Chapter Ten
Night has fallen again, just like the rain that's hitting the pavement outside, but it's the farthest thing from my mind right now. Even the quarter-fulled glass of whiskey that's sitting in front of me isn't grabbing my attention, and from the distant look on Raph's face, I'm guessing he can't concentrate on his drink either. April is placed between us, sitting backwards on the barstool and leaning back on the bar with her elbows, her eyes fixated on the dull red lights that are hanging low from the ceiling. We're all alone inside the Red Diamond, alone with our thoughts, alone in our own little world of confusion.
There's not much I could tell you about how I'm feeling at the moment. Frustrated, hurt, angry, sad- just everything wrapped into a big ball of nervous energy, and I would give anything for Shredder to show up so I can just beat the shit out of him. I'm sure Leo felt the same way when he found out. The man who had given him a new life, the man who he had called father. The man who had taught Leo everything about honor and goodness was the same one who had been taking those very things away from the city, and basically burning those values into smoldering ashes right under Leonardo's beak. But at least now I understand what made Leo go berserk like he did, and I can't really blame him. The one person he had looked up to his whole life was suddenly turned into his sworn enemy, and that's enough to make anyone go insane.
A knock on the front door scares me, causing my hand to shake the glass and spill the contents on the sleeve of my coat. I heard April and Raphael gasp, knowing that the sudden sound had made them jump as well.
"Tell them we're closed tonight," April pokes Raph in the shoulder, and to my surprise, Raph actually follows her order and walks over to the door without saying a word. He sighs heavily, then turns the knob. I look away, hoping to get back to losing myself in thought again, but after I hear what sounds like Raphael getting punched in the gut, then witness him slump over to the floor, I realize I have more important things to deal with.
"Well, well, well," Rocksteady snorts, his hot breath coming out in a white fog. "Some party ya got goin' on!"
"Yeah," Bebop appears behind him and follows Rocksteady in. "It ain't very nice ta not invite us though."
Rocksteady lowers his bottom lip in a fake pout. "Ya really hurt our feelins', but we can forgive youse!"
The two hoodlums break into fits of laughter and began to shoot their enormous rifles above me and April, breaking the lights and scattering sparks everywhere. I grab April and throw her to the floor, motioning for her to get behind the bar. I pull my pistol out, weighing it in my hand to estimate how full my clip is. It's still pretty heavy, I can get at least fifteen more shoots before I need to reload. But as I jump back up to fire away, all of my efforts were for nothing. The room is full of well dressed Japanese men, forty of them at least, all of them young, muscular, and holding the same deadly gleam in there eyes. Rocksteady and Bebop reach down and pull Raphael to his feet, then rest the nozzles of their rifles against his neck and ribs, signaling to me that if I even think about shooting them, Raph will get it first.
The cloud of silence is growing thicker, almost choking me. I can't make a move. There are too many adversaries in here. And even though I have many reasons to let Raph die, there would be no way I could risk his life to save my own and live with myself afterwards. I have so many thoughts running through my head, all of them telling me to do a million different things, but none of them making sense. I glance down at April, who is huddled against my leg and trying to hold back the fearful tears in her eyes. Her lips move, but I can't make out what she's saying. The silence is roaring in my ear holes. My breath is stuck in my throat. My heart beat is racing in my head. Never in my life have I not known what to do, and I've never wanted Leo here more than I do now.
The Foot part to opposite sides and slowly bow, allowing the Shredder to enter into the building, his tall, thin frame towering over everyone in the room and casting a haunting shadow across the floor. His black hair is slicked back, his dark eyebrows stuck in a malicious expression, as is his mouth, sunk down on the sides in a permanent frown. The black pinstripe suit he has on accents the paleness of his yellow Asian skin, and it moved quietly with his body as he took a few long strides over to where Rocksteady and Bebop held Raphael. Shredder leans over Raph and whispers into his ear, and I could see the large drops of sweat that start beading down his green face. Raph shook his head slowly, tears starting to collect with his sweat, and Shredder curiously wipes Raph's brow with a white handkerchief, only to place a bone crunching hit into Raph's rib cage that echoes over to me and April. I wince at the sound, my stomach beginning to turn as I mentally picture his ribs collapsing, and April lets out a small cry into her palms.
