I do not own TMNT.
Leo ran out the door, Mikey and Splinter close behind him. He glanced back at the burning building, his eyes peeled for a certain armored man. A flash of movement caught his eye, and he watched with remorse as the Shredder ran across the rooftop of the building, springing at the very edge and landing cleanly and gracefully on the neighboring house's roof. In a few more swift movements, the man had entirely disappeared, jumping from roof to roof with ease.
"Come'on Dad, just a little further," Mikey pleaded. Splinter was leaning heavily on him, his breathing labored. He coughed, his smoke filled lungs wheezing with the effort of breathing. Blood ran freely out of a few wounds, but Leo noted with satisfaction that Shredder hadn't escaped unscathed either. Mikey was hardly in better shape than his father. Burns covered his skin and a large cut digging into his stomach was leaking out blood.
Looking back at the building, Leo made a split-second decision. "Mikey, bring Splinter home," Leo said, his voice hard with resolve, "I'm staying here."
"What?" Mikey's voice escalated quickly, "What do you mean, you're staying here?"
"There are still people in there," Leo said, glancing at the building as the flames crawled upwards.
"The fire department will come to rescue them-" Mikey began, but Leo cut him off.
"There are too many," Leo said, shaking his head, "They'll never be able to get them all out in time by themselves."
"What about you?" Mikey asked, his eyes wide with fear, "You aren't invincible, and if people see you then there will be rumors popping up, you could be in danger of being found out-"
"I'll be fine Mikey," Leo said, "I've definitely got a better chance than any of them. It's a risk I have to take."
"It's not fair," Mikey said in an unsteady voice, "Us, risking our lives to protect them every day, but they would never treat us the same, never risk their lives for any of us. They'd just lock us up and do experiments on the very people protecting their city from all kinds of horror."
"The world isn't fair Mikey," Leo sighed, "But that doesn't mean we don't have to do the right thing."
"Just-be careful, ok?" Mikey said, giving Leo a pained smile, "You've always gotta play hero, don't you? Try to come back in one piece, please."
"I'll be careful, I promise" Leo said, giving Mikey a brief hug before he split off and ran towards the burning building, not so much as glancing back. Covering his mouth with his arm, Leo submerged himself in the smoke, jumping through the frame where the glass doors had been destroyed. Smoke hung thick in the air, and Leo uncovered his mouth for a second.
"Hello!" Leo shouted, "Is anyone here?"
"Help!" The scream of a middle aged girl, maybe in her late thirties, came from a room to his right. The doorknob was clicking frantically. Leo ran over and started to jerk at the doorknob.
"It's jammed!" Leo shouted, coughing as more smoke filled up his lungs.
"Please, save me!" another scream came from behind the door, followed by a sob.
"Don't worry, I will," Leo said, "You may want to stand back." He paused, giving her a few moments, then lifted up his foot, leaning back, and gave the door and hard, fast kick. The wood broke and splinters dug into his leg. He drew his foot away, and a face peered from behind the hole. She was fairly pretty, her black hair falling around her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkling with amazement.
"Head that way. There should be a frame where the main doors used to be. You can get out that way. And watch out for glass shards on the floor," Leo said, motioning in the direction from which he came and letting out another cough. The girl stared at him in shock, her lips moving but no words coming out. Leo didn't wait for her to gather her composure. He sprinted down the hallway, spotting a man stumbling about blindly with a baby cradled in his arms.
"You! Head that way. You should be able to get out," Leo snapped in an authoritative voice, pointing at the entrance before he continued, not staying to see his reaction. He was racing around the building, smoke growing thicker by the second as he broke down doors and redirected patrons towards the main doors.
Suddenly the blaring of sirens filled the air, announcing the arrival of the firemen. Leo glanced at a set of stairs. There were five levels on the entire building. The firemen would soon be flooding into the first level and begin making their way upwards. The top floor would be the last one the ground force would check, the hardest for them to reach, and the one he may not be able to escape.
