When Raphael's screech entered the fray, it sounded nothing like his brothers'. His cry was simultaneously deeper, and what he imagined as blood-curdling. Also, he didn't have to work up to it. The scream automatically expelled when he lunged into the pack of officers trying to surround the ten-year-old turtle.
Not attacking the men as hard as he could was one of the most difficult things Raph had ever done. His instinct was to destroy anyone for threatening his family, but current actions felt more like teasing the strangers. The one exception to the rule was the cop holding a gun far too close to Donatello's head. That man would have a headache to remember him by, but still be lucky enough to breathe for another day.
Raphael felt no guilt for the dragon punch he sent to the gunman's jaw. Though he wanted to finish what he'd started, he merely bared his teeth with a growl and performed a tornado kick to force the other men to back up. If the cops were too stupid to retreat from the maneuver, they deserved to be pummeled, police or not.
The twelve-year-old heard a swish behind him, caught the deft movement of the younger turtle's bo staff out of the corner of his eye, and couldn't resist shooting a look over his shoulder. He admired the rapid spins Donny used to force men to retreat further, before Raphael pressed his shell against his brother's.
"Don, we're probably gettin' close, don't ya think?" he suggested quietly, not wanting anyone else to accidentally hear them.
"Leo said he would signal me," Donny hissed in return. "Where's Sensei?"
"Shipping container on the far right, I27. I didn't wanna leave him-"
"Replacing my shell didn't give you much choice. Are you gonna be able to get him fast enough after Leo gives me the go-ahead?"
"Yeah, bro, it'll be nothing. Disappear and wait for Fearless. Try to keep an eye on that shipping container too!"
"Among everything else," Donatello muttered.
A distinct crack drew Raphael to look over his shoulder again, just in time to glimpse a man staggering and dropping his gun. Don hadn't applied tremendous force; the lack of visible blood was proof. He saw his brother depart through the opening the young turtle had created, appearing like nothing more than a shadow melding back into darkness.
Raphael screeched again at the remaining men in the circle, transforming into a whirlwind to demand their attention, and give his brother time to get away cleanly. He spun half a dozen times, never once striking someone, though he sensed a couple of passes were narrow.
Out of the last whirl he drew both sai, and adopted a sadistic smile he hoped the policemen could see. He abandoned a rapid twirl of his favored weapons for the privilege of turning sai slowly, giving all the men a chance to look at them. Their frozen posture made him want to smirk harder.
He heard a series of grunts behind him, but didn't have to turn around to recognize the addition of his youngest brother's absurd cry. Michelangelo's scream didn't indicate danger, but more of the intimidation tactics which were designed to scare people off, so they wouldn't have to hurt them as badly.
The next noise Raphael picked up sounded more like a chuckle, but quickly morphed into a shrill bellow which was coming right toward him. The twelve-year-old instantly whipped around to meet Mike and caught him by the wrists, then waited for his brother to grip his hands in return before swinging him around.
"Put a lid on it," Raph warned through gritted teeth.
"Totally under control!"
"Don't sound like it, Chucklehead. Laughing ain't gonna scare anyone."
"Your face will though," Mikey retorted.
Raphael let go of his brother without warning, enjoying the loft of his momentum and the two cops Mike managed to flatten with the surprise launch. The youth was unaffected by the entire experience, snapping into a kip-up which landed him in-between a couple more men.
The young turtle circled an arm around each of their backs and pulled them in tighter to his frame with the most animalistic sound Raphael had ever heard come from his mouth. When one of the officer's legs buckled Mike allowed him to sink backwards, while keeping fierce eye contact with the other.
The second man threw himself toward his comrade, and Michelangelo didn't block the officer's protective instinct to help his friend. Raphael was almost touched by the way the human retreated with his frightened partner instead of running off ahead of him.
Still, he also rubbed his hands together at the sight of a new formation of officers. "Playing" wasn't as satisfying, but it was too dangerous to go down the serious route, regardless of possible regrets incurred. The severity of his Master's injuries made it risky to give in to anger for a single moment.
The thought of his wounded father almost made a kick strike down the first man in his path, instead of harmlessly passing two inches over the cop's head. They've got no clue how much we're holding back. If anyone starts shooting, though, all bets are freaking off.
The compounded shouts of new individuals drew Raph to look left. That was when he noticed Leonardo dashing straight across the wall around the cops, occasionally landing a foot on a shoulder here and there while he seemed to defy gravity. The flash of katana appeared to be deterring anyone from crowding in too close, but it wouldn't prevent them from shooting at Leo.
Raphael found himself distracted by trying to keep an eye on Mike and his older brother, thereby missing the arrival of a nightstick until it glanced across his own shell. He turned on heel to face the surprised owner of a now-shattered weapon, and captured him by the collar with a guttural snarl.
