A/N: Wow. I hate writing fight scenes (and school). But I've been assured that this isn't as bad as I think it is, so I'm surrendering it to your critical analysis. Oh, by the way, any of you with the Mikey Preservation Society or the Michelangelo Rights Society, talk to Puldoh. (and if you didn't get a reply from last chapter, let me know in your review this chapter and I'll send both replies. My internet is being kind of weird , sorry)
Donny bounded over the roof's balustrade to see Michelangelo engaged in a frantic battle with all four of the Shredder's Elite guard. It had been less than two minutes since he had screamed, but he already had a nasty gash running under his arm between the protective plates of his shell and his plastron. Knowing that Raph and Leo would be right behind him he made the split second decision to leave any planning to their eldest brother and threw himself into the fray, positioning himself so that he could cover Mikey's wounded side.
The younger turtle had not even time to greet his brother, so swift were their attackers. Even as they fought for their lives, Don's analytical mind noticed that the Elite had modified their fighting style somewhat. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was an extra measure of detachedness to this fight- it was almost as if the Elite no longer saw them as enemies, but merely… things?
He shifted as he deflected a blow that had been designed to slide past him and slice into the vulnerable flesh of Mikey's neck. The Elite were focusing their energy on the wounded turtle, turning on Donatello only as he interfered. After a few foiled attempts they changed strategies and started trying to separate them, though the turtles both fought desperately to remain shell to shell. Donatello was starting to wonder if something had happened to their older brothers, and started casting around desperately for a way to get Mikey out of there, when Raphael came barreling over the wall and literally shoved the trident wielding ninja out of the way, giving Mike and Don both an escape route and a reprieve. Never had Donatello been so happy to see his older brother.
Without giving the ninja time to recover, Raph followed the human down, his sais leading the way. The Elite disappeared in a plume of purple smoke before he got a chance to see any blood, but the red liquid on his blades told its own story. Too bad the pansy had run; Raphael's thirst for vengeance was far from sated. These were not the ninja who had taken Leonardo from them, not this time, but they served the same Master- they were all Foot, one head to bash was as good as the other. Besides, these had attacked Mikey and then Don. If attacking his little brothers wasn't enough of a reason for him to take them down, he sure as shell didn't know what was.
Donatello didn't pause to watch as Raphael took down an Elite; he was already back at Michelangelo's side. The turtle's single 'chuck was spinning at half speed while his other arm pressed against his body to try and stem the bleeding. Don yearned to stop and treat him properly, but there was no time. Two Elite still pressed in on them, hammering from two sides while the turtles did their best to fend them off. At least Leo was- no, where was Leo? Surely Raph hadn't left him behind? The red bended turtle could be hot headed and rash, but even he must have realized that this could all have been a ploy to recapture the elder turtle. Don strained his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of where Raph might have stashed their older brother, and almost got his head cut off for his troubles. Michelangelo gave a grunt beside him and he realized that, regardless of where Leonardo was, Mikey had to be his priority. With difficulty he pulled his mind back to the fight at hand.
Leo had taken off seconds after Raph, but the red banded turtle had a lead on him and Leo was slower then he had been. When he arrived, Raph had taken down one Elite, but was finding the second much more of a challenge without the element of surprise on his side. Mikey and Don were battling the other two, though Donatello was having to take care of the lion's share of the defense- Mikey looked injured. His breath caught slightly and he stumbled a step forward as Michelangelo weakly deflected a strike that would have hit his upper thigh, a blow angled so that it would have slid in under his plastron and through his vital organs. That was a move no one would ever use on a human but would be devastating to a turtle.
"Donny! Don!" Leo called desperately, rebounding off of the back of an Elite before landing beside his brother. "They know how to hurt us, Donny- they're angling under our armor," he ground out over the clash of wood and steel. Donatello processed both the information and his relief at seeing his brother well and still free. He executed a jumping spin kick off Michelangelo's shell and realized that Leo was right. That was what had been nagging at him this whole fight. Opportunities for blunt attacks to anywhere but the head and joints were being all but ignored while all other strikes were angled to do the most damage to their well protected bodies. It was like the Elite had suddenly realized that they were not fighting humans. His sharp mind was already hypothesizing how they had come to this belated epiphany before he quickly shut it down. They already had one berserker in the family; he needed to keep a cool head and not think about some of the carefully placed scars on Leo's body.
