*Should probably be mentioned that the accident between Raphael and Olivia wasn't strictly a matter of Raph's force, although impressive. In the same manner that a two car collision on a highway is compounded by their combined speed and mass, Olivia's and Raph's combined energy made the crash worse than it would have been otherwise. And he feels bad so...I will pass along any condolences you wish to send.
Despite the urgency weighing on the back of his mind, Leonardo knew there was something important to do before the team could get underway. "Don, take a quick look at Nate."
The young orange-masked turtle balked at the order. "Jonin, I'm fine!"
Leo shook his head. "I need to know where you stand physically, or we can't risk using you."
Nathaniel submitted to the purple-masked turtle's hands, though he didn't seem happy about it.
"Your eyes are as irritated as Liv's," Donny mentioned right away. "Let me see your throat." After shining a penlight down the youth's mouth, Donatello seemed more agitated. "And you're enflamed too. What were you exposed to?"
"We were tear-gassed," Nate filled in. "They shot a canister through my window. That…was when I lost control of the car."
The pure shame in the teen's voice made Leonardo shake his head again. "Nate, that could have tripped up any of us, all right? Now, how is your head?"
The young turtle unconsciously felt the prominent bruise over his right eye. "I hit it in the crash. My seatbelt wasn't working. I was still pretty groggy when they dragged me out of the car—"
"And they attacked you!" Olivia cut in fiercely. "Don't leave that out."
Nate nodded. "They hit me a few times. It's kind of a blur. I didn't come back around until we were on the boat, but…I pretended to still be out of it. I was trying to give them the impression I wasn't a threat."
"Did a really good job of it too," Olivia muttered. "Managed to fool the rest of us."
"I said I was sorry, Liv!"
Leo gave the young red-masked turtle a reproachful look, and returned to Nate. "Never mind that. Don, is he okay to fight?"
Donatello remained fixed on Nate. "No trouble breathing? Double vision?"
"No, and I've already seen a little action," he returned.
Donny glanced at Leo. "It's a risk because he probably has a concussion, even if it's mild. But we're not walking out of here, so I'm sure we'll need his hands."
The blue-masked turtle nodded gravely. "That being the case, I want you to take this, Nate." He withdrew a katana and held it out to him.
Blue-green eyes stared back in disbelief. "Jonin, I can't!"
Leonardo's brow creased sternly. "We've worked on the katana for years. You can."
"But it's yours," Nate emphasized.
Leo bent down slightly so they were eye level. "Listen to me. We don't know exactly what we're up against, and have civilians among us, in addition to Olivia being injured. You're ready, and I need your help to get everyone out safely."
The reluctance didn't leave Nathaniel's eyes, but the young turtle accepted the blade by the hilt. "Hai, Jonin."
Leonardo turned to face the rest of the group. "Don, can your disruptor tell us what the shell is going on outside?"
"I'm trying to analyze the signal, Leo, but it…this technology is weird. It doesn't fall within a normal wave length!"
"So you can or can't turn it off?" Leo cut to the chase.
"I doubt my disruptor will have any affect. Our best hope would be to cut the power at its source, but first we have to find it."
Leonardo didn't miss how his brother swallowed as he continued staring at the screen on his device. "Is there something else we should be aware of?"
"Yeah, the…the odd reading I mentioned from before? It's multiplying. The ground floor, outside…and I don't know what kind of tech is behind it."
"So we can't head for the ground?" Raphael growled. "How are we supposed to get outta here?"
"Clearly we have to go that direction at some point, but I'd like to know what we're facing first," Leo said decisively.
"How many men did you find on the property?" Nate asked suddenly.
"It was pretty sparse," the blue-masked turtle admitted. "I knew it was too easy. I should have expected a trap."
The young orange-masked turtle looked at Olivia. "Liv, do you remember how many men you saw coming in?"
She squinted as though it helped her memory. "It wasn't sparse. I probably saw at least three dozen men in between the docks and that lab they took us to. But that didn't include the other….the…" Olivia exchanged a glance with Reina and Jake. "The robots."
Donatello jerked, understandably the first to react to the news. "You saw...robots?"
She nodded vigorously. "They were armed with rifles, like the one Jake stole."
The revelation made Leonardo more uneasy. "And yet they only kept men surrounding the property? This can't mean anything good."
"What it means is we're gonna have to destroy their expensive toys on the way out," Raph insisted. "Fine with me."
