Stolle had returned to the sixth floor after Williams' phone call, walking past the Lab with a smug smile approximately two minutes after the turtles had already gotten inside.
You'll have company soon enough Raphael - if you're even around to see it.
Stolle was heading back to the observation room, and sat down at his desk with a somewhat contented sigh. But as he settled into the routine scans of his software, a troubled frown crept back onto his face.
What is this static interference on the feed? That's the fourth time today I haven't been able to get clear angles on the camera views. It just doesn't make any sense.
As Stolle logged back into the Usernet, he immediately received a flurry of notifications concerning recent activity that he'd had nothing to do with.
What the...
It wasn't just the cameras going down, the motion sensors outside had been completely down for a short time span, and a couple of other small systems had been tampered with as well. With a mighty scowl he started hunting for the outside signal that had infiltrated his network, and didn't have a hard time locating the foreign uplink.
"How did you get in here clever boy? I didn't give you enough credit Donatello, but now the game is over." The man stated aloud, as he clicked a button to knock the intruding signal off of the internet connection.
The guys had been waiting for April to disengage the door for them again, when Donatello got the rather frenetic call over the radio.
"Don - I got kicked out! When I tried to log back into the system, I couldn't establish another link!"
Donatello sensed one of the mounted cameras moving, and groaned inwardly. "Shell, he's onto us! Let it go April!" He ordered her, and then called to Luke over the same frequency, "Doc, are you hearing this? This isn't a drill, he can see us! Kill the electricity now!"
"Dumbest thing we've ever done!" Katherine couldn't help exclaiming again, as she and Greg had started leading the thugs on a merry chase of their own.
"Shut up and run James!"
They had a very good head start on the dozen or so men, but the fact that all of them were armed was pushing them to keep a better distance.
"Do you think we have their attention now?" Greg said ironically, half stumbling when a bullet came entirely too close.
As he whirled around to return fire, Katherine yanked him fiercely by the arm to keep moving.
"No Greg, don't give 'em an excuse to scatter! Our best hope is for them to hunt as a pack - then we have a better chance of taking out everyone at once!"
"Well we'd better get on with it before they kill us both!"
"Just a little farther Greg! Don't you see that scaffolding up ahead? We can attack more safely from there!" The woman was already fingering the strap of her backpack with anticipation. "I hope you remembered your earplugs!"
He grinned at her unexpectedly. "Just gonna have to do without."
The open fire was getting harder to avoid, and they were both relieved to dive behind a semblance of protective cover. Kat bent low over the ground while she prepared two of the concussion grenades, and handed them off to Greg.
"They're set to go - just break the safeties' when I tell you to!"
"They're gonna be on top of us in a minute here!" Greg said warningly, as Katherine peered through a break in the scaffolding to see the approaching gunmen.
"Just wait!"
An instant later, a bullet actually came within inches of Greg's head as he was waiting to throw the devices. "James!"
"Alright, do it!" She called to him, ducking down as low to the floor as she could possibly get.
Greg hurled both grenades into the oncoming pack of wild dogs that were trying to pass themselves off as men, and hit the ground beside Katherine, barely having enough time to cover his head before two explosions went off almost simultaneously.
When the electricity went out, Donatello quickly realized that the door had locked down completely. With a mighty cry of frustration, he nearly started to panic before remembering that he had one last charge.
"Mikey! See if you can find me some good tape!" Donnie yelled to his younger brother, as he bent over the floor setting up the last of his explosives.
Leonardo darted over to help Michelangelo look, but couldn't help calling back. "What's wrong Donnie?"
"The dang door's gotta have some kind of fail-safe feature! I'm gonna get Doc to blow us out of here!"
"He can still do that?" Mike asked.
"Once I've armed it, the remote he has can set it off!"
Michelangelo had been the first to locate the roll of duct tape, and ran it over to Donatello, who made quick work of strapping the charge to the door.
"Head back, get behind something!" Donatello warned the others, who were already in the process of getting Raphael and Timothy out of the way to the other side of the room.
Donnie joined them swiftly, pressing a hand to his radio. "Doc, are you with me?"
"I'm here Donnie, are you guys alright?"
"Not quite yet! I need you to hit that remote for me again! I set up another charge, and I just need your magic touch to blow us out of here!"
"You mean right now?"
"Yeah Doc, NOW!"
Stolle had been working on getting the door open manually, with a grimly armed Lewis directly to his right.
"I don't care who or what you have to kill, just be careful of--"
Stolle never got to finish the statement, his words were cut off by a miniature explosion, which hurled both men backwards into the opposite wall. Lewis was on his feet again in a moment, but Stolle intentionally hung back on his knees, waiting to see how things were going to play out inside.
