A/N: - I apologise for the delays between chapters but, with my rubbish English internet connections, it is becoming ever more difficult to connect each time! Anyway, this is the next chapter…and I am apologising in advance! Please do not flame me for what I am about to do…I swear you will regret it later. Um, enjoy as much as you can.
"So, what happens next, bro?" Raph asked, licking his lips hungrily, looking forward to the fight.
"We attack…" Leo's mouth twisted into an almost sinister smile. He stood up and motioned for each of his brothers to take a different entrance; whether a window, door or even just a hole in a wall or in the roof. Their job was to get in and get the children out as quickly as possible.
"On three?" Donnie suggested.
"For best dramatic impact," winked Mikey.
"One, two ----- THREE!" Donnie yelled the last number and the four turtles leapt into Marcie's lair. They all drew their weapons but suddenly froze, looking round in bewilderment.
"Why is no-one here?" whispered Mikey.
"It's a trap…" Leo said urgently, "Stay alert and be ready for anything…"
"You got it, Leonardo," hissed Raph, sweeping into a low sarcastic bow.
"Raph, quit-----" Leo started, but was cut short. The techno gadgets lining the room suddenly burst into life and lights were flashing, and a trapdoor was opening, right underneath the turtles. Ramakha and the other three human brothers were nowhere to be seen and the turtles fell through the trapdoor, landing with a 'thud' in a cage about ten feet below, lined with straw.
"You think they're ok?" Reginald asked worriedly as they waited for the signal from Leonardo to say that he and his brothers had got in safely.
"I don't know…" Ramakha paused.
"That's it – I'm going in!" Ronald growled, jumping down from his hiding place and running into the cottage.
"RONALD!" Roshiri shouted angrily after him.
"Holy---" Ronald just about had time to curse before a dart pierced his shoulder, causing him to sway on the spot for a moment and then drop to the floor, limp as a boned fish.
"What do you want from us, Marcie?"
"I want nothing from you…what I want to do to you is another matter entirely…"
"And what do you want to do to us?"
"Kill you – tell me, Michelangelo, which of you four I should kill first. Do I kill you in order of your level of involvement with the Shredder's death, or do I kill you in the order you were originally shot by the Shredder?"
"That would mean I wouldn't die! Ha!" Mikey laughed, then realising what he'd said, "oops…"
"Then I shall go with the first option. Michelangelo, for your insolence you will go first, regardless of the fact you had an equal part in the death of my love. After you shall be Leonardo…then I think I shall kill Donatello…let's see if we can get Raphael to shed a few tears for his brothers."
"Leave my emotions out of this, you evil witch," snarled Raph, more to himself that anyone else. He didn't cry often and he didn't want to be reminded of the times when he did.
"Michelangelo – come forward."
"I would, but I'm kinda locked in this cage," Mikey quipped, sticking his tongue out at her and then ducking behind a furious Raph. Marcie took a deep breath, barely controlling her frustration, and unlocked the cage, pulling Mikey out roughly and snatching his Nunchuks before he had time to react. She then pulled out a long blade; Shredder's blade.
"Uh, isn't that…I mean wasn't that…Shredder's blade?"
"Yes it is – my, my, you are feeling very observant today aren't you, young Michelangelo. Is it not sad to think that your life should end when you are but a teenager?" Marcie snickered, "or would you rather live, knowing you were watching the deaths of your brothers?"
"Listen, Marcie, I am not scared of you. Do you understand me? I think you are a fake; a wannabe who doesn't actually have any feelings or care for anyone. You use your own innocent kids, placing them in harm's way just to get revenge for someone who didn't even love you!" Mikey was now trembling with raw fury, something that never appeared very often in his character, "and if you're killing my brothers then you'll kill me as well – we were born a team and we'll die a team!"
"How noble of you," Marcie yawned, "but now I will just kill you and get it over with – you bore me with your honourable ramblings and pointless virtues and smart remarks."