Shredder moves around to Raph's right side, delivers another hit, then lets a faint smile grow across his thin lips as Raph coughs and spits blood on the floor. Rocksteady and Bebop start to let him drop, but Shredder waves his hand, and they yank Raph back up. Shredder turns to one of his many henchmen and lays out his open palm. The henchman places a lengthy, two pronged weapon into his bosses' waiting hand, and Shredder takes his time wrapping his fingers around the boxed-in handle, pushing the sharp weapon over his knuckles and holding it in place with his thumb.
Raph's eyes to grow to immense proportions, and he violently shakes his head around and struggles out of his captors' grasp. Shredder slides the prongs slowly across the front of Raph's shirt, soaking up the fear that's leaking from the mutant turtle in front of him. Raph then looks over at me, pleading with me to help him, but I can't move. I can't get my feet to go, my legs to bend. I let out the air in my throat in short puffs and watch in horror as Shredder raises his armed hand into the air and slings it back down, silencing Raph's horrified scream. The metal prongs dive deep into Raph's chest plates, puncturing the soft spot where they meet in the middle, causing a shearing sound that reminds me of when my father accidently threw cow bones into the meat grinder at his old butcher shop. That sound was all it took for me to fall to my knees and lose the contents of my stomach. Raph then falls to the floor as April's screams take over the void in my ears. I look up from my puddle of vomit to see Rocksteady dragging her out from under the bar, and soon realize that I, too, am being dragged by someone. My eyes are heavy with sickness, but I can make out Bebop's gnarled smile beaming down on me. Does he know something that I don't? Of course not. I know that I'm next in line, but there's no way in Hell I'm about to let that happen.
Bebop tightens his clammy grasp on my wrists as he shoves me at Shredder, pulling back when I'm about two inches from the guy's face. Shredder snarls his teeth at me, and all of those memories that haunted me years ago are flooding back. That look, that hateful, evil look that scared the shit out of me when I was a child, and here it is, up close and personal.
"Ah, Donatello," Shredder hissed from his clenched teeth. "It's good to see you again."
What am I supposed to say? Good to see you too! By the way, I'm really glad you killed my brothers, and I can't wait to be next! Thank you so fucking much! I narrow my eyes, a part of me wishing he could hear my sarcastic thoughts.
"You know," he began to speak again. "I'm actually glad I came here. I was hoping to end your life personally." His wicked black eyes traveled down to Raphael, the smile coming back as he stared at the lifeless body. "That one was doomed from the day he decided to follow me. His mind may have belong to me, but his foolish heart is what kept him from his destiny."
"Destiny?" I blurt out, my thoughts breaking through my clamped lips. "What are you talking about?"
Shredder looks back at me, his face twisted in a puzzled look, but that evil grin still loomed large. "Leonardo never told you, did he?"
"No." I'm not exactly lying. Leo never told me anything. Shredder throws his head back in laughter, leaving me to wonder what the punch line is as he strolls over to the bar and picks up a book of matches. He rips a match out and strikes it, letting the fire burn down the stick and onto the tips of his fingers before rubbing it out. He repeats the process over and over again, relishing in the fact that I'm completely clueless.
"Do you know anything about your origin, Donatello?" Shredder's deep voice whispers to me as he snubs out another flame. "About why you were created?"
I look down to the red and black flooring under my feet, my thoughts searching for the reasoning behind my existence. I do remember, when I was five, my brothers and I had talked about where we had come from and why we were so different than everyone else. Since I was dubbed 'the smart one', I was chosen to ask one of our care givers for the answers. I can still remember as the woman lifted me into her lap and told me that once in awhile, special beings are put on the Earth to serve a greater purpose, and that the four of us were chosen to be part of something big. Yeah, that made us all excited. We were special, part of some big plan. It's nice to hear things like that when you're a kid. Keeps you from going crazy at an early age.
"Hey!" Bebop twists my arms, the joints popping as he jerks me around. "Masta Shredder asked ya a question!"
"It's all right, Bebop," Shredder waves his hand, his fingertips blackened by the matches. "He's a thinker. He's only doing what he was programmed to do."
Programmed? Did I hear him correctly?
"Excuse me?" I ask, knowing that I sound stupid for doing so. " What do you mean I was programmed?"
That evil smile returns. "So, Leonardo failed to tell you the truth about your pathetic life and why you are really here!" And there goes the laughing again.
I hear April whimper, and I turn to her, wishing I could wipe those tears from her face. She's looking down at Raph, her bottom lip quivering from her sobs, her green eyes longing to be down there with him. She can't fool me. She cares for him, not matter how bad she's been treated. She still cares for Raph like I care for her. But I need to focus. I'm slowly concocting a plan to get us both out of here. But I need a little more time, and I guess letting Shredder tell me the reason behind my pathetic life, as he put it, is a good way to buy some.
