We could see and hear all four of them on the variety of screens at the controls station. April would occasionally tune in on one or another, so Master Splinter, Casey and I could also catch up on what was going on.
Huge green fists, clutching the sai and crashing debris in what, I assumed, was the old headquarters of the Foot clan. Raphael was contentiously muttering and cursing under his nose.
Usagi, hardly visible, gracefully and airily running between the freight units and massive cargoes by the dark, dirty water, splashing at a distance. Full stealth mode. Only the sound of heavy breathing came out of the speakers. Leo's head-cam almost never lost the sight of the rabbit, following him everywhere.
Extreme heights of NYC's skyscrapers inevitably projected alarming pictures through Mikey's head-set. One sky-diving jump after another, his acrobatic etudes were taking my breath away.
Donatello was following closely, however so much more carefully. And we could actually see how Mike appeared and disappeared from the view through the Brainiac's relatively steady head-cam.
"Mike! Come on, man (panting), stop fooling around! This is aggravating!" – Donatello's voice sounded more or less casual, even though the over-energetic light-green mutant just performed a head-stand, jumping above and over his head, landing on a rooftop across the street.
April pushed a button, exclaiming into the mic: "Michelangelo, seriously... How come all of this doesn't make you sea-sick? I mean, my head is spinning…"
"Dudette…" – shouted Mike, unaware that we could hear him perfectly fine, "It's like the first time I tasted pizza! Woo hoo.. the rush! (loud laughter) I can finally stretch my limbs a little! Yeah!" And much to poor Donatello's affliction, Mike was in the air again.
Master Splinter, to my left, shook his head, nervously fiddling with his long beard.
Not-so-discretely giggling into his fist, Casey put a hand on April's knee: "He's had it rough, babe. Let'im have some fun and breathe some fresh air for a change…"
Because of his injury, Michelangelo was 'imprisoned' inside the farm house and underground in the lair for a long time! I agreed with Casey, he must've missed this, all the action. He needed this instant thrill. But on the other hand, I was worried, and so were Splinter and April. Not to mention poor, traumatized Donatello: "Mikey!" - we heard him pleading: "We're not here to have fun.. we're on a mission, remember? Could you focus please…" His voice died away, as April, heavily sighing, switched back to Leonardo's cam, refocusing our attention on the leading team.
Leonardo was moving much faster now, closely following the ronin, no longer bothering to sneak behind walls or stay in the shadows. What were they doing? Was that the plan?
April frowned and anxiously exclaimed into the mic: "What are you doing, Leo?"
Casey's eyebrows met at the bridge of his nose: "Is it just me, or are they about to attack!?"
Panicking, I looked at Master Splinter. His gaze was focused on Usagi.
April pushed a button again, "Leo! What is going on there?"
"It's alright, April! We got something! There's been a slight change of strategy… eh, due to the circumstances (heavy breathing) We're moving in.. eh, a little bit closer… just a little bit…"
We suddenly saw Usagi's eyes up close, sparkling in the dim shine of the streetlights. He looked straight up at Leo and sharply waved his head. He was showing us something. Between some massive freight shipping containers, there was a wide open space filled with people. They were gathered round, dressed all in black, even their faces hidden away. The Foot ninja, I figured. The Foot formulated a circle around one very tall person enveloped inside a dark cape. A faint blue glow shone through holes and openings of that cape, as if the person hiding inside was all made of light. The shaman Donatello was talking about earlier, was this him?!
"Are you getting this?" Leo's voice cutting through my feverish imagination, addressed April again, "I think there are at least a hundred heads in here.. (deep sigh) Something tells me, this might be more serious than we expected! We'll need some reinforcements, this might be…"
But we didn't get to hear the rest, as he was suddenly cut off by Usagi, whose hushed voice was directed exclusively at Leonardo and barely made it through the speakers. Plus the rabbit was talking in Japanese! I couldn't see his mouth, that part of his face was hidden by the ski mask. Understanding absolutely nothing of what he was saying, I watched his eyes, looking for some kind of reassurance. I instinctively glanced at Casey, who seemed to be at least as much confused as I was, as I figured he knew and understood situations like this better than me, having lots of experience with the guys and with past missions. Then all of us, April, Casey and I, simultaneously looked at Master Splinter, the only one of us who actually had a chance of understanding something here.
We watched the wise old rat unblinkingly stare at the screen, listening closely. His face becoming more and more rigid. And when Leo finally said – Tomo-domo itsumademo, the screen suddenly went off!
"What the..?! Leo!" April was slamming her hand on the mic button again, "Leo! God damn'it! Turn your head-set back on! What are you doing?"
"Shimatta!" Splinter's expression was unrecognizable. His fists wrapped around his old cane, as he tensed up all over and his fur stood up as if electrified. His uncharacteristic encrazed eyes scared me to death: "How could have I missed this?! My dreams! They were trying to tell me something.. but I, the old fool.. I wouldn't listen!" He looked straight in front of him, but it was clear that he couldn't see. He started whispering something incomprehensible and nervously pulling his beard. I stood up in confusion and tried to get him to settle down, but he only shoved me away, mattering something at half a voice again and again. Something that sounded like: Shimshu.. ?
"They were all… they were all true?!" With an unmistakably experienced promptitude, he performed a set of hand-gestures after which he sat down right there, where he was, on the floor of the Shellraiser, and chanting some mantras (I've heard him do this before on several occasions) went into deep meditation.
