Leonardo was partially relieved when the large group broke down, but also extremely irritated. I'm positive they planned it this way from the start. Would it have killed the elohim to say something about it? I know this is their world and we can't operate the same way we would at home, but that doesn't mean they should be holding important things back. As it is, we're lucky Raph didn't put up a bigger fight over separating.
The blue-masked turtle caught Lajos looking at him over his shoulder. "Something wrong?"
"No, terrapin, I was only making sure you were there. You move so quietly, I would not have known it by listening," the Ruairi replied.
Leo refrained from rolling his eyes. "We're ninja, Lajos. If you can hear us, we're not doing our job."
The alien looked perplexed, and quickly turned his attention forward. In the minutes that followed Leonardo noticed the Ruairi at least seemed to be trying to move silently. That's a start.
Leonardo returned his focus to listening, straining to pick up all the sounds that surrounded them. The background hum of something electrical laid the foundation, but several more quiet sounds were layered over top. The turtle worked to shut out the noises he'd already identified in favor of recognizing anything else that would mean danger.
The soft hiss of a door being released a couple of yards away drew Leo's attention a second before it opened, and he automatically jerked to a stop. Three Overlords marched out, and by the manner in which they reacted to their presence, Leonardo could tell that they were no friends of Bahri's.
One of the strangers drew a rifle in a flash and spoke a couple of unintelligible syllables. Before the alien finished whatever he'd been trying to say, Leonardo surged past Lajos and laid the Overlord out with a flying jump kick. He spun without giving the shocked sentries had an opportunity to react, throwing a lunge punch that sent a second Overlord toppling into the opposite wall.
The third had his rifle raised before Leonardo got a hand on him. "Desist, terrapin, or I will end this for you."
The turtle stared at him placidly, evaluating the elohim's stance. He recognized the alien's unwillingness to kill him, and rapidly decided to take his chances. He sent a sweeping blow to the Overlord's legs, knocking him off balance. Leo snatched the rifle out of his hands as he stumbled, and whipped it like a club across the back of his assailant's head.
Leonardo straightened upright and found his companion staring at him. "Are we going to take care of them?" He motioned to the downed figures.
"You already did, Leonardo." Lajos shook his head. "You could have saved one for me."
"Sorry, I don't 'save' bad guys. Try reacting a little quicker next time," he replied.
"It is small wonder the Elite called you 'Aeolus,'" Bahri remarked as he dragged one of the sentries back through the open door.
"Why do you say that?" Leonardo asked.
"Because you are faster than anything I have ever seen."
"My brothers and I've had a lot of training and practice carrying this out, Bahri. You may come to find that I have something to offer on a mission."
"Do you think that I doubt that, Leonardo?"
The blue-masked turtle shrugged. "It's hard to tell sometimes. Are we going to keep going?"
Their guide, Kenric, nodded. "Yes – we should. Your brother is close."
His words made Leonardo abandon the rear of the group. "Who is it? Do you know?"
"He is the one from the Matches," Kenric answered.
Leo exhaled sharply. "Do you know anything about his condition?"
The elohim shook his head. "He was only released to the containment cell from the Lab earlier this afternoon. Yasir likes to keep information to himself."
"That seems to be a theme where elohim are concerned," the turtle muttered.
"I am sorry?" Kenric sounded confused.
"Nothing. Lead the way please." Leonardo resolved not to say anything else along those lines, at least not until they'd escaped.
As he followed behind their guide, he gave Bahri a sidelong glance, trying to read the elohim's state of mind. His blue eyes never connected with Leonardo, staring straight ahead. The only thing that Leo could discern was the anxiety the alien was barely holding in check.
There are plenty of reasons for Bahri to be nervous, but I wish I wasn't with a bunch of unpredictable strangers right now. There's no telling what they'll do or how they'll react to any given situation. He groaned inwardly. And there's still the question of where we go from here to find the others. But one impossible mission at a time.