"Try it…" Mikey dared, his eyes glinting adventurously. Marcie let out a strangled battle cry and, raising her sword, jumped at Mikey, who leapt onto the top of the cage holding his brothers captive. Marcie also jumped up and took a swipe at him. He ducked and the blade Marcie was wielding swung round clumsily. Mikey dived off the cage towards his discarded Nunchuks and grabbed them hastily, blocking Marcie's blade just as it was about to make contact with his head. He took a moment to compose himself before sweeping his left foot underneath Marcie, tripping her over and sending her blade spinning across the floor. Taking his chance while Marcie was down, Mikey ran towards the cage and bashed the door open, freeing his brothers, but turning just in time to see the hilt of Marcie's blade coming towards his head at an alarming speed. He didn't move in time and was knocked out cold. Raph roared and rushed at the woman responsible for hurting his youngest brother, catching her off guard with a kick and then slinging Mikey over his shoulder.
"We gotta get out of here NOW, before she comes round!"
"Raph's right," Leo agreed, "let's go!"
Reginald lifted the limp form of his brother into a fireman's carry and ran back to his hiding place as quickly as he could. Ramakha and Roshiri were checking for any back entrances.
"Hey, there's a trapdoor here!" Roshiri called to his brother. They stood above the door, examining it and were almost flung backwards as it swung open to reveal a staircase, three very agitated turtles and one very unconscious one!
"What happened?" Ramakha asked Leo hurriedly as they ran for cover from the darts that were firing from a hidden place, "you never gave us the signal!"
"We were dropped through a trapdoor and into a cage. Mikey fought Marcie as she tried to kill him and he got us out. Marcie hit him with the hilt of her sword and knocked him unconscious. Raph knocked her out and we made a break for it. We couldn't stay there – it was too dangerous."
"We understand – Ronald was struck down by a dart of some sort. I think it was a tranquilliser. We need to get back to Headquarters before they try to follow us. Leonardo – you, Donatello and Roshiri will go by a different route and keep any scouts from following us."
"Right," Leo nodded, running off with Donnie and Roshiri. Several scouts leapt out of Marcie's lair and followed them, not even seeing Ramakha, Raph, Reginald, Ronald and Mikey.
"So, what now?" Roshiri hissed to his two turtle companions.
"We keep running," replied Leo as they ran from Marcie's scouts.
"For how long?"
"Until we outrun them," Donnie answered, seeing that Leo was too busy keeping his temper in check.
"Got it, but I think they're gaining on us. Outrunning them will be difficult," Roshiri frowned, glancing quickly behind them.
"Why's that?"
"Because they have a vehicle and are getting closer!"
"Oh shell…RUN!" barked the blue-clad turtle. Roshiri and Donnie instantly obeyed the order and sped up as much as they could before feeling like they were going to collapse.
"I don't know how long we'll be able to keep this up, Leo," Donnie panted as they sprinted for their lives.
"We have to find an alleyway where there is a way out…" Roshiri said between breaths.
"Over there!"
"Let's go," Leo ordered, following where Donnie was pointing to, "run straight forward and turn last minute; catch them off-guard."
The three companions ran, faster and faster, turning sharply into the alleyway when they reached it. The vehicle sped past and they heard the brakes screech shrilly a few seconds later.
"Where to now?" asked Roshiri, growing panicky, "we've reached a dead end – we're trapped!"
"Our only option is to climb up the fire escape on the side of that building," Leo said, quickly assessing the situation; that or be bashed, bruised, used for baiting the others and then butchered……"
"I'm all for the first one," laughed Donnie nervously.
"Roshiri?"
"Hey, I'm following your lead – after all, you did manage to beat my brother…multiple times…so I think you're plans work lout slightly better than those of me and my brothers. Needless to say, we do not succeed often," he paused and, in a barely audible voice, added, "but our plan to kill you is one hundred percent turtle-proof."
"Ok, Raphael, we need to get Michelangelo and Ronald to safety," Ramakha ordered quietly from where they were still crouched close by to Marcie's lair.
"Can do," replied Raph, shifting Mikey's weight onto his other shoulder.
