We are sadly drawing to an end of this fic :D Please visit the poll on my profile page and a big thanks to Mikell and MelodyWinters!
Leo blinked rapidly at Don, trying to get his attention from his cage. The purple clad turtle was literally stuffed into a tight cage. Bars pressed on him from all sides, forcing his knees to be tucked into his plastron and his arms scrunched up uncomfortably from behind his back. The muzzle on his face was too tight – Leo could see the faint trickles of blood running down his beak.
Letting out a heavy groan, he shifted around, knocking his knuckles against the concrete floor. There was no straw to hinder the sound from reaching his brother. After knocking a few times, he saw Donatello's eyes start to flicker open.
Don's eyes went wide when he saw Leo in the cage across from him. He let out a few muffled groans from behind his sealed lips before lowering his eyes, almost out of shame.
I don't blame you bro…if anyone, I blame myself. I'm the one who got us into this – it's my entire fault.
With an inward sigh, he let his head fall back to the floor, resting it on the cool metal. He felt the sting from where they had darted him, just to make sure he was out. His head pounded from where it had struck the tree branch and he wished for aspirin and a comfortable bed to settle down in until it went away.
There was a knock on the barn door and everything inside went still. It was followed by three short, quick knocks before Gruber opened the door and motioned in a man.
"Mr. Johnson." Gruber said with a sly smile.
Leo felt himself pale as he exchanged scared looks with Don. This was the man that treated Raph like a horse…this was the man that stuck a bit with a spike in and used their brother like a plow animal.
And he was back.
Take me…don't let him get Don. Leo pleaded with himself as he watched Gruber exchange brief words with the man. Johnson looked annoyed with whatever Gruber was telling him and gave a sharp shake of his head. Gruber said a few more hands and Johnson brought his hand up to chin, giving it thought to whatever Gruber was telling him urgently. He finally shook his head and made a move to get back into his truck.
Gruber reached for him and grabbed hold of his sleeve. He was saying something rapidly to Johnson as though his life depended on it. Finally Johnson gave a small nod of his head and got into his truck, starting the engine and driving away, taking his fancy trailer with him.
Leo let out the break he'd been holding. Don was safe…he was safe. Johnson was gone.
Gruber marched back into the barn, his ugly face twisted into a scowl. He looked ready to kick a cage but decided against it, holding himself somewhat together.
"Stupid man…" Gruber mumbled as he grabbed a thick binder and flipped it open. Reaching for a stray pencil on a desk, he furiously scribbled something out on the page before letting both fall to the desk. He shot a death glare at Leo and Don. "Where is your brother?" he hissed, stepping close to Leo's cage.
Leo lifted his head from the concrete, meeting Gruber's flaming gray eyes with chocolate brown ones.
Do you really think I'm stupid enough to tell you that?
"You just cost me one of my most important customers!" Gruber hissed.
So sorry about that…not.
"I need your brother back. He was already broken," Gruber muttered to himself, turning away from Leo's cage.
He wasn't broken! Leo wanted to scream. His brother was on of the strongest he knew.
"I need to find out how to get him back within three weeks." Gruber fretted, nervously wringing his hands out. "Or else Johnson will stop buying from me."
We wouldn't want that to happen now would we…or would we? Leo chuckled to himself.
Gruber shot Leo a death glare. "You realize how fortunate you are don't you?"
Yes, just slightly.
"Mr. Johnson is one of my best customers not only because he rents out my most expensive products but because most animals I send there, come back in worse shape than how I sent them. If I thought they were broken – he really broke them." He grinned wickedly. "I sent your brother there, with him still sending me death glares. He came back refusing to look up from the ground."
Leo felt chills run through him as he exchanged horror looks with Don. The purple clad turtle looked more ready to murder Gruber than anything, but Leo could still the fearful glint in all the anger.
He would have said more there was loud and frantic barking outside and muffled yells followed by whimpers from the dogs. Gruber ran to the door and tore it open, stepping outside. Drawing a small pistol from his pant pocket, he stepped outside.
There was a pistol shot and another muffled yell. Leo and Don both froze as Gruber pushed the door back in, his face a sickly grin.
"I have your brother." He smirked.
Leo and Don's eyes went wide.
No…not Raph…not Raph.
Both of them know Raph couldn't take anymore. Being with Gruber again…it could be the thing that causes him to finally break. They just prayed it wasn't Raph.
Just not Raph.
"Where's Mikey at?" Raph asked, bouncing Carley on his lap. His eyes kept nervously darting to the clock on the far wall. It had been three hours and there was no sign of Mikey. Jayden and Dominick were both building small towers on the rug.
Or any of his brothers for that matter.
Normally he wouldn't be concerned because they were all three together. It was hard enough to take down one of them, but with each other, it was next to impossible. But the fact that April looked worried scared him.
"April?"
She cast green eyes on him. A nervous smile played across her lips. "They're fine Raph."
"Then where are they?" he demanded. "It was dark out when they left, but is just ridiculous. It's close to midnight."
"I know Raph, I know." She gave the clock her own nervous look.
There was a sound of footsteps and wood creaking. A second later the front door was eased open and a large muscular man stepped in. His blue eyes were downcast.
"Casey?" April whispered, taking a small step forward.