Then he shoved the man into two counterparts behind him, avoiding the urge to laugh while tossing away the remnants of the ruined nightstick. He flexed away from a kick aimed toward his knees from a muscle-bound man on his right. Raphael honestly respected the human's sheer mass, but his size was irrelevant. He allowed the officer a couple more attempts to hit him, which resembled beating the air.
The twelve-year-old finally struck the officer's shoulder to send him off balance, and rolled over his back to get behind him. He rendered the man's dominant arm powerless with a swift tap of a nerve, and held on a little tighter until the cop pitched forward, falling on his face.
Ninjutsu beats all.
Raphael kicked the next wrist he saw bearing a gun, and sent the weapon soaring with a glare at his "enemy". He drew back a fist as though to hit him, and stopped inches from delivering the blow. The turtle was close enough to the human see surprise dawn in the cop's face. He had to follow that up with a sweep of the officer's legs, sending him stumbling into another comrade who probably wasn't taking Raph seriously enough.
A sudden clash of metal on metal called for attention. Raphael's neck jerked to locate his older brother, scanning a couple seconds before locating the teen with both katana raised over his head in what looked like a warrior salute. A second crashing of his blades together reminded him of what Leo was doing.
The signal!
Raphael instantly turned around to find his youngest brother, then jumped over the heads of three men like he was playing leap frog with them. He wanted to call Mike's name, but settled for an urgent shriek which was meant to get his brother to meet him.
The slight tilt of the youth's head indicated Michelangelo understood. In seconds he bowled over an officer, and overtook two more who'd been trying to escape while he slid across the floor toward Raph.
Raphael spun his sai faster now, jabbing and faking out the individuals who were yet trying to surround them both. He was hesitant to move or do anything else until Leonardo headed for them, motioning katana toward the center of the room.
This was it – the finale his older brother planned. But a large part of it hinged on Don, and he wasn't sure where the younger turtle currently was. Raphael briefly searched the rafters, not catching a glimpse of him. He then shifted to glance at the container in which he'd hidden Splinter.
A light brush of his shell nearly made Raph tear into whoever had gotten that close to him, right before he recognized Leo's fingers.
"It's a good concentration," the teen murmured, nodding at the shadowy fingers who'd built up in the background.
Raphael refused to admit he hadn't noticed the numbers increasing, or how much nearer they were to being hemmed in. Instinct caused adrenaline to surge, ready to fight his way out of the assault, but he still had to wait.
"You think they got any idea what's about to happen?" he asked his brother softly.
"Not unless they've got a genius for a brother too."
The flickering of faint emergency lights made Leo tense, and stretch to grab Mike's wrist when he jolted. "It's okay. Don't forget to hold your breath, and move. Don't wait for anything when the rest of lights go out."
Raphael nearly stopped breathing just from anticipation. Although he'd been briefed on what would happen, he wasn't prepared for how it would play out. Donny had experimented with a number of materials for smoke bombs through the years, but was limited this time by the only ingredients he'd carried with him for the trip. Fortunately, the current variety only called for two.
"All of you on the ground!" one man finally found his voice. "Drop your weapons and surrender now!"
Raph stoically eyed the officer, refusing to answer or do what he said. Leonardo had specifically told them not to address people directly, and while he normally abhorred being ordered not to do something, this one made a lot of sense. There would be no begging for their lives or reasonable behavior from strangers who were prepared to offer neither.
He was tempted to look up again, but this time refrained. Raphael didn't want the cops to catch wind that anything else could be coming. The second phasing of lights and a crackling sizzle were the next signs of Don's movement above them. It would have been easy to miss the tiny sound in that environment, but Raph was fixated on the minute changes taking place in the background.
The twelve-year-old drew closer to his brothers when he noticed a single flash falling like a comet. It was followed by several more of the flaming beacons; his brother's version of a bomb constructed from nothing but matches and duct tape. The combined smoke which instantly billowed around them was one of the most beautiful screens his brother had created yet.
While the development confused and alarmed officers who weren't aware the effects were mostly harmless, it was also the signal for the rest of the turtles to move fast. The use of vision wasn't necessary to navigate current obstacles. In fact, Raphael shut his eyes to prevent them from stinging, and held his breath to keep from choking on fumes.
Departing from the temporary smoke screen took seconds, and he didn't check if his brothers followed. Raph had to retrieve Splinter before Donny's next phase kicked in.
The thought drove him rapidly to the door of the unit he'd chosen, where he gathered his blanket-wrapped father from a position behind crates. He checked quickly to assure himself that the rat was still breathing before gently loading Splinter over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and carefully bracing an arm around his bad leg to support it.
When he ducked back out of the shipping unit, he found that smoke had spread like a low-lying fog. Pandemonium also seemed to have erupted in the area as blinded men ran into each other and tried to identify the unknown threat. He also found Leo and Mike waiting for him on the edge of the room, noticeable for their lack of movement.
