CHAPTER NINE

NOT LETTING GO

Patricia Callihan stepped over the remains of the wall. She almost couldn't believe her eyes. Less than twenty-four hours ago, they had been on the verge of the greatest discovery of all time. Now all of their research had come to nothing. It lay in piles at her feet. The earthquake had totally destroyed the building. There wasn't much left to save. Had it struck a few hundred miles in any direction, the casualties would have been off the charts.

She picked up the shattered remains of a microscope and tossed it aside. Her whole life she'd worked for something big, something like those goddamn mutant freaks. She'd been so close she could taste the success. Why now? Why not a month from now, when the results were in, and the success could be shouted from the mountain tops?

She sighed. They'd have to start all over again. Well, not totally from scratch. They already knew that the mutants weren't susceptible to disease, they didn't have to run those tests again. And at least they knew where to find the other two. Maybe they'd be able to find the bodies of the ones they had.

She climbed into the tech room and looked at the screens. Most of them were shattered. But they still had power, and one of them actually displayed a picture. Callihan squinted at the monitor as it flickered and went out. She almost thought she had seen... But it couldn't be...

She found the controls and tried to move the picture over to the larger screen, but the panel was damaged beyond repair. One of the speakers still worked. She could hear the voices faintly. She tripped over ceiling panels on her way to the board and cranked up the volume on the mic. "I think... he's bleeding internally."

"What does that mean?"

Donatello looked up slowly. "It means... there's nothing I can do for him."

Leo stared in shock. "What?"

"That can't be," Rei protested. "You're wrong. It's... something else."

Don sighed. "You can take him to... the hospital. He looks human enough. I don't think they'd refuse him because he's obviously dying."

"And they can fix it, right?" Rei choked.

Donatello raised his eyes to hers. The pain silenced him for a moment. "They can give him more powerful drugs for the pain."

"And they can stop the bleeding," she added, her voice pleading.

He shook his head slightly, his eyes sliding closed. "No, Rei," he breathed.

"No, you're wrong," she protested. "Don't tell me that." The anger hit her with a force so sudden it startled even Donatello, and he'd been expecting it. "Don't fucking tell me that!" He closed his eyes slowly. "You're wrong, damn it! You're fucking wrong! You have to be wrong! I can't...!"

She gasped a few breaths of air, and turned away. She nearly collapsed into Leonardo, sobbing into his neck. He held her, not sure what else to do. The words hadn't totally sunk in yet. He felt like he was dreaming. He couldn't be hearing this right.

"I'm so..."

Leo looked up and waited for his brother to finish the sentence. Donatello closed his eyes as his vision was blurred by tears, and he hung his head. "I'm so sorry," he finally managed.

Callihan listened to the quiet conversation. She couldn't make it all out, but she'd caught most of it. They had to be talking about the second mutant. Had it actually lived through the earthquake? How had it gotten all the way back to New York? Was the other one still alive, too? A spark of hope ignited in her. If they could find it, they wouldn't have to start the process over again...

The pain came totally without warning. It sliced across her arm and smashed into the one remaining monitor, spraying blood. She screamed and spun instinctively, but not before another one of the unidentified weapons embedded in her shoulderblade.

"You!" she gasped as she stared at the familiar face.

He stood a few feet behind her, his weight on one bent leg, his arm up next to his head. Between his fingers was a throwing star. She'd seen them before, on movies. "What do you want?" she demanded.

She began to feel dizzy as she waited for him to respond. "You know, I dipped these shurieken in something before I came here," he informed her, his voice cold. "Maybe it was a poison. One that's going to destroy all of your organs one at a time and let you die a slow and painful death." Pain stabbed through her body and her eyes grew wide as she registered his words. "On the other hand..."

He extended his arm and she suddenly realized that she was paralyzed. Her body wouldn't move. She watched as several more of the weapons sliced through the air and embedded in her chest. She would've cried out if she could have made a sound. But her vocal chords were frozen. Her eyes remained wide as terror swept over her. He stepped closer to her. Fire burned in his eyes and he watched her closely. "...maybe it's just water," he hissed.

Pain stole the breath from her lungs and she realized that she was dead. He never took his eyes off of hers, even as she collapsed to the ground. He looked up at the broken monitors, and then to the speakers.

"How long?" Leonardo.

His other brother took a deep breath. "It's hard to say," he whispered. "They'll be able to tell you better at the hospital."

Leo stared at Donatello. He knew it wasn't a lie, but he also knew that Don had more information to offer than that. "How. Long," he demanded coldly.