Leonardo noticed Kenric slowing down, and braced himself. He couldn't see anything significant about where they'd stopped, except for the slightly reflective material of the opposite side of the wall. While he watched Kenric brushed the surface to reveal a keypad.
The elohim worked his way through three stages of codes, and with the last combination the reflective surface shifted to reveal the containment unit. In the dim light Leonardo saw the outline of his brother lying on his side, and his heart leaped.
"Maybe I should go first," Leo suggested. "He doesn't know about any of you, and I can prepare him. He may not even know me."
Kenric nodded, and punched another button to get the hatch open. When the door released, Leonardo saw his brother immediately tense up, though Donatello was facing the wall.
"Don?" He barely breathed the word.
Donny rolled over so fast it started him. Leonardo was ready to witness another "breaking" of the memory barrier, but instead his brother leaped to his feet with an agility that made the blue-masked turtle gasp.
"Leo...?" The younger turtle's voice was tinged with awe.
Leonardo recovered sufficiently to embrace his brother fiercely. He had an extremely hard time separating from Don's grasp, but he didn't feel the freedom to delay.
"How did you...what did...I don't…You're here. How are you here?" Donatello babbled.
"I've got a few questions for you too, but they're going to have to wait." Leonardo held him at arm's length, searching for the damage. "How are you hurt?"
"I'm okay," he returned instantly. "But we won't be if we don't get out of here! Dare I ask how you got in?"
"I had some help…or a lot of help. You're going to have to trust me, Don." He extended an arm around him again before showing him through the door.
Donatello froze the moment he saw the elohim, and Leo spoke up to reassure him.
"It's okay, Bro; they're friends."
"But…" Don hesitated, his eyes traveling to Lajos. "Wait. You're Ruairi."
Lajos nodded. "Yes…and we have probably stayed here long enough," he finished warily.
The team started moving at once, and Leonardo found himself watching Donatello like a hawk. He was confused by his brother's apparent lack of injuries, but not disappointed.
"Leo, Mike is here too!" Donny informed him. "I haven't seen him, but Yasir said—"
"We know, Don," Leo cut him off gently. "Our team broke up into three parts to hunt down different captives. Raph's group went after Mike, and the Ruairi have their own hostage to rescue."
"The older one?" Donny asked. "We've met. The Overlords wanted me to kill him in a Death Match, but I wouldn't do it."
"That was wise, terrapin," Lajos told him.
"Donatello," he corrected. "I've had enough of being called 'terrapin' to last me for the rest of my life. What's our next move?"
"We need to meet back up with the other teams and make a hasty exit," Bahri volunteered.
"Hold on," Donny said suddenly. "Leo, I think Jenna is somewhere close by…I'm almost sure of it. Yasir has been doing things with her and the babies!"
"Babies?" Leonardo repeated the word as if it was foreign.
"She's carrying twins, Leo, and that psycho wants to get his hands on them! We can't leave her behind!"
Kenric shook his head. "I am sorry, Donatello. We are under an extremely tight time frame—"
"I wasn't talking to you," Don interrupted. "You guys can do whatever you want, but I'm going to find my wife."
Leonardo swallowed at the added task, but couldn't disagree with the course of action. "I'm with you, Don. We'll find her."
"Hear me, terrapins," Kenric insisted. "We have neither the time nor the opportunity to retrieve her! Breaking into the medical ward when we are not prepared for it—"
"The medical ward?" Donny inserted. "Are you saying you know where she is?"
Leonardo swiftly looked at Bahri and saw guilt etched clearly in the elohim's eyes. "You knew," he asserted. "This whole time? You knew she was down here, and you weren't going to say anything?"
"Leonardo, it is not that simple," Bahri countered.
"The shell it isn't!" Donatello retorted. "I'm not leaving without her!"
"We do not have the codes we need, and the medical ward is far too populated. We could not move through that section without you and your brother being seen."
"I am NOT leaving without her!" Donny repeated more loudly.