"Right – we'll make our way back to the Headquarters and wait for the others there. Your brothers do know what they're doing, don't they?"
"You are talking about a leader and a techno-geek; I'd say they're going to be ok, wouldn't you?" Raph growled sarcastically. He made a mental note to tell his youngest brother to lay off the pizzas in future.
"Do you have any idea how we're going to get back to the Headquarters without being spotted?" Ramakha whispered.
"No…but I think we could always fight our way out if things come to the worst…"
"I like your attitude," Ramakha chuckled, "shame I'm gonna have to kill you and your brothers after this. Of course, if you joined us, I could spare your life."
"Sorry, buster, but if my brothers are going to die then I'll die with them. It's called caring for your family – I wouldn't be able to stand by and watch them be slaughtered knowing I had escaped by joining up with the enemy."
"I like you more by the minute, Raphael," sighed Ramakha, twiddling his thumbs, "what a shame that we couldn't be allies."
"Just drop it, ok? We need to get Mikey and Ronald to safety now, before anything else goes wrong."
"He has a point," Reginald finally chipped into the conversation, "if you ask me…"
"No-one asked you!" Ramakha roared.
"You wanna keep it quiet?! We'll be---" Raph was cut off by the clicking of a gun, "---caught."
"Dude…that was probably one of the corniest things an enemy has ever done to us…" Mikey groaned, regaining consciousness, "uh, would you mind putting me down?"
"As you wish, your majesty," Raph mumbled as he put Mikey down. His younger brother was rubbing his head and looking in utter bewilderment at the enemies surrounding them.
"So, how much is Mrs. Shredder paying you?" Mikey asked curiously.
"We do this out of love for our sister," replied one group of six.
"She is our niece," replied three others.
"I am her Father," the final one stepped forward, "and who, or what, are you?" he scrutinised Mikey closely.
"We're not wearing costumes, if that's what you're thinking. And we are the ones responsible for killing your beloved daughter's husband, or whatever he was to her," growled Raph savagely.
"And my brothers and I are Oroku Saki's brothers." Ramakha bowed deeply.
"Ah, it is good to see you – and in such glorious circumstances. Now, as for the green freaks, I was told there were four of you. Where are your precious brothers?" Marcie's father turned to Raph and Mikey again.
"Our brothers are not going to come back here," sighed Raph sadly.
"Raph…what are you talking about…?" Mikey stammered nervously, looking desperately at his hot-headed brother and then at the surrounding area for any signs of his oldest brother or his brainiest brother, or both of them.
"They'll catch us if we don't keep up this pace, Roshiri," Leo snapped as the human began to fall behind.
"Sorry…not used…to this…that's all…" Roshiri panted as he struggled valiantly to keep up with the two reptilian brothers, who were managing to keep ahead of their pursuers with ease.
"We need to find a way to lose them somehow," Donnie called to his older brother.
"I know, Don, but we do have a slight problem seeing as there are a lot of them and we are now officially lost on the rooftops of New York City."
"We can see the river from here, right?"
"Yeah, so what's your point?"
"How about making for the river and losing them there and swimming along to climb out further along and make our way back to Headquarters to find the others."
"That sounds like a solid suggestion. Do you think I should call Raph's Shell Cell?"
"Yeah, just to check that they are all safe." Roshiri answered before Donnie could say anything.
"Raph? Raph, can ya hear me?" Leo called his brother's Shell Cell, waiting anxiously for a reply.
"Hello, freak, I believe you were hoping to speak to your bad-tempered brother, am I right?"
"Who are you?!"
"Marcie's Father – I have got your brothers prisoner and I am now celebrating with Marcie, her brothers, uncles and Ramakha, Reginald and a now conscious Ronald."
"No…" Leo's Shell Cell went dead and he turned slowly to face an uncomfortable Roshiri, "your brothers have betrayed us – they led us right into a trap and now Marcie has Mikey and Raph. She's going to kill them!"