"Is Otosan okay?" Leo whispered urgently.
"'Bout the same, I think. Where's Donny?"
"Finishing!"
At Leonardo's prophetic word, the sparse emergency lights promptly went out, sending the entire space into real darkness. Raphael immediately feared for Donny, but Leo's familiar hand was around his shoulder once more, propelling him forward.
"How's Don supposed to find us?!"
"He knows which way we're going, Raph! We're sticking with the original escape route."
The twelve-year-old would never admit it out loud, but he was disappointed when Leo let go of him. Neither seeing nor being able to hear anything from his brothers was disconcerting, despite having trained in similar conditions. He sensed Leonardo in front of him, but had no idea where Mike was.
They'd only dashed a few yards when Raph stretched out a hand to make contact with the teen's shell.
"Bro, I can't feel Mikey."
"He's in front of me," Leo assured him. "Mike has a better understanding of this place than the rest of us. We can trust him, Raph."
"But Donny-"
"Is coming. He's coming, bro, I promise you. Focus on supporting Sensei, keep up, and we'll be out of here in no time."
Raphael shut his mouth and fixed on the sensation of Leonardo's presence. He had a feeling that as long as he could orient on his brother, everything else would be okay too.
Soon he was also accosted by the sense of walls narrowing in on him, and surmised they were in a hallway. It felt like they'd been lost in the pitch black forever, despite it not possibly being that long.
Desperation to hear from Donny and the fear that someone else would be able to follow them left Raphael extremely paranoid. Those cops have flashlights. They look hard enough, and they could still-
The sound of something brushing the wall behind the twelve-year-old nearly sent him berserk. If he wasn't hauling Splinter, he probably would have lunged first and asked questions later. As it is, his sudden halt caused something to collide with his shell hard, and a glorious grunt greeted him from the darkness.
"Shell, Raph! Gimme some warning."
Raphael was ecstatic to hear his younger brother, even if he was also warring with irritation. "Don't announce yourself then, Donny. You're lucky I didn't try to take your head off."
Donatello pushed away the flailing hand trying to help him up. "I'm good – keep going! That smoke wasn't very thick. It's got to be dissipating, and they'll be trying to find us."
"You made that a lot harder for 'em," Raph said appreciatively. "Ya done good, Don."
"Don't compliment me until we escape. It's bad luck."
"Does that mean I can't call you genius?"
"You don't have a choice. Those were your terms in the bet. You said if I got the computer working, you'd call me 'genius' until the day you died."
Raphael started to chuckle, right before seeing a small sliver of light in the distance. The relief of being able to partially view all of his brothers in one piece nearly made him stop again. But Michelangelo didn't hesitate in running through the door, so neither could he.
Inside an interior room he got to take brief stock of Leo and Don in the faint outdoor lighting streaming in the windows, but never had a close look at Mike, because he was still moving.
"Where are we heading?" the youngest demanded. "Are we winging this part too?"
"Not completely," Leo answered. "We'll go back across the Industrial Park. There are more warehouses and shipping yards nearby."
"How far?" Mike asked warily.
"Closest building is about four miles. The other shipping yards, a couple more."
Michelangelo cursed, causing Raphael to gape at him. "We're supposed to make it that far running from cops, Leo?"
The oldest turtle nodded grimly. "We just have to avoid them. With any luck, we'll get to the field without being seen. Then we'll have the chance to run across the Industrial Park a lot easier. Either way, we can't stay here."
The heaviness of the statement made Raphael cringe. The only thing waiting if they were found again would probably be a hailstorm of bullets.
Mike stepped away from the window, waving for Leonardo to go first. The oldest turtle climbed through the window frame, which appeared to have been previously shattered.
Leo held out his arms to Raph. "Give me Sensei for a minute, and you can come out."
Raphael partially dreaded being exposed to the driving rain, but there wasn't an alternative. He carefully handed off their father and passed through the window, landing on the other side with a groan over the cold downpour. Then he mutely took Splinter back to free up the teen's hands, and waited for younger brothers to join them.
Leo suddenly took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, holding up hands to point out another distressing fact. Charcoal powder was being washed away. "We're losing our cover. Stay low, don't make a sound, and let's head for the field."
Raph made his other brothers take the middle behind the teen, putting himself at the back. He scanned every direction when they started moving, skirting the edge of the main building. As serious as things were, seeing a firetruck nearby made him snort.
"Sick, Fearless. When you sabotage something, you really go for the big guns."
"I didn't expect it to catch on fire," he called back over his shoulder.
"Well, you probably slowed down those cops, so nice going."
Leonardo's second glance communicated uncertainty at the praise.