He and Leo could talk about this development later- for now he concentrated on protecting his and Mikey's unarmored areas with greater vigilance. Leo had sprung away to warn Raphael, trailing one of the remaining Elites over to the other section of the roof and leaving Don to keep the last one's nagainata away from his little brother until they could regroup and make their escape. It had fallen down to a question of range. Following Don's hissed directions, Mikey had dug into the discarded duffle at their feet and pulled out a hand towel that he pressed into his side. The orange banded turtle kept his chucks ready in his other hand, though he was left feeling somewhat helpless as Don and the Elite circled.
The blade gave the Elite a greater reach, and he had the advantage of a large area to maneuver in, but Don kept him back with a combination of feints and strikes, refusing to be engaged or drawn out. At this point he was banking on his older brothers overcoming their opponents and circling back for him and Mikey- before he was worn down. Even as the thought crossed his mind, his guard slipped a fraction, and the nigatia slid past his bo. Don let out a warning yell, but Michelangelo was already in motion, nunchucks swinging around to knock the blade away. The chain connecting the two lengths of wood wrapped around the Elite's weapon and the youngest gave the sharpest yank he could manage. Obviously the over promoted Foot ninja had thought the orange one already out of the fight and so stumbled forward at the unexpected resistance. Donatello seized the opportunity to dispatch the unbalanced Ninja with a swift blow to the head. The shot should have rendered him immediately unconscious, but the purple mist still rose to greet him. One day Don really would have to look into just how they did that.
Both turtles fell quickly back into their ready positions as a pair of figures charged through the slowly clearing smog. All four froze abruptly as both pairs recognized their brothers. Mikey let out a strained laugh as weapons were hastily lowered.
"Um, you dudes okay?" asked the orange turtle breathlessly, twitching slightly as Don prodded at his wound, pressing the slightly sodden towel more firmly into it and adjusting Mikey's belt so that it was held in place.
"We have to get out of here," panted Leo without preamble.
"Why, did we miss some?" asked Michelangelo, peering around at the empty roof, not sure himself whether he was kidding or not.
"Fearless thinks there's more coming," informed Raph shortly. The younger turtles exchanged surprised glances. True, Raph usually went along with whatever Leo said in these sorts of situations, but never had he been so… open about it. Usually it was quite the opposite, actually. Don shot a look at Leo, but the older turtle was distracted, gazing off at the skyline, clutching the grips of his katana tensely.
"Okay, Mikey, lean on me," instructed Don, sliding under his brother's uninjured side.
"Can you make it back, Mikey?" asked Leo, casting a quick but concerned eye at his younger brothers.
"No problem, bro," he replied with a shaky smile.
"We've slowed the bleeding," corrected Donatello, "But we'll have to stop relatively soon so I can bandage it properly." Leo nodded his understanding and motioned for them to move forward. He was painfully aware of Michelangelo's limp, as well as noting several other minor injuries on both other brothers. He shut his eyes-he should have prevented this. He knew that something was wrong, but he was, what? Afraid of being wrong, of looking foolish? As a Leader he should be above such things- when he wasn't, people got hurt. And it wasn't over yet, he could feel the certainty coiled around his heart.
Suddenly he had an incredibly strong urge to run. Just run, as long and as far away from his family as he possibly could. The desire shocked him, but somehow it felt as though that would make things better, not for him, but for them… somehow. Which made no sense because the Foot would not magically all decide to follow him. He was reasonably sure that they were after one of his brothers, or perhaps the Shredder finally decide to kill them all. Regardless, Leo needed to concentrate, to get everyone home safely.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
The jump was harder than Mikey expected. Even the shorter jump from the fire escape to the lower roof jarred his wound far more than he had thought it would. He really didn't want to think about all of the jumping and scrambling he had done to get here in the first place. Of course, he was pretty sure that his brothers had done less of that than him, so it probably wouldn't be too bad. Still, he fervently hoped that they would head to the sewers soon.
Raph was starting to think that they would make it out and back home without another fight. Usually that prospect would bother him, but with one brother quietly bleeding into his makeshift bandage and the other still not up to full strength, the Foot clan was not exactly who he had wanted to run into their first time out. A band of unprepared Purple Dragons on the other hand… them he preferred to think of as a confidence booster rather than trouble. He snorted quietly to himself before sobering. Seriously, he doubted this little encounter did anything good for Leo- at least the Elite hadn't really been involved in the older turtle's stay with the Foot. Small blessings and all that. Unfortunately it seemed that the universe begrudged owing the four turtles even small favors.
