stored in the company warehouse, but a broken pipe flooded the place, so I offered to take it until the damage was fixed. So no rush." He said to them. "actually, if there is anything you need just take it.

Donatello nodded with relief. A heart monitor and ventilator were things he did not have back at his lab, and there was other equipment sitting in the garage that he wouldn't mind having around, just in case.

Donatello wandered around and grabbed various pieces of equiptment and cases, anything that would fit in the truck, and placed them beside Leonardo. When Donatello had finished this task he waited for Michelangelo who had been quietly talking to Barry, while Raphael had sat on the bumper of the truck, his worried face glancing at Leonardo every so often.

Michelangelo shook Barry's hand."I'll call if Katherine's condition changes." Barry said to Michelangelo softly.

"Thanks for the phones Barry." Michelangelo replied.

Donatello had deactivated all of their phones after giving April a quick call telling her that they were all okay. He then has to explain that he and his brothers had to stay low for a while, and for her and Casey to stay as far away from them as possible. April had hated the idea, but he had given her no choice after he explained about the explosion and the little girl that was held hostage. The thought that either April or Casey could be targets had filled him with fear; the thought that Shadow could be a target had made him ill.

Barry had two extra phones lying around, and when Donatello got home and got Leonardo settled, he would activate them and make sure that their signal was bounced off a few different towers so that it would be untraceable.

Barry looked at Raphael who glared at him. Raphael stood, crossing his arms over his chest in irritation. "Raph." Barry said with a nod.

"You'd better call." Raphael said gruffly as he leapt into the passenger seat of the truck.

Barry just smiled congenially. "I think he's starting to like me." Barry said with a grin at Michelangelo, who grinned back at Barry. Barry turned serious. "Be careful and stay low." Barry reminded him.

Michelangelo nodded as he got into the driver's side.

Donatello gave a final nod to Barry as he climbed into the back of the truck with Leonardo, closing the doors behind him. "Drive carefully." Donatello reminded Michelangelo.

"Man, once you drive a Bugatti you can't ever go back." Michelangelo complained sadly, obviously missing the sweet ride.

"Mikey, if I gotta hear you brag about drivin' that car one more time, I am gonna kick your shell so hard you won't know if you're commin' or goin'." Raphael growled.

Michelangelo chuckled. "You know Raph, you didn't have to be so rude to Barry. He's a good guy." Michelangelo said with a smile. "And maybe if you ask real nice, he'll let you drive the car."

"One, we ain't never gonna see Barry again, 'cept when Donny returns the medical equipment that he ain't keepin'. Two, I know he's a good guy Mikey, that's why I don't like him." Raphael said angrily. "I mean, not only is the guy nice, rich and good looking, but the guy is smarter than me!" Raphael said with exasperation. "I would never have thought about the phones." Raphael said in frustration as he looked at his burned hands.

"Raph, I didn't think about our phones either." Donatello said to Raphael softly, trying to cheer his brother up.

"You would have Donny...Eventually" Raphael replied softly.

"Come on Raph," Michelangelo said with a teasing smile. "You break heads and leave the thinking to everyone else, you're used to it. Besides, Leo's smarter than you." Michelangelo pointed out.

Raphael continued to stare at his bandaged hands. Michelangelo lost his teasing smile and looked at Raphael with concern."That's different Mikey and you know it. But with Barry... How the hell am I supposed to compete with him?" Raphael asked softly.

Michelangelo was silent a few moments while Donatello tried to figure out what to say to Raphael to make him feel better. Donatello hated it when any of his brothers were hurting, physically or emotionally, but most times when it came to the emotional hurts, he was at a loss at what to do or say to make them better.

"Maybe you shouldn't Raph." Michelangelo said softly.

The silence in the truck suddenly became palpable, the only noise was the steady beep of the heart monitor and the exhalation sound of the ventilator.

Raphael looked at Michelangelo as if he had been stabbed in the back. Raphael's face paled and then crumpled as he hunched miserably into his seat. "I know Mikey." Raphael said wretchedly.

