Nalong - Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT or associated people, places or things. I only own the OCs and the plot. I make no money from this, so please don't sue me.

A/N: PG-13 remember. The original scene I had here I decided was a little too much for PG-13, and it has since been toned down, and I think it's ok PG-13 now. Heaps of THANKS to my wonderful reviewers.

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Leonardo and Raphael didn't hear anyone moving around the corner they approached, so their best guess told them that it was safe. They peeked around, and when they were sure of their solitude they made their move. Sticking to the shadows they slipped down the hallway to the next door. This one, like the door outside the building, was locked with a standard key lock which Raphael worked through in moments. On the other side of the door were four guards. The two turtles couldn't just stroll into the room, but they had already gotten through the lock and opened the door. No one was supposed to be there today. On the other hand their information was several years old so things must have changed. The guards noticed the door cracked open, but eventually turned away from it back toward the screens at the opposite end of the room.

Leonardo noticed the change and rushed through the open door. Raphael, operating on the same wavelength, charged in with him. The guards were close enough together that if they moved quickly and did this right…

Raphael took the two on the right and Leonardo the two on the left. The two turtles silently slipped up behind the guards and, while they were still facing away, knocked heads together. All four guards dropped immediately to the ground, unconscious. Raph looked over at his brother and smiled, he knew better than to speak for fear that someone would hear him. It didn't matter if the cult knew that someone had been inside this area as long as they didn't know who it was, and as long as Don and Mikey went undetected.

The two turtles wound their way through the room and worked their way out to the next hall where they re-entered the ventilation system. From there they headed toward the center of the building. Leo spotted the weapons room on the third floor. Coming through the vents, the room didn't seem to be guarded in any way shape or form. Raphael entered first. He dropped to the floor into the weapons room, and Leo followed shortly. Dozens of weapons lined the walls and the room was bathed in an eerie blue light. Raph made his way to the nearest wall and picked up one of the shock sticks. He quickly opened the compartment up and used a strip of metal to slice several wires inside the device. He closed it up and started in on the next one. Leo did the same to the next wall. They eventually got the process down to a few seconds per shock stick. When those two walls were complete they moved to the guns on the next wall.

These were more difficult. Raph and Leo were a little unsure as to how to disable these weapons. They didn't want them to be obviously damaged, but they had to do something. Finally they figured out how to quickly break off the hammer. It was kind of an obvious break, but the cult would have to be looking for the damage to find it.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard in the hall. They froze. Listening, they heard the lock disengage. The two turtles jumped into the air duct and hid there waiting to see what these guards did before they made their next move.

Two guards entered the room and each picked up a gun before leaving. Leonardo breathed a sigh of relief. If they had picked up weapons that had already been tampered with, then the whole plan could have been ruined. They needed to get through the night without any weapons being discharged.

As soon as the guards left Raph and Leo jumped back down into the room and continued their work. As soon as all the weapons were disabled they slipped out of the room the same way they came in and headed back to their meeting point to wait for Mikey and Donnie.

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Donatello and Michelangelo slipped silently through the halls of the central complex. They were headed right toward the center of the building. A door down the hall opened and three guards came out into the hallway leaving Mikey and Don with no choice but to enter the nearest room. It was imperative that they not get caught in any way, shape or form, because if they were seen in this area then it was likely that the locks would be checked and reset before tomorrow morning, and the chance for escape would be lost.

Luckily for the two turtles, no one was in the room they entered. The room, however, was a little on the creepy side. A red light was focused on a podium at the front of the room. A large basket sat near the podium and a sickly sweet stench permeated the air. This place seemed out of context with the rest of the complex. It lacked the sterile, slightly futuristic, though surprisingly government surplus feeling of the rest of the building and the ceiling had large wooden rafters.

"I don't even want to know what's in that thing." Mikey said.

"Right there with you. Let's get out of here, I think they're gone."

Just as Donatello started to open the door another door down the hall opened and a group of 6 came out into the corridor. He quickly yanked the door shut again and pulled Mikey a short way back. The knob started to turn. Michelangelo grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him. Don had been acting weird all night, and now he seemed almost paralyzed.

"Come on bro, we gotta move now!" he whispered.

That snapped Donnie back to where he was needed and they jumped to the rafters. Mikey looked around for the ventilation ducts they had traveled through earlier and didn't see them in this strange room.

"We're gonna have to wait this one out aren't we?" Mikey asked just loud enough for Donnie to hear.

Don just nodded as he watched the goings on below them.

"Seventeen less five, we started with twelve." A man had taken a position behind the podium and the others each knelt on the floor in a semi-circle before it. "This is the last. She was the last to go. Her demise was another victory in the fight to bring an end to these crimes against nature. We grieve the loss of the five who escaped our grasp only moments after this victory."

Donatello realized exactly what the man was talking about. 17 prisoners had been taken to the Course that day, and 5 had come out alive. The last one to die, if it was moments before they escaped, would have been… the levitation girl. Unconsciously he tensed. Sadness, guilt, and most prominently, anger painted his emotions. He knew he would have to regain control of those emotions quickly, before he did something stupid, but he was having a hard time of it.

Mikey felt his brother tense beside him. He didn't quite know what was going in here, but he was fairly sure that he didn't like it, and he was rapidly becoming certain that Donnie knew exactly what was going on. Right now his brother in purple was reminding him of Raphael. He'd have to find out more about this later, but now he had to get Don to calm down. He put a hand on Donnie's shoulder causing the other turtle to whip around. Finding only Mikey there he visibly deflated. Michelangelo couldn't help but notice the look on Don's face. His brother was angry beyond belief, but he also looked broken somehow, like this place was getting the better of him. Mikey forced Donnie to watch him rather than the scene below that so obviously upset his purple clad brother.

"She is fuel, fuel to the fire that shall bring us victory in this war!"

Mikey forced himself not to look, and he held Donnie tighter when the other turtle offered resistance to staying put. Several sounds occurred in sequence, hinges creaked, silence, more creaking and a loud bang. Finally, the cult members filed out of the room and left the two stunned turtles in the rafters.

Donatello jumped down from the rafters and walked up to the basket. He bowed, and as Mikey jumped down to the floor he heard Don's quiet promise.

"I won't fail you again. This ends here."

With that Donatello headed back to the center of the room and grabbed Michelangelo by the hand, physically dragging him from the room. Mikey had seen this look before, it was Donnie's 'no matter what it takes' look. This was ending here and now.

Together they slipped out of the accursed room and continued down the hall in silence. Finding the room they sought without too much trouble Donatello proceeded to unlock the door. This time the only lock was a keypad, simple by comparison to what he had broken earlier. Mikey entered first. The space wasn't that impressive, it was bare save for a small computer on a desk in the center of the room.

Luckily, the computer was already on and running, that made Don's job easier. He quickly had the locks set to release the next morning at 7:30 AM, and just as they closed the door behind them on the way out a shrill alarm shattered the silence in the hall.

"Oh shell"

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BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! Cliffie! hehe. Well, this close to the end what did you expect? Only Chapters 17 and 18 left to go! Then… then uh… hmm… well I'll think of something. I know some of you are Buffy fans, but are there any Angel fans out there who would be interested in seeing a cross-over?