Casey said nothing as he peeled off his coat. As soon as it was off and hanging in the closet, he turned to the turtle and girlfriend.
"Casey?"
"There's…there's not sign of them." Casey shook his head. "No tracks or anything that showed signs of a struggle. No blood…"
"Then where are they?" Raph growled. "April, you talked to Mikey last. Where did he say he was going?"
April paled. "I'm…I'm not sure."
The lie in her voice was so obvious that Raph felt fear creeping up on him. She had a reason to lie…
"Casey," April's jerked her chin towards the kitchen.
Casey's shot Raph a nervous look before following her into the next room, away from Raph's hearing range. He could hear the murmuring of their voices.
Carefully setting Carley down on the floor beside her brothers, Raph crept towards the kitchen. Pressing himself against the wall, he listened in.
"April, where did Mikey go?"
"Leo and Don are missing." She murmured.
Raph had to hold back a gasp. Missing?
"For how long?"
"Almost six hours."
"Do you think he's okay? I know Don went to go find Leo because he needed someone else in the barn but I thought he'd be back by now."
"So Don went after Leo?" April's voice was shaking.
"Yeah. I thought they were in the barn. Leo left shortly after Don took the hawk into the barn."
"Left?"
"Yeah, he said he had business to attend too or something. He didn't say much, simply said he would back later."
"Business…" April's voice trailed off. "What could he be doing out there?"
"Ummm…."
"Casey!" April suddenly whispered, fear in her voice.
Raph felt himself start to shake at her next words.
Gruber…he was near? Gruber, the man who had kept him prisoner for five years – the man who had treated him like a pet and rented him out.
Trembling, he couldn't help himself but had to peak in to check on his kids. They were still there, playing happily on the floor. Letting out a relieved sigh, he went back to listening.
"Do you think they were grabbed?" April whispered fearfully.
Gruber has my bros? No!
Raph had to fight the urge to tear out of the door and into the woods – he had to find his brothers! He just had too.
"What are we going to do about it?" Casey whispered.
"We can't let Raph know." April told. "Remember what Don said, it could cause a relapse. We have to go after them."
"But how without letting Raph know?"
"You can't." Raph stepped into the kitchen. Casey and April both paled.
"Raph…hey." Casey nervously rubbed his arm, looking at the floor. "Did you hear all that?"
Raph gave a small nod.
"We went into another room so you wouldn't hear." April protested.
"Any news of my brothers is my business." Raph snarled. He was mad that they hadn't told him about his brothers, especially if Gruber had them. the very thought that Gruber had Mikey, Don, and Leo, chained up and in a small cage scared him more than when he'd been the one, caged and chained.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He growled, taking a threatening step forward. Fists clenched tightly, shaking at his sides.
April held up her hands in a calming gesture. "Raph…don't. Calm down please!"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Don was afraid you'd have a relapse!" April cried. "We didn't want to loose you again so we tried keeping Gruber a secret until we could do something about it."
Raph felt tears come to his eyes. "You still should've told me." He insisted.
"We're sorry. But we thought it was for your own good." Casey tried to explain.
"Good?" Raph snarled, eyes flashing. "You were so caught up in my own good that you failed to notice my brothers are missing!"
"Raph, just calm down."
"My brothers are in the hands of a monster!" Raph's voice was so loud, he saw the two humans wince. "Do you have any idea what they could do to them? Do you have any idea what he did to me?" he felt tears start to pool up.
April got quiet. They'd made a mistake and now they were paying for it. "I'm sorry Raph. We'll do everything possible to get them back. Everything."
Raph didn't say anything. They couldn't handle Gruber… they knew nothing about him. Nothing about how he acted. For the first few months after he'd captured Raph, security was so tight…
They didn't stand a chance. But he did.
I'm going after my bros. I don't care if I have to stay with Gruber with the rest of my life – he's not getting to my kids. He's not getting to my brothers.
He's not getting my family.
Leo had struggled as hard as he could against the chains wrapped tightly around him at the sight of his brother. Mikey was carried in, struggling against four armed guards. His feet and wrists were tied tightly with rope and his mask serving as a gag.
"Another turtle?" Gruber eye ridges rose as he walked forward to inspect Mikey. He ran a hand over his shoulder, inspecting his muscular arms and strong body. "Where did you find him?" he demanded to one of the guards.
"Out back sir. The dogs caught him trying to get over the fence."
"Trying to rescues your brothers, were you?" he chuckled. "Why don't you tell me where your other brother is – where Raphael is?"
Mikey raised his chin, his blue eyes glaring defiantly. Never, his eyes said.
"Oh we're going to do this the hard way are we?" Gruber smirked. "Your brother did the same and look how he turned up. Tell me now and spare yourself pain and me the trouble."
Mikey wildly shook his head, letting out deep growls in the back of his throat.
"Fine then, if you won't tell me to spare yourself the pain, then will you tell me to spare your brothers?" Gruber motioned with one finger towards Leo and Don's cages.
Mikey stopped struggling and his blue eyes glinted in fear. He cast a terrified look over at Leo.
Never bro…don't do it! Leo screamed inwardly, trying to tell his youngest brother through his chocolate eyes. Don't do it…don't…
He knew Mikey would have to choose. He could only hope Mikey would choose the right one.
Yes, everyone in my fic has lost their minds :D
Review please!