Leo raced up the stairs, making his way the fifth floor.
….
A young girl, around her pre-teens, braced herself against the wall. The smoke was everywhere, and the staircases downwards were blocked by fire. It was the fifth floor up, so there was no way she could climb out a window, and she hadn't taken the time to memorize the pathway from her apartment to the fire escape.
Stupid. How many times have you been told at school to always have an escape route in case of fire?
Her grandmother and older brother were out of the apartment, so she was alone. Her black hair, streaked with purple, was pulled into pigtails on either side of her head and she wore a torn up, sleeveless hoodie. Her skin was dark, obviously African-American, and her ears were already pierced in several places, of course against her grandmother's' wishes. In the darkness, her amber eyes flashed with fear. I don't want to die like this, slowly burning to death on my own.
"Is anyone there?" she coughed out, in a desperate last attempt, "Help!"
A shadow by the staircase caught her attention. She watched in curiosity as it grew larger and closer to the flames. Whoever it was was tall, taller than anyone she had met. Their figure wasn't quite right, almost unhuman, the girl noted with a hint of surprise.
"Who is that? Is someone there?" she said, a hint of nervousness tainting her voice.
A smoky, charred creature suddenly burst through the flames. Despite the ash covering up their strangely colored skin, they were distinctly not human. Their bright blue eyes were filled with all the intelligence and emotion of a human, but the reptilian skin and shape was all too obvious. A pair of katana was strapped to the creature's back, which appeared to be a shell of some kind. The girl looked up in surprise at the human-like animal, her thoughts in a flurry. This wasn't possible- but the thing standing in front of her was too real to be an illusion.
"What are you?" she said in a whisper, her eyes darting up and down the creature, taking it in.
"Not important," the reptile said with a grim smile, "Is there anyone else here?"
"I don't know," the girl said, still frozen with shock. The thing was speaking in English. How could such an unworldly creature be able to talk to her, understand her? A blue mask was tied around its head and a belt fastened around its waist. It was a monster, yet the creature's eyes spoke of kindness that she hadn't thought it capable of at first glance.
"Well then, I guess we'll just have to find out," he said, rather lightheartedly, considering the situation he was in. He began to walk confidently down the hall, his stride and posture telling of his natural sense of leadership. The girl stumbled after him, hardly knowing if she should scream or if she should just pass out. He was a turtle, she realized with a jolt, a giant, talking turtle. The thought almost made her laugh. Giant talking turtles- she must be pretty far gone by now. Not long before I just crumple onto the floor and die if I'm seeing such fanciful hallucinations. This thing isn't possible, not in the real world-
"I know," the creature said, as if reading her thoughts, "I'm not exactly what one would call normal." He kicked down a door, peering inside. After he was satisfied that nobody occupied the room, he moved on, the girl still following him though she wasn't sure why.
"Help!" a cry came from ahead, and the strange half-man half-turtle suddenly raced forwards, darting ahead and disappearing in an instant. The girl's heart sped up. The thing had been a freak, a monster, but it had also been the only other living thing she could find in the smoky halls, and it was better than nobody.
"Wait, come back!" she cried, stumbling after him and hacking furiously between words. The smoke and ash was making her eyes burn and she frantically waved her hands in front of her, trying to find the strange being that had been her only source of help. The smoke was filling up her lungs and she was coughing out of control now, her entire body shaking with the effort-
"Hey, are you ok?" the creature came back, a man and a small child now beside him, both of them looking terrified as they looked at the turtle hybrid.
"Mostly," the girl said, letting out a half hearted laugh that turned into a cough. She found that she was relaxed, almost comfortable around the turtle person. Although every scrap of logic she had was screaming at her that she should avoid this thing at all costs, her gut feeling was that she could trust it- him, she corrected herself.