"She could hate all of us Raph, and why wouldn't she after everything that has happened?" Michelangelo asked quietly, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"She can't hate me as much as I hate myself Mikey." Raphael replied softly. Raphael shifted as he looked at Leonardo in the back of the truck. "But...If I hate myself for exposing Kitten to all of this..." Raphael swallowed and continued. "Leo was there." He said with a tremor in his voice. "What if Leo decides he can't live with himself. What if Leo doesn't fight to live? Leo's gonna think he failed her, and you know how Leo is."

Donatello looked at Leonardo a sudden spike of fear shooting through him. They did know how Leonardo's mind worked. And they knew Leo hadn't been able to help Katherine, which meant that Leonardo failed to keep his promise to protect her. "Then we fight for him." Donatello said with fierce determination as he studied Leonardo's passive face with concern.

By the time they were nearing the lair Donatello 's concern had grown. Leonardo's brow was beaded with sweat and his temperature seemed too high. "Mikey we need to get Leo home, fast." Donatello said as he watched his brother's heart rate climb on the heart monitor.

They finally pulled into the lair and Donatello couldn't stop the feeling of dread that was washing over him sending waves of adrenalin laced fear through him.

"Donny!" Raphael questioned him in panic as he listened to the frantic beats from the machine.

"I don't know Raph, but we need to get him out of the truck and to my lab as fast as possible. "I need you to help Raph, I'm sorry about your hands but I can't do this alone." Donatello said trying to keep the panic from seeping into his own voice.

They all worked together to unhook the ventilator and to get everything set up in his lab. He was grateful for Raphael's help, even though he knew his brother had to be in an intense amount of pain, he hadn't complained, just winced and bit back an exclamation of agony.

Donatello checked Leonardo's vitals and found that his temperature was too high, heart rate too rapid, and his blood pressure too low. Even his brother's breathing was becoming laboured and rapid, despite the aid of the machine. His brother's skin was clammy and had turned a sickly shade of greenish grey. Donatello looked down at his brother's leg. He pulled up the blanket exposing his brother's left leg encased within the removable cast.

He began quickly removing the straps of the cast. He grabbed a pair of scissors as both Michelangelo and Raphael hovered nearby. He cut away the bandages and removed the compress that covered his brother's leg wound. The wound was inflamed with angry black streaks trailing away from the stitched skin. Yellowish puss slowly oozed from the infected site.

"Damn it! It's infected." Donatello said cutting off any questions from his brothers. His mind raced feverishly as he determined his next coirse of action. He quickly grabbed a scalpel, he took a bracing breath and slowly lowered the cutting edge to the wound. He cut through the stitches in one fluid movement. He searched and found a sterile cloth. He gently but firmly pressed the cloth against the side of the now open wound. The smell of rotting flesh and death followed the flow of yellow puss that was forced from the wound. The fact that the smell was comiong from his brother's leg made Donatello have to hold back the bile that rose in his throat. Once the wound began to bleed red rather than yello Donatello grabbed a bottle of alchohol and poured it directly onto the infected site. The alchohol sputtered and bubbled causing a red foam. He quickly took up the scalpel again and cut away the dead skin before restitching the wound close and redressing the injury with fresh gauze.

Donatello looked at his brothers who were oddly silent. Raphael was standing, pale and silent next to Michelangelo, who had already retched into a bucket that sat in his lap as he slumped in a chair, his hand covering his nostrils. "I need to do a blood test and check for any abnormalities. Hope fully I will be able to determine the type of infection he has so I can treat him." Donatello said as he rushed to get a syringe and test tube.

Raphael and Michelangelo remained silent as they watched him take a sample of Leonardo's blood.

"What do you mean hopefully Donny?" Raphael finally asked.

Donatello rubbed his eyes and he slid the slide beneath his microscope. "Because, if I can't figure out what the infection is, I will have to do another test, one I don't really want to do." He replied softly.

"Donny?" Michelangelo asked with worry.

Donatello looked into the microscope and bit back a growl of frustration. "I can't tell." He said shaking his head in frustration. "All I can see is that he has an elevated white blood cell count." He said with the dreadful realization that he was going to have to perform a test that had its own risks.

"Help me gently roll Leo onto his side." Donatello said to Michelangelo. Michelangelo frowned but helped him roll Leonardo onto his side and secure him with the strap.