Leonardo had just made it across a particularly wide jump and had turned back to make sure that Don and Mikey had followed safely when Raph saw the older turtle's eyes widen and muscles tense in a very familiar and disturbing way. Raph didn't even need to turn to see what the problem was- the Foot were behind Leo as well. They were surrounded.
Raph gave a frantic leap out over the wide alleyway, feeling the subtle scrape of metal on his shell as he flung himself across the gap. He landed in a shoulder roll, sais coming out even as he regained his feet. He felt Don and the injured Mikey closing ranks behind him, sealing Leo off from the metal clad monstrosity that loomed down from the building they had just vacated. One of the Elite stood behind him, hunched uncomfortably over his side. Raph thought that it was the one he had injured in his initial charge, but it was difficult to tell without their weapons. Regardless, his attention was quickly drawn away from the servant and back to the master.
"So, Leonardo, you have at last delivered to me your pitiful family. I was growing… impatient," echoed a metallic voice from behind glowing red eyes. Leo remembered those eyes. He was suddenly remembering a lot of things that he did not want to. He trembled slightly as he recalled that voice asking him again and again to betray his brothers, his father… and the pain when he was silent. So much worse, so much more vibrant then even when he recounted the tale to his brother's. He- he…
"Get the shell out a our way, Shredhead, or it'll end worse for ya." Raphael's bold words brought Leo swiftly back into the present, even as the Shredder's laugh sent chills down his spine, that laugh… Gathering his courage, he stared into the demonic red eyes.
"What do you want, Saki?" he asked, infusing his voice with all of the years he spent Leading his brothers.
"Now that you have emerged, Leonardo, my guest, I am afraid that I require nothing more than your deaths. If perhaps, you would like to go quietly…" he trailed off smugly. Raph growled deep within his throat and surged forward a few steps, only to halt anticlimactically at the roof's edge. "I rather expected that would be your answer." With a wave of his gauntleted hand, the Foot soldiers abandoned their posts and flowed down over the turtles. Raph was caught unprepared and separated from his brothers. 'Stupid hot head,' he berated himself as he engaged the first wave. Behind him Donatello and Michelangelo formed a triangle with Leonardo, shells together.
Don was more than a little concerned with how Leo would handle himself in a fight against the man who had held him captive, but there wasn't much he could do- there were too many Foot to worry about it. 'Not that that'll stop me,' he though despairingly.
Mikey planted himself firmly, swinging both chucks slowly around his hands and ignoring how the drying blood pulled uncomfortably as his movements shifted the bandage. If this was their fight, even their last fight, he was ready. And he was glad that they were together, out in the air, one last time. He hoped that Master Splinter would be okay.
Leonardo braced himself against both memories and blows as the Foot came for them. Never before had they fought the Shredder without their Master along. There would be no safety net this time, no gnarled cane to ward off a killing blow. And he didn't think that he was fast enough to save all of his brothers, let alone himself. Then there was no time for doubt, as the front ranks were upon them.
Apparently even the lowly grunts of the Foot Soldiers' clan had been informed about the turtle's weak spots. Blows came fast, hard, and with pinpoint precision, driving all of the turtles back and forth, forcing them to waste energy weaving in and out of their enemies. This also caused them to lose each other in the mass of black and red uniforms. Leo was trying to make his way to where he last saw Raphael when a wave of calm suddenly descended on the battle around him. He turned slowly, knowing what he would find, but willing it to be otherwise. There before him stood the Shredder gazing down with an unreadable expression behind his mask. Leo's swords came up and he tensed, but Saki made no action against him, instead his glowing red eyes softened into something almost… paternal. Leonardo felt sick.
"Ah, my dear turtle. Part of me regrets that it must come to this. You should have taken my offer and left your brood long ago. You would have done well in my service."
"I would never have stayed under such a dishonorable Master!" rejoined Leonardo, not moving from his ready position, and very thankful that his voice rang so strongly.
"I suppose we will never know," acknowledged Shredder as he launched his attack, swinging his bladed gauntlets in a feint at the turtle's face and pivoting to send a heavily armored foot into his chest. Leo flinched away from the glint of the sharp metal and paid the price for his reflex. Rolling with the blow only belatedly, his plastron shifted ominously in spite of Donatello's armor. His breathing was labored, but he levered himself up and stood ready once more. Saki allowed the turtle a moment to recover, confident despite, or because of, the battle raging around them.