Donny looked up. He wasn't sure how wise it was to throw all this at Leo, all at once. But he knew his brother, and he knew he wouldn't stop until he knew everything. "Maybe a few days," he offered, watching Leo's reaction. He looked as if he'd just been hit by his best friend, but he handled it. "Maybe hours," Don finished reluctantly. "I don't really know." He looked down. "If he falls asleep again, he might not wake up."

Raphael closed his eyes and bowed his head. He felt no emotion. That had all been spent long ago. Now, it was just business, doing what needed to be done. He looked down at the lifeless body on the floor, then grabbed another shurieken from his belt. He flicked his wrist and the weapon embedded in the speaker, destroying the last connection between the former building and his former home.

***

"I'm gonna take you to the hospital and they can get their doctors to look at you. It's against the law to turn away somebody with life threatening injuries whether or not they..."

"No."

She stopped pacing and turned to him. "No?" she demanded. "What the hell do you mean, no?"

"I'm... not going."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Like hell you're not going!"

"They can't do anything."

Anger boiled inside of her. "You don't know that!" she yelled. "Don doesn't know that and he had no right to say something like that to you!" She realized that somewhere in there he'd whispered her name. "What?"

His eyes opened and met hers. "I can feel it, Rei-chan..."

She stared at him for a long time, then shook her head, not wanting to believe him. "No."

"Rei... I can't make it to the..."

"I'll help you!"

His eyes closed and he tried to take a deeper breath. It ended in pain and he coughed blood. "Rei, please," he gasped as he lay back on the pillow again. "I don't want to go."

She felt tears streaming down her cheeks again, and she fought to control them. She knelt next to the bed. "Why, Mikey?" she pleaded, choking on her own voice. "Why won't you let them at least try? Donny could be wrong."

"I want to stay here," he whispered faintly. "My brothers can't go to the hospital and... I want them nearby."

She bowed her head and let the tears come. This had to be a bad dream. For a long time, she didn't move. Then, finally, she looked up. "Is there anything... I can do for you?"

His eyes closed and he smiled faintly. "Give me your hand," he whispered.

She raised her hand and rested it on the side of the bed. He slipped his fingers into hers. Five fingers, separated by stitches. It felt so strange to her. She held his hand and pressed it to the side of her face, covering it in saline tears. "I love you, Mikey," she whispered.

He smiled. "I love you too, angel."

"I'm so scared."

He drew in a slow breath. "Don't be scared," he breathed. "It'll be okay."

"How?" she choked. "I don't think I can live without you."

His eyes opened again and he watched her lay her head on the edge of the bed next to their hands. "I love you... Rei-chan."

She sobbed quietly and he squeezed her hand. "Don't let go, okay?" he pleaded, trying to hide the fear he himself felt.

"I won't," she promised.

He sighed and closed his eyes again, slipping into the darkness.

***

Raymond Alex stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room, still in shock. The earthquake had rattled his home badly. Several houses nearby had been nearly destroyed by the aftershocks. What was even more alarming was the the epicenter was so nearby to the research center.

Richardson had been there, when it fell apart. He managed to get out in one piece, but the experiments, he was sure, had been crushed. All of their research over the past two months was suddenly gone. If only it had been a week later...

The sound of breaking glass jolted him awake. Beside him, Tricia's eyes opened. "Ray?"

He sat up and stared into the darkness. "Shh!"

Nothing moved in the stillness. Then, out of nowhere, the blackness moved. He scrambled back against the headboard. "Christ, what the fuck are you!" he cried.

The figure was all in black, covered head to toe. All he could see were the whites of his eyes. "Raphael," the figure answered quietly. "And you have a debt to pay."

Alex's eyes widened. "Holy shit..."

"Yes," Raphael agreed. "But before I deal with you, you're gonna tell me where Adam Travinski lives."

"Like hell I am," Alex chuckled nervously, reaching slowly under the mattress for his gun. Raphael noticed it, but he didn't stop him.

"If you want even a chance at living, you're gonna talk now."

The man glared at the intruder. "I'm not tellin' you nothin'," he whispered. "Guess you're just gonna have to kill me."

"Fine," Raphael answered, his voice emotionless.

He dodged the bullet that was fired at him and it embedded in the wall. Before Alex even had a chance to realize he'd missed, Raphael was on top of him. Tricia screamed. Raphael struck a nerve cluster on the inside of his wrist and the gun dropped involuntarily. Raphael had it in his hand and reaimed in the space of a second.

"You'll tell me where he lives or I'll kill her and then I'll kill you," Raph growled.

Raymond's eyes widened as he realized that the gun wasn't pointed at him. "You wouldn't kill her," he tried. But even he could hear his voice tremble.

"You killed my brother, Doctor," Raphael reminded him. "Why wouldn't I kill your girlfriend? I'm just an animal remember? It's in my nature."