"Donny, what are you doing?" Raphael asked a hint of worry and fear lacing his words.

"I need to do a spinal tap." He said as he ran back to the truck. He had grabbed a medical drill from Barry's garage, and it was still sitting in the back of the truck.

Raphael ran after him, pulling him to a stop by grabbing his shoulder roughly, and spinning him around. "You need to do a what?" Raphael roared in fear and anger.

Donatello shrugged off his brother's cruel grip and opened the back of the truck, pulling out the drill. "A spinal tap. It will definitively tell me what is wrong with Leo." He said in irritation as he strode past Raphael who had been shocked into immobility.

Striding back into his lab Donatello placed the drill case on its side and opened it. He pulled out the drill rinsed the drill bit with iodine before plugging it in. He grabbed goggles, iodine, a mask , gloves and a syringe. He put the goggles over his eyes, washed his hands and pulled on his gloves.

Raphael, seething in repressed rage got right into his face. His brother's eyes were narrowed into the barest of slits, his honey brown eyes blazed a golden amber as Raphael placed his hands on his chest. "What are the risks Donny?" Raphael growled, his voice so low he could barely hear him.

"I could paralyze him." Donatello said bluntly. "But if I don't do this I could give him the wrong antibiotics and that could kill him." He took a breath as he tried to figure out a way to make Raphael understand. "Raph...we don't have a choice, the infection is already killing him." He said viciously. "I would rather do the test and risk paralyzing him then just sit back and watch him die. I would rather have a brother who was alive then dead, paralyzed or not." He said trying to make Raphael understand that he didn't want to do this, but he had no choice, not if they wanted Leonardo to live.

Raphael shook his head vehemently from side to side. "Donny, do you have any idea what being paralyzed would do to him?" Raphael asked, his voice breaking in fear and horror.

Donatello nodded his head. "I know, but paralyzed, is better than dead." He finished softly.

Raphael searched his face and nodded in understanding. "Okay Donny." He said as he stepped out of the way.

"If you two are going to be in here, you need to wear masks, and then you can help me." He said as he injected strong pain killers into Leonardo's arm. "Raph, watch the life support machines, if anything changes even the slightest bit, tell me. Mikey, watch Leo's face for an signs that he is in pain. I gave him a dose of pain killers, just in case he wakes up." He said as he bent over Leonard's shell. He found the correct ridge in his brother's central scutes and after rubbing the area with iodine, began to slowly drill until he felt a pressure difference in the drilling. He had been carefully removing the bits of shell with iodine and he did another wash of iodine as he carefully pulled the drill out. He put the drill down and picked up the syringe. He carefully inserted the needle into the freshly drilled hole and inserted it into his brother's spine, hoping that he hadn't gone in too far.

He pulled the syringe's plunger and collected the spinal fluid sample he would need.

He looked at the syringe. "It's supposed to be clear." He murmered softly as he studied the cloudy liquid for a moment. He carefully put the syringe down and began the process of repairing Leonardo's shell. He cleaned and placed a sterile metal ring around the drill site. He then secured a piece of fibreglass cloth using an epoxy resin. The patch would wear off eventually, but the shell would heal and only a small indent would be any indication that anything had ever been done.

Donatello took the spinal fluid and after getting a definitive test as to the bacteria that was now in his brother's blood stream, he was able to administer the correct antibiotics.

Donatello checked Leonardo's IV and temperature. It would take a while before the antibiotics began fighting the infection. He looked down at Michelangelo who was half laying on Leonardo's cot, having moved him from the stretcher a few hours ago.

Michelangelo lifted his head up and looked at him. "How do we know if..." Michelangelo wasn't even able to finish the dreaded question.

Raphael peered at him from where he sat on a stool waiting to have his bandages changed.

"We won't know anything until he wakes up Mikey." Donatello said softly, a hard ball of worry having already settled in his stomach. He had saved his brother's life, but at what cost? He knew the risks, but the thought that he could have paralyzed Leonardo while doing it made him feel ill.


bum bum bummmmm!

Thoughts and opinions are always welcome!

Hope everyone enjoyed chapter 11!

I wonder how Kitten is doing? hmmm perhaps next chapter we will find out;)(or not, I guess I will write it an see!)