"Jonin, I think they knew you were here all along," Nathaniel blurted out. "There was a rush to get the four of us moved to an underground bunker, and it came only a few minutes before we were reunited."
Leo shot Don a quick glance. "Like they possibly let us get this far on purpose?"
"So they could try and trap us, only it won't work," Mike spoke up strongly. "All the places we've fought our way out of before…this won't be any different."
Except that we don't know what they're capable of, and they already played us, Leo fumed inwardly. Well, there's nothing I can do about that. This is going to get messier than I wanted, but it is what it is.
"Leo?" Mike queried. "What are we doing?"
"Finding a way out," he answered coolly. "Almost wish we could use their cameras to see what's out there, but we can't risk clearing things up, because they'd be able to find us too. It's possible—"
"Attention, honored guests, and bem-vindo to Ravensrock," (welcome) a hollow voice announced behind him, causing the blue-masked turtle to spin.
"Intercom." Donatello pointed out a box on the wall.
"I trust you found your way around peacefully thus far," the voice continued. "There is no reason that should change. Currently, we have several squads searching for you so as to welcome you properly, but if you cooperate, they will not harm you. If you resist, however, they are programmed to respond with force. You can make things easier on yourselves and avoid some untimely deaths, but I expect you will need some convincing. When you are prepared to surrender, I will take pleasure in meeting you all. Until then, watch your step and prepare to enjoy your stay."
"Forgot to thank us for flying with them," Mike murmured.
Leonardo help up both hands for attention. "Nobody panic. Don, what do you see?"
The purple-masked turtle was visibly troubled while he stared at his tablet. "The odd signature is spreading over other floors. It will get here eventually, so we probably ought to move before that happens."
Leo nodded and motioned for Nate to join him near the front of the pack. "So, you were on an elevator when you broke out. What made the four of you come up here?"
Nate's gaze was uncomfortable. "I…I don't know. Olivia wanted to get off on the ground floor and flee the building to find you, but that's clearly not what we did."
"You came up here for a reason."
"I felt like something else was going on, Jonin."
"You sensed it was a trap."
"Yeah…maybe. But I wasted a lot of time too. I just thought we should head somewhere you would find us, but the bad guys wouldn't expect. Probably should have left the way Liv wanted, though, and I take the full blame for that."
Leonardo sighed. "Nate, why do you think we didn't use the ground floor? It's crawling with unfriendlies. Avoiding it was the right move."
The youth shrugged. "If you say so."
"Stay close to Jake, okay? I have no idea what, if anything, he's capable of. Don't need a loose cannon with that gun."
The orange-masked turtle shook his head. "Jake isn't like that, Jonin, honest. He's…well, I guess now isn't the time to analyze him."
"No, it's not. Keep an eye on Reina too."
"I always do," he replied seriously, and fell back through the middle of the group to return to the teens.
Leonardo quickly glanced at an elevator he was passing, and kept going. They still have control over most of the facility. We don't need to get stuck in an elevator. He opted to lead the team toward a stairwell instead, and hesitated to listen at the door. The blue-masked turtle heard nothing, but his guard remained high as he began descending. We won't be able to escape over the walls, not without killing the power source. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
"Don," he called over his shoulder. "Where do you think we ought to start looking for their power supply?"
"If I could get access to one of their computers, it'd be easier to figure out," Donny returned.
"Can you tell what floors that weird signal is originating from? I'd rather not be surprised by any of them."
His brother cleared his throat guiltily. "I'm…uh…I can't be certain."
Leonardo froze on the step. "That's not what you said a few minutes ago."
"I know, but my software won't refresh. It usually updates every three minutes or so, but now—"
"Now they could be on the other side of this wall, and we wouldn't know the difference?" Leonardo tapped the flat surface angrily.
Don nodded with a swallow. "It's…possible something is jamming my signal."
Leo groaned. "Great. We're back to the old-fashioned method." He'd stopped their descent sooner than intended, but that was only because they couldn't know which floors were infested. And even if some of them are safe, they probably won't stay that way for long We need to get some clue of the footprint of this place before we run out of time. Leonardo had a sinking feeling they could already be out of time based on the recent announcement over the intercom, but that didn't mean they wouldn't search for an answer.
He approached the door that led to the next hallway, and listened carefully before opening it.
"Where are we heading?" the purple-masked turtle whispered.
