*Kids, don't try any of this at home.
Jenna had already been sitting tensely behind the wheel of the van - and that was before Donatello's watch went off. Marcus exchanged glances with her, immediately seeing the dogged look of determination wash over her.
"Fasten your seat belt Marcus." She said automatically.
"Donatello's directive is about to go out the window, isn't it?"
"If you wanna get out, there's the door!"
"I'm not sayin' that Jenna, but we have to get some kind of plan here! We're not even armed, we could end up making things worse!"
"Marc, if you're scared, you don't have to come with me." She shot back immediately.
"That's not the point Jenna!" Marcus exclaimed, angrily slamming his foot down in frustration. The hollow sound that had just emitted from where his foot landed reminded him of something instantly. "Wait a minute. I've got an idea!"
He instantly scrabbled around on the floor underneath the dashboard, searching for the release for the storage compartment.
"Marc, what are you doing?"
"Raph told me that they keep refill tanks of chemicals in here! There might be something we can use to...BINGO. Halothane. Now we're in business!"
"To do what Marcus?"
"Drive Jenna, just drive! There ought be at least a couple of Oxi's in the glove box. This could work, it actually could."
"I think I'd better call my Mom."
"Now Jenna?"
"I might not get another chance! I can't do that to her."
"I could go on my own Jen, you don't have to."
"My family is in there - I'm not running away Marc! Just do whatever you've got to, and get those tanks ready. I'll handle the talking."
Victoria picked up on the first ring - none of the girls were asleep. They knew Donatello and Raphael were making their attempt tonight, and no one would rest until they knew about the outcome.
"Yeah, Mom? We need to talk for a second."
"Have you heard anything? What's going on?" She asked immediately.
"We haven't heard from them, but Donnie sent me his abort signal. Marc and I are about to do something really desperate, and if I don't get another chance to say it, I wanted you to know how much I love you."
"Jenna, I--"
"Mom, don't try to talk me out of it, I don't even have time to listen."
"No honey, I just wanted to say that I love you too! I don't know what you're doing, and something tells me I don't want to know! But I have no right to tell you to abandon them!"
As Marc was re-tightening a valve on one of the tanks, Jenna glanced at him.
"April wants to talk to you." She told him, and he took the phone from her, swallowing a little bit.
"Hello?"
"Marc, please try not to kill yourself - I was rather hoping you would be coming home."
"April, listen. This trip has opened my eyes to a couple of things. If we make it back, I promise, things are going to be different. I'm going to make more time, I just want to be with you. I know I've been so distracted--"
"Marcus, I love you. Don't give me the 'sorry' speech right now. Just do what you can to come back in one piece, alright?"
"I'll do my best April - I love you too. Okay, I'm already sort of fearing for my life the way Jenna is driving here, I'd better get off."
"We're praying for you."
As he hung up the phone and gave it back to Jenna, she sent him another look.
"Will the tanks work, do you think?"
"They ought, but we're going to have to release them manually. I know there's some button around here that would deploy it directly from the vehicle, but we can't go punching everything, 'cause we don't know what they do! I suppose I should read the manual on this thing sometime."
"That'd be nice, but there's no time now. Do we have Oxi's?"
"Yes, here, go ahead and take yours."
The cabin was already in sight, and Jenna was tearing down the gravel road like a bat out of hell.
"What exactly are your intentions here Jen?"
"I told you to buckle up for a reason. Somehow, I don't think strolling up all nicely to these armed men would end well for us Marc, chemicals or not."
As she jumped the road onto the grass, he braced both arms firmly to help give him support.
"Jenna, please don't kill us before they do!"
"If this doesn't play out well, it's been nice knowing you Marc."
"Likewise!" He said a little shakily.
Luke was taking very deliberate slow breathes. He knew what he needed to do, but he had to have a semblance of calm in order to do it. Leonardo's voice was faintly reminiscent in the back of his mind, patiently explaining things in the way that he was so talented in doing.
"Fear can help you or hinder you Luke. You can't put it out of your mind entirely - but you are capable of forcing it to work for your advantage, instead of against you. A lot of people shut down when they're in a bad spot they can't escape from. Panic and desperation are a natural response. But you can choose to respond differently to it, allowing your fear to channel awareness into all your other senses.
Eyes open, ears alert for every opportunity. You probably won't get more than one chance - but the likelihood of getting an opportunity to effectively act against your opponent still exists. So I don't want you to focus on fear, I want you to be completely aware of everything that's going on around you. Look, listen, feel. And the very instant that you see an opening, you've got to take it. Don't pass it up, don't hesitate, not when your life or someone elses' is on the line."
Leonardo had been right - Luke couldn't put fear entirely out of his mind, but neither was he going to stand here and let Vale hurt his friends. He wore an indiscernible expression outwardly, that someone might have mistaken for a blank look. Actually, he was concentrating harder than he ever had before. Vale's hand so far had not once allowed the gun to falter from his temple, and he couldn't make any physical move against him until it did.
"It would be nice for the two of you to join our discussion that was already in progress." Vale said to Donatello and Raphael. "We were just about to talk about how the four of you were able to track us - and now I am doubly curious to hear how you were able to locate our cabin in the wild."
"You slowed us down Vale, but you sure didn't stop us." Raphael spat contemptuously.
"Yes, that is a mistake that I must live with, for the quality of men that I am forced to keep. It is so difficult to find decent help." Vale said with a slight smile.
In the moment that he was about to continue, an earth shattering explosion sounded overhead of them, so loud that it stunned nearly everyone at once. Nearly. When Vale lurched slightly out of reflex, Luke felt the barrel of the gun leave his forehead, and reacted instantly.
He performed the following motion almost faster than anyone could blink, wrapping his right hand firmly around Vale's firearm, so that his thumb neatly covered the trigger guard, then pulling up sharply so that the weapon would be facing away from him. With his left arm he hammered down on the wrist of Vale's gun-hand, while twisting violently with his right to effectively wrench the weapon away from him. In a span of about three seconds, the gun was in Luke's control.
Vale was stunned, but his smile recovered quickly.
"Impressive Luke - I doubt there are too many doctors who could have pulled that maneuver off!"
The man was slowly edging away from him, backing in the direction of Leonardo and Michelangelo, as Luke raised the weapon to cover him.
"Maybe you should have done a background check, made sure the guy you were stealing wasn't married to an FBI agent!"
Vale inexplicably picked up the water bottle off of the table, still inching away from him.
"Yes, that would have been helpful information for Gloria to share when she picked you out for me." He told Luke.
"Stop moving Vale!" Luke said warningly.
"You see Doctor, there is a problem." The man said rather calmly. "You still care too much."
With those words, Vale dashed the bottle in Michelangelo's direction, so that water hit him directly in the face, and ran down his neck. Then he was seamlessly beside the turtle, stun weapon in hand and suddenly pressed against Michelangelo's throat.
Luke cursed himself for allowing it to happen - but taking a life was something he had no experience at.
"Did you know that our skin actually has some natural resistance to electricity Doctor? However, when it becomes wet, that resistance is reduced at least a hundred fold. Can you imagine what 500,000 watts will do to this creature? Your only consolation is that his agony would be relatively short-lived."