"Your armorment is very cleaver, if crude. I would never have thought that freaks such as yourselves could have designed it," he said conversationally. "Perhaps I invited the wrong turtle to share my home." Leonardo knew that the Shredder was trying to get under his shell, but thinking of Donatello, who avoided doing harm whenever possible, suffering as-as he had... Leo narrowed his eyes and launched his own attack, sweeping out with his feet and swinging with his blade. The Shredder was ready for him, though, and sidestepped, meeting blade with blade. Still Leo pressed forward, closing the distance and forcing the Shredder to retreat if the taller man wanted the leverage for a formidable attack. When the turtle still refused to give ground the Shredder disengaged and executed a quick overhead summersault, landing with a spinning kick to Leonardo's shell. The blue banded turtle stumbled forward but turned before the Shredder could get his claws into him. They locked blades again, Leo straining slightly as Saki leaned over, bringing all his weight to bear on the turtle. Saki lowered his head slightly so he could speak into the turtle's ear without straining to be heard over the sounds of battle.
"I do not hold to the idea of protecting those who serve me Leonardo, and yet, I find myself strangely reluctant to kill you, here at the end." Leo managed duck under his arm, delivering a well placed kick to the knee and a resounding blow to the helmet before Saki was back up and returning his strikes. He was so caught up that he took several seconds to digest what Shredder had told him.
"I have never worked for you, Oroko Saki, nor will I," he hissed when their fighting brought them together once more.
"Perhaps, but is not deception the way of a ninja, young one?" Leo cringed hearing that term of endearment falling from the Shredder's cold lips and jumped over the leg intended to trip him. He could not decipher what the Shredder was trying to tell him, and could not devote his attention to it as he was forced back on the defensive.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Donatello and Michelangelo had managed to stay together, though they had lost track of both Leonardo and Raphael early in the fight. The Foot soldiers attacking them were not nearly as good as the Elite had been, but there were much greater in number. Michelangelo felt a renewed dampness on his side join the small cuts and abrasions he had collected on the rest of his limbs. Donny was still going strong, but Mickey was starting to feel the prolonged fight settle into his bones. He couldn't really estimate how much blood he had lost, but the blue hand towel that was wedged in his belt was now looking a pretty uniform brownish purple. He guessed that that wasn't a good thing. Besides, he was the hyper dynamo, no one had more energy than he- so if Don was moving around better than him, well, not all was right in Mikey-Land. As if to prove his point he misguided a swing and an enemy's kama slammed painfully into his ribs, though thankfully an additional misstep had caused the blade to miss him. Donny was quickly at his side, dispatching the equally surprised ninja and casting a concerned eye at his younger brother.
"Mikey, you alright?"
"Yeah, just-"He grunted as he deflected another blade. "Peachy," he finished, pushing his attacker back, and using his whirling nunchucks to give him some much needed breathing space. Don could not find it in himself to believe him, but nodded anyway as he took a moment to scan the crowd of Foot ninja for a glimpse of their older brothers. He thought that he saw a glimpse of red to their right, but he was unsure whether it was Raphael's bandana tails or just a bit of Foot uniform. Then he heard a muffled yell in the same direction and knew that it had to be Raphael. He could tell by Michelangelo's eyes that he had come to the same conclusion, and both brothers renewed their attack with greater earnest. Both were confident that if they could just regroup, they could overcome even this disadvantage of numbers.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Raphael let out a frustrated yell as he funneled the pain of yet another cut into his attack. If he hadn't been so stupid, then they would all be facing this thing together. As much as he hated to admit it at times, they did their best fighting as a group, as Master Splinter had trained them. He growled again as he thought of his vow to be a better second for their elder brother- a lot of good that turned out to be. As he fought he caught random glimpses of Leo facing down the Shedder. Fearless was holding his ground, but, honestly, he had looked better. Leo was way too tense, his movements better suited to Raph's rough and ready style then his own habitual glide and strike- and Raph could figure what had him so upset. As Raphael ripped through anything that happened to get in front of his sais, he couldn't help but wonder how they 'just happened' to pass by the Shredder on his evening stroll. Raph was a firm believer in the adage that what could go wrong would go wrong, but even their notorious turtle luck didn't account for this.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Leonardo was proving more difficult and resilient then the Shredder had anticipated, an annoyingly familiar realization at this point. He had resorted to using a blade taken off one of his fallen soldiers as well as those on his gauntlet in hopes of ending this sooner. His Foot were fairing no better against the reptile's brothers. The way they clung to their pitiful lives was proving most inconvenient. Perhaps if they had less reason to fight they would be easier to defeat- it was a theory he had been working on in the long hours he had waited for them to emerge from their shielded underground lair. And he had already begun testing its merit.