"Leo! Leo! Come in, Leo!" April kept pushing that button: "Leonardo, answer me right now, or so help me…"
"Babe, relax!" Casey gently touched April's cheek to try and soothe her. Even though his own expression was nothing close to relaxation.
April's crushed look did not make me feel any easier. She stared at her husband and then at Splinter with a confused, horrified grimace on her face. Then shook her head as if trying to remember something. And all of a sudden she caught Casey by the shoulders and shouted: "What did he say? Did you hear what he said? Was it Shinju? Did he just say Shinju?!" Her widened eyes met mine and I nodded automatically.
I fearfully looked at them both, unsure what to do or even think: "Did you understand any of this?!"
Casey shook his head: "I dunno… But what of it? Leo's gear must've malfunctioned or something.. let's wait a bit and I'm sure he'll come right back…"
But April's face was not relaxing, holding onto her husband as if he was her last hope, she was not even listening anymore. Looking at the ninjitsu master, now levitating just above the floor, she wiped her face with a shaky hand and slowly pronounced: "Shinju means Lover's Suicide!"
The cam suddenly went back on and we saw Leo! Usagi wasn't in sight.. anywhere. It was just Leo… on his knees… his hands tied back behind his shell. Blood dripping from bruises all over his furious face. Four Foot soldiers were holding him down, but Fearless was not ready to give up, struggling to get up, and completely ignoring the katana blades pointed right at his face, one slowly drawing a thin red line along his neck. Blood running down and dripping to the ground below...
"The orange one! We need the orange kame!" Came a voice with heavy Japanese accent from behind the camera. Someone was holding Leo's head-set, to show us, to get the message through: "Exchange with this one! If no - he dies!"
"NO! Don't listen to them! I'm fine… Mikey, if you can hear me, don't even think ab..." Leonardo's voice died out as he was furiously hit straight on the head by one of the Foot. I saw blood streaming down from Leo's eyes instead of tears. "No.." he hissed, "Keep away! Don't come after me…" another loud thud on the scull and Leo lost consciousness, falling down backwards, pinning one of the Foot soldiers with his shell.
"Bring the orange one! Tomorrow! Same place… same time!"
After that all we could hear was white noise...
The expression of horror on April's face probably closely mirrored mine, we were panicking. And I didn't even realize how my nails dug into my palms.
White noise...
Where the shell was Usagi?! What happened out there? I was blankly staring at the dead screen, losing it. I just felt so useless and weak, tears of fear and anger streaming down my face. And it was suddenly so quiet! Nothing disturbed the present stillness of the Shellraiser. Or maybe it was just that my ears were ringing...
White noise...
When I eventually, more or less, came to my senses, I looked around and saw that Casey had dissapeared. One moment he was beside April and I, shouting at the screen, insane with blind fury, the next he was just gone, his wheelchair standing abandoned at the corner of the Shellraiser, the blanket negligently thrown to the floor...
White noise...
Master Splinter, still levitating slightly above the floor, eyes shut, a dark shadow on his face, his hands going on automat, gesturing a combination of signs none stop. He was in another place, far away from here… It's like it was all a bad dream, I couldn't understand anything that was happening around me. Just kept staring at the old rat. Can he see or hear any of this horror?
White noise...
"Lin, can you hear me?"
Was this really happening? Wait a minute… someone was calling my name…
"LINA!" Donnie's voice finally made it, reaching inside the blockade in my mind, and my faltering consciousness clang to that sweet sound like a magnet.
"Donnie! Donatello, omigosh!" I finally became aware of my ear-piece again.
"Ah! Thank God! Thank God! Thank goodness!" I heard my boyfriend's voice chant on the other side, "Are you alright? Are you safe?"
"Where are you, Donnie? Did you see ... Leo! OMG! Did you..?"
"Yes, yes, sweetie.." - he said bitterly: "I saw, but right now I really need to know you're okay! Just tell me you're safe! I'm on my way…"
"I'm fine! We're fine…" I looked around me again, "Oh, wait, Casey's gone... I don't know where..." I searched with my eyes and saw April, she was leaning onto the mic, shouting, feverishly pushing buttons, "April is here beside me... eh, she's crying!" April was calling Raph's name through her tears. My own hot tears were uncontrollably dropping onto my shirt, "Oh, Donnie, what are we going to do?! You're not going over there alone, right?! Right?" The horrid realization hit me so hard all a once, "Donatello!"
He was silent for a moment, then his cracking voice reached my ears again: "No, not at the moment... Right now I'm coming to get you and April out of there! Master Splinter, is he still in the vehicle?"
"Yes! Yes, he's here.. but he's in some kind of a trance... I think… He's levitating... "
"I see, he's trying to reach Leo in the astral plane.. Ok, Love, listen: stay put, I'll be there in two minutes tops!"
"Ah! Donnie..." I didn't know what to think, or how to assist. What could I do to be useful? I needed to be an active member of this group and actually help with the mission! And Leo! He was there! Captured! I had to do SOMETHING... But wait... "Don! Mikey... is he still with you? Tell me he's with you!"
There was a frustrated groan on the other side: "No... I lost him… There's no signal. I think he crashed his EA. I don't know where he is!"