"Then follow me, and whatever you do stay together," he said with a nod, then turned around and continued down the hall. The man and child came over to her quickly, stumbling along as if in a daze. The man was average sized and middle aged, his black hair tousled and a mustache decorating his face. He wore a white shirt and a pair of black dress pants. The final touch to his outfit was a pair of round glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. The child was a small girl with blonde curls falling around her neck and down her back. A pair of bright blue eyes flashed in amazement as she followed the turtle, all her senses alert. She wore a pink, frilly frock and a bow in her hair, reflecting her obviously girlish personality.
They continued down the hallway, more lost stragglers joining them. Before long the three of them had turned into a small mob, stumbling down the hallway together as they followed the turtle, their only hope of survival resting on him. A variety of people surrounded the African-American girl, all of them terrified of the mutant but following him anyways.
"I think that's all of you," the mutant at the front said, coughing a bit. The smoke was even getting the better of him now, "Does anyone know where the fire escape is?"
"The fire is blocking them. We're surrounded by flames," a man said quietly, looking up at the creature in fear, "There is no escape."
"Alright," the turtle said, turning around, "Guess we'll have to do this another way." He strode forward, ducking his head a bit and covering his mouth with his arm. The crowd of people followed him blindly, like a herd of sheep. They headed straight for a door labeled "Roof Access", and began to ascend up the stairs. The girl climbed up the steps, relief washing over her as she realized that the smoke was getting thinner.
She burst up onto the roof, breathing in the fresh air greedily. The people were blinking their eyes rapidly, staring about them in amazement. The stars were glimmering above their heads as they took in the fresh night air. The turtle walked quickly around the edge of the roof, his eyes flashing with frustration.
"You won't be safe here for long," the turtle said, breaking their silent relief, "The fire will get to the roof, and all the escapes are blocked off by flames, like you said."
"What do we do?" the girl asked, stepping forward boldly. The mutant smiled, almost mischievously.
"Anyone ever gone ziplining?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
"No way," the girl said, blinking in surprise.
"You'll need jackets, scarves; any long piece of clothing you can get your hands on," he said earnestly, turning to a cable running from their roof to another one and testing out its strength. The girl watched him for a moment and then took off her sweatshirt, staring at it and lightly fingering it in her hands. Would it really hold her weight? Dang, she hoped so.
"Who's first?" the mutant asked, turning to the crowd. The girl immediately stepped forward.
"I ain't a wimp," she said fiercely, holding the sweatshirt in her hands tightly. The turtle motioned to the cable, a smile threatening to break his solemn face. The girl stepped forward, throwing the sweater over the cable and then clutching one end in each hand. She tested it out for a second, then before she could back out of the insanely stupid idea, she had flung herself off the roof and was flying through the air.
The distance between the buildings wasn't far, but it felt like a lifetime. The air rushed past her, her pigtails flying in the wind and the sweater scraping down the cable, threatening to tear. The air rushed by her, buffeting her face. Frankly, she was terrified and felt like she was going to piss her pants, but at the same time something about flying through the air made her feel...free. She let out a whoop, a smile cracking her face. Finally she reached the other rooftop, letting go of the sweatshirt and landing ungracefully on the roof, but she was unscathed.
She looked up to see more people following her, clinging to scarves, sweatshirts and other items of clothing for dear life as they whizzed down the cable towards the roof. After a few minutes and lots of screaming, everyone had made it off the burning roof, leaving only the mutant. The girl stared up at him, waiting for him to join them. But he only flashed them a small smile, then jumped onto another neighboring rooftop, clearing the gap between like it was nothing. The girl watched him leave in amazement, jumping across the roofs of New York City and disappearing into the night. He had been unreal, almost like a dream.
The girl started as she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see a familiar face, her neighbor, an old woman wearing a frilly nightgown. Her skin was wrinkled with age but her eyes were as bright and sharp as they must have been some twenty years ago. She patted the girls shoulder, a small smile appearing on her lips.
"What was he?" the girl asked the old lady, staring at where the turtle had disappeared.
"Honey," the woman said in a voice cracked with age, "That was an angel."