"You two! Move them over here!" Shredder snaps his fingers. Bebop and Rocksteady push us to the center of the floor where two chairs are waiting for us. After being forced to sit, our hands bound are together and we are secured to the chairs with rope. Shredder does a quick walk around, obviously making sure we aren't going anywhere, then grabs another chair and places it directly in front of me. His tall frame glides down into the chair and he makes himself comfortable, folding his hands into his lap and crossing his right leg across over his left knee. He stares at me for a moment, then motions at another henchmen, whispers into his ear, then waves him on. The henchmen calls out to the others in Japanese, and The Foot scatter to the back of the bar and out the back door. Shredder allows Bebop and Rocksteady to stay, and I can't turn to see that far behind me, but I know they have their rifles aimed at April, just in case I try to pull something.
Shredder lights another match, waiting until it goes out in his skin before he begins to speak.
"Long ago, when I was just a boy, I traveled to this city with my father and mother. They had great plans to make a new life for themselves in America, but do you know what they found when we arrived?"
He paused, but I wasn't about to let out the smart ass comments I had inside.
"They found nothing! Nothing but filth! Poverty! Oppression! All of this from the very city that had promised great fortune! My father had to work eighteen hour days in a refinery for little pay, while my mother was forced to take to walking the streets, which eventually led to her death!" Shredder takes in a deep breath, forcing his emotions back down. "This was not the life my father had promised me! I vowed the day my mother passed that I would gain control of this city and give everything to those who truly deserved it!"
"My father did make his fortune, and after he passed, everything was left to me. I had studied politics in school, and I knew just how corrupted the American government really was. I used my vast knowledge of these things to make my way to the top, but I was also making my way into the underground, gaining access to the smuggling rings. I combined the two, giving myself complete control over everyone around me. I had the city in the palm of my hand, and I was on my way to taking the entire nation with me."
"So, how did me and my brothers fit into all of this?" I have to admit, Shredder's little background was interesting. Interesting enough to allow my hands to slide out of the knots of rope, that is.
"Patience, Donatello. I was getting to that part." Shredder laughs before he continues. "I had recruited some of New York's finest scientific minds and asked them to create a way for my growing army of soldiers to become stronger and faster. Some kind of hormone injection, or a steroid, if you will. But, there was one scientist who had another plan. His name was Baxter Stockman, a man who was crazy as he was brilliant, and he designed a substance called mutagen that would not only make my army more powerful, but I could also create powerful beings myself! I could play God!"
I think my heart just stopped. "What? You mean-you...you are the one that made us?"
Shredder nods. "In a sense, yes, but I never intended on using turtles. That was Baxter's fault! The four of you belonged to that idiot's son, and he only used you to make sure the chemicals in the mutagen wouldn't kill whoever we used it on. After that, I decided to use you for further experiments. Baxter programmed all of you with different tasks and abilities, making you far superior than any Foot member." His face then drops, his eyes falling to the floor. "Unfortunately, before we could use those abilities, my wife at the time discovered what we were doing and stole the four of you out of Baxter's lab, dropping you off at the blasted orphanage, knowing that I wouldn't know where to find you. She payed dearly for it."
I can only imagine. "But, you did find us," I replied, and I still feel a little dumbfounded by all of this.
"I was walking through Chinatown one day with my second wife when I found a shop owned by Hamato Yoshi, who used to be an old school mate of mine. As I engaged in conversation with him, I discovered your brothers had been living with him. I tried to buy them back, but Yoshi would not have anything to do with it, and he pushed me out of his store, telling me to take my evil ways elsewhere. I went to the orphanage, hoping to at least get you and Leonardo, but that also fell through when they told me that you had already been promised to another couple."
Okay, so... I should feel thankful about that, right? Shit! The ropes! I'm losing my focus here!
"I took Leonardo, teaching him everything about my Japanese heritage, the way of the ninja, how to be a great leader. He looked up to me, and he tried so hard to be the best just to please me. Our bond was great, and as he grew, he was no longer just an experiment to me. He was...my son." Shredder then lets out a dramatic sigh. "But, there was something about Leonardo that I didn't count on. He was too kind, his heart...too soft. Helping others was his way of life. All through his childhood, his teen years, and even his early adult, he could not be persuaded to join me in the 'family business'. He had his heart set on joining the New York Police force, and that's just what he did. I was not happy, for those were the ones that had been hunting me down for years, but I put on a smile and cheered my son on."
