A/N: Hi, everyone! Man, you are all so sweet with your reviews! Thanks so much! Huge thanks to Moogs for betaing this for me. Just a heads' up, there is blood and a bit of gore in this chapter, so enjoy!
Disclaimer: Do not attempt to take a 16 week class in 6 weeks
Raphael spun around towards his brother's cry, taking out a Foot in the process, only to see a blue and green head fall out of sight, yelling for him to get out of there. With an anguished roar of rage, he surged forwards, through the thinning ranks of enemies, and towards the dreadful whooshing sound coming from the white packs on the backs of the ninjas that surrounded Leonardo.
Two of the Foot Elite suddenly appeared in front of him in a cloud of smoke.
"Outta my way!"
Raphael adjusted his grip on his sai and charged them. Immediately, he had to duck and roll while blocking strikes from both a spear and a trident. He could see the axe-wielding Elite lying on the floor nearby, but the turtle didn't have time to wonder where the last had gone. Before he could get any closer to Leonardo, the Elite engaged him again.
The reach of his enemies' weapons was making it difficult for Raphael to get in close enough to do any damage, though both of their weapons could easily reach the turtle. For a few moments, Raph was hard pressed to defend himself. The Elite seemed intent on keeping him as far away from Leonardo as possible. Every now and again, a tip of one of their weapons would slip past Raphael's defenses, cutting into his skin. Even so, the turtle managed to press them backward.
Just then, one of the Foot surrounding Leonardo fell backwards and didn't get back up, leaving a momentary gap through which Raphael could see his brother. A long, heavily bleeding cut crossed the blue-clad turtle's plastron and he was using only one of his katana. Just as quickly as Raphael got that glance, another Foot stepped in and blocked his view. There was more loud whooshing.
"Leo!" Raphael ducked under a blow from the trident, rolling so that he was now between the two Elites and his brother.At the same time, something in the very back of his mind wondered when the hallway had become so cold.
"Raph, go!" Leonardo's voice sounded strained, as though it hurt to produce.
Raphael cursed under his breath. There were few enough Foot left in the rest of the hall that he could get to a window on the far side and leap out, but he just couldn't leave Leo behind for a certain death.
The Foot Elite took advantage of his momentary distraction to increase the speed and ferocity of their attacks. The turtle quickly found himself being pushed back on the defensive. Raphael blocked and, quite by accident, stabbed his sai into the wooden handle of the trident, pulled with a grunt, and yanked it out of its wielder's hands. Immediately, he lunged back and shoved the trident's butt into the Elite's gut. The Elite fell to the ground and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"I guess it's just you an' me, hat boy." Raphael turned his full attention to the Elite with the spear. He frowned as he realized that his sai were stuck in the wood of the trident and refused to come back out.
Not waiting for his enemy to get his weapons unstuck, the Elite began swinging his spear over his head, releasing sudden downwards blows. Raphael was forced to use the trident like a bo staff to block the onslaught. Even so, he kept being pushed backwards down the hallway, unsuccessfully striking out a few times with the trident end of the staff. As the Elite once again raised his spear over his head for a strike, Raphael grabbed hold of his sai's handles again and held it up to block. The spear tip sliced through the staff, loosening the wood around both of the sai, and allowing Raphael to pull them free.
"Thanks," the turtle sneered before slamming his foot into the surprised Elite's face.
Raphael glanced around quickly, surprised at how far away from his brother he had been driven. He ran back towards the heaviest concentration of Foot, certain that that would be where he would find Leonardo. As he ran forwards, two of the Foot suddenly fell onto their backs, screaming in pain. Their legs had been separated from their feet at the ankles by the blade of a katana.
Their fall revealed Leonardo on his hands and knees, looking more dead than alive.
Just as Raphael arrived, the last Foot Elite appeared in a puff of smoke on top of Leonardo's shell. The eldest turtle collapsed under the sudden weight, his eyes closing as he hit the ground. Raphael halted abruptly as the Elite held his katana up against the fallen turtle's throat.
"Get the shell off of him!"
"Drop your weapons!" The Elite turned a fiery red glare on the standing turtle.
Raphael made no move to comply.
"Drop them or your brother here will have his head drop from his body."
A numb, sinking feeling crept into the hot-headed turtle's heart as he looked down at the limp, bleeding form of his brother. He was suddenly aware of how silent the hall had become. Without a second thought, his sai clanked loudly on the tile floor.
