Chapter 23

1582 Hours

Leo P.O.V

He saw the glint in the Master's eyes, he felt the crushing fear explode inside his heart and heard his own voice pleading out as the knife began its decent towards him. Unable to watch the moment of his own demise, he screwed his eyes tightly shut just as a cry echoed around the room.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Leo fearfully cracked open one eyelid and froze.

The tip of Adamu's blade hovered just above his eye, ready to plunge down through the soft organ and into the skull behind, brutally ending the turtle's reasonably short life. A grey blur filled his line of sight, yet as Leo cautiously peeled open his other eye, he could see Adamu's head facing away from him, towards the open door…

Wait…

Chest still heaving from the close call, the turtle turned to the voice, heart hammering too loudly in his ears to think properly… Everything else seemed so insignificant when a knife was hovering above his face…

But that voice…

No…

They couldn't be…

"GET AWAY FROM MY SON!"

"Father…" He breathed both in relief and in dismay. He warned his brothers to stay away from this mad man yet there – framed in the doorway behind their teacher and protector – were those three bands of colour he knew so well. "Why…" He breathed, disbelieving of what he could see before him.

The rat's gaze slipped away from Adamu's and softened considerably. Leo had expected hostility, disappointment or disgust, yet there was only an empathetic understanding. Those kind, deep eyes spoke only of an unwavering love and belief in him and his brothers. Choking on emotion, the eldest turtle had to turn away – attempting to save what little pride he had left.

"So touching…" Adamu's mocking tones rung through the room as the blade retracted slightly from Leo's face. But just as Leo felt his damaged shoulders relax slightly, the Master's hand flicked the blade, and the turtle felt the skin across his beak rip open, sending a wave of blood cascading over his lips and chin.

"LEO!" He heard his brothers cry in sync with his own yelp of pain and through the crimson waterfall, he saw the blur of fur as Splinter charged Adamu.

"No..." He croaked, but it was too late.

There was a beep and a rattle as thick metal bars dropped from the ceiling, blocking off half of the room and trapping the turtle's main hope of survival behind them.

"YATSU!" Splinter slammed a fist into the bars, features a mask of deadly fury. "FACE ME, COWARD! HAVEN' YOU HURT MY SONS ENOUGH ALREADY?!" Leo could only close his eyes.

No… He cursed silently, Adamu had not hurt them enough… At least not all of them… His brothers had been standing there with hope in their eyes, and despite everything, they had come to face their collective nightmare as a unit. And now… Now Adamu had shattered that hope with one flick of a switch. Unless…

Leo's eyes snapped open and across the room met Donatello's. His genius brother was frowning, eye ridges knitting together as his gaze was boring into the ceiling where the bars had been lowered from.

"Don…" Leo murmured, knowing exactly where the genius turtle's mind was heading. "Don't…" Yet he was too late. Above him, Adamu smirked.

"Oh yes, Purple… Please enlighten us to your thinking…" Don's head snapped up, mouth agape. "Yes… Tell us…" Adamu flicked the blood from his blade as he moved closer to the turtles.

"NO! Run!" Splinter ordered from his prison, "Follow the plan!"

"You used my inventions…" Donnie whispered, eyes burning into the Master in fury, all but ignoring the trapped rat. "You used my blueprints… And this" His voice rose, "Is how you use them?"

"Donnie…" Mikey gripped his directly older brother's arm with one hand while the other moved awkwardly towards his numb chucks, the recently healed fingers causing a wince as he gripped his weapon. Donnie's own hands were already reaching for his bō.

"We're not afraid of you!" The enraged genius pointed his weapon at the Master despite Leo's and their father's pleas against the plan. "We won't hide anymore." His narrowed mahogany gaze drifted to meet Leo's through the blood still flowing down his face and his voice lowered. "Raph told us why that yatsu is doing this." The leader could only stare, drinking in every word of his brother's as if they were his lifeline out of this hell. "But tell me, Leo. Is this really honour? Have you not paid enough for what he says you – no, we – have done?"

"Don…" Was it really that simple? His family could just look past the torment he had brough to this man, look over the fact it was he – their leader – who had been the cause of all their pain? Was the faith of his brothers really that strong in him?

"How sweet." Adamu interrupted, jerking them back into their predicament, "You tell one another this, failing to remember the fact that my brother died at your filthy mutant hands!" He spun, grasped one of the katanas driven through Leo's foot and yanked it hard – removing it in one motion causing the eldest turtle to scream out, his breath coming in ragged gulps as the flames brought on by the severed tendons and ripped muscles were reignited bringing with them a whole new world of agony.