"Do you not find it odd, Leonardo, that I was able to find you so quickly?" he asked as the turtle pressed an attack.
"It's been months, Saki," grunted Leonardo.
"And yet, on your first trip to the surface, here we are. Yes," he said, responding to Leo's surprised look, "I know that you make your home underground, in the filth, and it is you I have to thank for this information."
"I told you nothing!" exploded Leo with a flame in his eye, his swords flashing almost to quickly to follow.
"On the contrary, my friend," rejoined Saki as the attack exhausted itself, "you were most helpful. Did your brothers not tell you how they recovered you? Did they tell you some tale of a daring rescue? It is all falsehood. I allowed you to be found, turtle." He sneered, "Even after your cowardly retreat I still used your corpse as bait, and your pathetic brood took it unquestioningly, as the fox eats the tainted meat."
"What have you done to me?" demanded Leo, finally grasping the connotations of the Shredder's words. Saki smiled evilly, eyes burning into the turtle's plastron.
"You did not think that I allowed my scientists to cut you open simply because I was curious, did you, reptile?" Leo's hand went reflexively to rub the section over his heart, katana hilt banging awkwardly against his armor. His eyes widened in realization. He did not know if it was his intuition honed by years of study and practice to know his body and mind, or simply bits of memory resurfacing, but he realized just what he had done- what had been done to him.
"No," he gasped in horror at what he had unknowingly done.
"Yes. And once you and your brothers are gone, it will be a simple thing to retrace the signal you left and destroy your rat master," Shredder lied smoothly. "Really, Leonardo, I feel that I must thank you. You have been a most diligent agent for the Foot clan, an instrumental player in bringing this ridiculous feud to an end. With your deaths." Saki watched as Leonardo's katana dipped dangerously and the turtle stumbled back a step. This was it, his final victory over the stubborn mutant, the realization that he had doomed his family in spite of, or even because of, the steps he had taken to save them.
But something was wrong. Even as he watched, the turtle's eyes went from being lost and vacant to being harder than diamond and twice as sharp. His hands tightened on the grips of his matched katana and he lifted his chin to stare defiantly at the Shredder. This was not right.
Leonardo had almost succumbed to shame and the cold, drowning grip of failure as all of the Shredder's veiled hints coalesced in his mind. Somewhere- in his plastron- there was a tracker that had been broadcasting his location all this time. He didn't know why Shredder had waited until now to come for them, but his brother's deaths, and later his father's, would be on his soul. Whether he still lived or no. He should have run when he had the chance- 'but… but, if there was no more Shredder, if Saki no longer lead the Foot, then, then…and Don could get the tracker out, I know he could. If I just stay away from the Lair until then. I could even do it, then they wouldn't know where anyone but I was. I just need to buy us some time.' He raised his eyes to meet Saki's. Leo almost smiled at the confusion that was betrayed in Saki's posture, but he had no time for that.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
The Foot soldiers were thinning, though by now Don was sporting bruised ribs and a deep gash that ran down the back of his leg. Michelangelo was looking a little pale, the red blood from the shallow cuts and the wound at his side contrasting sharply with his skin, but they were both still on their feet, shell to shell.
"Mikey, do you see Leo?" Don called over his shoulder.
"No but there's Raph, and there's still some Foot over there, so that's probably Leo," replied the younger turtle matter of factly.
"What about the Shredder?" Don asked with trepidation.
"I don't know, bro," he responded tiredly. "Everyone here's taller than me."
"It's okay," assured Don, knowing the feeling all too well, "Just try to get to Raph."
"Okay, sure," he said knocking out a Foot with a snap kick to the head, "just follow my lead."
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Raphael had been attracting Foot like a magnet attracts iron filings, but he had been taking them out nearly as fast, though his forward momentum had been significantly hindered, and his Sensei would have hit him upside the head for his sloppy work.