Alex swallowed hard as he began to get very nervous. "Look, man, Adam's dead," he choked. "He died in the fucking quake."

Raphael's eyes narrowed as he studied the man's expression. He saw total fear there, and read it like a book. He wasn't lying. "How do you know?" he demanded.

"It was on the fucking news. If you don't believe me, you can go ahead and go to his apartment. Or what's left of it. He lived in the ones on second street," he choked.

"Which apartment?"

"Three, uh... Three thirteen."

Raphael stared at him coldly. "Thank you."

He reaimed the gun, and pulled the trigger.

***

The apartment was collapsed. Raphael stood and watched as police climbed over the wreckage. "Excuse me," he called to one of them. He looked up. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Have you released victims' names yet?"

The officer pointed to a coworker standing in front of a car. "She's the one you'd need to talk to."

"Okay, thanks," Raph mumbled.

He walked over to the woman and she looked up. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a friend of mine. Adam Travinski? Someone told me they had his name on the news."

The woman looked down at her list. Her face was etched with sympathy as she looked back up. "Yes, it was," she informed him. "I'm sorry."

Raphael forced a thin smile. "It's okay," he informed coldly. "Thank you."

Without another word, he turned and walked away. His hands felt around in the jacket pocket and he pulled out the wallet he'd found earlier. He knew whose it was from the driver's license. The address of his final stop was in his hand, even without Travinski's help.

***

"Oh, cookies!"

"You leave those alone!" Gina laughed. "Those are for Vanessa to take to school tomorrow."

"Are you gonna make some for us?" Rick asked pleadingly.

"I'll think about it," Gina answered. "If you go to bed good."

The boy disappeared quickly. "G'night Mom!"

She laughed to herself as she slid the sheet back into the oven. The back door opened and she turned to see who it was. Had Matthew slipped by her unnoticed? She thought he'd gone to bed. She certainly couldn't blame him. It had probably been one of the worst days of his life. He'd raced home to make sure she and kids were okay, and didn't talk of anything else. But she knew he was troubled. If that earthquake had struck near the lab, their reasearch was probably totally ruined.

"Matthew? Is that you?"

She stared for a minute to see who walked into the room, then turned back to the bowl of cookie dough on the counter. She must be hearing things.

It took about a tenth of a second for her to find herself turned around, bent back over the counter, and looking into the dark eyes of a black figure. All she could see were the whites of his eyes. But she could feel a cold blade pressed to her throat, and it spoke volumes. "I don't wanna hurt you," he growled. "Just call your husband."

She felt like the air had been squeezed from her lungs. It took her a moment to register his words. She knew immediately that if she complied, he would kill him. But what if she didn't? Would he just kill her too? She didn't have a chance to think that through totally before four-year-old Vanessa walked into the room. The little girl screamed at the top of her lungs, ending any hesitation that might have been had.

Raphael was off of the woman in an instant and behind the screaming child. He placed a gloved hand over her mouth. She tried to bite him, but couldn't manage through the glove. It took about ten seconds for Matthew Richardson to appear in the doorway to the kitchen. Before he even registered what he was seeing, he was on his back on the hard tile floor, a kitchen knife pressed to his throat. Vanessa ran to her mother, who held her and watched with wide, terrified eyes as the black creature spoke to her husband.

"Do you know who I am?" he growled.

"You're Raphael," he whispered, fear surging through him. That wasn't a guess. He knew immediately who he was, and why he was here. Every threat that his ears had taken in came rushing back all at once, and he knew he was going to die.

"Do you realize that when you die," Raphael growled, "all of your experiments end right now. All the people you might hurt."

Richardson trembled noticeably. He wasn't afraid to die. But not like this. Not in front of his wife and youngest daughter. "Please..." he begged. "It's not like that."

"Please... Mister..." Raphael's eyes were unwillingly drawn to the child in the room, pressing close to her mother. "Please don't hurt my Daddy."

Raphael looked back down at the man, unmoved by the plea. "Or maybe I should just kill your family."

Tears filled the man's eyes. "No," he begged. "Please. Do what you want to me. But leave them out of it. They're not to blame."

Raphael turned to the woman and her child. "Leave," he ordered.

"No," the man's wife protested. "I won't."

Raphael's eyes narrowed into slits. "Leave now," he growled. "I won't tell you again."

She gasped a few breaths of air. "Gina, please leave," Matthew whispered. "Please. I love you."

Tears streamed down her face as the turned and ran from the room, pulling her child with her. Raphael watched them go, then looked back down at the man. It would take the police a few minutes to get here. He had all the time in the world.

"You destroyed my family," he rasped. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't destroy yours."