Around the edges of his vision, dark spots threatened, yet he shook his head, desperate to stay conscious. He couldn't leave his brothers like this…

Not like this… Please…

Ignoring his screams – Adamu approached his brothers, weapon at the ready and the younger three mutants all griped their weapons, faces conflicted with terror and determination.

"Please…" Leo managed to croak one last time. "Run…"

Across the room, Raph set his trembling jaw.

"I told this freak last time I saw him…" A touch of the old Raphael crept into his voice. "I told him that every drop of your blood he spilt will be a blow we'll land upon that smug face of his." His grip tightened around his sais as his eyes dropped to Leo's pierced limbs. "And there's a heck of a lot of blood he needs to pay for…"

1583 Hours

Adamu P.O.V

Thus far, all was working to plan despite the premature arrival of the other freaks. Purple's designs for targeting mutants and allowing systems to react accordingly had worked perfectly and the systems that blocked all transmissions apart from Adamu's own to and from the room. After all the confusion with the different teams – Adamu had to admit he had been taken by surprise at the mutants' arrival. He had been hoping to dismember Blue's body first – really rubbing the salt into the wounds, yet he supposed forcing them to watch – powerless to intervene – as he ended their miserable lives one by one would really finish off his revenge nicely.

Either way, the one thing he had not accounted for was the way those pets of his were actually standing up to him. Now that was the most unpredictable of circumstances. True, he could clearly read the fear they all were trying so desperately to hide, could see how unprepared they were for this battle, with the way both the rat and his precious Blue were crying out for the three freaks to run just confirmed what Adamu had already suspected.

This battle would be an easy one.

Ignoring the sounds of struggle from Blue and the rat, Adamu raised the dripping blade, watching Orange wince at the sight.

"Go on, my pets." He readied himself into an offensive stance, "Fight."

And – to their credit – charge they did.

Red jumped up, sais meeting Adamu's own blade halfway, locking them in a frantic power struggle as Purple moved in to swipe out the Master's legs while Orange swung up with its nunchucks towards his head.

The human breathed, allowing his body to relax and just as the two youngest of his pets were about to land their blows, Adamu put a little force behind his blade, throwing Red off balance, thus throwing it into the path of Orange, negating its attack. Finally, Adamu threw out a kick, catching Purple on the chest while easily avoiding its own strike.

All three turtles fell into a heap, bringing another cry from their rat of a father, yet behind him, only the heavy breaths of Blue wheezed on. Obviously too badly beaten to even call out for its siblings now, the turtle must have fallen into despair. The thought brought a smile to the Master's lips, yet before he could turn to check this assumption out – Orange had shakily risen to its feet.

"Eyes on me." He whispered, bringing a laugh to the Master's lips.

With a chuckle, he brought his blade down – not towards Orange – but rather towards Red whose hand had been lingering upon its knee, the one the Master had so enjoyed damaging before.

"Raphie!" Orange leap forth, yet it was Purple who reached its brother first, its bō knocking the katana aside and pulling back for another strike which landed squarely in the human's chest.

Shame there was little strength about it.

Raising his head, the Master sneered. Taunting the turtles silently.

To the side, that rat was still shouting, its frustration at being unable to do anything making it lose all reason. Its so-called sons were facing peril, and there it was, powerless to do anything to assist the weakened freaks. So pitiful, yet so fulfilling to see how far they had all fallen.

Still smirking, Adamu grasped the weapon pointing against his chest and grasped it in one hand. Purple's eyes widened.

"Now for the final act." He mocked, tearing the staff from the mutant in a single yank – instantly disarming the freak and leaving it more vulnerable than it already was. Yet the Master did not pause to take the expression of his pet, no – rather he spun, katana in one hand, bō in the other, and neatly sliced a line up Purple's plastron before using its own weapon to swipe it off its feet, landing carapace first against the cool stone floor. Another fall of the blade caused a thin trail of blood down one arm and another would have moved closer to the throat if it weren't for two gleaming sais appearing before the creature, halting the blade. This time, Red was putting all its weight behind the defence, actually forcing the Master to exert more effort to keep the position – however the turtle had made a simple mistake which the rat noticed a second before Adamu could strike.

"Raphael!" It called from behind the bars, "The bō!"

And then there was Orange.