"Cool it, Leo," Donnie whispered; although secretly he too believed that the chances of a rescue when Marcie wanted them dead so much were very slim indeed.
"They wouldn't betray us…there's something going on here. We swore our allegiance to you until Marcie was dead. Clearly, she is still alive and so we remain honour-bound to keep our promise. And besides, Marcie won't kill your brothers until you are there to watch them suffer or vice versa. And if Marcie thinks we are now on her side then that gives us the advantage. We must keep out of the way until we hear from my brothers; they will have a plan, you'll see. Meanwhile, we will try to find out where she is keeping your human friends…"
"How do you know about---" Donnie began.
"Word travels fast. We heard that Marcie had two human captives and then you turned up shortly afterwards. We also had the knowledge that Marcie was using them to lure Shredder's killers to her so she could finish them off."
"You are full of surprises," Leo smiled wryly.
"I know," Roshiri beamed, puffing out his chest and looking very pleased with himself.
"We need to keep moving or Marcie's scouts will catch up. Can you give us any rough ideas concerning the whereabouts of our human friends?" Donnie asked.
"Well, she said something about killing them with something that they couldn't live without."
"Not a clue," Leo shrugged after a moment's thought, "Donnie?"
"Water; Leo, I know you want to help Raph and Mikey right now," Donnie glanced meaningfully at his shifty brother, "but if we stick to the plan and make for the river then we will work out our next plan from there."
"Well, whatever we do we had better get a move on," Leo responded sharply, "because Marcie's scouts are only three rooftops behind us now."
"We need a plan to outrun them," said Roshiri, voice urgent, "and I have the perfect thing…I believe you outwitted my brother for a while to buy yourselves time using this very same plan…"
"So, I believe that was Leonardo calling you, am I correct?" Ramakha looked through the bars at Raph.
"Yeah, but they cut him off. Now they're probably going to use the Shell Cell to track him." Raph replied miserably.
"Not if I can help it," Reginald winked at the turtle in red, "we will spout a load of rubbish about how we want to kill you two personally and, in the 'heat' of battle, we'll get you out of here."
"And what about Leo and Don?" piped up Mikey from the corner of the cage they were being kept in.
"We'll figure out a way to help them; I promise you that we will not allow your brothers to die before Marcie does – after that, I cannot be so certain."
"Huh? Oh, the bargain," Raph's face fell in dismal realisation of what Ramakha and Reginald were suggesting.
"Hey, guys," Ronald strode into the room, a little pale but otherwise his usual, brutal self with his features twisted into a mixture of confusion and amusement at the sight of Raph and Mikey in the cage, "uh, where are the other two? She hasn't killed them already has she?"
"No…" Mikey managed a small smile, "they escaped; lucky turtles!"
"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I saw Marcie's scouts come back with a bloody bandana."
"When?" Ramakha asked sternly.
"Just a moment ago; they arrived with a bloody bandana and also with my Roshiri in tow, claiming he'd been taken hostage by your brothers." Ronald sighed, "They say one turtle was killed and the other badly wounded so they left him for dead on a rooftop. They'll collect the body in the morning."
"But it can't be true!"
"Roshiri related it to Marcie in the greatest of detail."
"What…what colour was the bandana?"
"I'm not sure as I was too far away and could only see that blood had stained it."
"They're sure one of them is definitely dead?" Reginald's voice cracked.
"He fell off the building and they found a trail of blood leading to the river and then a lot of streaks of blood where there was a struggle. One of the scouts was killed but he managed to kill the turtle before falling into the river himself, drowning, and pulling the turtle's body in as he fell."
"Oh God...Raph, who do you think it was?"
"When can we see Roshiri?" Raph asked, oblivious to his little brother's question.
"They're keeping him in the infirmary and he's in deep shock." Ronald answered, "Do you want me to go and find out which of your brothers it was that died?"