"So you always knew that Leo would find out." Man, for an overpowering mob boss he sure is windy! But, I need to keep him talking. Now, if I can only keep from cutting my fingertips with this damn razor blade!
"Yes, I had expected him to discover who I really was." Shredder bolted out of his chair and replaced it back under the table he pulled it from. "And I know it broke his world apart and gave him reason to go after me. It was then I decided to destroy him before he found me first." He moved back over to Raphael's body and lightly tapped his brightly polished shoe against it. "All I needed was a pawn to bring him to me."
I let one of my now famous growls escape from my throat, but it was quickly covered by April's hysterical sobs.
"How? How could you be so heartless as to create these wonderful beings, raise one as your own, then just dispose of them like it was nothing?"
"Shut yer mouth, lady!" Rocksteady cocked the gun, the shell dropping into the barrel.
"And how could you turned Raph against his own brothers like that?" April ignored the gun in her face and continued her rant. "You have no idea how guilty he was feeling about being responsible for their deaths! For the death of his father!"
Shredder moves away from Raph, his eyebrows slanted inward as he faces April. That a girl! Just keep him busy for a few more seconds!
"Do you really think I didn't feel guilty, Miss O'Neil?" Shredder responded back, his threatening voice rising up a notch. " Leonardo was my son! All of them were! I was the one who gave them life! I also had the right to take it away!" Shredder growls in frustration then rips the gun out of Bebop's hands, quickly taking aim at April's head. "I'm through with this nonsense! I will finish both of you now!"
"NOOOOO!" My own voice rings through my ears as I launch myself out of the chair, the ropes snapping around me. I flip backwards over April's head, and land squarely on top of Shredder. He falls under my weight, but his finger is still firmly wrapped around the trigger, and I can't hear the sound as the gun goes off. A burning pain rips into my side, forcing me onto the ground, and my hands go directly to the spot. A warm rush of blood fills my palms, the acidic metallic scent fills my nose, and it's almost enough to make me throw up again.
"Shoot him again boss! He ain't dead yet!" I hear Rocksteady cheering Shredder on. I raise my head slowly, watching as Shredder climbs to his feet, still wearing that crooked smile. I stare into his coal colored eyes as the barrel of the rifle moves to my face, that evil grin blurred in the background.
"It is a shame that I have to resort to this, Donatello," I strain my ears to hear his whispered voice. "But, I will spare your life if you do one thing for me."
I'm almost afraid to ask what. "Which is?"
"Join me. Take the place that Leonardo so foolishly declined. Stand beside me, and together we can make this city fall to its knees. Then soon, we can take the rest of the country with it."
Hmmm, that's a tough call. Die, or join up with a ruthless monster and bring destruction to an entire nation. Where's a coin to toss when you need one?
"I'd rather sit here and bleed to death before I would ever consider joining you, Shredder!" I respond, narrowing my eyes and gritting my teeth in anger.
Shredder lowers the rifle about an inch, giving me a look of confusion. Did he really think I would say 'yes'? But he quickly brings it back up, the barrel going right back to my face.
"Very well then," His long finger wraps around the trigger. "Give your brothers my regards."
In all the times I have faced death in the past few days, none of them have effected me as this moment right now. The world around me is fading, everything going to black. Before, I knew that something was going to stop it, something was going to pull me back to reality and I was going to live my poor-excuse-for-an-existence another day. But, what is going to stop it this time? I don't feel Leo's presence. I don't hear his voice. Maybe this really is it. Maybe this is where my earthly journey ends. It's funny at times like this when you begin to think about everything you wish you would have done, how you regret not taking certain paths in your life. Me, I have only one. April. I love her with all of my heart, but if I could go back to that night when I first laid eyes on her, I would have left it alone. She still would have been with Casey. They would have gotten married, had kids. Everything she wanted that I just couldn't commit to. Then she would be in some cozy house upstate instead of being tied to a chair waiting to die. Maybe if I had done that, I wouldn't be here, on my knees, waiting for the darkness to swallow me whole.
But even in this darkness, a shadow rises from the ground, his arms turned inward as if he is clutching something in his hands. I shake my head, clearing away the foggy vision, and I can't do anything more than gasp. It's Raph! He's not dead! But by the huge amount of blood that is covering him, he's not far from it.