"We need to know the layout," Leo retorted. "We also need the location of the power station. It sounds quiet enough here. C'mon." He swung open the door to the fifth floor wider and stared down the length of the hall one way, and then the other. It felt abandoned, but he wasn't in the mood to trust his feelings.
The blue-masked turtle wandered a few feet down the right side of the hall, peering at sign placards without knowing exactly what he was looking for. Any type of information center would be nice, but there won't be nice greeters waiting to meet us with milk and cookies. The signs bore only numbers, giving no indication of what the rooms were used for.
Leonardo looked through one of the darkened windows, and saw the outline of furniture and a single bed against the wall. Looks like nothing more than some personal quarters. I doubt this floor will get us anywhere. He heard an exclamation that was much too loud for his comfort level, and spun on heel. "Do I need to remind anyone of how much trouble we're potentially in?"
"Fearless, get over here!" Raphael called, motioning him to a window at the cross-section of the hall. "You gotta see this."
Instinct told Leo it was nothing good, but he strode over regardless. In the gathering shadows of the grounds outside, it looked like a small army was amassing. The hulking forms weren't human; it was clear both from their shape, and the way the outdoor lights glinted off what seemed to be…armor. "Nate!"He motioned the teen over. "Do those look like the robots you saw before?"
The youth swallowed. "I didn't actually see them, but no…They were definitely smaller than them, and light on their feet. Nothing like those." Nate shuddered involuntarily. "How are we going to get past them?"
"By acting like ninjas," Leo said, resolved. "The advantage lies with them in a physical fight, by numbers alone. But what's another of the ninja's greatest weapons, Nate?"
"Invisibility?"
Leo nodded. He didn't like the idea of running deeper into the maze-work of Ravensrock, but going straight outside wasn't an option yet. "We need to keep moving and try to stay one step ahead of them. Everyone keep an eye out. We have to find a terminal Don can hack to get us more information, and show us how to take out that." He motioned to the haze-covered walls surrounding the facility, without a clue of what else to call it.
He set his face toward the other end of the corridor, which led to a much longer hallway. Part of him didn't want to abandon the stairs. They felt like a lifeline linking them to a quicker getaway. But they don't lead to any escape we can currently use. If we move fast enough, we might find a small chink in their offensive, but I'd rather avoid facing them directly yet. Not with the weapons they're carrying and the liabilities we're harboring.
Leonardo looked over his shoulder again. Raphael and Donatello were immediately behind him, and the red-masked turtle was gripping Olivia's elbow. There was pain in the young turtle's eyes, but she kept her mouth shut. Of all the rotten timing for Liv to be hurt…It makes things more complicated, but Raph can't be blamed completely. He reacted in a moment when it looked like they were being threatened, and assumed what was natural. Patience would have suited him better, but I probably would have done the same thing if it had been my daughter.
Michelangelo was behind them, and Nathaniel and Shunshi brought up the rear with Reina and…Jake. Leonardo grunted in disapproval as he turned forward. A boyfriend? How long have they been hiding this guy from us? I've missed a lot more than I should have, and I'm paying for it now. No matter. There's not time to focus on it.
Leonardo's phone vibrated, and he glanced at the screen to check for a text. Without taking the time to stop, he alternated between the phone and watching where he was going.
Can you give us some sign that you're okay in there?
He rolled his eyes, frustrated, and hit the button to call Greg. "We're not out yet," he said without any pleasantries. "You're keeping the boat off shore, right?"
"We pulled back," the man replied evasively. "On a scale of one to ten, how much trouble are you in?"
Leo resisted the urge to pitch the phone. "I don't know enough to be able to answer that question."
"That bad, huh?"
"Heff, I need to go! Stay away from the shore – you hear me?"
"Fearless, what'd you call him for?" Raphael hissed. "You trying to get them riled up or something?"
"No, Raph, I'm trying to make sure they stay out of it!"
"Then you shoulda ignored them like I did when Bran texted me!"
"I can't help feeling like there's something we coul—" Greg's voice carried over the line.
"No," Leo interrupted. "Stay. Put. Don't move. I'll call you back when—"
The blue-masked turtle never got to finish, because the harsh sound of crashing metal made the turtle spin so hard he nearly gave himself whiplash. Brown eyes stared down the hallway in disbelief at the solid wall that had sprung up in their midst. His brothers and Olivia looked just as surprised by the sudden obstacle. The one thing Leo couldn't see were the rest of the kids who'd been bringing up the rear.