"No need, Ronald," a scathing voice laughed coldly from the doorway. Marcie stepped into the room wearing a deep crimson gown with no sleeves and a wrap around glittery black shawl, her hair scraped back into a bun and thick black eyeliner framing her eyes, which were twinkling maliciously, "We have taken a sample of the bandana that my scouts brought back and thought that perhaps our reptilian friends here would like the remnants, and can know that it was a long and agonising death and also that their other brother was fought by none other than Roshiri himself and will probably be dead by now." Marcie smiled triumphantly and tossed the bloody bandana at Mikey, who studied it for a moment before throwing it into the middle of the cage and putting his head in his hands, sobbing quietly. Raph inched slowly towards the bandana and he felt his voice catch in his throat.
"You evil…" he just about managed before he had to stop.
"Marcie, Roshiri is missing…" a scout ran breathless into the room, "he left just after you did."
"Then we shall wait for his return; he has probably gone to finish what he started and make sure your remaining brother is dead." Marcie made to leave the room but called over her shoulder as she left, "when your brother returns, you must all join me for dinner to celebrate the death of two of the turtles. Let the others mourn their loss, knowing that they will be next."
Waiting until Marcie was out of earshot along with her scout, Ramakha, Ronald and Reginald stood in utter silence around the cage. Mikey was crying so hard that he could hardly find the strength to draw breath. Raph was holding the bandana and just staring at it. Staring.
"We're really sorry," Reginald whispered.
"We never thought it would come to this," Ramakha added.
"Roshiri will pay for this breach of honour," growled Ronald.
"What does it matter?" sniffed Mikey, "that won't bring Leo and Donnie back."
"Yeah, our brothers are dead – what do your petty family arguments mean to us? Can you do us one favour though?"
"What?"
"Promise that as soon as Marcie is dead you will kill us in the fastest and most painless way possible so we can be with our brothers again." Raph's voice was toneless; blank like the minds of his brothers' ruthless killers must have been. He was close to tears, and that alone was enough to make Mikey scared.
"We promise – on our honour – we will not forsake the code of honour as Roshiri has."
"Ok, I may be a pain in the backside but I would never forsake our code of honour!"
"You killed our brothers!" Raph breathed deeply, trying to control himself.
"No, I didn't,"
"Then what is this? Leo's bandana! And it is bloodstained!" Mikey moved to the edge of the cage he and Raph were in so that his face, his tear-filled eyes, were only mere centimetres from the defiant ones of Roshiri.
"Oh, I think it's exactly what we think it is!" Raph growled, finally relenting and letting a few tears slide down his cheeks, "and then you went back to finish Donnie off."
"Look, your brothers put up a good fight but we were overpowered, outnumbered and with five weapons to one. Do you think I wanted them dead?"
"Yes."
"I didn't!" Roshiri said, now quite exasperated, "look, now is not the time to explain but I promise you that once we are all safely out of here then I will explain everything. By then, maybe you will believe me; especially when I produce the evidence."
"Evidence?" Mikey questioned, still clutching his eldest brother's bloodstained bandana but drawing back from Roshiri slightly.
"Allow me to let you out of here – after that, you must escape. We can buy you five minutes to get out before we will claim to be coming to check on you. We will meet you back at Headquarters." Roshiri beckoned to his brothers and the four of them left, casting last sympathetic looks at the two caged brothers.
"So, uh, are you gonna let us out?!" Raph called angrily after them. There was suddenly a loud hissing noise as the cage door swung open of its own accord, "Let's go,"
A/N: - Uh, hi, please don't throw any virtual objects at me!!! So, what will happen next – will Raph, Mikey and the human brothers escape Marcie? And what dangers and surprises await them on the outside world. Now, review and let me no what you think, please. Preferably with no flaming – I seem to have mislaid my flame-retardant suit!!!
A MAJOR APOLOGY! This is going out to Lioness Goddess, Echuirmiel and Sparx...guys, I am more sorry than I can say that I haven't been online in ages! My entire MSN and Hotmail is down and won't let me sign in...hope you guys are ok and I will catch up with you as soon as I can! By no means will I give up until I get the stupid MSN thinig working! Speak to you soon!