The next few seconds go by in a blur of motion. Raphael staggers forward. Shredder is unaware. Raph gathers up the last of his energy and rushes toward us. He leaps into the air, lands at Shredder's feet, does a reverse under sweep, knocking the mob boss off his feet. Raph spins around, catches Shredder's suit collar before he can hit the floor, then places a well-deserved bone crushing punch across Shredder's square jaw line. And it all happens before I can even blink!
Raphael stands victorious over the fallen Shredder, then spits out a ball of salvia and blood at him. "Fuckin' bastard. I'll teach ya to fuckin' stab me."
And he says he never paid attention to Leo and all of that ninja shit!
He then turns to Bebop and Rocksteady, who look like they are in need of changing their underwear.
"It's a ghost!" Bebop cries out.
"It ain't fuckin' ghost, you idiot!" Rocksteady replies. "Shoot 'em!"
But they, too, soon find themselves on the ground. Raphael executes a front hand spring, his feet colliding with the punks' faces, and hitting his landing in perfect form, only to fall to one knee from the apparent dizziness in his head.
I push myself to my feet and move over to April, her eyes glued to Raph as I untie her hands. She jumps up, without even something as small as a thank you, and rushes to Raph's side, pulling his head to her chest and holding him tightly. I have to admit I feel a little jealous, but I think this whole experience helped bring them closer, which also makes me sick... I mean, happy.
"Come on," I say as I move closer to them. "We need to get out of here."
As April stands to pull Raph up, I noticed something is out of place. I look to the floor where Shredder had fallen, only to find an empty space. And that's when an arm is suddenly wrapped around my throat and the feeling of cold steel is placed against my cheek. I subconsciously hold my breath as Shredder drags the ends of his metallic prongs across my skin, pricking me like a bee sting as they cut tiny lines into my flesh. His evil laughter rings into my head as his grip grow tighter around my neck.
"One move, and I end his life." Shredder warns Raph and April.
"Go! Get out of here!" I scream at them as I wiggle around in Shredder's deadly grasp. They stare blankly at me, then at Shredder, not knowing exactly to listen to.
Raph leans forward in pain but still keeps his eyes to me. "Donnie, we can't just leave ya-,"
"Leave?" Shredder cuts in, his menacing laughter growing louder. "NO ONE is leaving here! My Foot soldiers have placed several explosives around the perimeter of the building, and in less than a minute, all of us will perish!"
"What? No!" April cries out, losing Raph out of her hands as he continues to slump over.
"Get out of here, April! GO!" I call out again, not caring if Shredder suddenly decides to silence me right there. April blinks, her green eyes sparkling with tears, and I can feel my heart cracking in half all over again.
"Please, April! Just go! You need to get Raph out of here!" I plead with her, hoping that she will listen. "Don't worry about me!"
I can feel tears in my own eyes as April hangs her head and throws Raph's right arm around her shoulders. She strains to stand him up, then whispers in his ear and he starts to slowly walk with her.
"No!" Shredder yells, stopping them in their tracks. "You aren't going anywhere!"
"Let them go, Shredder." For being on the verge of death, my voice sure does sound calm. "It's me you want, not them."
He says no more, and April and Raph exit through the front doors without a backwards glance.
Which I'm glad they didn't. Shredder shoves his pronged weapon into my bullet ridden side, twisting the points deeper into my body. The pain... it's just so unbearable. I fall to the floor, my wounded side turning numb. A chill is setting over me. My eyes are getting heavy. I blink once, wondering how Shredder got his loafers so shiny. Another blink, the shoes are gone. I let my lids drop, feeling the beat of my heart slow its pace with each breath I take. So, this is what it feels like to die. I always want to go in my sleep, like my adopted father did. Just... wanted to go in a peaceful way. This pain...it's too much to bare.
A monstrous rumbling shakes me, forcing my eyes open as bits of wood and fire brush past my face. Ah, now not only will I die from my wound, I'll get to burn to death too. What a way to go. Another breath pushes a chuckle out of my throat, and I wonder how I can still find humor in this situation. Like Mikey. Mikey was always able to make us laugh, no matter how bad of a day we had. Boy, it's going to be good to see him again. And Leo. Yes, I'll finally be reunited with my partner, my brother. It's been a lonely existence without him. And Raph, well, at least I know that he will take good care of April, and she will do the same for him.
And it's in that comfort that I can close my eyes for good now. I push myself onto my back, and I can see Leo standing over me. His hands stretch down to me, offering me that killer smile of his. I return it, close my eyes, and allow the darkness to pass over me.
At least now... I can get some sleep.