With one hand, Adamu kept Red locked in his defensive stance, any weakness from it meaning instant death to its bleeding brother while his other grasped the bō staff, using it with ease to negate the quick-fire blows from Orange. This was entertaining… There was nothing like a bit of exercise to make the reward that would follow all the more delectable.

As he continued to parry Orange's blows with the staff, Adamu altered his grip slightly further down the wood and flicking his wrist in one small opening, he managed to wrap the end of the staff around one of Orange's weapons, flicking it across the room and out of their little fight.

Now only holding one nunchuck, the attacks from the youngest turtle increased in ferocity, yet – the Master noticed – desperation made its moves clumsy. As Orange launched into its next wave of attacks, Adamu suddenly pulled his weight back from the katana, surprising Red and forcing the sai wielder to stumble forth. Quickly reversing the grip on the sword, Adamu jabbed the hilt hard into Red's stomach – winding it – before he kicked out one boot, catching it on the chin, making the once fearsome warrior stumble away, gasping for breath. Turning back to Orange, Adamu twisted the bō around the remaining nunchuck, once again flicking it away – catching Orange across the face with it as he did so, then followed through by jamming the bō staff onto Purple's fallen form, using it to vault himself towards Orange, both legs outstretched to put his full weight behind him as both feet slammed into the turtle's plastron, making it cry out as a rib or two snapped beneath Adamu's feet. Yet as Orange hit the ground – Adamu didn't even pause. He righted himself and turned just as Red charged at him – and with two quick jabs of the staff in his hand – it was disarmed. The Master smiled.

This was nearly over.

Dropping the acquired staff and sheathing the sword in his belt, he met Red head on, moving to hand-to-hand tactics now, and instantly found himself easily overpowering his opponent. Strikes were blocked and delivered in a lightning frenzy until Red allowed a brief opening which the Master seized in both hands. He delivered a sharp blow to the creature's beak – emitting a loud crack as the punch landed – and ducked under Red's outstretched arm – targeting a few pressure points along the way. It wasn't quite Dim Mak, however the effect still brought a scream from his pet. Now behind the turtle – Adamu grasped the still-reeling turtle by the arms and pinned them behind its shell, adding pressure the more Red cried out in pain.

"RAPH!" Cried out Blue, tears choking its voice.

"Yes… Make this worse for them…" He murmured into his trapped pet's ear slit from behind, "Scream. Show them how weak you've become…" For a moment Red's cries silenced, yet with another yank to its arms, they arose once again, louder than before. Suddenly, Adamu felt one of Red's shoulder give under the pressure, popping out of place just as Blue's had done so long ago.

Releasing the freak, the Master grabbed the back of its head and pushed it towards the rat's cage, slamming its face against the bars, inches from its father's snout.

"Raphael!" Instantly it was on its knees inside the cage, reaching through the lower bars to check on the moaning turtle. Adamu merely turned his nose up at the display of weakness.

Leaving his pet shaking where it collapsed, Adamu moved towards Orange where it was cowering against the opposite wall, delivering a solid kick to the side of Purple's head as he passed, making it drop back to the floor where it had begun to rise, instantly unconscious.

"Now the last." He clicked his tongue against his teeth in mock disappointment.

Then he lunged.

He grappled with Orange's flailing arms, targeting the creature's fingers, knowing the bones were still in the process of healing. But his resistance did not last long. All fight from the turtle soon evaporated, leaving his pet cowering before his power, its eyes watering in fear.

"Pathetic." He spat. "You thought you could take your brother back like this?" Adamu unsheathed his katana, raising it above Orange's head who just whimpered, eyes darting behind the Master, before its features froze.

Adamu heard footsteps, and turned, lowering the katana, and froze.

"The hell?" He found himself whispering as he saw the origin of the footsteps, a moment before the figure slammed a fist into his jaw, throwing him back.

"My turn." The voice growled. And a new fight began…

DUN DUN DUN!

- Who is it?

- Will they (whoever they are) succeed?!

- Will they survive?

- Will Adamu triumph?

-WHAT'S GOING ON?!

Thanks again to all you amazing people who have left your thoughts. Major shout out in particular for Taraninja20 whose review (literally posted an hour ago!) has just brought a major smile to my face. Thank you! *Bows*

And of course, thank you to Beakers47 , Jasmine Wolfheart, 000Marie198 and amirezsohany1110 Thank you guys so much for your ongoing support. :D

LL99 Out.