The turtles were starting to rise from their own cover when a gun-toting Lewis came inside, looking seriously determined. He was coming in their direction of the room fast. Without a spoken word, Michelangelo leaped to his feet and descended on the man, despite the fact that his weapon was raised. At that particular moment, he really didn't care if the man did kill him - he was just trying to give the others at least an opening.
He'd startled Lewis severely, and the man's finger never actually made it to the trigger before Mike's numchuck made a solid connection with his skull. The man dropped like a rock, and the other turtles darted up after him.
"Are you crazy?" Donatello demanded angrily. "He could have killed you!"
"He didn't." Mike shot back, then rushing back towards Raphael. "I'm gonna take killer here so you can go hands-free Donnie!" He continued, as if nothing unusual had happened.
As Leonardo was retrieving Timothy, he gave his younger brother a slightly dark look. "We'll talk about that later."
As Donatello turned toward the door, he clearly heard April trying to reach him again.
"We're still kicking April! Can you talk fast?"
"When you had me disarm the door that first time, I noticed that the sixth floor is the only one with that level of security! It seems like if you go down a flight, they should just have regular locks!"
"Thanks April, that's exactly what we'll do!"
When they reached the hallway, Donatello found himself having to step over Stolle with a grimace of anger.
"What the shell? Did his men turn on him?" Leonardo asked when he caught sight of him.
"He was probably too close to the door when it went off, we should make sure he--"
Donatello cut off instantly, when he saw a man coming toward them quickly from the other end of the hallway. "MOVE!" He yelled to his brothers. "Follow me, stay close!"
They were heading in the direction of the nearest stairwell.
Kizirnis hesitated by Stolle for a moment when he reached him, checking to see if the man was alive. He was startled when Stolle jerked upright.
"I'm fine you idiot, I just didn't want them to know it! After them, hurry! You have authority to use deadly force on all but the one!"
They pounded down the staircase as fast as they could manage with their precious burdens, and Donatello yanked open the door to the fifth floor. Even as he opened it, he heard the footsteps of someone pursuing them.
"Come on!" He urged his brothers.
His only thought was bending toward getting to one of the rooms on the end of the hall, which would definitely have access to the fire escape. They'd only made it about half-way down the hall when he heard the footsteps behind them again, and this time it was followed up by a couple of gunshots.
"Keep moving!" Donatello encouraged his brothers again, worried about their pace being hampered by the extra weight, and for the safety of Raphael and Tim. We're gonna have to get rid of this guy before he kills someone, Donatello acknowledged to himself, as he pulled up short by the door on the very end.
He attacked the doorknob with a furious kick, and it practically flew off the hinges entirely as he forced his way through it. He nearly ran into a hanging sheet of plastic - the entire room was in various stages of renovation, with exposed dry wall and framing in several areas. Donatello motioned for Leonardo and Mike to pass him, and took a defensive stance himself just inside the door with his bo in hand.
When Kizirnis caught up, he stared the turtle down for a long moment in what glow the emergency lights provided. His gun was raised, but he wasn't making any moves on him. Donatello cocked his head curiously, and then startled when the man started firing, not at him, but in the direction of his brothers across the room.
With a loud cry he lunged at the man, twirling his bo expertly over his head for a powerful strike, first of the man's gun hand, and then he followed it up with a heavy blow over the head. Donatello whirled back around, and hurried toward his brothers.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Donnie, is this a problem?" Leonardo asked swiftly, motioning toward the hissing sound now escaping from an exposed pipe that one of the bullets had struck.
"SHELL, that's a gas line!" Donatello gasped. "We have to get out, one spark and this room could go right up!"
They made for the fire escape, and Donatello helped both his brothers get Raphael and Timothy out the window.
"Now go!" Donatello ordered them. "I'm right behind you!"
"Donnie--" Leo started.
"Leo, go! I'm coming, I'll be right there!"
His older brother gave him another once over, before starting to descend with Timothy as carefully as he could. It was slower going with their burdens, but it was also just a relief to be out of the building.
Donatello cast a glance over his shoulder at Kizirnis, and smacked himself in the forehead angrily. "I hate being the good guy sometimes!"
With that, he hurried over to the man, with every intention of getting him out of the room that could become a potential inferno at any given moment. Donatello was just bending over the man's still form, when he felt something sharp catch him in the shoulder. He reacted so quickly to it that he nearly managed to get the barbs out, right before Stolle activated the taser.
His entire body was captured in the seize of the shock, and Stolle chose to only hold the button for a few seconds. He didn't want the turtle completely incapacitated after all, not now in his grand moment. Donatello tried to move futilely as the man got down beside him, but his muscles were still contracting from the effects of the stun, and they couldn't obey him.
"Hello Donatello - I've been waiting just for you. You didn't actually think I would let you walk out of here, did you?"