"I mean it." Raphael felt compelled to add, even though he couldn't see the teen needing his approval.
His older brother nodded, but then hesitated in his step. Motioning to Donatello, he said something Raphael couldn't hear. Then the ten-year-old drew his bo and crept toward the corner they'd been approaching. Without any warning Don lashed out, and it sounded like he made a solid connection with something on the other side.
From the pained grunt that followed, it was obvious he hadn't knocked the figure out. Raphael hurried from the end to watch Leo pressing a finger to the man's temple, and the twelve-year-old grimaced at the rifle on the ground beside him.
Leo didn't say anything, but immediately led them on. Departing the small cover the building provided felt like suicide, yet abandoning it sooner or later was a necessity. Raphael vaguely wished Donny could have saved some of his smoke bombs.
Might not have done much good in the rain though.
Looking at his brothers, he could see the remnants of their charcoal disguise still disappearing. Donatello chose that moment to rip the nylon mask from his head, like he couldn't stand it any longer. Discouraging him at that point didn't make any sense.
Crouching near the ground, Leonardo made for the rows of police cars lining the parking lot. Raphael took a closer look at vehicles while they slipped in between them.
"Could we take one, do ya think?" Raph ventured.
"Stealing a cruiser would be a little obvious." Leo sounded irritated.
"It's not...a horrible idea though," Donny offered softly. "The car back in the field. If it works, that might come in handy."
"If it works," the teen allowed. "But it seems like whoever dumped it must have thought the car was worthless. They also probably didn't leave the keys."
Don's chuckle was surprising. "Leo, I don't need keys."
Raphael was on the ten-year-old's shell in a flash. "Can you hot-wire that thing?"
"As long as it has gas, the battery, and a working engine, yeah."
"Why do you know how to hot-wire a car?" the oldest turtle asked testily.
Donatello shrugged. "It was one of my first YouTube* searches. Seen it on TV. Wanted to know if it was possible in real life."
"None of us know how to drive," Leonardo still objected.
"Leo, it ain't rocket science." Raph scoffed. "And even if it was, we got a genius on our team. I think we'll figure it out."
"If it's working, we can talk about it then," Leo agreed with clenched jaw.
Raphael rejoiced to have "won" a small battle, then turned his attention back to real problem. They were coming to the end of police cars, and left with nothing but a fifty yard dash through the open to get to the field.
Attacking the perimeter fence was the next step, and the sight of five men on the other side of it made Raph curse under his breath. Wouldn't be hard for the four of us to take 'em out. The trick is to avoid anyone else noticing. He looked around warily. The beams of flashlights across the property and the sound of men running different directions made taking the risk even harder. Raphael couldn't look a single direction without seeing evidence of cops.
Doesn't matter. We got this far, and we can't stop.
Raph nudged Don's shoulder to hand Splinter off to him and joined Leo near the fence.
"Try not to hurt them," Leonardo reminded.
"Yeah, got it." Raphael resisted the growl pulsing at the back of his throat.
They waited until the sentries were heading the opposite direction, and Leo's nod spurred the twelve-year-old into action. Raphael scaled chain link as quietly as possible, and rolled right over the top without bothering to climb down the other side.
Leonardo hit the ground a second behind him, and they both went toward patrolling strangers. They moved quietly enough that the men shouldn't have heard them, but the second one started to turn, Raphael didn't hesitate to strike his wrist and catch the barrel of the human's gun.
He avoided the cop's headbutt by bending backwards, and shrugged off an arm trying to loop around his neck. Raph was dying for the fast ease of knocking the attacker behind him out, so that catching him with pinching fingers at the jaw felt like a love tap. The efficiency of the nerve pain leveled the human, and freed the turtle to deal with his original gunman.
The sight of his backup weapon forced Raphael to roll out of the way as bullets were expended. Slogging through the mud was almost as irritating as being shot at again. The cop followed him, leveling his pistol inches from his frame. Stoic, Raphael glared at the man.
"Keep your hands where I can see them!" the officer ordered.
Giving nothing away by his expression, Raph hooked the man's knee with his leg and sent him tumbling on his face. He was on top of the cop before he even managed to turn over, pinning his gun hand to the ground with one foot, and sending a kick to the back of his head with the other.
"Don't need my hands," he proclaimed over the unmoving assailant.
"Did you really have to kick him?" Leo demanded.
"He shot at me," Raphael spat.
His brother didn't appear to be in the mood to argue about it. Instead he jumped back on the fence, ascending to the top to retrieve their father from Donny. Raphael came on Leo's other side to receive the rat from him.
"C'mon, you guys, hurry up," he urged through the links at younger brothers. "Get over here already."
Raphael heard a shout in the distance from the parking lot, and amber eyes widened when he noticed another group of officers appeared to have noticed their attempt to escape.
*I clearly don't own YouTube.