Karai watched her monitor in satisfaction as Raphael's hands were bound behind his shell. She was unsurprised as a small ringing began to come from her communicator. She was the first to speak.
"Well done, yet how many did we lose?"
"At least one of the Elite as well as twelve Foot soldiers are dead. Over twenty are injured, some very seriously so."
"I see." A flicker of intense grief passed over the ninja princess's face. "You know where to take the turtles. Do so immediately. They will not outlast the night."
"Yes, mistress."
Karai replaced the communicator in her belt. Her shoulders slumped slightly forwards as she turned to Chaplain. "Help me to remember to prepare something for those who died and had families."
"I'll try." Chaplain shifted uncomfortably. "Not to be a broken wheel or anything, but what about the other two turtles?"
"As you have said yourself, Michelangelo is probably on his way here so we will destroy him when he arrives. As for Donatello and the rat, they shall be hunted down like the vermin they are. It should not be too much of a problem. They are almost certain to try to avenge their fallen family members. It is just a matter of time." Karai sighed. "Soon, this war between us shall be over and all of the fallen, including my father, will be avenged."
Chaplain shifted in his chair again. He was not used to this side of his mistress. "And then what?"
Karai smiled slightly—a smile of genuine pleasure. "We will have a new day and will see where it takes us." Her smile faltered and she stood up, sliding the Shredder's gauntlet onto her hand. "Come. We have much to do before the night is over."
Practically panicked, Donatello shook the Shell Cell but all he could hear was the dial tone.
"What is it, my son?" Master Splinter demanded, having watched the entire interaction with an increasing sense of dread.
"Something happened with Leo and the phone line dropped," Donatello replied, redialing. His face was becoming even grimmer as he received no answer. "I think he and Raph must have found out something about Mikey, but we got cut off before he could tell me."
"How about Raph?" April was biting her lower lip.
"I'll try." Donatello dialed the number, but again received no answer.
Raphael was forced to ignore the buzzing in his belt as the Foot ninja hustled him and Leonardo down the hallway. He was mostly being pushed, but the Foot were dragging Leonardo's limp form. As they moved along, it seemed like the number of Foot in the group was increasing every minute. It was all Raphael could do to make sure that he was staying as close to his brother as possible. At one point, Raphael felt his arm bump up against his brother's and was shocked at how cold it was. For a brief moment, the red-clad turtle felt panic welling up in his chest as he feared for his brother's life but was relieved as he saw Leonardo shake his head groggily.
"He's waking up!" The Elite exclaimed, seeing the same thing as Raphael. "Keep the two freaks separate as much as possible."
Instantly, Raphael felt at least three pairs of hands yanking him away from Leonardo. He struggled to get back to Leonardo's side and knocked one of the Foot ninja over. However, three more took its place, grabbing tightly to his arms.
Raphael growled. "Get offa me!" He jerked suddenly to the right, managing to slip out of most of the hands' grasps.
"Enough!" the Elite yelled, withdrawing his sword. He strode towards Leonardo and grabbed the turtle's bandana, simultaneously lifting up Leo's head and blindfolding him by his own bandana. "Enough," the Elite repeated, placing his sword against the eldest turtle's throat.
"Don't stop, Raph! Get away if you can!" Leonardo hissed sharply as the blade began to slice through the skin on his neck.
Raphael stopped his struggling. "Sorry, bro."
It was only a matter of minutes before the procession reached the library. All of the bookshelves had been pushed up against the wall, making the room look like an arena. It was made even more ominous by the enormous statue of Oroku Saki in the very center of the room seeming, in the candlelight, to be watching the proceedings with much interest.
The turtles were hustled into the very center of the makeshift arena and what looked like the entire Foot clan filled up the rest of the library, even up on the balcony and on top of the book shelves. Karai, with Chaplain standing behind her, was up on one of the balconies overlooking everything. She raised her hand and all noise stopped.
"Tonight, we have captured two of our most dangerous and hated enemies!"
There was much cheering. Karai waited for it to calm before continuing.
"Tonight, we have won a great victory!"
Again, there was much cheering. Karai held up her hand with a smile, trying to quiet the enthusiasm of her followers.
"And tonight, these two turtles shall die!"
So...like it? Hate it? Evil cliffie? Please tell me! Flames will be used to roast marshmallows which will subsequently be used to get me on a sugar high so I'll write something inane! Anyway, to all of you out there that are reading and not reviewing, I know you're there. It doesn't take long to type. (And if you only wanted to say 'like it' or 'hate it' that's fine too!) :-)