Leonardo's glare seared through Bahri. "I can't believe you did this, you back-stabbing—"
The sound of a high tone interrupted Leo mid-rant. He'd never heard one of the Overlords' alarms before, but it wasn't hard to identify. Someone had been discovered.
Bahri scrambled for his small communicator, covering one ear with his free hand as he contacted another member of the group. When he engaged in rapid-fire conversation in his language, Leonardo caught him by the arm forcefully.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
"Ghyath does not know where the alarm originated from! He is going to try and contact Achaz. We need to move at once!"
"Do they know we're here?" Leonardo persisted.
"They may not know of us, but they know someone is here. The Overlords will lock down the entire building, and the containment units are the first place they will check! We must get away from here!"
When Leonardo looked for his brother, he saw Donny backing away from Kenric.
"I can't leave her. I can't abandon Jenna to Yasir!"
"Donatello, you must listen to reason. We are in grave danger of discovery. Every second that we linger could mean our demise!"
"Then go, but I'm not—"
A sudden flash startled Leonardo and his eyes widened as he saw the younger turtle slump forward. He rushed over while Kenric caught Donatello, torn between first throttling the elohim or making sure that his brother was all right.
"What did you do?" Leonardo's voice soared.
"Peace! Peace, terrapin, I only stunned him! It is temporary!"
"How would you like to be stunned by my fist?"
"Leonardo, please!" Bahri urged. "If we are trapped here, any hope of rescue will be small!"
The blue-masked turtle burned inwardly as he looked between both elohim. "You bastards. I trusted you!"
"He did not hurt him, Leonardo – there is not time to argue over this," Bahri replied.
"You deceived us!" Leo shot back.
"Terrapin, this is not the time!" Lajos verily shouted.
The outside voice had the affect of bringing Leonardo closer to his senses. He clenched his teeth angrily while he turned to Kenric. "Give me my brother."
The elohim released Donatello to his arms, and Leo looked at Bahri. "What are we doing? What's our escape route?"
"I was trying to find out when you interrupted me from the link. I will call Ghyath back once we are in motion."
Fury had to take a backseat to adrenaline so that Leonardo could focus on the task at hand. Kenric went ahead of them as they now ran with all haste to get away from the wing. Their guide didn't lead them back the same direction they'd come, but weaved a different pattern that made Leo feel a little dizzy.
By the time Kenric connected them to another transporter, Bahri had successfully raised Ghyath. After listening to their garbled language for over a minute, the turtle grabbed the elohim's tunic sleeve.
"What's the situation?"
"The Ruairi are out of the building! Ghyath spoke with our pilot, and he said that the ground floor is already crawling with sentries!"
"So we can't get to our vehicle," Leonardo allowed. "But there must be another way out."
"I am thinking, Leonardo! I am considering every door I can remember, but all of the exits are probably going to be covered soon!"
"Right, but we knocked out their communications and their 'all-seeing' eyes. It's going to take them longer to organize than it would have." As Leonardo tried to calmly assess their circumstances, a memory of bright lights in the sky popped into his mind from earlier that evening. There were crafts taking off right from the building…
"Bahri, if we can't walk out of here, why not fly? Could we steal a ship?" Leonardo asked.
"It would be risky—"
"Everything is a risk! That's why we call these jobs impossible! Can you or Ghyath fly one?"
"Yes, we can, but—"
"Then get Ghyath back on the link, and make sure their team is headed the right direction! If we're going to have a shot of pulling this off, we've got to move on it immediately. It's possible the authorities don't even know what's going on inside the building yet."
"All right, Leonardo!" Bahri agreed finally, and brought the link back up to his mouth.
The blue-masked turtle shifted Donatello in his arms as the transporter started moving, fighting off another wave of rage. I let them run the show, and look where it got us. I trusted their sincerity too much, and they took advantage of it. They knew about Jen the whole time, and they ignored her! I don't know how I'll face Don when he wakes up, but I can't think about it yet. Escape first, and everything else goes back on the "to do" list. Bahri will answer to me for this.