As far as he could tell, Don and Mike were still up and fighting, so he felt no guilt, or at least not too much, as he focused on getting himself between the Shredder and his elder brother. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but the Shredder was doing way too much talking. Leo was strong, not to mention plain boneheaded and stubborn at times, but he also had an overdeveloped sense of honor as well as an unhealthy dose of self blame to top it off. Raph had known for a while how to defeat his older brother, totally and in such a way that he would never recover, and it wasn't by attacking him, or even killing him. No. Words were definitely a bad thing at this point.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Leo's blades flashed as they had not for many months and he pressed his attack with all that he had and more. His Master and Sensei had always warned against the taking of life, and Leonardo had done his best to abide by his Father's wishes- even when fighting the Foot he went for debilitating blows whenever possible. But this man, this daemon, deserved no such consideration from him. He felt a deep upwelling of hatred for the metal clad man. It was on his orders that he had been taken, by his orders his family were made to suffer through his absence, and it would be on his orders that they all met their deaths.
Saki was surprised at the vehemence that the turtle showed as he pushed the armored man back. Both sword and gauntlet were constantly engaged, giving no opportunity for counter strikes. But Saki would not tire, and the turtle was obviously not recovered from his 'visit'. This new burst of energy could not last him long, and then it would be the Shredder's time to strike.
Leonardo knew that his strength was failing, but he was still holding back, waiting for the Shredder to underestimate him, to give him an opening. And there it was- a drop in the arm, which Saki probably did not believe he would be fast enough or strong enough to counter. The blue banded turtle lunged, katana leading.
There was an unexpected clash of steel, and Leo reflexively swung his free katana up in defense. Both opponents ground to a halt, Leo staring into red eyes as he felt the cold metal tips of the Shredder's gauntlet hovering over his throat. The combatants were locked, both inches from their enemies' neck, both defending against a mortal blow. A long way away Leo heard echoes of fighting from the battle still playing out around them, but his focus was on his weakened arm, the one that had been damaged by Saki before. It served him well enough in battle, but it couldn't take the strain of holding off the Shredder for long, and Leo could not deliver the final stroke with his strength split as it was between attacking and defending. He looked at the line where the Shredder's helmet met his armor. He knew from experience that a katana blade could smoothly slide through that gap. Of course, he also knew from experience that beheading the Shredder would not kill him, but it would slow him down long enough for one of his brothers to take him out. Surely between the three of them they could find away to stop his resurrection. He could give them that chance. If he shifted all of his weight behind his attacking katana, he could kill the Shredder again- and all it would cost was his life.
He gritted his teeth and thought once more of his brothers. He wished that he could apologize to Mikey, but if this was truly his fault then he would get his siblings out alive. He shifted his weight and leaned forward, surrendering his last defense.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Raphael saw his brother lock blades with Saki. He didn't care how well anyone said he was doing, there was no way Leo could win a contest of strength with the Shredder. Raph had to get over there fast. Then he saw something that made his heart sink. Leo had made a Decision. Raph had only ever seen Leo come to a Decision once or twice before, and it never ended up well for the elder turtle. Raph had a horrible feeling he knew what Leo was about to do. Frantically he hurled himself up and over the heads of the remaining ninja, hoping that, somehow, he would be able to stop his brother.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Leonardo felt a faint whispery sensation as the sharp blades cut into his skin. The light glinted coldly off the metal, cruelly bringing up memories that he would rather not be his last. As if in response to the fleeting thought, Raphael fell into his field of vision, seeming to float for a moment over the heads of the foot. 'That was Raphael,' Leo thought abstractly, 'suspended, always pulled back and ready to strike.' Inanely, Leo wished that the moment would last forever, that the Foot would never catch up to his brother, that the Shredder would never finish his thrust, that he could live with his brothers, just a little longer.
Then Raphael landed with a cry, trailing his red bandana tails, body whipping forward to bury his sais deep into the Shredder's exposed back.
The older turtle's eyes widened as he realized that this was not a dream or delusion. Raphael was not an angelic vision, not even an avenging one. Even if his own cut never landed, the Shredder was finished. His brothers would be safe. Leo barely had time to complete the thought before the weight of the Shredder's unbalanced, metal clad body pulled him down.
A/N: well, that was long-ish chapter (and the slight cliff isn't nearly as bad as it could have been). I hope that it was interesting and exciting enough (everyone would –not- stop talking, especially Saki), so please, please leave me a review with any thoughts you may have. This chapter definitely puts us on the downward slope guys… But there is still more to come!