Richardson's eyes closed and he didn't answer. His mind played over all the things he wanted to remember in the last few minutes of his life. He watched them run like a movie on the backs of his eyelids. Raphael breathed deep. For the first time since he'd left Michaelangelo's side, he began to feel. The little girl's face flashed in his mind, and he considered the thought of leaving her without a father. For the first time, he considered the other people who might be affected by this spilled blood.

It wasn't that he didn't realize what he was doing. He was fully aware of it. This was justice, and perhaps also protecting Leo and Don. It wasn't about anger, or his threats. It was about doing what needed to be done. If he didn't do it, no one else would. No one else even knew what they had done. No one would ever know. He was the only one who could avenge his brother.

"If I brought him in here, what would you do?"

For the first time, Raphael was forced to pause. Raising a hand against Richardson felt different, somehow. He couldn't explain it. Somehow it felt like... murder. He considered that for a moment. There was still no emotion; he was totally in control. He could kill this man right now, and he knew he wouldn't look back. But it would be murder. He knew it would. He could feel the difference deep inside of him. Was it worth it? His blood ran ice cold in his veins when it was necessary, but something felt so different about this man. It would not be difficult... But it would be wrong.

Richardson's eyes opened in surprise as Raphael stood slowly and set the knife on the counter. They stared at each other for a long moment, saying nothing, then Raphael turned and walked away.

***

Rei's looked up as she felt Michaelangelo's grip tighten just slightly. His eyes fluttered open. "Mikey?" she whispered.

He smiled faintly. "Rei. What're you...?"

The sentence ended with a quiet moan and his eyes closed again. She brushed his hair back and caressed the side of his face. He was so pale, and so thin, and so unlike she remembered him. "How do you feel?" she questioned.

He cringed and moaned again. She raised their hands to his lips and kissed his cold, clammy skin. "Are you in much pain?"

He felt like fire was ravishing his body, but he knew he couldn't tell her that. She'd just cry and worry and be hurt even more by every minute of his pain. "I... love you," he managed, barely audible to his own ears.

But she heard him. She bowed her head and pressed their hands to the side of her face. "I love you too, Mikey," she breathed back. "And I'll stay with you. I won't let you go."

He took a few painful breaths and turned his head to rest on the cool pillow. "Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"I had a dream... And you... had a... little girl."

Rei studied him closely. His words struck her and she watched him, not sure what to say. His eyes opened and he panted for a moment. "If you do... I want you... to name her Mica. Please..."

Rei was dumbfounded for a moment. She hadn't even considered that. How could he say something like that? "I will," she finally managed.

He moaned slightly, and cringed at some unknown pain. She felt her heart break, but knew she couldn't do a thing for him. "I'm so sorry, Mikey," she sighed, a single tear overstepping its boundaries and trickling down her cheek. "I would give anything to take your place."

"Don't talk like that," he breathed. He forced his eyes open. The fire grew. It would've made his body go rigid if his muscles were still able to react. Suddenly, he knew. For just a moment, he felt fear stab through him.

He gave a half-hearted sob, eyes closing involuntarily. No! Not yet!

"Rei..."

He felt the tears trickle from the corners of his eyes. It was as if he could feel his life slipping through his fingers. The back of his hand was pressed to the side of Rei's face. It remained warm while the rest of his body grew cold, the icy wave moving up from the soles of his feet. He clenched her hand, not ready to let go yet. There were still things he had to say.

Michaelangelo...

He caught his breath at the intense pain as it grew. He squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could and clenched his teeth. Michaelangelo, let go. It is alright...

The pain subsided as he listened to the words. It was as if they were audible. And perhaps they were. He could hear another voice somewhere, and he knew it was Rei, but he couldn't understand her. He opened his eyes and saw the world blur around him.

I'm afraid, he protested.

A soothing calm washed over him. Do not be afraid, my son... Trust me...

"Michaelangelo?" Rei whispered, panic striking her all at once as his body relaxed.

His eyes opened and for just an instant, they danced with the life and excitement that she had come to know so well. She remembered all at once all of the reasons why she loved him, all at once. "Don't be afraid," he whispered as a smile crossed his lips. "It's okay. I love you."

"Mikey, no!" she gasped, realizing what was happening. She felt helpless.

He drew in a deep breath and cringed at the pain. He was shaking as she brought her lips to his. She could taste the blood on his lips and the pain in his soul. She kissed him deeply, clinging to him. Not yet! she pleaded silently. Don't leave me, Mikey! God, no!

He tensed beneath her, and then relaxed. She felt the life drain from him and her soul mourned it loudly. His hand went limp in hers... and he exhaled his final breath into her lungs.

Thus with a kiss I die...

END PART ONE